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Lavenham again

Lavenham again

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We are now back from our trip to Lavenham and you may have noticed the absence of a blow by blow account. The hotel did have free wireless broadband available to guests but, as happened in Norwich, it wasn't working properly and so I couldn't use it. It was still out of order when we left.

Sunday 29th April 2007

We arrived in Lavenham on Sunday last at about 11:30 in the morning and, as we expected, our room at the Swan Inn wasn't going to be ready until about 2:00 in the afternoon. So we left our luggage with the hotel and wandered off around the town.

In case you wonder what the Swan is like then this is it (built in the 1400s).

One of the nice things about Lavenham is that whichever street you choose to walk along it will almost certainly have a lot of ancient buildings in it. This time we chose to go out of the back of the hotel into Lady Street and up a short way to the Square to look around the many and various nice old buildings including the Guildhall (built in 1530) and owned by the National Trust.

By now it was time for lunch and we went back into High Street and found a little teashop called 'Chilli and Chives' and had a light lunch including cups of tea and coffee.

After lunch we walked north along High Street and back admiring all the inevitable ancient buildings and then turned up Hall Road just to see if there was a 'Hall' and indeed there was. A lovely, large old house with very attractive grounds including a small lake with black swans.

We noticed that at the bottom end of the hall's grounds there was a public footpath running towards the church. Following that we emerged in the churchyard and so went into the rather cathedral-like church.

It has a rather imposing entrance porch.

It's even more imposing inside but I didn't take any interior pictures on this visit as it would require a tripod and that was still in the hotel. I made a mental note to return tomorrow with the said tripod.

It was coming up to afternoon tea time so we walked back to the hotel. After a brief visit to our room we sat down in one of the cosy lounge areas and ordered scones with butter, jam and clotted cream. Whilst we were waiting for our tea to arrive three other people came in and sat nearby. We couldn't help but overhear what they were saying and deduced from their accents that they were Americans. They chose to have the larger version of tea so that, in addition to what we had, theirs included finger sandwiches and pastries. When it arrived, on a tall cake stand in three layers, they seemed so pleased with it they were taking photographs of each other to include the cake stand. They obviously couldn't take a picture with all three of them in it so I volunteered to do it for them and they gratefully accepted my offer.

Our scones were some of the best we'd had – very yummy with jam and clotted cream.

After tea Amanda decided to have a bath so I went out for another walk around. Whilst wandering around the Square again I met the same three Americans from the hotel. It turned out that they had come over to collect their daughter from Law School in London and because the man had been stationed near Lavenham with the American air force about 20 years ago they had driven up here to look at old haunts and they felt that little had changed.

So back to the hotel to try the broadband.

I had, as mentioned earlier, to take my laptop into the lounge to try this and using the information given to me by the hotel tried to connect to the Internet. After fiddling about for 30 minutes I had to admit defeat. I went back to reception and asked to see their connecting instructions again. "Are you having trouble" said the receptionist – I said that I was. "Ah", she said, "we appear to have a problem with that". I wish I'd known before I started as it would have saved a lot of frustration. They were supposed to be getting a man in next day to fix it.

I went back to our room and had a look at the photographs I'd taken during the day after which it was time to get ready for dinner.

We went in to the dining room and what a dining room it was.

Oak beams everywhere and a minstrels' gallery (but no minstrel – pity). After dinner we went back to our room and, eventually, to bed. My mistake at this point was to pull the curtains completely closed.

I woke the following morning when it was barely light and concluded that it must be around 5:00 AM but on looking at my watch I saw that it was actually 8:00 AM. The curtains were so efficient at blocking the light that the room was still virtually dark although it was broad daylight outside. Oops! The next night I left a small gap between the curtains.

Monday 30th April 2007

We had arranged to meet a lady at Little Hall in the Square so that I could take some interior photographs today when the hall is normally closed to visitors.

This is just one of the rooms.

The other interiors will appear on the web site in due course.

After this it was time for lunch and this time we went to a little teashop in Water Street called 'Sweetmeats'. The range of offerings here was pretty amazing. I had a bouillabaisse which is described as a highly seasoned fish stew made from at least two kinds of fish and this had much more than two kinds – very tasty indeed. Amanda had Chicken Madras which she thought was very good. The tea room is upstairs, has only five tables and is run by a trained chef. This place is a little gem so if you are ever in Lavenham – try it.

Off to the church with a tripod this time to take some interior pictures. Just look at that stone carving on the wall of the nave above the arches

and at the risk of straining your neck look at the carving on some of the roof beams above the nave.

After the church we had yet another walk around the streets – we never get tired of doing that in Lavenham. Buildings in Lavenham crooked? Did I say that?

No it's not the camera angle and, no, they weren't built that way. I may look like that when I'm that old.

Later, back at the hotel, we decided to try the bar meals at The Swan in the less formal surroundings of the lounge and we were not disappointed. The menu was different from that of the restaurant but just as tasty and just as nicely presented.

And so to bed (No the broadband problem wasn't fixed today).

Tuesday 1st May 2007

We left Lavenham this morning to return home but that didn't stop us from sightseeing on the way.

First stop was Cavendish. A small village about 12 miles from Lavenham slightly south of west. This view is a well known and often used view of Cavendish to illustrate Suffolk and one can easily see why.

We love some of these names – 'Nether Hall'. Lovely building too.

Leaving Cavendish and moving further west another three miles we arrive at Clare where we find the Old House. I hope that you will be able to see the intricate moulded patterns on the house walls.

Just in case it's not easy to see in the smallish picture here is an enlargement of part of the same picture.

We had lunch in a small tearoom called 'Cafe Clare' which we can also recommend if you are ever round that way.

We made our way home from here after 3 delightful and interesting days.

Angels, Windmills and Porridge

Angels, Windmills and Porridge

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Yesterday was a lovely sunny day and the back roads called. We headed north-west towards Braintree, by-passed Braintree to the north, then off west through Bocking Churchstreet. We passed by the windmill in Bocking Churchstreet, which we have visited before, and made our way through the tiny back roads passing through the villages of Panfield, Jasper's Green and Shalford Green before arriving at our first planned stop – Bardfield Saling church.

Bardfield Saling is a very small village which is approximately in the middle of nowhere and all the better for it. It has a little church, built in the first half of the 14th century, with an unusual feature – a round tower. There are only 6 churches in Essex with round towers and this is probably the last medieval church ever built in this country with a round tower.

There were a number of interesting features inside including some straw platting showing extraordinary detail. We spoke to a lady in the house opposite the church who told us that the platting was done in 1880 by the mother of the previous church warden.

After leaving Bardfield Saling we meandered, and meander really is the only suitable description for navigating these little lanes, for a few miles to the village of Stebbing. You will not find Stebbing mentioned in any tourist literature which is surprising because it really is a pretty village. Lots of ancient buildings and a rather fine church.

The existing church dates from the mid 14th century and belonged to the Knights Hospitallers. There is nothing in the architecture to indicate that it was a Hospitallers church; it is simply a fine example of Decorated English seen here behind some cottages from outside the old Red Lion.

It was here that we saw some angels.

There were a pair of angels, one each side, between each of the main supporting beams of the roof structure. That, however, was not the most interesting feature of this church. It has a stone rood screen, most are made of wood, and is one of only three left in Europe. One of the other two is in Great Bardfield, of which more later, and the third is in Trondheim, Norway.

We walked back into the main part of the village along this road.

With a last look at some of the old cottages we moved on to our next destination.

Wending, or should that be winding, our way through yet more back lanes we headed for Thaxted going out through Duck End and past Porridge Hall on the way. Don't you just love those names? I don't know whether the hall has any association with Porridge or whether it's a corruption of an older name.

I stopped to take this picture on our approach to Thaxted because the little town looked so nice nestling in it's valley. You can't really miss the church and the windmill can you?

We arrived at Thaxted in time for lunch. There are three tea rooms in Thaxted that we know of. One, which is Egon Ronay recommended, had apparently closed down and of the other two in the main street opposite the Guildhall we chose the one called "Parrish's". Amanda had fish and chips and I had omlette and chips which was fine and the only comments that I would make are that the meals arrive on plates the size of manhole covers, I couldn't finish all mine, and the 'background' music was a bit too foreground for me – too loud.

However, thoroughly fortified, we sallied forth to explore. We have been to Thaxted before but there were some parts we had not explored. We walked up Stoney Street which leads from the Guildhall up to the churchyard.

Through the churchyard past the Alms Houses and along the footpath to John Webb's Windmill.

This is a conventional tower mill built in 1804 using local materials. The bricks being made and fired locally using clay from a local pit. The windmill is fully restored and is now in full working order and capable of grinding flour.

Back along the footpath running alongside the churchyard we headed into the town centre.

Back to the car and off to our next destination – Little Bardfield Church next to Little Bardfield Hall. Somewhere between Thaxted and Little Bardfield we go past Furthermore Hall and I don't know where that name comes from either. The little church of St Katharine's at Little Bardfield dates from 1042 which means that, in case you can't work it out, it is a Saxon church. The tower really does look quite large for such a small church.

Onward for one and a half miles to Great Bardfield. Great Bardfield was at one time a small market town but is now a village that retains some of the trappings of its erstwhile importance, for example, a 'Town Hall'.

We parked in the High Street near the the war memorial and this view is from the war memorial looking down Brook Street which was the road we used to get to the church.

There are some nice ancient buildings here from the medieval period onwards as evidenced by this large thatched cottage. It is particularly interesting because a small part of the roof at the front is tiled.

Further along we went past the green, with its colour-washed houses, towards the church.

The 14th century church is interesting for a number of reasons. One is that the lower part of the tower is actually Norman.

Another reason is the stone rood screen. This is late 14th century whereas the one we saw in Stebbing is mid-14th century. So now you've seen two out of the three remaining stone rood screens in Europe. If you want to see the third you'll have to pop over to Norway.

This is yet another reason, should you need one; one of two elaborately carved chancel tie-beams including the date of 1618.

Leaving Great Bardfield we head for Finchingfield where we arrive in time for afternoon tea with scones, butter and jam. Yum! On a previous visit we went into the Causeway Tea Rooms but they are closed each Thursday and Friday so we went into Jemima's Tea Rooms, near The Fox Inn, instead. Good tea and coffee – lovely scones!

Finchingfield, like Thaxted, is already featured on the web site but we wanted another look around and there is always the chance of a different view like this one

We wandered across to the windmill which is the smallest post mill in Essex dating from the 1700s.

This is part of the village near the windmill.

.. and so we headed home after another long, sunny and interesting day. Some of these places will, in time, appear on the web site with their own pages.

Two churches and a wood.

Two churches and a wood.

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The next wood that we wanted to visit was Blakes Wood, Danbury near Chelmsford in Essex so that was where we were headed this morning but, on the way, we were going to call in to Woodham Walter Church. I have already mentioned this little tudor church in the Blog, with pictures, on 21st August 2006 but this time I went to get a picture of a Tudor doorway inside.

Notice the date of 1563 on the red plaque above the door. Doors of that age aren’t 10 a penny.

It wasn’t long after leaving the church that we arrived at Blakes Wood. One point of interest was an area damaged by the Great Storm of 1987 which has been left just as it was to see how the wood recovers naturally. You should be able to see the damage it did in this small area.

We saw some more Wood Anemonies in a part of the wood that also has a nice little stream.

After walking round the wood back to the car we headed for Ulting Church on the bank of the River Chelmer.

This church is mainly 13th century but what a setting!

This was our final stop and after walking back to the car along the banks of the River Chelmer we arrived back home for a slightly late lunch.

Cottage and Castle

Cottage and Castle

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In my previous entry I said “The weather is forecast to be good next week” and it is.

I had wanted to visit Pleshey for some time now so that is where we decided to go this morning. Pleshey is a small village about 7 miles north-west of Chelmsford in Essex and is unusual in that it lies wholly within the defensive ditch and rampart of Pleshey Castle. The castle itself, built in Norman times, no longer exists as it was dismantled for building stone in the 17th century but the Motte and Bailey are still evident.

Map of Pleshey

We started by looking at the church.

There has been a church on the site for many hundreds of years but it was mostly rebuilt in the 19th century incorporating just a little of the original. The design of the present church is unusual in that it has a flying buttress on the south side of the tower, which can be seen in the view above, and a smaller hexagonal tower, containing a spiral stairway, attached to the north-east corner of the main tower which is shown in the view below.

We crossed the road to the public footpath opposite the church and followed the defensive ditch all the way around the north-west side of the village and back to the same road but on the other side of the village. The ditch is rather overgrown and this is the best view that I was able to get.

We walked back through the village admiring some of the pretty thatched cottages as we passed by.

The castle motte and bailey is privately owned and accessible to visitors only by appointment but some features can be seen from the outside. On the way through the village we stopped at the castle mound viewing area – a nice little grassed area with a bench seat.

The water is part of the original moat with the 50 foot high castle mound off to the right. Looking between two of the cottages we could see the large brick bridge connecting the motte and bailey and which was built in the late 14th century. This is one of the earliest brick structures in the country.

Finally we were able to get a good view of the part of the moat that surrounds the bailey although there is much less water in this part.

All in all an interesting little trip.

Extra mural activities.

Extra mural activities.

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I'd like to be able to say that we went out this afternoon because the weather was so nice again – but I can't because it was raining most of the afternoon. The weather forecast was for showers and I suppose it was but with only a few minutes between each and the showers were long.

Still our proposed destination was St. Michael and All Angels Church at Copford and it was the inside that we were interested in seeing so the weather could do what it liked – and it did!

This church was described by Pevsner as the most remarkable Norman parish church in Essex. It is interesting architecturally and has a pretty woodland setting but the remarkable Norman wall paintings are the real attraction and that is what we went to see. These paintings were described by Simon Jenkins as amongst the best in England and you can see why.

Just remember that these paintings, together with the building, are Norman and date from around 1130 which makes them nearly 900 years old.

The picture above is of the Apse with the altar just out of the bottom of the picture.

What is unusual in a church is to see a complete set of the signs of the zodiac, all 12 of them, and some of them are shown in the picture above on the underside of the Chancel Arch which leads into the Apse.

This shows Christ as the central figure in the 'Christ in Glory' fresco shown in the first picture above.

It was certainly a worthwhile trip and I intend to go back in better weather and take an exterior picture and to try to get a general view along the nave.

A Sunny September Interlude

A Sunny September Interlude

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It was such a lovely September afternoon yesterday that we decided to take a trip out to St. Peter’s Chapel at Bradwell-on-Sea which is already featured on the web site.

The sunlight had that magical mellow September feel to it and walking from where we parked the car to the chapel the surrounding landscape, complete with blue sky and clouds, looked wonderful.

St. Peter's Chapel

St. Peter’s Chapel started life 1300 years ago as a Saxon cathedral and sits on the banks of the River Blackwater near the site of an old Roman fort and a lot of the building material was taken from that fort.

The river at this point is about a mile wide and we walked the short way across the salt marsh, which was a bit muddy, to the rivers edge (not a particularly bright thing to do when wearing sandals). There was a large area of the shore covered in broken shells of the Common Cockle through which a small stream ran into the river.

Bradwell-on-Sea

Here is a closer look at the chapel.

St. Peter's Chapel

Later that evening, when we were back home, Amanda spotted this in our garden.

Tawny Owl

Only it’s head is visible but it is a Tawny Owl roosting in one of our trees. An unusual sight at this time of day in bright sunlight. It made a nice end to a nice day.

Going up in the world.

Going up in the world.

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Yesterday we went to Purleigh, a small village near Maldon, to visit the church. They were having an ‘open’ day which included the tower so we were able to climb to the top to see the views over the surrounding countryside.

It was obviously popular with a lot of people going up and down and you can see why when you look at the views.

View from Purleigh Church tower

This is a view of part of Purleigh.

View from Purleigh

This is the church seen from the ground and if you look carefully you will see the heads of people looking down.

View of Purleigh Church

For some unknown reason very few churches were built during the reign of Elizabeth I so that Elizabethan churches are rare. After visiting Purleigh we went to Woodham Walter to see the Elizabethan church there.

View of Woodham Walter Church

View of Woodham Walter Church

What you can’t see in the first picture is that the main body of the church appears to have been constructed as two sections.

The stepped gables are a feature of Elizabethan buildings.

Early vandalism

How’s this for early vandalism? Someone has carved their initials into the stonework together with the date – 1668.

A little further down the road is the timber-framed Bell Inn.

The Bell Inn

A nice little trip on a sunny Sunday afternoon.