Senator Harry Reid (D) Nevada

 

MINORITY RETORT

by ELSA WALSH

 

How a pro-gun, anti-abortion Nevadan leads the Senate’s Democrats.

Issue of 2005-08-08 and 15

Posted 2005-08-01

 

About twenty minutes before President Bush announced that John G. Roberts, Jr., was his choice to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court, he telephoned Harry Reid, of Nevada, the Senate Minority Leader. As Reid recalls the brief conversation, Bush said, “This guy is really smart, and you’ll like him.” Reid replied, “I hope so,” and added that, during the search, he had enjoyed working with the White House legal counsel, Harriet Miers. (A few days earlier, Reid had met with Miers and had suggested ways to avoid a divisive confirmation process.) Mentioning her name, Reid said, was a signal—his way of telling Bush, “Thanks for not giving us any of these crazies.” Or, as he put it a little later, the President “didn’t give us somebody who people like me were jumping up and down screaming the first time the name was uttered.”

 

Reid has been the Democrats’ leader in the Senate for six months. He is sixty-five, a trim man with short, graying hair and slightly stooped shoulders, and not someone who appears likely to jump up and down screaming. When we met last week in his Capitol office, it was clear that the Roberts nomination had come as a relief. “There were lots of people we didn’t want, and I made sure he knew what those names were,” Reid said, and mentioned the federal judges Edith Jones and Janice Rogers Brown, among others. “I think the President submitted someone who he thinks won’t be much trouble.” Nonetheless, Reid was reserving judgment until the F.B.I. investigation and the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings were completed. “Roberts is not a slam dunk,” he said. “I’m just keeping, as some have heard me say, my powder dry until we find out what the deal is.” And yet he couldn’t quite conceal his pleasure.

 

The day after Bush made his choice public, Roberts went to Capitol Hill to meet with some of the senators who will eventually be asked to vote on his confirmation. Reid, who is a former trial lawyer, spent thirty minutes with Roberts. One thing he asked him was how he felt about Supreme Court precedents—in particular, on what grounds they might be overturned. “Precedent is so important to me in the law,” Reid told him.

 

Roberts, Reid recalled, said, “ ‘Oh, on the Supreme Court you can change precedent only if there’s this and this,’ and he was rattling them off. I hope I didn’t act surprised, but I’d never heard anything like that before.” Roberts, in Reid’s view, left no doubt that he would be very reluctant to overturn precedents. To do so, Roberts had said, the Court would first have to consider a series of objective criteria, two of which stood out: whether a precedent fostered stability in the nation; and the extent to which society had come to rely on an earlier ruling, even a dubious one. “I thought it would be more of a weaselly answer than that, but he said you have to meet all these standards before you can change a precedent,” Reid said. Roberts’s view of precedent is likely to be an important issue during the upcoming confirmation hearings. Earl Maltz, a conservative and a professor at the Rutgers University School of Law at Camden, says that what Roberts told Reid could be “very significant,” because it runs counter to the “originalist” approach of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who believe that the Constitution should be strictly interpreted, according to the original intent of the Founding Fathers; on that premise, some previously decided cases, including Roe v. Wade, would be ripe for overturning. “The Constitution is not a living organism,” Scalia has said.

 

The other important part of their conversation, as Reid recounted it, had to do with an environmental case that Roberts had successfully argued before the Supreme Court in 2002—“one of the biggest environmental victories in decades,” Reid said. As a private attorney, Roberts had represented the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, which had been sued for imposing a building moratorium in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Under questioning by the Justices, Roberts had cited the potential for “irreparable harm” to the lake, and at one point said, “A temporary ban on development doesn’t render property valueless.” The environment is one of Reid’s causes, and what impressed Reid was that Roberts’s argument had been reasoned, not doctrinaire—“He based it on the facts.” Reid felt that the case demonstrated Roberts’s ability to grasp both sides of a debate.

 

Reid more than once compared Roberts to Justice David Souter, who was appointed by the first President Bush, in 1990, and today is widely detested by conservatives because he frequently sides with the more liberal Justices. Souter and Reid are friendly. “He’s my favorite man on the Court,” Reid said. “I think he’s such a wonderful man, and he believes in precedent. That’s all he’s doing. He’s just following the law.” Reid smiled, and continued, “If somebody is a real lawyer and not a Clarence Thomas or Edith Jones, who is there not to be a judge but to be a legislator, it gives us some hope, and so, if he is approved, I would hope he would turn out like Souter or somebody like that.” There is, to be sure, little in Roberts’s early record to suggest that he is anything but a conservative. A Washington Post report last week, for instance, quoted documents suggesting that Roberts had been an aggressive advocate of Ronald Reagan’s agenda when he served as a special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith.

 

Reid, though, believes that Bush chose Roberts in a moment of political weakness. Two months earlier, the Democrats had been successful in beating back the so-called “nuclear option”—Senator Trent Lott’s infelicitous name for the Republican attempt to change long-standing Senate rules on the filibuster. That issue had occupied the Senate for months, and for good reason: Republicans have a ten-vote advantage in the hundred-member Senate, but it requires sixty votes to stop a filibuster; the Republican leadership wanted to change that to a simple majority of fifty-one votes, which would have made it almost impossible for the Democrats to block a controversial Supreme Court nomination. “I don’t want to stick my finger in his eye, at this stage,” Reid said, speaking of Bush. “I’m trying, in a nice way, to say I think everyone’s experience here with the nuclear option has made everyone, including the President, more cautious about judges, because, as it turned out, we spent a third of the Senate’s time so far this year basically on it.” The filibuster issue was finally resolved by means of a complex bargain worked out by a group of centrist Republicans and Democrats, who became known as the Gang of Fourteen. In the end, the filibuster was preserved. The result was widely seen as a victory for Reid and a setback for his counterpart, Majority Leader Bill Frist, of Tennessee.

 

After that, Reid said, Bush “just didn’t need another fight.” He added, “He’s had plenty.” He pointed to a drop in Bush’s approval rating, and cited a recent Wall Street Journal / NBC News poll in which only forty-one per cent of the respondents said they believed that Bush was honest and straightforward. Reid attributed the President’s declining popularity to bad news from Iraq, the investigation into whether his key political adviser, Karl Rove, leaked the name of an undercover C.I.A. agent, and his proposal, now faltering, to privatize part of Social Security. “He’s always been king of the hill,” Reid said. “His numbers have been good, but they’re not good now.” Reid also thought that Bush had come to have a different view of him. “I just don’t think he estimated me at all—under or over.” Now, Reid said, “I think he understands me a little bit more than he used to.”

   

This spring, I went to see Reid in Nevada, which he has represented in Washington since 1983, in the House of Representatives for two terms and, since 1987, in the Senate. Outside his home state, or the orbit of the United States Capitol, though, he is not widely known. During one stop, Reid called around the country to some committed Democratic donors. In two out of three calls, he had to identify himself several times before the recipient figured out who he was. “This is Harry Reid.” Pause. “I’m a U.S. senator.” Pause. “Harry Reid. I’m the Senate Minority Leader. Harry R-E-I-D.” When he hung up, he turned to me and said, “I guess I’m not too well known in that household.”

 

In Nevada, a state where the federal government owns nearly ninety per cent of the land and politics can be incestuous, Reid’s power and influence are widespread. He was embarrassed two years ago when a Los Angeles Times story revealed that one of his sons and his son-in-law had lobbied in Washington for “companies, trade groups and municipalities seeking Reid’s help in the Senate.” Over the previous four years, the newspaper reported, these efforts, supported by Reid, brought more than two million dollars in business to firms that employed family members. At the time, Reid’s four sons, ranging in age from thirty to forty-two, worked for Nevada’s largest law firm, Lionel Sawyer & Collins. The story noted that the Howard Hughes Corporation alone “paid $300,000 to the tiny Washington consulting firm of [Reid’s] son-in-law Steven Barringer to push a provision allowing the company to acquire 998 acres of federal land ripe for development” in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. When I asked Reid about the L.A. Times story, he pointed out that his son-in-law had been a lobbyist before his daughter married him. Susan McCue, Reid’s chief of staff, said in an e-mail that when the newspaper started making inquiries “Senator Reid (and I) agreed that we needed to put up a wall between any family members lobbying and this office for the sake of appearances, even if they’re working on issues that benefit Nevada.” Soon after he was interviewed by L.A. Times reporters, Reid banned relatives from lobbying his office.

 

Reid seems, at first, an unlikely choice for party leader in the Senate, especially given the tradition of men like Lyndon Johnson, whose method of leadership was to cajole and threaten his colleagues. Reid doesn’t have the sort of domineering personality that L.B.J. had; in fact, despite an occasionally quick temper, he can seem almost shy. But, if Reid is no Johnson, he has, unlike his immediate predecessor, Tom Daschle, of South Dakota, or Frist, been able to keep his party largely united. That is due, in part, to his attentiveness; he is in constant contact with colleagues, and even reserves a pocket in his suit for their written requests. Susan McCue says that Reid is always assessing a person’s vulnerabilities in order to “disarm, to endear, to threaten, but most of all to instill fear.” And Reid has made it plain that there are consequences for stepping out of line. Without Reid’s approval, Senator Byron Dorgan, of North Dakota, who was making a bid to chair the Democratic National Committee, announced that he had Reid’s support. Reid—a friend of Dorgan’s—promptly and publicly withdrew his backing.

 

Like L.B.J. and other Southwestern politicians, such as Barry Goldwater, Reid has a habit of using language that his critics say is inappropriate for a Senate leader. “I think Senator Reid often says what we’re all thinking but perhaps are afraid to say,” Senator Edward Kennedy says. Reid has called Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, a “political hack,” said that Clarence Thomas was an “embarrassment,” and labelled Bush a “loser” and a “liar.” He surprised the Democratic operative Jim Johnson, who was conducting John Kerry’s search for a running mate, by sharply criticizing a long list of potential candidates, including John Edwards.

 

In public presentations, Reid is sometimes barely audible, which forces his spokesman to stand very close to him to hear what he says. In his haste to finish a speech, he sometimes mangles the text, and he is not much liked by television—he suffers from a certain charisma gap. When I asked him one day which former Senate leader he most admired, he mentioned Mike Mansfield, of Montana, who was the Majority Leader from 1961 to 1977. “He hated going on programs like ‘Meet the Press,’ and he was so bad they eventually hated having him on,” he said. Yet the aversion to television also works to Reid’s advantage. As former Senator John Breaux, Democrat of Louisiana, says, “It’s easier for an elected official like Harry to be more trusted and accepted by his colleagues if they don’t think that he’s out in front trying to do it for the media.”

 

To most politicians, this kind of anonymity would be torment. But Reid is not aspiring to be the face of the Democratic Party, or even its voice. “I know my limitations,” he said, and added, “I haven’t gotten where I am by my good looks, my athletic ability, my great brain, my oratorical skills.” Reid is a Mormon, and differs with most of his Democratic colleagues on social issues. He is opposed to abortion, gay marriage, and gun control, and supports the death penalty. He voted for both Persian Gulf wars. At a time when the White House and Congress are controlled by Republicans, Reid’s essential role is defensive—to hold the line for his party when the Bush agenda threatens to trample what Democrats most value. And, despite his relative anonymity, Reid has certainly been noticed by conservatives. When the Senate finally reached a deal on the filibuster, James Dobson, the ultraconservative chairman of Focus on the Family, delivered a backhanded compliment to Reid. “This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats,” Dobson said.

   

When Reid talks to constituents, he likes to single out staffers for particular praise. He told a group of Las Vegas businessmen that Susan McCue was one of ten children and that “she worked like a dog to get through college.” McCue, who is thirty-nine, and has worked intermittently for Reid since 1990, rolled her eyes at Reid’s description. When Reid speaks about Bush, his tone changes; he has called Bush “King George,” and in Las Vegas he told a group of community activists that the President’s view was “If you’re poor it’s your fault. Go out and be part of America’s success. Go out and get a job and be rich.” And he added, “I wish it were so.” When I asked McCue about this apparent class sensitivity, she said, “It’s not resentment on Reid’s part. But he knows they”—Reid and Bush—“are from different sides of the track.” She urged me to visit Searchlight, Nevada, where Reid was born and has a home—a place that does double duty as a political backdrop, evoking the authentic Old West.

 

Seven years ago, Reid wrote a history of his home town, “Searchlight: The Camp That Didn’t Fail,” published by the University of Nevada, in which he observed, “There are no permanent towns that survive on mining alone. When the tide goes out, when the boom is over, the debris is all that is left. . . . When the town fades, those with money, talent, and initiative generally depart quickly, leaving behind the diehards, the outcasts, the mavericks, or those too old or too sick to move on.” Today in Searchlight, which is about a mile long, one can see the two-room cinder-block schoolhouse that Reid attended, a small casino on the main street, and a McDonald’s. Almost all the houses are double-wide mobile homes, with no landscaping.

 

There were about two hundred people left in the town when Reid was born, in 1939, the third of four sons of Harry Reid, Sr., a gold miner with an elementary-school education, and his wife, Inez, who did laundry for some of the local bordellos, which were by then the town’s primary business. Reid’s boyhood home was built out of scavenged railroad ties; it had no indoor toilet and no hot water. There were no telephones in Searchlight until the nineteen-fifties. When Reid’s younger brother, Larry, broke a leg in a bicycle accident, the leg was never set. “We didn’t go to doctors in those days unless it was a matter of life and death,” Reid said. “And he just lay there. It was so painful, and you couldn’t touch the bed. And that’s the way it just was for several days.” (Larry and another brother are retired; the third, an alcoholic, died in 1977.) Reid’s parents drank and his father often got into brawls. “He didn’t like people coming around and wouldn’t let us answer the door even if we were home,” Reid said. When he could no longer work, because of silicosis, a miner’s cough, Reid’s father stopped drinking, but at the age of fifty-eight he committed suicide, with a gunshot to the head. “He was always depressed,” Reid said, adding that his father’s depression was evident to him only in hindsight. “We always joke that Dad sobered up and killed himself.” His mother tacked to the wall a blue pillowcase with gold fringe and a message of perseverance that originated with Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “We can. We will. We must.”

 

Because the school in Searchlight went only up to eighth grade, every week Reid hitchhiked forty miles to Henderson, a factory town, where he boarded with relatives while he went to the public high school. “I always knew I wanted to get out of there,” he said of Searchlight. “I knew that from the time I was a little kid.” In Henderson, Reid met Landra Gould, the woman whom he eventually married. Reid said that Gould’s parents, who were Jewish, liked him until they realized how serious the couple was—“They wanted their daughter to marry a Jewish boy”—and tried to end the relationship. Her father, Landra Reid told me, “would tear up Harry’s letters, hang up the phone on him. They had a fight in the front yard.” Reid has said that the fight ended when he knocked his future father-in-law, a chiropractor, to the ground. Landra says, “I remember a lot of yelling and pushing.” In 1959, when Harry was twenty and Landra was nineteen, they eloped. After a honeymoon dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas, Landra called home to report the news; within days, she got a letter from her parents saying that, despite their misgivings, their daughter’s happiness came first. Reid now wears his father-in-law’s ring.

 

In Henderson, Reid also met Donal (Mike) O’Callaghan, who arrived at the high school to teach government and boxing. O’Callaghan, who had lost a leg in the Korean War and was just ten years older than Reid, became a hero to Reid after he faced down a school bully. Reid, a catcher on the school’s championship baseball team and a guard on the football team, learned to box from O’Callaghan, who helped him win a partial athletic scholarship to a junior college in Utah and later helped pay his way through law school. O’Callaghan, like Reid, had larger ambitions: in the seventies, he served two terms as governor of Nevada, and he went on to become the executive editor of the Las Vegas Sun and a sometime columnist for the paper. When he died, last year, Reid eulogized him as the best friend he had ever had. McCue told me that the only time she ever saw Reid cry was at the news of O’Callaghan’s death.

 

While Harry was in college, he and Landra converted to Mormonism. “The thing that was so impressive to me—in addition to the spiritual aspects that I’d never experienced before—was the emphasis on family,” Reid said. “The biggest jump for me,” Landra Reid said, “was to try to understand the connection between Judaism and the Old Testament and the New Testament, and how to make any sense of how Christianity fit into it.” She added, “Before we got married, we had talked about it and decided we were not going to let religion divide us after what we’d been through. If we found something, we were going to find it together.” Until both of her parents died, Harry Reid said, the family observed the Jewish holidays. “My two oldest children have great affection for things Jewish, and my three younger children are aware of their mother’s lineage, and all of them are very proud of the fact that they are eligible for Israeli citizenship.” On the doorway of their house in Searchlight, the Reids have a mezuzah.

 

The Reids’ house, a Mediterranean-style two-bedroom home that faces the open desert, is situated on a hundred acres at the end of a long dirt road. They had it built four years ago, after living for years in a double-wide. Reid’s friend Jay Brown, a Las Vegas lawyer and a Brooklyn native, said, “You should have seen the trailer,” and complained that simply getting there ruined the tires of his car. Reid is a former marathoner—he ran twelve races before an injury and then a fall sidelined him. Now he takes an hour-long walk each morning, often with Landra, whose presence appears to put him in a lighter mood.

 

The Reids took me on a tour of the house, which is decorated in a Western mining motif, including a gate from one of the town’s mines that hangs on a wall in the entry hall. Next to it is an abstract oil painting of Martin Luther King, Jr. Reid showed me his high-school yearbook; when he was sixteen, his nickname was Pinky. A painting of what appeared to be a mountain man with a white scraggly beard caught my attention. “That’s my brother Larry,” he said.“He still looks that way.” He pointed to a skeletal structure in the distance, the remains of one of the mines where his father worked.

   

As George W. Bush has learned, Harry Reid does not ignore slights. “I believe in vengeance,” he once told a reporter. In May, he began a commencement address at George Washington University Law School by saying that the last time he had set foot on the campus was January, 1964—the year he graduated from the school. “I’ve been holding a grudge,” he said. Law school was difficult. “We managed to get by, but just barely,” he said. At one point, while Landra was pregnant with their second child and he was working six days a week as a Capitol police officer, the transmission of their car, a 1954 Buick Special, broke down. He was desperate. “No car,” he continued. “No way to get to work. Too many bills.” When he approached a dean for help, he recalled, the dean said, “ ‘Why don’t you just quit law school?’ I don’t remember exactly what I thought he would say, but that was not it,” he said. “Since that day, I’ve harbored ill will toward this school.”

 

Reid told the graduates that he regretted his pettiness, but it’s fair to say that payback has been a factor in his career. When I asked what got him interested in politics, he had a one-word reply: “Rudeness.” He explained that not long after he returned to Henderson to practice law, a client, a doctor, had asked him to accompany him to an administrative hearing at a hospital. “As we walked in, the chairman of the board of trustees said, ‘We don’t need lawyers here. We do what we want to do,’ ” Reid recalled. “It was just so rude. I wasn’t there to say anything. I was there just to watch. As a result of how rude he was, I decided to run for the hospital board.” He was elected in 1966, and not long afterward, he said, “we got him”—the administrator—“fired.” Soon, Reid decided that he could accomplish more in the state assembly, and in 1968 he announced his candidacy. This time, he went after the telephone company. “Service was so bad then, and they were dumb enough to respond to me,” Reid has said. “So I had an issue.” Reid served in the assembly for only two years, but he acquired a reputation as a consumer advocate, and he still holds the Nevada record for introducing the most bills in a session.

 

In 1970, Reid was barely thirty, and preparing for another state run, when it was suggested that he enter the lieutenant governor’s race. His good friend Mike O’Callaghan was running for governor as a Democrat—a long-shot candidacy—and Reid decided to run, he says, “within fifteen minutes.” His law partners gave him a party, and, as Reid tells it, “one of the local columnists wrote that I must be supported by Howard Hughes—otherwise how could I have a big party like that. Howard Hughes had just come to town. Of course it wasn’t true, but who was I to deny that he was helping me?”

 

Reid believes that the pseudo-Hughes connection may have frightened off challengers, and both O’Callaghan and Reid, running separately, won. But success, he says, made him overconfident. Reid had been lieutenant governor for four years when Senator Alan Bible announced his retirement. “I was a shoo-in,” Reid says. “Everything was in my favor. But I was young and impulsive and I attacked everybody. Every day, we would get up and find out who we were going to attack that day.” His pollster was Pat Cadell, who went on to work for Jimmy Carter’s Presidential campaign in 1976. Cadell assured him that he couldn’t lose. “I showed him,” Reid says. “I lost by six hundred and twenty-four votes,” to Paul Laxalt. When friends told him that such reverses always turn out for the best, he said, “I wanted to kick them in the shins.”

 

In 1977, O’Callaghan appointed him to the chairmanship of the Nevada Gaming Commission, which oversees casinos, and that was an experience that made his other work look easy. Before Reid took the job, O’Callaghan introduced him to the outgoing chairman, Peter Echeverria. “Pete was telling us, ‘I’ve had people out here watching me, these gangsters,’ and he said, ‘I think they’ve tapped my phone,’ ” Reid recalled. “I thought he was making all this stuff up. It just didn’t make sense. I had no concept of the Mob. It meant nothing to me.” There had been a decrease in Mob activity, but organized crime was again investing in Las Vegas, and for four years Reid confronted wiseguys like Tony (the Ant) Spilotro, who had been sent to Las Vegas by a Chicago branch of La Cosa Nostra, “the Outfit,” and was known for killing his victims by squeezing their heads in a vise. In 1979, Reid barred Spilotro from all casinos.

 

In July of 1978, a man named Jack Gordon, who was later married to LaToya Jackson, offered Reid twelve thousand dollars to approve two new, carnival-like gaming devices for casino use. Reid reported the attempted bribe to the F.B.I. and arranged a meeting with Gordon in his office. By agreement, F.B.I. agents burst in to arrest Gordon at the point where Reid asked, “Is this the money?” Although he was taking part in a sting, Reid was unable to control his temper; the videotape shows him getting up from his chair and saying, “You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me!” and attempting to choke Gordon, before startled agents pulled him off. “I was so angry with him for thinking he could bribe me,” Reid said, explaining his theatrical outburst. Gordon was convicted in federal court in 1979 and sentenced to six months in prison.

 

One day in 1981, Landra Reid noticed that the family station wagon was not running properly, and she discovered a cable under the hood and “something” sticking out of the gas tank. Police found a device that would have exploded had it been correctly grounded. Reid always blamed Gordon for the bomb, and the incident frightened his family—by then there were five children, four sons and a daughter—so that for a year they started the car by remote control. Gordon died in April, at the age of sixty-six, and his connection to the bombing attempt was never proved. McCue, Reid’s chief of staff, says that the episode changed Reid. Whatever the issue, she says, his approach is always “No one is going to kill me over this.”

 

When Reid’s Gaming Commission appointment expired, in 1981, he went back to private practice. He was at work on a liability lawsuit stemming from the M-G-M Grand fire, the 1980 blaze in which eighty-four people died, when Nevada was given another seat in the House of Representatives. Reid ran as a New Democrat, in a state that was tilting Republican. “Part of it, I’m sure, was my narrow loss in the Senate race, and it was also to show people I could make a comeback,” Reid said of his desire to run. He won the election and went to Washington in 1983.

   

After visiting Searchlight, Reid and I drove to Las Vegas, fifty-five miles away, through the Mojave Desert. On the drive, he talked about his relationship with Bush, whom he regularly disparages; there appears to be no chance that Reid and Bush will duplicate the unusually friendly relationship that Ronald Reagan had with Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill, the Democratic Speaker of the House, or even the businesslike partnership between Speaker Sam Rayburn and President Eisenhower. At an appearance at the Doris Hancock Elementary School, in Las Vegas, which some of his children attended, Reid began by talking about how his life had become more pressured since he’d become Minority Leader, but he was soon asked about Bush. “I didn’t come here to beat up on President Bush,” he said. “But I have served three Republican Presidents. President Reagan—I cared a great deal for him, and he got most of what he wanted. If you disagreed with him, he did not hold it against you.” He went on, “President Bush No. 1 is such a nice person. Some of my most prized possessions are the three letters he wrote me. But this President is totally different. He takes after his mother. It’s either his way or no way. It’s very, very difficult.” Even Reid seemed surprised by the depth of his reaction. “I’m sorry to give you this report on President Bush,” he said, “but that’s how I feel.”

 

Reid had been head of the school P.T.A., and the parents of some of his children’s friends were in the audience. One was the mother of a college roommate of one of his sons. Like Reid, she is an observant Mormon and they were old friends; but she was a Republican and clearly upset that Reid did not support Bush, especially on the partial privatization of Social Security. Later, she told me that she had voted for Reid in every election except the last one. “He became too liberal,” she said. “I love his wife, but I feel he’s left a lot of his beliefs behind.” While we were talking, Reid approached and she told him that one of her son’s friends, a professional football player, had been at the White House on Valentine’s Day. “They said Bush was so nice,” she said. Reid raised his eyebrows.

 

What happened between him and Bush? Their first meetings, right after Bush’s 2000 election, were cordial enough, Reid told me. “He was an extremely personable man—the kind of guy you’d like to go to a ballgame with.” But, he went on, “I have a lot of history now that I didn’t have then. First of all, he started out on a real bad foot with me because of Yucca Mountain”—a site a hundred miles northwest of Las Vegas, which the federal government wants to use as long-term storage for tens of thousands of tons of radioactive waste. Al Gore opposed this plan in the 2000 campaign, and Bush seemed to oppose it as well, promising that he would base any decision on “sound science.” Reid believed Bush, but, he said, “my belief was short-lived.” Barely a year into his first term, Bush approved the project, and Reid accused him of lying: “I thought he had misled the people of Nevada on nuclear waste.” Of calling Bush a liar, Reid said, “If somebody doesn’t tell the truth, how else would you describe it? I guess I could have said he didn’t tell the truth.” Reid said that, in a private meeting in the Oval Office in February, 2002, he told Bush, “You sold out on this.” The Wall Street Journal later reported the Yucca Mountain decision as the “biggest defeat” of Reid’s career, but added, “The fact that the campaign went on for so long is testimony to Mr. Reid’s formidable persuasive powers—a gift that still could put him in line to be his party’s next leader.”

   

The moment came on November 3, 2004, the day after the election. Tom Daschle had just lost his Senate race in South Dakota, becoming the first Senate leader in half a century to be defeated, and the Republicans had picked up five other seats being vacated by Democrats. Reid, who, as the Democrats’ Minority Whip since 1998, had been Daschle’s No. 2, had assiduously attended to his colleagues’ needs, monitoring legislation on the Senate floor while earning a reputation as trustworthy. By 11 a.m., Reid had the votes he needed. Neither Bush, who had been unsure of his own victory until early that morning, nor Reid, who had spent much of the night on the phone, had slept much. Bush called Reid in Nevada, and, Reid recalled, “he said, ‘This is a new term for me. I’m not running for anything ever again and I want to work with you again.’ ” Reid was pleased, and reported the conversation to his staff. “He had a significant majority in both the House and the Senate, and I thought he would work with us to try to get things done, that we could agree on,” he said.

 

Reid has not been particularly tough on Bush’s appointments so far. He voted to confirm Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State and even announced that he would probably support Scalia as Chief Justice if William Rehnquist retired and Bush wanted him. He didn’t push for a filibuster against Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, despite the opposition of all eight Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. Yet, on February 7th, the Republican National Committee attacked Reid’s record on its Web site, citing the Los Angeles Times story on his family, in which Reid was accused of voting for legislation that benefitted his sons and son-in-law. (One passage quoted on the R.N.C. Web site said, “So pervasive are the ties among Reid, members of his family and Nevada’s leading industries and institutions that it’s difficult to find a significant field in which such a relationship does not exist.”) On the Senate floor, Reid denounced the story as “scurrilous” and rebuked the President. Coincidentally, Bush had invited the Reids to dinner at the White House that night, along with three other senators and their wives. Reid initially thought about not going, but decided that “it would be too easy for them for me just not to go.” Still, it was clear that he and Landra were angry. Reid recalled that Bush said, “You know, I didn’t have anything to do with that. I don’t know what they do.” Reid wasn’t mollified. The next day, he reminded reporters of Bush’s campaign pledge to be a “uniter.” “I’m beginning to think those statements were just absolutely false,” he said.

 

There is no longer anything about Reid’s family on the R.N.C. Web site. The offending lines were removed on orders from Karl Rove. According to Rove, following the dinner Bush told him to tell Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the R.N.C., to “never mention Reid’s family again.” When I asked Reid about this, he said he was aware that the section had been deleted, but not of Bush’s role. “That’s nice of him,” he said.

 

Reid said that relations with Bush got worse in April, during the filibuster dispute, at a breakfast meeting in the White House between Bush and the congressional leadership. Reid said that he appealed to Bush to stay out of the fight, telling him, “I hope you’re going to help us on this nuclear option.” The President, he said, “was very direct and blunt: ‘I have nothing to do with this. This is your business. It’s not mine.’ ” Reid thought that would remove one powerful obstacle. But, within days, Vice-President Dick Cheney announced that, as acting president of the Senate, he would provide the tie-breaking vote if it was needed to change the rule. Bush, Reid said, had pulled a “halfback’s stutter step”—a fake—on him. “He was just trying, it appears to me, to mislead me. He just wasn’t telling me the truth at that breakfast meeting. No question about it. He could have said to me, ‘What you’ve done is wrong and I’m going to do everything I can to get it exercised. I want all my judges.’ But he didn’t.” Reid paused. “Just tell me what I have to work with. Don’t mislead me. How do I say this—because I don’t want to appear holier than thou—but relationships are built on trust, and that’s the problem that I’m having with the White House today. It’s that I don’t think they want to establish trust with me.” Reid paused again and shrugged. “I’m not important to them. They can just go around me.” He sounded weary, but then his voice strengthened. “He’s not a dictator. He’s a President. And he has the same power that I do. He individually may have more power. But his branch of government has no more power than mine.”

   

About a month later, at a point when negotiations on resolving the filibuster issue seemed to have stalled, Reid made his only phone call on the issue to the White House—to Rove. “This thing should be worked out,” Reid said he told Rove. “It’s craziness.” At the time, Bush had re-submitted the names of seven appellate-court nominees whom Senate Democrats had previously blocked, using the filibuster tactic. “We let this continue to go on, twenty years from now, if either of us is still alive, we’re going to look back and be ashamed of what we allowed to happen,” Rove said. He said that harsh attacks were driving out possible nominees who were leery of the confirmation process. “I get it,” Reid responded. He told Rove that he had been trying for years to improve the process, and added, “I’m just trying to find a way out of this.”

 

For Rove, the most painful example was Miguel Estrada, who had worked in the Solicitor General’s office, and who was Bush’s first appellate-court nominee, in 2001. Estrada withdrew his name twenty-eight months after being nominated. During the confirmation struggle, Estrada’s wife miscarried; in November, 2004, she died, of an overdose of alcohol and sleeping pills. The death was ruled accidental by the medical examiner. Rove said that Mrs. Estrada had been traumatized by the nastiness of the process. Reid told Rove that he empathized with Estrada, but said that the Republicans’ treatment of President Clinton’s nominees—more than sixty were never voted on by the Judiciary Committee—had created victims, too. Rove, according to Reid, replied, “We need to sit down and talk about this,” adding that the ugliness of the confirmation process had reached a new low.

 

Rove recalls that the conversation was mostly about making a deal on the judicial nominees. According to Rove, Reid said, “They’re all unqualified, but you can pick the one you want,” and eventually it got to two. At one point, Rove asked Reid, “If they’re unworthy, why are you letting us have any?” And he said, “Harry, it’s like you’re asking us to pick one of our children and kill them.” He said that Reid kept jumping around with the numbers: “It was a nutty conversation.” For Reid at this point, the individual nominees were a secondary issue. “I didn’t like the judges,” he said later, “but there was a principle higher than any of those men or women”—the preservation of the Senate filibuster rule. When the discussion ended in an impasse, Reid was disappointed, but he said, “I wasn’t owed anything, that’s for sure.”

 

Reid had always regarded a full Senate vote on the “nuclear option” as a gamble. Frist appeared to hold the advantage; with Cheney in the wings, he needed only fifty senators to make the rules change, while Reid needed to persuade six Republicans to cross over. And although Reid thought that he had those six votes, he was certain only of four. “Each day, I started losing people,” he recalled. By May 23rd, the day before the scheduled vote, Reid believed that neither he nor Frist really knew for sure who had the votes, and when the seven Democrats in the Gang of Fourteen told Reid that they were ready to make a deal with the Republicans he acquiesced. “I thought we might have the six votes, but I wasn’t positive, and I wasn’t willing to take the chance. He”—Frist—“didn’t know that he had the votes, but he was willing to take the chance.” In the final compromise, three of the seven Bush judicial choices that Reid and Rove had discussed were approved by the Senate, and it was simultaneously agreed that senators could filibuster a nominee “under extraordinary circumstances”—somewhat vague language that has yet to be tested. For the Democrats, though, the agreement preserved the power to block a Bush Supreme Court choice.

 

Standing before reporters, Reid, who had worked behind the scenes for this result, looked euphoric. Frist, who appeared later, looked glum—understandably, some observers thought. Frist had staked a lot on the issue; he has said that he plans to retire from the Senate in 2006, and it is believed that he may seek the Presidency. “I was not a party to that agreement nor was the Republican leadership,” Frist said. “Now we move into a new and uncertain phase.” The Senate that Frist purportedly led had suddenly been taken over by a bipartisan group beyond his reach. And, for Reid and others, it is not a stretch to see the connection between the filibuster compromise and the relatively noncontroversial nomination of John G. Roberts.

The Road To Nowhere leads to me

Through all the happiness and sorrow

I guess I'd do it all again

Live for today and not tomorrow

It's still the road that never ends

-Ozzy

CP 9824 leads 8776 west just west of Hartland, WI with train #2xx.....

 

9824 was once a shiny new beaver and was adorned with holiday lights to lead the annual Christmas Train. The evidence still adorns the cab perimeters. Here it is back in December 2009 just 1.5 miles in reverse of this spot:

www.flickr.com/photos/77361663@N08/9828601484/in/album-72...

DCRail Class 60, 60046 "William Wilberforce" leads miscreant stablemate 60055 "Thomas Barnardo" on 6Z89 17:00 Northampton to Ravenhead Sidings past Moore Lane.

 

60055 had started out the day before with its load of sand for the NSG Pilkington glassworks at St. Helens on 6M89 09:01 Middleton Towers to Ravenhead Sidings. However, 60055 ran into issues and the working was terminated at Northampton.

 

60046 then ran on 0Z89 14:35 Willesden DC Rail Sidings to Northampton the following day to work the train forward.

 

60055 was left in the train, but shunted out at Warrington by 60046 and put in the south bay siding to await its move the following day to UKRL at Leicester Depot for repairs.

I revisited Dunnottar Castle today Wednesday 24th April 2019, unfortunately a sea harr cloacked Stonehaven, blurring the view of the castle from the cliff top that leads down to the stairs accessing the castle, undeterred I decided enter the castle grounds, it was a good decision, posting a few of my shots from todays visit to this fine castle ruin.

 

Dunnottar Castle.

 

The rock the Castle sits upon was forced to the surface 440 million years ago during the Silurian period. A red rock conglomerate with boulders up to 1m across known as Pudding Stone is incredibly durable.

 

The ancient Highland rock pebbles and cementing matter is so tough that faults or cracks pass through the pebbles themselves.

 

I first visited Dunnottar Castle summer 2017, this magnificent castle sits high on a hill, last time I visited I captured my shots from the cliffs overlooking the site, though today I made the journey up the hill and entered the castle walls , wow what a magnificent experience, just perfect with loads of great photo opportunities to capture real Scottish history,after two hours wandering around and capturing as many shots that caught my eye , I made my way home, a magnificent experience indeed.

 

Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope" is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Stonehaven.

 

The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength. Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.

 

The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.

 

The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 50 metres (160 ft) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse.

 

The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site are listed buildings.

 

History

Early Middle Ages

A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, although it is not clear when the site was first fortified, but in any case the legend is late and highly implausible. Possibly the earliest written reference to the site is found in the Annals of Ulster which record two sieges of "Dún Foither" in 681 and 694.

 

The earlier event has been interpreted as an attack by Brude, the Pictish king of Fortriu, to extend his power over the north-east coast of Scotland. The Scottish Chronicle records that King Domnall II, the first ruler to be called rí Alban (King of Alba), was killed at Dunnottar during an attack by Vikings in 900. King Aethelstan of Wessex led a force into Scotland in 934, and raided as far north as Dunnottar according to the account of Symeon of Durham. W. D. Simpson speculated that a motte might lie under the present caste, but excavations in the 1980s failed to uncover substantive evidence of early medieval fortification.

 

The discovery of a group of Pictish stones at Dunnicaer, a nearby sea stack, has prompted speculation that "Dún Foither" was actually located on the adjacent headland of Bowduns, 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the north.

 

Later Middle Ages

During the reign of King William the Lion (ruled 1165–1214) Dunnottar was a center of local administration for The Mearns. The castle is named in the Roman de Fergus, an early 13th-century Arthurian romance, in which the hero Fergus must travel to Dunnottar to retrieve a magic shield.

 

In May 1276 a church on the site was consecrated by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews. The poet Blind Harry relates that William Wallace captured Dunnottar from the English in 1297, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is said to have imprisoned 4,000 defeated English soldiers in the church and burned them alive.

 

In 1336 Edward III of England ordered William Sinclair, 8th Baron of Roslin, to sail eight ships to the partially ruined Dunnottar for the purpose of rebuilding and fortifying the site as a forward resupply base for his northern campaign. Sinclair took with him 160 soldiers, horses, and a corps of masons and carpenters.

 

Edward himself visited in July, but the English efforts were undone before the end of the year when the Scottish Regent Sir Andrew Murray led a force that captured and again destroyed the defences of Dunnottar.

 

In the 14th century Dunnottar was granted to William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland (d.1370), and in 1346 a licence to crenellate was issued by David II. Around 1359 William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married Margaret Fraser, niece of Robert the Bruce, and was granted the barony of Dunnottar at this time. Keith then gave the lands of Dunnottar to his daughter Christian and son-in-law William Lindsay of Byres, but in 1392 an excambion (exchange) was agreed whereby Keith regained Dunnottar and Lindsay took lands in Fife.

 

William Keith completed construction of the tower house at Dunnottar, but was excommunicated for building on the consecrated ground associated with the parish church. Keith had provided a new parish church closer to Stonehaven, but was forced to write to the Pope, Benedict XIII, who issued a bull in 1395 lifting the excommunication.William Keith's descendents were created Earls Marischal in the mid 15th century, and they held Dunottar until the 18th century.

 

16th century rebuilding

Through the 16th century the Keiths improved and expanded their principal seats: at Dunnottar and also at Keith Marischal in East Lothian. James IV visited Dunnottar in 1504, and in 1531 James V exempted the Earl's men from military service on the grounds that Dunnottar was one of the "principall strenthis of our realme".

 

Mary, Queen of Scots, visited in 1562 after the Battle of Corrichie, and returned in 1564.

 

James VI stayed for 10 days in 1580, as part of a progress through Fife and Angus, during which a meeting of the Privy Council was convened at Dunnottar.

 

During a rebellion of Catholic nobles in 1592, Dunnottar was captured by a Captain Carr on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, but was restored to Lord Marischal just a few weeks later.

 

In 1581 George Keith succeeded as 5th Earl Marischal, and began a large scale reconstruction that saw the medieval fortress converted into a more comfortable home. The founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, the 5th Earl valued Dunnottar as much for its dramatic situation as for its security.

 

A "palace" comprising a series of ranges around a quadrangle was built on the north-eastern cliffs, creating luxurious living quarters with sea views. The 13th-century chapel was restored and incorporated into the quadrangle.

 

An impressive stone gatehouse was constructed, now known as Benholm's Lodging, featuring numerous gun ports facing the approach. Although impressive, these are likely to have been fashionable embellishments rather than genuine defensive features.

 

Civil wars

Further information: Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

In 1639 William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal, came out in support of the Covenanters, a Presbyterian movement who opposed the established Episcopal Church and the changes which Charles I was attempting to impose. With James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, he marched against the Catholic James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne, Earl of Huntly, and defeated an attempt by the Royalists to seize Stonehaven. However, when Montrose changed sides to the Royalists and marched north, Marischal remained in Dunnottar, even when given command of the area by Parliament, and even when Montrose burned Stonehaven.

 

Marischal then joined with the Engager faction, who had made a deal with the king, and led a troop of horse to the Battle of Preston (1648) in support of the royalists.

 

Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Engagers gave their allegiance to his son and heir: Charles II was proclaimed king, arriving in Scotland in June 1650. He visited Dunnottar in July 1650, but his presence in Scotland prompted Oliver Cromwell to lead a force into Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dunbar in September 1650.

 

The Honours of Scotland

Charles II was crowned at Scone Palace on 1 January 1651, at which the Honours of Scotland (the regalia of crown, sword and sceptre) were used. However, with Cromwell's troops in Lothian, the honours could not be returned to Edinburgh. The Earl Marischal, as Marischal of Scotland, had formal responsibility for the honours, and in June the Privy Council duly decided to place them at Dunnottar.

 

They were brought to the castle by Katherine Drummond, hidden in sacks of wool. Sir George Ogilvie (or Ogilvy) of Barras was appointed lieutenant-governor of the castle, and given responsibility for its defence.

 

In November 1651 Cromwell's troops called on Ogilvie to surrender, but he refused. During the subsequent blockade of the castle, the removal of the Honours of Scotland was planned by Elizabeth Douglas, wife of Sir George Ogilvie, and Christian Fletcher, wife of James Granger, minister of Kinneff Parish Church. The king's papers were first removed from the castle by Anne Lindsay, a kinswoman of Elizabeth Douglas, who walked through the besieging force with the papers sewn into her clothes.

 

Two stories exist regarding the removal of the honours themselves. Fletcher stated in 1664 that over the course of three visits to the castle in February and March 1652, she carried away the crown, sceptre, sword and sword-case hidden amongst sacks of goods. Another account, given in the 18th century by a tutor to the Earl Marischal, records that the honours were lowered from the castle onto the beach, where they were collected by Fletcher's servant and carried off in a creel (basket) of seaweed. Having smuggled the honours from the castle, Fletcher and her husband buried them under the floor of the Old Kirk at Kinneff.

 

Meanwhile, by May 1652 the commander of the blockade, Colonel Thomas Morgan, had taken delivery of the artillery necessary for the reduction of Dunnottar. Ogilvie surrendered on 24 May, on condition that the garrison could go free. Finding the honours gone, the Cromwellians imprisoned Ogilvie and his wife in the castle until the following year, when a false story was put about suggesting that the honours had been taken overseas.

 

Much of the castle property was removed, including twenty-one brass cannons,[28] and Marischal was required to sell further lands and possessions to pay fines imposed by Cromwell's government.

 

At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the honours were removed from Kinneff Church and returned to the king. Ogilvie quarrelled with Marischal's mother over who would take credit for saving the honours, though he was eventually rewarded with a baronetcy. Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament but the sum was never paid.

  

Whigs and Jacobites

Religious and political conflicts continued to be played out at Dunnottar through the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1685, during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll against the new king James VII, 167 Covenanters were seized and held in a cellar at Dunnottar. The prisoners included 122 men and 45 women associated with the Whigs, an anti-Royalist group within the Covenanter movement, and had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new king.

 

The Whigs were imprisoned from 24 May until late July. A group of 25 escaped, although two of these were killed in a fall from the cliffs, and another 15 were recaptured. Five prisoners died in the vault, and 37 of the Whigs were released after taking the oath of allegiance.

 

The remaining prisoners were transported to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as part of a colonisation scheme devised by George Scot of Pitlochie. Many, like Scot himself, died on the voyage.

 

The cellar, located beneath the "King's Bedroom" in the 16th-century castle buildings, has since become known as the "Whigs' Vault".

 

Both the Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts) and the Hanoverians (supporters of George I and his descendents) used Dunnottar Castle. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign in support of the deposed James VII, the castle was garrisoned for William and Mary with Lord Marischal appointed captain.

 

Seventeen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were seized and held in the fortress for around three weeks, including George Liddell, professor of mathematics at Marischal College.

 

In the Jacobite Rising of 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, took an active role with the rebels, leading cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. After the subsequent abandonment of the rising Lord Marischal fled to the Continent, eventually becoming French ambassador for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Meanwhile, in 1716, his titles and estates including Dunnottar were declared forfeit to the crown.

 

Later history

The seized estates of the Earl Marischal were purchased in 1720 for £41,172, by the York Buildings Company who dismantled much of the castle.

 

In 1761 the Earl briefly returned to Scotland and bought back Dunnottar only to sell it five years later to Alexander Keith, an Edinburgh lawyer who served as Knight Marischal of Scotland.

 

Dunnottar was inherited in 1852 by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray of Ochtertyre, who in turn sold it in July 1873 to Major Alexander Innes of Cowie and Raemoir for about £80,000.

 

It was purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925 after which his wife embarked on a programme of repairs.

 

Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting 52,500 visitors in 2009.

 

Dunnottar Castle, and the headland on which is stands, was designated as a scheduled monument in 1970.In 1972 twelve of the structures at Dunnottar were listed.

 

Three buildings are listed at category A as being of "national importance": the keep; the entrance gateway; and Benholm's Lodging.

 

The remaining listings are at category B as being of "regional importance".[39] The Hon. Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray, currently owns and runs Dunnottar Castle which is part of the 210-square-kilometre (52,000-acre) Dunecht Estates.

 

Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot there.

  

Description

Dunnottar's strategic location allowed its owners to control the coastal terrace between the North Sea cliffs and the hills of the Mounth, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) inland, which enabled access to and from the north-east of Scotland.

 

The site is accessed via a steep, 800-metre (2,600 ft) footpath (with modern staircases) from a car park on the coastal road, or via a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) cliff-top path from Stonehaven. Dunnottar's several buildings, put up between the 13th and 17th centuries, are arranged across a headland covering around 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).

 

The dominant building, viewed from the land approach, is the 14th-century keep or tower house. The other principal buildings are the gatehouse; the chapel; and the 16th-century "palace" which incorporates the "Whigs' Vault".

 

Defences

The approach to the castle is overlooked by outworks on the "Fiddle Head", a promontory on the western side of the headland. The entrance is through the well-defended main gate, set in a curtain wall which entirely blocks a cleft in the rocky cliffs.

 

The gate has a portcullis and has been partly blocked up. Alongside the main gate is the 16th-century Benholm's Lodging, a five-storey building cut into the rock, which incorporated a prison with apartments above.

 

Three tiers of gun ports face outwards from the lower floors of Benholm's Lodging, while inside the main gate, a group of four gun ports face the entrance. The entrance passage then turns sharply to the left, running underground through two tunnels to emerge near the tower house.

 

Simpson contends that these defences are "without exception the strongest in Scotland", although later writers have doubted the effectiveness of the gun ports. Cruden notes that the alignment of the gun ports in Benholm's Lodging, facing across the approach rather than along, means that they are of limited efficiency.

 

The practicality of the gun ports facing the entrance has also been questioned, though an inventory of 1612 records that four brass cannons were placed here.

 

A second access to the castle leads up from a rocky cove, the aperture to a marine cave on the northern side of the Dunnottar cliffs into which a small boat could be brought. From here a steep path leads to the well-fortified postern gate on the cliff top, which in turn offers access to the castle via the Water Gate in the palace.

 

Artillery defences, taking the form of earthworks, surround the north-west corner of the castle, facing inland, and the south-east, facing seaward. A small sentry box or guard house stands by the eastern battery, overlooking the coast.

 

Tower house and surrounding buildings

The tower house of Dunnottar, viewed from the west

The late 14th-century tower house has a stone-vaulted basement, and originally had three further storeys and a garret above.

 

Measuring 12 by 11 metres (39 by 36 ft), the tower house stood 15 metres (49 ft) high to its gable. The principal rooms included a great hall and a private chamber for the lord, with bedrooms upstairs.

 

Beside the tower house is a storehouse, and a blacksmith's forge with a large chimney. A stable block is ranged along the southern edge of the headland. Nearby is Waterton's Lodging, also known as the Priest's House, built around 1574, possibly for the use of William Keith (died 1580), son of the 4th Earl Marischal.

 

This small self-contained house includes a hall and kitchen at ground level, with private chambers above, and has a projecting spiral stair on the north side. It is named for Thomas Forbes of Waterton, an attendant of the 7th Earl.

 

The palace

The palace, to the north-east of the headland, was built in the late 16th century and early to mid-17th century. It comprises three main wings set out around a quadrangle, and for the most part is probably the work of the 5th Earl Marischal who succeeded in 1581.

 

It provided extensive and comfortable accommodation to replace the rooms in the tower house. In its long, low design it has been compared to contemporary English buildings, in contrast to the Scottish tradition of taller towers still prevalent in the 16th century.

 

Seven identical lodgings are arranged along the west range, each opening onto the quadrangle and including windows and fireplace. Above the lodgings the west range comprised a 35-metre (115 ft) gallery. Now roofless, the gallery originally had an elaborate oak ceiling, and on display was a Roman tablet taken from the Antonine Wall.

 

At the north end of the gallery was a drawing room linked to the north range. The gallery could also be accessed from the Silver House to the south, which incorporated a broad stairway with a treasury above.

 

The basement of the north range incorporates kitchens and stores, with a dining room and great chamber above. At ground floor level is the Water Gate, between the north and west ranges, which gives access to the postern on the northern cliffs.

 

The east and north ranges are linked via a rectangular stair. The east range has a larder, brewhouse and bakery at ground level, with a suite of apartments for the Countess above. A north-east wing contains the Earl's apartments, and includes the "King's Bedroom" in which Charles II stayed. In this room is a carved stone inscribed with the arms of the 7th Earl and his wife, and the date 1654. Below these rooms is the Whigs' Vault, a cellar measuring 16 by 4.5 metres (52 by 15 ft). This cellar, in which the Covenanters were held in 1685, has a large eastern window, as well as a lower vault accessed via a trap-door in the floor.

 

Of the chambers in the palace, only the dining room and the Silver House remain roofed, having been restored in the 1920s. The central area contains a circular cistern or fish pond, 16 metres (52 ft) across and 7.6 metres (25 ft) deep, and a bowling green is located to the west.

 

At the south-east corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, consecrated in 1276 and largely rebuilt in the 16th century. Medieval walling and two 13th-century windows remain, and there is a graveyard to the south.

Only the best out of the best will be lead by Lord Vader to fight against the Rebels.

I revisited Dunnottar Castle today Wednesday 24th April 2019, unfortunately a sea harr cloacked Stonehaven, blurring the view of the castle from the cliff top that leads down to the stairs accessing the castle, undeterred I decided enter the castle grounds, it was a good decision, posting a few of my shots from todays visit to this fine castle ruin.

 

Dunnottar Castle.

 

The rock the Castle sits upon was forced to the surface 440 million years ago during the Silurian period. A red rock conglomerate with boulders up to 1m across known as Pudding Stone is incredibly durable.

 

The ancient Highland rock pebbles and cementing matter is so tough that faults or cracks pass through the pebbles themselves.

 

I first visited Dunnottar Castle summer 2017, this magnificent castle sits high on a hill, last time I visited I captured my shots from the cliffs overlooking the site, though today I made the journey up the hill and entered the castle walls , wow what a magnificent experience, just perfect with loads of great photo opportunities to capture real Scottish history,after two hours wandering around and capturing as many shots that caught my eye , I made my way home, a magnificent experience indeed.

 

Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope" is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Stonehaven.

 

The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength. Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.

 

The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.

 

The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 50 metres (160 ft) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse.

 

The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site are listed buildings.

 

History

Early Middle Ages

A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, although it is not clear when the site was first fortified, but in any case the legend is late and highly implausible. Possibly the earliest written reference to the site is found in the Annals of Ulster which record two sieges of "Dún Foither" in 681 and 694.

 

The earlier event has been interpreted as an attack by Brude, the Pictish king of Fortriu, to extend his power over the north-east coast of Scotland. The Scottish Chronicle records that King Domnall II, the first ruler to be called rí Alban (King of Alba), was killed at Dunnottar during an attack by Vikings in 900. King Aethelstan of Wessex led a force into Scotland in 934, and raided as far north as Dunnottar according to the account of Symeon of Durham. W. D. Simpson speculated that a motte might lie under the present caste, but excavations in the 1980s failed to uncover substantive evidence of early medieval fortification.

 

The discovery of a group of Pictish stones at Dunnicaer, a nearby sea stack, has prompted speculation that "Dún Foither" was actually located on the adjacent headland of Bowduns, 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the north.

 

Later Middle Ages

During the reign of King William the Lion (ruled 1165–1214) Dunnottar was a center of local administration for The Mearns. The castle is named in the Roman de Fergus, an early 13th-century Arthurian romance, in which the hero Fergus must travel to Dunnottar to retrieve a magic shield.

 

In May 1276 a church on the site was consecrated by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews. The poet Blind Harry relates that William Wallace captured Dunnottar from the English in 1297, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is said to have imprisoned 4,000 defeated English soldiers in the church and burned them alive.

 

In 1336 Edward III of England ordered William Sinclair, 8th Baron of Roslin, to sail eight ships to the partially ruined Dunnottar for the purpose of rebuilding and fortifying the site as a forward resupply base for his northern campaign. Sinclair took with him 160 soldiers, horses, and a corps of masons and carpenters.

 

Edward himself visited in July, but the English efforts were undone before the end of the year when the Scottish Regent Sir Andrew Murray led a force that captured and again destroyed the defences of Dunnottar.

 

In the 14th century Dunnottar was granted to William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland (d.1370), and in 1346 a licence to crenellate was issued by David II. Around 1359 William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married Margaret Fraser, niece of Robert the Bruce, and was granted the barony of Dunnottar at this time. Keith then gave the lands of Dunnottar to his daughter Christian and son-in-law William Lindsay of Byres, but in 1392 an excambion (exchange) was agreed whereby Keith regained Dunnottar and Lindsay took lands in Fife.

 

William Keith completed construction of the tower house at Dunnottar, but was excommunicated for building on the consecrated ground associated with the parish church. Keith had provided a new parish church closer to Stonehaven, but was forced to write to the Pope, Benedict XIII, who issued a bull in 1395 lifting the excommunication.William Keith's descendents were created Earls Marischal in the mid 15th century, and they held Dunottar until the 18th century.

 

16th century rebuilding

Through the 16th century the Keiths improved and expanded their principal seats: at Dunnottar and also at Keith Marischal in East Lothian. James IV visited Dunnottar in 1504, and in 1531 James V exempted the Earl's men from military service on the grounds that Dunnottar was one of the "principall strenthis of our realme".

 

Mary, Queen of Scots, visited in 1562 after the Battle of Corrichie, and returned in 1564.

 

James VI stayed for 10 days in 1580, as part of a progress through Fife and Angus, during which a meeting of the Privy Council was convened at Dunnottar.

 

During a rebellion of Catholic nobles in 1592, Dunnottar was captured by a Captain Carr on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, but was restored to Lord Marischal just a few weeks later.

 

In 1581 George Keith succeeded as 5th Earl Marischal, and began a large scale reconstruction that saw the medieval fortress converted into a more comfortable home. The founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, the 5th Earl valued Dunnottar as much for its dramatic situation as for its security.

 

A "palace" comprising a series of ranges around a quadrangle was built on the north-eastern cliffs, creating luxurious living quarters with sea views. The 13th-century chapel was restored and incorporated into the quadrangle.

 

An impressive stone gatehouse was constructed, now known as Benholm's Lodging, featuring numerous gun ports facing the approach. Although impressive, these are likely to have been fashionable embellishments rather than genuine defensive features.

 

Civil wars

Further information: Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

In 1639 William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal, came out in support of the Covenanters, a Presbyterian movement who opposed the established Episcopal Church and the changes which Charles I was attempting to impose. With James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, he marched against the Catholic James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne, Earl of Huntly, and defeated an attempt by the Royalists to seize Stonehaven. However, when Montrose changed sides to the Royalists and marched north, Marischal remained in Dunnottar, even when given command of the area by Parliament, and even when Montrose burned Stonehaven.

 

Marischal then joined with the Engager faction, who had made a deal with the king, and led a troop of horse to the Battle of Preston (1648) in support of the royalists.

 

Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Engagers gave their allegiance to his son and heir: Charles II was proclaimed king, arriving in Scotland in June 1650. He visited Dunnottar in July 1650, but his presence in Scotland prompted Oliver Cromwell to lead a force into Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dunbar in September 1650.

 

The Honours of Scotland

Charles II was crowned at Scone Palace on 1 January 1651, at which the Honours of Scotland (the regalia of crown, sword and sceptre) were used. However, with Cromwell's troops in Lothian, the honours could not be returned to Edinburgh. The Earl Marischal, as Marischal of Scotland, had formal responsibility for the honours, and in June the Privy Council duly decided to place them at Dunnottar.

 

They were brought to the castle by Katherine Drummond, hidden in sacks of wool. Sir George Ogilvie (or Ogilvy) of Barras was appointed lieutenant-governor of the castle, and given responsibility for its defence.

 

In November 1651 Cromwell's troops called on Ogilvie to surrender, but he refused. During the subsequent blockade of the castle, the removal of the Honours of Scotland was planned by Elizabeth Douglas, wife of Sir George Ogilvie, and Christian Fletcher, wife of James Granger, minister of Kinneff Parish Church. The king's papers were first removed from the castle by Anne Lindsay, a kinswoman of Elizabeth Douglas, who walked through the besieging force with the papers sewn into her clothes.

 

Two stories exist regarding the removal of the honours themselves. Fletcher stated in 1664 that over the course of three visits to the castle in February and March 1652, she carried away the crown, sceptre, sword and sword-case hidden amongst sacks of goods. Another account, given in the 18th century by a tutor to the Earl Marischal, records that the honours were lowered from the castle onto the beach, where they were collected by Fletcher's servant and carried off in a creel (basket) of seaweed. Having smuggled the honours from the castle, Fletcher and her husband buried them under the floor of the Old Kirk at Kinneff.

 

Meanwhile, by May 1652 the commander of the blockade, Colonel Thomas Morgan, had taken delivery of the artillery necessary for the reduction of Dunnottar. Ogilvie surrendered on 24 May, on condition that the garrison could go free. Finding the honours gone, the Cromwellians imprisoned Ogilvie and his wife in the castle until the following year, when a false story was put about suggesting that the honours had been taken overseas.

 

Much of the castle property was removed, including twenty-one brass cannons,[28] and Marischal was required to sell further lands and possessions to pay fines imposed by Cromwell's government.

 

At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the honours were removed from Kinneff Church and returned to the king. Ogilvie quarrelled with Marischal's mother over who would take credit for saving the honours, though he was eventually rewarded with a baronetcy. Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament but the sum was never paid.

  

Whigs and Jacobites

Religious and political conflicts continued to be played out at Dunnottar through the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1685, during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll against the new king James VII, 167 Covenanters were seized and held in a cellar at Dunnottar. The prisoners included 122 men and 45 women associated with the Whigs, an anti-Royalist group within the Covenanter movement, and had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new king.

 

The Whigs were imprisoned from 24 May until late July. A group of 25 escaped, although two of these were killed in a fall from the cliffs, and another 15 were recaptured. Five prisoners died in the vault, and 37 of the Whigs were released after taking the oath of allegiance.

 

The remaining prisoners were transported to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as part of a colonisation scheme devised by George Scot of Pitlochie. Many, like Scot himself, died on the voyage.

 

The cellar, located beneath the "King's Bedroom" in the 16th-century castle buildings, has since become known as the "Whigs' Vault".

 

Both the Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts) and the Hanoverians (supporters of George I and his descendents) used Dunnottar Castle. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign in support of the deposed James VII, the castle was garrisoned for William and Mary with Lord Marischal appointed captain.

 

Seventeen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were seized and held in the fortress for around three weeks, including George Liddell, professor of mathematics at Marischal College.

 

In the Jacobite Rising of 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, took an active role with the rebels, leading cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. After the subsequent abandonment of the rising Lord Marischal fled to the Continent, eventually becoming French ambassador for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Meanwhile, in 1716, his titles and estates including Dunnottar were declared forfeit to the crown.

 

Later history

The seized estates of the Earl Marischal were purchased in 1720 for £41,172, by the York Buildings Company who dismantled much of the castle.

 

In 1761 the Earl briefly returned to Scotland and bought back Dunnottar only to sell it five years later to Alexander Keith, an Edinburgh lawyer who served as Knight Marischal of Scotland.

 

Dunnottar was inherited in 1852 by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray of Ochtertyre, who in turn sold it in July 1873 to Major Alexander Innes of Cowie and Raemoir for about £80,000.

 

It was purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925 after which his wife embarked on a programme of repairs.

 

Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting 52,500 visitors in 2009.

 

Dunnottar Castle, and the headland on which is stands, was designated as a scheduled monument in 1970.In 1972 twelve of the structures at Dunnottar were listed.

 

Three buildings are listed at category A as being of "national importance": the keep; the entrance gateway; and Benholm's Lodging.

 

The remaining listings are at category B as being of "regional importance".[39] The Hon. Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray, currently owns and runs Dunnottar Castle which is part of the 210-square-kilometre (52,000-acre) Dunecht Estates.

 

Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot there.

  

Description

Dunnottar's strategic location allowed its owners to control the coastal terrace between the North Sea cliffs and the hills of the Mounth, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) inland, which enabled access to and from the north-east of Scotland.

 

The site is accessed via a steep, 800-metre (2,600 ft) footpath (with modern staircases) from a car park on the coastal road, or via a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) cliff-top path from Stonehaven. Dunnottar's several buildings, put up between the 13th and 17th centuries, are arranged across a headland covering around 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).

 

The dominant building, viewed from the land approach, is the 14th-century keep or tower house. The other principal buildings are the gatehouse; the chapel; and the 16th-century "palace" which incorporates the "Whigs' Vault".

 

Defences

The approach to the castle is overlooked by outworks on the "Fiddle Head", a promontory on the western side of the headland. The entrance is through the well-defended main gate, set in a curtain wall which entirely blocks a cleft in the rocky cliffs.

 

The gate has a portcullis and has been partly blocked up. Alongside the main gate is the 16th-century Benholm's Lodging, a five-storey building cut into the rock, which incorporated a prison with apartments above.

 

Three tiers of gun ports face outwards from the lower floors of Benholm's Lodging, while inside the main gate, a group of four gun ports face the entrance. The entrance passage then turns sharply to the left, running underground through two tunnels to emerge near the tower house.

 

Simpson contends that these defences are "without exception the strongest in Scotland", although later writers have doubted the effectiveness of the gun ports. Cruden notes that the alignment of the gun ports in Benholm's Lodging, facing across the approach rather than along, means that they are of limited efficiency.

 

The practicality of the gun ports facing the entrance has also been questioned, though an inventory of 1612 records that four brass cannons were placed here.

 

A second access to the castle leads up from a rocky cove, the aperture to a marine cave on the northern side of the Dunnottar cliffs into which a small boat could be brought. From here a steep path leads to the well-fortified postern gate on the cliff top, which in turn offers access to the castle via the Water Gate in the palace.

 

Artillery defences, taking the form of earthworks, surround the north-west corner of the castle, facing inland, and the south-east, facing seaward. A small sentry box or guard house stands by the eastern battery, overlooking the coast.

 

Tower house and surrounding buildings

The tower house of Dunnottar, viewed from the west

The late 14th-century tower house has a stone-vaulted basement, and originally had three further storeys and a garret above.

 

Measuring 12 by 11 metres (39 by 36 ft), the tower house stood 15 metres (49 ft) high to its gable. The principal rooms included a great hall and a private chamber for the lord, with bedrooms upstairs.

 

Beside the tower house is a storehouse, and a blacksmith's forge with a large chimney. A stable block is ranged along the southern edge of the headland. Nearby is Waterton's Lodging, also known as the Priest's House, built around 1574, possibly for the use of William Keith (died 1580), son of the 4th Earl Marischal.

 

This small self-contained house includes a hall and kitchen at ground level, with private chambers above, and has a projecting spiral stair on the north side. It is named for Thomas Forbes of Waterton, an attendant of the 7th Earl.

 

The palace

The palace, to the north-east of the headland, was built in the late 16th century and early to mid-17th century. It comprises three main wings set out around a quadrangle, and for the most part is probably the work of the 5th Earl Marischal who succeeded in 1581.

 

It provided extensive and comfortable accommodation to replace the rooms in the tower house. In its long, low design it has been compared to contemporary English buildings, in contrast to the Scottish tradition of taller towers still prevalent in the 16th century.

 

Seven identical lodgings are arranged along the west range, each opening onto the quadrangle and including windows and fireplace. Above the lodgings the west range comprised a 35-metre (115 ft) gallery. Now roofless, the gallery originally had an elaborate oak ceiling, and on display was a Roman tablet taken from the Antonine Wall.

 

At the north end of the gallery was a drawing room linked to the north range. The gallery could also be accessed from the Silver House to the south, which incorporated a broad stairway with a treasury above.

 

The basement of the north range incorporates kitchens and stores, with a dining room and great chamber above. At ground floor level is the Water Gate, between the north and west ranges, which gives access to the postern on the northern cliffs.

 

The east and north ranges are linked via a rectangular stair. The east range has a larder, brewhouse and bakery at ground level, with a suite of apartments for the Countess above. A north-east wing contains the Earl's apartments, and includes the "King's Bedroom" in which Charles II stayed. In this room is a carved stone inscribed with the arms of the 7th Earl and his wife, and the date 1654. Below these rooms is the Whigs' Vault, a cellar measuring 16 by 4.5 metres (52 by 15 ft). This cellar, in which the Covenanters were held in 1685, has a large eastern window, as well as a lower vault accessed via a trap-door in the floor.

 

Of the chambers in the palace, only the dining room and the Silver House remain roofed, having been restored in the 1920s. The central area contains a circular cistern or fish pond, 16 metres (52 ft) across and 7.6 metres (25 ft) deep, and a bowling green is located to the west.

 

At the south-east corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, consecrated in 1276 and largely rebuilt in the 16th century. Medieval walling and two 13th-century windows remain, and there is a graveyard to the south.

Sandown Park, 4 December 2015. Handicap Chase (2m). No.1 De Faoithesdream (Adam Wedge) jumping ahead of no.2 Festive Affair (Joshua Moore)

at the Chris Hoy Velodrome

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

31105 leads 3Z03, a short Network Rail test train from Derby RTC to Hither Green, with 31285 on the rear.

 

Delivered in March 1959, the locomotive is approaching its 54th birthday!

 

Close observation of the closest pair signals shows no illuminated aspect! They were actually working fine, but must be a momentary flicker as the shutter opened.

ISRR SD40-1 leads a Bay Line unit through the back streets of downtown Dothan moving rail cars from a refurbishment facility.

Leads 1Q14 Derby RTC to Ferme Park through Egleton

I suppose I have been driving up and down the A143 for the last 33 years, and I have noticed the sign to Mendham the very first time I drove down there, as Mendham was also the surname of one of the Norwich City players at this time.

 

But it wasn't until a friend posted a shot of the church from the air, that the thought of visiting it entered my little head. (www.flickr.com/photos/john_fielding/)

 

Anyway, I turned off the main road into the lane that leads to Mendham, the lane shrinking to a width of just wider than the car, before it plunged down a valley side to the now dry water meadows before a bridge took me over the river and from Norfolk into Suffolk.

 

The church was at the entrance to the village, guarded by a pillbox, looking over the lane now, but 75 years ago would have covered fire on the lane and bridge that spans the mighty river Waveney, which must be some ten feet side at this point.

 

The church was open, and despite the gloomy day, I could see lots of interest, including a blocked squint, but not too sure about that east window, but then I'm no expert.

 

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(Introduction: In 2007, I started revisiting the churches of Suffolk. It was interesting to look back at what I'd written when I'd first come this way. Back then, by the time I got to Mendham in 2002, the journey was almost complete. Here, and on the entry for neighbouring Weybread, there is a demob-happy irreverence which suggests I was happy for the journey to be coming to an end. In truth, I think I was exhausted, and it would actually be another year before I started on Norfolk. But that was in the future. I came to Mendham in the days before I owned a digital camera, which was the main reason for going back. Apart from replacing the old photographs and adding lots of new ones, I have left the account pretty much as I wrote it in 2002. This entry seems to have an uncharacteristic number of side-swipes at other villages, and the Countryside Alliance, who were at that time making themselves rather unpleasant. Perhaps they have been proved right, who can say? Anyway, this is what I wrote.)

 

2002: Mendham, for me, is synonymous with civilisation. I had come here from Bungay, one of my favourite East Anglian towns, and I had made the choice there to travel onwards on the Suffolk side of the Waveney, even though the more direct trip on the Norfolk side would take me through Earsham and Redenhall. This was because I wanted to visit Flixton, where the 19th century church of St Mary is a direct copy by Salvin of the Saxon church at Sompting in Sussex. Out of Flixton, I could stay on the main road, or try and take a short cut through the Saints.

Now, anyone who knows Suffolk will tell you that no one takes a short cut through the Saints. This elaborate maze of twelve villages is connected by threadlike roads without name, direction or purpose, that lead you into farmyards and then peter out, or double back on themselves, so you see yourself across the fields trying to get to somewhere other than the place where you are. The Saints were created by a Zen Buddhist God to demonstrate the futility of life.

 

But I ambled on, aiming for the easily recognisable tower of the church of St George, South Elmham St Cross, which would lead me to my intended destination. The road lurched and dipped, straining to throw me off down some unmarked byway, but I held to my course. I had a map, a sense of direction, and would not be diverted from reaching St George. And then I got there, and it turned out to be South Elmham St Peter.

 

I stopped for a moment, exasperated. Looking at the map, it was easy to see where I had gone wrong (they do this to you, the Saints, they point out your inadequacies) but I was now 4 miles further east than I should have been. I found a lane that led me down into South Elmham St Margaret, and resisted the temptation to head off of this road, which was the correct one.

 

Okay, then I didn't. I was going to stick to it, but a sudden lane pointed to St Cross. So I took it. Instantly, it narrowed, dipped, and sent me hurtling into a tunnel overgrown with hawthorn. The road surface disappeared under a sea of mud, obviously left over from the winter ploughing. My bike cheerfully sprayed the slurry all up the front of me. Now, I'm a reasonable man - well, mostly. But I have no time for the Countryside Alliance mob, and howled in execration, something along the lines of "----ing farmers, why can't they keep their mud on their ----ing fields where it belongs", which caused mild consternation to the donkey skulking under a tree at the bottom of the dip.

 

I climbed up the other side of the valley - and at the top of the rise there was a proper road, and a sign saying Mendham 2 and I knew I was free. With a cry of "YES!" I headed on into Mendham, a large and civilised place, which was birthplace and home to the artist Sir Alfred Munnings. Right beside the Waveney sits the pretty church of All Saints in a delightful graveyard.

 

The first impression is a neat, substantial building, and indeed this is a major 19th century restoration that was done well. The 14th tower is slightly older than the body of the church it stands against, but the chancel is late 19th century. The going over the rest of the church received 20 years earlier was at the hands of our old friend Richard Phipson, and the headstops on the porch will instantly remind us of his contemporary work at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich.

 

It is a big church, and the inside is pretty much all the work of Phipson in his 'see, I can be surprisingly creative when I try' period. So it is very Victorian, although I thought the roof angels were superb despite this. They bear shields with a complete set of Passion symbols. The chancel arch is very striking, being wooden, and based on a pair of arch braces. There is a fine memorial to William Godbold, as well as a number of lovely brasses to the Freston family, which don't seem to get mentioned in books on the subject. Best of all, I think, is the 1880s east window by Ward and Hughes depicting the Ascension.

 

Mortlock thought the painting of the Presentation in the Temple was probably Venetian, dating from the early 17th century. In general, this is a crisp, spare, simple interior, a cool place to pause in the middle of a busy journey.

 

Back outside again, the graveyard has something that no other graveyard in Suffolk has. The western edge drops straight into the Waveney, and against this edge is a pill box, a machine gun emplacement from the Second World War (or, at least, I'm guessing it was built to repel Nazi invaders, rather than anything that might come across from the Norfolk side).

 

My next port of call was Weybread, just three miles away - but five if I stayed in the narrow winding lanes on the Suffolk bank, so I took a deep breath, screwed up my courage, and crossed the river into Norfolk.

  

All Saints, Mendham, is situated between Bungay and Harleston, Norfolk, just south of the border. I found it open.

 

Simon Knott 2002 (revised and updated 2007)

  

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendham.htm

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edham, adjoins east to Brockdish, on the great road; and is originally a hamlet and chapelry to Mendham, which is a very extensive place; the parish church stands just over the river, and so is in Suffolk; but this hamlet and the adjacent part between it and the parish church, on the Norfolk side, were no less than two miles and five furlongs long, and seven furlongs broad, at the Conqueror's survey, and paid 7d. to the geld or tax; and the part on the Norfolk side (exclusive of the bounds of this ancient hamlet) was called Scotford, or the part at the ford, (over which there is a good brick bridge built, called Shotford bridge at this day,) and for many ages had a rector presented to it, who served in the church of Mendham, by the name of the rector of Shotford portion in Mendham.

 

Part of Herolveston or Harleston then belonged to Mendham also; and now, that part of the town opposite to the south side of the chapel, on which the publick-house called the Pye stands, is in Mendham.

 

Mendham parish church is dedicated to All the Saints, and was originally a rectory, one turn of which, was in Sir William de Huntingfield, founder of the priory here, to which he gave it, and the other in Sir Thomas de Nedham, who gave it to William Prior of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich, and the convent there, to which it was appropriated by Thomas de Blundeville Bishop of Norwich, in 1227, when the vicarage was settled to consist of a messuage and 24 acres of land, 6 acres of meadow and marsh, with all the alterage belonging to the church, and the tithes of the mills, hay, turf, and fish, and all sorts of pulse, and 10s. per annum rent; viz. from the Lady Eve de Arches half a mark, &c. (fn. 1) and the said Prior was to pay all dues to the bishop and archdeacon, except synodals; (fn. 2) and Henry de Diss, chaplain, the first vicar here, was presented by the Prior of Ipswich. The account of this church in Norwich Domesday is thus; the Prior of the Holy Trinity of Ipswich hath the moiety of the church of Mendham, appropriated to his convent, and hath a house and two carucates of land, and receives the tithes of the demeans of Sir Thomas de Nedham; this was valued formerly at 15 marks. The Prior of Mendham hath the other moiety, and receives the tithes of Sir William de Hunting field, and his moiety is valued at ten marks. Sir Thomas de Clare is patron of the third part, which the vicar holds of the fee of Cockfield, and is valued at tive marks.

 

The chapel of St. Peter at Nedham was in all probability founded by the Nedham family, and most likely, by Sir Thomas de Nedham himself, for his own tenants; and being so far from the mother-church of Mendham, was made parochial, and hath separate bounds, officers, administration of sacraments, and burial; it is under the episcopal, but exempt from the archidiaconal jurisdiction; for it pays neither synodals, procurations, nor Peter-pence: and in 1329, a perpetual composition and agreement was made between the parishioners of the mother-church of Mendham, and those of the chapel of Nedham; by which, in lieu of all reparations and dues to the parish of Mendham, they agreed to pay 18d. every Easter-day, towards the repairs of Mendham church, as an acknowledgment that they were members of it. In 1411, the parishioners of Nedham, complained to Pope John XXIII. that their chapel was not well served, though the Prior of Mendham was well paid his tithes; upon which, a bull directed to Alexander de Totington Bishop of Norwich, issued; (fn. 3) commanding him to oblige the Prior of Mendham to find, and give security to him, that that convent would always find a parochial chaplain resident in Nedham, well and duly to serve the chapel there: and ever since, the impropriator of Mendham nominates the parish chaplain. In 1603, it was returned that

 

Mr. Andrew Wily, clerk, was curate, that there were 220 communicants, and that it was an impropriation; the herbages being reserved for the maintenance of the minister, who hath now the vicarial tithes, amounting to about 14l. per annum, for which it is served once every fortnight;

 

The Rev. Mr. John Tracey being the present curate.

 

The steeple is round at bottom and octangular at top, and hath four bells in it; the south porch and nave are tiled; there are several stones, but none with inscriptions on them, all their brasses being reaved: the chancel was wholly rebuilt in 1735, of brick, and tiled (though less than the old one was) by William Freston, Esq. who is interred in it; for whom there is a mural monument on the south side, with the

 

Crest of Freston, viz. a demi-greyhound arg. collared sab. and his arms,

 

Az. on a fess or, three leopards heads gul. which were first granted to the Frestons of Yorkshire, (fn. 4) impaling

 

Kedington, and this inscription,

 

Memoriæ sacrum, Gulielmi Freston de Mendham in Agro Norfolciensi, Armigeri, qui ex hac Vitâ demigravit 26° Die Oct. A. D. MDCCXXXIXo. Ætatis LVo. Et Margarettæ Uxoris Charissimæ, Filiæ et Herædis Henrici Kedington, Armigeri, quæ nimio ob Mariti obitum indulgens Dolori, Die 2do. Julij animam efflavit Anno Dni. DCCXLIo. Ætatis LIo. Vincula Amoris inter eos arctissima ut ad Amorem mutuum nihil posset accedere. Ex his nati sunt octo Liberi, Quorum sex jam Superstites; Maria Filia natû maxima, 20° Die Mensis Junij mortem obijt A. D. MDCCXL. Æt. XVII. Et in hoc Adesto (cum Johanne Fratre Infantulo) humata jacet. Hoc Monumentum Pietatis Ergo Coke Freston Filius natû maximus posuit.

 

Anno Domini MDCCXLVI.

 

This chapelry hath a lete held in it by the Duke of Norfolk's steward, it being in his Grace's liberty, who is lord paramount in right of his hundred of Earsham, over all the Norfolk part of Mendham; and in 1285, Roger Bigot, then lord of the hundred, had free-warren allowed him here.

 

The abbot and convent of Sibton in Suffolk had a fishery, and water-mill called Fryer's Mill, in this place; (fn. 5) which was let with their grange and manor of Weybrede in Suffolk; which in 1611, belonged to George Hering of Norwich.

 

This hamlet originally belonged to the Abbot of Bury, (fn. 6) and was infeoffed by one Frodo at the Conquest, whose descendants took the sirname of Nedham, and contrary to the common rule, gave their name to this place; it should seem that the family extinguished in several heiresses, by the many parts or manors it was divided into; and now there are four manors still subsisting here.

 

The first is a very small one, called Sileham Comitis, ex Parte Norfolk; and was originally part of the Earl's manor of Sileham, from which it was separated, and now belongs to Mr. James Bransby of Shotesham.

 

The second is called Denison's, or Denston's manor: this was given to the priory of Mendham, to which it belonged till its Dissolution.

 

This monastery was founded in King Stephen's time, by Will. son of Rog. de Hunting field, with the approbation of Roger his son and heir, who gave the whole isle of Mendham, called Medenham, or the village of meadows, to the monks of Castleacre, on condition they should erect a church of stone, and build a convent by it, and place at least eight of their monks there: in the place called Hurst, or Bruningsherst, being then a woody isle on the Suffolk side of the river; accordingly, monks being placed there, the founder ordered that they should be subject to Castleacre monks, as a cell to that house, in the same manner as Castleacre itself was, to the monastery of St. Pancras at Lewes in Suffolk; and that to the church of Cluni or Clugny in France: but after the death of the founder, the Prior of Castleacre covenanted with Roger de Hunting field his son, (who was also a great benefactor,) to maintain at least eight monks at Mendham, and not to depose the Prior there, unless for disobedience, incontinence, or dilapidations of the house.

 

Their founder gave the whole island of St. Mary of Mendham, with Ulveshage and the Granges there; and many other lands, rents, and homages; and all his lands in Crochestune, and his homagers there, which were all to be employed by the Prior, to the maintenance of Mendham monks, except half a mark of silver to be paid yearly to the priory of Castleacre, as an acknowledgment of their depending as a cell to that monastery; (fn. 7) he gave them also, St. Margaret's church at Linstede, and St. Peter's there; the moiety of the church of Trideling; an aldercarr and 11 acres by the mill, of Thomas de Mendham; and the third part of the tithes of his demeans in Suttorp; and 5s. rent in Bradenham; together with all his right in the church of Mendham: to all which, William the Dean of Redenhall, and others, were witnesses. And Stephen de Saukeville released all his right in Hurst. In 1239, Richard son of Benedict, after his decease, settled a messuage and 60 acres of land on this priory. In 1386, Sir Robert de Swillington, Knt. Sir Roger Bois, Knt. John Pyeshale, clerk, and Robert de Ashfield, settled the patronage of this monastery, on Isabel Countess of Suffolk. This house and all its revenues, were given by King Henry VIII. together with the lands of the dissolved priories of Ankerwick in Lincolnshire, and Little Marlow in Buckinghamshire, to the then newly restored monastery at Bisham or Butlesham in Berkshire, in 1537, (fn. 8) by way of augmentation to the value of 661l. 14s. 9d. per annum for the maintenance of an abbot and 13 monks of the Benedictine order. But that monastery was short-lived and soon fell; and this house, &c. in 1539, was granted to Charles Duke of Suffolk, and with it, this manor of Denston's, which, 2d 3d Philip and Mary, was conveyed to Richard Freston Esq. and Anne his wife, and he was lord of it in 1567; and it continued in his family some time: it now belongs to Mrs. Frances Bacon of Earlham, widow.

 

The prior was taxed for all his temporals in Mendham on the Norfolk side, at 4l. 12s. 11d.

 

From the rolls of this manor, I find the following Priors of Mendham, to have kept courts here.

 

1239, John. 1250, Simon. 1336. Nic. Cressi; he died this year, and Sir Rog. de Hunting field, patron of the priory, kept a court during the vacancy.

 

1340, John de Waltun; succeeded in 1342, by Henry de Berlegh. 1353, William. 1382, John de Tomston. 1400, Robert. 1420, John Betelee succeeded. 1449, Sir Tho. Rede. 1487, Sir Tho Pytte. 1501, Sir Tho. Bullock. 1523, Simon. Robert Howton, sub-prior, and Sir Ric. Pain, monk.

 

The third manor is called Bourt's and was owned by Daniel Bourt in 1345, and after by John le Straunge and Thomas de Hales, who held it at half a fee of the heirs of Roger de Hunting field; it after belonged to the Grices of Brockdish, for which family I refer you thither. In 1600, Thomas Pawlet, Esq. conveyed it to Thomas Leigh and John Godfrey; and it now belongs to Sir Edmund Bacon of Gillingham, Bart.

 

The fourth manor is called Gunshaw's, which see at p. 348.

 

To this hamlet, joins the aforesaid portion of Mendham, called

 

Shotford in Mendham,

Which contains two manors, called Whitendons, or the Whitehills, and Seameares, each of which originally presented alternately to the portion of Shotford in Mendham church.

 

Rectors of Shotford portion.

 

1317, Ralf son of Sir William de Ingham, accolite. Lady Maroya, relict of Sir John de Ingham, Knt. for this turn

 

1318, Walter of Ipswich, priest.

 

1328, Jeffry de Swanton.

 

1332, Roger Nicole, priest. John son of Robert de Ingham, attorney to Sir Oliver Ingham, Knt.

 

1339, Roger de Hempstede.

 

1347, Robert at Wode. Lady Isabel Queen of England.

 

1349, Giles Arches of Mendham, to the rectory of the third part of the church of Mendham, called Shotford portion in Norfolk. Sir Roger Lord Strange of Knokyn, Knt. He resigned in 1350, and the Lady Joan le Strange gave it to

 

Robert de Harwoode; afterwards the noble Sir Miles Stapleton, Knt. having the whole advowson, gave it to Mendham priory; and on the 3d of July, 1385, it was appropriated to the monastery of the blessed Virgin Mary at Mendham, and no vicarage ordained, so that the Prior received all tithes whatever of the whole portion, paying a pension of 6s. 8d. yearly to the Bishop, and finding a chaplain to perform a third part of the service in Mendham church: which service was after turned into that of a chantry priest, who was to officiate in St. Mary's chapel on the east side of Mendham churchyard; and that service ceased in Edward the Sixth's time, and the chapel was granted by the Crown into lay hands, and is now used as a malt-house.

 

The manor of Semere's

 

At the Conqueror's survey, belonged to Roger of Poictou, third son of Roger de Montgomery Earl of Arundel, and was held in the Confessor's time by a freeman named Ulfriz: (fn. 9) it was then valued at 10s. and after at 20. It divided into two parts, one belonged in 1311, to Alice and Edmund de Sancto Mauro or Seymor, Knt. and Joan his wife, from which family it took its name: this Sir Edmund, in 1335, infeoffed it with the manors of Sileham and Esham, and their advowsons, in Sir John Wing field, Knt. as trustee; and Laurence Seymour, parson of the united churches of Sileham and Esham, and Ralf his brother, released all their right; and the next year, Sir John released them to John son and heir of Sir Edward Seymour, Knt. It appears, that in 1291, John de Brampton held the other part of Elizabeth de Ingham at half a fee, and that it then divided, the one half continuing in the Inghams, of which Sir John Ingham, Knt. was lord, and Maroya or Mariona, his widow, in 1217. In 1331, Sir Oliver Ingham, Knt. and it passed with that family, till Sir Miles Stapleton gave it to Mendham priory, when it became joined to Denston's in Nedham. The other part, now Semere's manor, was sold to Sir John Wingfield by Laurence de Seymor; and in 1349, John Garlek and Sara his wife conveyed their third parts of Sileham, Esham, and this manor, and their advowson, to him. In 1401, Edw. Hales was lord; in 1551, it was sold to Henry Floteman, and it is now owned by John Kerrich of Bury M. D.

 

Whitendons, or Wichendons manor,

 

Belonged to Humfry, a freeman of Edric's in the Confessor's time; and to Robert Malet, lord of the honour of Eye, in the Conqueror's; (fn. 10) it after belonged to a family sirnamed De Arcubus; and in 1226, William de Arches and Eve his wife gave it to the Priory of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich; in which house it continued till its dissolution, when it came to the Crown, and the first year of Edward VI. 1546, he granted the advowson of Sileham and its appurtenances, this manor of Wichendon, and all the tithes and glebes, in Mendham, Nedham, and Metfield, late in the tenure of Richard Freston, Esq. to the said Richard and his heirs; (fn. 11) who upon this grant, came and settled in the manor-house here; and his descendants have continued in it to this time.

 

This Richard, in 1534, (fn. 12) appears to be treasurer, and a great favourite of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk; and an intimate acquaintance of Sir Rob. Budde, who was master of Wingfield college, and chaplain to his grace; and by his interest it was, that he obtained several great grants from the Crown; (fn. 13) among which, he had Denston's manor in Nedham, and many lands belonging to Mendham priory: he was afterwards knighted, and lies buried with Dame Anne Coke his wife, in Mendham chancel, for whom there is a monument against the east part of the north wall, with the arms of Freston impaling Coke, which shows that he outlived his wife, and died in 1557; and was succeeded by

 

Richard, his son and heir, who married Cecily, daughter of Thomas Felton, Esq.; (fn. 14) she lies buried in the chancel, under a stone, on which is her effigies, and the following inscriptions in Roman capitals on brass plates:

 

Cecilia Freston, (fn. 15) Filia Thomæ Felton Arm. Uxor dicti Ricardi, viro Amore Charissima, habuerunt sex Filios et 2 Filias et obdormivit in Domino 6 Sep. 1615. Christus mihi Vita.

 

An adjoining stone hath the arms of Freston with a mullet, impaling Felton, and his image in brass, and this,

 

Ricardus Freestone Armiger, (fn. 16) vir singulari Pietate, Eraditione, et Integritate, qui obdormivit in Domino 27 Nov. 1616. mors mihi lucrum.

 

William Freston, Esq. their eldest son, inherited; and in 1620, settled the manor on Alban Pigot, Esq. with the patronage of Nedham chapel; and the same year, Sir Robert Heath, Knt. recovered it against Pigot, and conveyed it to Freston again; he died soon after, and

 

Richard his brother inherited, and died seized of this and Denston's manor in 1634; (fn. 17) he is buried under a stone in the chancel, with his crest and arms, impaling in fess, an inescutcheon, on which a plain cross between three crosslets formy fitché, the sharpened parts pointing towards the inescutcheon; and on a brass plate this,

 

Animam Creatori, Marmoreo presenti Monumento, Ricardus Freston (dum vixit, in Agro Norfolciensi Armiger) Corporis Reliquias, amicis omnibus sui desiderium, 20 Dec. A. D. 1634, reliquit, non procul a cujus dextrâ, Pater Materque ejus requiescunt. Vitam vixit summâ cum Pietate, tum morum probitate, laudabilem Amicitiam magnâ cum Sinceritate coluit.

 

By this lies a stone with Freston's arms single.

 

Hic jacet Corpus Richardi Freston Armigeri, Filij Richardi Freeston de Mendham in Agro Norfolciensi Armigeri, qui hinc translatus est ad supera, Flore Juventutis suæ, vir summis dotibus Animi et Corporis, recumbens in Christi merita, obijt 14 Augusti 1648.

 

Anthony Freston, brother of the said Richard, (fn. 18) was buried Oct. 13, 1655; Lydia his wife lies buried in the chancel under a stone, with the arms of Freston impaling on a chief indented, two hands cooped at the wrist.

 

Ledia Wife of Anthony Freston, younger son of Richard Freston Esq; ob. 22 Mar. 1651.

 

Anthony, son of the said Anthony, married Bridget, (fn. 19) daughter of Henry Coke, Esq. of Thorington in Suffolk, and Margaret Lovelace his wife; which Henry was son to Sir Edward Coke and Dame Bridget Paston his wife, and had a daughter,

 

Penelope, late wife of John Smith of Cratfield in Suffolk, buried here in 1681, æt. 51, whose marble lies in the altar rails, and hath

 

Smith's crest, viz. an arm cooped at the shoulder, holding a chaplet; the arms are, Barry of six arg. and sab. in chief three barnacles of the 2d, (which coat was granted to the Smiths of Lincolnshire,) quartering a chevron ingrailed between three garbs, and a lion rampant impaling Freston.

 

Eliz. Daughter of Anthony Freston Esq; and Bridget his Wife, was buried May 4, 1716, æt. 62.

 

Theophila their youngest daughter, married James Rant, Esq. and is buried here with this,

 

Hic jacet Sepulta Theophila Uxor Jacobi Rant Armigeri, Filii natû quarti, Gvlielmi Rant de Yelverton in Com. Norf. Armigeri, et Elizæ. Uxoris secundæ: Theophila prædicta, minima natû Filia fuit, Antonij Freston de Mendham in Com. Norf. Armigeri, et Brigidæ Uxoris ejus, E Vitâ excessit 12° Die Aprilis A.D. 1721, Ao Æt. 55. Duos Filios superstites reliquit, viz. Frestonum et Gulielmum.

 

Si quæris, Lector, qualis sub marmore dormit Fœmina! Scito brevi, casta, benigna, pia.

 

Rant's arms as in vol. i. p. 204, impaling Freston.

 

Over the south chancel door is a mural monument thus inscribed,

 

Beneath this Monument lyeth interred the Body of Edward Freston, Gent. youngest Son of Anthony Freston of Mendham in the County of Norfolk, Esq; and Bridget his Wife, Daughter of Henry Coke of Thorington in the County of Suffolk, Esq; he died 28 Day of Dec. 1708, Ao, Æt. 43. As also the Body of Elizabeth the Wife of Edward Freston, and Daughter of John Sayer of Pulham St. Mary the Virgin, in the County of Norfolk, Gent. she died the 25 Day of Sept. 1727, Ao Æt. 55.

 

Freston's crest and arms, impaling Sayer, as at p. 31, vol. iv. and crest on a cap of maintenance, a dragon's head erased vert.

 

Another monument more west, against the south wall, hath the arms of Freston impaling,

 

Cooke, or, a chevron ingrailed between three cinquefoils az. on a chief of the 2d, a lion passant guardant az.

 

M. S. Sub hoc marmore conditæ sunt reliquiæ Richardi Freston, Arm. hominis adprimè pij; mariti Uxoris amantissimi, Parentis, propitij, et clementis Domini: Vis plura Lector? Scies, hoc Monumentum a Maria Uxore ejus, Filia viri colendissimi, Domini Gulielmi Cooke, in Agro Norfolciensi, quondam Baronetti; Amoris et Pietatis Ergo extructum, ut omnes qui huc venient et intuentur, tam clari exempli memores sint et æmuli, et Vitâ cum eo fruantur æternâ, obijt 22 Junij 1721, æt. 68.

 

William Freston and Margaret Kedington his wife, who are buried in Nedham chapel as before, left this manor, impropriation, and a good estate, to

 

Coke Freston, Esq. their eldest son, who now owns them, and dwells in the site of the manor, called Wichingdon-hall.

 

In the Suffolk part of Mendham, there are four manors; the first is called

 

Mendham's-Hall, or Mendham-Hall,

 

From the ancient lords of it, who took their sirname from the town: it originally belonged to the Abbot of Bury, and was infeoffed by Baldwin Abbot there, in Hugh de Vere, of whom Nicholas de Menham had it; in 1205, William de Mendham, and in 1239, Benedict son of Serlo de Mendham conveyed a messuage and 10 acres to the prior of Ipswich, who had obtained in 1230 a release from Robert Byhurt, of all his right in Mendham advowson. In 1285 Thomas de Mendham, who was lord also in 1306; in 1312, John de Mendham had it; in 1318, John son of John de Mendham, and Christian his wife, sold it to the lord of

 

Kingshall in Mendham, (fn. 20)

 

To which it hath been joined ever since. This manor belonged to the King, according as its name intimates, and was settled by Edw. I. on Queen Eleanor his first wife, after whose death it came to the Veres Earls of Oxford; and Sir Robert Vere, in 1314, sold it to Sir John de Fresingfield, Knt. son of Seman de Fresingfield; at which time, Robert son of John de Mendham, released to him all right in Mendham's-Hall manor; and in 1317, Sir John sold them to Sir Walter de Norwich, Knt. and his heirs, the Earl of Oxford releasing all right; Sir John de Insula, or L'isle, Sir John de Foxele, and Sir John Abel, Knts. Barons of the King's Exchequer, Sir John Muteford, justice of the King's Bench, and others, being witnesses. In 1353, Sir John de Huntingfield held those manors late of Thomas Earl of Oxford, at half a fee. In 1363, it was presented that William de Huntingfield held the river Waghene as a separate fishing, from Mendham bridge to King's-hall mill, and that he had the fishery there, as belonging to his manor of King's-hall. In 1369, Will. de Huntingfield held it for life; and in 1370, John Deyns, rector of Toft in Lincolnshire, and Richard Wright of Holbech, chaplain, his trustees, released to Roger de Huntingfield, who, with his trustees, John de Seckford, parson of Somercotes, John de Linstede, parson of Cawston, Tho. Horne, rector of Huntingfield, and others, soon after, settled them on Mendham priory: in which they continued to its dissolution, and then were granted to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, and his heirs, by King Henry VIII. in 1540, along with the lete of Metfield, and

 

The manor of Mendham Priory,

 

Which was given to it by its founder. They after belonged to the Frestons, and in 1551, Richard Freston was lord; in 1619, Sir Thomas Holland of Quidenham, Knt. sold to Edw. Ward of Mendham in Suffolk, Esq. the site of Mendham priory manor, now called Mendham'shall, &c. Kings-hall meadow, &c. the park, the manor of Mendhamhall, &c. with the letes thereto belonging, situate in Mendham, Withersdale, and Waybrede; all which, he purchased of Anthony Gosnold of Clopton, Esq. Anthony Gosnold of Swillington, Gent. Robert Gosnold of Ottley in Suffolk, Esq. Thomas Laurence of St. James's in S. Elmham, Gent. Michael Wentworth of Rogersthorpe in Yorkshire, Esq. Thomas Wales of Thorp in Norfolk, yeoman, and Loye Browne of Norwich: and the said Thomas, and Dame Mary his wife, sued a fine, and passed a recovery to the use of the said Edward Ward the elder, and his heirs; together with the fishery in the river Wayveneth. It came afterwards to the Baxters, and thence to the Gardiners of Norwich; and was sold by Richard Berney, Esq. recorder of Norwich, executor to Stephen Gardiner, Esq. late recorder there, to the Rev. Mr. Thomas Whitaker, late rector of Fresingfield, whose widow now owns them. They have a lete here, and another in Metfield, belonging to them; they give dower, and the eldest son is heir.

 

I find the following memorials relating to the Baxters in this church:

 

Depositum Stephani Baxter Generosi, qui decessit 12 Die Sept. 1696, æt. 79,

 

On a neat mural monument are the arms of

 

Godbold, az. two long bows in saltier or. Crest, an arm cooped at the shoulder az.

 

M.S. V. C.mi. D. Gulielmi Godbold Militis, ex illustri et perantiquâ Prosapiâ oriundi, qui post septennem peregrinationem, animi excolendi Gratiâ, per Italiam, Greciam, Palœstinam, &c. in solo natali in bonarum Literarum Studijs consenescens, morte repentinâ obijt Londini, Mense Aprilis Ao MDCXIIIC. Ætatis LXIXo. Hoc Monumentum designavit vir integerrimus, et sinceræ Probitatis Exemplar, Thomas Baxter Generosus, quem Testamenti sui Curatorem instituit; ipso autem Thomâ, morte subitaneâ perempto, collapso super eum Equo, nocte intempestivâ et tenebrosâ. IIII Calendas Septemb. MDCXC. Franciscus Gardiner de Civitate Norwicensi Armiger, ejusdem Thomœ Baxter sororis maritus, et Testamenti Curator, posuit. Baxter with a label of three, (see p. 212,) impaling D'eye, as in vol. ii. p. 345.

 

Hic reposita, beatam præstolatur Resurrectionem Fæmina, Pietate et Virtute insignis, Elizabetha Filia Thomœ Dey, de Insula, sive Eay in Agro Suffolciensi Armigeri, Uxor Thomæ Baxter de Mendham in eodem Agro Generosi, cui prolem edidit Masculam unam, alteramque fœminam, Quarum utramque ipso die lustrico et renata simul et denata est, annos nata triginta sex, nupta plus minus septendecem; obijt 27 Dec. 1681.

 

The next manor here, is called

 

Walsham-Hall,

 

From Gilbert de Walsham, who held it of the Abbot of Bury in the time of King Ric. I. at one fee; and lately it belonged to the Hobarts, who lived in the site of it, till Anthony Hobart, Gent. sold it to Mr. Robert Bransby, senior, of Shotesham, who sold it to Mrs. Sarah Woogan, wife of the Rev. Mr. Holmes, rector of Fresingfield, who now owns it.

 

I find the following account of the Hobarts buried here:

 

In the chancel on brass plates, Hobart's arms with a label of three.

 

William Son of James Hobart of Mendham Esq; died 9 March 1641. aged 3 Months.

 

Hobart with a crescent, on a stone at the east end of the nave, part of which is covered by a seat.

 

Hic expectant Christi adventum relliquiæ Jacobi Hobart Arm. (Filij unici Edwardi Hobart, dum vixit de Langley in Agro Norfolciensi Armigeri) qui Vitâ per 57 annos, piè justè, et sobriè peractâ, Patriam repetijt 20 Aug. Ao 1669: Cujus fœlici memoriæ, castissima illius Uxor, Brigetta (Gulielmi Spring, nuper de Pakenham Suffolciâ Militis Filia,) hoc &c.

 

An adjoining stone hath the arms of Hobart impaling Spring, as at vol. ii. p. 485.

 

Resurrectionem in Christo hic expectat Brigetta, Jacobi Hobart Arm. Relicta, Filiaque Gulielmi Spring nuper de Pakenham in Agro Suffolciensi Militis, quæ dum vixit Pietatem coluit et 26° Die Jan. placidè in Domino obdormivit A0 Sal. 1671.

 

Vivit post Funera Virtus.

 

On a black marble in the south isle,

 

Hic jacet Jacobus Filius et Hæres, Jacobi Hobart nuper de Mendham, Armigeri, ultimo Die Martij ad Cœlestem Patriam emigravit Ao Xti. 1673, æt. 23.

 

Animam Cœlo, Corpus humo reddidit.

 

Miles another Son, buried Jun. 8, 1686.

 

Edward Hobart, Esq; Son of James Hobart of Mendham, Esq; did 4 Nov. 1711, æt. 60. James his eldest son died 7 Aug. 1676, æt. 1 Mens. Sarah a Daughter 1689. Thomas a Son 1698, æt. 1 An. And John, Anthony, and Elizabeth, other Children buried here, and Lydia a Daughter in 1691.

 

Lydia Daughter of Edward Hobart Esq; and Penelope his Wife, died 31 Oct. 1680, æt. 1 An. 7 Mens.

 

Her Time was short, the longer is her Rest, God calls them soonest, whom he loves best.

 

There is an under manor or free-tenement, called Midletonhall, in this town, which belongs to Mrs. Whitaker, and is a good old seat; here Richard de Midleton lived in 1373, and William his son in 1390, who was succeeded by William his son; on whose marriage in 1392, it was settled on Margaret his wife, with estates in South-Elmham and Redenhale: this family always sealed with a fess erm. between three croslets; and it continued in it a long time. In 1457, William Midleton owned it, and Robert Midleton in 1467, who lived here in 1491. In 1558, Henry Reppes of Mendham died seized of it, and of Thorney manor in Stow in Suffolk, and gave them to Anne Wodehouse, alias Reppes, for life, with remainder to John Reppes, son of his brother Francis, remainder to John Reppes his brother, &c. In 1562, Ric. Whetley, rector of Homersfield, leased his rectory to Bassingbourn Gawdy of Midleton-hall in Mendham, Esq. by whom it was sold, and so became joined to the other manors.

 

There is an ancient seat here called Oaken-hill, (but no manor,) in which the family of the Batemans have resided ever since the time of William Bateman Bishop of Norwich; and William Bateman, only son of William Bateman, Gent. of Mendham, lately deceased, now dwells there: (see vol. iii. p. 506;) most of this family have had the christian name of William, ever since the Bishop's time.

 

Mendham church is a good building, with a square tower and five bells; having its nave, two isles, and south porch leaded, and chancel tiled, in which are the following memorials, besides those already taken notice of:

 

In the north isle window, France and England in a bordure gul. impaling or, an eagle displayed sab. quartering Morley.

 

And this on a stone,

 

M. S. Aliciæ Filiæ Henrici Borret de Stradbrook in Agro Suffolciensi Generosi, ob. 4 Oct. 1690, æt. 49.

 

Expectans ultimum Sonum Tubæ.

 

On a mural monument against the north chancel wall,

 

In medio hujus-ce Templi Tramite, juxta Cineres matris suæ Pientissimæ, Theop. Rant, suos etiam voluit deponi Frestonus Rant Armiger, cum quo unà sepeliuntur Urbanitas, et suavissima Facetiarum copia, cum quo unà abripiuntur ditissima placendi vena, animusque arctioris Amicitiæ necessitudini accomodalus, Hoc Juvene adempto, vix alterum reperies, aut literarum Scientiâ præcellentiorem aut humanitate Parem, cum difficilem Legis Angliœ Doctrinam, universum ferè Quinquennium apud Hospitium Grayense Studio sanè Laudabili prosecutus est, acerba suis, luctuosa sodalibus, gravis omnibus, labori vitæque mors Finem imposuit 23° Sept. Ao 1728, æt. suæ 27°. Et Luctûs et Pietatis Monumentum, Pater suus amantissimus, Jacobus Rant Armiger, hoc marmor posuit.

 

James Rant, Esq. his father, is since dead, and buried by him, and Will. Rant, Esq. his only surviving son, now lives in MendhamPriory, which is situated just by the river Waveney, about five furlongs south-west of the church, where there is a good old chapel still left, which is kept clean and neat; but there is no manor remaining with the site.

 

In the chancel,

 

Tirrel impales a chevron between three stags passant. James Tirrel Esq; May 22, 1656, 48. and left behind him his dear Consort his 2d Wife, and two Daughters by her, Eliz. and Jane. Eliz. his Widow died 1697. James his Son 1640.

 

In the churchyard are memorials for William Bateman, Gent. Jan. 9, 1659, æt. 70.

 

Hic spe plenâ resurgendi, situm est depositum mortale Johannis Kerrich Clerici Rectoris de Sternefield in Comitatû Suffolciæ, Qui, dum vixit, Dei Gloriam et animarum Salutem sedulò Studuit ob. 14 Maij. A. D. 1691, æt. 28°. Hic juxta jacet etiam Henricus Kerrich Frater supradicti Johannis qui obijt Apr. 17°, A.D. 1687, æt. 18. John Kerrich ob. June 24 1704, æt. 72. Mary his Wife, ob. 18 March 1708, æt. 76. James their Son 29 Apr. 1715, æt. 44.

 

In 1469, Walter Nyche or Neech of Mendham, was buried in AllSaints church there, before St. Nicholas's altar, and gave 12d. to every monk of Mendham, and five marks for a new tabernacle at St. Nicholas's altar; he owned an estate here, which had continued many generations in his family. In 1610, 21 Jan. Anne Neech married to William Bateman, Gent. to whose family the estate now belongs. He left Katerine his wife, Alice and Margaret, his daughters; and three sons, Robert, John le Senior, priest, and John le Junior; from whom descended the Rev. Mr. Anthony Neech, late rector of Snitterton, of whom in vol. i. p. 110, 421.

 

The vicarage stands in the King's Books at 5l. 5s. 2d. ob. and being sworn of the clear yearly value of 23l. 4s. 7d. is capable of augmentation, and was augmented accordingly by the Rev. Mr. Whitaker, late rector of Fresingfield, the patron, who presented his nephew, the Rev. Mr. Thomas Whitaker, the present vicar.

 

Vicars here.

 

1228, Henry de Diss, the first vicar, presented by the Prior of Ipswich, as were all the succeeding vicars to the Dissolution.

 

1305, Walter le Shepherd.

 

1318, Benedict.

 

1320, Hervy del Welle of Mendham.

 

1329, William son of John Gibbs of Kenford, who resigned in

 

1347, to John de Reppes, priest, in exchange for Shelton mediety.

 

1364, Edward de Flete.

 

1394, John de Hunstanton.

 

1505, Sir Jeffery Lowen.

 

1534, Will. Grave.

 

1631, Thomas Trendle, buried here 18 June the same year.

 

1632, George Fen.

 

1653, Mr. John Harward, minister.

 

1671, John Mayhew, sequestrator.

 

1677, Mr. Ric. Jennings, sequestrator, succeeded by Mr. Child, sequestrator; who was succeeded by the present vicar's predecessor,

 

Mr. Seth Turner, who was presented by Mr. Stephen Baxter,-and was vicar above 50 years; he is buried here.

 

Medefield, or Metfield, (fn. 21)

Is also another hamlet and parochial chapel of Mendham, the great tithes of which, belong to the impropriator there, who nominates and pays the stipendiary chaplain. The Rev. Mr. John Mendham, vicar of Weybrede, hath it now; and I am informed, there is a good house and glebe given to the serving minister since the Reformation.

 

The chapel is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and hath a square tower, clock, and three bells; on the biggest is this,

 

Munere Baptiste, Benedictus sit chorus iste.

 

The south porch, nave, and chancel, are leaded. There are stones for John Norton 1609. Anne wife of John Francklin, Gent. daughter of William and Elizabeth Blobold, Gent. 1636, and left John, William, Elizabeth, and Anne. Will. Browne 1660, 70.

 

Francis Smallpeece Esq; Son and Heir of Tho. Smallpeece Esq; and Anne his Wife. 1652.

 

Smallpeece, S. a chevron ingrailed between three cinquefoils ar. Crest, a bird rising.

 

But this hamlet is of chief remark, as being the ancient seat of the Jermys.

 

It seems this manor, called

 

Metefield In Mendham,

 

Was anciently of the fee of the abbot of Holm, of whom it was held in the time of Richard I. at half a fee, by Hugh Burd; after which, it was escheated to the Crown, and was granted to Thomas de Brotherton, son to King Edward I. who married Alice, daughter of Sir Roger Hales of Harwich, Knt. whose sister Joan, (fn. 22) married to Sir John Germyn or Jermy, Knt.; and in 1325, the said Thomas conveyed to his brother-in-law, Sir John Jermy, Knt. two parts of this manor, and the third part to his wife, for the assignment of her dower. In 1353, Sir John Germy, Knt. held it at a quarter of a fee of the manor of King's-hall in Mendham. In 1385, Sir Will. Jermy, Knt. was buried here; Elizabeth his wife survived him. In 1428, Sir John Jermy, Knt. and Margaret Mounteney his wife, owned this and Withersdale manors; and he it was, that rebuilt this church and manor-house, where he placed the matches of his family in the windows; and his own arms are carved several times on the timber of the roof, and are still in several windows, and in stone on the font; he died in 1487, and was buried at the north-east corner of the chancel; his inscription was cut in old text letters on his stone, but it is so worn and broken, that this only remains,

 

Johannes Jermy Miles quondam Dominus et qui obiit

 

By his will in Register Aleyn, fo. 330, which is dated at BukenhamFerry, Oct. 24, 1487, he appointed to be buried here, and gave a legacy to this church, and those of Bukenham-Ferry and Hasingham, of which he was patron; he ordered 100 marks to be distributed to the poor on his burial day, and gave the manor and advowsons of Bukenham and Hasingham, to be sold, after his wife Margaret's death: he gave 200 marks to the Abbot of St. Bennet at the Holm in Ludham, to found a chantry priest to sing mass daily there, for him and his family for ever; he is called Sir John Jermy, senior, Knt.

 

Sir John Jermy, junior, Knt. his son and heir, married Elizabeth, daughter of Will. Wroth of Enfield, Esq. and had two sons; from Thomas, the younger son, descended the Jermys of Bayfield in Norfolk, under which place I design an ample account of the family. And

 

John Jermy, Esq. the eldest son, continued the family at Metfield; he married Isabel, daughter of John Hopton, Esq. and lies buried in the chancel by his grandfather, with this on a brass plate on his stone;

Orate pro animabus Johannis Jermy et Jsabelle Uroris sue, unius Filiarum Johannis Nopton Armigeri, qui quidem Johannis obiit riiio Die Januarii Anno Domini Mo vc iiii. Quorum anima- bus propicietur Deus Amen. (fn. 23)

 

Jermy, arg. a lion rampant guardant gul. impaling Hopton, as at vol. iii. p. 553.

 

Edmund Jermy, Esq. his son and heir, married a daughter of William Booth, Esq. and left Sir John Jermy of Metfield and Brightwell, Knight of the Bath; (fn. 24) who by Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Teye, Knt. had Francis Jermy of Brightwell, Esq. who by Eliz. daughter and coheir of Sir William Fitz-Williams of Ireland, Knt. had Sir Thomas Jermy, Knight of the Bath; who by Jane, daughter and heiress of Edward Stuart or Styward, of Teversham in Cambridgeshire, had four sons, Thomas, Edmund, John, and William, of which,

 

Thomas, his eldest son, settled here, for whom there is an altar tomb at the north-east corner of this chancel, with the arms of Jermy, and a griffin proper for the crest, and this,

 

Thomas Jarmy Esq; Sonne and Heire of Sir Thomas Jarmy Knight of the noble Order of the Bath. 21 Dec. 1652.

 

Since which time, the manor hath been sold from the family, and now belongs to Walter Plommer, Esq.

 

¶I have an account, which says, that more gentlemen kept coaches in Mendham, than in any place in Suffolk, and that in 1642, many cavileers in these parts, raised a sum for the King; among which in this town, Richard Baxter, Gent. lord, 30l. Rob. Harper 30l. William Bateman, senior, 10l. James Terrold. Gent. 10l. William Jacob 20l. Will. Herring 3l. &c. Thomas Jermy, Esq. 20l. Anthony Freston, Gent. 5l.

 

In Charles the Second's time, Sir William Godbould lived here, and Colonel John Hobard; and Edward Ward, Esq. justice of the peace, in K. James the Second's time.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol5...

Plan B WWII figures and Jeep with Hasbro Ultimate Captain America figure.

 

Used TTV from here:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/dodder/2072475535/in/pool-ttvdust

I suppose I have been driving up and down the A143 for the last 33 years, and I have noticed the sign to Mendham the very first time I drove down there, as Mendham was also the surname of one of the Norwich City players at this time.

 

But it wasn't until a friend posted a shot of the church from the air, that the thought of visiting it entered my little head. (www.flickr.com/photos/john_fielding/)

 

Anyway, I turned off the main road into the lane that leads to Mendham, the lane shrinking to a width of just wider than the car, before it plunged down a valley side to the now dry water meadows before a bridge took me over the river and from Norfolk into Suffolk.

 

The church was at the entrance to the village, guarded by a pillbox, looking over the lane now, but 75 years ago would have covered fire on the lane and bridge that spans the mighty river Waveney, which must be some ten feet side at this point.

 

The church was open, and despite the gloomy day, I could see lots of interest, including a blocked squint, but not too sure about that east window, but then I'm no expert.

 

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(Introduction: In 2007, I started revisiting the churches of Suffolk. It was interesting to look back at what I'd written when I'd first come this way. Back then, by the time I got to Mendham in 2002, the journey was almost complete. Here, and on the entry for neighbouring Weybread, there is a demob-happy irreverence which suggests I was happy for the journey to be coming to an end. In truth, I think I was exhausted, and it would actually be another year before I started on Norfolk. But that was in the future. I came to Mendham in the days before I owned a digital camera, which was the main reason for going back. Apart from replacing the old photographs and adding lots of new ones, I have left the account pretty much as I wrote it in 2002. This entry seems to have an uncharacteristic number of side-swipes at other villages, and the Countryside Alliance, who were at that time making themselves rather unpleasant. Perhaps they have been proved right, who can say? Anyway, this is what I wrote.)

 

2002: Mendham, for me, is synonymous with civilisation. I had come here from Bungay, one of my favourite East Anglian towns, and I had made the choice there to travel onwards on the Suffolk side of the Waveney, even though the more direct trip on the Norfolk side would take me through Earsham and Redenhall. This was because I wanted to visit Flixton, where the 19th century church of St Mary is a direct copy by Salvin of the Saxon church at Sompting in Sussex. Out of Flixton, I could stay on the main road, or try and take a short cut through the Saints.

Now, anyone who knows Suffolk will tell you that no one takes a short cut through the Saints. This elaborate maze of twelve villages is connected by threadlike roads without name, direction or purpose, that lead you into farmyards and then peter out, or double back on themselves, so you see yourself across the fields trying to get to somewhere other than the place where you are. The Saints were created by a Zen Buddhist God to demonstrate the futility of life.

 

But I ambled on, aiming for the easily recognisable tower of the church of St George, South Elmham St Cross, which would lead me to my intended destination. The road lurched and dipped, straining to throw me off down some unmarked byway, but I held to my course. I had a map, a sense of direction, and would not be diverted from reaching St George. And then I got there, and it turned out to be South Elmham St Peter.

 

I stopped for a moment, exasperated. Looking at the map, it was easy to see where I had gone wrong (they do this to you, the Saints, they point out your inadequacies) but I was now 4 miles further east than I should have been. I found a lane that led me down into South Elmham St Margaret, and resisted the temptation to head off of this road, which was the correct one.

 

Okay, then I didn't. I was going to stick to it, but a sudden lane pointed to St Cross. So I took it. Instantly, it narrowed, dipped, and sent me hurtling into a tunnel overgrown with hawthorn. The road surface disappeared under a sea of mud, obviously left over from the winter ploughing. My bike cheerfully sprayed the slurry all up the front of me. Now, I'm a reasonable man - well, mostly. But I have no time for the Countryside Alliance mob, and howled in execration, something along the lines of "----ing farmers, why can't they keep their mud on their ----ing fields where it belongs", which caused mild consternation to the donkey skulking under a tree at the bottom of the dip.

 

I climbed up the other side of the valley - and at the top of the rise there was a proper road, and a sign saying Mendham 2 and I knew I was free. With a cry of "YES!" I headed on into Mendham, a large and civilised place, which was birthplace and home to the artist Sir Alfred Munnings. Right beside the Waveney sits the pretty church of All Saints in a delightful graveyard.

 

The first impression is a neat, substantial building, and indeed this is a major 19th century restoration that was done well. The 14th tower is slightly older than the body of the church it stands against, but the chancel is late 19th century. The going over the rest of the church received 20 years earlier was at the hands of our old friend Richard Phipson, and the headstops on the porch will instantly remind us of his contemporary work at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich.

 

It is a big church, and the inside is pretty much all the work of Phipson in his 'see, I can be surprisingly creative when I try' period. So it is very Victorian, although I thought the roof angels were superb despite this. They bear shields with a complete set of Passion symbols. The chancel arch is very striking, being wooden, and based on a pair of arch braces. There is a fine memorial to William Godbold, as well as a number of lovely brasses to the Freston family, which don't seem to get mentioned in books on the subject. Best of all, I think, is the 1880s east window by Ward and Hughes depicting the Ascension.

 

Mortlock thought the painting of the Presentation in the Temple was probably Venetian, dating from the early 17th century. In general, this is a crisp, spare, simple interior, a cool place to pause in the middle of a busy journey.

 

Back outside again, the graveyard has something that no other graveyard in Suffolk has. The western edge drops straight into the Waveney, and against this edge is a pill box, a machine gun emplacement from the Second World War (or, at least, I'm guessing it was built to repel Nazi invaders, rather than anything that might come across from the Norfolk side).

 

My next port of call was Weybread, just three miles away - but five if I stayed in the narrow winding lanes on the Suffolk bank, so I took a deep breath, screwed up my courage, and crossed the river into Norfolk.

  

All Saints, Mendham, is situated between Bungay and Harleston, Norfolk, just south of the border. I found it open.

 

Simon Knott 2002 (revised and updated 2007)

  

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendham.htm

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edham, adjoins east to Brockdish, on the great road; and is originally a hamlet and chapelry to Mendham, which is a very extensive place; the parish church stands just over the river, and so is in Suffolk; but this hamlet and the adjacent part between it and the parish church, on the Norfolk side, were no less than two miles and five furlongs long, and seven furlongs broad, at the Conqueror's survey, and paid 7d. to the geld or tax; and the part on the Norfolk side (exclusive of the bounds of this ancient hamlet) was called Scotford, or the part at the ford, (over which there is a good brick bridge built, called Shotford bridge at this day,) and for many ages had a rector presented to it, who served in the church of Mendham, by the name of the rector of Shotford portion in Mendham.

 

Part of Herolveston or Harleston then belonged to Mendham also; and now, that part of the town opposite to the south side of the chapel, on which the publick-house called the Pye stands, is in Mendham.

 

Mendham parish church is dedicated to All the Saints, and was originally a rectory, one turn of which, was in Sir William de Huntingfield, founder of the priory here, to which he gave it, and the other in Sir Thomas de Nedham, who gave it to William Prior of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich, and the convent there, to which it was appropriated by Thomas de Blundeville Bishop of Norwich, in 1227, when the vicarage was settled to consist of a messuage and 24 acres of land, 6 acres of meadow and marsh, with all the alterage belonging to the church, and the tithes of the mills, hay, turf, and fish, and all sorts of pulse, and 10s. per annum rent; viz. from the Lady Eve de Arches half a mark, &c. (fn. 1) and the said Prior was to pay all dues to the bishop and archdeacon, except synodals; (fn. 2) and Henry de Diss, chaplain, the first vicar here, was presented by the Prior of Ipswich. The account of this church in Norwich Domesday is thus; the Prior of the Holy Trinity of Ipswich hath the moiety of the church of Mendham, appropriated to his convent, and hath a house and two carucates of land, and receives the tithes of the demeans of Sir Thomas de Nedham; this was valued formerly at 15 marks. The Prior of Mendham hath the other moiety, and receives the tithes of Sir William de Hunting field, and his moiety is valued at ten marks. Sir Thomas de Clare is patron of the third part, which the vicar holds of the fee of Cockfield, and is valued at tive marks.

 

The chapel of St. Peter at Nedham was in all probability founded by the Nedham family, and most likely, by Sir Thomas de Nedham himself, for his own tenants; and being so far from the mother-church of Mendham, was made parochial, and hath separate bounds, officers, administration of sacraments, and burial; it is under the episcopal, but exempt from the archidiaconal jurisdiction; for it pays neither synodals, procurations, nor Peter-pence: and in 1329, a perpetual composition and agreement was made between the parishioners of the mother-church of Mendham, and those of the chapel of Nedham; by which, in lieu of all reparations and dues to the parish of Mendham, they agreed to pay 18d. every Easter-day, towards the repairs of Mendham church, as an acknowledgment that they were members of it. In 1411, the parishioners of Nedham, complained to Pope John XXIII. that their chapel was not well served, though the Prior of Mendham was well paid his tithes; upon which, a bull directed to Alexander de Totington Bishop of Norwich, issued; (fn. 3) commanding him to oblige the Prior of Mendham to find, and give security to him, that that convent would always find a parochial chaplain resident in Nedham, well and duly to serve the chapel there: and ever since, the impropriator of Mendham nominates the parish chaplain. In 1603, it was returned that

 

Mr. Andrew Wily, clerk, was curate, that there were 220 communicants, and that it was an impropriation; the herbages being reserved for the maintenance of the minister, who hath now the vicarial tithes, amounting to about 14l. per annum, for which it is served once every fortnight;

 

The Rev. Mr. John Tracey being the present curate.

 

The steeple is round at bottom and octangular at top, and hath four bells in it; the south porch and nave are tiled; there are several stones, but none with inscriptions on them, all their brasses being reaved: the chancel was wholly rebuilt in 1735, of brick, and tiled (though less than the old one was) by William Freston, Esq. who is interred in it; for whom there is a mural monument on the south side, with the

 

Crest of Freston, viz. a demi-greyhound arg. collared sab. and his arms,

 

Az. on a fess or, three leopards heads gul. which were first granted to the Frestons of Yorkshire, (fn. 4) impaling

 

Kedington, and this inscription,

 

Memoriæ sacrum, Gulielmi Freston de Mendham in Agro Norfolciensi, Armigeri, qui ex hac Vitâ demigravit 26° Die Oct. A. D. MDCCXXXIXo. Ætatis LVo. Et Margarettæ Uxoris Charissimæ, Filiæ et Herædis Henrici Kedington, Armigeri, quæ nimio ob Mariti obitum indulgens Dolori, Die 2do. Julij animam efflavit Anno Dni. DCCXLIo. Ætatis LIo. Vincula Amoris inter eos arctissima ut ad Amorem mutuum nihil posset accedere. Ex his nati sunt octo Liberi, Quorum sex jam Superstites; Maria Filia natû maxima, 20° Die Mensis Junij mortem obijt A. D. MDCCXL. Æt. XVII. Et in hoc Adesto (cum Johanne Fratre Infantulo) humata jacet. Hoc Monumentum Pietatis Ergo Coke Freston Filius natû maximus posuit.

 

Anno Domini MDCCXLVI.

 

This chapelry hath a lete held in it by the Duke of Norfolk's steward, it being in his Grace's liberty, who is lord paramount in right of his hundred of Earsham, over all the Norfolk part of Mendham; and in 1285, Roger Bigot, then lord of the hundred, had free-warren allowed him here.

 

The abbot and convent of Sibton in Suffolk had a fishery, and water-mill called Fryer's Mill, in this place; (fn. 5) which was let with their grange and manor of Weybrede in Suffolk; which in 1611, belonged to George Hering of Norwich.

 

This hamlet originally belonged to the Abbot of Bury, (fn. 6) and was infeoffed by one Frodo at the Conquest, whose descendants took the sirname of Nedham, and contrary to the common rule, gave their name to this place; it should seem that the family extinguished in several heiresses, by the many parts or manors it was divided into; and now there are four manors still subsisting here.

 

The first is a very small one, called Sileham Comitis, ex Parte Norfolk; and was originally part of the Earl's manor of Sileham, from which it was separated, and now belongs to Mr. James Bransby of Shotesham.

 

The second is called Denison's, or Denston's manor: this was given to the priory of Mendham, to which it belonged till its Dissolution.

 

This monastery was founded in King Stephen's time, by Will. son of Rog. de Hunting field, with the approbation of Roger his son and heir, who gave the whole isle of Mendham, called Medenham, or the village of meadows, to the monks of Castleacre, on condition they should erect a church of stone, and build a convent by it, and place at least eight of their monks there: in the place called Hurst, or Bruningsherst, being then a woody isle on the Suffolk side of the river; accordingly, monks being placed there, the founder ordered that they should be subject to Castleacre monks, as a cell to that house, in the same manner as Castleacre itself was, to the monastery of St. Pancras at Lewes in Suffolk; and that to the church of Cluni or Clugny in France: but after the death of the founder, the Prior of Castleacre covenanted with Roger de Hunting field his son, (who was also a great benefactor,) to maintain at least eight monks at Mendham, and not to depose the Prior there, unless for disobedience, incontinence, or dilapidations of the house.

 

Their founder gave the whole island of St. Mary of Mendham, with Ulveshage and the Granges there; and many other lands, rents, and homages; and all his lands in Crochestune, and his homagers there, which were all to be employed by the Prior, to the maintenance of Mendham monks, except half a mark of silver to be paid yearly to the priory of Castleacre, as an acknowledgment of their depending as a cell to that monastery; (fn. 7) he gave them also, St. Margaret's church at Linstede, and St. Peter's there; the moiety of the church of Trideling; an aldercarr and 11 acres by the mill, of Thomas de Mendham; and the third part of the tithes of his demeans in Suttorp; and 5s. rent in Bradenham; together with all his right in the church of Mendham: to all which, William the Dean of Redenhall, and others, were witnesses. And Stephen de Saukeville released all his right in Hurst. In 1239, Richard son of Benedict, after his decease, settled a messuage and 60 acres of land on this priory. In 1386, Sir Robert de Swillington, Knt. Sir Roger Bois, Knt. John Pyeshale, clerk, and Robert de Ashfield, settled the patronage of this monastery, on Isabel Countess of Suffolk. This house and all its revenues, were given by King Henry VIII. together with the lands of the dissolved priories of Ankerwick in Lincolnshire, and Little Marlow in Buckinghamshire, to the then newly restored monastery at Bisham or Butlesham in Berkshire, in 1537, (fn. 8) by way of augmentation to the value of 661l. 14s. 9d. per annum for the maintenance of an abbot and 13 monks of the Benedictine order. But that monastery was short-lived and soon fell; and this house, &c. in 1539, was granted to Charles Duke of Suffolk, and with it, this manor of Denston's, which, 2d 3d Philip and Mary, was conveyed to Richard Freston Esq. and Anne his wife, and he was lord of it in 1567; and it continued in his family some time: it now belongs to Mrs. Frances Bacon of Earlham, widow.

 

The prior was taxed for all his temporals in Mendham on the Norfolk side, at 4l. 12s. 11d.

 

From the rolls of this manor, I find the following Priors of Mendham, to have kept courts here.

 

1239, John. 1250, Simon. 1336. Nic. Cressi; he died this year, and Sir Rog. de Hunting field, patron of the priory, kept a court during the vacancy.

 

1340, John de Waltun; succeeded in 1342, by Henry de Berlegh. 1353, William. 1382, John de Tomston. 1400, Robert. 1420, John Betelee succeeded. 1449, Sir Tho. Rede. 1487, Sir Tho Pytte. 1501, Sir Tho. Bullock. 1523, Simon. Robert Howton, sub-prior, and Sir Ric. Pain, monk.

 

The third manor is called Bourt's and was owned by Daniel Bourt in 1345, and after by John le Straunge and Thomas de Hales, who held it at half a fee of the heirs of Roger de Hunting field; it after belonged to the Grices of Brockdish, for which family I refer you thither. In 1600, Thomas Pawlet, Esq. conveyed it to Thomas Leigh and John Godfrey; and it now belongs to Sir Edmund Bacon of Gillingham, Bart.

 

The fourth manor is called Gunshaw's, which see at p. 348.

 

To this hamlet, joins the aforesaid portion of Mendham, called

 

Shotford in Mendham,

Which contains two manors, called Whitendons, or the Whitehills, and Seameares, each of which originally presented alternately to the portion of Shotford in Mendham church.

 

Rectors of Shotford portion.

 

1317, Ralf son of Sir William de Ingham, accolite. Lady Maroya, relict of Sir John de Ingham, Knt. for this turn

 

1318, Walter of Ipswich, priest.

 

1328, Jeffry de Swanton.

 

1332, Roger Nicole, priest. John son of Robert de Ingham, attorney to Sir Oliver Ingham, Knt.

 

1339, Roger de Hempstede.

 

1347, Robert at Wode. Lady Isabel Queen of England.

 

1349, Giles Arches of Mendham, to the rectory of the third part of the church of Mendham, called Shotford portion in Norfolk. Sir Roger Lord Strange of Knokyn, Knt. He resigned in 1350, and the Lady Joan le Strange gave it to

 

Robert de Harwoode; afterwards the noble Sir Miles Stapleton, Knt. having the whole advowson, gave it to Mendham priory; and on the 3d of July, 1385, it was appropriated to the monastery of the blessed Virgin Mary at Mendham, and no vicarage ordained, so that the Prior received all tithes whatever of the whole portion, paying a pension of 6s. 8d. yearly to the Bishop, and finding a chaplain to perform a third part of the service in Mendham church: which service was after turned into that of a chantry priest, who was to officiate in St. Mary's chapel on the east side of Mendham churchyard; and that service ceased in Edward the Sixth's time, and the chapel was granted by the Crown into lay hands, and is now used as a malt-house.

 

The manor of Semere's

 

At the Conqueror's survey, belonged to Roger of Poictou, third son of Roger de Montgomery Earl of Arundel, and was held in the Confessor's time by a freeman named Ulfriz: (fn. 9) it was then valued at 10s. and after at 20. It divided into two parts, one belonged in 1311, to Alice and Edmund de Sancto Mauro or Seymor, Knt. and Joan his wife, from which family it took its name: this Sir Edmund, in 1335, infeoffed it with the manors of Sileham and Esham, and their advowsons, in Sir John Wing field, Knt. as trustee; and Laurence Seymour, parson of the united churches of Sileham and Esham, and Ralf his brother, released all their right; and the next year, Sir John released them to John son and heir of Sir Edward Seymour, Knt. It appears, that in 1291, John de Brampton held the other part of Elizabeth de Ingham at half a fee, and that it then divided, the one half continuing in the Inghams, of which Sir John Ingham, Knt. was lord, and Maroya or Mariona, his widow, in 1217. In 1331, Sir Oliver Ingham, Knt. and it passed with that family, till Sir Miles Stapleton gave it to Mendham priory, when it became joined to Denston's in Nedham. The other part, now Semere's manor, was sold to Sir John Wingfield by Laurence de Seymor; and in 1349, John Garlek and Sara his wife conveyed their third parts of Sileham, Esham, and this manor, and their advowson, to him. In 1401, Edw. Hales was lord; in 1551, it was sold to Henry Floteman, and it is now owned by John Kerrich of Bury M. D.

 

Whitendons, or Wichendons manor,

 

Belonged to Humfry, a freeman of Edric's in the Confessor's time; and to Robert Malet, lord of the honour of Eye, in the Conqueror's; (fn. 10) it after belonged to a family sirnamed De Arcubus; and in 1226, William de Arches and Eve his wife gave it to the Priory of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich; in which house it continued till its dissolution, when it came to the Crown, and the first year of Edward VI. 1546, he granted the advowson of Sileham and its appurtenances, this manor of Wichendon, and all the tithes and glebes, in Mendham, Nedham, and Metfield, late in the tenure of Richard Freston, Esq. to the said Richard and his heirs; (fn. 11) who upon this grant, came and settled in the manor-house here; and his descendants have continued in it to this time.

 

This Richard, in 1534, (fn. 12) appears to be treasurer, and a great favourite of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk; and an intimate acquaintance of Sir Rob. Budde, who was master of Wingfield college, and chaplain to his grace; and by his interest it was, that he obtained several great grants from the Crown; (fn. 13) among which, he had Denston's manor in Nedham, and many lands belonging to Mendham priory: he was afterwards knighted, and lies buried with Dame Anne Coke his wife, in Mendham chancel, for whom there is a monument against the east part of the north wall, with the arms of Freston impaling Coke, which shows that he outlived his wife, and died in 1557; and was succeeded by

 

Richard, his son and heir, who married Cecily, daughter of Thomas Felton, Esq.; (fn. 14) she lies buried in the chancel, under a stone, on which is her effigies, and the following inscriptions in Roman capitals on brass plates:

 

Cecilia Freston, (fn. 15) Filia Thomæ Felton Arm. Uxor dicti Ricardi, viro Amore Charissima, habuerunt sex Filios et 2 Filias et obdormivit in Domino 6 Sep. 1615. Christus mihi Vita.

 

An adjoining stone hath the arms of Freston with a mullet, impaling Felton, and his image in brass, and this,

 

Ricardus Freestone Armiger, (fn. 16) vir singulari Pietate, Eraditione, et Integritate, qui obdormivit in Domino 27 Nov. 1616. mors mihi lucrum.

 

William Freston, Esq. their eldest son, inherited; and in 1620, settled the manor on Alban Pigot, Esq. with the patronage of Nedham chapel; and the same year, Sir Robert Heath, Knt. recovered it against Pigot, and conveyed it to Freston again; he died soon after, and

 

Richard his brother inherited, and died seized of this and Denston's manor in 1634; (fn. 17) he is buried under a stone in the chancel, with his crest and arms, impaling in fess, an inescutcheon, on which a plain cross between three crosslets formy fitché, the sharpened parts pointing towards the inescutcheon; and on a brass plate this,

 

Animam Creatori, Marmoreo presenti Monumento, Ricardus Freston (dum vixit, in Agro Norfolciensi Armiger) Corporis Reliquias, amicis omnibus sui desiderium, 20 Dec. A. D. 1634, reliquit, non procul a cujus dextrâ, Pater Materque ejus requiescunt. Vitam vixit summâ cum Pietate, tum morum probitate, laudabilem Amicitiam magnâ cum Sinceritate coluit.

 

By this lies a stone with Freston's arms single.

 

Hic jacet Corpus Richardi Freston Armigeri, Filij Richardi Freeston de Mendham in Agro Norfolciensi Armigeri, qui hinc translatus est ad supera, Flore Juventutis suæ, vir summis dotibus Animi et Corporis, recumbens in Christi merita, obijt 14 Augusti 1648.

 

Anthony Freston, brother of the said Richard, (fn. 18) was buried Oct. 13, 1655; Lydia his wife lies buried in the chancel under a stone, with the arms of Freston impaling on a chief indented, two hands cooped at the wrist.

 

Ledia Wife of Anthony Freston, younger son of Richard Freston Esq; ob. 22 Mar. 1651.

 

Anthony, son of the said Anthony, married Bridget, (fn. 19) daughter of Henry Coke, Esq. of Thorington in Suffolk, and Margaret Lovelace his wife; which Henry was son to Sir Edward Coke and Dame Bridget Paston his wife, and had a daughter,

 

Penelope, late wife of John Smith of Cratfield in Suffolk, buried here in 1681, æt. 51, whose marble lies in the altar rails, and hath

 

Smith's crest, viz. an arm cooped at the shoulder, holding a chaplet; the arms are, Barry of six arg. and sab. in chief three barnacles of the 2d, (which coat was granted to the Smiths of Lincolnshire,) quartering a chevron ingrailed between three garbs, and a lion rampant impaling Freston.

 

Eliz. Daughter of Anthony Freston Esq; and Bridget his Wife, was buried May 4, 1716, æt. 62.

 

Theophila their youngest daughter, married James Rant, Esq. and is buried here with this,

 

Hic jacet Sepulta Theophila Uxor Jacobi Rant Armigeri, Filii natû quarti, Gvlielmi Rant de Yelverton in Com. Norf. Armigeri, et Elizæ. Uxoris secundæ: Theophila prædicta, minima natû Filia fuit, Antonij Freston de Mendham in Com. Norf. Armigeri, et Brigidæ Uxoris ejus, E Vitâ excessit 12° Die Aprilis A.D. 1721, Ao Æt. 55. Duos Filios superstites reliquit, viz. Frestonum et Gulielmum.

 

Si quæris, Lector, qualis sub marmore dormit Fœmina! Scito brevi, casta, benigna, pia.

 

Rant's arms as in vol. i. p. 204, impaling Freston.

 

Over the south chancel door is a mural monument thus inscribed,

 

Beneath this Monument lyeth interred the Body of Edward Freston, Gent. youngest Son of Anthony Freston of Mendham in the County of Norfolk, Esq; and Bridget his Wife, Daughter of Henry Coke of Thorington in the County of Suffolk, Esq; he died 28 Day of Dec. 1708, Ao, Æt. 43. As also the Body of Elizabeth the Wife of Edward Freston, and Daughter of John Sayer of Pulham St. Mary the Virgin, in the County of Norfolk, Gent. she died the 25 Day of Sept. 1727, Ao Æt. 55.

 

Freston's crest and arms, impaling Sayer, as at p. 31, vol. iv. and crest on a cap of maintenance, a dragon's head erased vert.

 

Another monument more west, against the south wall, hath the arms of Freston impaling,

 

Cooke, or, a chevron ingrailed between three cinquefoils az. on a chief of the 2d, a lion passant guardant az.

 

M. S. Sub hoc marmore conditæ sunt reliquiæ Richardi Freston, Arm. hominis adprimè pij; mariti Uxoris amantissimi, Parentis, propitij, et clementis Domini: Vis plura Lector? Scies, hoc Monumentum a Maria Uxore ejus, Filia viri colendissimi, Domini Gulielmi Cooke, in Agro Norfolciensi, quondam Baronetti; Amoris et Pietatis Ergo extructum, ut omnes qui huc venient et intuentur, tam clari exempli memores sint et æmuli, et Vitâ cum eo fruantur æternâ, obijt 22 Junij 1721, æt. 68.

 

William Freston and Margaret Kedington his wife, who are buried in Nedham chapel as before, left this manor, impropriation, and a good estate, to

 

Coke Freston, Esq. their eldest son, who now owns them, and dwells in the site of the manor, called Wichingdon-hall.

 

In the Suffolk part of Mendham, there are four manors; the first is called

 

Mendham's-Hall, or Mendham-Hall,

 

From the ancient lords of it, who took their sirname from the town: it originally belonged to the Abbot of Bury, and was infeoffed by Baldwin Abbot there, in Hugh de Vere, of whom Nicholas de Menham had it; in 1205, William de Mendham, and in 1239, Benedict son of Serlo de Mendham conveyed a messuage and 10 acres to the prior of Ipswich, who had obtained in 1230 a release from Robert Byhurt, of all his right in Mendham advowson. In 1285 Thomas de Mendham, who was lord also in 1306; in 1312, John de Mendham had it; in 1318, John son of John de Mendham, and Christian his wife, sold it to the lord of

 

Kingshall in Mendham, (fn. 20)

 

To which it hath been joined ever since. This manor belonged to the King, according as its name intimates, and was settled by Edw. I. on Queen Eleanor his first wife, after whose death it came to the Veres Earls of Oxford; and Sir Robert Vere, in 1314, sold it to Sir John de Fresingfield, Knt. son of Seman de Fresingfield; at which time, Robert son of John de Mendham, released to him all right in Mendham's-Hall manor; and in 1317, Sir John sold them to Sir Walter de Norwich, Knt. and his heirs, the Earl of Oxford releasing all right; Sir John de Insula, or L'isle, Sir John de Foxele, and Sir John Abel, Knts. Barons of the King's Exchequer, Sir John Muteford, justice of the King's Bench, and others, being witnesses. In 1353, Sir John de Huntingfield held those manors late of Thomas Earl of Oxford, at half a fee. In 1363, it was presented that William de Huntingfield held the river Waghene as a separate fishing, from Mendham bridge to King's-hall mill, and that he had the fishery there, as belonging to his manor of King's-hall. In 1369, Will. de Huntingfield held it for life; and in 1370, John Deyns, rector of Toft in Lincolnshire, and Richard Wright of Holbech, chaplain, his trustees, released to Roger de Huntingfield, who, with his trustees, John de Seckford, parson of Somercotes, John de Linstede, parson of Cawston, Tho. Horne, rector of Huntingfield, and others, soon after, settled them on Mendham priory: in which they continued to its dissolution, and then were granted to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, and his heirs, by King Henry VIII. in 1540, along with the lete of Metfield, and

 

The manor of Mendham Priory,

 

Which was given to it by its founder. They after belonged to the Frestons, and in 1551, Richard Freston was lord; in 1619, Sir Thomas Holland of Quidenham, Knt. sold to Edw. Ward of Mendham in Suffolk, Esq. the site of Mendham priory manor, now called Mendham'shall, &c. Kings-hall meadow, &c. the park, the manor of Mendhamhall, &c. with the letes thereto belonging, situate in Mendham, Withersdale, and Waybrede; all which, he purchased of Anthony Gosnold of Clopton, Esq. Anthony Gosnold of Swillington, Gent. Robert Gosnold of Ottley in Suffolk, Esq. Thomas Laurence of St. James's in S. Elmham, Gent. Michael Wentworth of Rogersthorpe in Yorkshire, Esq. Thomas Wales of Thorp in Norfolk, yeoman, and Loye Browne of Norwich: and the said Thomas, and Dame Mary his wife, sued a fine, and passed a recovery to the use of the said Edward Ward the elder, and his heirs; together with the fishery in the river Wayveneth. It came afterwards to the Baxters, and thence to the Gardiners of Norwich; and was sold by Richard Berney, Esq. recorder of Norwich, executor to Stephen Gardiner, Esq. late recorder there, to the Rev. Mr. Thomas Whitaker, late rector of Fresingfield, whose widow now owns them. They have a lete here, and another in Metfield, belonging to them; they give dower, and the eldest son is heir.

 

I find the following memorials relating to the Baxters in this church:

 

Depositum Stephani Baxter Generosi, qui decessit 12 Die Sept. 1696, æt. 79,

 

On a neat mural monument are the arms of

 

Godbold, az. two long bows in saltier or. Crest, an arm cooped at the shoulder az.

 

M.S. V. C.mi. D. Gulielmi Godbold Militis, ex illustri et perantiquâ Prosapiâ oriundi, qui post septennem peregrinationem, animi excolendi Gratiâ, per Italiam, Greciam, Palœstinam, &c. in solo natali in bonarum Literarum Studijs consenescens, morte repentinâ obijt Londini, Mense Aprilis Ao MDCXIIIC. Ætatis LXIXo. Hoc Monumentum designavit vir integerrimus, et sinceræ Probitatis Exemplar, Thomas Baxter Generosus, quem Testamenti sui Curatorem instituit; ipso autem Thomâ, morte subitaneâ perempto, collapso super eum Equo, nocte intempestivâ et tenebrosâ. IIII Calendas Septemb. MDCXC. Franciscus Gardiner de Civitate Norwicensi Armiger, ejusdem Thomœ Baxter sororis maritus, et Testamenti Curator, posuit. Baxter with a label of three, (see p. 212,) impaling D'eye, as in vol. ii. p. 345.

 

Hic reposita, beatam præstolatur Resurrectionem Fæmina, Pietate et Virtute insignis, Elizabetha Filia Thomœ Dey, de Insula, sive Eay in Agro Suffolciensi Armigeri, Uxor Thomæ Baxter de Mendham in eodem Agro Generosi, cui prolem edidit Masculam unam, alteramque fœminam, Quarum utramque ipso die lustrico et renata simul et denata est, annos nata triginta sex, nupta plus minus septendecem; obijt 27 Dec. 1681.

 

The next manor here, is called

 

Walsham-Hall,

 

From Gilbert de Walsham, who held it of the Abbot of Bury in the time of King Ric. I. at one fee; and lately it belonged to the Hobarts, who lived in the site of it, till Anthony Hobart, Gent. sold it to Mr. Robert Bransby, senior, of Shotesham, who sold it to Mrs. Sarah Woogan, wife of the Rev. Mr. Holmes, rector of Fresingfield, who now owns it.

 

I find the following account of the Hobarts buried here:

 

In the chancel on brass plates, Hobart's arms with a label of three.

 

William Son of James Hobart of Mendham Esq; died 9 March 1641. aged 3 Months.

 

Hobart with a crescent, on a stone at the east end of the nave, part of which is covered by a seat.

 

Hic expectant Christi adventum relliquiæ Jacobi Hobart Arm. (Filij unici Edwardi Hobart, dum vixit de Langley in Agro Norfolciensi Armigeri) qui Vitâ per 57 annos, piè justè, et sobriè peractâ, Patriam repetijt 20 Aug. Ao 1669: Cujus fœlici memoriæ, castissima illius Uxor, Brigetta (Gulielmi Spring, nuper de Pakenham Suffolciâ Militis Filia,) hoc &c.

 

An adjoining stone hath the arms of Hobart impaling Spring, as at vol. ii. p. 485.

 

Resurrectionem in Christo hic expectat Brigetta, Jacobi Hobart Arm. Relicta, Filiaque Gulielmi Spring nuper de Pakenham in Agro Suffolciensi Militis, quæ dum vixit Pietatem coluit et 26° Die Jan. placidè in Domino obdormivit A0 Sal. 1671.

 

Vivit post Funera Virtus.

 

On a black marble in the south isle,

 

Hic jacet Jacobus Filius et Hæres, Jacobi Hobart nuper de Mendham, Armigeri, ultimo Die Martij ad Cœlestem Patriam emigravit Ao Xti. 1673, æt. 23.

 

Animam Cœlo, Corpus humo reddidit.

 

Miles another Son, buried Jun. 8, 1686.

 

Edward Hobart, Esq; Son of James Hobart of Mendham, Esq; did 4 Nov. 1711, æt. 60. James his eldest son died 7 Aug. 1676, æt. 1 Mens. Sarah a Daughter 1689. Thomas a Son 1698, æt. 1 An. And John, Anthony, and Elizabeth, other Children buried here, and Lydia a Daughter in 1691.

 

Lydia Daughter of Edward Hobart Esq; and Penelope his Wife, died 31 Oct. 1680, æt. 1 An. 7 Mens.

 

Her Time was short, the longer is her Rest, God calls them soonest, whom he loves best.

 

There is an under manor or free-tenement, called Midletonhall, in this town, which belongs to Mrs. Whitaker, and is a good old seat; here Richard de Midleton lived in 1373, and William his son in 1390, who was succeeded by William his son; on whose marriage in 1392, it was settled on Margaret his wife, with estates in South-Elmham and Redenhale: this family always sealed with a fess erm. between three croslets; and it continued in it a long time. In 1457, William Midleton owned it, and Robert Midleton in 1467, who lived here in 1491. In 1558, Henry Reppes of Mendham died seized of it, and of Thorney manor in Stow in Suffolk, and gave them to Anne Wodehouse, alias Reppes, for life, with remainder to John Reppes, son of his brother Francis, remainder to John Reppes his brother, &c. In 1562, Ric. Whetley, rector of Homersfield, leased his rectory to Bassingbourn Gawdy of Midleton-hall in Mendham, Esq. by whom it was sold, and so became joined to the other manors.

 

There is an ancient seat here called Oaken-hill, (but no manor,) in which the family of the Batemans have resided ever since the time of William Bateman Bishop of Norwich; and William Bateman, only son of William Bateman, Gent. of Mendham, lately deceased, now dwells there: (see vol. iii. p. 506;) most of this family have had the christian name of William, ever since the Bishop's time.

 

Mendham church is a good building, with a square tower and five bells; having its nave, two isles, and south porch leaded, and chancel tiled, in which are the following memorials, besides those already taken notice of:

 

In the north isle window, France and England in a bordure gul. impaling or, an eagle displayed sab. quartering Morley.

 

And this on a stone,

 

M. S. Aliciæ Filiæ Henrici Borret de Stradbrook in Agro Suffolciensi Generosi, ob. 4 Oct. 1690, æt. 49.

 

Expectans ultimum Sonum Tubæ.

 

On a mural monument against the north chancel wall,

 

In medio hujus-ce Templi Tramite, juxta Cineres matris suæ Pientissimæ, Theop. Rant, suos etiam voluit deponi Frestonus Rant Armiger, cum quo unà sepeliuntur Urbanitas, et suavissima Facetiarum copia, cum quo unà abripiuntur ditissima placendi vena, animusque arctioris Amicitiæ necessitudini accomodalus, Hoc Juvene adempto, vix alterum reperies, aut literarum Scientiâ præcellentiorem aut humanitate Parem, cum difficilem Legis Angliœ Doctrinam, universum ferè Quinquennium apud Hospitium Grayense Studio sanè Laudabili prosecutus est, acerba suis, luctuosa sodalibus, gravis omnibus, labori vitæque mors Finem imposuit 23° Sept. Ao 1728, æt. suæ 27°. Et Luctûs et Pietatis Monumentum, Pater suus amantissimus, Jacobus Rant Armiger, hoc marmor posuit.

 

James Rant, Esq. his father, is since dead, and buried by him, and Will. Rant, Esq. his only surviving son, now lives in MendhamPriory, which is situated just by the river Waveney, about five furlongs south-west of the church, where there is a good old chapel still left, which is kept clean and neat; but there is no manor remaining with the site.

 

In the chancel,

 

Tirrel impales a chevron between three stags passant. James Tirrel Esq; May 22, 1656, 48. and left behind him his dear Consort his 2d Wife, and two Daughters by her, Eliz. and Jane. Eliz. his Widow died 1697. James his Son 1640.

 

In the churchyard are memorials for William Bateman, Gent. Jan. 9, 1659, æt. 70.

 

Hic spe plenâ resurgendi, situm est depositum mortale Johannis Kerrich Clerici Rectoris de Sternefield in Comitatû Suffolciæ, Qui, dum vixit, Dei Gloriam et animarum Salutem sedulò Studuit ob. 14 Maij. A. D. 1691, æt. 28°. Hic juxta jacet etiam Henricus Kerrich Frater supradicti Johannis qui obijt Apr. 17°, A.D. 1687, æt. 18. John Kerrich ob. June 24 1704, æt. 72. Mary his Wife, ob. 18 March 1708, æt. 76. James their Son 29 Apr. 1715, æt. 44.

 

In 1469, Walter Nyche or Neech of Mendham, was buried in AllSaints church there, before St. Nicholas's altar, and gave 12d. to every monk of Mendham, and five marks for a new tabernacle at St. Nicholas's altar; he owned an estate here, which had continued many generations in his family. In 1610, 21 Jan. Anne Neech married to William Bateman, Gent. to whose family the estate now belongs. He left Katerine his wife, Alice and Margaret, his daughters; and three sons, Robert, John le Senior, priest, and John le Junior; from whom descended the Rev. Mr. Anthony Neech, late rector of Snitterton, of whom in vol. i. p. 110, 421.

 

The vicarage stands in the King's Books at 5l. 5s. 2d. ob. and being sworn of the clear yearly value of 23l. 4s. 7d. is capable of augmentation, and was augmented accordingly by the Rev. Mr. Whitaker, late rector of Fresingfield, the patron, who presented his nephew, the Rev. Mr. Thomas Whitaker, the present vicar.

 

Vicars here.

 

1228, Henry de Diss, the first vicar, presented by the Prior of Ipswich, as were all the succeeding vicars to the Dissolution.

 

1305, Walter le Shepherd.

 

1318, Benedict.

 

1320, Hervy del Welle of Mendham.

 

1329, William son of John Gibbs of Kenford, who resigned in

 

1347, to John de Reppes, priest, in exchange for Shelton mediety.

 

1364, Edward de Flete.

 

1394, John de Hunstanton.

 

1505, Sir Jeffery Lowen.

 

1534, Will. Grave.

 

1631, Thomas Trendle, buried here 18 June the same year.

 

1632, George Fen.

 

1653, Mr. John Harward, minister.

 

1671, John Mayhew, sequestrator.

 

1677, Mr. Ric. Jennings, sequestrator, succeeded by Mr. Child, sequestrator; who was succeeded by the present vicar's predecessor,

 

Mr. Seth Turner, who was presented by Mr. Stephen Baxter,-and was vicar above 50 years; he is buried here.

 

Medefield, or Metfield, (fn. 21)

Is also another hamlet and parochial chapel of Mendham, the great tithes of which, belong to the impropriator there, who nominates and pays the stipendiary chaplain. The Rev. Mr. John Mendham, vicar of Weybrede, hath it now; and I am informed, there is a good house and glebe given to the serving minister since the Reformation.

 

The chapel is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and hath a square tower, clock, and three bells; on the biggest is this,

 

Munere Baptiste, Benedictus sit chorus iste.

 

The south porch, nave, and chancel, are leaded. There are stones for John Norton 1609. Anne wife of John Francklin, Gent. daughter of William and Elizabeth Blobold, Gent. 1636, and left John, William, Elizabeth, and Anne. Will. Browne 1660, 70.

 

Francis Smallpeece Esq; Son and Heir of Tho. Smallpeece Esq; and Anne his Wife. 1652.

 

Smallpeece, S. a chevron ingrailed between three cinquefoils ar. Crest, a bird rising.

 

But this hamlet is of chief remark, as being the ancient seat of the Jermys.

 

It seems this manor, called

 

Metefield In Mendham,

 

Was anciently of the fee of the abbot of Holm, of whom it was held in the time of Richard I. at half a fee, by Hugh Burd; after which, it was escheated to the Crown, and was granted to Thomas de Brotherton, son to King Edward I. who married Alice, daughter of Sir Roger Hales of Harwich, Knt. whose sister Joan, (fn. 22) married to Sir John Germyn or Jermy, Knt.; and in 1325, the said Thomas conveyed to his brother-in-law, Sir John Jermy, Knt. two parts of this manor, and the third part to his wife, for the assignment of her dower. In 1353, Sir John Germy, Knt. held it at a quarter of a fee of the manor of King's-hall in Mendham. In 1385, Sir Will. Jermy, Knt. was buried here; Elizabeth his wife survived him. In 1428, Sir John Jermy, Knt. and Margaret Mounteney his wife, owned this and Withersdale manors; and he it was, that rebuilt this church and manor-house, where he placed the matches of his family in the windows; and his own arms are carved several times on the timber of the roof, and are still in several windows, and in stone on the font; he died in 1487, and was buried at the north-east corner of the chancel; his inscription was cut in old text letters on his stone, but it is so worn and broken, that this only remains,

 

Johannes Jermy Miles quondam Dominus et qui obiit

 

By his will in Register Aleyn, fo. 330, which is dated at BukenhamFerry, Oct. 24, 1487, he appointed to be buried here, and gave a legacy to this church, and those of Bukenham-Ferry and Hasingham, of which he was patron; he ordered 100 marks to be distributed to the poor on his burial day, and gave the manor and advowsons of Bukenham and Hasingham, to be sold, after his wife Margaret's death: he gave 200 marks to the Abbot of St. Bennet at the Holm in Ludham, to found a chantry priest to sing mass daily there, for him and his family for ever; he is called Sir John Jermy, senior, Knt.

 

Sir John Jermy, junior, Knt. his son and heir, married Elizabeth, daughter of Will. Wroth of Enfield, Esq. and had two sons; from Thomas, the younger son, descended the Jermys of Bayfield in Norfolk, under which place I design an ample account of the family. And

 

John Jermy, Esq. the eldest son, continued the family at Metfield; he married Isabel, daughter of John Hopton, Esq. and lies buried in the chancel by his grandfather, with this on a brass plate on his stone;

Orate pro animabus Johannis Jermy et Jsabelle Uroris sue, unius Filiarum Johannis Nopton Armigeri, qui quidem Johannis obiit riiio Die Januarii Anno Domini Mo vc iiii. Quorum anima- bus propicietur Deus Amen. (fn. 23)

 

Jermy, arg. a lion rampant guardant gul. impaling Hopton, as at vol. iii. p. 553.

 

Edmund Jermy, Esq. his son and heir, married a daughter of William Booth, Esq. and left Sir John Jermy of Metfield and Brightwell, Knight of the Bath; (fn. 24) who by Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Teye, Knt. had Francis Jermy of Brightwell, Esq. who by Eliz. daughter and coheir of Sir William Fitz-Williams of Ireland, Knt. had Sir Thomas Jermy, Knight of the Bath; who by Jane, daughter and heiress of Edward Stuart or Styward, of Teversham in Cambridgeshire, had four sons, Thomas, Edmund, John, and William, of which,

 

Thomas, his eldest son, settled here, for whom there is an altar tomb at the north-east corner of this chancel, with the arms of Jermy, and a griffin proper for the crest, and this,

 

Thomas Jarmy Esq; Sonne and Heire of Sir Thomas Jarmy Knight of the noble Order of the Bath. 21 Dec. 1652.

 

Since which time, the manor hath been sold from the family, and now belongs to Walter Plommer, Esq.

 

¶I have an account, which says, that more gentlemen kept coaches in Mendham, than in any place in Suffolk, and that in 1642, many cavileers in these parts, raised a sum for the King; among which in this town, Richard Baxter, Gent. lord, 30l. Rob. Harper 30l. William Bateman, senior, 10l. James Terrold. Gent. 10l. William Jacob 20l. Will. Herring 3l. &c. Thomas Jermy, Esq. 20l. Anthony Freston, Gent. 5l.

 

In Charles the Second's time, Sir William Godbould lived here, and Colonel John Hobard; and Edward Ward, Esq. justice of the peace, in K. James the Second's time.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol5...

43055 leads 5Z31 15:33 Goodrington CHS to Crewe HS past Barn Owl Bridge on Tuesday 4th April 2023. 43046 on the rear.

Stairway leads to the nursery and servant's quarters

 

Olana

Home of American landscape artist Fredrick Church (1826 – 1900)

Greenport, NY

NY State Historic Site

www.olana.org/

37202 leads a line of locos stabled at the depot on a Sunday visit including 37211, 37252, 37161, 37143 & 37002. The depot was know for the large coal stage which had remained from steam days and is visible on the left.

Details: Pentax MX, Ilford HP5 film

PN003 leads dead attached, brand new 3700 locomotives 3720/21/22 at Yeronga. The 3700s had just arrived by ship from Seimens in Munich, Germany.

Hermes leads the three goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, to Paris, Price of Troy. In the photo, Venus or Juno and Athena are reported behind Paris.

This hydria had been painted by the “Antimenes Painter”. He was an Attic vase painter of the black-figure style, active between ca. 530 and 510 BC.

 

Attic Hydria

From Vulci, Etruria

Attributed to “Antimenes Painter”

ca. 520-510 BC

Munich. Antikensammlungen.

Exhibition “Die Unsterblichen Götter Griechenlands”

Leads 5M17 Leicester to St Pancras through Egleton

Bus lot - Newark, OH. Bus has since been retired and sold off.

During the Elon LEADS campaign wrap-up celebration held April 28, 2023, at the Schar Center on the campus of Elon University

'Hog' 70801 leads the 6L37 Hoo Jnc - Whitemoor Departmental.

All images on this site are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without expressed written permission of the photographer. All rights reserved – Copyright Paul Townsend

4308 leads an EMT HST passed Pride Parkway on the approach to Derby as 1F25 1055 London St.Pancras to Sheffield on 18/09/2013.

82211 leads on a Leeds-Kings Cross service through Adwick, 5.6.25.

SD70ACe UP 8896 leads the MHKRV Hinkle to Roseville manifest south toward Eugene at Meadowview.

UP 6867 (AC4400CW) leads a loaded military train (consisting primarily of Army green Humvees and trucks) through Des Plaines, IL, having just come off the connection at Norma to the north after running down the Harvard Sub from Janesville, WI.

Manufacturers and the LEADS Act

 

Lunch Briefing

 

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m.

Senate Russell - 485

 

Introductory Remarks:

 

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

 

Panelists:

 

Michael DiPaula-Coyle, Government & Regulatory Affairs Executive, IBM

 

Morgan Reed, Executive Director, ACT – The App Association

 

Paul Rosenzweig, Senior Advisor, The Chertoff Group

 

Digital information and communication has transformed the manufacturing industry. Today’s connected environment allows manufacturers of all sizes to reach customers throughout the world in a way that was unimaginable 30 years ago. Quote sheets, business plans, go-to market strategies and business e-mails are securely transmitted and stored on computers and servers around the world. Along with these strategic communications, very sensitive customer information and other data are shared electronically. Current law governing how law enforcement accesses this data unfortunately has not evolved in the last three decades.

 

Please join the NAM for a Shopfloor discussion on S. 512, the Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad Act (LEADS), a critical update to current law that reflects the current pace of how manufacturers leverage data in a global marketplace while balancing the real and very important needs of law enforcement and national security.

57303 DS Leads the Northern Belle through CLAY CROSS with 57312 NB on the rear of the 11:48 DERBY - DERBY via Scarborough Mothers Day Northern Belle special , Sunday 11th March 2018

A recent commission build, ZA453 converted from the recently released Revell IDS Tornado

It's a wonder that stuff works around here but it certainly seems to do alright!

Many people in the society are looking for helping hands. Let’s be a hope to them. Amma Nanna Charitable Trust is one among them.

We are joining more orphan children who have no parent’s age group between 3 to 12 years and also joining Widows, Deceived and Separated Women at free of charges only. Our children have been staying with us up to their life settlement that means they will stand with their own bases.

you feel you are also responsible to the society, please, if you come across such people in and around your surroundings, give a hope to them by providing our address and we take care of them with pleasure.

“Please don’t Drink Alcohol and other intoxicates Live a happily and make Peaceful Society”

Everyone should read and write his/her regional language. We don’t try to take any Loans it leads to bitter life. We can live a happily in Kutcha house without loans, and then granite floored building with Loans. Loans make damage peaceful life and leads us misbehavior and corrupt minding nature.

Address of our Free of cost orphanage home Aditya Nagar, Desapathrunipalem, Parawada, Near Steel Plant Quarters Sector-X, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, and Asia. Cell no. 08886563252

For Orphan children we are providing good education, nutritious food, sports and games, cultural activities, meditation and yoga. We are very particular in teaching them good behavior, how to be responsible to the situations, moral and spiritual values and civic senses which in deed helps in providing a healthy citizen to the society in our Orphanage children home.

For deceived women or widows, we are providing nutritious food, shelter, healthy and spiritual environment, yoga and meditation. We even accept them as the Volunteers with a service motto as we all know “SERVICE TO LIFE IS SERVICE TO GOD”

Do you know depending upon parents and teachers’ behaviors children learn good or bad activities? For example we choose one regional language in particular state, different areas living people speak different stylish the same regional language because it’s their environment effect. So when parents/teachers create good environments to their children doing good things like social, civic, moral, spiritual, cultural, social response, kind, humanity etc… Then children growing such way if not they will grimy.

Now a day’s one in all are thinking about earn billions of billions of rupees whatever job they are doing and give it to their children on heredity properties. Suppose they will give children billions of billions rupees and there will be no moral values, civic senesce, social responsibilities, humanity, social behavior, kindness, social moving with others and also no pure air, water, earth and sky. Can they enjoy in that society? and live happily such wrinkle and blight society, we will give them not only money on heredity but also we learn or grow them good behaviors like cultural, spiritual, social, moral, civics, kind, help, social responsibility etc.. . Money is requiring for live but life is not money. Money may not make life happy but service must be making live happily that should be known one in all.

 

Our properties just like water level in the well if we use water purposefully the decreased water level in the well filled later. If we don’t use water the level of water remains the same suppose we add more water into the well it looks raise in the water level in movement but after sometime it comes to the original level. If we use water unnecessarily and dry it then we have no water when we want to drink even though our well water will be raised later. So we take a little amount of water and use it towards real needy people. We eat for living and not live for eating man/woman should working until last his/her breathe.

Friends we may not giving as light as the sun but we are giving as light as lamp and try to drive way darkness in the society as able as we can then darkness drive way from the society then we will live peacefully and happily in such society . I hope we make such world! We assure you of our ethical zeal of service to the tender generation born to serve our nation as differently able citizens because “Ability knows no Handicap”.

NEED YOUR SUPPORT

• could you please shake your hands in the humanitarian task and noble cause of raising funds in Aid of the real orphans needy?

• Your support empowers the society with the resources to share responsibility in one of the some common activity with this society as mentioned below:

 

• Orphan Children Home (50 Boys / Girls)

• Residential Primary School (child Labor /street children)

• Orphan Care Home for HIV infected children

• Mobile Medical Units (3 centers)

• Income Generating Programme (Widows)

Name of the Organization: Amma Nanna Charitable Trust (ACT)

Name of Bank: State Bank of India

SB Account No: 30030634007

IFS code: SBIN0002716

Micro Code: 530002009

Branch: Visakhapatnam

Note: Please visit before give your donations to Orphanages/Voluntary Organizations/Charitable Trust

Please don’t donate anything to Orphanages/Volunteer organizations without your personal visit

Joining in our Orphanage at Free of Cost

We are joining more orphan children who have no parent’s age group between 3 to 12 years and also joining Widows and Separated/Deceived Women who have good character and willing to serve to orphan children as volunteer with their children at free of charges only. Our children have been staying with us up to their life settlement that means they will stand with their own bases.

 

Please don’t donate anything to orphanages/NGO/Charitable Trusts/Children homes/old age home/volunteer organizations without your personal visit. Most of organizations are making business in the name of charity. So be careful for donate to any

We are not accepting any thing to our orphanage without personal visit before he/she wants donate.

Amma Nanna Charitable Trust (ACT) was started in providing services for noble cause that includes orphanage for children who have no parent’s and also Widows/Separated /Deceived Women at free of cost only. It is a NGO providing non-profit voluntary social services organization orphanage at free charges homes, that includes promoting education to children and counseling for alcohol and other intoxicates. view to serve society, a non-profit and charitable trust, Volunteer NGO’s Services with the name “AMMA NANNA CHARITABLE TRUST (ACT)"established in year 2005 and acquired its registration (as per the Trust Act of A.P., India.) and Reg. 119/2005. And also License by Department for Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizen & CID-Police Department and License No. 0330/1/2011, under the leadership as Founder & Secretary Sri Gurubelli. Koteswara Rao M.sc, M.Phil, PGDCPA. And as Chairperson and Managing Trustee Smt Gurubelli Venkata Lakshmi alias Suguna M.A(Socialogy) We are so happy to expedite the meaning of “AMMA NANNA” as "MOTHER FATHER" and the exigency of naming this trust had been arisen in reminiscence of the beloved late parents ( Smt & sri Gurubelli. Ammayamma Ramamurthy) of Sri Gurubelli. Koteswara Rao, founder & secretary of this ministries following on their sympathetic favor, commitment and support launched for the neglected people who were drastically lack of food, clothes and other family problems. We are running this NGO Social Service Volunteer Organization with our own funds without any disparity in caste and creed in INDIA Asia and Boards.

Inmates are all district and states of India, like , 1 Town, 75 Feet Road, 4th Town Police Station 104 Area, Aanadha Ashramam, Abidnagar, Anatha Asram, Achampet , Achanta, Adarshnagar, Addanki, Addateegala, Addatheegala, Addakula, Addurodu, Adilabad, Adivivaram, Adoni , Air port, Aganampudi, Akividu,Akkayyapalem, Akkireddypalem, , Alair, Alamanda, Alampur, Alamuru, Allagadda, Allipuram, Allure, Alur, Amadalavalasa, Amalapuram, Amaravathi, Ambajeepeta,Amarchinta, Amaravathi, Amarevati, Anandapuram, Ananthagiri, Anaparthi, Annavaram, Anaparthy, Andhra Bhumi, Andhra University, Anantapur, Andole ,ANR Appikonda, Asifabad, Asifnagar, Asilmetta, Asheelmetta junction, Araku valley, Arasavalli, Arilova, , Armoor, Atchutapuram, Atmakur,, Attili, A U Campus, IN, Out Gate, Auto Nagar, Avanigadda, Badvel, Bala cheruvu, Balacheruvu Road, Balaji Nagar, Ballajura, Balkonda , Bangalore, Banswada, Bapujinagar, Bapatla,Baruva, Bayyavaram, Berhampur, Bhadrachalam, Bheemili, Bheemunipatnam, Bhimadolu, Bhimavaram, Bhogapuram, Bhongir, BHPV, Bhubaneswar, Bhupesh Nagar, Big Bazaar, Bazar, Birla, , Bimavaram, Boath, Bobbili, Bodhan, Bombay, Bowdara, Borra Caves, BRTS, B.S Layout Cheepurupalli, BSI Standard, Buddhavarapu Gardens, Budithi, Buggaram, Burgampahad, Butchirajupalem, Butchi Sundara Rao Street, Burujupeta, , Burugupudi, , Calcutta, CBM Compound, CBI, Chalakurthy, Challavanipeta, Chanakya Towers, Chandragiri, Chandrayangutta, Chapaluppada, Charminar , Chavulamadam, Chavulamadumu, Cheepurupalli, Chennai, Chennur, Cherial, Chevella , Chilakaluripet, Chilakapalem, China musidivada, chinnamusidivada, Chinnor, Chintalapudi, Chintapalli, krishna Chirala, Chittoor, Chodavaram, Chollangi village,Choppadandi, CMR center, Collectorate, Collectors Office Convent junction, corromendal, Coromandel gate, CDR Hospital, Cuddapah, Cumbum, Dabagarden, Dabagardens, Dagguvanipalem, Dasapalla Hills , Darsi, Dayalapuram, Dayal nagar, Delhi, Denduluru, Devarakonda, devipatnam, Dabhagaden, Dharmavaram, Dhavaleswaram, dhayal nagar, Dolphin, Dhondaparthi, Dhone , Dhorathota, , Diamond Park, Dibbalapalem, Dichpalli, Doctors Colony, Dommat,Dondaparthy, Dorakanagar, Dorathota, Dornakal , Duggirala, Duvvada, Dwaraka Nagar, Dwaraka Tirupati, Dwarapudi, , East Godavari, East Point Colony, Ecchapuram, Elamanchili, Eluru, ENDADA, Enadu, Eenadu, Etcherla, Etikoppaka, Femur, Fishing Harbour, Harbor Approach Road, Gadwal, Gajapathinagaram, Gajwel , Ganavaram Port, Gannavaram, Gangulavari, Gannavaram, Gara, Garividi, Ghanpur, Giddalur, Gumma Lakshmipuram, GL Puram, Gunnies Book, Record, Gnanapuram, Gandhigram, Gokavaram, Golkonda, Gollapalem,Gollavanipalem, Golukonda, Golugonda Gopalapatnam, Gooty, Gopalapuram, Gorantla, Gorllivanipalem, Green Park, Greater Visakhapatnam, , G.S.N. Gullipadu, Gudivada, Gudur, Guntur, Gurazala, Gurudwara, Hanamkonda, Hanuman Junction, Temple, Hanumanthavaka, Hall Mark, Hanumantuvaka, Harichandrapuram, Harischandrapuram, Harishchandrapur, HB colony, Head Post Office, Heccherla, Himayat Nagar, Hindupur, Hiramandalam, HPCL,hukumpeta, Huzurabad, Hyderabad, Ibrahimpatnam, Ichapuram, India, INDIA, Indurthi, Industrial estate, IT, IN, INL Kalinga, Isukathota, iskathota, Jadcherla,Jagadam, Jagadamba centre, Jagamba Theatre, Jail Road, Jaggampeta, Jagarajupeta, Jaggayyapalem, Jaggayyapet, Jaghadham Jagtial, Jalandhar, Jalumuru, Jammalamadugu, Jangaon, Jangareddygudem, Jodugullapalem, ,Jukkal, Kadapa, Kadiri, Kadiyam, Kaikalur, Kaikaluru, Kailashmetta, Kaka Nagar, Kakani Nagar, Kailasagiri, Kailasapuram, Kakinada, Kalaniketan, Kalanikhetan, Kalingapatnam, Kalinganagar, , Kalwakurthy, Kalyandurg, Kamalapur, Kamalapuram, Kamareddy, Kancharapalem, Kandukur, Kanigiri, Kankipadu, Kapuluppada, , Kapu uppada, Kapuluppada, Kantipudi, Kanithi Road, , Karimnagar, Karnal, Karnataka, Karnool, Karunol, Karwan, Kasibugga, Kasimkota, Kattipudi, Kavali, KGH, Khairatabad , Khammam, Khanapur, Kirlampudi, layout, K. Kotapadu, Kobbari Thota, Kodad, Kodangal , Kodumur, Koduru, Koduruand, Koilkuntla , Kolhapur, Kolkata, Kondepi, Koppaka, Korasavada, Kotabommali, Kotananduru, Kotavalasa, Kotaveedhi, , Kothagudem, Kothapet, Kotha Road, Kothavalasa, Kothuru, Kotipalli, Koturu, Kovur, Kovvur,Krishna College, Krantinagar, KRM Colony, Kuchinapudi, Kuppam, Kurupam Market, Kurmanpalem, Kurmam, Kummaripalem, Kurmannapalem , Kurnool, Kusalapuram, Lakkireddipalli, Lalitha Nagar, Lankhilapallem, Lakshminagar, Lankelapalem, Lankilapallem, LB Colony, Leela Mahal, Luxettipet, Macherla, Machilipatnam, Madakasira, Madanpalle, Madapamu, Maddilapalem, Madduru, Madivala, Madhira, Madhavadhara, Madhurawada, Madhya Pradesh, Madugula Reddi, Maharanipeta, Mahbubabad , Mahabubnagar, Mahbubnagar, Maharajgunj , Makthal, Malkapuram, Malakpet, Malleswaram, Mandapeta, Mandavaripeta, , Mangalagiri, Manthani, Marikavalasa Maredumilli, Markapur, Marripalem, Martur , Maruteru, Medak, Medchal, Medivada, Metpalli, Meghadripeta, Meghadri gadda, Meghadrigadda, Midilapuri, Mindi, Mindhi, Miryalguda, MMTC Colony, Mud Hole, Mudhole, Mudinepalli, Mulug, Mumbai, Mulagada, Mummidivaram, Muppidi Colony, Mungode, Murali Nagar, Musheerabad, Nagari , Nagarkurnool , MVP colony, Myadaram, Mydukur, Mylavaram, NAD junction, Nagaram, Naguru, Naiduthota Nakkapalem, Nakkapalli, Nakkavanipalem, Nakrekal, Nalgonda, Nallamada, Nandigama, Nandyal, Narasannapeta, Narasaraopet, Narasimha, Narayankhed , Narasapur, narsapur, Narsampet, Narsipatnam, Narisipatnam, Natavalasa, Nathavaram, Nathayyapalem, Naval Dock, Yard Neelamma Vepaqchettu, Naval Dock Yard Neelamma Vepachettu, Nellimarla, Nellore, Nerella, new Gajuwaka, Nidadavole,nidadhavole, Nidadhavolu, Nidumolu ,Nimmada, Nirmal, Nivagam, Nizamabad, N.R. I NSTL, NTPC, NTPC-Parawada, Nuzvid, Odessa, Old post office, Ongole, Orissa, Paderu, Palacole, Palair, Palakonda, Palakollu, Palamaner, Palasa, Pallavaram, Panchadarla, Panyam, Parawada, Parchur, Parkal, Pargi, Parlakimidi, Parvathipuram, Patapatnam, Pata Polavaram, Pathapatnam, Pattikonda , Payakaraopeta, Pedakurapadu, Peda Peddapalli, Peddipalem, Peddapuram, Pendurthi, pendurthy, Penugonda, Penukonda Pillala Ashramam, Piler, Pithapuram, PM Palem, PNT Colony, Pandurangapuram, Polaki, Polavaram, Ponduru, Ponnur, Poondi, Poorna Market, Porur, Prakasam, Prathipadu, Priya, Proddat, Proddatur, Pudimadaka, Pulivendula, Pundi, Pune, Punganur, purna, Purushothapuram, Purusotapuram, puspatera, Puttur , Pydibheemavaram, Rail Way New Colony, Rajahmundry, Rajam, Rajampet, Raj, Raja Nagar, rajavommangi, Rajolu, Ramachandrapuram, Ramagundam, Rama Nagar, Ramnagar, Ramannapet, Rama Talkies Center, ramatheertham, Ramtherdham, Neusan Bhag,Ramatheertham, ramavaram, Ramayampet, Rambilli, Ramnagar, Rampachodavaram, Rangapuram, Ranastalam, Rangareddy, Ravulapalem, Rayachoty, Rayadurg, Raya Durg, Rayavaram, , Razole, Reddipalli, RegupaduRepalle, Rapur, Regupalem, Revidi, Revit, RK Beach, Rotherham, Rushikonda,rusu konda, Rushukonda, Sabbavaram, Sagar Nagar, Sakhsi, Salur, Sampara , Sanath Nagar, Sangareddy, Santhanuthalapadu , Sarasota, Saraswati Park, Saravakota, Sarvepalli, Sathivada, Sathupalli, Sattenapalli Sastry Road, Satyam centre, Satyavedu, Secunderabad, seetampeta, Seethammadhara, Seethampeta, Shadnagar, Shayampet, Sholur, Shopping Mall, Siddhantam, Siddipet, Simhachalam, Sindhiya, Singanamala, Sircilla , Sirpur, Siripuram, S. Kota, Soluru, Sompeta, Sriharipuram, Srikakulam, Sri Kalahasti, Sri Kalahsti, Srikurmam, Srimukalingam, Srimukhalingam, Srungavarapukota, Steel Plant Quarters Sector, Sujathanagar, Sulurpet, Suryabagh, Surya Bhag, Suryapet, Tadepalligudem, Tadepellegudem, tadepalli gudum, Tadikonda, Tadipatri, Tagarapuvalasa, , Tallapalem, Talarevu, Tallarevu, Tamil nadu, Tandur, Tanuku , Tekkali, Tenali, Thamballapalle, Thatichetlapalem, Therlam, Thotapalli, Tilaru, Tikkavanipalem, Timaru, Tirumala, Tirupati, Tiruvuru, Tuni, Tungaturthi, UDA Park, Udda Udayagiri, Ukkumpeta, Ukkunagaram, Undi, Unguturu, Universal records, Uravakonda, Ushodaya Colony, Uttarahalli, Uttarapalli, Vada cheepurupalli, Vadacheepurapalli, Vaddadi, Vanukuru, Vartha, varthaa, Vayalpad, Vellanki, Vemur, Venkatagiri , Venkojipalem, Velampeta, Vepada, Vepagunta, Vepanjeri , Vijayawada, Vikarabad, Vinukonda, Visakhapatnam, Visakha Valley, Vitanthula ashramam, Vizag, Vizianagaram, Vrudhula ashramam Vuyyuru, Waltair, Wanaparthy, Warangal, Wardhannapet, West Godavari World Record, Yalamanchili, Yakutpura, Yeleswaram, Yellandu, Yellareddy, Yellavaram, Yemmiganur, Yendada, Y junction, Zahirabad, Zoo Park center, and other state of India.

Guntur District Macherla , Veldurthi , Narasaraopeta, Rentacrintala , Bollapalle , Rompicherla , Gurazala , Nakarikallu , Ipur Dachepalle, Muppalla , Savalyapuram , Machavaram , Phirangipuram , Vinukonda , Bellamkonda , Medikonduru , Nuzendla , Achampeta , Guntur , Chilakaluripet , Krosuru , Pedakakani , Pedanandipadu , Amaravathi , Duggirala , Kakumanu, Thullur , Kollipara , Ponnur , Thadepalle , Kollur , Amruthalur , Mangalagiri , Vemuru , Cherukupalle , Tadikonda , Tenali , Bhattiprolu , Pedakurapadu , Tsundur , Repalle , ,Sattenapalle , Chebrole , Nagaram , Rajupalem , Vatticherukuru , Nizampatnam , Piduguralla , Prathipadu , Pittalavanipalem , Karempudi , Edlapadu , Karlapalem , Durgi , Nadendla , Bapatla. Narasaraopet, Rentachintala, Bollapalli, Nekarikallu, Jaipur, Thadepalli, Cherukupalli Chebrolu, Georgia

Krishna District Vijayawada A.Konduru, Agiripalli, Avanigadda, Bantumilli, Bapulapadu, Challapalli, Chandralapadu, Chatrai, Gampalogudem, Gannavaram, G. Konduru, Ghantasala, Guduru, Gudivada, Gudlavalleru, Ibrahimpatnam, Jaggayyapeta, Kaikalur, Kalidindi , Kanchikacherla , Kankipadu, Koduru , Kruthivennu, Mailavaram , Machilipatam, Mandavalli , Movva , Mopidevi , Mudinepalle , Musunuru , Nagayalanka , Nandigama , Nandivada, Nuzvid , Pamidimukkala , Pedana, Pamarru, Pedaparupudi , Penuganchiprolu , Penamaluru , Reddigudem , Tiruvuru , Thotlavalluru , Unguturu, Vatsavai, Vissannapeta, Vuyyuru, Veerullapadu , Chandarlapadu, Gampalagudem, benz circle, ring road, Machilipatnam, gunadala matha , kondapalli , gollapalli , Telaprolu.

Srikakulam District Veeraghattam , Bhamini , Vangara , Kothuru , Regidiamadala Valasa , Hiramandalam , Rajam , Sarubujjili , Ganguvari Singadam , Amadalavalasa , Laveru , Srikakulam , Ranastalam , Gara , Hetcherla , Polaki , Ponduru , Narasannapeta , Santhakaviti , Jalumuru , Burja , Saravakota, Palakonda , Pathapatnam , Seethampeta , Meliaputti, Kotabommali , Santha Bommali , Nandigam , Vajrapu Kothuru , Palasa , Mandasa , Sompeta , Kanchili , Kaviti , Tekkali, Ichchapuram , Regidi amadalaValasa ,Santhabommali.

Vizianagaram District Komarada , Ramabhadrapuram , Gummalakshmipuram , Badangi , Kurupam , Therlam , Jiyyammavalasa , Merakamudidam , Garugubilli , Dattirajeru , Parvathipuram , Mentada , Makkuva , Gajapathinagaram , Seethanagaram , Bondapalle , Balajipeta , Gurla , Bobbili , Garividi , Salur , Cheepurupalle , Pachipenta , Nellimarla , Bhoghapuram , Denkada , Vizianagaram , Gantyada , Srungavarapukota , Vepada , Lakkavarapukota , Jami , Kothavalasa, Pusapatirega, Colorado, Thermal Bondapalli.

Visakhapatnam District Munchingiputtu, Nathavaram , Pedagantyada , Pedabayalu , Narsipatnam , Paravada , Hukumpetau , Rolugunta , Anakapalli , Dumbriguda , Ravikamatham , Munagapaka , Arakuvalley , Butchayyapeta , Kasimkota , Ananthagiri , Chodavaram , Makavarapalem, Devarapalle , K Kotapadu, Kotauratla , Cheedikada , Sabbavaram , Payakaraopeta , Madugula , Pendurthi , Nakkapalli , Paderu , Anandapuram , S. Rayavaram , Gangaraju Madugula , Padmanabham , Yelamanchili , Chintapalle , Bheemunipatnam , Rambilli , Gudemkothaveedhi , Visakhapatnam , Atchutapuram, Koyyuru , Visakhapatnam urban, rural, Golugonda , Gajuwaka . Munching Puttu, Devarapalli , Gudem Kotha Veedhi.

East Godavari District Maredumilli , Pithapuram , Kapileswarapuram , Y Ramavaram , Kothapalle , Alamuru , Addateegala , Kakinada, Atreyapuram , Rajavommangi , Ravula Palem , Kotananduru , Samalkota , Pamarru , Tuni , Rangampeta , Kothapeta , Thondangi , Gandepalle , P Gannavaram , Gollaprolu , Rajanagaram , Ambajipeta , Sankhavaram , Rajahmundry, Ainavilli , Prathipadu , Mummidivaram , Yeleswaram , Kadiam , I.Polavaram , Gangavaram , Mandapeta , Katrenikona, Rampachodavaram , Anaparthy , Uppalaguptam , Devipatnam , Biccavolu , Amalapuram , Seethanagaram , Pedapudi , Allavaram , Korukonda , Karapa , Mamidikuduru , Gokavaram , Thallarevu , Razole , Jaggampeta , Kajuluru , Malikipuram , Kirlampudi , Ramachandrapuram , Sakhinetipalle, Peddapuram , Rayavaram , sankavaram, Samalkot, Kothapet , Gandepalli , Sakhinetipalli, samrlakota.

West Godavari District Jeelugumilli , Nidadavole , Undi , Buttayagudem , Tadepalligudem , Akiveedu , Polavaram , Unguturu , Kalla , Thallapudi , Bhimadole , Bheemavaram , Gopalapuram , Pedavegi , Palakoderu , Koyyalagudem , Pedapadu , Veeravasaram , Jangareddigudem , Eluru , Penumantra , T.Narasapuram , Denduluru , Penugonda , Chintalapudi , Nidamarru , Achanta , Lingapalem , Ganapavaram , Poduru , Kamavarapukota , Pentapadu , Palacole , Dwarakatirumala , Tanuku , Yelamanchili , Nallajerla , Undrajavaram , Narasapuram , Devarapalle , Peravali , Mogalthur Chagallu , Iragavaram , Kovvur , Attili . Tallapudi, Bhimavaram, Palakol, chebrolu Dwaraka Tirumala, Devarapalli.

Khammam District Cherla , Yellandu , Enkuru , Pinapaka , Singareni , Konijerla , Gundala , Bayyaram , Khammam Urban , Manuguru ,Garla , Khammam Rural , Aswapuram , Kamepalle , Thirumalayapalem , Dummugudem , Julurpad , Kusumanchi , Bhadrachalam , Chandrugonda , Nelakondapalle , Kunavaram , Mulakalapalle ,Mudigonda , Chintur , Aswaraopeta , Chinthakani , Vararamachandrapuram , Dammapeta , Wyra , Velairpad , Sathupalle , Bonakal , Kukunoor , Vemsoor , Madhira , Burgampadu , Penuballi , Yerrupalem, Palawancha, Wazeed , Kothagudem , Kalluru , Venkatapuram , Tekulapalle , Thallada . Cherla , Nakuru , Uganda , Kamepalli , Nelakondapalli ,Mulakalapalli Va Ramachandrapuram , Palvancha , Tekulapally.

Prakasam District Yerragondapalem , Martur , Veligandla , Pullalacheruvu , Parchur , Pedacherlopalle , Tripuranthakam , Karamchedu , Ponnaluru , Kurichedu , Chirala , Kondapi , Donakonda , Vetapalem , Santhanuthlapadu , Pedaaraveedu , Inkollu , Ongole , Dornala , Janakavaram, Panguluru , Naguluppalapadu , Ardhaveedu , Korisapadu , Chinaganjam , Markapur , Maddipadu , Kothapatnam , Tarlapadu , Chimakurthi , Tangutur , Konakanamitla , Marripudi , Zarugumilli , Podili , Kanigiri , Kandukur , Darsi , Hanumanthunipadu , Voletivaripalem , Mundlamuru , Bestavaripeta , Pamur , Thallur , Cumbum , Lingasamudram , Addanki , Racherla , Gudluru , Ballikuruva , Giddaluru , Ulavapadu , Santhamaguluru , Komarolu , Singarayakonda , Yeddanapudi , Chadrasekara, Puram . Peda Cherlopalli, Peddaraveedu, Tarlupadu, Chimakurthy, Jarugumilli, Ballikurava, Chandrasekara.

Sri Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore District Seetharamapuram, Kodavalur , Sydapuram , Varikuntapadu , Butchireddipalem , Dakkili , Kondapuram , Sangam , Venkatagiri , Jaladanki , Chejerla , Balayapalle , Kavali , Ananthasagaram , Ojili , Bogole , Kaluvoya , Chillakur , Kaligiri , Rapur , Kota , Vinjamur , Podlakur , Vakadu , Duttalur , Nellore , Chittamur , Udayagiri , Kovur , Naidupeta , Marripadu , Indukurpet , Pellakur , Atmakur , Thotapalligudur , Doravarisatram , Anumasamudrampeta , Muthukur , Sullurpeta , Dagadarthi , Venkatachalam , Tada , Allur , Manubolu , Vidavalur , Gudur Buchireddypalem, Balayapalli , Podalakur , Thotapalli Gudur ,Anamasamudrampeta , Allure .

Dr. Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy Cuddapah District Muddanur, Vempalle , Kondapuram , Simhadripuram , Chaknayapet , Mylavaram , Lingala , Lakkireddipalle , Peddamudium , Pulivendla , Ramapuram , Raju Palem , Vemula , Veeraballe , Duvvur , Thandur , Rajampet , S Mydukur , Veerapunayunipalle , Nandalur , Brahmamgarimattam , Yerraguntla , Penagaluru , B Kodur , Kamalapuram , Chitvel , Kalasapadu , Vallur , Kodur , Porumamilla , Chennur , Obulavaripalle , Badvel , Atlur , Pullampeta , Gopavaram , Vontimitta , T.Sundupalle , Khajipet , Sidhout , Sambepalle , Chapad , Chinnamandem , Proddutur , Chintha Kommadinne , Rayachoti , Jammalamadugu , Pendlimarri , Galiveedu Vempalli , Chakrayapet , Pulivendula , Tandur , Veerapunayuni Palli , Penagalur , Obulavaripalli , Atlanta , Pullampet , T.Sundupalli , Kazipet, Sambepalli, Proddatur.

Chittoor District Peddamandyam , K V P Puram , Nagari , Thamballapalle , Narayanavanam , Karvetinagar , Mulakalacheruvu , Vadamalapeta , Srirangaraja Puram , Peddathippa Samudram , Tirupati Rural , Palasamudram , B.Kothakota , Kammapalle , Gangadhara Nellore , Kurabalakota , Chandragiri , Penumuru , Gurramkonda , Chinnagottigallu , Puthalapattu , Kalakada , Rompicherla , Irala , Kambhamvaripalle , Pileru , Thavanampalle , Yerravaripalem , Kalikiri ,Chittoor , Tirupati Urban , Vayalpad , Gudipala , Renigunta , Nimmanapalle , Yadamari , Yerpedu , Mandopalle , Bangarupalem , Srikalahasti , Ramasamudram , Palamaner , Thottambedu , Punganur , Gangavaram , Buchinaidu Khandriga , Chowdepalle , Pedda Panjani , Varadaiahpalem , Somala , Baireddi Palle , Satyavedu , Sodam , Venkatagiri Kota , Nagalapuram , Pulicherla , Ramakuppam , Pichatur , Pakala , Santhi Puram , Vijaya Puram , Veduru Kuppam , Gudi Palle , Nindra , Puttur , Kuppam K V B Puram , Sri Rangaraja Puram , Pedda Thippa , Kammapalli , Kambham Vari Palli , Piler , Madanapalle , Madanapalle, Bangarupalem , Srikalahasti , Kandireega , Peddapanjani , Somalia , Baireddipalle ,Sathyavedu , Sodom, Santhipuram , Vijayapuram , Vedurukuppam , Gudipalle , Nidra.

Ananthapur District D.Hirchal , Kunurpi , Gandlapenta , Bommanahal , Kalyandurg , Kadiri , Vidapanakal , Atmakur , Amadagur , Vajrakarur , Anantapur , Obuladevaracheruvu , Guntakal , Bukkarayasamudram , Nallamada , Gooty , Narpala , Gorantla , Peddavadugur , Putlur , Puttaparthi , Yadiki , Yellanur , Bukkapatnam , Tadpatri , Tadimarri , Kothacheruvu , Peddapappur , Bathalapalle , Penu Konda , Singanamala , Raptadu , Roddam , Pamidi , Kanaganapalle , Somandepalle , Garladinne , Kambadur , Chilamathur , Kudair , Ramagiri , Lepakshi , Uravakonda , Chenne Kothapalle , Hindupur , Beluguppa , Dharmavaram , Parigi , Kanekal , Mudigubba , Madakasira , Rayadurg , Talupula , Gudibanda , Gummagatta , Nambulipulikunta , Amarapuram , Brahmasamudram , Tanakal , Agali , Settur , Nallacheruvu , Rolla D.Hirehal, Kundurpi , Bommanahalli , Bathalapalli , Penukonda , Kanaganapalli , Sattur.

Kurnool District Kowthalam , Kodumur , Rudravaram , Kosigi , Gonegandla , Allagadda , Mantralayam , Yemmiganur , Chagalamarri , Nandavaram , Pedda Kadalur , Uyyalawada , C.Belagal , Adoni , Dornipadu , Gudur , Holagunda , Gospadu , Kurnool , Alur , Koilkuntla , Nandi Kotkur , Aspari , Banaganapalle , Pagidyala , Devanakonda , Sanjamala , Kothapalle , Krishnagiri , Kolimigundla , Atmakur , Veldurthi , Owk , Srisailam , Bethamcherla , Peapally , Velgode , Panyam , Dhone , Pamulapadu , Gadivemula , Tuggali , Jupadu Bungalow , Bandi Atmakur , Pattikanda , Midthur , Nandyal , Maddikera East , Orvakal , Mahanandi , Chippagiri , Kallur , Sirvel , Halaharvi . Nandikotkur, Banaganapalli, Dhoni, Jupadu Bunglow, Silver.

Mahabubnagar District Kodangal , Jadcherla , Amrabad , Bomraspeta , Bhoothpur , Balmoor , Kosgi , Mahbubnagar , Lingal , Doulatabad , Addakal , Peddakothapalle , Damaragidda , Devarkadara , Kodair , Maddur , Dhanwada , Gopalpeta , Koilkonda , Narayanpet , Wanaparthy , Hanwada , Utkoor , Pangal , Nawabpet , Maganoor , Pebbair , Balanagar , Makthal , Gadwal , Kondurg , Narva , Dharur , Farooqnagar , Chinna Chinta Kunta , Maldakal , Kothur , Atmakur , Ghattu , Keshampeta , Kothakota , Aiza , Talakondapalle , Peddamandadi , Waddepalle , Amangal , Ghanpur , Itikyal , Madgul , Bijinapalle , Manopadu , Vangoor , Nagar Kurnool , Alampur , Veldanda , Tadoor , Veepangandla , Kalwakurthy , Telkapalle , Kollapur , Midjil , Uppununthala , Thimmajipeta , Achampeta . Daulatabad, Tandoor, Telkapally, Kolhapur, Thimmajipet.

Rangareddy District Marpalle ,Hayathnagar , Gandeed , Mominpet , Saroornagar , Kulkacharla , Nawabpet , Rajendranagar , Pargi , Shankarpalle , Moinabad , Pudur , Malkajgiri , Chevella , Shabad , Serilingampalle , Vikarabad , Shamshabad , Quthbullapur , Dharur , Maheswaram , Medchal , Bantaram , Ibrahimpatam , Shamirpet ,Peddemul , Manchal , Balanagar , Tandur , Yacharam , Keesara , Basheerabad , Kandukur , Ghatkesar , Yelal , Uppal , Doma . Shankarpalli, puduraya, Serilingampally, Maheshwaram, Yell.

Nalgonda District Bommalaramaram , Chityala , Thripuraram , M Turkapalle , Narketpalle , Miryalaguda , Rajapet , Kattangoor , Garide Palle , Yadagirigutta , Nakrekal , Chilkur , Alair , Kethepalle , Kodad , Gundala , Suryapet , Mellachervu , Thirumalagiri , Chivvemla , Huzurnagar , Thunga Thurthi , Mothey , Mattampalle , Nuthankal , Nadigudem , Nered Cherla , Atmakur (S) , Munagala , Dameracherla , Jaji Reddi Gudem , Penpahad , Anumula , Saligouraram , Vemulapalle , Peddavura , Mothkur , Thipparthi , Pedda Adiserlapalle , Atmakur (M) , Nalgonda , Gurrampode , Valigonda , Munugode , Nampalle , Bhuvanagiri , Narayanapur , Chintha Palle , Bibinagar , Marri Guda , Devarakonda , Pochampalle , Chandur , Gundla Palle , Choutuppal , Kangal , Chandam Pet , Ramannapeta , Nidamanur . Tripuraram , M Turkapally , Narketpally , Kethepally , Uganda , Mellacheruvu , Tirumalagiri , Chivemla ,Thoonga , Mattampally, Need Cherla , Damaracherla , Shaligouraram , Vemulapalli ,Peddavura , Narayanpur , Chintapalli , Marriguda , Pochampally , Gundlapalli ,Chandampet , Ramannapet.

Medak District Manoor , Siddipet , Kohir , Kangti , Chinna Kodur , Munpalle , Kalher , Nanganur , Pulkal , Narayankhed , Kondapak , Sadasivpet , Regode , Jagdevpur , Kondapur ,Shankarampet (A) , Gajwel , Sangareddy , Alladurg , Doultabad , Patancheru , Tekmal , Chegunta , Ramachandrapuram , Papannapet , Yeldurthy , Jinnaram , Kulcharam , Kowdipalle , Hathnoora , Medak , Andole , Narsapur , Shankarampet (R) , Raikode , Shivampet , Ramayampet , Nyalkal , Tupran , Dubbak , Jharasangam , Wargal , Mirdoddi , Zahirabad , Mulug . Manoor, Munipalle, Nanganallur, Daulatabad, Veldurthy, Kowdipally, Toopran, to Oprah

Warangal District Cheriyal , Thorrur , Duggondi , Maddur , Nellikudur , Geesugonda , Narmetta , Narsimhulapet , Atmakur , Bachannapeta , Maripeda , Shayampet , Jangaon , Dornakal , Parkal , Lingala Ghanpur , Kuravi , Regonda , Raghunatha Palle , Mahabubabad , Mogullapalle , Ghanpur(Stn) , Kesamudram , Chityal , Dharmasagar , Nekkonda , Bhupalpalle , Hasanparthy , Gudur , Ghanapur , Hanamkonda , Kothagudem , Mulug , Wardhannapet , Khanapur , Venkatapur , Zaffergadh , Govindaraopet , Palakurthi , Chennaraopet , Tadvai , Devaruppula , Parvathagiri , Eturnagaram , Kodakandla , Sangam , Mangapet , Raiparthy , Nallabelly , Warangal Cherial, Cheryl, Bachannapet, Kuruvi, Mogullapally, Bhupalpally, Ghanpur.

Karimnagar District Ibrahimpatnam , Jagtial , Vemulawada , Mallapur , Medipalle , Konaraopeta , Raikal , Koratla , Yella Reddi Peta , Sarangapur , Metpalle , Gambhiraopet , Dharmapuri , Kathlapur , Mustabad , Velgatoor , Chandurthi , Sirsilla , Ramagundam , Kodimial , Ellanthakunta , Kamanpur , Gangadhara , Bejjanki , Manthani , Mallial , Thimmapur , Kataram , Pegadapalle , Kesavapatnam , Mahadevpur , Choppadandi , Huzurabad , Mutharam , Mahadevpur , Sultanabad , Kamalapur , Malharrao , Odela , Elkathurthi , Mutharam Manthani , Jammikunta , Saidapur , Srirampur , Veenavanka , Chigurumamidi , Peddapalle , Manakondur , Koheda , Julapalle , Karimnagar , Husnabad , Dharmaram , Ramadugu , Bheemadevarpalle , Gollapalle , Boinpalle Medipally , Konaraopet , Korutla , Yellareddy Peta , Sarangpur , ,Metpally , Kathalapur , Pegadapally , Elkathurthy , Shrirampur , Peddapalli , Julapalli , , Bheemadevarapally, Bowenpally.

Nizamabad District Ranjal , Yeda Palle , Sadasivanagar , Navipet , Bodhan , Gandhari , Nandipet , Kotgiri , Banswada , Armur , Madnur , Pitlam , Balkonda , Jukkal , Nizamsagar , Mortad , Bichkunda , Yellareddy , Kammar , Palle , Birkoor , Naga Reddipet , Bheemgal , Varni , Lingampet , Velpur , Dichpalle , Tadwai , Jakranpalle , Dhar Palle , Kamareddy , Makloor , Sirkonda , Bhiknur , Nizamabad , Machareddy , Domakonda . Sadashivanagar, Kotagiri, Armour, Pelle, Naga Reddit, Dichpally, Jakranpally, Sirikonda

Adilabad District Talamadugu , Lohesra , Tiryani , Tamsi , Dilawarpur , Asifabad , Adilabad , Nirmal , Wankdi , Jainad , Laxmanchanda , Kagaz Nagar , Bela , Mamda , Rebbana , Narnoor , Khanpur , Tandur , Inderavelly , Kaddampeddur , Bellampalle , Gudihatnur , Utnur , Nennal , Ichoda , Jainoor , Bheemini , Bazarhathnoor , Kerameri , Sirpur (T) , Boath , Sirpur (U) , Kouthala , Neradigonda , Jannaram , Bejjur , Sarangapur , Dandepalle , Dahegaon , Kuntala , Luxettipet , Vemanpalle , Kubeer , Mancherial , Kotapalle , Bhainsa , Mandamarri , Chennur , Tanur , Kasipet , Jaipur , Mudhole Lohara, Tampa , Kagaznagar , Bella , Kaddam Peddur , Gudihathnoor , Bheemili, boathouse , Sarangpur , Vempalli , Kazipet.

Hyderabad, Secendrabad kukatpally , tank bund , hussain sagar , birla mandir ,himayat nagar , begumpet, shamshabad, charminar, golconda , banjara hills ,stadhampton , khairabadi , yousufguda, patancheru,Musheerabad , Ameerpet ,Khairatabad , Bandlaguda, Amberpet , Secunderabad, Charminar , Asifnagar , Himayathnagar ,Tirumalagiri , Golconda , Saidabad , Maredalle,shaikpet ,nampally ,bahadurpura , Maryland .cyderabad, jubili hills, kazipally, bollaram, bachupally, swarnapuri, miyapur, kompally,thumkunta, hakimpet, ramachandra puram, vishwambhar enclave, bala nagar, serilingampally, sri ram nagar, gachibowli, madhapur, secretarial, tolichowki, gandipet, raghuram nagar, bharat nagar, budvel, rajendra nagar, bakaram, kothwalguda, ahmadpur, kavadiguda, asthma, jeedimetla, balaji nagar, alwal, yapral, dammaiguda, sainikpuri, kapra, sakthi nagar, asrao nagar, moulali, bowenpally, ramanthapur, pizza, saroor nagar, falaknuma, vansathi puram, hanuman nagar, brindavan colony, nadergul, indira reddy, rallaguda, gollapally, new hafeezpet, trimulgherry, safilguda, yellareddyguda, musheerabad, taj residency, hill font, apollo hospital, afzalgunj, tadbund, bahadurgarh, sri raghavendra, aradhana, marredpally, zaheerabad, film nagar, mehdipatnam, imperial, esi, kanchanbagh, yeddumailaram, manikonda, chandrayangutta, janwada, chilkur, bakaram, sacoor nagar, deshmukhi, doolapally, amberpet, dilsukhnagar, karwan, gosha mahal, bahadurpura,

Bombay Dilli, Dehli, Kolkata, Kalikata, Kalkutta, Bengaloru, engaluru, Bangalur, Madras, Chennapattanam, Ahmadâbâd, Ahmadabad, Amdabad, Ahmedabad , Haidarabad, Haidarabad, Haiderabad, Hyderabad, Haider-Abad Poona, Pune, Kanpur, Kanpur, Cawnpore, Khanpur, sorat, Surat, Jeypore, Lakhnau Lucknow, Nagpur, Thana, Calcutta, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Surat, Jaipur, Vadodara, Indore, Patna, Madurai, Bhopal, Ludhiana, Coimbatore, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam, Agra, Mumbai.

Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradeshm Itangar, Itanagar, Assam, Dispur, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Raipur, Goa, Panaji, Gujaratm Gandhinagar, Haryana, Chandigarhm Himachal Pradesh, Shimla, Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar, Jharkhand, Ranchi, Karnataka, Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Trivandrum, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Imphal, Meghalaya, Shillong, Mizoram, Aizawi, Nagaland, Kohima, Orissa, Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneshwar, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jaipur, Sikkim, Gangtok, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Agartala, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Kolkata, Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh, Dada and Nagar Haveli, Silvassa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Port Blair, Daman and Diu, Lakshadeep, Kavaratti, Yanam, Pondicherry. Asia, USA, America, Washington, Belgium, New York, United States of America, United Kingdom, Columbia, Bangkok, Australia, Switzerland, Mexico, France, Sweden, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Denmark, France, London, New Zealand, Spain. Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, Russia, Philippines, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Thailand, Burma, South Africa, Algeria,

   

43208 leads the diverted 1A43 17:01 Leeds to London Kings Cross Service through Garforth. Engineering work between Wakefield and Doncaster necessitated Leeds to London trains to be diverted via Garforth & Hambleton Junction rather than the usual route through Wakefield.

 

Sunday 21st May 2017.

Let's Open our eyes, And let's open our minds...

 

Open 24 hours Here : www.flickriver.com/photos/geminitwin/

 

or

 

View On Black Here Ray Understands that your short on time and you have better things to do...

A Spanish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet waits in a hangar at Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania. The Spanish Air Force currently leads NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, helping keep the skies safe over and near Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

I suppose I have been driving up and down the A143 for the last 33 years, and I have noticed the sign to Mendham the very first time I drove down there, as Mendham was also the surname of one of the Norwich City players at this time.

 

But it wasn't until a friend posted a shot of the church from the air, that the thought of visiting it entered my little head. (www.flickr.com/photos/john_fielding/)

 

Anyway, I turned off the main road into the lane that leads to Mendham, the lane shrinking to a width of just wider than the car, before it plunged down a valley side to the now dry water meadows before a bridge took me over the river and from Norfolk into Suffolk.

 

The church was at the entrance to the village, guarded by a pillbox, looking over the lane now, but 75 years ago would have covered fire on the lane and bridge that spans the mighty river Waveney, which must be some ten feet side at this point.

 

The church was open, and despite the gloomy day, I could see lots of interest, including a blocked squint, but not too sure about that east window, but then I'm no expert.

 

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(Introduction: In 2007, I started revisiting the churches of Suffolk. It was interesting to look back at what I'd written when I'd first come this way. Back then, by the time I got to Mendham in 2002, the journey was almost complete. Here, and on the entry for neighbouring Weybread, there is a demob-happy irreverence which suggests I was happy for the journey to be coming to an end. In truth, I think I was exhausted, and it would actually be another year before I started on Norfolk. But that was in the future. I came to Mendham in the days before I owned a digital camera, which was the main reason for going back. Apart from replacing the old photographs and adding lots of new ones, I have left the account pretty much as I wrote it in 2002. This entry seems to have an uncharacteristic number of side-swipes at other villages, and the Countryside Alliance, who were at that time making themselves rather unpleasant. Perhaps they have been proved right, who can say? Anyway, this is what I wrote.)

 

2002: Mendham, for me, is synonymous with civilisation. I had come here from Bungay, one of my favourite East Anglian towns, and I had made the choice there to travel onwards on the Suffolk side of the Waveney, even though the more direct trip on the Norfolk side would take me through Earsham and Redenhall. This was because I wanted to visit Flixton, where the 19th century church of St Mary is a direct copy by Salvin of the Saxon church at Sompting in Sussex. Out of Flixton, I could stay on the main road, or try and take a short cut through the Saints.

Now, anyone who knows Suffolk will tell you that no one takes a short cut through the Saints. This elaborate maze of twelve villages is connected by threadlike roads without name, direction or purpose, that lead you into farmyards and then peter out, or double back on themselves, so you see yourself across the fields trying to get to somewhere other than the place where you are. The Saints were created by a Zen Buddhist God to demonstrate the futility of life.

 

But I ambled on, aiming for the easily recognisable tower of the church of St George, South Elmham St Cross, which would lead me to my intended destination. The road lurched and dipped, straining to throw me off down some unmarked byway, but I held to my course. I had a map, a sense of direction, and would not be diverted from reaching St George. And then I got there, and it turned out to be South Elmham St Peter.

 

I stopped for a moment, exasperated. Looking at the map, it was easy to see where I had gone wrong (they do this to you, the Saints, they point out your inadequacies) but I was now 4 miles further east than I should have been. I found a lane that led me down into South Elmham St Margaret, and resisted the temptation to head off of this road, which was the correct one.

 

Okay, then I didn't. I was going to stick to it, but a sudden lane pointed to St Cross. So I took it. Instantly, it narrowed, dipped, and sent me hurtling into a tunnel overgrown with hawthorn. The road surface disappeared under a sea of mud, obviously left over from the winter ploughing. My bike cheerfully sprayed the slurry all up the front of me. Now, I'm a reasonable man - well, mostly. But I have no time for the Countryside Alliance mob, and howled in execration, something along the lines of "----ing farmers, why can't they keep their mud on their ----ing fields where it belongs", which caused mild consternation to the donkey skulking under a tree at the bottom of the dip.

 

I climbed up the other side of the valley - and at the top of the rise there was a proper road, and a sign saying Mendham 2 and I knew I was free. With a cry of "YES!" I headed on into Mendham, a large and civilised place, which was birthplace and home to the artist Sir Alfred Munnings. Right beside the Waveney sits the pretty church of All Saints in a delightful graveyard.

 

The first impression is a neat, substantial building, and indeed this is a major 19th century restoration that was done well. The 14th tower is slightly older than the body of the church it stands against, but the chancel is late 19th century. The going over the rest of the church received 20 years earlier was at the hands of our old friend Richard Phipson, and the headstops on the porch will instantly remind us of his contemporary work at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich.

 

It is a big church, and the inside is pretty much all the work of Phipson in his 'see, I can be surprisingly creative when I try' period. So it is very Victorian, although I thought the roof angels were superb despite this. They bear shields with a complete set of Passion symbols. The chancel arch is very striking, being wooden, and based on a pair of arch braces. There is a fine memorial to William Godbold, as well as a number of lovely brasses to the Freston family, which don't seem to get mentioned in books on the subject. Best of all, I think, is the 1880s east window by Ward and Hughes depicting the Ascension.

 

Mortlock thought the painting of the Presentation in the Temple was probably Venetian, dating from the early 17th century. In general, this is a crisp, spare, simple interior, a cool place to pause in the middle of a busy journey.

 

Back outside again, the graveyard has something that no other graveyard in Suffolk has. The western edge drops straight into the Waveney, and against this edge is a pill box, a machine gun emplacement from the Second World War (or, at least, I'm guessing it was built to repel Nazi invaders, rather than anything that might come across from the Norfolk side).

 

My next port of call was Weybread, just three miles away - but five if I stayed in the narrow winding lanes on the Suffolk bank, so I took a deep breath, screwed up my courage, and crossed the river into Norfolk.

  

All Saints, Mendham, is situated between Bungay and Harleston, Norfolk, just south of the border. I found it open.

 

Simon Knott 2002 (revised and updated 2007)

  

www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/mendham.htm

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edham, adjoins east to Brockdish, on the great road; and is originally a hamlet and chapelry to Mendham, which is a very extensive place; the parish church stands just over the river, and so is in Suffolk; but this hamlet and the adjacent part between it and the parish church, on the Norfolk side, were no less than two miles and five furlongs long, and seven furlongs broad, at the Conqueror's survey, and paid 7d. to the geld or tax; and the part on the Norfolk side (exclusive of the bounds of this ancient hamlet) was called Scotford, or the part at the ford, (over which there is a good brick bridge built, called Shotford bridge at this day,) and for many ages had a rector presented to it, who served in the church of Mendham, by the name of the rector of Shotford portion in Mendham.

 

Part of Herolveston or Harleston then belonged to Mendham also; and now, that part of the town opposite to the south side of the chapel, on which the publick-house called the Pye stands, is in Mendham.

 

Mendham parish church is dedicated to All the Saints, and was originally a rectory, one turn of which, was in Sir William de Huntingfield, founder of the priory here, to which he gave it, and the other in Sir Thomas de Nedham, who gave it to William Prior of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich, and the convent there, to which it was appropriated by Thomas de Blundeville Bishop of Norwich, in 1227, when the vicarage was settled to consist of a messuage and 24 acres of land, 6 acres of meadow and marsh, with all the alterage belonging to the church, and the tithes of the mills, hay, turf, and fish, and all sorts of pulse, and 10s. per annum rent; viz. from the Lady Eve de Arches half a mark, &c. (fn. 1) and the said Prior was to pay all dues to the bishop and archdeacon, except synodals; (fn. 2) and Henry de Diss, chaplain, the first vicar here, was presented by the Prior of Ipswich. The account of this church in Norwich Domesday is thus; the Prior of the Holy Trinity of Ipswich hath the moiety of the church of Mendham, appropriated to his convent, and hath a house and two carucates of land, and receives the tithes of the demeans of Sir Thomas de Nedham; this was valued formerly at 15 marks. The Prior of Mendham hath the other moiety, and receives the tithes of Sir William de Hunting field, and his moiety is valued at ten marks. Sir Thomas de Clare is patron of the third part, which the vicar holds of the fee of Cockfield, and is valued at tive marks.

 

The chapel of St. Peter at Nedham was in all probability founded by the Nedham family, and most likely, by Sir Thomas de Nedham himself, for his own tenants; and being so far from the mother-church of Mendham, was made parochial, and hath separate bounds, officers, administration of sacraments, and burial; it is under the episcopal, but exempt from the archidiaconal jurisdiction; for it pays neither synodals, procurations, nor Peter-pence: and in 1329, a perpetual composition and agreement was made between the parishioners of the mother-church of Mendham, and those of the chapel of Nedham; by which, in lieu of all reparations and dues to the parish of Mendham, they agreed to pay 18d. every Easter-day, towards the repairs of Mendham church, as an acknowledgment that they were members of it. In 1411, the parishioners of Nedham, complained to Pope John XXIII. that their chapel was not well served, though the Prior of Mendham was well paid his tithes; upon which, a bull directed to Alexander de Totington Bishop of Norwich, issued; (fn. 3) commanding him to oblige the Prior of Mendham to find, and give security to him, that that convent would always find a parochial chaplain resident in Nedham, well and duly to serve the chapel there: and ever since, the impropriator of Mendham nominates the parish chaplain. In 1603, it was returned that

 

Mr. Andrew Wily, clerk, was curate, that there were 220 communicants, and that it was an impropriation; the herbages being reserved for the maintenance of the minister, who hath now the vicarial tithes, amounting to about 14l. per annum, for which it is served once every fortnight;

 

The Rev. Mr. John Tracey being the present curate.

 

The steeple is round at bottom and octangular at top, and hath four bells in it; the south porch and nave are tiled; there are several stones, but none with inscriptions on them, all their brasses being reaved: the chancel was wholly rebuilt in 1735, of brick, and tiled (though less than the old one was) by William Freston, Esq. who is interred in it; for whom there is a mural monument on the south side, with the

 

Crest of Freston, viz. a demi-greyhound arg. collared sab. and his arms,

 

Az. on a fess or, three leopards heads gul. which were first granted to the Frestons of Yorkshire, (fn. 4) impaling

 

Kedington, and this inscription,

 

Memoriæ sacrum, Gulielmi Freston de Mendham in Agro Norfolciensi, Armigeri, qui ex hac Vitâ demigravit 26° Die Oct. A. D. MDCCXXXIXo. Ætatis LVo. Et Margarettæ Uxoris Charissimæ, Filiæ et Herædis Henrici Kedington, Armigeri, quæ nimio ob Mariti obitum indulgens Dolori, Die 2do. Julij animam efflavit Anno Dni. DCCXLIo. Ætatis LIo. Vincula Amoris inter eos arctissima ut ad Amorem mutuum nihil posset accedere. Ex his nati sunt octo Liberi, Quorum sex jam Superstites; Maria Filia natû maxima, 20° Die Mensis Junij mortem obijt A. D. MDCCXL. Æt. XVII. Et in hoc Adesto (cum Johanne Fratre Infantulo) humata jacet. Hoc Monumentum Pietatis Ergo Coke Freston Filius natû maximus posuit.

 

Anno Domini MDCCXLVI.

 

This chapelry hath a lete held in it by the Duke of Norfolk's steward, it being in his Grace's liberty, who is lord paramount in right of his hundred of Earsham, over all the Norfolk part of Mendham; and in 1285, Roger Bigot, then lord of the hundred, had free-warren allowed him here.

 

The abbot and convent of Sibton in Suffolk had a fishery, and water-mill called Fryer's Mill, in this place; (fn. 5) which was let with their grange and manor of Weybrede in Suffolk; which in 1611, belonged to George Hering of Norwich.

 

This hamlet originally belonged to the Abbot of Bury, (fn. 6) and was infeoffed by one Frodo at the Conquest, whose descendants took the sirname of Nedham, and contrary to the common rule, gave their name to this place; it should seem that the family extinguished in several heiresses, by the many parts or manors it was divided into; and now there are four manors still subsisting here.

 

The first is a very small one, called Sileham Comitis, ex Parte Norfolk; and was originally part of the Earl's manor of Sileham, from which it was separated, and now belongs to Mr. James Bransby of Shotesham.

 

The second is called Denison's, or Denston's manor: this was given to the priory of Mendham, to which it belonged till its Dissolution.

 

This monastery was founded in King Stephen's time, by Will. son of Rog. de Hunting field, with the approbation of Roger his son and heir, who gave the whole isle of Mendham, called Medenham, or the village of meadows, to the monks of Castleacre, on condition they should erect a church of stone, and build a convent by it, and place at least eight of their monks there: in the place called Hurst, or Bruningsherst, being then a woody isle on the Suffolk side of the river; accordingly, monks being placed there, the founder ordered that they should be subject to Castleacre monks, as a cell to that house, in the same manner as Castleacre itself was, to the monastery of St. Pancras at Lewes in Suffolk; and that to the church of Cluni or Clugny in France: but after the death of the founder, the Prior of Castleacre covenanted with Roger de Hunting field his son, (who was also a great benefactor,) to maintain at least eight monks at Mendham, and not to depose the Prior there, unless for disobedience, incontinence, or dilapidations of the house.

 

Their founder gave the whole island of St. Mary of Mendham, with Ulveshage and the Granges there; and many other lands, rents, and homages; and all his lands in Crochestune, and his homagers there, which were all to be employed by the Prior, to the maintenance of Mendham monks, except half a mark of silver to be paid yearly to the priory of Castleacre, as an acknowledgment of their depending as a cell to that monastery; (fn. 7) he gave them also, St. Margaret's church at Linstede, and St. Peter's there; the moiety of the church of Trideling; an aldercarr and 11 acres by the mill, of Thomas de Mendham; and the third part of the tithes of his demeans in Suttorp; and 5s. rent in Bradenham; together with all his right in the church of Mendham: to all which, William the Dean of Redenhall, and others, were witnesses. And Stephen de Saukeville released all his right in Hurst. In 1239, Richard son of Benedict, after his decease, settled a messuage and 60 acres of land on this priory. In 1386, Sir Robert de Swillington, Knt. Sir Roger Bois, Knt. John Pyeshale, clerk, and Robert de Ashfield, settled the patronage of this monastery, on Isabel Countess of Suffolk. This house and all its revenues, were given by King Henry VIII. together with the lands of the dissolved priories of Ankerwick in Lincolnshire, and Little Marlow in Buckinghamshire, to the then newly restored monastery at Bisham or Butlesham in Berkshire, in 1537, (fn. 8) by way of augmentation to the value of 661l. 14s. 9d. per annum for the maintenance of an abbot and 13 monks of the Benedictine order. But that monastery was short-lived and soon fell; and this house, &c. in 1539, was granted to Charles Duke of Suffolk, and with it, this manor of Denston's, which, 2d 3d Philip and Mary, was conveyed to Richard Freston Esq. and Anne his wife, and he was lord of it in 1567; and it continued in his family some time: it now belongs to Mrs. Frances Bacon of Earlham, widow.

 

The prior was taxed for all his temporals in Mendham on the Norfolk side, at 4l. 12s. 11d.

 

From the rolls of this manor, I find the following Priors of Mendham, to have kept courts here.

 

1239, John. 1250, Simon. 1336. Nic. Cressi; he died this year, and Sir Rog. de Hunting field, patron of the priory, kept a court during the vacancy.

 

1340, John de Waltun; succeeded in 1342, by Henry de Berlegh. 1353, William. 1382, John de Tomston. 1400, Robert. 1420, John Betelee succeeded. 1449, Sir Tho. Rede. 1487, Sir Tho Pytte. 1501, Sir Tho. Bullock. 1523, Simon. Robert Howton, sub-prior, and Sir Ric. Pain, monk.

 

The third manor is called Bourt's and was owned by Daniel Bourt in 1345, and after by John le Straunge and Thomas de Hales, who held it at half a fee of the heirs of Roger de Hunting field; it after belonged to the Grices of Brockdish, for which family I refer you thither. In 1600, Thomas Pawlet, Esq. conveyed it to Thomas Leigh and John Godfrey; and it now belongs to Sir Edmund Bacon of Gillingham, Bart.

 

The fourth manor is called Gunshaw's, which see at p. 348.

 

To this hamlet, joins the aforesaid portion of Mendham, called

 

Shotford in Mendham,

Which contains two manors, called Whitendons, or the Whitehills, and Seameares, each of which originally presented alternately to the portion of Shotford in Mendham church.

 

Rectors of Shotford portion.

 

1317, Ralf son of Sir William de Ingham, accolite. Lady Maroya, relict of Sir John de Ingham, Knt. for this turn

 

1318, Walter of Ipswich, priest.

 

1328, Jeffry de Swanton.

 

1332, Roger Nicole, priest. John son of Robert de Ingham, attorney to Sir Oliver Ingham, Knt.

 

1339, Roger de Hempstede.

 

1347, Robert at Wode. Lady Isabel Queen of England.

 

1349, Giles Arches of Mendham, to the rectory of the third part of the church of Mendham, called Shotford portion in Norfolk. Sir Roger Lord Strange of Knokyn, Knt. He resigned in 1350, and the Lady Joan le Strange gave it to

 

Robert de Harwoode; afterwards the noble Sir Miles Stapleton, Knt. having the whole advowson, gave it to Mendham priory; and on the 3d of July, 1385, it was appropriated to the monastery of the blessed Virgin Mary at Mendham, and no vicarage ordained, so that the Prior received all tithes whatever of the whole portion, paying a pension of 6s. 8d. yearly to the Bishop, and finding a chaplain to perform a third part of the service in Mendham church: which service was after turned into that of a chantry priest, who was to officiate in St. Mary's chapel on the east side of Mendham churchyard; and that service ceased in Edward the Sixth's time, and the chapel was granted by the Crown into lay hands, and is now used as a malt-house.

 

The manor of Semere's

 

At the Conqueror's survey, belonged to Roger of Poictou, third son of Roger de Montgomery Earl of Arundel, and was held in the Confessor's time by a freeman named Ulfriz: (fn. 9) it was then valued at 10s. and after at 20. It divided into two parts, one belonged in 1311, to Alice and Edmund de Sancto Mauro or Seymor, Knt. and Joan his wife, from which family it took its name: this Sir Edmund, in 1335, infeoffed it with the manors of Sileham and Esham, and their advowsons, in Sir John Wing field, Knt. as trustee; and Laurence Seymour, parson of the united churches of Sileham and Esham, and Ralf his brother, released all their right; and the next year, Sir John released them to John son and heir of Sir Edward Seymour, Knt. It appears, that in 1291, John de Brampton held the other part of Elizabeth de Ingham at half a fee, and that it then divided, the one half continuing in the Inghams, of which Sir John Ingham, Knt. was lord, and Maroya or Mariona, his widow, in 1217. In 1331, Sir Oliver Ingham, Knt. and it passed with that family, till Sir Miles Stapleton gave it to Mendham priory, when it became joined to Denston's in Nedham. The other part, now Semere's manor, was sold to Sir John Wingfield by Laurence de Seymor; and in 1349, John Garlek and Sara his wife conveyed their third parts of Sileham, Esham, and this manor, and their advowson, to him. In 1401, Edw. Hales was lord; in 1551, it was sold to Henry Floteman, and it is now owned by John Kerrich of Bury M. D.

 

Whitendons, or Wichendons manor,

 

Belonged to Humfry, a freeman of Edric's in the Confessor's time; and to Robert Malet, lord of the honour of Eye, in the Conqueror's; (fn. 10) it after belonged to a family sirnamed De Arcubus; and in 1226, William de Arches and Eve his wife gave it to the Priory of the Holy Trinity at Ipswich; in which house it continued till its dissolution, when it came to the Crown, and the first year of Edward VI. 1546, he granted the advowson of Sileham and its appurtenances, this manor of Wichendon, and all the tithes and glebes, in Mendham, Nedham, and Metfield, late in the tenure of Richard Freston, Esq. to the said Richard and his heirs; (fn. 11) who upon this grant, came and settled in the manor-house here; and his descendants have continued in it to this time.

 

This Richard, in 1534, (fn. 12) appears to be treasurer, and a great favourite of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk; and an intimate acquaintance of Sir Rob. Budde, who was master of Wingfield college, and chaplain to his grace; and by his interest it was, that he obtained several great grants from the Crown; (fn. 13) among which, he had Denston's manor in Nedham, and many lands belonging to Mendham priory: he was afterwards knighted, and lies buried with Dame Anne Coke his wife, in Mendham chancel, for whom there is a monument against the east part of the north wall, with the arms of Freston impaling Coke, which shows that he outlived his wife, and died in 1557; and was succeeded by

 

Richard, his son and heir, who married Cecily, daughter of Thomas Felton, Esq.; (fn. 14) she lies buried in the chancel, under a stone, on which is her effigies, and the following inscriptions in Roman capitals on brass plates:

 

Cecilia Freston, (fn. 15) Filia Thomæ Felton Arm. Uxor dicti Ricardi, viro Amore Charissima, habuerunt sex Filios et 2 Filias et obdormivit in Domino 6 Sep. 1615. Christus mihi Vita.

 

An adjoining stone hath the arms of Freston with a mullet, impaling Felton, and his image in brass, and this,

 

Ricardus Freestone Armiger, (fn. 16) vir singulari Pietate, Eraditione, et Integritate, qui obdormivit in Domino 27 Nov. 1616. mors mihi lucrum.

 

William Freston, Esq. their eldest son, inherited; and in 1620, settled the manor on Alban Pigot, Esq. with the patronage of Nedham chapel; and the same year, Sir Robert Heath, Knt. recovered it against Pigot, and conveyed it to Freston again; he died soon after, and

 

Richard his brother inherited, and died seized of this and Denston's manor in 1634; (fn. 17) he is buried under a stone in the chancel, with his crest and arms, impaling in fess, an inescutcheon, on which a plain cross between three crosslets formy fitché, the sharpened parts pointing towards the inescutcheon; and on a brass plate this,

 

Animam Creatori, Marmoreo presenti Monumento, Ricardus Freston (dum vixit, in Agro Norfolciensi Armiger) Corporis Reliquias, amicis omnibus sui desiderium, 20 Dec. A. D. 1634, reliquit, non procul a cujus dextrâ, Pater Materque ejus requiescunt. Vitam vixit summâ cum Pietate, tum morum probitate, laudabilem Amicitiam magnâ cum Sinceritate coluit.

 

By this lies a stone with Freston's arms single.

 

Hic jacet Corpus Richardi Freston Armigeri, Filij Richardi Freeston de Mendham in Agro Norfolciensi Armigeri, qui hinc translatus est ad supera, Flore Juventutis suæ, vir summis dotibus Animi et Corporis, recumbens in Christi merita, obijt 14 Augusti 1648.

 

Anthony Freston, brother of the said Richard, (fn. 18) was buried Oct. 13, 1655; Lydia his wife lies buried in the chancel under a stone, with the arms of Freston impaling on a chief indented, two hands cooped at the wrist.

 

Ledia Wife of Anthony Freston, younger son of Richard Freston Esq; ob. 22 Mar. 1651.

 

Anthony, son of the said Anthony, married Bridget, (fn. 19) daughter of Henry Coke, Esq. of Thorington in Suffolk, and Margaret Lovelace his wife; which Henry was son to Sir Edward Coke and Dame Bridget Paston his wife, and had a daughter,

 

Penelope, late wife of John Smith of Cratfield in Suffolk, buried here in 1681, æt. 51, whose marble lies in the altar rails, and hath

 

Smith's crest, viz. an arm cooped at the shoulder, holding a chaplet; the arms are, Barry of six arg. and sab. in chief three barnacles of the 2d, (which coat was granted to the Smiths of Lincolnshire,) quartering a chevron ingrailed between three garbs, and a lion rampant impaling Freston.

 

Eliz. Daughter of Anthony Freston Esq; and Bridget his Wife, was buried May 4, 1716, æt. 62.

 

Theophila their youngest daughter, married James Rant, Esq. and is buried here with this,

 

Hic jacet Sepulta Theophila Uxor Jacobi Rant Armigeri, Filii natû quarti, Gvlielmi Rant de Yelverton in Com. Norf. Armigeri, et Elizæ. Uxoris secundæ: Theophila prædicta, minima natû Filia fuit, Antonij Freston de Mendham in Com. Norf. Armigeri, et Brigidæ Uxoris ejus, E Vitâ excessit 12° Die Aprilis A.D. 1721, Ao Æt. 55. Duos Filios superstites reliquit, viz. Frestonum et Gulielmum.

 

Si quæris, Lector, qualis sub marmore dormit Fœmina! Scito brevi, casta, benigna, pia.

 

Rant's arms as in vol. i. p. 204, impaling Freston.

 

Over the south chancel door is a mural monument thus inscribed,

 

Beneath this Monument lyeth interred the Body of Edward Freston, Gent. youngest Son of Anthony Freston of Mendham in the County of Norfolk, Esq; and Bridget his Wife, Daughter of Henry Coke of Thorington in the County of Suffolk, Esq; he died 28 Day of Dec. 1708, Ao, Æt. 43. As also the Body of Elizabeth the Wife of Edward Freston, and Daughter of John Sayer of Pulham St. Mary the Virgin, in the County of Norfolk, Gent. she died the 25 Day of Sept. 1727, Ao Æt. 55.

 

Freston's crest and arms, impaling Sayer, as at p. 31, vol. iv. and crest on a cap of maintenance, a dragon's head erased vert.

 

Another monument more west, against the south wall, hath the arms of Freston impaling,

 

Cooke, or, a chevron ingrailed between three cinquefoils az. on a chief of the 2d, a lion passant guardant az.

 

M. S. Sub hoc marmore conditæ sunt reliquiæ Richardi Freston, Arm. hominis adprimè pij; mariti Uxoris amantissimi, Parentis, propitij, et clementis Domini: Vis plura Lector? Scies, hoc Monumentum a Maria Uxore ejus, Filia viri colendissimi, Domini Gulielmi Cooke, in Agro Norfolciensi, quondam Baronetti; Amoris et Pietatis Ergo extructum, ut omnes qui huc venient et intuentur, tam clari exempli memores sint et æmuli, et Vitâ cum eo fruantur æternâ, obijt 22 Junij 1721, æt. 68.

 

William Freston and Margaret Kedington his wife, who are buried in Nedham chapel as before, left this manor, impropriation, and a good estate, to

 

Coke Freston, Esq. their eldest son, who now owns them, and dwells in the site of the manor, called Wichingdon-hall.

 

In the Suffolk part of Mendham, there are four manors; the first is called

 

Mendham's-Hall, or Mendham-Hall,

 

From the ancient lords of it, who took their sirname from the town: it originally belonged to the Abbot of Bury, and was infeoffed by Baldwin Abbot there, in Hugh de Vere, of whom Nicholas de Menham had it; in 1205, William de Mendham, and in 1239, Benedict son of Serlo de Mendham conveyed a messuage and 10 acres to the prior of Ipswich, who had obtained in 1230 a release from Robert Byhurt, of all his right in Mendham advowson. In 1285 Thomas de Mendham, who was lord also in 1306; in 1312, John de Mendham had it; in 1318, John son of John de Mendham, and Christian his wife, sold it to the lord of

 

Kingshall in Mendham, (fn. 20)

 

To which it hath been joined ever since. This manor belonged to the King, according as its name intimates, and was settled by Edw. I. on Queen Eleanor his first wife, after whose death it came to the Veres Earls of Oxford; and Sir Robert Vere, in 1314, sold it to Sir John de Fresingfield, Knt. son of Seman de Fresingfield; at which time, Robert son of John de Mendham, released to him all right in Mendham's-Hall manor; and in 1317, Sir John sold them to Sir Walter de Norwich, Knt. and his heirs, the Earl of Oxford releasing all right; Sir John de Insula, or L'isle, Sir John de Foxele, and Sir John Abel, Knts. Barons of the King's Exchequer, Sir John Muteford, justice of the King's Bench, and others, being witnesses. In 1353, Sir John de Huntingfield held those manors late of Thomas Earl of Oxford, at half a fee. In 1363, it was presented that William de Huntingfield held the river Waghene as a separate fishing, from Mendham bridge to King's-hall mill, and that he had the fishery there, as belonging to his manor of King's-hall. In 1369, Will. de Huntingfield held it for life; and in 1370, John Deyns, rector of Toft in Lincolnshire, and Richard Wright of Holbech, chaplain, his trustees, released to Roger de Huntingfield, who, with his trustees, John de Seckford, parson of Somercotes, John de Linstede, parson of Cawston, Tho. Horne, rector of Huntingfield, and others, soon after, settled them on Mendham priory: in which they continued to its dissolution, and then were granted to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, and his heirs, by King Henry VIII. in 1540, along with the lete of Metfield, and

 

The manor of Mendham Priory,

 

Which was given to it by its founder. They after belonged to the Frestons, and in 1551, Richard Freston was lord; in 1619, Sir Thomas Holland of Quidenham, Knt. sold to Edw. Ward of Mendham in Suffolk, Esq. the site of Mendham priory manor, now called Mendham'shall, &c. Kings-hall meadow, &c. the park, the manor of Mendhamhall, &c. with the letes thereto belonging, situate in Mendham, Withersdale, and Waybrede; all which, he purchased of Anthony Gosnold of Clopton, Esq. Anthony Gosnold of Swillington, Gent. Robert Gosnold of Ottley in Suffolk, Esq. Thomas Laurence of St. James's in S. Elmham, Gent. Michael Wentworth of Rogersthorpe in Yorkshire, Esq. Thomas Wales of Thorp in Norfolk, yeoman, and Loye Browne of Norwich: and the said Thomas, and Dame Mary his wife, sued a fine, and passed a recovery to the use of the said Edward Ward the elder, and his heirs; together with the fishery in the river Wayveneth. It came afterwards to the Baxters, and thence to the Gardiners of Norwich; and was sold by Richard Berney, Esq. recorder of Norwich, executor to Stephen Gardiner, Esq. late recorder there, to the Rev. Mr. Thomas Whitaker, late rector of Fresingfield, whose widow now owns them. They have a lete here, and another in Metfield, belonging to them; they give dower, and the eldest son is heir.

 

I find the following memorials relating to the Baxters in this church:

 

Depositum Stephani Baxter Generosi, qui decessit 12 Die Sept. 1696, æt. 79,

 

On a neat mural monument are the arms of

 

Godbold, az. two long bows in saltier or. Crest, an arm cooped at the shoulder az.

 

M.S. V. C.mi. D. Gulielmi Godbold Militis, ex illustri et perantiquâ Prosapiâ oriundi, qui post septennem peregrinationem, animi excolendi Gratiâ, per Italiam, Greciam, Palœstinam, &c. in solo natali in bonarum Literarum Studijs consenescens, morte repentinâ obijt Londini, Mense Aprilis Ao MDCXIIIC. Ætatis LXIXo. Hoc Monumentum designavit vir integerrimus, et sinceræ Probitatis Exemplar, Thomas Baxter Generosus, quem Testamenti sui Curatorem instituit; ipso autem Thomâ, morte subitaneâ perempto, collapso super eum Equo, nocte intempestivâ et tenebrosâ. IIII Calendas Septemb. MDCXC. Franciscus Gardiner de Civitate Norwicensi Armiger, ejusdem Thomœ Baxter sororis maritus, et Testamenti Curator, posuit. Baxter with a label of three, (see p. 212,) impaling D'eye, as in vol. ii. p. 345.

 

Hic reposita, beatam præstolatur Resurrectionem Fæmina, Pietate et Virtute insignis, Elizabetha Filia Thomœ Dey, de Insula, sive Eay in Agro Suffolciensi Armigeri, Uxor Thomæ Baxter de Mendham in eodem Agro Generosi, cui prolem edidit Masculam unam, alteramque fœminam, Quarum utramque ipso die lustrico et renata simul et denata est, annos nata triginta sex, nupta plus minus septendecem; obijt 27 Dec. 1681.

 

The next manor here, is called

 

Walsham-Hall,

 

From Gilbert de Walsham, who held it of the Abbot of Bury in the time of King Ric. I. at one fee; and lately it belonged to the Hobarts, who lived in the site of it, till Anthony Hobart, Gent. sold it to Mr. Robert Bransby, senior, of Shotesham, who sold it to Mrs. Sarah Woogan, wife of the Rev. Mr. Holmes, rector of Fresingfield, who now owns it.

 

I find the following account of the Hobarts buried here:

 

In the chancel on brass plates, Hobart's arms with a label of three.

 

William Son of James Hobart of Mendham Esq; died 9 March 1641. aged 3 Months.

 

Hobart with a crescent, on a stone at the east end of the nave, part of which is covered by a seat.

 

Hic expectant Christi adventum relliquiæ Jacobi Hobart Arm. (Filij unici Edwardi Hobart, dum vixit de Langley in Agro Norfolciensi Armigeri) qui Vitâ per 57 annos, piè justè, et sobriè peractâ, Patriam repetijt 20 Aug. Ao 1669: Cujus fœlici memoriæ, castissima illius Uxor, Brigetta (Gulielmi Spring, nuper de Pakenham Suffolciâ Militis Filia,) hoc &c.

 

An adjoining stone hath the arms of Hobart impaling Spring, as at vol. ii. p. 485.

 

Resurrectionem in Christo hic expectat Brigetta, Jacobi Hobart Arm. Relicta, Filiaque Gulielmi Spring nuper de Pakenham in Agro Suffolciensi Militis, quæ dum vixit Pietatem coluit et 26° Die Jan. placidè in Domino obdormivit A0 Sal. 1671.

 

Vivit post Funera Virtus.

 

On a black marble in the south isle,

 

Hic jacet Jacobus Filius et Hæres, Jacobi Hobart nuper de Mendham, Armigeri, ultimo Die Martij ad Cœlestem Patriam emigravit Ao Xti. 1673, æt. 23.

 

Animam Cœlo, Corpus humo reddidit.

 

Miles another Son, buried Jun. 8, 1686.

 

Edward Hobart, Esq; Son of James Hobart of Mendham, Esq; did 4 Nov. 1711, æt. 60. James his eldest son died 7 Aug. 1676, æt. 1 Mens. Sarah a Daughter 1689. Thomas a Son 1698, æt. 1 An. And John, Anthony, and Elizabeth, other Children buried here, and Lydia a Daughter in 1691.

 

Lydia Daughter of Edward Hobart Esq; and Penelope his Wife, died 31 Oct. 1680, æt. 1 An. 7 Mens.

 

Her Time was short, the longer is her Rest, God calls them soonest, whom he loves best.

 

There is an under manor or free-tenement, called Midletonhall, in this town, which belongs to Mrs. Whitaker, and is a good old seat; here Richard de Midleton lived in 1373, and William his son in 1390, who was succeeded by William his son; on whose marriage in 1392, it was settled on Margaret his wife, with estates in South-Elmham and Redenhale: this family always sealed with a fess erm. between three croslets; and it continued in it a long time. In 1457, William Midleton owned it, and Robert Midleton in 1467, who lived here in 1491. In 1558, Henry Reppes of Mendham died seized of it, and of Thorney manor in Stow in Suffolk, and gave them to Anne Wodehouse, alias Reppes, for life, with remainder to John Reppes, son of his brother Francis, remainder to John Reppes his brother, &c. In 1562, Ric. Whetley, rector of Homersfield, leased his rectory to Bassingbourn Gawdy of Midleton-hall in Mendham, Esq. by whom it was sold, and so became joined to the other manors.

 

There is an ancient seat here called Oaken-hill, (but no manor,) in which the family of the Batemans have resided ever since the time of William Bateman Bishop of Norwich; and William Bateman, only son of William Bateman, Gent. of Mendham, lately deceased, now dwells there: (see vol. iii. p. 506;) most of this family have had the christian name of William, ever since the Bishop's time.

 

Mendham church is a good building, with a square tower and five bells; having its nave, two isles, and south porch leaded, and chancel tiled, in which are the following memorials, besides those already taken notice of:

 

In the north isle window, France and England in a bordure gul. impaling or, an eagle displayed sab. quartering Morley.

 

And this on a stone,

 

M. S. Aliciæ Filiæ Henrici Borret de Stradbrook in Agro Suffolciensi Generosi, ob. 4 Oct. 1690, æt. 49.

 

Expectans ultimum Sonum Tubæ.

 

On a mural monument against the north chancel wall,

 

In medio hujus-ce Templi Tramite, juxta Cineres matris suæ Pientissimæ, Theop. Rant, suos etiam voluit deponi Frestonus Rant Armiger, cum quo unà sepeliuntur Urbanitas, et suavissima Facetiarum copia, cum quo unà abripiuntur ditissima placendi vena, animusque arctioris Amicitiæ necessitudini accomodalus, Hoc Juvene adempto, vix alterum reperies, aut literarum Scientiâ præcellentiorem aut humanitate Parem, cum difficilem Legis Angliœ Doctrinam, universum ferè Quinquennium apud Hospitium Grayense Studio sanè Laudabili prosecutus est, acerba suis, luctuosa sodalibus, gravis omnibus, labori vitæque mors Finem imposuit 23° Sept. Ao 1728, æt. suæ 27°. Et Luctûs et Pietatis Monumentum, Pater suus amantissimus, Jacobus Rant Armiger, hoc marmor posuit.

 

James Rant, Esq. his father, is since dead, and buried by him, and Will. Rant, Esq. his only surviving son, now lives in MendhamPriory, which is situated just by the river Waveney, about five furlongs south-west of the church, where there is a good old chapel still left, which is kept clean and neat; but there is no manor remaining with the site.

 

In the chancel,

 

Tirrel impales a chevron between three stags passant. James Tirrel Esq; May 22, 1656, 48. and left behind him his dear Consort his 2d Wife, and two Daughters by her, Eliz. and Jane. Eliz. his Widow died 1697. James his Son 1640.

 

In the churchyard are memorials for William Bateman, Gent. Jan. 9, 1659, æt. 70.

 

Hic spe plenâ resurgendi, situm est depositum mortale Johannis Kerrich Clerici Rectoris de Sternefield in Comitatû Suffolciæ, Qui, dum vixit, Dei Gloriam et animarum Salutem sedulò Studuit ob. 14 Maij. A. D. 1691, æt. 28°. Hic juxta jacet etiam Henricus Kerrich Frater supradicti Johannis qui obijt Apr. 17°, A.D. 1687, æt. 18. John Kerrich ob. June 24 1704, æt. 72. Mary his Wife, ob. 18 March 1708, æt. 76. James their Son 29 Apr. 1715, æt. 44.

 

In 1469, Walter Nyche or Neech of Mendham, was buried in AllSaints church there, before St. Nicholas's altar, and gave 12d. to every monk of Mendham, and five marks for a new tabernacle at St. Nicholas's altar; he owned an estate here, which had continued many generations in his family. In 1610, 21 Jan. Anne Neech married to William Bateman, Gent. to whose family the estate now belongs. He left Katerine his wife, Alice and Margaret, his daughters; and three sons, Robert, John le Senior, priest, and John le Junior; from whom descended the Rev. Mr. Anthony Neech, late rector of Snitterton, of whom in vol. i. p. 110, 421.

 

The vicarage stands in the King's Books at 5l. 5s. 2d. ob. and being sworn of the clear yearly value of 23l. 4s. 7d. is capable of augmentation, and was augmented accordingly by the Rev. Mr. Whitaker, late rector of Fresingfield, the patron, who presented his nephew, the Rev. Mr. Thomas Whitaker, the present vicar.

 

Vicars here.

 

1228, Henry de Diss, the first vicar, presented by the Prior of Ipswich, as were all the succeeding vicars to the Dissolution.

 

1305, Walter le Shepherd.

 

1318, Benedict.

 

1320, Hervy del Welle of Mendham.

 

1329, William son of John Gibbs of Kenford, who resigned in

 

1347, to John de Reppes, priest, in exchange for Shelton mediety.

 

1364, Edward de Flete.

 

1394, John de Hunstanton.

 

1505, Sir Jeffery Lowen.

 

1534, Will. Grave.

 

1631, Thomas Trendle, buried here 18 June the same year.

 

1632, George Fen.

 

1653, Mr. John Harward, minister.

 

1671, John Mayhew, sequestrator.

 

1677, Mr. Ric. Jennings, sequestrator, succeeded by Mr. Child, sequestrator; who was succeeded by the present vicar's predecessor,

 

Mr. Seth Turner, who was presented by Mr. Stephen Baxter,-and was vicar above 50 years; he is buried here.

 

Medefield, or Metfield, (fn. 21)

Is also another hamlet and parochial chapel of Mendham, the great tithes of which, belong to the impropriator there, who nominates and pays the stipendiary chaplain. The Rev. Mr. John Mendham, vicar of Weybrede, hath it now; and I am informed, there is a good house and glebe given to the serving minister since the Reformation.

 

The chapel is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and hath a square tower, clock, and three bells; on the biggest is this,

 

Munere Baptiste, Benedictus sit chorus iste.

 

The south porch, nave, and chancel, are leaded. There are stones for John Norton 1609. Anne wife of John Francklin, Gent. daughter of William and Elizabeth Blobold, Gent. 1636, and left John, William, Elizabeth, and Anne. Will. Browne 1660, 70.

 

Francis Smallpeece Esq; Son and Heir of Tho. Smallpeece Esq; and Anne his Wife. 1652.

 

Smallpeece, S. a chevron ingrailed between three cinquefoils ar. Crest, a bird rising.

 

But this hamlet is of chief remark, as being the ancient seat of the Jermys.

 

It seems this manor, called

 

Metefield In Mendham,

 

Was anciently of the fee of the abbot of Holm, of whom it was held in the time of Richard I. at half a fee, by Hugh Burd; after which, it was escheated to the Crown, and was granted to Thomas de Brotherton, son to King Edward I. who married Alice, daughter of Sir Roger Hales of Harwich, Knt. whose sister Joan, (fn. 22) married to Sir John Germyn or Jermy, Knt.; and in 1325, the said Thomas conveyed to his brother-in-law, Sir John Jermy, Knt. two parts of this manor, and the third part to his wife, for the assignment of her dower. In 1353, Sir John Germy, Knt. held it at a quarter of a fee of the manor of King's-hall in Mendham. In 1385, Sir Will. Jermy, Knt. was buried here; Elizabeth his wife survived him. In 1428, Sir John Jermy, Knt. and Margaret Mounteney his wife, owned this and Withersdale manors; and he it was, that rebuilt this church and manor-house, where he placed the matches of his family in the windows; and his own arms are carved several times on the timber of the roof, and are still in several windows, and in stone on the font; he died in 1487, and was buried at the north-east corner of the chancel; his inscription was cut in old text letters on his stone, but it is so worn and broken, that this only remains,

 

Johannes Jermy Miles quondam Dominus et qui obiit

 

By his will in Register Aleyn, fo. 330, which is dated at BukenhamFerry, Oct. 24, 1487, he appointed to be buried here, and gave a legacy to this church, and those of Bukenham-Ferry and Hasingham, of which he was patron; he ordered 100 marks to be distributed to the poor on his burial day, and gave the manor and advowsons of Bukenham and Hasingham, to be sold, after his wife Margaret's death: he gave 200 marks to the Abbot of St. Bennet at the Holm in Ludham, to found a chantry priest to sing mass daily there, for him and his family for ever; he is called Sir John Jermy, senior, Knt.

 

Sir John Jermy, junior, Knt. his son and heir, married Elizabeth, daughter of Will. Wroth of Enfield, Esq. and had two sons; from Thomas, the younger son, descended the Jermys of Bayfield in Norfolk, under which place I design an ample account of the family. And

 

John Jermy, Esq. the eldest son, continued the family at Metfield; he married Isabel, daughter of John Hopton, Esq. and lies buried in the chancel by his grandfather, with this on a brass plate on his stone;

Orate pro animabus Johannis Jermy et Jsabelle Uroris sue, unius Filiarum Johannis Nopton Armigeri, qui quidem Johannis obiit riiio Die Januarii Anno Domini Mo vc iiii. Quorum anima- bus propicietur Deus Amen. (fn. 23)

 

Jermy, arg. a lion rampant guardant gul. impaling Hopton, as at vol. iii. p. 553.

 

Edmund Jermy, Esq. his son and heir, married a daughter of William Booth, Esq. and left Sir John Jermy of Metfield and Brightwell, Knight of the Bath; (fn. 24) who by Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Teye, Knt. had Francis Jermy of Brightwell, Esq. who by Eliz. daughter and coheir of Sir William Fitz-Williams of Ireland, Knt. had Sir Thomas Jermy, Knight of the Bath; who by Jane, daughter and heiress of Edward Stuart or Styward, of Teversham in Cambridgeshire, had four sons, Thomas, Edmund, John, and William, of which,

 

Thomas, his eldest son, settled here, for whom there is an altar tomb at the north-east corner of this chancel, with the arms of Jermy, and a griffin proper for the crest, and this,

 

Thomas Jarmy Esq; Sonne and Heire of Sir Thomas Jarmy Knight of the noble Order of the Bath. 21 Dec. 1652.

 

Since which time, the manor hath been sold from the family, and now belongs to Walter Plommer, Esq.

 

¶I have an account, which says, that more gentlemen kept coaches in Mendham, than in any place in Suffolk, and that in 1642, many cavileers in these parts, raised a sum for the King; among which in this town, Richard Baxter, Gent. lord, 30l. Rob. Harper 30l. William Bateman, senior, 10l. James Terrold. Gent. 10l. William Jacob 20l. Will. Herring 3l. &c. Thomas Jermy, Esq. 20l. Anthony Freston, Gent. 5l.

 

In Charles the Second's time, Sir William Godbould lived here, and Colonel John Hobard; and Edward Ward, Esq. justice of the peace, in K. James the Second's time.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol5...

MP40 #666 leads an eastbound GO train on the Lakeshore West Line. The train is detouring northbound on the Canpa Subdivision as trains detour around construction on the Lakeshore West Line between Mimico and Exhibition stations.

57604 leads the Riviera Sleeper, 1C99 2350 London Paddington to Penzance across Liskeard viaduct as it slows for the Liskeard stop.

London New Years Day Parade 2015

37 189 leads class mate 37 088 at Newton Abbot after running round during a reversal on the the RESL 'Cornishman' railtour, the train having just traversed the Heathfield freight branch. 37 189 was one of the class 37/0's to enter the class 37 rebuild programme and became 37 672 on 12.04.1987. This tour despite seen in sunny conditions here was a real endurance test having started out the night before from St.Pancras with 2x25's followed by an overnight with a class 40 suffering a frozen boiler so no heat. The condensate on the Mk 1 coach windows froze and you could see your breath in the train it was purgatory but looking back it was still a memorable trip.

Freightliner Class 66, 66554 leads 4L92 13:04 Ditton O'Connor Sidings Freightliner to Felixstowe North Freightliner Terminal past the beleaguered DC Rail hire-in Class 56, 56302 "PECO - The Railway Modeller - 2016 - 70 Years".

 

56302 was standing at Winsford South Junction on the Down Fast with the Rail Adventure Class 777 barrier wagons (and DCR Grid 091 on the other end) having been there since c.2315 the previous night, i.e. almost 16 hours and counting at this point.

 

The original (VSTP) working was 6Z23 22:43 Crewe Down Refuge Siding to Kirkdale Carriage Sidings.

 

One of the wagons was reported to have severe wheelflats and requiring a wheel-skate and/or very slow speed move back to Crewe. This would require line blocks when traffic was less busy on the WCML. In the meantime, trains heading north from Crewe were using the Down Slow only to get round the stranded 6Z23.

Campaign co-chairs Jack McMackin ’08, Priscilla Awkard ’95, and Christian Wiggins ’03 speak during the Elon LEADS campaign wrap-up celebration held April 28, 2023, at the Schar Center on the campus of Elon University

50007 leads 50049 under Fornham Lane on the approach to Bury St Edmunds, with the ECS move from Whitemoor to Ipswich for the GBRf staff charter on Saturday. My thinking had to been to get it from the other side of this bridge which would be the sunny side, but as there was no sunshine to be had when the train appeared I moved over to get this better angle. Traffic on the A14 can be seen in the background.

  

This particular stairway leads to the upper ramparts and turrets of the magnificent Castle Beynac perched some 450 feet up a cliff, overlooking the Dordogne river and commanding one of the most breathtaking views in southwest France. These stone steps were first set in place during the 12th century and led directly off the upper level of the main spiral stairway and thence on up to the highest sentry turrets. They would have been trodden by several generations of war lords, dukes and monarchs alike. One of the most famous and celebrated keepers of this castle was our very own King Richard Ist - Richard Cœur de Lion, better known in popular English folklore as Richard the Lion-Heart.

 

The castle passed briefly to King Richard, who was more French than English by birth, when the owner incumbent died without a natural heir. However, the transition was short lived since our poor, brave Richard also died soon after from an infected and eventually gangrenous crossbow bolt wound to his shoulder – sustained at the siege of Chalus Castle, some 120 miles to the east, on March 25th of 1199. At 6.05pm. Approximately. The castle was then entrusted to the late King Richard's companion, the mercenary captain Mercadier, but alas he too died just a short while later.

 

The castle was then returned to the Beynacs. During the Hundred Years War and the many battles between the English and the French, Beynac remained in French hands while just a few hundred yards to the south, Castelnaud remained under English control. Inevitably this led to a large number of skirmishes during the period. In 1214 the castle was taken by Simon de Montfort, but soon fell back in the hands of the Beynac family. A few decades later, the part of France containing Beynac was ceded to the English, meaning that this castle and much of the Dordogne, was for a while - the southern most border of England.

 

In 2008 I had the opportunity to travel solo throughout Spain and southwest France for a while. For five days of my crusade I stayed in a pretty converted barn within the small hamlet of La Treille Haute, a couple of miles north west of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, perched upon a hillside directly opposing Castle Beynac, just a couple of cables south of the Dordogne's river bank's. On the afternoon I chose to explore this magnificent and imposing looking castle there were no more than a handful of visitors, so I was able to roam around freely and get a truly stark and realistic feel for the place, with few obvious visual references to modern society.

 

By the time I'd camera'd and camcorder'd my way up to the highest ramparts, I was not to know that I had become the only remaining visitor within the castle and grounds. Attempting to capture some moody photo images, I became totally lost in my pseudo medieval musings - 'stepping back in time' - without a care for the present world, detached and completely out of sight to the wonderful Beynacian residents who look after the Castle.

 

I sat quietly at the top of the main spiral staircase, in the semi darkness, listening to the lonely wailing symphony of wind murmurings creeping upward from the pitch black void below me - trying to imagine the real guise and voice of King Richard. Men and their peers alike, whose lives, adventures and ideologies were to define the future and in turn shape our medieval history - and who had once trod the very same steps...as I was sitting on right now.

 

As I exited the top of the stairway in this image, it occurred to me that they may be about to close it all up fairly soon and I was probably at the furthest point away from the main entry gates way down below. I even spoke to my camcorder saying "wouldn't it be great if I got locked in here".

 

I'm not making this up, but just a few moments later I heard in the distance - an ominous, wailing, groaning cacophony of huge iron hinges closing some impressively heavy, ironclad doors - and then a series of deep, resonating 'booms...' - as each of the doors closed home...

  

Ooops.

  

I'd now become quite literally locked in by the gatekeepers as they were unwittingly shutting up for the night, believing there to be no-one else still present in the castle except the bygone spirits of intrepid knights and warring crusaders. But they'd not reckoned on 'me'. Incarcerated by the French no less. It had been nearly 800 years since an Englishman had been imprisoned here against his will - but whose counting. They'd got me.

 

Believe it or not - I laughed and laughed, from the top of 'my castle' - staring out over 'my domain' across the Dordogne as the sun set over the Perigord Noir. A real life adventure was apparently just unfolding. Right up my rampart and just my cup of mead! An Englishman alone in his castle - his home for just one night maybe - but a chance never the less to share these mighty walls with the memories of countless legions of brave and earnest souls, long since etched into so many parchments and fables from medieval history.

 

So here was I, swaggering along the parapets, recklessly gouging great manly bites from my tuna and sweetcorn sarnie, swinging my fairly large plastic bottle of Evian with gallant panache and defiantly bellowing out a meagre ensemble of the Bards most stirring rhetoric...."The Games Afoot!"...."Once More Onto The Breach Dear Friends!"....and then as I coughed out a truly nasty big piece of sweetcorn....."Cry Havoc!! - And Let Slip The Dogs Of War!!!".

 

That's when I doubled into convulsions of coughing on a morsel of wholegrain bread crust, now firmly lodged in the back of my throat. Made my eyes water too it did. How unlike the rousing speeches of Richard the Lionheart, King Henry V and even Sir Laurence Olivier. No rising chorus of cheers or warrior chants from my brave and loyal compatriots . No beating of drums and battle swords against worn and battered breast plates... just a sad little caw from a tired old crow, as he fixed a wanton stare at the fallen remains of my tuna & sweetcorn sarnie. My only tongue in cheek, though most respectful regret, was that I didn't have a great big 'Cross of St George' to hoist over Beynac. 'That' might have caused a few Beynacians to choke on their croissants in the morning! Mon Dieu!

 

Mais - Vive Les Beynacs !!

 

The fuller narrative of my incarceration - and - far more interestingly, the dashing manner in which I 'escaped' in the dark on my derriere - has now been adopted and somewhat embellished, into the oral narrative of the castle's tour guides for all to gasp in astonishment and wonder at. Modern folklore. Phillipe d'Moi - perhaps the last known prisoner and escapee of Beynac Castle. Spoken of in the same hushed and reverent tones as our very own Richard the Lionheart. Phil & Rich. Sharing a piece of history together.

 

Dream on Macbeth.

 

Hmmm....

 

p.s - Just in case you weren't aware... Richard the Lionheart spent only six months of his ten year reign in England, and although born in Oxfordshire in 1157, he grew up as a child in Aquitaine - south west France, becoming the Duke of Aquitaine at age 14 - and throughout most of his life, rarely spoke English.

 

p.p.s - Having taken the English Crown at Westminster Abbey in 1189, his first deed was to free his mum - Eleanor, Queen of Aquitaine - from 15 years of incarceration by his nasty old dad - Henry II. He also became the first English monarch to use the title 'King of England', as opposed to 'King of the English'. Very soon after, he shoved off from England again claiming it was "cold and always raining". Nothing new there then - ho hum.

 

p.p.p.s - To raise funds for the Third Crusade, he initiated the 'Saladin Tithe Tax' throughout England. Although on his return journey from the Crusade, he was shipwrecked in the Adriatic and then ran into a spot of bother when he was captured by Leopold of Austria, who quite astutely sold him on to the emperor of Germany for 75,000 marks. That's alot of strudel. After some eighteen months of tedious incarceration in Austria and Germany, interference by the French King Phillip and the now minted Leopold once again -who were continually conniving to prevent his release until the Pope eventually intervened - Richard the Lionheart finally returned home to - 'France!!' - upon England's payment of a huge 'Kings Ransom' to Germany. The sum of which all but bankrupted England for many years to come.

 

p.p.p.p.s – In March 1199, King Richard laid siege to Castle Chalus-Chabrol, just south of Clermont Ferrand in the Haute-Vienne of central France. His objective was to enforce the collection of a recently discovered treasure trove of Roman gold from the dissenting Viscount Aimar. It was said that while riding around the puny castle walls on March 25th, Richard was taunting the archers and laughing at the strange attire of one of the young knights who was wielding a crossbow in one hand and….a frying pan as a makeshift shield, in the other. Just then, another crossbowman – Pierre Basile, also known as Bertran de Gurdun - shot the bolt that hit King Richard in the upper left shoulder. While in the surgeon’s tent, Richard forgave the now captured crossbowman Pierre, and awarded him 100 shillings in a final act of clemency. The surgeon botched his work and a few days later the wound turned gangrenous. On the 6th April 1199 – King Richard the Lionheart died, and his closest friend Mercadier overturned Richards final act of mercy and had Pierre Basile flayed alive and hanged.

 

Eeeuuww!!

 

p.p.p.p.p.s – “Yeah…I know, you’re tired and you want to go to bed” – Just one more little morsel then I’ll quit. Promise:

 

In 1907/8, a bright and determined eighteen year old student called T.E.Lawrence, spent a couple of years and a couple of thousand miles, cycling his way through France studying medieval castles - including Castle Beynac and Chalus - and in particular the journeys and conquests of Richard the Lionheart. Lawrence eventually gained a first class honours degree for his thesis entitled ‘The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture – to the end of the 12th century’, based on his own field researches in France and the Middle East. Little did this young Englishman know at the time that his own future life and destiny would become immortalised into history and boy’s own hero folklore, as a direct result of his gallant and intrepid wartime activities in the deserts of Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Jordan during WW1. Although nowadays we know him far better as - ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.

 

From one great English warrior legend....was so inspired another then.

  

That's it.....You can go now.

 

Leads a line of three similar machines (at Hyde?). The photo is not of great quality but what it does show is a colour view of the only member of the class (1203) to have been repainted into the all red livery.

NS 1000 Leads NS 110 past MP 37.5 on Norfolk Southerns St. Louis District on 10/11/22