Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Noyelles Travels
Thursday 15th October
Farewelled Jenny at Brockenhurst at 10 & went to Winchester where we had lunch with Lucilla & Gareth. Moving on we drove to Kintbury to see Ann, one of Dick's favourite cousins. By chance we were early so we walked out of her side gate into the pathway & there she was returning from lunch in the village.
Jane & Ann spent the next hour & a half correcting family data for the family tree before we left on the final part of the day’s journey to Coln Rogers just north east of Cirencester in the Cotswold Hills.
Here we were welcomed by Wiggy & Nicky at their beautiful farmhouse home. We talked well
into the night about our families & our travels before retiring to bed.
Friday 16th October
Wiggy had been yesterday to a class about the 'Arts & Crafts’ movement at the beginning of the 20th century & suggested we should see Chipping Camden, where C R Ashbee had brought 50 of his workers from east London to establish a craft centre in the little town. These were skilled craftsmen who were to live in a far healthier place. Unfortunately many returned to London & most of his endeavour was fruitless.
The one exception was the Hart family of silversmiths who stayed on working at the old disused silk factory & members of which still make silver vessels & other items in the same way as their predecessors. We found their little workshop on the first floor & were astonished at what we beheld. The room is full of most unusual tools & an elderly man invited us
to see the work. 4 men & a girl were each working at their benches in a fairly dark room making a range of items from small spoons to a beautiful glass decanter. The 4 men were all related & the girl was learning the trade. Each person made a complete article from sheet silver into the final product. Hanging from the rafters above were invoices on spikes most of which were dark with age & silver dust. It was a truly Dickensian workshop & we could not believe that it could meet any health & safety regulations.
We bought a lovely tea caddy spoon & left fascinated & amazed.
The town is magnificent & luckily for us was nearly empty. Its limestone buildings date back
from the 14th & 15th centuries with a sprinkling of later ones & it is the most spectacular Cotswold town that we have ever seen. On to the 14th century church which showed how affluent the town had been from the Middle Ages.
After lunch we returned to see the small but spectacular museum about the various craftsmen who had lived there. We returned to Colne Rogers across the hills after a wonderful day out.
Saturday 17th October
After a slow start we walked across the fields to catch up with Harry & Alice & their 2 children & Sophia who had been out hunting. Had a great time talking to Harry, a very successful fund manager, about various Australian stocks & the problems that he faces taking positions in smaller listed companies. He has certainly matured since we last saw him several years ago & it was great talking also to Alice.
After lunch we left on our way to Bethnal Green in east London to stay with the Atkinsons in the vicarage behind Adam’s church. All the family are well & Alistair in particular has grown so much since we last saw him a couple of years ago. He is thriving at Westminster School &
Ellie, his sister is enjoying working for a big Anglican Trust. Heather is a curate in Hackney just to the north of their home.
Adam showed us a fascinating U-tube promotional video that has been made about the work of his parish & we talked about some of the issues of the area.
Sunday 18th October
This morning we walked to the nearest bus stop & looked at the indicator for the times until the bus we needed to go to St Paul’s Cathedral. It took a few minutes to work out that although the time for the No 8 bus was given the bus stop we were at was not on its route. Cutting our losses we took the next bus anyway & as we approached the city we noticed that the
No 8 stopped at a stop we passed so we got off & caught the next one.
We arrived at the cathedral in the middle of a service & after finding Dick’s cousin wasn’t on duty we stayed for the rest of the service which had some magnificent choral works.
After a well earned coffee we set off to return to Bethnal Green but passed St Vedast’s, a small church which we ducked into.
It was only about 200m north of the cathedral & was also by Christopher Wren, having had its interior rebuilt after being fire bombed in the war.
After arriving home we bought an orchid in Columbia St Market & then set off with Ellie & Alistair to find Heather’s church in Hackney. Built in the 1960s this is an almost square building with an extraordinary crucifix hanging above the altar of a fully clothed Jesus. It is light & airy but is a little soul less.
We then had a very late lunch at an Italian restaurant where Adam joined us & returned home once more at about 4.15.
We attended Adam’s 5 o’clock Harvest Festival, which was quite an event, before leaving to go & talk to some prospective home exchangers for 2016 in Crouch End a few miles north. The journey of about 5 miles took 45 minutes & was a nightmare but it was good to meet them.
Returning once more we went over to the church hall where a post service party was in full swing. We stayed on to help to clear up there before going to bed at about 10.30. Late by our standards.
Monday 19th October
What a day. Up latish & then, after breakfast, Adam took us to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the oldest continuously operating manufacturing business in England as it started in 1570. It is another quaint building with a small museum next to the office in a former coaching inn & we were fascinated by the displays & a short video on the making, repairing & hanging of bells. The largest one they made was for the chime of Big Ben. Unfortunately tours are only conducted on some Saturday mornings & they have to be booked well in advance.
After a coffee we walked toward the city & stopped at St Botolph’s Church, which had escaped the great fire of London in 1666 with very ornate plaster statues & coats of arms of the patrons of various guilds added in the 19th century & a remarkable sword stand. Here we talked to 2 church watchers who told us that it was rebuilt in Georgian times & it was quite light & airy
inside. On we went to St Katherine Cree church, another of the many in the city rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the great fire of 1666. On our way towards St Pauls we stopped off at Bow church where those born within the sound of the bells are proper Cockneys.
At 2pm we met up with Dick’s cousin Michael for lunch. He is a wandsman at St Paul’s Cathedral & an ex London bobby. We had a great time with him as he is a mine of information on The City & is wonderful company. He took us to a new shopping & office block which overlooks the east end of the Cathedral from its roof area.
Having farewelled Michael we took the bus back to Bethnal Green, packed up the car & said goodbye to Heather & Adam before the tortuous drive to Gatwick to stay the night at a hotel near the airport.
- comments
Neil & Jacque We remember Chipping Camden, it poured with rain and J lost a glove! Nice place to visit.