Hampshire

A short holiday in Hampshire including Romsey and Winchester. Many thanks to R & J for kind hospitality!

Here is a Hampshire hog and a sculpture of King Alfred, both in Winchester.



Southampton's Ocean Village was a trendy spot to go during my college days although it never really took off, and has now died somewhat. Previously the terminal building for sea crossings, it is now a coffee shop. The lightship from Calshot Spit looks a little decrepit and forlorn.

The Old Song G.K. Chesterton

A livid sky on London
And like the iron steeds that rear
A shock of engines halted

And I knew the end was near:
And something said that far away, over the hills and far away
There came a crawling thunder and the end of all things here.
For London Bridge is broken down, broken down, broken down,
As digging lets the daylight on the suken streets of yore,
The lightning looked on London town, the broken bridge of London town.
The ending of a broken road where men shall go no more.

I saw the kings of London town,
The kings that buy and sell,
That built it up with penny loaves
And penny lies as well:

And where the streets were paved with gold the shrivelled paper
shone for gold,
The scorching light of promises that pave the streets of hell.
For penny loaves will melt away, melt away, melt away,
Mock the men that haggled in the grain they did not grow;
With hungry faces in the gate, a hundred thousand in the gate,
A thunder-flash on London and the finding of the foe.

I heard the hundred pin-makers
Slow down their racking din,
Till in the stillness men could hear
The dropping of the pin:
And somewhere men without the wall, beneath the wood, without the wall,
Had found the place where London ends and England can begin.
For pins and needles bend and break, bend and break, bend and break,
Faster than the breaking spears or the bending of the bow,
Of pagents pale in thunder-light, 'twixt thunderload and thunderlight,
The Hundreds marching on the hills in the wars of long ago.

I saw great Cobbett riding,
The horseman of the shires;
And his face was red with judgement
And a light of Luddite fires:

And south to Sussex and the sea the lights leapt up for liberty,
The trumpet of the yeomanry, the hammer of the squires;
For bars of iron rust away, rust away, rust away,
Rend before the hammer and the horseman riding in,
Crying that all men at the last, and at the worst and at the last,
Have found the place where England ends and England can begin.

His horse-hoofs go before you
Far beyond your bursting tyres;
And time is bridged behind him
And our sons are with our sires.

A trailing meteor on the Downs he rides above the rotting towns,
The Horseman of Apocalypse, the Rider of the Shires.
For London Bridge is broken down, broken down, broken down;
Blow the horn of Huntington from Scotland to the sea --
...Only flash of thunder-light, a flying dream of thunder-light,
Had shown under the shattered sky a people that were free.

A delightful 10 mile walk in the Herts Chilterns. Tring, Aldbury and Berkhamsted.

A day out with additions as recommended by a friend on a pleasant night out.

I haven't been in Tring since 1994, when, as a naieve Estate Manager I visited my employers head office in this pleasant chiltern town, part of the land belonging to the Rothschilds. Tring station is one and a half miles from the town near the Grand Union Canal and the original plan was to walk from the station to Aldbury, then back to Tring and down the Grand Union canal to Berkhamsted. It didn't turn out like that as it looked wet over Aldbury, so I turned first to Tring.

The road to Tring is an avenue of chestnut trees and these make for a pleasant walk although the drivers are utterly mad. My first port of call was St Peter's and St Paul's church which was serving tea and coffee. I had coffee with the rector who had been in post around 7 years, and we chatted about the old vicarage that had been my employers head office, with their coat of arms still above the portal

Not sure I agree that the vicar who built it had delusions of grandeur, but that's one view. I think that there would have been servants and probably a large family with a few aunts and cousins to fill the place. The church dates from the 15th century and has a rood painting above the chancel arch painted in 1899 to replace the ten commandments.

After church a walk up the high street, with a large conservative club and a larger baptist chapel. Tring has a natural history museum, the collection of Lionel Walter Rothschild which consists of rather depressed looking stuffed fauna and plaster casts of animals, all displayed rather dustily. I suppose they're not easy to clean. Still this is a good way of getting near to the creatures without being kicked by a cassowarie, who can disembowel a person with a single kick. Lord Rothschild hept these on his estate along with zebras to drive his carriage and giant tortoises from the galapagos islands. After a look round all six galleries I left and, after a very helpful encounter at the Tourist Information office in Tring, set out to walk to Aldbury along the road past Tring station, a distance of 2 and a half miles (running total 4 miles). I called in first at the memorial gardens to those killed in world war II with its sentinal tree overlooking a free form pond with ducks.


At Aldbury the Church of St John the Baptist contains the Pendley chapel with a parclose (stone) screen and an altar tomb with effigies. This is the only parclose screen in the chilterns. There is a curious wild man on the tomb at the feet of the Knight.


The church is near a pleasant village pond overshadowed by the stocks, with a sign exhorting visitors not to touch the ancient monument, although I'm sure people do, especially as the sign can only be seen one way. Many of the houses here belong to the Duke of Bridgewater who built the Grand Union Canal and whose initial and coronet appear carved in stone on cottages that could not bring shame...

The Valiant trooper pub on the way to the Grand Union Canal provided a stop for refreshment and then I headed off over fields to the canal.

A rare picture of me sitting on the banks of the canal

The walk by the canal in the heat of the day seemed long - around 5 miles to Berkhamsted measured by Grand Junction Canal milestones measuring distances to Braunston (running total 9 miles).
Berkhamsted is home to a minor public school where Graham Greene's father was head teacher, and has a mile long high street. (Total ten miles.)
Berkhamsted was home to Dean Incent, dean of St Pauls, founder of the school at Berkhamsted and assistant to Thomas Cromwell at the dissolution of the monasteries.

Berkhamsted was also a port and this curious victorian warehouse is the remains of that era on the Grand Union Canal

I always like Hertfordshire whenever I go - it probably helps that I go in good weather - but today was a good day out even if the ten mile walk was tiring.

Faversham town of the two brewers.

I've been to Faversham before but only seen the former co-op superstore and the inside of the Chimney Boy Pub there so a bank holiday visit was in order, especially as the man who invented bank holidays lies in Kent soil in Farnborough (really the London Borough of Bromley). Faversham is an old market town with an old covered market and guildhall. Even though the guildhall was rebuilt in the 19th century it still has a look of the meadieval market it once was. there are lots of old black and white buildings, although these days they are more dark brown and mustard yellow, the fashion having moved on after mock tudor debased it.

There was this marvellous door with the Kent shield above.

One connection with home is that the bricks for the viaduct that runs through my bit of Saaf London were made in Faversham, and sent to london on barges from the port.

I visited the antique shops that were quartered there.
The Church was rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 18th century but in a half hearted way. The clerestory windows are pointed outside but on the inside they are lunettes. The church has a proper Georgian ceiling and not left open to the tiles like the Victorians would have done.

Altogether the church was a good one with the remains of a meadieval painted pillar, presumably covered up with something when the iconoclasts came to call. The wooden treasury was out of view, as I suppose a treasury should be if it is to be effective.

After church it was time to have lunch in one of the few pubs serving food on a bank holiday washed down with some of the local brew made in the town. Suitably fortified I made my way to the museum, run with great enthusiasm by the local heritage society. The museum had a great deal of interactive exhibits in the form of the staff and one was forced to interact with them, although I would have preferred to reflect on the exhibits myself... They were helpful though
After seeing the Strowger telephone exchange it was time to wander and take pics for the other blog, I went past the substantial Almshouses towards the Chart Gunpowder Mills. Faversham was a major producer of gunpowder until the end of the first world war when it was nationalised. Again run by the heritage society I chatted with the attendant about almost anything but gunpowder.

On the way home called at Sittingbourne.

Mitcham

I've not been to Mitcham before and a flying visit on a dull day did not show the village at its best, but there was a church and a school and an almshouse, so it might be worthwhile to go back.

Woodhouse and Kells, Whitehaven, Cumbria

A relaxing visit to Whitehaven in Cumbria. This is a former coaling port that has invested in its quayside where in 1788 Paul Jones failed to capture the town and in his attempt to invade England from America. He was a local man and there are somewhat mixed feelings towards him in the town. The aristocratic developers of Whitehaven were the Earls of Lonsdale the Lowther family, who built the town from 9 cottages to 2000 people, mostly working in coal mines for export to Ireland. This is explained in the Beacon Museum. This museum tells the story of Whitehaven and its people up to the present day and is pleasant with a viewing gallery.
The Church of St Nicholas, patron of fishermen, was burnt down in a fire a few years ago, but a cafe with worship space has arisen out of the ashes with a beautiful garden with a memorial to those who died in the mining industry. The cafe was very pleasant and raises funds for the parish united with St James in the Parish of Whitehaven.

The jetties are now available to stroll on and are pleasant on a fine day of which I had several while there.


BestMate and I stayed at the Mansion, a pleasant hotel in Woodhouse Estate immediately adjacent to Kells, both suburbs of this small town. In Kells there was a mining museum with a working winding engine and one that was awaiting restoration. Most interesting and with its friendly custodian BestMate and I had almost a guided tour. The miners life was hard and alleviated by the 'pleasures' of drink, but also by sport, animals, gardening and other traditional passtimes.
The Church at Kells occupies a central place on the Woodhouse Estate.


All in all a relaxing place to be.

Creepy Crawley - it wasn't though.

Another in my series on the New towns. Crawley, designated a new town in 1947 is in West Sussex and is unlike other new towns in that the town centre is built around the core of an old town with its 13th century church dedicated to St John the Baptist.

The main high street had a range of buildings dating from every period in history although it must be said they were mostly pubs!
The new town centre had a bandstand bought by the Development Corporation from Gatwick Racecourse. This provides a focal point - as you can see the day I was there was gorgeous!

Crawley is a bustling town although one curious feature is that shops have two street frontages, each on a street of importance and one can cut through the shops if one wishes.
The library is new and excellent. It was a good day out.

Kingswood House and Crystal Palace

A visit to Southwark's only grade II listed building. Except it was closed today being Sunday.
Kingswood House is set in the middle of an estate of 1940s council houses and flats and was once a manor house set in fields near the Dulwich Estate.

The pocket handkerchief parks of Hatcham

A Sunday walk around Deptford and New Cross (which is really called Hatcham)

I started out at the rather bleak Deptford Park although this has been improved recently with a sculpture and a rose garden (no roses yet but we live in hope) and went into Folkstone Gardens. There was some criminal activity in the park but that didn't stop me, and I took a look at the pond. I noticed one of the rocks had a model terrapin on it, which I thought a somewhat odd choice for an ornament. Imagine my surprise when it saw me and crawled down the rock and into the water! No picture of course, but I hope I havent made it an endangered species.
After that went to Fordham park (just a piece of grassed waste ground really on the approach to Hatcham, and the hillside park called Telegraph Hill. This was an Admiralty semaphore signalling station when it was farmland but that fell into disuse with the advent of the electric telegraph. The views to London are amazing. It's a 10 acre park on a very awkward site but crams in a lake, a play area, tennis courts (free) toilets and office, and appears quite well looked after. There was a guided tour ongoing as I arrived.
Most of the land is owned by the Haberdashers Company (E.G. Haberdashers Aske Hatcham School) and this plaque appears on their property.

Barnet: fair

Even though it was wet. Barnet is at the end of the Northern Line and the station is called High Barnet although it really should be called Chipping Barnet, as that is the name of the town. The same happens at Chipping Ongar. I think London Underground somehow think that the word 'chipping' isn't very nice. That aside it was a wet day so I just did the town. I missed the old alms houses and the museum (as it takes a lunch break) but the church was open.
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The reredos appeared to be victorian but there was a good modern stained glass window in the tower that looks much the same as it did in 1940 when the Kings England guide to Herts was published. The Folk Museum at East barnet is just a memory though - I once looked for it and found it derelict.
I did notice a lot of senility on the street and in the shops - most disturbing. Perhaps the proximity of the former Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum (Friern Barnet Hospital) now being turned like everything else into yuppie hutches has led to this madness. There were about 5 people obviously in mental distress in Barnet High Street alone.

I moved on to North Finchley and Friern Barnet where part of the hospital had not had anything done to it. I suppose nobody wants to live in a turrett..

I then went home via a friend in Hornsey.

Maidstone, Kent

I was debating whether to go to Aylesbury again but decided to go to Maidstone instead. I've been before but not blogged about it before so that swayed me. Maidstone is the seat of the County of Kent with the kent County Hall there.

When I was there before the museum was robbed while I was in it. (Wasn't me guv). I had been in a small gallery and when I went back into the gallery one of the cases was smashed. I noticed that it had been repaired on this visit but it is disconcerting that a museum could be robbed while one is present.

Maidstone has a traffic problem and some of Kent's finest old buildings. The Carriage museum is housed in the Archbishop's old stables, these have been built for 600 years or so.
The Archbishop's palace has been turned into the town registry office and lies, as is appropriate, next to All Saints Church. The palace was home to the Archbishops of Canterbury from the reign of King John to Henry VIII. Falling into decay it was rescued for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.

The Collegiate church was surrounded by scaffolding when I called so I couldn't get a picture, but the original miseriecords were present for the college of 24 canons who were to pray for and educate the people. they had beautiful old carving rubbed smooth by the bottoms over 6 centuries although I noticed one chorister had the 21st century habit of leaving chewing gum on the ancient woodwork. The church is a wonder, and the ruined college next door picturesque.

Andrew Broughton the regicide lived in Maidstone, and may have known the old Tudor Chillington Manor, the town museum.
William Hazlitt also lived in Maidstone and the library had some of his books - in the discarded stock sale!

The Aldersgate Flame

John Wesley's conversion place where he felt his heart strangely warmed after a meeting of a society. The same thing happened to me after church one day, but then I discovered I'd spilled a cup of tea down my front!

Southend and Basildon

I've posted about Southend before and the place hasn't changed much since then, here is a picture of the Estuary front.

On the way back from Southend I stopped at Basildon, another new town. I’ve written elsewhere about Harlow and it is interesting to compare the two. Harlow dates from 1947 and Basildon from 1948 but they seem to be worlds apart, although this may be just familiarity. Basildon seems to bustle more than Harlow but has fewer artworks in the town. The oldest sculpture is on the side of ‘Freedom House’ (what a name) and is an abstract. Untitled, it is by A J Poole and was installed in 1957.

The sculpture of a mother and child in the fountain is interesting and is opposite the former co-operative store now occupied by Primark (as at Stevenage). The fountain was installed in 1962 and is black as coal. In the background is Brooke House also built in 1962, (did the council raid the housing account to pay for it one wonders?) a block of flats named after a Housing minister and designed by Sir Basil Spence. The only bit I could see was the lift lobby which was lined with marble and mosaic. A fitting setting for working class housing.



The Church of St Martin of Tours (Church of England of course) claims on its website that the church gardens make a pleasant place to sit, as well they might if they were not locked away behind 5 foot iron bars. The gardens have fountains playing round the side chapel of the church, although difficult to photograph. The church itself is attractive with a sculpture of Jesus over the door waiting in welcome and stained glass windows up to head height in the walls giving a floating impression.

The detatched modern campanile contains an 11cwt ring of 8 bells including the tenor cast in the 15th century and treble and second cast in 1997. The campanile was opened by the queen on my 32nd birthday


The library was quite well stocked with local history books although the books argued which shop had been the former co-op. I could not find out if it had been London Co-op Society, which was most likely, or Chelmsford Star Co-op which was the geographical best fit. There are a good few charity shops in Basildon and I bought a jug (£5 marked down from £15 although I even thought £5 was a little steep – cancer research are always pricey). It was dated 1943 and just as I got it home I dropped it and chipped it – blast! There were the usual pound shops but there was a Debenhams Department store.

There’s a very good train service from Basildon to Fenchurch Street.