Thanks to the Nailbourne project, I now understand how the communities and landscape fots in along its length, though that a bubbling noisy stream can just vanish then appear miles away is very difficult to get your head round. The Nailbourne only fully flows in very wet years, but when it does, the beds that are dry now can be several feet deep.

 

But downstream of Littlebourne, where the Nailbourne becomes the Little Stour, it is wider, about six feet wide, clogged with reeds and weeds, but also was used to power to large mills. They both stand, one between Littlebourne and Wickhambreaux, and the other in Wickhambreaux itself, though is now just a house But is a large white clapboard building, with a large wheel.

 

These days, the village looks very prosperous, all grand houses or cottage conversions.

 

From here, the Little Stour makes its way over the marshes which centuries ago was the Wantsum Channel, so Wickhambreaux was almost a seaside town.

 

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The interior of this very pretty church is dominated by nineteenth-century work. The whole of the chancel and baptistry is lined with dark brown encaustic tiles, hiding a straightforward fourteenth-century church. The east window is an early example of American Art Nouveau in England, and dominates the entire building. It was designed by Baron Arild Rosenkrantz in 1896. Above the window are stencilled paintings of angels ascending, which can also be seen in the nave, whilst the roof there has a charming star-spangled sky. At the south-west corner is a vestry - screened off by an eighteenth-century screen which may have formed part of the refitting of the chancel paid for by Mary Young. Her monument in the chancel records that 'infirm from her youth she protracted life to the 68th year of her age'. She left £100 for wainscotting and ornamenting the chancel. The interior viewed from the east gives an unusual appearance as the aisles flank the tower (see also Sandhurst).

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Wickhambreaux

 

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WICKHAM BREAUS

LIES adjoining to Littleborne north-eastward, being usally called Wickham Brook. It is likewise called Wickham by Wingham, to distinguish it from the two other parishes of the same name in this county. In Domesday it is written Wicheham, a name derived from its situation near the banks of the river, which runs close to it. There is only one borough in it, viz. the borough of Wickham, which comprehends the whole parish.

 

Wickham is a low, flat, and unpleasant situation, and lying so near the marshes cannot but be unhealthy, the land throughout it is in general good and sertile, especially near the village, where the fields are very large and level ground. The village, in number about twenty houses, stands at the south-east boundary of the parish, built round a green, over which the road leads to Ickham, having the church and court-lodge on one side, and the parsonage, a handsome brick house, on the other. At the further end of the green, the Lesser Stour crosses the road, and turns a corn-mill belonging to the manor, beyond it is only one house, called the Stone-house, being built of squared stones and slints in chequers, and by the arched windows and door-ways seems of some antiquity. The parish stretches a good distance northward, as far as Groveferry, the house of which is within it, and the greater Stour river, over a level of about 500 acres of marsh land, which extend from the river into a sinus, with a ridge of upland on each side, to within a quarter of a mile of the village. North eastward from which is the Saperton, formerly the property of the Beakes's, who resided here as early as king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign; it was sold by them to the Furneses, whence it came by marriage, with Copthall, in this parish, to the St. John's, viscounts Bolingbroke, who have lately sold it, but one of the family of Beake, many of whom lie buried in this church, now occupies it. A little beyond this is Newnham, once accounted a manor, formerly belonging to the Ropers, lords Teynham, afterwards to the Bartholomews, then to Joseph Brooke, esq. of Rochester, and now to his devisee the Rev. John Kenward Shaw Brooke, of Town-Malling.—Hence among the marshes is the hamlet of Grove, through which the road leads across them to the right over the lesser Stour, to Wingham, Ash, and the eastern parts of Kent, and to the left by Grove-ferry over the Greater Stour, to the northern part of the country and the Isle of Thanet. There is no other wood in the parish excepting Trendley park. There is no fair.

 

At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the year 1080, this place was part of those possessions with which that king had enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux. Accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of his lands:

 

In Donamesford hundred, the bishop himself holds in demesne Wicheham. It was taxed at four sulings. The arable land is eleven carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and thirty-six villeins, with thirty-two cottagers having nine carucates. There is a church, and one priest who gives forty shillings per annum. There is one park, and two mills of fifty shillings, and two saltpits of thirtytwo pence, and three fisheries of four shillings, and thirtytwo acres of meadow. Pasture for three hundred sheep and for thirty-one beasts. Wood for the pannage of eighty bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twenty-five pounds, when he received it twenty pounds, now thirty pounds. There belong to this manor in Canterbury three plats of land paying six shillings and eight pence. Alured Biga held it of king Edward. Moreover there belongs to this manor half a suling of free land, which Sired held of Alured Biga, and Goisfrid, son of Badland, now holds it of the bishop of Baieux, and it is and was worth separately sixty shillings.

 

Four years afterwards the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions were consiscated to the crown, of which this manor appears afterwards to have been held by the Cliffords. Walter, son of Walter de Clifford, possessed it in the reign of king John, and with Agnes de Cundy, his wife, was a good benefactor to St. Augustine's abbey, and that of St. Radigund. (fn. 1) By the marriage of Margaret, daughter and heir of Walter Clifford, with John de Brewse, it passed into that name, and William de Brewse, or de Braiosa, as they were written in Latin, was possessed of it in the 42d year of king Henry III. His descendant William de Brewse, lord of the honour of Brembre, in Sussex, and of Gower, in Wales, as he stiled himself, whose ancestor came into England with the Conqueror, who gave him the castle of Brember, and whose descendant afterwards, by the marriage with Bertha, daughter and one of the coheirs of Milo, earl of Hereford, became possessed of the castles of Brecknock and Gower likewife, and bore for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant, between twelve cross-croslets, or; though I find by the pedigrees of this family, that his ancestors bore Azure, three bars vaire, argent, and gules. He was several times summoned to parliament in king Edward I.'s reign, as was his son of the same name, both in that and Edward II.'s reign, and died possessed of this manor in the 19th year of the latter. Very soon after which it appears, with the church appendant to it, to have come into the possession of Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, half brother to king Edward II. (fn. 2) After which it descended to his brother John Plantagenet, likewife earl of Kent, it being then held of the king in sergeantry. He died anno 26 Edward III. upon which Joane his sister, commonly called the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of Sir Thomas Holand, became his heir, who in her right not only possessed this manor, but became earl of Kent likewise. She afterwards married Edward the black prince, and died in the 9th year of king Richard II. being succeeded in this manor then held in capite, by Thomas Holand, earl of Kent, her son by her first husband, whose two sons, Thomas and Edward, both earls of Kent, and the former created Duke of Surry, in turn succeeded to it, and the latter dying anno 9 Henry IV. his five sisters became his coheirs, and on a partition made between them, Edmund, earl of March, son of Eleanor, late countess of March, the eldest of them became entitled to this manor in his mother's right, being the last earl of March of this family, for he died s. p. in the 3d year of king Henry VI. being then possessed of it. The year after which, Joane, wife of Sir John Gray, appears by the escheat rolls to have been entitled to it; not long after which it became the property of the family of Tibetot, or Tiptoft, as they were usually called, in whom it continued down to John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, who was attainted and beheaded in 1471, anno 10 Edward IV. king Henry being then restored to the crown. He lest an infant son Edward, who, though he was afterwards restored in blood by king Edward IV. yet I do not find that he was ever reinstated in the possession of this manor, which remained in the crown till the reign of king Henry VIII. who granted it, with the advowson of the church, to Sir Matthew Browne, of Beechworth-castle, who in the 22d year of it, passed it away to Lucy, widow of his uncle Sir Anthony Browne, standard-bearer of England, whose grandson Anthony was, anno I and 2 of Philip and Mary, created viscount Montague, and died possessed of this manor anno 34 Elizabeth, and by his will devised it to his eldest son by his second wife, Sir George Browne, who was of Wickham Breaus, and his grandson Sir George Browne, K. B. leaving two daughters his coheirs, Winifrid, married to Basil Brooks, esq. of Salop, and Eleanor, to Henry Farmer, esq. of Oxfordshire, they joined in the sale of it, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, to Sir H. Palmer, bart. of Wingham, who died possessed of it in 1706, s. p. and by his will devised it to his nephew Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. who died in 1723, and by his will gave it to his natural son Herbert Palmer, esq. who married Bethia, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, who died in 1760, s. p., having devised this manor, with the advowson of the church appendant, to his widow. She afterwards married John Cosnan, esq. who in her right became possessed of it, and died in 1778, s. p. leaving her furviving, upon which she again became entitled to the possession of it, and continued owner of it till her death in 1797, on which it came to her nephew Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.

 

Trendley park, now accounted a manor of itself, is situated at the north-west boundary of this parish, being entirely separated from the rest of it by that of Littleborne intervening. It was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and is noticed in the survey of Domesday, in the description of the manor of Wickham above recited, in which it is mentioned as being then a park; and it should seem that at least part of it was then accounted as appurtenant to that manor; though in the description of the manor of Littleborne, in the same survey, which then belonged to the abbey of St. Augustine, it appears that the bishop had lands belonging to that manor too lying within his park here. Of this manor the bishop of Baieux has in his park as much land as is worth sixty shillings, says the record. In part of the recompence for which, the bishop seems to have given the abbot the manor of Garwinton, in Littleborne, and other land within the manor of Leeds, as may be seen by the entries of both these manors in the same record. Soon after which there was another exchange of land made between the bishop and archbishop Lanfranc, for some which lay within his park of Wikeham. What is remarkable in this instrument is, that it is given in two languages, in Saxon and Latin, but neither is a translation of the other, for both are originals, as was a frequent custom of that time. Appendant to it is the bishop's seal in wax, representing him on one side on horseback, with his sword and spurs, as an earl, and on the other habited as a bishop, with his pastoral staff; being perhaps the only seal of Odo at this time extant. (fn. 3) By all which it appears, that this park is much more antient than that of Woodstock, which has been accounted the first inclosed park in England. How long it continued an inclosed park, I have no where found; but in the beginning of king Henry VI.'s reign it was not so, as appears by the escheat-rolls of the 3d year of it, after the death of Edmund, earl of March, at which time there were two hundred acres of wood in it. He was lord of the manor of Wickham, and Trendley park was chiefly at that time certainly appurtenant to it, and continued so whilst in the possession of the same owners, which it did most probably till the attainder of John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, in the 10th year of king Edward IV. when they both came into the hands of the crown, and though king Henry VIII. afterwards granted the manor of Wickham to Sir Matthew Browne, yet I do not find that Trendley park was granted with it. From which time it has had separate owners. For some time it has been the property of the family of Denne, who continue at this time the owners of it. It lies in an unpleasant, lonely part of the parish, facing Westbere, and consists of three hundred acres of woodland, and a house called the Park-house. There is a high road through the middle of it from Stodmarsh to Canterbury market, which in king Edward II.'s reign, was attempted to be shut up, but the sheriff, with the posse comitatus, was ordered to open it again, as being an antient and allowed high road.

 

Charities.

Andrew Holness, of Seton, in Ickham, by will in 1554, gave to the poor 2s. in money and bread, to be distributed yearly; the churchwardens to take so much yearly out of his lands in Ickham and Wickham, except his house and garden at Seton, in case his executors did not give the same yearly.

 

Henry Sloyden, of Wickham Breaus, by will in 1568, gave for the use of the poor and Littleborne, in equal portions, a piece of land containing six acres and a half in the latter parish, called Church-close, which is distributed twice a year by the respective minister and churchwardens, and is of the annual produce of 4l.

 

John Smith, rector of this parish, by deed in 1656, gave a school-room, and a house and garden for a schoolmaster, in this parish, for teaching the children of it. The master to be chosen from one of his relations in preference, if any such could be found, is vested in the rector and churchwardens of this parish.

 

Sir Henry Palmer, of Bekesborne, by his will in 1611, gave the sum of 10s. to each of the several parishes of Wickham, Stodmarsh, Littleborne, and five others therein mentioned, to be paid into the hands of the minister and churchwardens yearly, out of his manor and lands of Well-court, at Michaelmas, towards the relief of the poor of each of them.

 

Thomas Belke, D. D. rector of this parish, by will in 1712, gave 501. for the putting out of five poor children of this parish apprentices.

 

There are about thirty poor constantly relieved, and casually seventy.

 

This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.

 

¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew, consists of three isles and one chancel, having at the west end a square tower, in which hang six bells. The church is not large, but is handsome and neat. In the middle isle are several memorials for the Beakes, of Saperton. In the south isle for the Larkins, who lived at Grove, in this parish. In the east window are remains of good painted glass, viz. the arms of Edward the black price and of Mortimer, quartered with Burgh, and a representation of Herod's daughter beheading John the Baptist. In the chancel, on the pavement, is the figure of a priest in brass, and inscription, for Henry Welde, rector, obt. 1420. A gravestone, and monument for Alexander Young, B D. rector of this parish, who rebuilt this parsonage-house, and repaired that of Eastchurch, of which he was vicar likewife, at the expence of 2000l. obt. March 21, 1755. A memorial for John Smith, rector, obt. Oct. 28, 1658. In the church-yard are many headstones, and a tombstone for the family of Beake. In the windows of this church there were formerly many different shields of arms, long since demolished.

 

This church was always an appendage to the manor, and continues so at this time, Sir Narborough D' Aeth, bart. owner of the manor of Wickham, being the present patron of it.

 

There was antiently both a rectory and vicarage in this church, which continued till the year 1322, when on a vacancy of the latter, Richard de Newcastle, the rector, petitioned archbishop Walter Reynolds, that they might be consolidated, which was granted, and they have continued in that state to the present time. (fn. 4)

 

This rectory is valued in the king's books at 29l. 12s. 6d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 19s. 3d. In 1588 it was valued at 250l. communicants one hundred and sixty-three. In 1640 the same. There are eighteen acres of glebe-land.

 

The marsh-lands in this parish, within Wickham and Preston valleys, pay a modus of two-pence an acre, and those within Newnham 1½d. only, in lieu of all tithes.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp158-166

It can be difficult capturing these little birds perched, which only weigh an average of about 3 grams. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is migratory, spending most of the winter in southern Mexico, Central America as far south as South America, and the West Indies.

 

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are solitary. Adults of this species typically only come into contact for the purpose of mating, and both males and females of any age aggressively defend feeding locations within their territory. The aggressiveness becomes most pronounced in late summer to early fall as they fatten up for migration. Some of these birds weigh as much as 7.5+ grams in preparation for the migration. (*various sources)

 

Photographed at Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

 

Fort Mackinac is an American former military outpost garrisoned from the late 18th century to the late 19th century near Michilimackinac, Michigan, on Mackinac Island. The British built the fort during the American Revolutionary War to control the strategic Straits of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron (and by extension the fur trade on the Great Lakes) and did not relinquish it until fifteen years after American independence.

 

It later became the scene of two strategic battles for control of the Great Lakes during the War of 1812. During most of the 19th century, it served as an outpost of the United States Army. Closed in 1895, the fort has been adapted as a museum on the grounds of Mackinac Island State Park

American Revolutionary War

 

It was built in 1780 by the British on Mackinac Island. Before 1763, the French used Fort Michilimackinac on the mainland south shore of the Straits of Mackinac to control the area. After the Treaty of Paris (1763), the British occupied the French fort but considered the wooden structure too difficult to defend. In 1780/1781, its lieutenant governor Patrick Sinclair constructed a new limestone fort on the 150-foot limestone bluffs of Mackinac Island above the Straits of Mackinac. The British held the outpost throughout the war. Despite the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783), the British did not officially relinquish the fort to the United States until 1796.

 

American Captain Daniel Robertson commanded a garrison on Mackinac Island from 1782 to his death in 1787.

 

War of 1812

 

In June 1812, at the start of the War of 1812, British General Isaac Brock sent a canoe party 1,200 miles (1,900 km) to confirm that a state of war existed. This party returned with an order to attack Fort Mackinac, then known as Fort Michilimackinac.

 

A minimal United States garrison of approximately sixty men under the command of Lieutenant Porter Hanks then manned Fort Mackinac. Although a diligent officer, Hanks had received no communication from his superiors for months. On the morning of 17 July 1812, a combined British and Native American force of seventy war canoes and ten bateaux under the command of British Captain Charles Roberts attacked Fort Mackinac. British Captain Roberts came from Fort St. Joseph (Ontario) and landed on the north end of Mackinac Island, 2 miles (3 km) from the fort. The British removed the village inhabitants from their homes and trained two cannons at the fort. The Americans, under Lieutenant Hanks, were taken by surprise and Hanks perceived his garrison was badly outnumbered. The officers and men under Roberts numbered about two hundred; a few hundred Native Americans of various tribes supported him.

 

Fearing that the Native Americans on the British side would massacre his men and allies, American Lieutenant Hanks accepted the British offer of surrender without a fight. The British paroled the American forces, essentially allowing them to go free after swearing to not take up arms in the war again. They made the island inhabitants swear an oath of allegiance as subjects of the United Kingdom.

 

Shortly after the British captured the fort, two American vessels arrived from Ft. Dearborn (Chicago), unaware of the start of the War of 1812, or the fort's capture by British forces. the British raised the American flag and when the vessels tied up at the pier, the British captured the two sloops as prizes of war. The ships were the Erie (Capt. Norton) and Friends Good Will (Capt. Lee), the latter being taken by the British into service as HMS Little Belt. Schooner Mary and the Salina, anchored at port, were sent by the British to Detroit as cartels carrying the prisoners they had taken.

 

After capturing the island, the British under the command of Colonel Robert McDouall of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment built Fort George, a stockade and blockhouse on the highest point of the island. Lieutenant Hanks made his way to Detroit and the American military post there. Upon his arrival, superiors charged him with cowardice in the surrender of Fort Mackinac. Before the court martial of Lieutenant Hanks could begin, British forces attacked Fort Detroit. A British cannonball ripped through the room where Hanks was standing, cutting him in half and killing the officer next to him as well.

 

United States Army Colonel George Croghan and his superior General William Henry Harrison designed a major campaign to take control of the Great Lakes and sever the fur trade alliance between the British and the tribes of the region; as part of this campaign, the Americans attempted to retake Mackinac Island in July 1814. The two-pronged campaign included an assault on Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, located on the upper [Mississippi River].

 

Battle of Mackinac Island (1814)

 

On 26 July 1814, a squadron of five United States ships arrived off Mackinac Island, carrying a landing force of 700 soldiers under the command of American Colonel Croghan. This landing began the Battle of Mackinac Island. To his dismay, Colonel Croghan discovered that the new British blockhouse stood too high for the naval guns to reach, forcing an unprotected assault on the wall of Fort George. The Americans shelled Fort George for two days with most shells falling harmlessly in vegetable gardens around the fort.

 

A dense fog forced the Americans back from Mackinac Island for a week. Major Andrew Holmes led the American forces in returning; they assaulted the north end of the island near the location of the British assault in 1812. The Americans worked their way to the fort through dense woods, which Native American allies of the British protected, finally emerging into a clearing below Fort George.

 

British Colonel McDouall placed a small force bearing muskets, rifles, and two field guns, behind low breastworks at the opposite end of the clearing. When the Americans emerged from the woods into the clearing, British guns easily targeted them. British warriors killed 13 Americans, including Major Holmes and two other officers, and wounded 51 Americans. The heavy losses compelled US Colonel Croghan to order his men to retreat back through the woods to the beach. The Americans rowed back to their ships and retreated.

 

Later years

 

The American defeat in the Battle of Mackinac Island left Mackinac Island in the hands of the British through the end of War of 1812. Following Treaty of Ghent, American forces reoccupied Fort Mackinac in July 1815. They renamed Fort George as Fort Holmes, in honor of Major Holmes, killed in the 1814 attack. After the War of 1812 and settlement of the northern border and tensions with Britain, Fort Mackinac gradually declined in military significance.

 

No longer needed as a front line border defense against the British in Canada, the fort was used as a strategic troop reserve. The Army essentially could deploy troops to Fort Mackinac until a need arose to transfer them to other locations of military importance. The Army nearly abandoned Fort Mackinac between such uses. It was also used as a fur trading post, as Mackinac Island was an important fur post. From 1816 to 1821 the post was commanded by Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, the older brother of President Franklin Pierce. He married the daughter of Therese Schindler, a prominent fur trader of Ojibwe and French descent.

 

On 6 June 1822, a fur trader named Alexis St. Martin waited to trade in his furs when a gun accidentally discharged just inches from him, blowing a hole in his abdomen. The post surgeon, Doctor William Beaumont, attended to him. Dr. Beaumont cared for the presumably doomed St. Martin the best he could. To his surprise, the man appeared to make a recovery. Beaumont took St. Martin into his home, caring for him for several years. St. Martin healed although his stomach had a hole. Beaumont seized the opportunity and began observing and conducting experiments on the man. Through these experiments, Beaumont described the process of digestion in detail, unlocking its mysteries. Beaumont wrote a book about his experiments and later became known as "The Father of Gastric Physiology."

 

The fort developed as an important staging area for US exploration of the northern Michigan Territory, including the expedition in 1832 under the command of Lewis Cass to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft held the post of United States Indian agent at Fort Mackinac for a time in the 1830s. He did extensive study of the Native American languages and culture of the region, aided by his marriage to Jane Johnston, the Ojibwe-British daughter of Johnston, a wealthy British fur trader at Sault Ste. Marie. Both her parents' families were prominent among the elite of the region.

 

During the Mexican–American War and for long periods during the Civil War, the Army left the care and upkeep of Fort Mackinac to an ordnance sergeant. Despite these periods of relative inactivity, the fort played a small role in the Civil War, briefly used as a prison for three Confederate political prisoners. Brought to Mackinac Island and the fort during the summer months, these three men enjoyed relative freedom, guarded only by a volunteer militia. When faced with the prospect of enduring a long, harsh winter on the island, two of the prisoners signed loyalty oaths and obtained release. The third Confederate refused, and the Army ultimately transferred him to another post.

     

Fort Mackinac, Michigan by Seth Eastman

Seth Eastman, an officer and artist in the United States Army, in 1872 made an oil painting of Fort Mackinac, as a commission by the US Congress of paintings of military forts. It is now part of the collection of the United States Senate. His more important work was to illustrate Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's six-volume history of the American Indians, commissioned by Congress in the 1850s.

 

Mackinac National Park

 

Map of Mackinac Island showing the state park boundaries

From 1875 to 1895, Mackinac National Park, the second national park in the United States after Yellowstone National Park, included Fort Mackinac and much of Mackinac Island. During the national park years, the troops stationed at Mackinac acted as park rangers. The Army tasked these men with maintaining the park, so they spent much time cutting new roads and footpaths through the park.

 

To improve conditions and boost morale, the Army constructed a bathhouse at the fort (in which every man at the fort was required to bathe at least once a week), a post toilet (complete with flush toilets), and a post canteen (where the men could read current magazines, play pool, and buy beer and wine). They wanted Fort Mackinac to be a "desirable station." Soldiers also had regular military duties, drilling on the parade ground and taking target practice at least once a week on either a 600- or 1000-yard rifle range. The skills learned at the fort later proved important for many troops who were posted at other locations in the still-dangerous American West

 

State Administration

 

In 1895, Congress closed Fort Mackinac and Mackinac National Park. It transferred the fort and park to the State of Michigan, which created Mackinac Island State Park, the first state park in Michigan. The semi-autonomous Mackinac Island State Park Commission in 1895 began governing Fort Mackinac and the other surrounding historic sites on or near Mackinac Island: Colonial Michilimackinac, Historic Mill Creek, the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, and Mackinac Island State Park. The Governor of Michigan appoints members of the Commission, who meet many times during the course of a year to govern Mackinac State Historic Parks. The commission and historic parks preserve, protect, and present the rich and natural history of Mackinac Island and the Straits area.

 

In the 1950s, Mackinac Island State Park Commission developed a new way of financing its park, based on the system that financed the Mackinac Bridge. Michigan financed construction of Mackinac Bridge through revenue bonds repaid from the cash flow of toll fees from the bridge after it opened in 1957. Mackinac Island State Park Commission modified this idea for park restoration purposes, with Fort Mackinac admission fees serving as the cash flow. More than three-fourths of budget of Mackinac Island State Park Commission now comes from admission fees and other self-generated cash flow. Most United States parks-and-recreation agencies instead depend upon public subsidies. Mackinac Island State Park Commission operates one of the largest parks in United States that generates a significant majority of its own operating budget.

 

The Fort today

 

The current museum at the park includes 14 historic buildings.

 

Fort Mackinac, high up on the limestone bluffs overlooking the main town on Mackinac Island

 

Fort Mackinac, 2004

Today, Fort Mackinac (pronounced: MACK-in-awe) is a popular heritage tourist destination. Situated on 150-foot bluffs above the Straits of Mackinac, it is one of the few surviving American Revolutionary War forts and one of the most complete early forts in the country. In 2005, Fort Mackinac celebrated 225 years standing guard over Mackinac Island.

 

During the main tourism summer months (June through August), visitors ascend into a bustle of activity within the old British-built stone walls of old Fort Mackinac after entering its weathered gates. Costumed interpreters greet visitors, portray life in the 1880s, answer questions, pose for pictures, and lead tours throughout the day. Some of the "soldiers" carry original 45-70 Springfield Model 1873, the type used at the fort during the 1880s. Others play music or greet and mingle with the crowds of visitors.

 

"Soldier" Firing a Springfield Model 1873 Rifle at Fort Mackinac

The 1841 model six-pounder, positioned just as it would have been if used during the attack of Fort Mackinac in the War of 1812, is fired many times daily. It is the second-largest cannon regularly demonstrated on the Great Lakes. Activities also include rifle firings, court martial re-enactments, and dances of the type done during the early days of Fort Mackinac with live musicians.

Difficult to know where to place the focus plane on this shot..

..so I opted for the childs left eye (glasses) and most of her facial features.

 

Any advice would be most welcome! :-)

The internet has made churchcrawling easier, and so some churches that prooved difficult to see inside can be contacted and visits arranged.

 

Over the years, several have taken a couple of years or more to see inside: Thannington, Hinxhill, Preston and Betteshanger just off the top of my head. But most difficult have been Barming.

 

We first visited here one Good Friday over a decade ago, one of several along the valley that were either closed or had services on. Since then I have been insde Mereworth and Waterningbury, but each time we went past Barming, it has been closed.

 

Then a few weeks ago, a friend posted pictures from inside, and told me he had arranged a visit from their website. I did the same, though one visit a few weeks back had to be postponed, a few weeks later I was back, hoping to meet a warden at ten.

 

It was at least a fine sunny and warm spring morning, perfect for snapping the churchyard and finding yet more details on the body of the church to record.

 

St Margaret sites halfway between the River Medway and the old high road out of Maidstone, and once might have been a separate village from Maidstone, but is now just a suburb of the town. The church sits down a dead end lane, and is really a wonderful location overlooking the valley to East Farleigh on the other bank.

 

The churchyard is filled with spring bulbs, and so in spring it is a riot of colour.

 

I saw the warden park her car, and walk towards me, so I get up from the bench near the porch to meet her, and than her warmly for opening up.

 

Unusually, I had read up on the church before my visit, and so was aware of the 14th century bench ends in the Chancel. They did not disappoint.

 

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An isolated church at the end of a lane above the River Medway. Norman origins are obvious - three windows in the east wall indicate the earliest work. The nave is also early and to this was added the fifteenth century tower with stair turret and needle-like spire. The north aisle was a nineteenth century addition and the chancel was restored by Sir Ninian Comper and represents some of his earliest work. Later generations have, unfortunately, undone much of his original design. The memorable feature of the church is the set of fourteenth century Rhenish carvings showing St Michael, Samson and Our Lord worked into bench ends in the chancel.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Barming

 

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BARMING.

CALLED in antient records, Bermelinge, lies the next parish to East Farleigh, on the opposite or northern side of the river Medway.

 

THE PARISH of East Barming lies on high ground, declining southward to the valley, through which the river Medway flows, being its southern boundary. It is situated opposite to East Farleigh, than which it has a far less rustic and more ornamented appearance. The soil like that is a fertile loam, slightly covering the quarry rock, from under which several small springs gush out, and run precipitately in trinkling rills into the Medway; it is enriched too with frequent hop and fruit plantations; the fields are in general larger, and surrounded with continued rows of lofty elms and large spreading oaks, which contribute greatly to the pleasantness of the place. The situation of it, as well as of the neighbouring parishes, from Maidstone as far as Mereworth, is exceedingly beautiful, the river Medway meandering its silver stream in the valley beneath, throughout the greatest part of the extent of them; the fertility of soil, the healthiness of air, the rich variety of prospect, adorned by a continued range of capital seats, with their parks and plantations, form altogether an assemblage of objects, in which nature and art appear to have lavished their choicest endeavours, to form a scene teeming with whatever can make it desirable both for pleasure and profit.

 

The high road from Maidstone to Tunbridge crosses the upper part of the parish of East Barming, over a beautiful, though small plain, called Barmingheath, part of which is in Maidstone parish, a little distance below which is a modern, and rather elegant seat, built by John Whitaker, gent. second son of Mr. Tho. Whitaker, of Trottesclive, since whose death it has come to his nephew, Thomas Whitaker, esq. of Watringbury; but Mr. William Rolfe resides in it. Farther on is the village of Barming, in which is a pleasant seat, called the Homestall, built about the year 1720, by Mr. James Allen, whose heirs are now entitled to the see simple of it; but by the foreclosure of a mortgage term, the possession of it became vested in Arthur Harris, esq. who kept his shrievalty here in 1746; his brother Thomas resided likewise here, and dying unmarried in 1769, gave this seat to Mrs. Mary Dorman for life; remainder to Mr. John Mumford, of Sutton-at-Hone, whom he made heir to the bulk of his fortune; she now possesses and resides in it. A small distance from hence is the seat of Hall-place; hence the ground rises to the coppice woods, part of which lie within this parish, and adjoin to a much larger tract northward. About a quarter of a mile on the other side of the road is the church, standing by itself among a grove of elms, the slight delicate white spire of which rising above the foilage of the grove, affords a pleasing prospect to the neighbouring country. From the above road the village extends southward down the declivity of the hill, almost to the river, over which there is a wooden bridge, built at the expence of the commissioners of the navigation. It is called St. Helen's bridge, from its contiguity to that manor, situated at a very small distance from it; about a mile from the village, close to the eastern boundary of the parish, adjoining to that of Maidstone, on the declivity of the hill, leading down to East Farleigh bridge, is the parsonage, lately almost rebuilt by the present rector, the Rev. Mark Noble, who resides in it, and by his judicious management and improvements has made this benefice, perhaps one of the most desirable in the diocese.

 

A few years ago several Roman urns, pieces of armour, and skeletons, were dug up within the bounds of this parish; the latter were no doubt belonging to those who fell in the skirmish between the Royalists and Oliverians at Farleigh bridge, in 1648; and the former serves to shew, that the Roman highway, a different one from the larger one of the Watling-street, and directing its course towards Oldborough, in Ightham, led near this place, of which more will be noticed hereafter.

 

THERE GROWS on Barming heath, the plant, Chamæmelum odoratissimum repens flore simplici, common camomile, in great plenty; and verbascum album vulgare five thapsus barbatus communis, great mul lein, or hightaper, more plentifully, and of a larger size than I have met with elsewhere.

 

THE MANOR of East Barming was given by king William the conqueror to Richard de Tonebrege, the eldest son of Gislebert earl of Brion, in Normandy, the son of Geffry, natural son of Richard, the first of that name, duke of Normandy, whence he bore the name of Richard Fitz Gilbert at his coming hither; (fn. 1) he was one of the principal persons who came into England with duke William, to whom he gave great assistance in that memorable battle, in which he obtained the crown of this realm. He had for that service, and in respect of his near alliance to him in blood, great advancements in honour, and large possessions both in Normandy and England, bestowed upon him; among the latter he possessed thirty-eight lordships in Surry, thirty-five in Essex, three in Cambridgeshire, three in Kent, one in Middlesex, one in Wiltshire, one in Devonshire, ninety-five in Suffolk, and thirteen burgages in Ipswich, of which Clare was one, besides others in other counties; accordingly, in the survey of Domesday, taken about the year 1080, being the 15th of the Conqueror's reign, this estate is thus entered under the title of, Terra Ricardi F. Gisleb'ti, the land of Richard, the son of Gislebert.

 

In Medestan hundred the same Richard (de Tonebrige) holds Bermelinge. Alret held it of king Edward (the Confessor) and then and now it was and is taxed at one suling. The arable land is four carucates. In demesne there are two carucates and five villeins, with eight borderers, having five carucates. There are thirteen servants, and one mill of five shillings, and four acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of ten hogs. In the time of king Edward it was worth four pounds, and afterwards 100 shillings, now four pounds.

 

This Richard Fitz Gilbert, at the latter end of the Conqueror's reign, was usually called Rich. de Tonebrige, as well from his possessing that town and castle, as from his residence there; and his descendants took the name of Clare, from the like reason of their possessing that honour, and were afterwards earls of Clare, and of Gloucester and Hertford. Of this family, as chief lords of the fee, Barming was afterwards held in moieties by Fulk Peyforer and Roger de Kent, each of whom held their part of the honour of Clare.

 

In the reign of king Edward II. the heirs of Lora Peyforer and those of Roger de Kent, being Thomas de Barmeling and Wm. de Kent, held these moieties as above mentioned; and in the 20th year of the next reign of king Edward III. John Fitz Jacob, Thomas and John de Kent, held these moieties of this estate, in East Barmeling, of the earl of Gloucester.

 

THE FORMER OF THESE MOIETIES, held by the family of Peyforer, seems to have comprised the MANOR of EAST BARMING, and to have been given afterwards to the Benedictine nunnery of St. Helen's, in Bishopsgate street, London, whence it acquired the name of ST. HELEN'S, alias East Barming manor, by the former of which only it is now called; with the above priory this manor remained till its dissolution, in king Henry VIII.'s reign, when it was surrendered into the king's hands, who, in his 35th year, granted his manor, called St. Elen's, among other premises, to Richard Callohill, to hold in capite by knights service, who that year sold it to Gabriel Caldham, freemason, of London; and he next year sold it to Tho. Reve, (fn. 2) whose grandson of the same name, in the 4th year of queen Elizabeth, levied a fine of it, and then passed it away by sale to Mr. Stephen Pearse, who some years afterwards alienated it to Sir Robert Brett, on whose death, without surviving issue, in 1620, (fn. 3) this manor came by will to Robert Lynd, esq. who bore for his arms, Argent a cross ingrailed gules; and he sold it to Sir Oliver Boteler, of Teston, in whose descendants it continued down to Sir Philip Boteler, bart. who died in 1772, s. p. and by will gave one moiety of his estates to Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, of Chart Sutton; and the other moiety to Elizabeth viscountess dowager Folkestone, and Wm. Bouverie, earl of Radnor; and on a partition afterwards made between them, this manor was allotted to lady Folkestone, who died in 1782, on which it came to her only son, the Hon. Philip Bouverie, who has since taken the name of Pusey, and he is the present owner of it.

 

This manor extends its jurisdiction over the whole of this parish; the antient house of it, as well as the dove cote, stood nearly at the foot of the hill near St. Helen's bridge; both have been pulled down not many years since.

 

THE OTHER MOIETY of the estate of East Barming, held by John Fitz Jacob and John de Kent, seems to have passed afterwards into the family of Fremingham; for John, son of Sir Ralph de Fremingham, of Lose, died possessed of it about the 12th year of king Henry IV. and leaving no issue, he by his will gave it to certain feoffees, who, in compliance with it, next year assigned it to John Pimpe, and his heirs male, for the finding and maintaining of two chaplains, one in the monastery of Boxley, and the other in the church of East Farleigh, to celebrate for the souls of himself, his wife, and others their ancestors and relations therein mentioned. From the family of Pimpe this estate came, in king Henry VIII.'s reign, to Sir Henry Isley, who by the act of the 2d and 3d of king Edward VI. procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled.

 

Being concerned in the rebellion raised by Sir Tho. Wyatt, in the 1st year of queen Mary, he was attainted, and his lands were consiscated to the crown, whence this estate was granted that year to Sir John Baker, the queen's attorney general, to hold in capite by knights service; (fn. 4) in whose descendants it continued down to Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, of whom it seems to have been purchased in the reign of king Charles II. by Golding, who died possessed of it in 1674, and was buried in this church, bearing for his arms, A cross voided, between four lions passant guardant. His son, Mr. Henry Golding, gent. about the year 1700, alienated this estate to Nicholas Amhurst, gent. of West Barming, who died possessed of it in 1715; and his grandson, John Amhurst, esq. is the present possessor of it.

 

HALL PLACE is a reputed manor in this parish, the antient mansion of which is situated at a small distance westward of the present seat, and is little more than an ordinary cottage, serving as a farm house to a small parcel of land. It formerly gave both residence and surname to a family, written in antient deeds, At-Hall, who before the end of the reign of king Edward III. had alienated their interest in the greatest part of it to one of the Colepepers, of Preston, in Aylesford, and the rest of it to Clive; and this part was by John Clive, about the 7th year of king Henry IV. likewise conveyed to Colepeper, who in the 10th year of that reign passed away the entire fee of it to Sampson Mascall, whose family was originally of Mascall's, in Brenchley, and in his descendants Hall-place continued till the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign, when it was conveyed to Alchorne, whose ancestors were possessed of Alchorne in Rotherfield, in Sussex; in which name the fee of this estate remained at the time of king Charles II.'s restoration, but the use and profits of it were made over, for a long series of years, to Mr. Cook, of Stepney; and he, in 1656, alienated his interest in it to Mr. Rich. Webb, rector of this parish, who in 1667, gave it to his grandson, Richard Webb, gent. who, in 1726, conveyed it by sale to Mr. Peter Smart, who bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron between three pheons sable; about which time Christopher Smart, the poet, is said to have been born in this parish; at length, Mr. Peter Smart's widow, and their children, in 1746, passed away their interest in it to John Cale, esq. who resided here, and dying in 1777, was buried in this churchyard, having been a benefactor to the poor of this parish; and by his will he devised this, among the rest of his estates in this county, to the heirs of Tho. Prowse, esq. of Axbridge, in Somersetshire; in consequence of which his two daughters and coheirs became intitled to it; the youngest of whom married Sir John Mordaunt, bart. of Walton, in Warwickshire, and they became possessed of this estate in undivided moieties, and in 1781, joined in the sale of it to John Amhurst, esq. of Barnjet, the present owner of it.

 

CHARITIES.

THOMAS HARRIS, esq. of this parish, in 1769, gave by will, 5l. per annum for fifty years, 2s. of it to be given to the poor of this parish in bread, on each Sunday in the year, excepting Easter and Whitsunday.

 

JOHN CALE, esq. of this parish, in 1777, gave by will the sum of 200l. in East India annuities, the interest of it to be given to the poor yearly at Christmas, in linen and bread, vested in trustees, of the annual produce of 61.

 

THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Margaret, is a small building, consisting of one isle and a chancel, with an elegant spire steeple. The present rector, Mr. Noble, about twelve years ago, at his own expence, entirely repaired and ornamented the chancel; he gave likewise a new altar and pulpit cloth, and cushion; and the parishioners, followed his example, in the repair and ornamenting of the church itself; so that from being one of the most neglected, it is become equal to most of the neighbouring churches in those respects.

 

Walter, bishop of Rochester, in the reign of king Stephen, confirmed to the prior and canon of Ledes the patronage of the church of Barmyng, as it was granted to them by the lords of the soil, and confirmed to them by their charters.

 

Gilbert, bishop of Rochester, in the reign of king Henry II. granted to the prior and canons two shillings, to be received by them yearly, as a pension from this church, saving the episcopal right of the bishop of Rochester, &c. (fn. 5) The patronage of the church of Barming, together with this pension, remained part of the possessions of the above mentioned priory till the dissolution of it in the reign of king Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands. Since which, the patronage of this rectory has continued vested in the crown, but the above mentioned yearly pension of two shillings was, by the king's dotation charter, in his 33d year, settled on his new erected dean and chapter of Rochester, who are now intitled to it.

 

¶In the 15th year of king Edward I. the church of Barmelyng was valued at twelve marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 12l. 7s. 1d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 5s. 8½d.z The glebe land belonging to this rectory contains eighty-three acres.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp383-392

I found this very difficult. Thinking all week wondering my word for the year. I've always had a word but felt nothing this year... Not nothing nothing . More no need even for a word. That it will be what it will be. It is what it is. But then...there is so much I want for the year.

Sitting pondering again this morning -- inhale exhale. Tuning in to what's going on within and releasing what isn't serving me. Inhale exhale. Being aware of this moment. My breath.

So my mantra, and I like that 'more than my word for the year' is

 

Inhale. Exhale.

THe vicar and wardens at Ss Peter and Paul had arranged many events in the church, and there were many visitors when I arrived. Would I like to go up the tower I was asked when I walked in. I believe I would.

 

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It is difficult to date accurately the first church building in Stoke, but we know from Edwards Hasteds ‘History of Kent’ published in 1798 the early history of the church: Stoke itself was given to the See of Rochester by Eadberht, King of Kent, sometime between 664 and 673 AD “for the good of his soul and for the remission of his sins.” This makes it one of the first donations of land to the church. It is likely that there were some settlements here in Roman times and that there were some salt workings on the marshes even in those days. In Saxon times Stoke was an important place, as we know by its name. In those days it was called Andschohesham, a “ham on the stockaded land.” In early Saxon days a place protected by a stockade would attract people needing a refuge for their cattle. It would become more important than a settlement ending with a “ton” or “ham.” Later the name was shortened to Estoches and it is recorded under this name in the Domesday Book of 1086. The entry for Stoches or Stoke states that there was a church with four servants and four acres of meadows. This and all the other land and villeins (a feudal tenant entirely subject to a lord or manor to whom he paid dues and services in return for land) were held by the Bishop of Rochester, (Picture above left Rena Pitsilli-Graham).

The earliest parts of the church, possibly the Nave, Chancel and aisles, date from the late 12th century. A report by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust (CAT) (Linklater 2010) gives a broad outline of the history of the building and indicates that the Naves arcades are also of this date with the north arcade perhaps being slightly later but “only by 20 years or so” Stoke church was dedicated only to St. Peter until at least 1524, with St Paul added some time after that. The Edward Hasted history still refers to it as St Peter only in 1789. The position of the church is due to the people of the village settling on the high ground above the Saltings. The village developed as scattered housing on the margins of the firm ground above the reaches of the highest tides, although the lower land was probably farmed as it would be very fertile. The oldest part of the present church dates from about 1175. However from earlier historical records of the building it is difficult to establish whether the South or the north aisle is thought to be the earliest. Historians have written that “the pillars of the south arcade are Norman, Octagonal and carry the massive quality so usual in Norman Work.” However, you will see the octagonal pillars are actually on the north side of the church and the south arcade has rounder squatter pillars, with arches of similar style. Another historian claims that it is this aisle which is the oldest, with Norman transition pillars, capitals and arches. It would certainly appear to be uncertain.

 

The Font at the rear of the south aisle is a circular tub shape, which has been claimed to be Norman, although others believe it to be Saxon; it is dated as 13th century by the listing description. Its simple shape and workmanship certainly incline to an earlier Saxon time, but at this stage it is unlikely to be established one way or the other.

 

he next addition was the other arcade and aisle, presumably on the north side. The original lancet window is still here, but the present glass is of a much more recent date. The chancel dates from the same date as the lancet window. Within the chancel is an ornamental stone coffin lid, near to the altar on the north side, while on the South side is the outline of the priest’s door, which would have led to a separate chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the same wall is a piscine niche with a foliated canopy.

 

In the South Aisle is a piscine with a fox and a lion head, the lion putting it’s tongue out . This is fourteenth century work, which supports the view that the south aisle was once the chantry for Malmaynes Hall, granted to the manor of Malmaynes Hall around 1380, and below the aisle was the family vault.

 

Many centuries later when the roof was being repaired the vault become flooded, and this is popularly supposed to have caused the pillar closest to the east window to have tilted out of true.

The fifteenth century was a busy time for the fabric of the church, with two windows in the north aisle being added, and the window above the font. The glass in these has been replaced at later dates. Most of the roof timbers date from this time. , as do the north and south door. The present door in the south wall is a modern addition, donated by the Royal Engineers, based in the Medway towns.

 

The Canterbury Archaeological Trust (CAT) (Linklater 2010) report states that the Tower may be as early as the 14th century, (there were bequests for the building work from 1479 onwards) and it may have been repaired or extended in the early part of the 16th century. The tower itself stands, but the steeple was never built, despite many donations from the people of Stoke and benefactors from further afield. The reason has never been fully explained. The tower seems to have been built or rebuilt from 1470 to 1550, and it may be that all the monies donated were used to build the tower. Some believe that the Reformation intervened and that the work was abandoned. Others believe that the siting of a steeple so close to the estuary would have been too dangerous, acting as a beacon to invaders. Whatever the reason, no steeple has ever been added to the tower, which at least gives us the opportunity to climb the 53 steps to enjoy the panoramic views from the top. Within the tower is the belfry, with three bells. These have were restored in 1980’s along with parts of the bell frame at a cost of many thousands of pounds.

 

The vault discovered in the vault centre of the South Aisle in 2009 has been shown to be an unusual double chamber, at 4.2 metres long, occupying the centre of the Aisle. This is thought to date from the 17-18th century. Substantial burials have been found to the East of the Aisle externally.

 

Over the last four centuries little new work has been added to the church, but various repairs have been carried out, including a major restoration programme in 1898 of the roofs and floors as described in a newspaper article of the time (see left). The architect was FC Lees of Victoria Street, Westminster. It appears that a North Porch was in existence and was either rebuilt or remodelled after 1898 according to the article. (See the restoration pages for details of works starting in 2014)

Over the years the glass in the windows has been replaced and there appears little or no documentation about the original or subsequent glass. In the lancet window in the north aisle there is a beautiful glass showing three pomegranates in tones of blue, turquoise and gold, (See picture right, Rena Pitsilli-Graham)

Nearby is a window designed and donated by Mrs Marjorie Crofts, depicting St. Francis of Assissi with rushes, poppies, and white dove and a kingfisher. This was made by Maile Studios of Canterbury and presented in 1995.

 

The main east window in the chancel is dedicated to the Goord family and dates from 1938. It was made by Celtic Studios of Swansea, a small studio founded in 1933 by Howard Martin and his cousin Hubert Thomas. They designed and made stained glass windows for houses, a cinema, a pub, chapels and churches and there is a large amount of their work in Toronto, Canada. The window here cost £409.10s and shows St. Peter and St. Paul with Christ in the centre panel. St Peter is holding two keys and St Pauls is holding a sword. No other examples of stained glass exist in the church.

 

Outside the church is a pretty lych gate in the boundary wall surrounding the churchyard. The wooden gates were given by the Bett family in 1995 in memory of Phillip Bett, a long standing and devoted church warden and servant of the church, (see pictures left, J Plumb).

On the outside wall by the south door is a holy water stoup, dating back some centuries. The church walls are constructed mostly of random rubble Kentish Ragstone. The church was listed Grade 1 in 1966. National Heritage defines this as 'of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important; only 2.5% of listed buildings are Grade I.'

 

www.stpeterstpaulupperstoke.com/history

 

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THE last parish undescribed in this hundred, lies the next southward from that of Alhallows. A small part of it is within the hundred of Shamel. This place, as appears by the Textus Roffensis, was called Andscohesham in the time of the Saxons. In Domesday it is called Estoches and Stoches; and in later deeds by its present name of Stoke.

 

EADBERHT, king of Kent, gave part of his land for the good of his soul, and the remission of his sins, to the bishopric of St. Andrew, in Rochester, and Ealdulf, bishop of it, in the district called Hohg, at a place there called Andscohesham, containing, by estimation, ten ploughlands, together with all things belonging to it, in fields, woods, meadows, fisheries, saltpans, &c. according to the known and established bounds of it; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Nothelm and king Æthelberht, in the metropolitical city, in 738. This estate was afterwards wrested from the church of Rochester during the troublesome times of the Danish wars, and was afterwards purchased by earl Godwin of two men, who held it of the bishop of Rochester, and sold it without the bishop's knowledge. The earl was succeeded in it by his eldest son, earl Harold, afterwards king of England, after whose death, William the Conqueror attaining the crown, seised on all the late king's estates, and gave this manor, together with other land at Stoke, among other premises, to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother. But Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, recovered the manor of Stoke from him, in the solemn assembly held at Pinenden-heath, in 1076, and afterwards restored it, with its church, to Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, and the church of St. Andrew, (fn. 1) which gift was confirmed by archbishop Anselm, and by several of his successors, archbishops of Canterbury.

 

The manor of Stoke is thus described in the general survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands.

 

In How hundred. The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Estoches. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was taxed at five sulings, and now at three. The arable land is five carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and 10 villeins, with five borderers, having 4 carucates. There is a church, and 4 servants, and 4 acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward, and afterwards, and now it was, and is worth eight pounds and 20 pence, and yet he who holds it pays 13 pounds and 20 pence.

 

This manor was, and is belonging to the bishopric of Rochester; but earl Godwin, in the time of king Edward, bought it of two men, who held it of the bishop, and this sale was made without his knowledge.

 

But after that, William being king, Lanfranc the archbishop recovered it against the bishop of Baieux, and from thence the church of Rochester is now seised of it.

 

Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, having divided the revenues of his church between himself and his convent, allotted this manor to the share of the monks, ad victum, that is, to the use of their refectory; (fn. 2) and the same was confirmed to them, by several of the succeeding kings, archbishops, and bishops of Rochester. (fn. 3)

 

On bishop Gilbert de Glanvill's coming to the see of Rochester in 1185, he found it much impoverished, by the gifts of several of the best estates belonging to it made by bishop Gundulph, to the monks of his priory. This occasioned a dispute between them, the bishop claiming this manor, among others, as having belonged to the maintenance of his table. In consequence of which, though he wrested the church of Stoke from them, yet they continued in possession of this manor, with its appendages, till the dissolution of the priory in the reign of king Henry VIII.

 

In the 7th year of king Edward I. the bishop of Rochester claimed certain liberties, by the grant of king Henry I. in all his lands and fees, and others by antient custom, in the lands of his priory in Stoke, and other lands belonging to his church; (fn. 4) which were allowed by the jury, as they were again in the 21st year of that reign, upon a Quo warranto; and again in the 7th year of king Edward II. and they were confirmed by letters of inspeximus, granted by king Edward III. in his 30th year. In the 21st year of king Edward I. on another Quo warranto, the prior of Rochester claimed that he and his predecessors had, in the manors of Stoke, &c. view of frank-pledge, from beyond memory, which was allowed by the jury. He also claimed free-warren, by grant from Henry I. but the jury found that neither he nor his predecessors had used it, therefore it was determined, that they should remain without that liberty, but king Edward I. by his charter, in his 23d year, granted that liberty to the prior and convent in all their demesne lands of this manor, among others; so that no one should enter on them, either to hunt, or to take any thing which belonged to warren, without their licence, on the forfeiture of ten pounds. In the 15th year of king Edward I. the manor of Stoke was valued at nine pounds.

 

On the dissolution of the priory of Rochester in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. this manor was surrendered, with the other possessions of it, into the king's hands, who presently after, in his 33d year, settled it, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom the inheritance of it continues at this time.

 

There is a court-leet and court-baron held for this manor.

 

In 1720, Jacob Sawbridge, one of the South-Sea directors, purchased the lease of the manor-farm of Stoke, under the yearly rent of twenty eight pounds, clear of all taxes, the rack rent of which, was ninety pounds per annum. The present lessee is the Right Hon. John, earl of Darnley.

 

TUDERS, formerly spelt Teuders, is a manor in this parish, which antiently was held of the bishop of Rochester, as of his manor of Stoke.

 

In the 12th year of king John, this estate was held by Hugo de Stokes, as half a knight's fee, of the bishop of Rochester, by knight's service. (fn. 5) His descendant, Theodore de Stokes, afterwards possessed it, (fn. 6) and ingrafted his name on it; for from that time this manor was called Theodores, and for shortness, Tudors; and Philipott says, he had seen an antient roll of Kentish arms, wherein Tudor of Stoke bore the same coat armour with Owen Theodore, vulgarly called Tuder, being Azure, a chevron between four helmets argent.

 

After this name was extinct here, this manor came into that of Woodward; one of whom, Edward Woodward, possessed it at the latter end of Henry VIII's reign. His descendant, in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, conveyed it to John Wilkins gent. of Stoke parsonage, who died in the 19th year of that reign, and was succeeded in it by his kinsman and heir, George Wilkins, gent. who married Elizabeth, one of the daughters of Mr. John Copinger, of Alhallows, by whom he left no issue. He lies buried in this church. His arms were, Gules, on a chevron argent, a demi lion between two martlets sable, between three welk shells or; one of whose descendants, about the beginning of king Charles I's reign, alienated it to Bright, and Edward Bright, clerk, died possessed of it in the year 1670, on which this estate, by virtue of a mortgage term, passed into the possession of William Norcliffe, esq. of the Temple, London, whose widow possessed it after his decease, and since her death it is become the property of the Rev. Mr. Henry Southwell, of Wisbeach, in the Isle of Ely, who is the present owner of it.

 

Hugo de Stokes, owner of this manor in the reign of king Stephen, gave the tithes of it to the monks of St. Andrew's, in Rochester, to whom it was confirmed by archbishop Theobald, and the prior and convent of Canterbury, (fn. 7) and by several bishops of Rochester. (fn. 8)

 

At the dissolution of the priory, in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. this portion of tithes, together with the rest of the possessions of the monastery, was surrendered into the king's hands, who settled it next year, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where it now remains.

 

This portion of tithes, called Tudor's portion, was surveyed soon after the death of king Charles I. in 1649, when it was returned, that the same arose out of the tenement of Tudors, and several other tenements, called Bartons, in the parish of Stoke, with six fields, containing by estimation, fifty-three acres; the improved value of which premises was five pounds per annum, all which were let by the late dean and chapter, anno 3 king Charles I. to Sarah Wilkins, at 6s. and 8d. per annum.

 

The present lessee is Baldwin Duppa Duppa, of Hollingborne, in this county.

 

MALMAYNES is a manor in this parish, now commonly known by the name of Maamans Hall, which was given, as well as that of Stoke, by the Conqueror, at his accession to the crown, to his half-brother, Odo, as has been already mentioned; and when archbishop Lanfranc recovered the latter from the bishop, at the noted assembly of the county at Pinenden, as having before belonged to the church of Rochester, this manor was then likewise in his possession. Accordingly it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday, under the general title of that prelate's lands:

 

The same Ansgotus (de Rochester) holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Stoches. It was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is two carucates, and there are in demesne . . . with seven borderers. There is one fishery of two shillings. In the time of king Edward, and afterwards, it was worth one hundred shillings, now one hundred and ten shillings. Anschil held it of king Edward.

 

On the disgrace of the bishop of Baieux in 1083, this, among the rest of his estates, was confilcated to the crown. After which it became part of the possessions of the family of Malmaines, a branch of which resided here, and fixed their name on it. John de Malmaines, son of Henry, died possessed of it in the 10th year of king Edward II. In the 20th year of king Edward III. the heirs of Thomas de Malmayns, of Hoo, paid aid for three quarters of a knight's fee, which John Malmayns before held here of the king.

 

Richard Filiot seems soon afterwards to have been in possession of this manor, which passed from him into the family of Carew, and Nicholas Carew, of Bedington, in Surry, died possessed of it in the 14th year of king Richard II. His son, Nicholas de Careu, armiger, de Bedington, as he wrote himself, (fn. 9) in the 9th year of king Henry V. conveyed this manor by sale to Iden; from which name it passed, in the latter end of king Henry VIII's reign, to John Parker, whose arms were, Sable, on a fess ingrailed argent, between three hinds tripping or, three torteauxes, each charged with a pheon of the second, which coat is now quartered by lord Teynham. (fn. 10) His sole daughter and heir, Elizabeth, carried it in marriage to John Roper, esq. of Linsted, who was first knighted, and afterwards created baron of Teynham, in this county. His son, Christopher, lord Teynham, died in 1622, and by his will devised this manor to his second son, William Roper, esq. who alienated it, in the reign of king Charles I. to Jones, in whose descendants it continued till the reign of king George I. when it passed by sale from them to Baldwin Duppa, esq. who died in 1737, and his son, Baldwin Duppa, esq. of Hollingborne-hill, possessed it at his death in 1764, since which it has continued in the same family the present owner, being Baldwin Duppa Duppa, esq. of that place.

 

Sir John Malmeyns, of this parish, in 1303, made his petition to Robert, abbot, and the convent of Boxley, appropriators of this church; that as he was, on account of his house being situated at such a distance from the parish church, often prevented from attending divine service there, he might be enabled to build an oratory, for himself and his family, on his own estate, and might have a priest to celebrate divine services in it. To which the abbot and convent assented, provided, as far as might be, no prejudice might by it accrue to the mother church, themselves, or the vicars of it, which licence was confirmed by Thomas, bishop of Rochester, that year.

 

RALPH MALESMÆINS, about the reign of king Henry I. became a monk of the priory of St. Andrew, in Rochester, and on that account granted to the monks there his tithes of Stoches; and after his death Robert Malesmæins, his son, confirmed it, as did Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, Ralph, prior and the convent of Canterbury, and several of the succeeding bishops of Rochester.

 

At the dissolution of the priory of Rochester, in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. this portion of tithes was surrendered into the king's hands, who granted it the nextyear, by his dotation charter, to his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where the inheritance of it now remains.

 

The present lessee, under the dean and chapter, is Baldwin Duppa Duppa, esq. of Hollingborne-hill.

 

Reginald de Cobham, son of John de Cobham, possessed lands in this parish, and in the 14th year of king Edward III. procured free-warren in all his demesne lands in Stoke.

 

King Henry VIII. in his 32d year, granted to George Brooke, lord Cobham, a marsh, called Coleman's, alias Bridge-marsh, lying in Oysterland, alias Eastland, in Stoke; and other premises, parcel of the priory of Christ-church, to hold in capite, by knights service.

 

CHARITIES.

 

RICHARD WHITE, of Chalk, gave by will in 1722, an annual sum of money to the poor of this parish not receiving alms, vested in Mr. John Prebble, and of the yearly product of ten shillings.

 

STOKE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese and deanry of Rochester. The church, is dedicated to St. Peter.

 

In the chancel are these brasses: one for John Wilkins, gentleman, born in this parish, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Coppinger, esq. of Alhallows, obt. s. p. 1575, arms, Wilkins impaling Coppinger, and other coats, one for William Cardiff, B. D. vicar, obt. 1415; another for Frances Grimestone, daughter of Ralph Coppinger, esq. and wife of Henry Grimestone, esq. obt. 1608.

 

This church was antiently an appendage to the manor of Stoke.

 

King Henry I. gave his tithe of Stoke to the church of St. Andrew, and Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, and when he allotted the manor of Stoke to the share of the monks of his convent, the church passed as an appendage to it, and it continued with them, till bishop Gilbert de Glanvill took this church, among other premises, from them, and annexed it again to his see, where it remained till Richard, bishop of Rochester, with the consent of his chapter, granted the appropriation of it to the abbot and convent of Boxley for ever; saving the portions of tithes, which the prior and convent used to take, from the demesnes of Sir Henry Malmeyns, and those arising from the free tenement of Theodore de Stokes, and the portion of four sacks of wheat due to the almoner of Rochester, and of four sacks of wheat due to the lessees of St. Bartholomew, which they used to take by the hands of the rector of the church, and which for the future they should receive by the hands of the abbot and convent, saving also all episcopal right, and a competent vicarage to be assessed by him, which instrument was dated in 1244. Soon after which, the bishop endowed this vicarage as follows:

 

First, he decreed, that the perpetual vicar of it should have all the altarage, with all small tithes, excepting hay, which should remain to the parson; and that he should have the chapel, and the cemetery of it, and the crost adjoining, and one mark of silver yearly, at the hand of the parson of Stoke, and that the vicar should sustain all burthens due and accustomed, and contribute a third part to the repair and amendment of the chancel, books, vestments, and other ornaments.

 

Richard, bishop of Rochester, in 1280, at the instance of the prior and convent of Rochester, made enquiry in what manner the monks used antiently to retain their tithes in their manors, and in what manner they used to impart them to the parish churches of the same, when it was certified, that in the manor of Stoke, the parish church took the whole tithes of sheaves only, but of other small tithes, as well as of mills and hay, it did not, nor used to take any thing; and he decreed, that the parish church of Stoke should be content with the tenths of the sheaves of all kind of corn only. All which was confirmed to them by John, archbishop of Canterbury, by his let of inspeximus, in the year 1281.

 

In 1315 the abbot and convent of Boxley, as appropriators of the church of Stoke, claimed an exemption of tithes for a mill newly erected by them in the parish of Halstow, for the herbage of their marsh of Horsemershe, and for the rushes increasing, and the lambs feeding in it, before Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, and his commissaries, then visiting this diocese, as metropolitan, which claim was allowed by the decree of the archbishop, &c. that year.

 

On the dissolution of the abbey of Boxley, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. the church and vicarage of Stoke, together with the rest of the possessions of that monastery, were surrendered into the king's hands.

 

Soon after which, this rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage, was granted by the king to William Goodwyn, to hold in capite by knights service, and he, in the 36th year of that reign, alienated it with the king's licence, to John Parke, whose only daughter, Elizabeth, carried these premises in marriage to John Roper, esq. of Linsted, afterwards created lord Teynham; who in the 9th year of queen Elizabeth, alienated them to John Wilkins, gent. (fn. 11) who levied a fine of them in Easter term, anno 17 of that reign, and died possessed of them in the 19th year of it. He was succeeded in this parsonage and advowson by his kinsman and heir, George Wilkins, one of whose descendants, in the beginning of king Charles I's reign, alienated them to Bright, from which name they were sold to Baldwin Duppa, esq. since which they have passed in like manner as Malmains-hall, before described, to Baldwin Duppa Duppa, esq. the present proprietor of the parsonage and advowson of the vicarage of Stoke. The rectory of Stoke pays a fee farm to the church of ten shillings and eight-pence per annum.

 

The vicarage of Stoke is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly certified value of thirty pounds, the yearly tenths being 17s. 2d.

 

In 1650, this vicarage, on the survey then taken of it, was valued at forty pounds, (fn. 12) Mr. Thomas Miller, then incumbent.

 

¶NICHOLAS DE CARREU, senior, lord of the manor of Malmeynes, in this parish, with the licence of king Edward III. which was afterwards further renewed and confirmed by king Richard II. in the 12th year of that reign, anno 1388, founded A CHANTRY for two priests in this church of Stoke; and he then, by his deed, endowed it with one messuage and one acre of land, in this parish, for their habitation and their maintenance, an annual rent of twenty-four marcs out of his manor, called Malemeynesemanere, which was confirmed by William, bishop of Rochester, who with the consent of his convent, made rules and orders for their presentation and admission, from time to time, and for the good order and celebration of divine rites in it, to which instrument the bishop, the prior and convent of Rochester, Nicholas de Carreu, and John Maister, and John Buset, chantry priests, severally set their seals.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp34-45

Slightly difficult to photograph was the MMC behind, as I wasn't as prepared to whip out the wide-angle lens in the middle of a downpour, but it came with the added bonus of a destination display! And, I suspect, an additionally cheerful driver. By the time I left about an hour later, just one Acklams 'decker was left, quickly departing by the time my ride home arrived, but annoyingly, it turned out, Acklams' newest 'Elite' minibus was out and parked outside on Cottingham Road. Maybe next time.

 

A bit more photogenic than the last, Acklams Holidays' SK22 BUA, a 2022 ADL Enviro400 MMC which made it's debut during the 2022 Easter holiday rail replacements, is seen parked behind it's stablemate outside the University of Hull's Middleton Hall, likely to serve a major school visit.

THe vicar and wardens at Ss Peter and Paul had arranged many events in the church, and there were many visitors when I arrived. Would I like to go up the tower I was asked when I walked in. I believe I would.

 

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It is difficult to date accurately the first church building in Stoke, but we know from Edwards Hasteds ‘History of Kent’ published in 1798 the early history of the church: Stoke itself was given to the See of Rochester by Eadberht, King of Kent, sometime between 664 and 673 AD “for the good of his soul and for the remission of his sins.” This makes it one of the first donations of land to the church. It is likely that there were some settlements here in Roman times and that there were some salt workings on the marshes even in those days. In Saxon times Stoke was an important place, as we know by its name. In those days it was called Andschohesham, a “ham on the stockaded land.” In early Saxon days a place protected by a stockade would attract people needing a refuge for their cattle. It would become more important than a settlement ending with a “ton” or “ham.” Later the name was shortened to Estoches and it is recorded under this name in the Domesday Book of 1086. The entry for Stoches or Stoke states that there was a church with four servants and four acres of meadows. This and all the other land and villeins (a feudal tenant entirely subject to a lord or manor to whom he paid dues and services in return for land) were held by the Bishop of Rochester, (Picture above left Rena Pitsilli-Graham).

The earliest parts of the church, possibly the Nave, Chancel and aisles, date from the late 12th century. A report by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust (CAT) (Linklater 2010) gives a broad outline of the history of the building and indicates that the Naves arcades are also of this date with the north arcade perhaps being slightly later but “only by 20 years or so” Stoke church was dedicated only to St. Peter until at least 1524, with St Paul added some time after that. The Edward Hasted history still refers to it as St Peter only in 1789. The position of the church is due to the people of the village settling on the high ground above the Saltings. The village developed as scattered housing on the margins of the firm ground above the reaches of the highest tides, although the lower land was probably farmed as it would be very fertile. The oldest part of the present church dates from about 1175. However from earlier historical records of the building it is difficult to establish whether the South or the north aisle is thought to be the earliest. Historians have written that “the pillars of the south arcade are Norman, Octagonal and carry the massive quality so usual in Norman Work.” However, you will see the octagonal pillars are actually on the north side of the church and the south arcade has rounder squatter pillars, with arches of similar style. Another historian claims that it is this aisle which is the oldest, with Norman transition pillars, capitals and arches. It would certainly appear to be uncertain.

 

The Font at the rear of the south aisle is a circular tub shape, which has been claimed to be Norman, although others believe it to be Saxon; it is dated as 13th century by the listing description. Its simple shape and workmanship certainly incline to an earlier Saxon time, but at this stage it is unlikely to be established one way or the other.

 

he next addition was the other arcade and aisle, presumably on the north side. The original lancet window is still here, but the present glass is of a much more recent date. The chancel dates from the same date as the lancet window. Within the chancel is an ornamental stone coffin lid, near to the altar on the north side, while on the South side is the outline of the priest’s door, which would have led to a separate chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the same wall is a piscine niche with a foliated canopy.

 

In the South Aisle is a piscine with a fox and a lion head, the lion putting it’s tongue out . This is fourteenth century work, which supports the view that the south aisle was once the chantry for Malmaynes Hall, granted to the manor of Malmaynes Hall around 1380, and below the aisle was the family vault.

 

Many centuries later when the roof was being repaired the vault become flooded, and this is popularly supposed to have caused the pillar closest to the east window to have tilted out of true.

The fifteenth century was a busy time for the fabric of the church, with two windows in the north aisle being added, and the window above the font. The glass in these has been replaced at later dates. Most of the roof timbers date from this time. , as do the north and south door. The present door in the south wall is a modern addition, donated by the Royal Engineers, based in the Medway towns.

 

The Canterbury Archaeological Trust (CAT) (Linklater 2010) report states that the Tower may be as early as the 14th century, (there were bequests for the building work from 1479 onwards) and it may have been repaired or extended in the early part of the 16th century. The tower itself stands, but the steeple was never built, despite many donations from the people of Stoke and benefactors from further afield. The reason has never been fully explained. The tower seems to have been built or rebuilt from 1470 to 1550, and it may be that all the monies donated were used to build the tower. Some believe that the Reformation intervened and that the work was abandoned. Others believe that the siting of a steeple so close to the estuary would have been too dangerous, acting as a beacon to invaders. Whatever the reason, no steeple has ever been added to the tower, which at least gives us the opportunity to climb the 53 steps to enjoy the panoramic views from the top. Within the tower is the belfry, with three bells. These have were restored in 1980’s along with parts of the bell frame at a cost of many thousands of pounds.

 

The vault discovered in the vault centre of the South Aisle in 2009 has been shown to be an unusual double chamber, at 4.2 metres long, occupying the centre of the Aisle. This is thought to date from the 17-18th century. Substantial burials have been found to the East of the Aisle externally.

 

Over the last four centuries little new work has been added to the church, but various repairs have been carried out, including a major restoration programme in 1898 of the roofs and floors as described in a newspaper article of the time (see left). The architect was FC Lees of Victoria Street, Westminster. It appears that a North Porch was in existence and was either rebuilt or remodelled after 1898 according to the article. (See the restoration pages for details of works starting in 2014)

Over the years the glass in the windows has been replaced and there appears little or no documentation about the original or subsequent glass. In the lancet window in the north aisle there is a beautiful glass showing three pomegranates in tones of blue, turquoise and gold, (See picture right, Rena Pitsilli-Graham)

Nearby is a window designed and donated by Mrs Marjorie Crofts, depicting St. Francis of Assissi with rushes, poppies, and white dove and a kingfisher. This was made by Maile Studios of Canterbury and presented in 1995.

 

The main east window in the chancel is dedicated to the Goord family and dates from 1938. It was made by Celtic Studios of Swansea, a small studio founded in 1933 by Howard Martin and his cousin Hubert Thomas. They designed and made stained glass windows for houses, a cinema, a pub, chapels and churches and there is a large amount of their work in Toronto, Canada. The window here cost £409.10s and shows St. Peter and St. Paul with Christ in the centre panel. St Peter is holding two keys and St Pauls is holding a sword. No other examples of stained glass exist in the church.

 

Outside the church is a pretty lych gate in the boundary wall surrounding the churchyard. The wooden gates were given by the Bett family in 1995 in memory of Phillip Bett, a long standing and devoted church warden and servant of the church, (see pictures left, J Plumb).

On the outside wall by the south door is a holy water stoup, dating back some centuries. The church walls are constructed mostly of random rubble Kentish Ragstone. The church was listed Grade 1 in 1966. National Heritage defines this as 'of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important; only 2.5% of listed buildings are Grade I.'

 

www.stpeterstpaulupperstoke.com/history

 

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THE last parish undescribed in this hundred, lies the next southward from that of Alhallows. A small part of it is within the hundred of Shamel. This place, as appears by the Textus Roffensis, was called Andscohesham in the time of the Saxons. In Domesday it is called Estoches and Stoches; and in later deeds by its present name of Stoke.

 

EADBERHT, king of Kent, gave part of his land for the good of his soul, and the remission of his sins, to the bishopric of St. Andrew, in Rochester, and Ealdulf, bishop of it, in the district called Hohg, at a place there called Andscohesham, containing, by estimation, ten ploughlands, together with all things belonging to it, in fields, woods, meadows, fisheries, saltpans, &c. according to the known and established bounds of it; which gift was confirmed by archbishop Nothelm and king Æthelberht, in the metropolitical city, in 738. This estate was afterwards wrested from the church of Rochester during the troublesome times of the Danish wars, and was afterwards purchased by earl Godwin of two men, who held it of the bishop of Rochester, and sold it without the bishop's knowledge. The earl was succeeded in it by his eldest son, earl Harold, afterwards king of England, after whose death, William the Conqueror attaining the crown, seised on all the late king's estates, and gave this manor, together with other land at Stoke, among other premises, to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half brother. But Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, recovered the manor of Stoke from him, in the solemn assembly held at Pinenden-heath, in 1076, and afterwards restored it, with its church, to Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, and the church of St. Andrew, (fn. 1) which gift was confirmed by archbishop Anselm, and by several of his successors, archbishops of Canterbury.

 

The manor of Stoke is thus described in the general survey of Domesday, taken about four years afterwards, under the general title of the bishop of Rochester's lands.

 

In How hundred. The same bishop (of Rochester) holds Estoches. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was taxed at five sulings, and now at three. The arable land is five carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and 10 villeins, with five borderers, having 4 carucates. There is a church, and 4 servants, and 4 acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward, and afterwards, and now it was, and is worth eight pounds and 20 pence, and yet he who holds it pays 13 pounds and 20 pence.

 

This manor was, and is belonging to the bishopric of Rochester; but earl Godwin, in the time of king Edward, bought it of two men, who held it of the bishop, and this sale was made without his knowledge.

 

But after that, William being king, Lanfranc the archbishop recovered it against the bishop of Baieux, and from thence the church of Rochester is now seised of it.

 

Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, having divided the revenues of his church between himself and his convent, allotted this manor to the share of the monks, ad victum, that is, to the use of their refectory; (fn. 2) and the same was confirmed to them, by several of the succeeding kings, archbishops, and bishops of Rochester. (fn. 3)

 

On bishop Gilbert de Glanvill's coming to the see of Rochester in 1185, he found it much impoverished, by the gifts of several of the best estates belonging to it made by bishop Gundulph, to the monks of his priory. This occasioned a dispute between them, the bishop claiming this manor, among others, as having belonged to the maintenance of his table. In consequence of which, though he wrested the church of Stoke from them, yet they continued in possession of this manor, with its appendages, till the dissolution of the priory in the reign of king Henry VIII.

 

In the 7th year of king Edward I. the bishop of Rochester claimed certain liberties, by the grant of king Henry I. in all his lands and fees, and others by antient custom, in the lands of his priory in Stoke, and other lands belonging to his church; (fn. 4) which were allowed by the jury, as they were again in the 21st year of that reign, upon a Quo warranto; and again in the 7th year of king Edward II. and they were confirmed by letters of inspeximus, granted by king Edward III. in his 30th year. In the 21st year of king Edward I. on another Quo warranto, the prior of Rochester claimed that he and his predecessors had, in the manors of Stoke, &c. view of frank-pledge, from beyond memory, which was allowed by the jury. He also claimed free-warren, by grant from Henry I. but the jury found that neither he nor his predecessors had used it, therefore it was determined, that they should remain without that liberty, but king Edward I. by his charter, in his 23d year, granted that liberty to the prior and convent in all their demesne lands of this manor, among others; so that no one should enter on them, either to hunt, or to take any thing which belonged to warren, without their licence, on the forfeiture of ten pounds. In the 15th year of king Edward I. the manor of Stoke was valued at nine pounds.

 

On the dissolution of the priory of Rochester in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. this manor was surrendered, with the other possessions of it, into the king's hands, who presently after, in his 33d year, settled it, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom the inheritance of it continues at this time.

 

There is a court-leet and court-baron held for this manor.

 

In 1720, Jacob Sawbridge, one of the South-Sea directors, purchased the lease of the manor-farm of Stoke, under the yearly rent of twenty eight pounds, clear of all taxes, the rack rent of which, was ninety pounds per annum. The present lessee is the Right Hon. John, earl of Darnley.

 

TUDERS, formerly spelt Teuders, is a manor in this parish, which antiently was held of the bishop of Rochester, as of his manor of Stoke.

 

In the 12th year of king John, this estate was held by Hugo de Stokes, as half a knight's fee, of the bishop of Rochester, by knight's service. (fn. 5) His descendant, Theodore de Stokes, afterwards possessed it, (fn. 6) and ingrafted his name on it; for from that time this manor was called Theodores, and for shortness, Tudors; and Philipott says, he had seen an antient roll of Kentish arms, wherein Tudor of Stoke bore the same coat armour with Owen Theodore, vulgarly called Tuder, being Azure, a chevron between four helmets argent.

 

After this name was extinct here, this manor came into that of Woodward; one of whom, Edward Woodward, possessed it at the latter end of Henry VIII's reign. His descendant, in the beginning of the reign of queen Elizabeth, conveyed it to John Wilkins gent. of Stoke parsonage, who died in the 19th year of that reign, and was succeeded in it by his kinsman and heir, George Wilkins, gent. who married Elizabeth, one of the daughters of Mr. John Copinger, of Alhallows, by whom he left no issue. He lies buried in this church. His arms were, Gules, on a chevron argent, a demi lion between two martlets sable, between three welk shells or; one of whose descendants, about the beginning of king Charles I's reign, alienated it to Bright, and Edward Bright, clerk, died possessed of it in the year 1670, on which this estate, by virtue of a mortgage term, passed into the possession of William Norcliffe, esq. of the Temple, London, whose widow possessed it after his decease, and since her death it is become the property of the Rev. Mr. Henry Southwell, of Wisbeach, in the Isle of Ely, who is the present owner of it.

 

Hugo de Stokes, owner of this manor in the reign of king Stephen, gave the tithes of it to the monks of St. Andrew's, in Rochester, to whom it was confirmed by archbishop Theobald, and the prior and convent of Canterbury, (fn. 7) and by several bishops of Rochester. (fn. 8)

 

At the dissolution of the priory, in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. this portion of tithes, together with the rest of the possessions of the monastery, was surrendered into the king's hands, who settled it next year, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where it now remains.

 

This portion of tithes, called Tudor's portion, was surveyed soon after the death of king Charles I. in 1649, when it was returned, that the same arose out of the tenement of Tudors, and several other tenements, called Bartons, in the parish of Stoke, with six fields, containing by estimation, fifty-three acres; the improved value of which premises was five pounds per annum, all which were let by the late dean and chapter, anno 3 king Charles I. to Sarah Wilkins, at 6s. and 8d. per annum.

 

The present lessee is Baldwin Duppa Duppa, of Hollingborne, in this county.

 

MALMAYNES is a manor in this parish, now commonly known by the name of Maamans Hall, which was given, as well as that of Stoke, by the Conqueror, at his accession to the crown, to his half-brother, Odo, as has been already mentioned; and when archbishop Lanfranc recovered the latter from the bishop, at the noted assembly of the county at Pinenden, as having before belonged to the church of Rochester, this manor was then likewise in his possession. Accordingly it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday, under the general title of that prelate's lands:

 

The same Ansgotus (de Rochester) holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Stoches. It was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is two carucates, and there are in demesne . . . with seven borderers. There is one fishery of two shillings. In the time of king Edward, and afterwards, it was worth one hundred shillings, now one hundred and ten shillings. Anschil held it of king Edward.

 

On the disgrace of the bishop of Baieux in 1083, this, among the rest of his estates, was confilcated to the crown. After which it became part of the possessions of the family of Malmaines, a branch of which resided here, and fixed their name on it. John de Malmaines, son of Henry, died possessed of it in the 10th year of king Edward II. In the 20th year of king Edward III. the heirs of Thomas de Malmayns, of Hoo, paid aid for three quarters of a knight's fee, which John Malmayns before held here of the king.

 

Richard Filiot seems soon afterwards to have been in possession of this manor, which passed from him into the family of Carew, and Nicholas Carew, of Bedington, in Surry, died possessed of it in the 14th year of king Richard II. His son, Nicholas de Careu, armiger, de Bedington, as he wrote himself, (fn. 9) in the 9th year of king Henry V. conveyed this manor by sale to Iden; from which name it passed, in the latter end of king Henry VIII's reign, to John Parker, whose arms were, Sable, on a fess ingrailed argent, between three hinds tripping or, three torteauxes, each charged with a pheon of the second, which coat is now quartered by lord Teynham. (fn. 10) His sole daughter and heir, Elizabeth, carried it in marriage to John Roper, esq. of Linsted, who was first knighted, and afterwards created baron of Teynham, in this county. His son, Christopher, lord Teynham, died in 1622, and by his will devised this manor to his second son, William Roper, esq. who alienated it, in the reign of king Charles I. to Jones, in whose descendants it continued till the reign of king George I. when it passed by sale from them to Baldwin Duppa, esq. who died in 1737, and his son, Baldwin Duppa, esq. of Hollingborne-hill, possessed it at his death in 1764, since which it has continued in the same family the present owner, being Baldwin Duppa Duppa, esq. of that place.

 

Sir John Malmeyns, of this parish, in 1303, made his petition to Robert, abbot, and the convent of Boxley, appropriators of this church; that as he was, on account of his house being situated at such a distance from the parish church, often prevented from attending divine service there, he might be enabled to build an oratory, for himself and his family, on his own estate, and might have a priest to celebrate divine services in it. To which the abbot and convent assented, provided, as far as might be, no prejudice might by it accrue to the mother church, themselves, or the vicars of it, which licence was confirmed by Thomas, bishop of Rochester, that year.

 

RALPH MALESMÆINS, about the reign of king Henry I. became a monk of the priory of St. Andrew, in Rochester, and on that account granted to the monks there his tithes of Stoches; and after his death Robert Malesmæins, his son, confirmed it, as did Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, Ralph, prior and the convent of Canterbury, and several of the succeeding bishops of Rochester.

 

At the dissolution of the priory of Rochester, in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. this portion of tithes was surrendered into the king's hands, who granted it the nextyear, by his dotation charter, to his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, where the inheritance of it now remains.

 

The present lessee, under the dean and chapter, is Baldwin Duppa Duppa, esq. of Hollingborne-hill.

 

Reginald de Cobham, son of John de Cobham, possessed lands in this parish, and in the 14th year of king Edward III. procured free-warren in all his demesne lands in Stoke.

 

King Henry VIII. in his 32d year, granted to George Brooke, lord Cobham, a marsh, called Coleman's, alias Bridge-marsh, lying in Oysterland, alias Eastland, in Stoke; and other premises, parcel of the priory of Christ-church, to hold in capite, by knights service.

 

CHARITIES.

 

RICHARD WHITE, of Chalk, gave by will in 1722, an annual sum of money to the poor of this parish not receiving alms, vested in Mr. John Prebble, and of the yearly product of ten shillings.

 

STOKE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese and deanry of Rochester. The church, is dedicated to St. Peter.

 

In the chancel are these brasses: one for John Wilkins, gentleman, born in this parish, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Coppinger, esq. of Alhallows, obt. s. p. 1575, arms, Wilkins impaling Coppinger, and other coats, one for William Cardiff, B. D. vicar, obt. 1415; another for Frances Grimestone, daughter of Ralph Coppinger, esq. and wife of Henry Grimestone, esq. obt. 1608.

 

This church was antiently an appendage to the manor of Stoke.

 

King Henry I. gave his tithe of Stoke to the church of St. Andrew, and Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, and when he allotted the manor of Stoke to the share of the monks of his convent, the church passed as an appendage to it, and it continued with them, till bishop Gilbert de Glanvill took this church, among other premises, from them, and annexed it again to his see, where it remained till Richard, bishop of Rochester, with the consent of his chapter, granted the appropriation of it to the abbot and convent of Boxley for ever; saving the portions of tithes, which the prior and convent used to take, from the demesnes of Sir Henry Malmeyns, and those arising from the free tenement of Theodore de Stokes, and the portion of four sacks of wheat due to the almoner of Rochester, and of four sacks of wheat due to the lessees of St. Bartholomew, which they used to take by the hands of the rector of the church, and which for the future they should receive by the hands of the abbot and convent, saving also all episcopal right, and a competent vicarage to be assessed by him, which instrument was dated in 1244. Soon after which, the bishop endowed this vicarage as follows:

 

First, he decreed, that the perpetual vicar of it should have all the altarage, with all small tithes, excepting hay, which should remain to the parson; and that he should have the chapel, and the cemetery of it, and the crost adjoining, and one mark of silver yearly, at the hand of the parson of Stoke, and that the vicar should sustain all burthens due and accustomed, and contribute a third part to the repair and amendment of the chancel, books, vestments, and other ornaments.

 

Richard, bishop of Rochester, in 1280, at the instance of the prior and convent of Rochester, made enquiry in what manner the monks used antiently to retain their tithes in their manors, and in what manner they used to impart them to the parish churches of the same, when it was certified, that in the manor of Stoke, the parish church took the whole tithes of sheaves only, but of other small tithes, as well as of mills and hay, it did not, nor used to take any thing; and he decreed, that the parish church of Stoke should be content with the tenths of the sheaves of all kind of corn only. All which was confirmed to them by John, archbishop of Canterbury, by his let of inspeximus, in the year 1281.

 

In 1315 the abbot and convent of Boxley, as appropriators of the church of Stoke, claimed an exemption of tithes for a mill newly erected by them in the parish of Halstow, for the herbage of their marsh of Horsemershe, and for the rushes increasing, and the lambs feeding in it, before Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, and his commissaries, then visiting this diocese, as metropolitan, which claim was allowed by the decree of the archbishop, &c. that year.

 

On the dissolution of the abbey of Boxley, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. the church and vicarage of Stoke, together with the rest of the possessions of that monastery, were surrendered into the king's hands.

 

Soon after which, this rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage, was granted by the king to William Goodwyn, to hold in capite by knights service, and he, in the 36th year of that reign, alienated it with the king's licence, to John Parke, whose only daughter, Elizabeth, carried these premises in marriage to John Roper, esq. of Linsted, afterwards created lord Teynham; who in the 9th year of queen Elizabeth, alienated them to John Wilkins, gent. (fn. 11) who levied a fine of them in Easter term, anno 17 of that reign, and died possessed of them in the 19th year of it. He was succeeded in this parsonage and advowson by his kinsman and heir, George Wilkins, one of whose descendants, in the beginning of king Charles I's reign, alienated them to Bright, from which name they were sold to Baldwin Duppa, esq. since which they have passed in like manner as Malmains-hall, before described, to Baldwin Duppa Duppa, esq. the present proprietor of the parsonage and advowson of the vicarage of Stoke. The rectory of Stoke pays a fee farm to the church of ten shillings and eight-pence per annum.

 

The vicarage of Stoke is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly certified value of thirty pounds, the yearly tenths being 17s. 2d.

 

In 1650, this vicarage, on the survey then taken of it, was valued at forty pounds, (fn. 12) Mr. Thomas Miller, then incumbent.

 

¶NICHOLAS DE CARREU, senior, lord of the manor of Malmeynes, in this parish, with the licence of king Edward III. which was afterwards further renewed and confirmed by king Richard II. in the 12th year of that reign, anno 1388, founded A CHANTRY for two priests in this church of Stoke; and he then, by his deed, endowed it with one messuage and one acre of land, in this parish, for their habitation and their maintenance, an annual rent of twenty-four marcs out of his manor, called Malemeynesemanere, which was confirmed by William, bishop of Rochester, who with the consent of his convent, made rules and orders for their presentation and admission, from time to time, and for the good order and celebration of divine rites in it, to which instrument the bishop, the prior and convent of Rochester, Nicholas de Carreu, and John Maister, and John Buset, chantry priests, severally set their seals.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp34-45

The difficult thing

 

"Näin sanoo Herra niitä profeettoja vastaan, jotka eksyttävät minun kansaani, jotka huutavat: "Rauha!", kun heidän hampaissaan on purtavaa, mutta julistavat pyhän sodan sille, joka ei anna mitään heidän suuhunsa:"

 

"Så talar HERREN mot de profeter som föra mitt folk vilse, mot dem som ropa: »Allt står väl till!», så länge de hava något att tugga med sina tänder, men båda upp folket till helig strid mot den som ej giver dem något i gapet."

 

"Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, "Peace!" and whoever doesn't provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:"

 

Micah 3:5

 

I will return with a different interpretation! As follow:

 

"Så säger Den Evige om de profeter som vilseleder Mitt folk, skriker: ”Fred!” för ett stycke att bita i, men stoppar man inget i munnen på dem, är det krig på kniven!"

 

So says the Eternal of the prophets who mislead my people, shouting: "Peace!" For a piece to bite into, but if you stops nothing in their mouths, it is war to the knife!

 

Viveka Heyman Profeterna/Prophets page 991

Translation Swe. to Eng. Jouni Niirola

   

Difficult to see here but there is a dark line between 2 craters - almost like a hair on top of the image. This is the Straight Wall (L15) a 400m high scarp which casts a shadow.

 

Alphonsus crater (L47) is to the right of top centre.

Also visible towards lower right:

 

L 81 - Hesiodus A

L 84 - Pitatus

  

Nexstar 8SE SCT

PGR Grasshopper 3 CCD camera with Red 2c filter

Firecapture acquisition software

Ioptron ZEQ25GT mount

Lemmenlaakso, Järvenpää. Really difficult and slippery shooting place on the bottom of little valley.

So many cupcakes, which to choose?

 

Street Market, Brighton. Sussex.

It has been difficult to keep up with all the innovation taking place around the world with jigsaw puzzle manufacturing. Laser cutting is one area of focus, with Puzzle Manufacture using a laser process (?) to produce high-quality cardboard art puzzles, and I have found another example of laser cutting used in a mainstream manufacturing context.

 

Of course laser cutting of wooden puzzles has been around for a long time, but what I am seeing here from Turkish brand "King of Puzzle" is rather extraordinary. Their laser-cut wood fiber puzzles (it would be overstatement to call them truly wood puzzles, as the material is more like a very dense MDF (fiberboard) that is likely pressed from sawdust and other wood waste products) have a luxurious feel, with an unbelievable price point. The 2000 piece puzzles I bought recently from Kitapyardu are about $24 apiece, at least 1/10th the cost of a similar sized (if you could find one that size) laser cut wooden puzzle.

 

Many of us first learned of this brand from the BIG List, because they have released several 10,000 piece puzzles to date, including officially licensed images from the Harry Potter series.

 

The packaging and presentation of these 3mm pieces is quite nice, with a box made from the same mdf material, and a thick cloth bag with velcro straps holding the pieces inside. A small plastic spatula (glue spreader) was included as well, although no glue, perhaps because liquids are not usually able to be sent via air mail.

 

The pieces are heavy, dense and wood-like - indeed, a 2000 piece box here weighs almost as much as a Ravensburger 5K. If there is any comparison, I might think of the old Upsom board used for Tuco puzzles, but even denser than the material Tuco used back in the 1930s.

 

But most notable in my opinion is the quality of the print - a perfect matte finish, with what seems to be a very earthy type of die used, not your normal "cmyk" mixture. The depth and sharpness of the miniature print I recently completed is incredible.

 

There are some downsides to the brand - the pieces smell pretty strong out of the box. I have little experience with laser-cut wooden puzzles but am aware that these often have a smoky smell, that some may find unpleasant. The burnt smell in this case seems a bit more chemical. There is also a bit of black residue that rubs off on my fingertips when handling the pieces.

 

And the cutting style needs to be improved. The piece shapes are too similar in shape, and the rigidity of the material makes mistaken connections inevitable. Although the cut isn't nearly as uniform as Tomax or the super mini Epochs, there is something lacking about the way that connections can be verified. Cardboard pieces almost have a "memory" of where they were pressed, that makes the fitting intuitive. Here, the separation of parts is more concrete, and re-fitting pieces a major pain, as I discovered when doing the sky portion of the print. I would recommend choosing wisely when buying from this brand - Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" at 2000 pieces would be completely out of the question for me. But they have a nice range, and it was easy to find some unique motives that I haven't seen elsewhere.

 

So the brand is recommended, for connoisseurs of the unusual, but do be aware that the cut can be frustrating.

 

I had no issues ordering directly from the Kitapyardu site: they don't accept PayPal, but do take credit cards, and I found their customer service to be very professional, with an immediate follow-up order confirmation, tracking information provided, and a quick turnaround time (several days to perhaps prepare the puzzles, and air mail shipment with took about a week via UPS and was reasonably priced).

  

Difficult to get to some bits.

Homeless in Rock Bay, living in a scarlet sleeping bag.

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UPDATE 10/14/2017

 

"The Burnside Gorge Community Association (Rock Bay) is calling for a moratorium on development of shelters and supportive housing within its boundaries."

www.timescolonist.com/news/local/no-more-shelters-say-ril...

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An estimated 85 percent of Rock Bay’s foreshore and uplands is laced with contaminants from previous industrial practices. BC Electric used to dump coal tar and chemicals everywhere, and bury disused PCB-laced capacitors. Other industries treated the lands and waters of Rock Bay like a flush toilet or a magic disappearing cabinet, contributing to the area’s glow-in-the-dark pedigree. In fact, Rock Bay is described in federal government handouts as “one of the most contaminated sites in BC.”

focusonline.ca/?q=node/267

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"...the ongoing war against the poor by the businesses & organizations participating in the Good Neighbour Agreement, Victoria City Council, the Victoria Police Department & the Downtown Victoria Business Association, who have continued to refuse the street community the right to sleep..."

 

"...the treatment of those who have no shelter has been shameful. There are not enough beds in Victoria period. Members of our community here in Victoria need safe places to rest and gather, and the city, we as a city, have simply not provided it. To continue to push people to the margins is not an effective solution."

 

Article about project in Monday Magazine, with my photo;

mondaymag.com/articles/entry/the-week-aug-11/

 

"Good Neighbours" Installation

www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=239756056055749

_________________ ____________________ ___________________

  

No Place Like Home - Randy Travis

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGQmvPSjrpk

 

If I was Jesus - Toby Keith

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6PJxE9MlZ0&feature=related

Thanks to the Nailbourne project, I now understand how the communities and landscape fots in along its length, though that a bubbling noisy stream can just vanish then appear miles away is very difficult to get your head round. The Nailbourne only fully flows in very wet years, but when it does, the beds that are dry now can be several feet deep.

 

But downstream of Littlebourne, where the Nailbourne becomes the Little Stour, it is wider, about six feet wide, clogged with reeds and weeds, but also was used to power to large mills. They both stand, one between Littlebourne and Wickhambreaux, and the other in Wickhambreaux itself, though is now just a house But is a large white clapboard building, with a large wheel.

 

These days, the village looks very prosperous, all grand houses or cottage conversions.

 

From here, the Little Stour makes its way over the marshes which centuries ago was the Wantsum Channel, so Wickhambreaux was almost a seaside town.

 

Od that the only features I remembered from my previous visits was the avenue of pollarded trees and the blue ceiling of the roof. Missed was the glorious glass, especially the fine east window, very art deco.

 

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The interior of this very pretty church is dominated by nineteenth-century work. The whole of the chancel and baptistry is lined with dark brown encaustic tiles, hiding a straightforward fourteenth-century church. The east window is an early example of American Art Nouveau in England, and dominates the entire building. It was designed by Baron Arild Rosenkrantz in 1896. Above the window are stencilled paintings of angels ascending, which can also be seen in the nave, whilst the roof there has a charming star-spangled sky. At the south-west corner is a vestry - screened off by an eighteenth-century screen which may have formed part of the refitting of the chancel paid for by Mary Young. Her monument in the chancel records that 'infirm from her youth she protracted life to the 68th year of her age'. She left £100 for wainscotting and ornamenting the chancel. The interior viewed from the east gives an unusual appearance as the aisles flank the tower (see also Sandhurst).

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Wickhambreaux

 

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WICKHAM BREAUS

LIES adjoining to Littleborne north-eastward, being usally called Wickham Brook. It is likewise called Wickham by Wingham, to distinguish it from the two other parishes of the same name in this county. In Domesday it is written Wicheham, a name derived from its situation near the banks of the river, which runs close to it. There is only one borough in it, viz. the borough of Wickham, which comprehends the whole parish.

 

Wickham is a low, flat, and unpleasant situation, and lying so near the marshes cannot but be unhealthy, the land throughout it is in general good and sertile, especially near the village, where the fields are very large and level ground. The village, in number about twenty houses, stands at the south-east boundary of the parish, built round a green, over which the road leads to Ickham, having the church and court-lodge on one side, and the parsonage, a handsome brick house, on the other. At the further end of the green, the Lesser Stour crosses the road, and turns a corn-mill belonging to the manor, beyond it is only one house, called the Stone-house, being built of squared stones and slints in chequers, and by the arched windows and door-ways seems of some antiquity. The parish stretches a good distance northward, as far as Groveferry, the house of which is within it, and the greater Stour river, over a level of about 500 acres of marsh land, which extend from the river into a sinus, with a ridge of upland on each side, to within a quarter of a mile of the village. North eastward from which is the Saperton, formerly the property of the Beakes's, who resided here as early as king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign; it was sold by them to the Furneses, whence it came by marriage, with Copthall, in this parish, to the St. John's, viscounts Bolingbroke, who have lately sold it, but one of the family of Beake, many of whom lie buried in this church, now occupies it. A little beyond this is Newnham, once accounted a manor, formerly belonging to the Ropers, lords Teynham, afterwards to the Bartholomews, then to Joseph Brooke, esq. of Rochester, and now to his devisee the Rev. John Kenward Shaw Brooke, of Town-Malling.—Hence among the marshes is the hamlet of Grove, through which the road leads across them to the right over the lesser Stour, to Wingham, Ash, and the eastern parts of Kent, and to the left by Grove-ferry over the Greater Stour, to the northern part of the country and the Isle of Thanet. There is no other wood in the parish excepting Trendley park. There is no fair.

 

At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the year 1080, this place was part of those possessions with which that king had enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux. Accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of his lands:

 

In Donamesford hundred, the bishop himself holds in demesne Wicheham. It was taxed at four sulings. The arable land is eleven carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and thirty-six villeins, with thirty-two cottagers having nine carucates. There is a church, and one priest who gives forty shillings per annum. There is one park, and two mills of fifty shillings, and two saltpits of thirtytwo pence, and three fisheries of four shillings, and thirtytwo acres of meadow. Pasture for three hundred sheep and for thirty-one beasts. Wood for the pannage of eighty bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twenty-five pounds, when he received it twenty pounds, now thirty pounds. There belong to this manor in Canterbury three plats of land paying six shillings and eight pence. Alured Biga held it of king Edward. Moreover there belongs to this manor half a suling of free land, which Sired held of Alured Biga, and Goisfrid, son of Badland, now holds it of the bishop of Baieux, and it is and was worth separately sixty shillings.

 

Four years afterwards the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions were consiscated to the crown, of which this manor appears afterwards to have been held by the Cliffords. Walter, son of Walter de Clifford, possessed it in the reign of king John, and with Agnes de Cundy, his wife, was a good benefactor to St. Augustine's abbey, and that of St. Radigund. (fn. 1) By the marriage of Margaret, daughter and heir of Walter Clifford, with John de Brewse, it passed into that name, and William de Brewse, or de Braiosa, as they were written in Latin, was possessed of it in the 42d year of king Henry III. His descendant William de Brewse, lord of the honour of Brembre, in Sussex, and of Gower, in Wales, as he stiled himself, whose ancestor came into England with the Conqueror, who gave him the castle of Brember, and whose descendant afterwards, by the marriage with Bertha, daughter and one of the coheirs of Milo, earl of Hereford, became possessed of the castles of Brecknock and Gower likewife, and bore for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant, between twelve cross-croslets, or; though I find by the pedigrees of this family, that his ancestors bore Azure, three bars vaire, argent, and gules. He was several times summoned to parliament in king Edward I.'s reign, as was his son of the same name, both in that and Edward II.'s reign, and died possessed of this manor in the 19th year of the latter. Very soon after which it appears, with the church appendant to it, to have come into the possession of Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, half brother to king Edward II. (fn. 2) After which it descended to his brother John Plantagenet, likewife earl of Kent, it being then held of the king in sergeantry. He died anno 26 Edward III. upon which Joane his sister, commonly called the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of Sir Thomas Holand, became his heir, who in her right not only possessed this manor, but became earl of Kent likewise. She afterwards married Edward the black prince, and died in the 9th year of king Richard II. being succeeded in this manor then held in capite, by Thomas Holand, earl of Kent, her son by her first husband, whose two sons, Thomas and Edward, both earls of Kent, and the former created Duke of Surry, in turn succeeded to it, and the latter dying anno 9 Henry IV. his five sisters became his coheirs, and on a partition made between them, Edmund, earl of March, son of Eleanor, late countess of March, the eldest of them became entitled to this manor in his mother's right, being the last earl of March of this family, for he died s. p. in the 3d year of king Henry VI. being then possessed of it. The year after which, Joane, wife of Sir John Gray, appears by the escheat rolls to have been entitled to it; not long after which it became the property of the family of Tibetot, or Tiptoft, as they were usually called, in whom it continued down to John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, who was attainted and beheaded in 1471, anno 10 Edward IV. king Henry being then restored to the crown. He lest an infant son Edward, who, though he was afterwards restored in blood by king Edward IV. yet I do not find that he was ever reinstated in the possession of this manor, which remained in the crown till the reign of king Henry VIII. who granted it, with the advowson of the church, to Sir Matthew Browne, of Beechworth-castle, who in the 22d year of it, passed it away to Lucy, widow of his uncle Sir Anthony Browne, standard-bearer of England, whose grandson Anthony was, anno I and 2 of Philip and Mary, created viscount Montague, and died possessed of this manor anno 34 Elizabeth, and by his will devised it to his eldest son by his second wife, Sir George Browne, who was of Wickham Breaus, and his grandson Sir George Browne, K. B. leaving two daughters his coheirs, Winifrid, married to Basil Brooks, esq. of Salop, and Eleanor, to Henry Farmer, esq. of Oxfordshire, they joined in the sale of it, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, to Sir H. Palmer, bart. of Wingham, who died possessed of it in 1706, s. p. and by his will devised it to his nephew Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. who died in 1723, and by his will gave it to his natural son Herbert Palmer, esq. who married Bethia, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, who died in 1760, s. p., having devised this manor, with the advowson of the church appendant, to his widow. She afterwards married John Cosnan, esq. who in her right became possessed of it, and died in 1778, s. p. leaving her furviving, upon which she again became entitled to the possession of it, and continued owner of it till her death in 1797, on which it came to her nephew Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.

 

Trendley park, now accounted a manor of itself, is situated at the north-west boundary of this parish, being entirely separated from the rest of it by that of Littleborne intervening. It was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and is noticed in the survey of Domesday, in the description of the manor of Wickham above recited, in which it is mentioned as being then a park; and it should seem that at least part of it was then accounted as appurtenant to that manor; though in the description of the manor of Littleborne, in the same survey, which then belonged to the abbey of St. Augustine, it appears that the bishop had lands belonging to that manor too lying within his park here. Of this manor the bishop of Baieux has in his park as much land as is worth sixty shillings, says the record. In part of the recompence for which, the bishop seems to have given the abbot the manor of Garwinton, in Littleborne, and other land within the manor of Leeds, as may be seen by the entries of both these manors in the same record. Soon after which there was another exchange of land made between the bishop and archbishop Lanfranc, for some which lay within his park of Wikeham. What is remarkable in this instrument is, that it is given in two languages, in Saxon and Latin, but neither is a translation of the other, for both are originals, as was a frequent custom of that time. Appendant to it is the bishop's seal in wax, representing him on one side on horseback, with his sword and spurs, as an earl, and on the other habited as a bishop, with his pastoral staff; being perhaps the only seal of Odo at this time extant. (fn. 3) By all which it appears, that this park is much more antient than that of Woodstock, which has been accounted the first inclosed park in England. How long it continued an inclosed park, I have no where found; but in the beginning of king Henry VI.'s reign it was not so, as appears by the escheat-rolls of the 3d year of it, after the death of Edmund, earl of March, at which time there were two hundred acres of wood in it. He was lord of the manor of Wickham, and Trendley park was chiefly at that time certainly appurtenant to it, and continued so whilst in the possession of the same owners, which it did most probably till the attainder of John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, in the 10th year of king Edward IV. when they both came into the hands of the crown, and though king Henry VIII. afterwards granted the manor of Wickham to Sir Matthew Browne, yet I do not find that Trendley park was granted with it. From which time it has had separate owners. For some time it has been the property of the family of Denne, who continue at this time the owners of it. It lies in an unpleasant, lonely part of the parish, facing Westbere, and consists of three hundred acres of woodland, and a house called the Park-house. There is a high road through the middle of it from Stodmarsh to Canterbury market, which in king Edward II.'s reign, was attempted to be shut up, but the sheriff, with the posse comitatus, was ordered to open it again, as being an antient and allowed high road.

 

Charities.

Andrew Holness, of Seton, in Ickham, by will in 1554, gave to the poor 2s. in money and bread, to be distributed yearly; the churchwardens to take so much yearly out of his lands in Ickham and Wickham, except his house and garden at Seton, in case his executors did not give the same yearly.

 

Henry Sloyden, of Wickham Breaus, by will in 1568, gave for the use of the poor and Littleborne, in equal portions, a piece of land containing six acres and a half in the latter parish, called Church-close, which is distributed twice a year by the respective minister and churchwardens, and is of the annual produce of 4l.

 

John Smith, rector of this parish, by deed in 1656, gave a school-room, and a house and garden for a schoolmaster, in this parish, for teaching the children of it. The master to be chosen from one of his relations in preference, if any such could be found, is vested in the rector and churchwardens of this parish.

 

Sir Henry Palmer, of Bekesborne, by his will in 1611, gave the sum of 10s. to each of the several parishes of Wickham, Stodmarsh, Littleborne, and five others therein mentioned, to be paid into the hands of the minister and churchwardens yearly, out of his manor and lands of Well-court, at Michaelmas, towards the relief of the poor of each of them.

 

Thomas Belke, D. D. rector of this parish, by will in 1712, gave 501. for the putting out of five poor children of this parish apprentices.

 

There are about thirty poor constantly relieved, and casually seventy.

 

This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.

 

¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew, consists of three isles and one chancel, having at the west end a square tower, in which hang six bells. The church is not large, but is handsome and neat. In the middle isle are several memorials for the Beakes, of Saperton. In the south isle for the Larkins, who lived at Grove, in this parish. In the east window are remains of good painted glass, viz. the arms of Edward the black price and of Mortimer, quartered with Burgh, and a representation of Herod's daughter beheading John the Baptist. In the chancel, on the pavement, is the figure of a priest in brass, and inscription, for Henry Welde, rector, obt. 1420. A gravestone, and monument for Alexander Young, B D. rector of this parish, who rebuilt this parsonage-house, and repaired that of Eastchurch, of which he was vicar likewife, at the expence of 2000l. obt. March 21, 1755. A memorial for John Smith, rector, obt. Oct. 28, 1658. In the church-yard are many headstones, and a tombstone for the family of Beake. In the windows of this church there were formerly many different shields of arms, long since demolished.

 

This church was always an appendage to the manor, and continues so at this time, Sir Narborough D' Aeth, bart. owner of the manor of Wickham, being the present patron of it.

 

There was antiently both a rectory and vicarage in this church, which continued till the year 1322, when on a vacancy of the latter, Richard de Newcastle, the rector, petitioned archbishop Walter Reynolds, that they might be consolidated, which was granted, and they have continued in that state to the present time. (fn. 4)

 

This rectory is valued in the king's books at 29l. 12s. 6d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 19s. 3d. In 1588 it was valued at 250l. communicants one hundred and sixty-three. In 1640 the same. There are eighteen acres of glebe-land.

 

The marsh-lands in this parish, within Wickham and Preston valleys, pay a modus of two-pence an acre, and those within Newnham 1½d. only, in lieu of all tithes.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp158-166

Difficult Run

Great Falls

Fairfax County, Virginia

Saying goodbye to Sammy was difficult. His health has been failing over the past few years, but he was still eating. His doggie dementia got worse and he actually would cry a lot. He has been a huge part of my life over the past 15+ years. He will be so missed.

 

Sammy aka My Little Guy aka Mr. Poo 11/00 - 3/17

 

1. My Handsome Boy, 2. Book-ends, 3. I knew I had to come home:-), 4. The Cat Cave isn't just for cats, 5. My little man, 6. 365:351 Same old, same old, 7. 365:312 Sammy is the leader, 8. Sammy wants Henry's baby food, 9. Sammy playing with his cow, 10. More Birthday Kisses, 11. Mirabel, Sammy & me the day we met Sammy, 12. Sammy in action

 

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Back to St Mary, this having taken the precaution of making sure it would be unlocked. Many thanks to the former vicar and one of the current wardens to take time to reply.

 

Much more inside than I remember, wooden hatchments and more tablet memorials than you can shake a stick at.

 

The walls lean, the windows are set in recesses that look off centre.

 

But it works.

 

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Nonington is a village of two junctions. The church is on the lesser of the two delightfully framed by a picture postcard cottage and venerable Yew. Opposite the gate is an amazing memorial giving you the two alternative routes through life. You really have to see it. The church is large, open and welcoming....though it's interior does have something of a Victorian feel to it. The chancel arch shows signs of once having an infilled Tympanum as the slots are still visible and there is an entrance to the Rood Loft on the north side. The south wall has a large window in a similar position but its stonework is renewed and its difficult to tell if it was there to give light to the rood, or if it was added later to give light to the pulpit that now stands there. The chancel south wall is full of memorial tablets and four hatchments whilst the north chapel is similarly crammed in with tablets. The altar has a very queer companion which takes the form of tiled Decalogue and Lord's Prayer, whilst the altar itself has a fine inlaid reredos. The fine north chapel has what was once a good tomb recess but at some later stage this was pierced with a window to create a light family pew. At the back of the church the pews are tiered (see also Newnham) and overshadow the fine mid seventeenth century font doubtless purchased to replace one destroyed during the Commonwealth. My favourite things here are the two south chancel windows of St Alban and St George designed just after the First World War by Mary Lowndes who was a significant player in the Arts and Crafts movement.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Nonington

 

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NONINGTON.

The next parish eastward is Nonington, which lies partly, that is, so much as is within the borough of Kettington, and of Nonington, alias Ratling, in this hundred of Wingham; and the remainder, containing the boroughs of Esole, and Frogham, in the lower half of the hundred of Eastry.

 

THIS PARISH is, as to soil and situation, much the same as that of Goodnestone last described, being in a fine open champaign country, exceedingly dry and healthy; it is about three miles across each way, the village called Church-street, with the church in it, is nearly in the middle of the parish, in a valley, in which, at no great distance from it, is the seat of St. Alban's, a low situation, looking up to the uninclosed lands. Near it is the hamlet of Esole, usually called Isill-street, and further eastward the estate of Kettington belonging to Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. In the bottom, at some distance south-west from the church, among some small inclosures, is the seat of Fredville, a damp and gloomy situation; near it are the small hamlets of Frogham and Holt, now called Old-street, near which is a place called Oxendenden, from whence the family of that name are said to derive their origin. At the northern boundary of the parish is the hamlet of Acol, which had once owners of that name, who bore for their arms, Quarterly, argent, and azure, over all, a bend componee, or, and gules, as they were formerly painted in the windows of this church. It now belongs to Sir Brook William Bridges, and at the western boundary that of Ratling-street. In this parish is the estate of Curleswood park, now commonly called the Park farm, belonging to the archbishop, the lessee of it being Sir Brook William Bridges. There is a fair held yearly in Church-street, on Ascension day, for pedlary, &c.

 

The MANOR OF WINGHAM claims paramountover the greatest part of this parish, and the manor of Eastry over the remainder. Subordinate to the former is

 

The MANOR OF RETLING, usually called Ratling, in that part of this parish adjoining to Adisham, which was antiently held of the archbishop by a family of the same name, who bore for their arms, Gules, a lion rampant, between an orle of tilting spears heads, or, as they were on the surcoat of Sir John de Ratling, formerly painted in one of the windows of this church, in which it continued down to Sir Richard de Retling, who died possessed of it in the 23d year of king Edward III. leaving a sole daughter and heir Joane, who marrying John Spicer, entitled him to it. After which, by Cicely, a daughter and coheir of this name, it passed in marriage to John Isaac, of Bridge, who died possessed of it anno 22 Henry VI. and his descendant Edward Isaac, esq. in king Henry VIII.'s reign, alienated it to Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, whose son William Fineux, esq. of Herne, alienated it to Thomas Engeham, gent. of Goodneston, who by his will in 1558, gave it to his second son Edward, and his son, William Engeham sold it to William Cowper, esq. who afterwards resided here, and was first created a baronet of Nova Scotia, and then, in 1642, a baronet of Great Britain. His great-grandson Sir William Cowper, bart. was by queen Anne, being then lord keeper of the great seal, created lord Cowper, made lord chancellor, and afterwards, anno 4 George I. created earl Cowper, and in his descendants, earls Cowper, this manor has descended down to the right hon. PeterFrancis, earl Cowper, the present owner of this manor. (fn. 1) There has not been any court held for it for many years past.

 

ARCHBISHOP PECKHAM, on the foundation of Wingham college, anno 1286, endowed the first subdiaconal prebend of it, which he distinguished by the name of the prebend of Retling, with the tithes of the demesne lands, which Richard de Retling and Ralph Perot held of him in Nonyngton, between the highway which led from Cruddeswode to the cross of Nonyngtone, and from thence to the estate of the prior, of Addesham. (fn. 2)

 

OLD-COURT is an estate in this parish, situated about a mile northward from the church, which was antiently the property of the family of Goodneston, who took their name from their possession and residence in that parish, and it continued in an uninterrupted succession in this family, of whom there is frequent mention in private evidences, which, though without date, appear to be made in the reigns of king Henry III. and king Edward I. till at length Edith, daughter and heir of William Goodnestone, carried it in marriage to Vincent Engeham, whose son Thomas Engeham, esq. of Goodneston, by his will in 1558, gave it, together with the lands in Nonington, late Mr. Sidley's and John Bewe's, to his second son Edward, whose son William Engeham, gent. passed it away in queen Elizabeth's reign to Thomas Wilde, esq. descended from an antient family of that name in Chester, and his son Sir John Wilde, of St. Martin's hill, near Canterbury, in the next reign of James I. alienated it to Thomas Marsh, gent. of Brandred, in Acrise, whose descendant John Marsh resided here till the year 1665, when he removed to Nethersole, in Wimlingwold. Since which it has continued, in like manner as that seat, down to his descendant John Marsh, esq. now of Chichester, in Sussex, the present owner of it.

 

ST. ALBANS COURT, antiently called, at first Eswalt, and afterwards Esole, is a manor situated in the valley, north-eastward from the church, in the borough of its own name, which with another estate near it, called Bedesham, (all that remains of the name of which is a grove behind St. Albans house, called Beauchamp wood, in which are many foundations of buildings, being now esteemed as part of the manor of St.Albans court) was in the time of the Conqueror, part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and they are accordingly both thus entered in the record of Domesday:

 

Adelold holds of the bishop Eswalt. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is . . . . In demesne there is one carucate, and six villeins, with two borderers having three carucates. There are two servants, and a small wood for fencing. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth nine pounds, now fifteen. Alnod Cilt held it of king Edward.

 

And Somewhat further below:

 

Osbert, the son of Letard, holds of the bishop, Bedesham. It was taxed at one yoke and an half. The arable. land is . . . . In demesne there is one carucate, with one villein and four borderers. In the time of king EdEdward the Confessor it was worth sixty shillings, and afterwards thirty shillings, now fifty shillings. Godisa held it of king Edward. In the same manor ten thanes held of Osbern himself one suling and half a yoke, and there they themselves have four carucates and an half. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth one hundred shillings, and afterwards thirty shillings, now sixty shillings.

 

On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, in the year 1084, it came, with the rest of his estates, into the hands of the crown, whence the manor of Esole, alias St. Albans, seems to have been granted to William de Albineto, or Albini, surnamed Pincerna, who had followed the Conqueror from Normandy hither, whose son, of the same name, earl of Albermarle, gave it, by the name of the manor of Eswelle, to the abbot of St. Alban's, in Hertfordshire; which gift was afterwards confirmed by king Stephen; (fn. 3) and from thence it gained the name of St. Albans. And anno 7 king Edward I. the abbot of St. Albans claimed and was allowed, before the justices itinerant, free-warren and other liberties within this manor. After which it continued in the possession of the abbey till the 30th year of king Henry VIII. when the abbot and convent, with the king's consent, sold it, with its lands, appurtenances, and tithes belonging to it, as well of corn, grain, hay, and otherwise, then in the occupation of John Hammond, to Sir Christopher Hales, master of the rolls. Which alienation having been made in consequence of the licence by the king's word only, was confirmed by act the next year, specially for that purpose. On whose death in the 33d year of that reign, (fn. 4) his three daughters became his coheirs, of whom Elizabeth, then married to John Stocker, and Margaret, then unmarried, joined in the sale of their shares in it, to Alexander Culpeper, who had married Mary, the other daughter, and he quickly afterwards alienated the whole of it to his eldest brother Sir Thomas Culpeper, of Bedgbury, who in the 2d and 3d of Philip and Mary, sold it to Thomas Hammond, gent. who at that time resided here, being the direct descendant of John Hamon, or Hammond, who was resident here in king Henry the VIIIth.'s time, as tenant to the abbot and convent of St. Alban's, who died in 1525, and was buried in this church, as were his several descendants afterwards, in whom it continued down to William Hammond, esq. of St. Albans, who married Charlotte, eldest daughter of Dr. Wil liam Egerton, prebendary of Canterbury, by whom he left William, of whom hereafter; Anthony, rector of Ivychurch, and vicar of Limne, and three daughters, Anna-Maria; Charlotte, married to Thomas Watkinson Payler, esq. of lleden, and Catherine. William Hammond, esq. the eldest son, married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Osmund Beauvoir, D.D. by whom he has issue two sons and five daughters, viz. William-Osmond, Maximilian-Dudley-Diggs; Elizabeth-Mary, Mary-Elizabeth, Charlotte, Julia-Jemima, and Jemima-Julia. He bears for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, between three ogresses, each charged with a martlet of the field, three escallop-shells, or, all within a bordure engrailed, vert; which arms were granted by Barker, garter, to Thomas Hamon, gent. of Nonington, anno 1548, and confirmed by Cooke, clarencieux, and they were certified to the college of arms by William Hammond, esq. last-mentioned, his descendant, in 1779, (fn. 5) and he is the present owner of this manor and seat, at which he resides.

 

A court baron is held for this manor, which extends over some part of the borough of Wingmere, in Eleham, and over a few acres of land in Barham.

 

SOLES is a manor at the boundary of this parish, next to Barfreston, which at the taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in that record:

 

Ansfrid holds of the bishop Soles. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . In demesne there are two carucates, and eight viheins with half a carucate. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth one hundred shillings, and afterwards twenty shillings, now six pounds. Elmer held it of king Edward.

 

Four years after which, on the bishop's disgrace, the king seized on this estate among the rest of his possessions. After which it was granted to the family of Crevequer, and made a part of that barony, being held of it by the tenure of performing ward to Dover castle. Of Hamo de Crevequer it was held by knight's service in king Edward I.'s reign, by Richard de Rokesle, and of him again by Hamo and John de Soles, who certainly took their name from it, but this name was extinct here in the beginning of king Henry IV.'s reign, for in the 4th year of it Thomas Newbregge, of Fordwich, was become possessed of it, whose descendant sold it to Rutter, from which name it passed; about the beginning of king Edward IV. to Litchsield, whose descendant Gregory Litchfield alienated it in king Henry VIII.'s reign to John Boys, esq. of Nonington, in whose descendants it continued down to John Boys, esq. of Hode-court, who in Charles I.'s reign alienated it to Sir Anthony Percival, of Dover, comptroller of the customs there; in whose descendants it remained till, not many years since, it was by one of them passed away to Major Richard Harvey, who sold it to Thompson, of Ramsgate, after whose death it came by marriage to Mr. Stephen Read, of Canterbury, who afterwards alienated it to John Plumptree, esq. of Fredville, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

 

FREDVILLE is a manor in this parish, which in antient deeds is sometimes written Froidville, from its cold situation, which is both low and watry. It was held of the castle of Dover, as part of those lands which made up the barony of Maminot, afterwards, from its succeeding owners, called the barony of Saye. In the reign of king Edward I. it was held, in manner as above-mentioned, by John Colkin, in whose posterity it remained till the latter end of king Richard II.'s reign, when it was conveyed by sale to Thomas Charleton, and he, by sine levied anno 2 Henry IV. passed it away to John Quadring, whose descendant Thomas Quadring leaving an only daughter and heir Joane, she carried it in marriage to Richard Dryland, and he, about the latter end of king Edward IV. alienated it to John Nethersole, who by fine levied in the 2d year of king Richard III. conveyed it to William Boys, esq. of Bonnington, (fn. 6) and he died possessed of it in 1507, and by his will gave this manor to his eldest son John Boys, esq. of Fredville. His descendant Major Boys, of Fredville, being a firm loyalist, suffered much by sequestration of his estates. He had seven sons and a daughter, who all died s.p. Two of his elder sons, John and Nicholas, finding that there was no further abode at Fredville, to which they had become entitled, departed each from thence, with a favourite hawk in hand, and became pensioners at the Charter-house, in London. (fn. 7) Before which they had, in 1673, sold it to Denzill, lord Holles, from whose descendant it afterwards came to Thomas Holles, duke of Newcastle, who in 1745 sold it to Margaret, sister of Sir Brook Bridges, bart. of Goodnestone, and she in 1750, marrying John Plumptree, esq. of Nottinghamshire, he became in her right possessed of it. He was descended from a family who had been long settled in that county, who bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron, between two mullets in chief, and an annulet in base, sable. (fn. 8) He served in parliament for Penryn, in Cornwall, and afterwards for Nottingham. By his first wife above-mentioned, he had no issue; but by his second, daughter of Philips Glover, esq. of Lincolnshire, he had one son John Plumptree, esq. married to Charlotte, daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Pemberton, of Cambridgeshire; and a daughter, married to R. Carr Glynn, esq. He rebuilt this seat, in which he afterwards resided, and dying in 1791, was succeeded by his only son John Plumptree, esq. beforementioned, who now resides in it.

 

At a small distance from the front of Fredvillehouse, stands the remarkable large oak tree, usually known by the name of the Fredville oak. It measures twenty-seven feet round in girt, and is about thirty feet in height; and though it must have existed for many centuries, yet it looks healthy and thriving, and has a most majestic and venerable appearance.

 

Charities.

EDWARD BOYS, son of William Boys, esq. of Nonington, gave by his will in 1596, and annnity of 40s. out of lands which he had purchased in Nonington and Barfreston, containing 15 acres, to be yearly paid among the poorest of this parish.

 

ROBERT BATGHAR, yeoman, of Bridge, by will in 1600, gave to the parson and churchwardens of Nonington, the rents and profits of his house there, for the relief of the poor.

 

SIR EDWARD BOYS, of Nonington, by will in 1634, gave to the poor of Nonington, 6l. to be employed for a stock to set the poor at work, and not otherwise to be employed, so as the overseers or any sufficient man of the parish be bound yearly to the heirs of Fredville, whereby the stock be not lost.

 

A PERSON UNKNOWN gave to two poor housekeepers of this parish, two houses and an acre and an half of land, in it, at Frogham, to each, with a sack of wheat to each housekeeper every Christmas; now vested in the Reverend James Morrice, owner of Betshanger manor, and of the annual produce of 5l. 10s.

 

The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually forty.

 

THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, consists of two isles and two chancels, having a tower steeple at the north corner at the west end, in which are three bells. In the south isle are the figures of a man between his two wives, traced on the stone, and inscription for John Hamon and Margaret and Mary his wives, obt. 1526. A memorial for Wm. Hammond, obt. 1717. In the south or high chancel, against the wall, a brass plate for Alicia, daughter and heir of William Sympson, esq. once marshal of Calais, and Catherine Gemecot, wife to Francis Wilford, obt. 1581. A stone, and inscription in brass, for John Cooke, vicar, obt. March 7, 1528. Several memorials for the Hammonds. In the north chancel, now made use of as a school, a memorial for Edward Boys, esq. obt. 1597. A monument for Mary, daughter of Edward Boys, and wife of J. Hole, obt.— Several memorials for Trotter and Wood. A monument for Sir John Mennes. In the windows of this church were formerly several shields of arms, long since destroyed; and the figure of a knight, kneeling on his surcoat, the arms of Boys, of Bonnington, and opposite to him the figure of a woman kneeling, and on her coat the arms of Roper. Another like figure of a knight, and on his surcoat the arms of Ratling, being Gules, a lion rampant or, an orle of Spears heads argent.

 

The church of Nonington was antiently a chapel of ease to that of Wingham, and was on the foundation of the college there by archbishop Peckham, in 1286, separated from it, and made a distinct parish of itself, (fn. 9) and then given to the college, and becoming thus appropriated to the college, continued with it till its suppression in king Edward VI.'s reign, when this parsonage appropriate, with the advowson of the vicarage or curacy of it, came into the hands of the crown, where it did not remain long, for in the year 1558, queen Mary granted it, among others, to the archbishop, but the rectory or parsonage appropriate, with the chapel of Wimlingswold appendant, continued in the crown till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, to the archbishop, when it was valued at thirty-three pounds, reprises to the curate 13l. 6s. 8d. At which rent it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the curacy, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury. William Hammond, esq. is the present lessee of the parsonage.

 

At the time this church was appropriated to the college of Wingham, a vicarage was endowed in it, which, after the suppression of the college, came to be esteemed as a perpetual curacy. It is not valued in the king's books. The antient stipend paid to the curate as above, was, in 1660, augmented by archbishop Juxon with the addition of twenty pounds, but by the addition of Mr. Boys's legacy of the small tithes in this parish and Wimlingswold, mentioned below, it is now, with that chapel, of the yearly certified value of 71l. 6s. 8d. In 1588 here were two hundred and thirty-five communicants.

 

¶Edward Boys, esq. of Nonington, by his will in 1596, gave towards the maintenance of a minister, being licenced and preaching every other Sunday at farthest at Nonington, yearly, for ever, all the profits of the small-tithes of Nonington and Wemingewell, (excepting those of the lands in his occupation, and the oblations and obventions due out of them, and the tithes of wood of all the lands and farms he had, or his heirs should have, within the parish) the said minister paying to him and his heirs the yearly sum of 40s.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp251-262

 

-----------------------------------------

 

St. Mary’s Church appears to have been built on or near a farm or settlement on the Manor of Oesewalum (also Oeswalum & Oesuualun) which had belonged to the Abbesses of Minster Abbey, on the Isle of Thanet, and Southminster Abbey, at Lyminge, in the late 8th and early 9th centuries before eventually passing into the possession of Christchurch Priory of Canterbury. The abbess’s ownership of Oesewalum most likely give rise to the name Nunningitun, the nuns farm or manor, which in turn became Nonington. The manor of Oesewalum would have been administered on behalf of the abbess by a manorial steward and his house would have been the focal point of the settlement and possibly eventually became the site of the chapel that became St. Mary’s Church.

 

The manor of Oesewalum came into the personal possession of Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 824 and he willed it to Werhard, his kinsman, on the proviso that Werhard would in turn will it to Christ Church Priory. In his will drawn up in the 830’s Werhard made the following provisions:

 

“ To five paupers at Harrow (Middlesex), five at Otford (Kent), two at Graveney (Kent), seven at Oesuualun ( in Nonington, Kent) and six in the city of Canterbury (Kent) let enough to eat be given each day as is convenient and over the year let each pauper be given twenty-six pence for clothing”

 

(The original Latin text was “Apud Hergan .v. pauperes; apud Otteford .v.; apud Cliue .ii.; apud Grauenea .ii.; apud Oesuualun .vii.; in ciuitate Dorobernia .vi. Unicuique detur cotidie ad manducandum quod conuenienter sit satis et per annum cuique pauperi ad uestitum .xxvi. denarii.”).

 

In order to distribute “enough to eat be given each day as is convenient” to the seven paupers at Oesewalum /Oesuualun the food must have either been brought in from Christchurch Priory or one of its other estates on a regular basis, although not necessarily daily, or there must have been a local source of supply.

Werhard’s will records Oesewalum /Oesuualun as extending to 10 hides and the revenue Werhard derived from the holding would therefore have been more than able to adequately provide the specified bounty. A hide was the nominal amount of land required to keep a family for a year and was used for taxation. In East Kent a hide would probably have measured some thirty to fifty modern acres, depending on the quality of the land. The daily ration would have to be distributed and the most logical place to distribute this would be the manorial steward’s house, either by the steward or another servant of Christchurch. As it was an ecclesiastical manor this may then have led to a small chapel being established which by the 1070’s had become the origin of the present St. Mary’s Church.

 

However, there is some evidence to show that the chapel itself may actually pre-date possession by Christchurch and may have been founded or existed during the ownership of Oesewalum by the Benedictine Abbeys of Minster on the Isle of Thanet and Southminster at Lyminge as both abbey churches were named after St. Mary the Virgin, the same saint as the present Nonington church. Nonington church is next to an ancient road which linked the abbey on the Isle of Thanet with the abbey at Lyminge.

 

The first Minster Abbey was built on the site of St. Mary’s church, and opposite to the minster across the now silted up Wantsum Channel was St. Mary the Virgin on Strand Street in Sandwich’s, the town’s oldest church and the site of a lost convent. From Sandwich the road went on through Eastry, Nonington, Elham, and Lyminge, settlements whose churches are all dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin. Lyminge church was jointly dedicated to St. Mary and St. Ethelburgha, founder of the abbey there.

 

Christ Church Priory seem to have lost Oesewalum /Oesuualun at some time in the late 9th century and it came into the possession of the King. Parts of the manor, including the area around the present church, came back into the possession the Archbishop of Canterbury as part of the Manor of Wingham and remained in the See’s possession until Archbishop Cranmer exchanged the Manor of Wingham for other properties with Henry VIII in 1538.

 

www.nonington.org.uk/st-marys-church/

The edition of the Norwich Mercury dated Saturday October 20 1917 included this picture along with the caption Corpl. Spalding, Canadians, son of Mr. and Mrs. Spalding, South Lowestoft, killed in action. He had been awarded the Military Medal.

 

SPALDING, R C

Rank:………………….Corporal

Service No:…………..9250

Date of Death:……….12/09/1917

Age:……………………28

Regiment/Service:…..Canadian Infantry, 3rd Bn.

Awards:……………….M M

Grave Reference:……III. A. 1.

Cemetery:

FOSSE NO.10 COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, SAINS-EN-GOHELLE

Additional Information:

Son of James and Kate E. Spalding, of 96, Warden St., Mimico, Ontario. Native of Lowestoft, England.

CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/304870/SPALDING,%20R%20C

 

He is not remembered in the War Memorial Chapel in the Church of St Margaret, Lowestoft.

 

His Canadian Army Service records can be accessed here:-

www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-wo...

(Several of the pages are very difficult to read and looking as if they were moved during the scanning process).

 

Born Lowestoft in April 1889, Reginald Charles Spalding was an unmarried Labourer when he enlisted in the 3rd Battalion at Valcartier, Quebec, on the 22nd September 1914. His next of kin was James Spalding of 13 Avondale Road, Lowestoft. He had previous military experience – 2 years in the 19th Hussars. No address appears to have been recorded for him.

 

He was recorded at his initial medical as 5 feet 5 and a half inches tall, with blue eyes, dark brown hair and a ‘Medium; complexion. His distinguishing mark was a tattoo “R.S” on his left forearm.

 

He was given service number 9250 and joined 8 Company. He sailed from Quebec on the 4th October 1914. He assigned some of his pay to his mother, Mrs Kate Spalding, of 13 Avondale Road, Lowestoft.

 

On the 9th November 1915 he was treated for a tonsular abscess a 1 Canadian Field Ambulance, returning to duty on the 13th. He rejoined his unit in the field on the 17th.

 

On the 24th February 1916 he was admitted to No.8 Stationary Hospital at Boulogne with a wound to his left foot. A subsequent investigation dates the incident to the 23rd February 1916 when it is recorded that he stood on a nail at Wolveringham which entered the foot and poisoned it. By the 2nd March 1916 he was being treated at the London War Hospital, Epsom. On the 13th April 1916 he moved to the Canadian Convalescence Hospital at Monks Horton, moving a few days later, (19th) to another convalescence facility at Woodcote Park, Epsom. He was discharged on the 17th May 1916 and posted to the 12th Reserve Battalion at Shorncliffe. He was absent from the last parade on the 1st June 1916 until 11 a.m. on the 2nd, and was admonished and forfeited two days’ pay. He was sent overseas on the 6th June 1916 and rejoined his unit in the field on the 8th.

 

He was promoted to Sergeant on the 30th October 1916, however this didn’t last long. He was held in confinement from the 26th December 1916 to the 9th January 1917 awaiting a Court Martial. He was tried and convicted of drunkenness and reduced to the rank of Corporal. However a pension was awarded to his father after Reginalds’ death at the rate for a Private, so possibly his being a Corporal was an unpaid rank.

 

The award of his Military Medal appeared in the London Gazette dated 18th July 1917.

 

He died of wounds at the 1st Canadian Field Ambulance, having received shot wounds to the left arm and leg, the leg being also fractured.

 

By the time his medals were issued his father James and mother K.E. gave their address as Box 317, 96 Warden Street, Mimico, Toronto.

 

The Medal Index Card for Corporal 9250 R E Spalding, Canadian Infantry Battalion, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/23/169305

Source: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6222607

This covers the award of his Military Medal in the France Theatre of War.

 

No match on Picture Norfolk, the County Image Archive.

 

1889 – Birth & baptism……………

 

The birth of a Reginald Charles Spalding was registered with the Civil Authorities in the Mutford District of Suffolk in the July to September quarter, (Q3), of 1889.

 

The Mutford Civil Registration District included both the Civil Parish of Oulton and also of Lowestoft.

 

The baptism of a Reginald Charles Spalding, born 18th April 1889, took place at St Michael, Oulton, Suffolk, on the 26th May 1889. Parents were James, a Brickmaker, and Kate. The family lived in the parish.

Source: www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/5b812992f493fd0ece92306...

Partial Source: www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NB1B-2GZ

 

1891 Census of England and Wales

 

The 1 year old “Reignald” Spalding, born Oulton, Suffolk, was recorded living at Woods “Looke”, Oulton. This was the household of his parents, James, (aged 35, a Labourer at Oil Mills, born Topcroft, Norfolk) and Kate, (aged 26, born Colchester, Essex). As well as ‘Reignald’ the couple have a 3 year old son Earnest, also born Oulton.

 

Oulton and Lowestoft were already closed to being merged by this stage in all but name.

 

1901 Census of England and Wales

 

The Spalding family were now living at 49 Clemence Street, Lowestoft. As well as parents James, (45, Bricklayers Labourer) and Kate, (35) there are their children:-

Ernest………aged 13…..born Lowestoft

Reginald……aged 11…..born Lowestoft

James………aged 9…….born Lowestoft

Thomas…….aged 5…….born Lowestoft

John………..aged 3…….born Lowestoft

Dorothy……aged 1…….born Lowestoft

 

There is no obvious match for him on the immigration records from the UK end.

 

However, the arrival of a 21 year old single man Reginald C. Spalding from England aboard the Empress of Ireland was recorded at Saint John, New Brunswick in November 1910. He was bound for Toronto and intended to work as a Labourer. But he is neither recorded as a returning Canadian nor was he paid the “British Bonus”, which he could have claimed if he intended to stay permanently.

Source: www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HGT-9P4

 

1911 Census of England and Wales

 

His parents were now living at 13 Clemence Street, Lowestoft. The 57 year old James, a Bricklayers Labourer, (now recorded as born Wooton*, Norfolk) and the 46 year old Kate have been married 24 years and have had 10 children, of which 9 were then still alive. Still single and living with them are James, (19, Wood Dealer), Thomas, (15, Apprentice to Boot Maker), John, (13, Fire Wood Dealer), Dorothy, (11), Grace, (9), Edith (7) and Edward, (1). All the children except James, (Oulton), were born Lowestoft.

 

(*Given he stated Topcroft on the 1891 & 1901 censuses, that should probably be Woodton)

 

Army Career………………………….

 

Battalion War Diary from the time he stood on a nail.

 

Tuesday, February 22, 1916

Location: DRAMOUTRE

Entry: Working parties. Remainder of battalion inoculated. Cold, heavy snowfall.

 

Wednesday, February 23, 1916

Location: DRAMOUTRE

Entry: Gas Alert. Working parties. Still cold, snow on the ground.

Dinner by Capt DYMOND and Capt. MacNAMARA to wet their stars.

qormuseum.org/history/timeline-1900-1924/the-first-world-...

 

An appendix to the May 1917 War Diary includes his name in a list of honours awarded. These honours appears to relate to the battalions’ actions between the 2nd and 4th May 1917.

 

The war diary records these as:-

May 2nd

Very heavy strafe [sic] along whole front at 9.00 pm

1.05am: Relief complete, 14th Canadian Battalion moving back to Red Line.

1.20 am: Major G.E. REID left Battalion Headquarters, he is going out to stake out Battalion Assembly Area, taking an officer and 4 men from “A” and “B” Companies and one officer from “C” and “D” Companies.

4.20 am: Major G.E. REID reports posts as put out by 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade are not in location as given us by our Brigade, but positions seem to have been re-adjusted by Major REID without a great deal of trouble.

10.00 am: Morning quiet.

3.00 pm: Conference of O.C. Companies at Battalion Headquarters in which all small difficulties were discussed and settled.

4.30 pm: Lieut. RENNOCK, Engineer Officer who is being attached to us, reported at Battalion Headquarters.

4.50 pm: Brigade Major called at Battalion Headquarters.

5.20 pm: Word received that ZERO hour has been changed from 4.05 am to 3.45 am, much to our dissappointment [sic], as 3.45 am seems to early, 4.20 am would have been just about right.

6.15 pm: Lieut. CAMERON, 1st Brigade, C.F.A., our Artillery Liaison Officer, reported at Headquarters for duty.

9.00 pm: Very heavy artillery along our front.

9.30 pm: Major G.E. REID left for Assembly Area, he is going to check over and see that Companies occupy correct positions.

MAY 3rd

12:20 am: Battalion Headquarters arrived at Headquarters at B.5.d.2.6., (in ARLEUX LOOP) All units reported in position in the Assembly Area except “D” Company.

12.30 am: Lieut. RENNOCK, C.E., reported at Headquarters, sappers detailed to their respective Companies, 4 to “B” Company 6 to “A” Company and 2 to “C” Company.

12.50 am: No reports from “D” Company as yet.

1.04am: Time synchronised with Brigade.

1.17 am: Private DYSON, Battalion runner, who has been around Companies reports “D” Company not in position.

1.30 am: Lieut. M. CLIFF reported at Battalion Headquarters and states “D” Company were considerably disorganized by a shell causing them some casualties, including their guide and a platoon Commander. When last seen this Company seems to have been heading away over to the right.

1.20 am: 6 Scouts sent out to locate “D” Company.

1.40 am: Very heavy enemy straefe opened on our front and to our right.

1.55 am: Straefe still continues.

2.00 am: Straefe dying down.

2.13 am: Lieut-Col. R.P. CLARKE, O.C. 2nd Canadian Battalion, called at our Headquarters.

2.20 am: Everything quiet.

2.31 am: Received synchronized time from Signal Master, C.Z.A., watch sent to Companies 5 seconds fast.

2.34 am: Lieut. NICHOLSON, “YUKON” Battery of Machine Guns reported at Battalion Headquarters. He has 8 guns about 300 yards West of Battalion Headquarters.

2.41 am: Message received from Lieut. BROOKE that he has lost all his Officers and guides, is in ARLEUX LOOP but does not know where he is in relation to Assembly Area. Lieut. PATTERSON sent to guide him into his position in Assembly Area, it seems from runners story that “D” Company has had very hard time, suffering many casualties.

2.44 am: Lieut. STEVENSON sent for to come up to “D” Company.

3.00 am: Word received from Assembly Area that casualties are, “A” Company 1, “B” Company 6, “C” Company Nil.

3.02 am: Word sent to Brigade that we are in position less “D” Company.

3.05 am: Enemy artillery fairly active, his barrage line seems to fall on about “C” Companies line in Assembly Area.

3.07 am: Phoned Brigade Major and asked for counter-battery work.

3.15 am: Lieut. DUNCAN, with Stretcher Bearer party, reported at Battalion Headquarters.

3.18 am: Enemy still shelling vicinity of “A” Company heavily.

3.45 am: Attack commenced, enemy artillery active especially on back area.

3.52 am: Brigade Major phoned re “D” Company. No news of it as yet

4.01 am: Lieut. STEVENSON reported at Battalion Headquarters.

4.40 am: German Machine Guns appear active.

4.55 am: Wounded Lance Corporal from “A” Company states his Company was right through the Wood but when he was wounded they were being very hard pushed.

5.05 am: 1 officer and 19 men, German prisoners captured by “A” Company passed Battalion Headquarters.

5.20 am: Word received from “D” Company that they are in position but that they only have 25 men left.

5.40 am: Captain HUTCHISON reports capture of final objective and establishment of Strong Points as laid down.

6.16 am: 2nd Battalion wounded state that they have taken front line but cannot get through the town.

6.40 am: Lieut. MAY, Brigade Signal Officer phoned that he had Brigade Majors authority to state that a Company of the 4th Battalion would be attached to us, connection cut before conversation was finished.

6.41 am: Word received from “B” Company that they were digging in on Final Objective at 5.25 am.

6.45 am: Both front line companies ask for bombs and S.A.A.

6.50 am: Artillery Liaison Officer given our boundaries.

7.30 am: Brigade Major states he will wire through authority to us to have a Company of the 4th Battalion attached to us.

7.55 am: Brigade Major informs us that “C” Company 4th Battalion is being attached to us.

8.20 am: Major CUNNINGHAM called at our Headquarters.

8.30 am: Situation on left clear, we being in direct touch with the 2nd Battalion, but the right is still very obscure, it seems that the Britishers have not captured even the enemy’s front line.

10.00 am: From information received from Major CROWTHER who has passed through seriously wounded, and also from written report from Lieut. McPHERSON, it seems impossible to send troops over the ground between ARLEUX Crucifix and the BLUE Objective.

10.30 am: Message received from Captain HUTCHISON that his position is very grave and that he is gradually turning his flank.

10.50 am: Scout Officer of 2nd Battalion reported at Battalion Headquarters giving us information as to a way up to the line.

11.30 am: A 4th Battalion platoon ordered up to position now occupied by “C” Company, the two platoons of “C” Company being placed under “A” Companies orders.

12 noon: Word received, the Germans are advancing on our newly won positions. S.O.S. sent up and a protective barrage laid down.

12.10 pm: In consequence of above entry, orders as issued in para timed “11.30 am” are cancelled as far as it concerns 4th Battalion.

12.30 am: Platoon of 4th Battalion under Lieut. WALLER sent forward to reinforce “A” Company.

12.45 pm: Prisoners which have passed Battalion Headquarters now number 110 O.R.

12.50 pm: 14th Battalion commence to arrive in ARLEUX LOOP.

1.20 pm: Another 4th Battalion platoon under Lieut. STEVENSON, Lewis Gun Officer, 3rd Battalion, being organized to go forward to the support of “A” Company.

1.40 pm: Platoon which left at 12.30 pm returned, Lieut. WALLER and 3 O.R. including Platoon Sergeant being killed. These men report it is absolutely impossible to get across to the BLUE Objective, the enemy laying down a very heavy barrage and also a very heavy direct machine gun dire [sic], about 400 yards in front on ARLEUX LOOP, from the enemy’s front line on the right, which does not seem to have been taken by the Fusiliers.

1.40pm: Platoon which was to go forward under Lieut. STEVENSON recalled in consequence of above entry.

2.20 pm: Quietest moment since ZERO.

3.00 pm: Relief asked for tonight in conversation with Brigade Major

5.00 pm: Brigade Major informs us relief impossible.

6.00 pm: Enemy artillery shelling quite heavily, especially in region of ARLEUX LOOP.

8.00 pm: Major REID left Battalion Headquarters for forward area.

8.10 pm: Portions of “C” and “D” Companies who have been ordered to return to positions in ARLEUX LOOP commenced to arrive.

8.30 pm: Two platoons of “C” Company, 4th Battalion under Lieut. STEVENSON being organized to go forward to support of “A” Company, as well as taking supplies of bombs, etc., other two platoons are reporting to Lieut. CLIFF at WILLERVAL to look after bringing up of rations. On completion of this task they are going forward to occupy BLUE Objective.

8.40 pm: Lieut. CLIFF to WILLERVAL to look after supply of rations.

9.02 am: Platoons of 4th Battalion under Lieut. C.E. STEVENSON, Lewis Gun Officer, 3rd Battalion, commenced to pass Battalion Headquarters.

9.30 pm: Brigade Major called at Battalion Headquarters.

9.50 pm: Two damaged Lewis Guns sent down to Battalion Headquarters and changed, the two spare ones at Battalion Hqrs., being sent up to them.

10.35 pm: 2nd Battalion are reported to have put up S.O.S. on their front and there is quite a heavy artillery fire on our front.

10.50 pm: 2 platoons of 4th Battalion with rations for “A” and “B” Companies passed Headquarters.

MAY 4th

12.15 am: Major REID returned from Forward Area, his report confirming those received from Capt. HUTCHISON, earlier in the day, he also reports the two platoons under Lieut. STEVENSON have reported to Capt. HUTCHISON and are digging in.

3.15 am: Word received, 3 officers from Transport are at Brigade Headquarters, they being given instructions to remain at Dressing Station.

4.40 am: Message received from Capt. HUTCHISON that our Artillery was shooting short about 3.15 am.

6.00 am: Very bright and sunny day, everything quiet along our front.

12.50 pm: Operation Orders received for relief tonight.

3.00 pm: The Commanding Officer of releiving [sic] Battalion (1st EAST Surrey’s arrived). The Runner carrying the 4.00 pm “3rd” message I have tried to get through to Capt. HUTCHISON today, returned exhausted, reporting it is absolutely impossible to get forward.

5.30 pm: Lieut. CLIFF sent out with guides to meet incoming Battalion.

7.40 pm: Word received from Brigade that 6th Brigade are attacking at 8.00 pm, No times to warn forward Companies.

8.00 pm: Attack commenced, heavy barrage on our front and S.O.S. put up to our right.

8.45 pm: Enemy artillery activity dying down.

9.30 pm: 1st East Surrey’s commenced to arrive.

9.40 pm: 10 guides arrived from Capt. HUTCHISON to guide the 4 platoons and the 2 Company Headquarters off the releiving [sic] unit into the forward area.

10.00 pm: Lieut. WATSON, O.C. “C” Company of the 4th Battalion, passed Headquarters on a stretcher, seriously wounded.

11.30 pm: Our troops commenced to pass Battalion Headquarters, moving to MAISON BLANCHE.

qormuseum.org/history/timeline-1900-1924/the-first-world-...

  

On the day…………………………

 

An appendix in the war diary for September 1917 shows him wounded on the 11th September 1917 and died the same day.

 

The Battalion War Diary reads:-

 

September 11, 1917

Location: Front Line

Entry: Battalion football team played 107th Pioneer Battalion Team a tie game in Divisional elimination. Lieut. J.A. Clark reported back from hospital. Lieut. H.A. Thompson reported back from 1st Canadian Entrenching Battalion. Throughout the day enemy trench mortars and rifle grenades active on our front line. Enemy artillery active in afternoon on Back areas. Under orders from Brigade an attempt was made to dig a new trench in front of our present front line from junction of Nuns Alley and Twisted Alley, East and in front of a lone house, to Nuns Alley Post. A covering party of one platoon from front line company made its way out into No-Mans-Land 8.45 a.m., but were spotted by the enemy and fired at with Machine guns. At 9.30 p.m. the Canadian Engineering Officer began to tape the new trench, and digging party of 110 Other Ranks from C Company, and garrison of one platoon from B Company who were lined up, proceeded to take their positions, covering party and most of digging party got into their positions and started to dig. Enemy Machine Gun fire again opened up at 10.20 p.m. and also with Trench Mortars, and party was recalled to front line. A second attempt was made, but very heavy Machine Gun Fire and rifle fire caused retirement. The enemy sent up an S.O.S. signal at 11.20 p.m., evidently expecting an attack. All trenches and Support areas were subjected to a very heavy fire, and at about 12 midnight the Battalion Commander orders a cessation of operations. Working parties of 13th Canadian Battalion and 107th Pioneer Battalion suffered losses in Support area. The Battalion was extremely fortunate and got back to the trenches with a loss of 4 Other Ranks wounded. Weather – fine.

Source: qormuseum.org/history/timeline-1900-1924/the-first-world-...

  

Mildly photoshopped to minimise impact of damage present on the original image.

 

An uncommon and rather difficult little bird in canopy and subcanopy of subtropical forests between 700-2500m, photographed here at Las Tángaras reserve in Carmen de Atrato (Western Andes). Formerly placed in the genus Terenura.

 

Visit our web page: www.birdingtourscolombia.com

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Chester by-election

Strikes

Inflation

Debt

the list is endless

It would be easy to look at St Augustine and not see past the belltower. What belltower I hear you ask. Well, that triple candlesnuffer thing beside the stable like entrance of the porch.

 

You see, I had forgotten how fantastic St Augustine was. I was early into the church odyssey thing back in 2009, and I was new to the whole church thing.

 

Yes, it has the belltower. Yes it has that porch with those stable doors. Yes it has that wonderful cast iron font. The church is huge, and difficult for me to judge how it evolved over the centuries.

 

Let me leave it to others to describe the church:

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

The Church of St Augustine was constructed circa 1250 on a mound to protect it from flooding, probably on the site of a Norman church. The church is entered by the fourteenth century North door with wooden gates, the upper two were stored within the church and the lower doors were topped with spikes to prevent horses jumping the gates during Divine service. There was once a mounting block outside the church however it was removed less than 50 years ago.

 

Once through the porch you enter the North Aisle, in the western end is a closed off Chapel, near to this is the mechanism for the clock which is dedicated to the men of Brookfield who lost their lives whilst serving in World War Two, and the east end, which once housed a chapel to Blessed Virgin, is now home to an organ, installed in 1969.

 

An arcade separates the North Aisle from the Nave, at the end of this at the eastern end is a corbel carved into a face. The font can be found at the western end of the nave and is one of only thirty lead fonts in the country, it is decorated with the zodiac sings and occupations of the months. The Nave and North Aisle hold box pews, and at the eastern end of the Nave is the two tier pulpit with was once three tier, this stands besides the choir pews. Within the Chancel is the alter which stands in front of the remains of an aumbry, to the south is an early piscine and a two-seated sedilia. The arcades separating the North and South Aisles have suffered severe subsidence, the result being they both lean quite obviously. It has been said by an architect that the arcades separating the Nave and South Aisle lean so much that it is beyond the theoretical point of collapse!

 

The south aisle has had its box pews removed due to a very bad case of woodworm which now leaves room for the altar from the east end of the North Aisle and now used as the War Memorial Altar. At the western end is the Tithe Pen, this housed the weights and measures from the times when the vicar was entitled to a tithe, the complete set are now shown in a glass case and are the only remaining items of this kind in Kent. The eastern end of the South Aisle has a piscine and above this is a remarkable painting, dated from the late 1200?s and repainted in the 14th century. It depicts Thomas Becket's martyrdom. Where an altar once stood near this wall painting is now a large table tomb in memory to John Plomer who was three times Mayor of Romney.

 

Beside the church is a free standing belfry, there are many theories giving the reason for the belfry to stand upon the ground, one being that it was blown down from atop the church twice during strong winds and it was decided as it was so keen to stay on the ground then that is where it will stay. The tower holds six bells, only one being original and dated from 1450, three dated 1685 and the old tenor bell also dated 1685 was cast into two smaller bells.

 

www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=4992.5;wap2

 

BROOKLAND,

 

SO called from the several brooks and waterings within the bounds of it, lies the next parish southeastward, mostly within the level of Walland Marsh, and within the jurisdiction of the justices of the county; but there are some lands, which are reputed to be within this parish, containing altogether about 124 acres, which lie in detached pieces at some distance south-eastward from the rest of it, mostly near Ivychurch, some other parishes intervening, which lands are within the level of Romney Marsh, and within the liberty and jurisdiction of the justices of it.

 

The PARISH of Brookland lies on higher ground than either Snargate or Fairfield last described, and consequently much drier. It is more sheltered with trees, and inclosed with hedges, than any of the neighbouring parishes. The village is neat and rather pleasant, considering the situation, and the houses, as well as inhabitants, of a better sort than are usually seen in the Marsh. The church stands in the middle of it. The lands towards the south are by far the most fertile, for towards Snargate they are very poor and wet, and much covered with rushes and thistles. It consists in general of marsh-land, there not being above thirty acres of land ploughed throughout the parish, which altogether contains about 1730 acres of land.

 

A fair is held here yearly on the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, or Lammas-day, being August I, for toys and pedlary.

 

The MANORS of Fairfield, Apledore, Bilsington, and Court at Wick, extend over this parish, subordinate to which is THE MANOR OF BROOKLAND, which has long since lost even the reputation of having been a manor. It was in early times the patrimony of the family of Passele, or Pashley, as they were afterwards called, whose seat was at Evegate, in Smeeth, (fn. 1) of whom Edward de Passeley is the first that is discovered in public records to have been possessed of this manor, and this appears by the inquisition taken after his death, anno 19 Edward II. Soon after which it was alienated to Reginald de Cobham, a younger branch of the Cobhams, of Cobham, whose descendants were seated at Sterborough castle, in Surry, whence they were called Cobhams, of Sterborough, and they had afterwards summons to parliament among the barons of this realm. At length Sir Thomas Cobham died possessed of it in the 11th year of king Edward IV. leaving an only daughter and sole heir, who carried it in marriage to Sir Edward Borough, of Gainsborough, in Lincolnshire, whose son and heir Thomas was summoned to parliament as lord Burgh, or as it is usually pronounced, Borough, anno 21 king Henry VIII. and left a son and heir Thomas, lord Burgh, whose lands were disgavelled by the act anno 31 Henry VIII. His son William, lord Burgh, about the 12th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, passed it away to Eversfield, of Suffex, from whom it was alienated soon afterwards to Godfrey, of Lid, at which time this estate seems to have lost its name of having been a manor. He, before the end of that reign, sold it to Wood, by whom it was again alienated in the beginning of king James I.'s reign to Mr. John Fagge, of Rye, whose descendant John Fagge, esq. of Wiston, in Suffex, was created a baronet in 1660. He had a numerous issue, of which only three sons and two daughters survived. Of the former, Sir Robert, the eldest, was his successor in title; Charles was ancestor of the present baronet, the Rev. Sir John Fagge, of Chartham; and the third son Thomas Fagge, esq. succeeded by his father's will to this estate at Brookland. His son John Meres Fagge, esq. of Glynely, in Sussex, left surviving an only daughter Elizabeth, who on his death in 1769, entitled her husband Sir John Peachy, bart-of West Dean, in Sussex, to the possession of it. He died s. p. and she surviving him, again became entitled to it in her own right, and is at this time the present owner of it.

 

There are noparochial charities.

 

BROOKLAND is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Augustine, is a very large handsome building, consisting of three isles and three chancels. The steeple stands on the north side, and at some small distance from it, in which are five bells. The church is kept exceedingly neat and clean. It is cieled throughout, and handsomely pewed. In the high chancel there is a confessionary, and a nich for holy water within the altar-rails. There are several memorials in it, but none of any account worth mentioning. At the west end is a gallery, lately erected at the charge of the parish. The font is very curious, made of cast lead, having on it two ranges of emblematical figures, twenty in each range. The steeple is framed of remarkable large timber. It is built entirely of wood, of an octagon form, perpendicular about five feet from the bottom, and from thence leffening to a spire at top, in which it has three different copartments or stories, the two uppermost larger at the bottom, and projecting over those underneath them. Although there are but five bells in it, yet it has frames for several more. The whole is much out of the perpendicular leaning towards the church. In the church-yard are several tombs and gravestones for the Reads.

 

The church of Brookland was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated by pope Clement V. at the request of Ralph Bourne, the abbot of it, in king Edward II.'s reign, but the abbot declined putting the bull for this purpose in force, till a more favourable opportunity. At length John, abbot of St. Augustine, in 1347, obtained another bull from pope Clement VI for the appropriation of it, and having three years afterwards obtained the king's licence for this purpose, (fn. 2) the same was confirmed by archbishop Islip in 1359, who next year endowed the vicarage of this church by his decree, by which he assigned, with the consent of the abbot and convent, and of the vicar, of the rents and profits of the church, to John de Hoghton, priest, then admitted perpetual vicar to the vicarage of it, and canonically instituted, and to his successors in future in it, a fit portion from which they might be fitly maintained and support the undermentioned burthens. In the first place he decreed and ordained, that the religious should build on the soil of the endowment of the church, at their own costs and expences, a competent mansion, with a sufficient close and garden, for the vicar and his successors, free from all rent and secular service, to be repaired and maintained from that time by the vicar for the time being; who on the presentation of the religious to be admitted and instituted by him or his successors, into the vicarage, should likewise have the great tithes of the lands lying on the other side of le Re, towards Dover, viz. beyond the bridge called Brynsete, and towards the parish churches of Brynsete, Snaves, and Ivercherche, belonging to the church of Brokelande, and likewise the tithes arising from the sheaves of gardens or orchards dug with the foot, and also all oblations made in the church or parish, and all tithes of hay, calves, chicken, lambs, pigs, geese, hens, eggs, ducks, pidgeons, bees, honey, wax, swans, wool, milkmeats, pasture, flax, hemp, garden-herbs, apples, vetches, merchandizes, fishings, fowlings, and all manner of small tithes arising from all things whatsoever. And he taxed and estimated the said portion at the annual value of eight marcs sterling, at which sum he decreed the vicar ought to contribute in future, to the payment of the tenth and all other impositions happening, of whatsoever sort. Not intending that the vicar of this church should be entitled to, or take of the issues and rents of it, any thing further than is expressed before, but that he should undergo the burthen of officiating in the same, either by himself or some other sit priest, in divine offices, and in the finding of lights in the chancel, and of bread and wine for the celebration of masses, the washing of vestments, and the reparation of the books of the church, and should nevertheless pay the procuration due to the archbishop, on his visitation. But the rest of the burthens incumbent on the church, and no ways here expressed, should belong to the abbot and convent, &c. (fn. 3) After this, the church and advowson of the vicarage of Brookland remained part of the possessions of the above monastery till the final dissolution of it, anno 30 Henry VIII. when it was, with all its revenues, surrendered into the king's hands, where this rectory and advowson staid but a short time, for the king, by his dotation charter, settled them on his newerected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose possessions they continue at this time.

 

On the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. this parsonage was surveyed in 1650, when it appeared that it consisted of a close of land of one acre, on which stood the parsonage barne, and other outhouses, with the tithe of corn and other profits belonging to it, estimated coibs annis at twenty four pounds, all which were by indenture, in 1635, demised for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of eight pounds, but were worth, over and above the said rent, sixteen pounds per annum, and that the lessee was to repair the premises, and the chancel of the parish church.

 

In 1384 this church or rectory appropriate was valued at 13l. 6s. 8d. but anno 31 Henry VIII. it was demised to ferme at only 8l. 3s. 4d. It is now demised on a beneficial lease by the dean and chapter, at the yearly rent of eight pounds to Mrs. Woodman, the present lessee of it. The vicarage of this church is valued in the king's books at 17l. 12s. 8½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 15s. 3¼d. In 1587 it was valued at sixty pounds, communicants one hundred and sixtysix, and in 1640 the same, and it is now of about the same value.

 

There is a modus of one shilling per acre on all the grass-lands in this parish. The vicar is entitled to all the small tithes, subject to this modus, throughout the parish, and to the tithes of corn of those lands, being one hundred and twenty-four acres, which lie in detached pieces beyond Brenset bridge, in Romney Marsh, as mentioned before, in the endowment of this vicarage.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63502

 

A long low church with the most famous spire in Kent. This three-stage 'candle-snuffer' erection which stand son the ground instead of on a tower is the result of several enlargements of a thirteenth-century bell cage and its subsequent weatherproofing with cedar shingles. It contains a peal of six bells, the oldest of which is mid-fifteenth century in date. The spire is surmounted by a winged dragon weathervane, dating from 1797. The monster has a prominent forked tongue. The reason for the bells being hung in a cage rather than a tower is shown inside the church where the pillars of the nave have sunk into the soft ground and splayed out to north and south. The tie-beams of the roof came away from the walls and have had to be lengthened by the addition of new timber supports. The outstanding Norman font in cast lead has been fully described in Part 1. To the south of the church is a headstone incorporating the only 'Harmer Plaque' in Kent - a terracotta panel made in East Sussex where they are a common feature.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Brookland

The canopied tomb of Lady Joyce Beachamp (d.1473) in the south aisle and the most beautiful monument in the church. The sculptures in the niches above the effigy recess have sadly been beheaded by an iconoclast but can still be recognised as Gabriel & Mary, the Trinity and St John the Baptist. The deceased (whose effigy is a little difficult to see) was originally Lady Joyce Cokesey, sister of Sir Hugh Cokesey whose tomb stands in the chancel.

 

St Mary's is the parish church of the town of Kidderminster and a grand affair it is too, still mostly an early 16th century building of impressive proportions, its extraordinary length in particular. The tower is a major landmark on the northern edge of the town centre, though sadly the construction of the modern ring-road effectively cuts the church off completely from the rest of the town and it can only be reached via a rather uninviting subway beneath the dual-carriageway, thus it doesn't get the footfall it deserves.

 

The church is usually approached from the south and it is this aspect that makes the biggest impression, most noticeably for its handsome south-west tower and the richly glazed clerestories of the nave (which appears to be composed more of glass than wall), all fine examples of the late medieval Perpendicular style. The length of the building is remarkable as beyond the nave is not only a decent sized chancel but a further chapel to the east as well (an early 16th century chantry chapel, formerly detached but now more integrated and in use as a parish room). There has however been much restoration owing to the fragility of the grey and red sandstones used in the construction, and thus much of the external stonework was renewed in the Victorian period (when the south chapel and vestries connecting to the chantry chapel were added). On the north side of the chancel is a handsome memorial chapel added in the early decades of the 20th century.

 

Entry is via the porch in the base of the tower at the south-west corner, where the visitor is greeted by a vast interior space whose lighting is somewhat subdued (especially the chancel). the nave is a classic example of the Perpendicular style and of considerable width, culminating above in the bright clerestories and a flat wooden ceiling. There is much of interest to discover here, particularly the monuments which date from the 15th-17th centuries and include several fine tombs, the earliest being a graceful canopied tomb to a noblewoman in the south aisle and a large brass on the north side. The chancel has three more large tombs with recumbent effiges to members of the Cokesey and Blount families, the latter being of post-Reformation date.

 

Every window of the church is filled with stained glass, mostly of the Victorian period but much of it rather good. The most handsome window is the early 20th century window by Powell's over the main entrance and there is more glass by the same studio in the nave aisles whilst the nave clerestorey has an attractive sequence of angels holding symbols of the Benedicite by Hardmans' installed at the very end of the 19th century. My first encounter with this church was in the late 1990s when working as part of the team that releaded the entire scheme of windows in the nave clerestorey, thus I got to know these angels very well. Sadly however the glass throughout this church suffers from a disfiguring layer of varnish or shellac (applied as 'blackout' at the beginning of World War II and a substance known as 'speltek' according to someone I spoke to at the church). This was smeared over most windows with a rag (the impressions of which were apparent when we worked on the clerestorey windows) and is not easily removed, but small areas where it has detached show how much brightness has been lost while the windows suffocate under this darkening layer. I hope some day the right solvent can be found to remove this stuff with minimal risk to the glass.

 

Kidderminster's grand parish church rewards a visit and deserves more visitors than it currently receives. It isn't always open but in recent years prior to the pandemic was generally open for a few hours on most days during the summer months (though best to check times before planning a trip). Don't be put off by the seemingly impenetrable barrier of the ringroad, St Mary's is worth seeking out and the nice people who steward their church would I'm sure like to be able to welcome more people to this fine building.

www.worcesteranddudleyhistoricchurches.org.uk/index.php?p...

We're back at the Monaco Ballroom on Friday December 12th for the final show of 2008!! Make sure you make it to see how the year's feuds end at this season ending super show - GPW: "Christmas Crunch"

 

We promise we wont crunch your credit.... we'll only crunch your Christmas!!

 

GPW Heavyweight Title Match

Bubblegum © vs. Dirk Feelgood

 

Just a few months ago you'd be forgiven for taking a double take at this match. The friendship between the two former friends totally imploded with the desire to become Heavyweight champion. Refusing to accept the demise of his friendship with Dirk Feelgood, Bubblegum spent months in turmoil not wanting to retaliate to the cutting comments and brutal attacks levelled his way by former friend and champion Feelgood. As time went by however, Bubblegum eventually unloaded on Feelgood but this will be the first time the two have ever come face to face in a one on one match. And to make things just a little more interesting... it's for the GPW Heavyweight Title. Can the fairytale championship reign continue for Bubblegum, or can Dirk shatter his dreams and become the first ever 2 time Heavyweight Champ?

 

Tag Team Special, Skeletor vs. Stella

Lethal Dose vs. Voodoo & "Sober" Mike Holmes

 

Alan Alan Alan Tasker's henchmen, Lethal Dose march into battle against former stable member Mike Holmes and the man they hold responsible for Holmes' new found sobriety - Voodoo. Cyanide and Toxic hope to tempt Holmes back over to the stable that two months ago he turned his back on. They want to snap him out of the spell they accuse Voodoo of putting him under. However, Holmes seems very happy with his new outlook on life and he and Voodoo look to send Lethal Dose packing in this tag team special. Lethal Dose have warned they will not be coming to the ring alone though, with them along with their attorney and law - Alan Alan Alan Tasker will be a 12 pack of Stella. Hoping the case of beer will prove to be a bigger demon to Holmes than the tag team itself. To fend off the 12 pack, Holmes and Voodoo will have Vooodoo's trusty skull, Skeletor in their corner. An unpredictable tag team match. Can MIke Holmes stay sober? Will Voodoo's spells work? Or will Lethal Dose deliver a beating big enough to break Voodoo's spell?

 

GPW British Title Match

Jak Dominotrescu vs. "Super" Sam Bailey

 

After pinning the British Champion last month in a tag team match, WKD's "Super" Sam Bailey has earned himself a title shot at GPW: "Christmas Crunch". Bailey, already a former tag team champion looks to add to his growing reputation by capturing his first ever singles gold in GPW. While reigning champion, Romanian Jak Domitrescu along with his cohorts - The Eastern Bloc look to make life as difficult as possible for the energetic live wire. Domitrescu has held onto the title since April this year with help from his fellow countrymen, but are his days numbered as champ? He surely wont be alone in this title outing and will have the Eastern Bloc close by, but can "Super" Sam Bailey overcome the odds to win his first singles gold in GPW?

 

And, the main event for the evening is...

 

GPW Tag Team Title 2/3 Falls Match

MIl-Anfield Connection © vs. Young Offenders

 

The heat just got turned up in this feud. The re-united Young Offenders have the most established tag team in GPW - The Mil-Anfield Connection firmly in their sights and not to mention the tag team trophy. These two teams met in September this year where there was no clear winner decided after the match ended in a draw. There will be NO excuses this time to not find a winner. This, for the first time in our history will be a 2/3 Falls Match for the tag team titles. A winner HAS to be decided, but who will it be? A truley epic encounter is in our midst as Jiggy Walker & "The Model" Danny Hope try to cling onto the championship that has defined them as a team and "Dangerous" Damon Leigh & Joey Hayes, The Young Offenders chase the title that one of the most popular tag teams in Europe have never held. Can the re-united friends overcome the well established unit that is The Mil-Anfield Connection? Or can the well oiled duo of the Mil-Anfield do what they've been doing all year and win again?

 

GPW British Title No.1 Contenders Match

Harry Doogle vs. Juice vs. Dylan Roberts vs. Chris Echo

 

After an eye catchingly good year from rookie Dylan Roberts, he has been included in this battle to earn a shot at the British Title. With a burning desire to win and the fans firmly behind him, Roberts could well mark his arrival onto the main roster by becoming the No.1 Contender and going for gold here. However, his opponents wont give him an easy ride. In a wonderful CC-08 tournament, no one impressed more than WKD's Chris Echo. Echo reached the CC-08 finals with two broken wrists and proved he is ready to take a step up. His previous attempts for British gold have been thwarted by the foreign legion numbers of the Eastern Bloc, is he ready to prove again that he is worthy of being No.1 Contender and finally lift the British title? Juice, the current CC8 champion has been as impressive as ever in singles competition this year, but can he compete in this match with 3 others all vying to be No.1 Contender? Also replacing Jervis Cottonbelly due to injury is Harry Doogle as a last minute entry could one half of the next gen score the upset win? , but with so many possible outcomes who will leave with the plaudits and go on to challenge for the British Title next year?

 

Lumberjack Match

Si Valour vs. Heresy

 

A violent and personal feud that has lasted all year long finally comes to a head in what promises to be a violent Lumberjack Match. Ever since brutalising Valour and cutting off all his hair, Heresy has, in some form or other dodged the challenge of Valour. Heresy claimed not to have lost his bottle or be running scared of the 2007 Break Out Star, yet during their Bull Rope clash at GPW: "V" where the two were tied to one another, Heresy still managed to find a way of escaping and creating distance between him and Valour. This time, in a special Lumberjack Match, no matter where either man go - there will be no escape. All lumberjacks will be at the ready to ensure neither man can escape the others clutches and a clear winner, one way or the other will HAVE to be decided. There will be nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide, no matter where they look. Heresy has been one step ahead of Valour all year, is this where he runs out of excuses, or can the master manipulator manipulate another win?

  

It’s been very difficult taking photos recently because Millie doesn’t like it when I put the camera in front of my face, it’s also impossible taking photos while I walk her because she is constantly pulling, I’m training her and have to concentrate 100%. This dog has issues but I’m getting there, after 6 weeks she is relatively calm when cars pass us, she will return (eventually) when I take her lead off and let her run around the park that is when there are no other dogs around to distract her, and walking along the road she doesn’t try to jump up at passing strangers, providing there’s a car in the distance to distract her.

 

I sneaked these while she concentrated on having fun in the snow.

 

South Uist War Memorial

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NF 74443 28625

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East side of A865 South East of Loch Bhornais Uarach

The inscriptions are quite weathered and some have been corrected which makes transcription difficult.

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THE GLORIOUS

MEMORY OF THE MEN

OF SOUTH UIST

WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES

IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918

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IN THREE CONTINENTS AND IN THE DEEP THEY LIE

BUT IN OUR HEARTS THEIR DEEDS FOR EVER ARE ENSHRINED

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EOCHAR

SGT. ARCHIBALD BOWIE 1ST CAMERONS

CPL. DONALD MORRISON 6TH CAMERONS

L/CPL. JOHN MORRISON 5TH CAMERONS

L/CPL. ANGUS JOHN MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DUNCAN MACKAY 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. MURDO MACKAY 5TH CAMERONS

PIPER ALEXANDER MACEACHEN 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD CURRIE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACINTYRE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ARCHIBALD MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ALEXANDER MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN CAMPBELL 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACKAY 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN WILSON 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS BOWIE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. RONALD MACINTYRE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ALEXANDER MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD MACKAY 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACPHEE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. jOHN MACDONALD 2ND GORDON HIGHRS.

PTE. FINLAY MACKAY 6TH CAMERONS

PTE. JAMES JOHNSTONE 49TH CAM. HIGHRS. CANADA

PTE. ROBERT MACLEAN R.A.M.C.

PTE. NEIL BOYD 2ND BATT. A & S. HIGHRS.

PTE. ANGUS NICOLSON 1/6TH DKE. OF WELLINGTON REGT.

JOHN MACEACHEN R.N.

FREDERICK MATTHEWS R.N.V.R. "INDEFATIGABLE"

SGT. JOHN MACMILLAN R.M.L.I.

PTE. RONALD WILSON R.N.D.

GERINISH

PTE. NEIL MORRISON 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. JAMES MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD MACKINNON 5TH CAMERONS

ANTHONY MACINNES R.N.R.T.

LOCHSKIPPORT

PTE. CHARLES MACAULAY AUSTRALIAN INF.

PTE. ANGUS DOUGLAD SEAFORTHS

ALLAN MACEACHEN R.N.R.

PTE. PETER DOUGLAS R.S.F.

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ORMICLATE

SGT. PIPER JOHN SMITH H.L.I.

PTE. CHRISTPHR. MACINTYRE CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD A. MACKAY CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN BOWIE CAMERONS

PTE. RODERICK MACLEOD CAMERONS

FROBOST

ALEXANDER MACPHEE MER. MARINE

BORNISH

PTE. RODERICK MACDONALD SEAFHS.

A.B. JOHN MACDONALD R.N.

EAST KILBRIDE

ANGUS O'HENLY R.N.R. (T)

MURDOCH MACISAAC R.N.R. (T) (/)

ANGUS MACINTYRE R.N.R. (T) (?)

WEST KILBRIDE

PTE. PETER MORRISON CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MORRISON CAMERONS

PTE. ALEXANDER JOHNSTONE CAMERONS

SMERCLATE

DONALD J. MORRISON MER. MARINE

PTE. ARCHIBALD MACRAE CANADIAN SEAHS.

ARCHIBALD MACRAE R.N.R. (T)

PTE. RODERICK MACLEOD CAMERONS

PTE. ARCHIBALD MACRAE CAMERONS

PTE. ALLAN MACNEILL A.A.C.

SOUTH BOISDALE

PTE. DONALD MACPHEE CAMERONS

PETER MACINTYRE MER. MARINE

NORTH BOISDALE

PTE. MURDOCH MACDONALD H.L.I.

ANGUS O'HENLY MER. MARINE

PTE. MALCOLM O'HENLY CAMERONS

PTE. ROBERT MACINNES CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD STEELE SCOTS GUARDS

PTE. RONALD MACLENNAN SCOTS GUARD

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STONEYBRIDGE

L/CPL. JOHN LAING CAMERONS (LVT SCOUTS)

L/CPL. SAMUEL MARTIN CAMERONS

PTE. NEIL STEELE CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACISAAC CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD MACINTYRE CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACDONALD CAMERONS

PTE. ALEXANDER MACDONALD CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACISAAC CAMERONS

LIEUT. ANDREW LAING BORDER REGT. (CANADIANS)

PERINERINE

PTE. RODERICK MACDONALD CAMERONS

SNISHVALE

L/CPL. ANGUS LAMONT SEAFORTH HRS. (LVT SCOUTS)

L/CPL. JOHN LAMONT LONDON SCOTTISH

PTE. JOHN MACDONALD CAMERONS

A.B. ANGUS MACCUISH R.N.R.

HOWBEG

PTE. RONALD JOHN MACEACHEN CAMERONS

PTE. NEIL BOVIE CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD JOHN MACDONALD CAMERONS

TPR. ANGUS GRAHAM LOVAT SCOUTS

HOWMORE

PTE. ALEXANDER MACDONALD CAMERONS

PTE. PETER MACINTYRE CAMERONS

PTE. DUNCAN DOUGLAS CAMERONS

PTE. DUGALD DOUGLAS CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACINTYRE H.L.I.

STILLIGARRY

PTE. JOHN ALEXANDER MACRURY CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD GRANT CAMERONS

PTE. RODERICK NORMAN CHISHOLM CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACINTOSH CAMERONS

SGT. DONALD MACDONALD CAMERONS

LOCHEYNORT

DONALD JOHN MACFARLANE R.N.R.

DONALD JOHN MACINTYRE MERC. MARINE

KILPHEDER

PTE. JOHN MORRISON 6TH CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACINTYRE 6TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MORRISON 6TH CAMERONS

PTE. ALLAN MACKAY 1ST CAMERONS

DALIBURGH

PTE. DUNCAN BLAIR 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD STEELE 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS JOHNSTONE 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD CAMPBELL 1ST CAMERONS

GARRYHILLIE

PTE. NORMAN MACDONALD 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. MALCOLM MACDONALD 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. RODERICK MACCUISH 4TH CAMERONS

PTE. ARCHIBALD MACPHEE 5TH CAMERONS

ERISKAY

PTE. ANGUS JOHNSTONE CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACRURY CAMERONS

PTE. (?)JOHN MACDOUGALL MER. MARINE

PTE. (?)EDWARD JOHNSTONE MER. MARINE (?)

PTE. (?)JOHN MACKINTOSH MER. MARINE (?)

PTE. (?) KENNETH GILLIES MER. MARINE (?)

LOCHBOISDALE

PTE. ANGUS MACDONALD A.A.C.

PTE. (?)NORMAN MACDONALD R.N.R.

PTE. JOHN MACCORMICK CAMERONS

PTE. (?) PETER MACCORMICK R.N.R.

PTE. SIMON CAMPBELL LONDON SCOTS

PTE. DONALD STEELE CAMERONS

PTE. (?) DONALD J. STEELE R.N.R.

PTE. ALLAN MACQUARRIER CAMERONS

PTE. (?) JOHN STEWART R.N.R.

L/CPL. RONALD MACPHEE SEAFORTHS

PTE. PETER MACLEOD CAMERONS

PTE. HUGH MACDONALD HUSSARS

PTE. JAMES WALKER CAMERONS

SOUTH LOCHBOISDALE

DONALD JOHN MACPHEE MER. MARINE

GARRYNAMONIE

ALLAN MACDONALD MER. MARINE

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1914 - 18

MILTON

DONALD MACNEIL MER. MARNE

PTE. NEIL MACKINNON CAMERONS

DALIBURGH

PIONEER KENNETH MACLEOD 1ST CAMERONS

GARRYHILLIE

LT. ANGUS MACDONALD NIGERIAN REGT.

EOCHAR

JAMES MACDONALD R.N.R.

EAST GERINISH

PTE. ANDREW MACINNES R.A.M.C.

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1939 - 1945

BORNISH

PTE. DONALD A. MACPHEE 4TH CAM.

LOCHEYNORT

PTE. JOHN E. MACINTYRE 4TH CAM.

HOWBEG

PTE. EWAN J. BOWIE N.Z.A.

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GERINISH

PTE. IAN CONNELY LOVAT SCOUTS

PTE. JOHN MACDONALD LOVAT SCOUTS

P/O NEIL MACSWEEN R.N.

EAST GERINISH

A.B. JOHN MACCEACHY M.N.

STILLIGARRY

PTE. JOHN MACDONALD 4TH CAM.

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1939 - 1945

ERISKAY

A,B, ANGUS MACINNES M.N.

A.B. DONALD J. MACINNES M.N.

A.B. DONALD MACISAAC M.N.

A.B. MALCOLM MACKELVIE M.N.

A.B. MALCOLM MACKINNON M.N.

EAST KILBRIDE

A.B. DONALD CAMPBELL M.N.

A.B. ALLAN MACINTYRE M.N.

A.B. ALEX MACMILLAN M.N.

CAPT. DONALD MACASKILL M.N.

GARRYNAMONIE

A.B. PATRICK MACDONALD M.N.

A.B. ANGUS MACKENZIE M.N.

A.B. RODERICK MACKENZIE M.N.

NORTH GLENDALE

A.B. DOUGALD CAMPBELL M.N.

SOUTH GLENDALE

A.B. DONALD MACINNES M.N.

WEST KILBRIDE

A.B. DONALD J. MACLEAN M.N.

SOUTH BOISDALE

A.B. DONALD J. MACINNES M.N.

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1939 - 1945

NORTH BOISDALE

SGT. JOHN MACKIGGAN 4TH CAN.

CPL. ANGUS M. PATERSON

KILPHEDAR

PIPER ANGUS MACKAY

SOUTH LOCHBOISDALE

A.B. DONALD J. MACDONALD M.N.

STROME

FLT/SGT. RONALD MACLEOD R.A.F.

NORTH BOISDALE

FLT/LT. JOHN SHEARER R.A.F.

A.B. JOHN MACLELLAN R.N.

A.B. ANGUS MACDONALD R.N.

MILTON

A.B. JOHN MACLEAN

DALIBURGH

L/CPL. JOHN A. MACLEOD 4TH CAM.

A.B. ROBERT MACLEAN M.N.

EWEN MACKENZIE C.A.

FROBOST

A.B. DONALD N. MACNEIL M.N.

ANGUS E. MACKIGGAN (?)M.N.

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1939 - 1945

ORMACLATE

PTE. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL 4TH.

STONEYBRIDGE

FLT/LT. ARCHY MACRURA R.A.F.

CPL. ALLAN MACDONALD 4TH CAM.

PTE. JOHN CAMPBELL D.L.I.

EOCHAR

L/CPL. NEIL JOHNSTONE PARA-REG.

PTE. DUNCAN MACLEAN 1ST CAM.

PTE. DONALD J. MACCORMICK R.S.F.

LOCH CARNAN

A.B. JOHN MACINNES M.N.

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PLAQUES ERECTED BY PARISHIONERS OF SOUTH UIST 1980.

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Alternative Names Gerinish War Memorial

Site Type WAR MEMORIAL (20TH CENTURY)

Canmore ID 339075

Site Number NF72NW 63

NGR NF 74443 28625

Council WESTERN ISLES

Parish SOUTH UIST

Former Region WESTERN ISLES ISLANDS AREA

Former District WESTERN ISLES

Former County INVERNESS-SHIRE

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Difficult to choose

Thanks to the Nailbourne project, I now understand how the communities and landscape fots in along its length, though that a bubbling noisy stream can just vanish then appear miles away is very difficult to get your head round. The Nailbourne only fully flows in very wet years, but when it does, the beds that are dry now can be several feet deep.

 

But downstream of Littlebourne, where the Nailbourne becomes the Little Stour, it is wider, about six feet wide, clogged with reeds and weeds, but also was used to power to large mills. They both stand, one between Littlebourne and Wickhambreaux, and the other in Wickhambreaux itself, though is now just a house But is a large white clapboard building, with a large wheel.

 

These days, the village looks very prosperous, all grand houses or cottage conversions.

 

From here, the Little Stour makes its way over the marshes which centuries ago was the Wantsum Channel, so Wickhambreaux was almost a seaside town.

 

Od that the only features I remembered from my previous visits was the avenue of pollarded trees and the blue ceiling of the roof. Missed was the glorious glass, especially the fine east window, very art deco.

 

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The interior of this very pretty church is dominated by nineteenth-century work. The whole of the chancel and baptistry is lined with dark brown encaustic tiles, hiding a straightforward fourteenth-century church. The east window is an early example of American Art Nouveau in England, and dominates the entire building. It was designed by Baron Arild Rosenkrantz in 1896. Above the window are stencilled paintings of angels ascending, which can also be seen in the nave, whilst the roof there has a charming star-spangled sky. At the south-west corner is a vestry - screened off by an eighteenth-century screen which may have formed part of the refitting of the chancel paid for by Mary Young. Her monument in the chancel records that 'infirm from her youth she protracted life to the 68th year of her age'. She left £100 for wainscotting and ornamenting the chancel. The interior viewed from the east gives an unusual appearance as the aisles flank the tower (see also Sandhurst).

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Wickhambreaux

 

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WICKHAM BREAUS

LIES adjoining to Littleborne north-eastward, being usally called Wickham Brook. It is likewise called Wickham by Wingham, to distinguish it from the two other parishes of the same name in this county. In Domesday it is written Wicheham, a name derived from its situation near the banks of the river, which runs close to it. There is only one borough in it, viz. the borough of Wickham, which comprehends the whole parish.

 

Wickham is a low, flat, and unpleasant situation, and lying so near the marshes cannot but be unhealthy, the land throughout it is in general good and sertile, especially near the village, where the fields are very large and level ground. The village, in number about twenty houses, stands at the south-east boundary of the parish, built round a green, over which the road leads to Ickham, having the church and court-lodge on one side, and the parsonage, a handsome brick house, on the other. At the further end of the green, the Lesser Stour crosses the road, and turns a corn-mill belonging to the manor, beyond it is only one house, called the Stone-house, being built of squared stones and slints in chequers, and by the arched windows and door-ways seems of some antiquity. The parish stretches a good distance northward, as far as Groveferry, the house of which is within it, and the greater Stour river, over a level of about 500 acres of marsh land, which extend from the river into a sinus, with a ridge of upland on each side, to within a quarter of a mile of the village. North eastward from which is the Saperton, formerly the property of the Beakes's, who resided here as early as king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign; it was sold by them to the Furneses, whence it came by marriage, with Copthall, in this parish, to the St. John's, viscounts Bolingbroke, who have lately sold it, but one of the family of Beake, many of whom lie buried in this church, now occupies it. A little beyond this is Newnham, once accounted a manor, formerly belonging to the Ropers, lords Teynham, afterwards to the Bartholomews, then to Joseph Brooke, esq. of Rochester, and now to his devisee the Rev. John Kenward Shaw Brooke, of Town-Malling.—Hence among the marshes is the hamlet of Grove, through which the road leads across them to the right over the lesser Stour, to Wingham, Ash, and the eastern parts of Kent, and to the left by Grove-ferry over the Greater Stour, to the northern part of the country and the Isle of Thanet. There is no other wood in the parish excepting Trendley park. There is no fair.

 

At the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the year 1080, this place was part of those possessions with which that king had enriched his half-brother Odo, the great bishop of Baieux. Accordingly it is thus entered in that record, under the general title of his lands:

 

In Donamesford hundred, the bishop himself holds in demesne Wicheham. It was taxed at four sulings. The arable land is eleven carucates. In demesne there are two carucates, and thirty-six villeins, with thirty-two cottagers having nine carucates. There is a church, and one priest who gives forty shillings per annum. There is one park, and two mills of fifty shillings, and two saltpits of thirtytwo pence, and three fisheries of four shillings, and thirtytwo acres of meadow. Pasture for three hundred sheep and for thirty-one beasts. Wood for the pannage of eighty bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twenty-five pounds, when he received it twenty pounds, now thirty pounds. There belong to this manor in Canterbury three plats of land paying six shillings and eight pence. Alured Biga held it of king Edward. Moreover there belongs to this manor half a suling of free land, which Sired held of Alured Biga, and Goisfrid, son of Badland, now holds it of the bishop of Baieux, and it is and was worth separately sixty shillings.

 

Four years afterwards the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions were consiscated to the crown, of which this manor appears afterwards to have been held by the Cliffords. Walter, son of Walter de Clifford, possessed it in the reign of king John, and with Agnes de Cundy, his wife, was a good benefactor to St. Augustine's abbey, and that of St. Radigund. (fn. 1) By the marriage of Margaret, daughter and heir of Walter Clifford, with John de Brewse, it passed into that name, and William de Brewse, or de Braiosa, as they were written in Latin, was possessed of it in the 42d year of king Henry III. His descendant William de Brewse, lord of the honour of Brembre, in Sussex, and of Gower, in Wales, as he stiled himself, whose ancestor came into England with the Conqueror, who gave him the castle of Brember, and whose descendant afterwards, by the marriage with Bertha, daughter and one of the coheirs of Milo, earl of Hereford, became possessed of the castles of Brecknock and Gower likewife, and bore for his arms, Azure, a lion rampant, between twelve cross-croslets, or; though I find by the pedigrees of this family, that his ancestors bore Azure, three bars vaire, argent, and gules. He was several times summoned to parliament in king Edward I.'s reign, as was his son of the same name, both in that and Edward II.'s reign, and died possessed of this manor in the 19th year of the latter. Very soon after which it appears, with the church appendant to it, to have come into the possession of Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, half brother to king Edward II. (fn. 2) After which it descended to his brother John Plantagenet, likewife earl of Kent, it being then held of the king in sergeantry. He died anno 26 Edward III. upon which Joane his sister, commonly called the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of Sir Thomas Holand, became his heir, who in her right not only possessed this manor, but became earl of Kent likewise. She afterwards married Edward the black prince, and died in the 9th year of king Richard II. being succeeded in this manor then held in capite, by Thomas Holand, earl of Kent, her son by her first husband, whose two sons, Thomas and Edward, both earls of Kent, and the former created Duke of Surry, in turn succeeded to it, and the latter dying anno 9 Henry IV. his five sisters became his coheirs, and on a partition made between them, Edmund, earl of March, son of Eleanor, late countess of March, the eldest of them became entitled to this manor in his mother's right, being the last earl of March of this family, for he died s. p. in the 3d year of king Henry VI. being then possessed of it. The year after which, Joane, wife of Sir John Gray, appears by the escheat rolls to have been entitled to it; not long after which it became the property of the family of Tibetot, or Tiptoft, as they were usually called, in whom it continued down to John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, who was attainted and beheaded in 1471, anno 10 Edward IV. king Henry being then restored to the crown. He lest an infant son Edward, who, though he was afterwards restored in blood by king Edward IV. yet I do not find that he was ever reinstated in the possession of this manor, which remained in the crown till the reign of king Henry VIII. who granted it, with the advowson of the church, to Sir Matthew Browne, of Beechworth-castle, who in the 22d year of it, passed it away to Lucy, widow of his uncle Sir Anthony Browne, standard-bearer of England, whose grandson Anthony was, anno I and 2 of Philip and Mary, created viscount Montague, and died possessed of this manor anno 34 Elizabeth, and by his will devised it to his eldest son by his second wife, Sir George Browne, who was of Wickham Breaus, and his grandson Sir George Browne, K. B. leaving two daughters his coheirs, Winifrid, married to Basil Brooks, esq. of Salop, and Eleanor, to Henry Farmer, esq. of Oxfordshire, they joined in the sale of it, at the latter end of Charles II.'s reign, to Sir H. Palmer, bart. of Wingham, who died possessed of it in 1706, s. p. and by his will devised it to his nephew Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. who died in 1723, and by his will gave it to his natural son Herbert Palmer, esq. who married Bethia, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, who died in 1760, s. p., having devised this manor, with the advowson of the church appendant, to his widow. She afterwards married John Cosnan, esq. who in her right became possessed of it, and died in 1778, s. p. leaving her furviving, upon which she again became entitled to the possession of it, and continued owner of it till her death in 1797, on which it came to her nephew Sir Narborough D'Aeth, bart. of Knowlton, the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.

 

Trendley park, now accounted a manor of itself, is situated at the north-west boundary of this parish, being entirely separated from the rest of it by that of Littleborne intervening. It was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and is noticed in the survey of Domesday, in the description of the manor of Wickham above recited, in which it is mentioned as being then a park; and it should seem that at least part of it was then accounted as appurtenant to that manor; though in the description of the manor of Littleborne, in the same survey, which then belonged to the abbey of St. Augustine, it appears that the bishop had lands belonging to that manor too lying within his park here. Of this manor the bishop of Baieux has in his park as much land as is worth sixty shillings, says the record. In part of the recompence for which, the bishop seems to have given the abbot the manor of Garwinton, in Littleborne, and other land within the manor of Leeds, as may be seen by the entries of both these manors in the same record. Soon after which there was another exchange of land made between the bishop and archbishop Lanfranc, for some which lay within his park of Wikeham. What is remarkable in this instrument is, that it is given in two languages, in Saxon and Latin, but neither is a translation of the other, for both are originals, as was a frequent custom of that time. Appendant to it is the bishop's seal in wax, representing him on one side on horseback, with his sword and spurs, as an earl, and on the other habited as a bishop, with his pastoral staff; being perhaps the only seal of Odo at this time extant. (fn. 3) By all which it appears, that this park is much more antient than that of Woodstock, which has been accounted the first inclosed park in England. How long it continued an inclosed park, I have no where found; but in the beginning of king Henry VI.'s reign it was not so, as appears by the escheat-rolls of the 3d year of it, after the death of Edmund, earl of March, at which time there were two hundred acres of wood in it. He was lord of the manor of Wickham, and Trendley park was chiefly at that time certainly appurtenant to it, and continued so whilst in the possession of the same owners, which it did most probably till the attainder of John Tiptost, earl of Worcester, in the 10th year of king Edward IV. when they both came into the hands of the crown, and though king Henry VIII. afterwards granted the manor of Wickham to Sir Matthew Browne, yet I do not find that Trendley park was granted with it. From which time it has had separate owners. For some time it has been the property of the family of Denne, who continue at this time the owners of it. It lies in an unpleasant, lonely part of the parish, facing Westbere, and consists of three hundred acres of woodland, and a house called the Park-house. There is a high road through the middle of it from Stodmarsh to Canterbury market, which in king Edward II.'s reign, was attempted to be shut up, but the sheriff, with the posse comitatus, was ordered to open it again, as being an antient and allowed high road.

 

Charities.

Andrew Holness, of Seton, in Ickham, by will in 1554, gave to the poor 2s. in money and bread, to be distributed yearly; the churchwardens to take so much yearly out of his lands in Ickham and Wickham, except his house and garden at Seton, in case his executors did not give the same yearly.

 

Henry Sloyden, of Wickham Breaus, by will in 1568, gave for the use of the poor and Littleborne, in equal portions, a piece of land containing six acres and a half in the latter parish, called Church-close, which is distributed twice a year by the respective minister and churchwardens, and is of the annual produce of 4l.

 

John Smith, rector of this parish, by deed in 1656, gave a school-room, and a house and garden for a schoolmaster, in this parish, for teaching the children of it. The master to be chosen from one of his relations in preference, if any such could be found, is vested in the rector and churchwardens of this parish.

 

Sir Henry Palmer, of Bekesborne, by his will in 1611, gave the sum of 10s. to each of the several parishes of Wickham, Stodmarsh, Littleborne, and five others therein mentioned, to be paid into the hands of the minister and churchwardens yearly, out of his manor and lands of Well-court, at Michaelmas, towards the relief of the poor of each of them.

 

Thomas Belke, D. D. rector of this parish, by will in 1712, gave 501. for the putting out of five poor children of this parish apprentices.

 

There are about thirty poor constantly relieved, and casually seventy.

 

This parish is within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.

 

¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew, consists of three isles and one chancel, having at the west end a square tower, in which hang six bells. The church is not large, but is handsome and neat. In the middle isle are several memorials for the Beakes, of Saperton. In the south isle for the Larkins, who lived at Grove, in this parish. In the east window are remains of good painted glass, viz. the arms of Edward the black price and of Mortimer, quartered with Burgh, and a representation of Herod's daughter beheading John the Baptist. In the chancel, on the pavement, is the figure of a priest in brass, and inscription, for Henry Welde, rector, obt. 1420. A gravestone, and monument for Alexander Young, B D. rector of this parish, who rebuilt this parsonage-house, and repaired that of Eastchurch, of which he was vicar likewife, at the expence of 2000l. obt. March 21, 1755. A memorial for John Smith, rector, obt. Oct. 28, 1658. In the church-yard are many headstones, and a tombstone for the family of Beake. In the windows of this church there were formerly many different shields of arms, long since demolished.

 

This church was always an appendage to the manor, and continues so at this time, Sir Narborough D' Aeth, bart. owner of the manor of Wickham, being the present patron of it.

 

There was antiently both a rectory and vicarage in this church, which continued till the year 1322, when on a vacancy of the latter, Richard de Newcastle, the rector, petitioned archbishop Walter Reynolds, that they might be consolidated, which was granted, and they have continued in that state to the present time. (fn. 4)

 

This rectory is valued in the king's books at 29l. 12s. 6d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 19s. 3d. In 1588 it was valued at 250l. communicants one hundred and sixty-three. In 1640 the same. There are eighteen acres of glebe-land.

 

The marsh-lands in this parish, within Wickham and Preston valleys, pay a modus of two-pence an acre, and those within Newnham 1½d. only, in lieu of all tithes.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp158-166

Forget your limits, everything is possible.

It is difficult to exaggerate the rarity and the importance of this small royal portrait. When discovered it was described by Catherine MacLeod, curator of sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, as ‘the only surviving portrait of Arthur that could have been painted within his lifetime,’1 which means that it is one of the earliest surviving easel portraits in British art.

 

When it was painted the sitter, Arthur Prince of Wales, was heir to the newly-won throne of his father King Henry VII, and was the hope of the country in reuniting the competing dynasties of York and Lancaster after a century of bitter warfare. Not only was the prince, as son of Elizabeth of York and Henry Tudor, the physical embodiment of the new dynasty’s legitimacy, but he was also crucially placed on the diplomatic stage. His formal betrothal in 1497 to Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain was the final element in Henry VII’s policy intended to guarantee England’s security both at home and abroad. His untimely death a year after the marriage was solemnised at St Paul’s cathedral in 1501 had consequences that resonate through British history to the present day, as Catherine’s subsequent marriage to his younger brother the future King Henry VIII, its want of a male heir and its questionable legality resulted in England’s break with Rome and began the English Reformation.

 

As an example of portraiture in England at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it is a priceless document. The jewel-like richness of its execution stands comparison with the few known royal portraits that survive from this period, most notably the portrait of the sitter’s father King Henry VII (National Portrait Gallery, London) painted some five years later, and in the sympathetic treatment of the subject may be considered superior. Equally impressive is the meticulous and realistic treatment of the fur collar to the Prince’s robe, whilst the jewel in the Prince’s hat and around his neck are reminders of the opulence and display of aristocratic and royal dress at this period. The painter’s preoccupation with the rich applied gilding used in the costume bears comparison with the image of Richard II in the Wilton Diptych (National Gallery, London) painted one hundred years previously. Indeed, although attributed to an unknown Anglo-Flemish painter, the execution has as much in common with the native medieval tradition as it does with the more recent developments on the continent, and suggests the almost miniature scale and original appearance of the lost paintings of the fifteenth century kings now known only through later copies.

 

The difficult thing about aging is when we “see” what other people refuse to “see”. It doesn’t matter whether, it’s 2 US Presidential Candidates or a dear friend who @ 71 years-of-age has passed-his-Prime, and too proud an too economically challenged to Close-His-Shop. My friend’s age + his age-related-deficits, have caused him to be a danger to himself around metalworking tools. It’s very troubling to observe this & be unable to help him, help himself.

Kilmadock Parish War Memorial, Doune

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NN 72491 01525

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Lettering very difficult to read, badly eroded and patches of moss(?)

There is another plaque at the side by the steps but missed it.

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TO THE GLORY OF

GOD

AND IN MEMORY OF

THE MEN OF THE

PARISH OF KILMADOCK

WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES

FOR KING AND COUNTRY

IN THE GREAT WAR

1914 - 1919

SEE YE TO IT THAT THESE

SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN

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Dundee Courier - Thursday 05 June 1919

Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Doune's War Memorial is to be the statue of a Highland soldier erected in front of the Public Hall gifted to the burgh by Sir A. Kay Muir, Bart., Blair Drummond.

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Dundee Courier - Saturday 27 November 1920

Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

The Earl of Moray has signified his intention of subscribing £600 to the Doune War Memorial Fund.

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Dundee Courier - Monday 31 July 1922

Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

SECRET DOUNE WAR MEMORIAL UNVEILED Versailles Peacemakers Criticised General Sir lan Hamilton, D.5.0., unveiled Saturday the war memorial erected at Doune to the memory of the 63 men of the district who lost their lives in the war.

The memorial is obelisk in character, and its graceful proportions are enhanced by its effect against the wooded background. Its outlook is towards the village, and it is complementary to the new hall opened last week, both schemes having a similar origin and purpose.

A large concourse of people attended the ceremony, the Comrades of the Great War and the Territorials being under Captain Lindsay Pullar, and members of the Voluntary Aid Detachment under Miss Stanley Rogerson. The school children joined in the procession from the Moray Park, and were marshalled behind the memorial by the headmaster, Mr P. C. Merrie. Relatives of deceased were given a place of honour, and it was observed that some the women folk and children wore the medals and decorations of their loved ones.

On the broad base and steps of the monument were gathered the Provost and members of the Town Council and Parish Council, with their wives, and prominent people of the district, including:— Lady Muir, Deanston House; Sir A. Kay Muir, Bart, of Blair Druinmond; Mrs Harry Moncreiffe, London; Mrs M'Grigor, Beechwood, Stirling; Mr and Mrs Hogg, Row House; Mrs Bruce, Bridge of Teith Cottage: Mrs Stirling. Old Newton; Mrs G. S. Mackay, Mrs Stark Christie, Mrs Ash worth, Mrs Thomson, Miss Murray Menzies; Mr and Mrs John Stroyan and Miss Stroyan, Lanrick Castle; Miss Campbell Swinton, Glenardoch; Mrs Baillie Hamilton and party; Sir William and Lady Thomson, Dunblane; Rev. J. Chalmers Peat, Rev. James Scott, Rev. James Menzies, Rev. H. B. De Montmorency, Rev. Canon Docherty: Rev. Jas. Mitchell. Norrieston; and Mrs Scrimgeour; Mr D. Y. Cameron, Kippen, and Mrs Cameron; Mr Eric Bell. Stirling, architect of the memorial, and Mrs Bell; Dr and Mrs Burn Murdoch, Gartincaber; Mr F. L. Burder, East Deanston; ex-Provost Main, Doune; Mr Robert Thomson, Broich; Mr James Paterson, Burnbank; Mr John M'Ewen, Deanston: Mr Wm. M'Carroll, Deanston: Mr William Thomson, banker, Doune: Mr John Thomson, druggist; &c.

Burn Murdoch, who presided, called upon Sir Ian Hamilton, who is a son-in-law of .Lady Muir, to unveil the memorial.

.....

Some people say that we ought to remember our deed by building something useful, something that will be improvement to the place Other people are not satisfied unless they have some beautiful and artistic object to remind them of their lost ones. Deanston and Doune have done both, and I am very glad and very proud to have been here to-day. I have now the honour of unveiling this memorial.

As the Union Jack fell from the memorial the " Last Post " was sounded, and the pipers played lament. Rev. J. Chalmers Peat offered the dedicatory prayer. An opportunity was given at this stage to the relatives and others of placing wreaths and flowers on the memorial. It was an affecting scene, and the tributes were many and of great beauty. One which was given the place of honour was from the Doune, Deanston. and Kincardine Red Cross V.A.D. Detachment, and consisted of white everlastings on a base of laurels, with a large red cross of Flanders poppies in the centre. The Provost and Town Council, and the ex-service men, also sent wreaths, and one from Sir lan and Lady Hamilton had the following:—

"The saviours come not home to-night,

Themselves they could not save."

Roll of Honour:

S.W.O. Stuart Hay Murray, Pte. James Rorie. Major Lindsay Bruce Stark Christie. Pte. Matthew Connelly, Pte. James Dick, Charles Mills, Sergt. James Bell Jackson, Corpl. John Blacklock. Corpl. Peter Campbell, L.-Corpl. Patrick Fallon. L.-Corpl. Peter Innes. L.-CorpL Duncan M'Coll, L.-Corpl. John M'Gregor, L.-Corpl. George Reilly, Ptes. James Blacklock. William Boyd, Andrew Campbell, David Campbell. Alexander Dingwell, James Galbraith. John Graham, John Hislop, Robert Holmes. James George Marshall. James Marshall, Archibald Miller William Miller, John Moffat. Malcolm M'Donald, Daniel M'Naughton, Robert M'Naughton. David M'Vey, James Salmond, James Stewart, Sergt. Michael Manning, Ptes. William M'Leod, Robert Osborne, John Piggot, Lieut. William Maxwell Robertson, Corpl. Robt. Winter, Pte. John Dickie, Lieut. George Cochrane, Ptes. James Allan. Alexander Duncan, William Watt Shields. Captain Arthur Buchanan Baillie Hamilton, Ptes. Thomas Rorie,, Morten Winter, Robert Blennie, John Robertson, Corpl. John Mackay, Ptes. David Black, Alexander Cameron, Walter Martin. Donald M'Callum, L.-Corpl Stephen Hastie, Ptes. John Davie and Roderick M'Kenzie, Captain Colin Thomas Burn Murdoch, Ptes. John Paterson Cameron, William Dow Maclaren, and Charles Murray.

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Doune, Callander Road, War Memorial

War Memorial (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Doune, Callander Road, War Memorial

Classification War Memorial (Period Unassigned)

Canmore ID 339038

Site Number NN70SW 214

NGR NN 72481 01533

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink canmore.org.uk/site/339038

Aggie Ring’s Day Off

 

The weather was quite nice this morning, so Jersey Shore Fightin’ Texas Aggie Ringhad me drive him over to the beach, “Just to make sure it’s still there.” he said.

 

It was a difficult drive. Almost 7 miles! I must have been by two traffic lights. I’m sure me 10 minutes to get there.

 

The town I picked to take the Aggie Ring is called Asbury Park. Not our favorite town, but there’s usually no one there in the off season and they don’t enforce parking this time of year at the boardwalk and we knew we wouldn’t be bothered. We found an empty parking lot directly next to the boardwalk across from the “Wonder Bar” and the old “Convention Hall” which was completed in 1930.

 

Convention Hall, sadly has seen really bad times over the last few decades. Looking at it’s faded exterior, Aggie Ring found it hard to believe that so many great bands from Glenn Miller to Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and The Dead. Aggie Ring was once asked to license some of the photos of the inside of the building by an author writing a book about Jerry Garcia. The sea air is hard on all buildings near the beach. The salt air has corroded the steel under the brick façade so badly that I don’t see how it gets an occupancy permit. The acoustics are pretty bad as well… It’s like being in a garage.

 

There is a theatre section on the side of it farthest away from the ocean that is in somewhat better shape. Most of the visiting bands play on that side.

 

As Aggie Ring was walking through the concourse between the to parts of the building he heard someone performing a soundcheck in the theatre. “Who could that be?” Asked Aggie Ring. He had checked and no one was listed as playing tonight.

 

Then Aggie Ring said, “I know. It’s probably Bruce Springsteen and his band. They’ve probably rented the theatre again for a private charity concert.” NOTE: For those of you not blessed with living on the Jersey Shore, it’s difficult to NOT run into “The Boss” from time to time. He’s all over the place. The bookstores, the gym, even the pinball museum.

 

“Get me outta here!” exclaimed Aggie Ring. “If Springsteen sees me, he’s going to want money!”

 

As we quickly cleared out of the building and hit the boardwalk, we noticed a number of black SUVs with men in suites waiting in them. “It’s the Boss inside. Those are his guards and drivers.” claimed Aggie Ring.

 

The sun was coming up across the ocean into our lens, so Aggie Ring had to use the manual settings on his camera to deal with the light setup.

 

Aggie Ring remarked that we had the whole beach to ourselves as we walked across the sand.

 

The “No Swimming - Lifeguards Off Duty” was up but Aggie Ring didn’t pay it any attention. “I’m Aggie Ring damnit. I say when I swim or don’t swim.” Much like the honey badger, Aggie Ring don’t care about the rules.

 

We walked down to the waterline and Aggie Ring jumped off to have a look at the shells and sand pebbles. “Nothing much here today.” he said.

 

As Aggie Ring was walking along the rock jetty, he noticed an oyster shell and jumped up on it. “Anyone want to see an Aggie Ring on the half shell?” he laughed.

 

All of a sudden Aggie Ring ’84 called out, “Who wants to take a polar bear plunge with me?” A&M College of Texas Ring ’42 said, “I guess I’ll go along with you.”

 

They jumped into the ocean water and before I could take more than one or two photos, Aggie Ring ’84 cried out like a little girl and screamed, “I want out this water is cold!”

 

A&M College of Texas Ring ’42 just laughed and told Aggie Ring ’84, “You Austin, Texas-made Aggie Rings are such snowflakes. This water is probably only 40 degrees. Why back in Qwatonna, Minnesota factory where the real Aggie Rings like me were made, we could hang out in water like this all day long. We’d even hang out on the ice.”

 

They got out of the water and dried off and continued walking the beach. We finally walked back to the boardwalk and Aggie Ring noticed a pile of old boards laying underneath. He started singing,

 

“(Under the boardwalk) out of the sun

(Under the boardwalk) we'll be havin' some fun

(Under the boardwalk) people walking above

(Under the boardwalk) we'll be falling in love

Under the boardwalk, boardwalk!”

 

When Aggie Ring was done, we climbed up the steps and noticed the little building where the fortuneteller works during the season. Aggie Ring disappointedly remarked, “Why didn’t someone from the Texas A&M Athletic Department call her and ask her about some better plays for the last A&M football game?” I told Aggie Ring, “Maybe they did call her and she wasn’t able to take the call because she was out drinking with Johnny Manziel.”

 

We continued past the boardwalk beach bar which is closed for the winter. “That’s a damn shame.” said Aggie Ring in a tearful moan. “I know Aggie Ring.” I said to him as I tried to cheer him up. “You know we see that Shiner distributor truck drive here every week in the Summer. Soon… soon…

 

I tried to cheer up Aggie Ring by having his picture taken with the Langostino Lobster but it didn’t really help. He sobbed about not having his Shiner on the beach for the rest of the day.

 

We passed by a place on the dunes where some erosion was occurring. Aggie Ring said, “So this is where they put all of the dead Christmas trees. It’s like a tree cemetery.”

 

Aggie Ring told me he was through and I could drive him home. We hit all of the green lights on the return trip so it probably only took us about 5 minutes.

 

#AggieRing

South Uist War Memorial

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NF 74443 28625

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East side of A865 South East of Loch Bhornais Uarach

The inscriptions are quite weathered and some have been corrected which makes transcription difficult.

-

THE GLORIOUS

MEMORY OF THE MEN

OF SOUTH UIST

WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES

IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918

-

IN THREE CONTINENTS AND IN THE DEEP THEY LIE

BUT IN OUR HEARTS THEIR DEEDS FOR EVER ARE ENSHRINED

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EOCHAR

SGT. ARCHIBALD BOWIE 1ST CAMERONS

CPL. DONALD MORRISON 6TH CAMERONS

L/CPL. JOHN MORRISON 5TH CAMERONS

L/CPL. ANGUS JOHN MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DUNCAN MACKAY 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. MURDO MACKAY 5TH CAMERONS

PIPER ALEXANDER MACEACHEN 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD CURRIE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACINTYRE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ARCHIBALD MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ALEXANDER MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN CAMPBELL 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACKAY 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN WILSON 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS BOWIE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. RONALD MACINTYRE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. ALEXANDER MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD MACKAY 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACPHEE 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. jOHN MACDONALD 2ND GORDON HIGHRS.

PTE. FINLAY MACKAY 6TH CAMERONS

PTE. JAMES JOHNSTONE 49TH CAM. HIGHRS. CANADA

PTE. ROBERT MACLEAN R.A.M.C.

PTE. NEIL BOYD 2ND BATT. A & S. HIGHRS.

PTE. ANGUS NICOLSON 1/6TH DKE. OF WELLINGTON REGT.

JOHN MACEACHEN R.N.

FREDERICK MATTHEWS R.N.V.R. "INDEFATIGABLE"

SGT. JOHN MACMILLAN R.M.L.I.

PTE. RONALD WILSON R.N.D.

GERINISH

PTE. NEIL MORRISON 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. JAMES MACDONALD 5TH CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD MACKINNON 5TH CAMERONS

ANTHONY MACINNES R.N.R.T.

LOCHSKIPPORT

PTE. CHARLES MACAULAY AUSTRALIAN INF.

PTE. ANGUS DOUGLAD SEAFORTHS

ALLAN MACEACHEN R.N.R.

PTE. PETER DOUGLAS R.S.F.

-

ORMICLATE

SGT. PIPER JOHN SMITH H.L.I.

PTE. CHRISTPHR. MACINTYRE CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD A. MACKAY CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN BOWIE CAMERONS

PTE. RODERICK MACLEOD CAMERONS

FROBOST

ALEXANDER MACPHEE MER. MARINE

BORNISH

PTE. RODERICK MACDONALD SEAFHS.

A.B. JOHN MACDONALD R.N.

EAST KILBRIDE

ANGUS O'HENLY R.N.R. (T)

MURDOCH MACISAAC R.N.R. (T) (/)

ANGUS MACINTYRE R.N.R. (T) (?)

WEST KILBRIDE

PTE. PETER MORRISON CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MORRISON CAMERONS

PTE. ALEXANDER JOHNSTONE CAMERONS

SMERCLATE

DONALD J. MORRISON MER. MARINE

PTE. ARCHIBALD MACRAE CANADIAN SEAHS.

ARCHIBALD MACRAE R.N.R. (T)

PTE. RODERICK MACLEOD CAMERONS

PTE. ARCHIBALD MACRAE CAMERONS

PTE. ALLAN MACNEILL A.A.C.

SOUTH BOISDALE

PTE. DONALD MACPHEE CAMERONS

PETER MACINTYRE MER. MARINE

NORTH BOISDALE

PTE. MURDOCH MACDONALD H.L.I.

ANGUS O'HENLY MER. MARINE

PTE. MALCOLM O'HENLY CAMERONS

PTE. ROBERT MACINNES CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD STEELE SCOTS GUARDS

PTE. RONALD MACLENNAN SCOTS GUARD

-

STONEYBRIDGE

L/CPL. JOHN LAING CAMERONS (LVT SCOUTS)

L/CPL. SAMUEL MARTIN CAMERONS

PTE. NEIL STEELE CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACISAAC CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD MACINTYRE CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACDONALD CAMERONS

PTE. ALEXANDER MACDONALD CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACISAAC CAMERONS

LIEUT. ANDREW LAING BORDER REGT. (CANADIANS)

PERINERINE

PTE. RODERICK MACDONALD CAMERONS

SNISHVALE

L/CPL. ANGUS LAMONT SEAFORTH HRS. (LVT SCOUTS)

L/CPL. JOHN LAMONT LONDON SCOTTISH

PTE. JOHN MACDONALD CAMERONS

A.B. ANGUS MACCUISH R.N.R.

HOWBEG

PTE. RONALD JOHN MACEACHEN CAMERONS

PTE. NEIL BOVIE CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD JOHN MACDONALD CAMERONS

TPR. ANGUS GRAHAM LOVAT SCOUTS

HOWMORE

PTE. ALEXANDER MACDONALD CAMERONS

PTE. PETER MACINTYRE CAMERONS

PTE. DUNCAN DOUGLAS CAMERONS

PTE. DUGALD DOUGLAS CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACINTYRE H.L.I.

STILLIGARRY

PTE. JOHN ALEXANDER MACRURY CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD GRANT CAMERONS

PTE. RODERICK NORMAN CHISHOLM CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACINTOSH CAMERONS

SGT. DONALD MACDONALD CAMERONS

LOCHEYNORT

DONALD JOHN MACFARLANE R.N.R.

DONALD JOHN MACINTYRE MERC. MARINE

KILPHEDER

PTE. JOHN MORRISON 6TH CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS MACINTYRE 6TH CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MORRISON 6TH CAMERONS

PTE. ALLAN MACKAY 1ST CAMERONS

DALIBURGH

PTE. DUNCAN BLAIR 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD STEELE 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. ANGUS JOHNSTONE 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. DONALD CAMPBELL 1ST CAMERONS

GARRYHILLIE

PTE. NORMAN MACDONALD 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. MALCOLM MACDONALD 1ST CAMERONS

PTE. RODERICK MACCUISH 4TH CAMERONS

PTE. ARCHIBALD MACPHEE 5TH CAMERONS

ERISKAY

PTE. ANGUS JOHNSTONE CAMERONS

PTE. JOHN MACRURY CAMERONS

PTE. (?)JOHN MACDOUGALL MER. MARINE

PTE. (?)EDWARD JOHNSTONE MER. MARINE (?)

PTE. (?)JOHN MACKINTOSH MER. MARINE (?)

PTE. (?) KENNETH GILLIES MER. MARINE (?)

LOCHBOISDALE

PTE. ANGUS MACDONALD A.A.C.

PTE. (?)NORMAN MACDONALD R.N.R.

PTE. JOHN MACCORMICK CAMERONS

PTE. (?) PETER MACCORMICK R.N.R.

PTE. SIMON CAMPBELL LONDON SCOTS

PTE. DONALD STEELE CAMERONS

PTE. (?) DONALD J. STEELE R.N.R.

PTE. ALLAN MACQUARRIER CAMERONS

PTE. (?) JOHN STEWART R.N.R.

L/CPL. RONALD MACPHEE SEAFORTHS

PTE. PETER MACLEOD CAMERONS

PTE. HUGH MACDONALD HUSSARS

PTE. JAMES WALKER CAMERONS

SOUTH LOCHBOISDALE

DONALD JOHN MACPHEE MER. MARINE

GARRYNAMONIE

ALLAN MACDONALD MER. MARINE

---

1914 - 18

MILTON

DONALD MACNEIL MER. MARNE

PTE. NEIL MACKINNON CAMERONS

DALIBURGH

PIONEER KENNETH MACLEOD 1ST CAMERONS

GARRYHILLIE

LT. ANGUS MACDONALD NIGERIAN REGT.

EOCHAR

JAMES MACDONALD R.N.R.

EAST GERINISH

PTE. ANDREW MACINNES R.A.M.C.

---

1939 - 1945

BORNISH

PTE. DONALD A. MACPHEE 4TH CAM.

LOCHEYNORT

PTE. JOHN E. MACINTYRE 4TH CAM.

HOWBEG

PTE. EWAN J. BOWIE N.Z.A.

-

GERINISH

PTE. IAN CONNELY LOVAT SCOUTS

PTE. JOHN MACDONALD LOVAT SCOUTS

P/O NEIL MACSWEEN R.N.

EAST GERINISH

A.B. JOHN MACCEACHY M.N.

STILLIGARRY

PTE. JOHN MACDONALD 4TH CAM.

---

1939 - 1945

ERISKAY

A,B, ANGUS MACINNES M.N.

A.B. DONALD J. MACINNES M.N.

A.B. DONALD MACISAAC M.N.

A.B. MALCOLM MACKELVIE M.N.

A.B. MALCOLM MACKINNON M.N.

EAST KILBRIDE

A.B. DONALD CAMPBELL M.N.

A.B. ALLAN MACINTYRE M.N.

A.B. ALEX MACMILLAN M.N.

CAPT. DONALD MACASKILL M.N.

GARRYNAMONIE

A.B. PATRICK MACDONALD M.N.

A.B. ANGUS MACKENZIE M.N.

A.B. RODERICK MACKENZIE M.N.

NORTH GLENDALE

A.B. DOUGALD CAMPBELL M.N.

SOUTH GLENDALE

A.B. DONALD MACINNES M.N.

WEST KILBRIDE

A.B. DONALD J. MACLEAN M.N.

SOUTH BOISDALE

A.B. DONALD J. MACINNES M.N.

---

1939 - 1945

NORTH BOISDALE

SGT. JOHN MACKIGGAN 4TH CAN.

CPL. ANGUS M. PATERSON

KILPHEDAR

PIPER ANGUS MACKAY

SOUTH LOCHBOISDALE

A.B. DONALD J. MACDONALD M.N.

STROME

FLT/SGT. RONALD MACLEOD R.A.F.

NORTH BOISDALE

FLT/LT. JOHN SHEARER R.A.F.

A.B. JOHN MACLELLAN R.N.

A.B. ANGUS MACDONALD R.N.

MILTON

A.B. JOHN MACLEAN

DALIBURGH

L/CPL. JOHN A. MACLEOD 4TH CAM.

A.B. ROBERT MACLEAN M.N.

EWEN MACKENZIE C.A.

FROBOST

A.B. DONALD N. MACNEIL M.N.

ANGUS E. MACKIGGAN (?)M.N.

---

1939 - 1945

ORMACLATE

PTE. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL 4TH.

STONEYBRIDGE

FLT/LT. ARCHY MACRURA R.A.F.

CPL. ALLAN MACDONALD 4TH CAM.

PTE. JOHN CAMPBELL D.L.I.

EOCHAR

L/CPL. NEIL JOHNSTONE PARA-REG.

PTE. DUNCAN MACLEAN 1ST CAM.

PTE. DONALD J. MACCORMICK R.S.F.

LOCH CARNAN

A.B. JOHN MACINNES M.N.

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PLAQUES ERECTED BY PARISHIONERS OF SOUTH UIST 1980.

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Alternative Names Gerinish War Memorial

Site Type WAR MEMORIAL (20TH CENTURY)

Canmore ID 339075

Site Number NF72NW 63

NGR NF 74443 28625

Council WESTERN ISLES

Parish SOUTH UIST

Former Region WESTERN ISLES ISLANDS AREA

Former District WESTERN ISLES

Former County INVERNESS-SHIRE

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This picture was difficult to take because of the low lighting. It was also hard to find this flower. Although white calla lilies are easy enough to find - colored one's are extremely difficult. I did crop this picture because I ended up with too much white space. But I love the dreamy look to this flower in this picture.

Photographed at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, USA.

It is becoming more and more difficult to clean and freshen this streetcorner!

 

I think the attractive planters and the curbside mess ought to switch places!

 

-----------------------

 

In downtown Oakland, California, on July 4th, 2015, at the northwest corner of Telegraph Avenue and 17th Street.

 

-----------------------

 

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names terms:

• Alameda (county) (1002138)

• Oakland (7014250)

 

Art & Architecture Thesaurus terms:

• graffiti (300015613)

• sidewalks (300003893)

• traffic signs (300211849)

• trash cans (300197614)

 

Wikidata items:

• Downtown Oakland (Q5303527)

• July 4 (Q2698)

• July 2015 (Q16726273)

• litter (Q1780867)

• streetcorner (Q17106091)

• Telegraph Avenue (Q7696225)

 

Library of Congress Subject Headings:

• Food containers (sh85050271)

• Road work zones (sh2005005055)

Difficult life..

Angkor Wat or "Capital Temple" is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. It was first a Hindu and later a Buddhist temple. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura, present-day Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum.

 

Breaking from the Shiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple-mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early Dravidian architecture, with key features such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.

 

The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer; Angkor, meaning "city" or "capital city", is a vernacular form of the word nokor (នគរ), which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara (नगर). Wat is the Khmer word for "temple grounds" (Sanskrit: वाट vāṭa ""enclosure").

 

HISTORY

Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometres north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was centred at Baphuon. It is in an area of Cambodia where there is an important group of ancient structures. It is the southernmost of Angkor's main sites.

 

According to one legend, the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by Indra to act as a palace for his son Precha Ket Mealea.

 

According to the 13th century Chinese traveler Daguan Zhou, it was believed by some that the temple was constructed in a single night by a divine architect. The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113-C. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have been known as "Varah Vishnu-lok" after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished.

 

In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometers to the north.

 

In the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected after the 16th century it was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.

One of the first Western visitors to the temple was António da Madalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of."

 

In the mid-19th century, the temple was visited by the French naturalist and explorer, Henri Mouhot, who popularised the site in the West through the publication of travel notes, in which he wrote:

 

"One of these temples - a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo - might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged."

 

Mouhot, like other early Western visitors, found it difficult to believe that the Khmers could have built the temple, and mistakenly dated it to around the same era as Rome. The true history of Angkor Wat was pieced together only from stylistic and epigraphic evidence accumulated during the subsequent clearing and restoration work carried out across the whole Angkor site. There were no ordinary dwellings or houses or other signs of settlement including cooking utensils, weapons, or items of clothing usually found at ancient sites. Instead there is the evidence of the monuments themselves.

 

Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation. Work was interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 1970s and 1980s, but relatively little damage was done during this period other than the theft and destruction of mostly post-Angkorian statues.The temple is a powerful symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great national pride that has factored into Cambodia's diplomatic relations with France, the United States and its neighbor Thailand. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of Cambodian national flags since the introduction of the first version circa 1863. From a larger historical and even transcultural perspective, however, the temple of Angkor Wat did not become a symbol of national pride sui generis but had been inscribed into a larger politico-cultural process of French-colonial heritage production in which the original temple site was presented in French colonial and universal exhibitions in Paris and Marseille between 1889 and 1937. Angkor Wat's aesthetics were also on display in the plaster cast museum of Louis Delaporte called musée Indo-chinois which existed in the Parisian Trocadero Palace from C. 1880 to the mid-1920s. The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD. Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time.

 

ARCHITECTURE

SITE AND PLAN

Angkor Wat, located at 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E, is a unique combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire's state temples and the later plan of concentric galleries. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods: the central quincunx of towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. Access to the upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to the lowest level. Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This has led many (including Maurice Glaize and George Coedès) to conclude that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary temple.Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs, which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction - prasavya in Hindu terminology - as this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order during Brahminic funeral services. The archaeologist Charles Higham also describes a container which may have been a funerary jar which was recovered from the central tower. It has been nominated by some as the greatest expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse. Freeman and Jacques, however, note that several other temples of Angkor depart from the typical eastern orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment was due to its dedication to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.

 

A further interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by Eleanor Mannikka. Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, she argues that the structure represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as the measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honor and placate the deities manifest in the heavens above." Mannikka's suggestions have been received with a mixture of interest and scepticism in academic circles. She distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham Hancock, that Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco.

 

STYLE

Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture - the Angkor Wat style - to which it has given its name. By the 12th century Khmer architects had become skilled and confident in the use of sandstone (rather than brick or laterite) as the main building material. Most of the visible areas are of sandstone blocks, while laterite was used for the outer wall and for hidden structural parts. The binding agent used to join the blocks is yet to be identified, although natural resins or slaked lime has been suggested. The temple has drawn praise above all for the harmony of its design. According to Maurice Glaize, a mid-20th-century conservator of Angkor, the temple "attains a classic perfection by the restrained monumentality of its finely balanced elements and the precise arrangement of its proportions. It is a work of power, unity and style." Architecturally, the elements characteristic of the style include: the ogival, redented towers shaped like lotus buds; half-galleries to broaden passageways; axial galleries connecting enclosures; and the cruciform terraces which appear along the main axis of the temple. Typical decorative elements are devatas (or apsaras), bas-reliefs, and on pediments extensive garlands and narrative scenes. The statuary of Angkor Wat is considered conservative, being more static and less graceful than earlier work. Other elements of the design have been destroyed by looting and the passage of time, including gilded stucco on the towers, gilding on some figures on the bas-reliefs, and wooden ceiling panels and doors.

 

FEATURES

OUTER ENCLOSURE

The outer wall, 1024 by 802 m and 4.5 m high, is surrounded by a 30 m apron of open ground and a moat 190 m wide. Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a sandstone causeway to the west; the latter, the main entrance, is a later addition, possibly replacing a wooden bridge. There are gopuras at each of the cardinal points; the western is by far the largest and has three ruined towers. Glaize notes that this gopura both hides and echoes the form of the temple proper. Under the southern tower is a statue of Vishnu, known as Ta Reach, which may originally have occupied the temple's central shrine.Galleries run between the towers and as far as two further entrances on either side of the gopura often referred to as "elephant gates", as they are large enough to admit those animals. These galleries have square pillars on the outer (west) side and a closed wall on the inner (east) side. The ceiling between the pillars is decorated with lotus rosettes; the west face of the wall with dancing figures; and the east face of the wall with balustered windows, dancing male figures on prancing animals, and devatas, including (south of the entrance) the only one in the temple to be showing her teeth. The outer wall encloses a space of 820,000 square metres, which besides the temple proper was originally occupied by the city and, to the north of the temple, the royal palace. Like all secular buildings of Angkor, these were built of perishable materials rather than of stone, so nothing remains of them except the outlines of some of the streets. Most of the area is now covered by forest. A 350 m causeway connects the western gopura to the temple proper, with naga balustrades and six sets of steps leading down to the city on either side. Each side also features a library with entrances at each cardinal point, in front of the third set of stairs from the entrance, and a pond between the library and the temple itself. The ponds are later additions to the design, as is the cruciform terrace guarded by lions connecting the causeway to the central structure.

 

CENTRAL STRUCTURE

The temple stands on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of three rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. Mannikka interprets these galleries as being dedicated to the king, Brahma, the moon, and Vishnu.

 

Each gallery has a gopura at each of the points, and the two inner galleries each have towers at their corners, forming a quincunx with the central tower. Because the temple faces west, the features are all set back towards the east, leaving more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the same reason the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.

 

The outer gallery measures 187 by 215 m, with pavilions rather than towers at the corners. The gallery is open to the outside of the temple, with columned half-galleries extending and buttressing the structure. Connecting the outer gallery to the second enclosure on the west side is a cruciform cloister called Preah Poan (the "Hall of a Thousand Gods"). Buddha images were left in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most have now been removed. This area has many inscriptions relating the good deeds of pilgrims, most written in Khmer but others in Burmese and Japanese. The four small courtyards marked out by the cloister may originally have been filled with water.

 

North and south of the cloister are libraries.

 

Beyond, the second and inner galleries are connected to each other and to two flanking libraries by another cruciform terrace, again a later addition. From the second level upwards, devatas abound on the walls, singly or in groups of up to four. The second-level enclosure is 100 by 115 m, and may originally have been flooded to represent the ocean around Mount Meru.

 

Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and gopuras of the inner gallery. The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods. This inner gallery, called the Bakan, is a 60 m square with axial galleries connecting each gopura with the central shrine, and subsidiary shrines located below the corner towers. The roofings of the galleries are decorated with the motif of the body of a snake ending in the heads of lions or garudas. Carved lintels and pediments decorate the entrances to the galleries and to the shrines. The tower above the central shrine rises 43 m to a height of 65 m above the ground; unlike those of previous temple mountains, the central tower is raised above the surrounding four. The shrine itself, originally occupied by a statue of Vishnu and open on each side, was walled in when the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhism, the new walls featuring standing Buddhas. In 1934, the conservator George Trouvé excavated the pit beneath the central shrine: filled with sand and water it had already been robbed of its treasure, but he did find a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf two metres above ground level.

 

DECORATION

Integrated with the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is Angkor Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes. The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Higham has called these, "the greatest known linear arrangement of stone carving".

 

From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and the Battle of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava clans). On the southern gallery follow the only historical scene, a procession of Suryavarman II, then the 32 hells and 37 heavens of Hindu mythology.

 

On the eastern gallery is one of the most celebrated scenes, the Churning of the Sea of Milk, showing 92 asuras and 88 devas using the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea under Vishnu's direction (Mannikka counts only 91 asuras, and explains the asymmetrical numbers as representing the number of days from the winter solstice to the spring equinox, and from the equinox to the summer solstice). It is followed by Vishnu defeating asuras (a 16th-century addition). The northern gallery shows Krishna's victory over Bana (where according to Glaize, "The workmanship is at its worst"). and a battle between the Hindu gods and asuras. The north-west and south-west corner pavilions both feature much smaller-scale scenes, some unidentified but most from the Ramayana or the life of Krishna. Angkor Wat is decorated with depictions of apsaras and devata; there are more than 1,796 depictions of devata in the present research inventory. Angkor Wat architects employed small apsara images (30–40 cm) as decorative motifs on pillars and walls. They incorporated larger devata images (all full-body portraits measuring approximately 95–110 cm) more prominently at every level of the temple from the entry pavilion to the tops of the high towers. In 1927, Sappho Marchal published a study cataloging the remarkable diversity of their hair, headdresses, garments, stance, jewelry and decorative flowers, which Marchal concluded were based on actual practices of the Angkor period.

 

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES

The stones, as smooth as polished marble, were laid without mortar with very tight joints that are sometimes hard to find. The blocks were held together by mortise and tenon joints in some cases, while in others they used dovetails and gravity. The blocks were presumably put in place by a combination of elephants, coir ropes, pulleys and bamboo scaffolding. Henri Mouhot noted that most of the blocks had holes 2.5 cm in diameter and 3 cm deep, with more holes on the larger blocks. Some scholars have suggested that these were used to join them together with iron rods, but others claim they were used to hold temporary pegs to help manoeuvre them into place. The monument was made out of millions of tonnes of sandstone and it has a greater volume as well as mass than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The Angkor Wat Temple consumes about 6 million to 10 million blocks of sandstone with an average weight of 1.5 tons each. In fact, the entire city of Angkor used up far greater amounts of stone than all the Egyptian pyramids combined, and occupied an area significantly greater than modern-day Paris. Moreover, unlike the Egyptian pyramids which use limestone quarried barely half a km away all the time, the entire city of Angkor was built with sandstone quarried 40 km (or more) away. This sandstone had to be transported from Mount Kulen, a quarry approximately 40 km to the northeast. The route has been suggested to span 35 kilometres along a canal towards Tonlé Sap lake, another 35 kilometres crossing the lake, and finally 15 kilometres upstream and against the current along Siem Reap River, making a total journey of 90 kilometres. However, Etsuo Uchida and Ichita Shimoda of Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan have discovered in 2012 a shorter 35-kilometre canal connecting Mount Kulen and Angkor Wat using satellite imagery. The two believe that the Khmer used this route instead.

 

Virtually all of its surfaces, columns, lintels even roofs are carved. There are miles of reliefs illustrating scenes from Indian literature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots as well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader and celestial dancing girls with elaborate hair styles. The gallery wall alone is decorated with almost 1000 square metres of bas reliefs. Holes on some of the Angkor walls indicate that they may have been decorated with bronze sheets. These were highly prized in ancient times and were a prime target for robbers. While excavating Khajuraho, Alex Evans, a stonemason and sculptor, recreated a stone sculpture under 1.2 m, this took about 60 days to carve. Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehner also conducted experiments to quarry limestone which took 12 quarrymen 22 days to quarry about 400 tons of stone. The labor force to quarry, transport, carve and install so much sandstone must have run into the thousands including many highly skilled artisans. The skills required to carve these sculptures were developed hundreds of years earlier, as demonstrated by some artifacts that have been dated to the seventh century, before the Khmer came to power.

 

ANGKOR WAT TODAY

The Archaeological Survey of India carried out restoration work on the temple between 1986 and 1992. Since the 1990s, Angkor Wat has seen continued conservation efforts and a massive increase in tourism. The temple is part of the Angkor World Heritage Site, established in 1992, which has provided some funding and has encouraged the Cambodian government to protect the site. The German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) is working to protect the devatas and other bas-reliefs which decorate the temple from damage. The organisation's survey found that around 20% of the devatas were in very poor condition, mainly because of natural erosion and deterioration of the stone but in part also due to earlier restoration efforts. Other work involves the repair of collapsed sections of the structure, and prevention of further collapse: the west facade of the upper level, for example, has been buttressed by scaffolding since 2002, while a Japanese team completed restoration of the north library of the outer enclosure in 2005. World Monuments Fund began conservation work on the Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery in 2008 after several years of conditions studies. The project restored the traditional Khmer roofing system and removed cement used in earlier restoration attempts that had resulted in salts entering the structure behind the bas-relief, discoloring and damaging the sculpted surfaces. The main phase of work ended in 2012, and the final component will be the installation of finials on the roof of the gallery in 2013. Microbial biofilms have been found degrading sandstone at Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, and the Bayon and West Prasat in Angkor. The dehydration and radiation resistant filamentous cyanobacteria can produce organic acids that degrade the stone. A dark filamentous fungus was found in internal and external Preah Khan samples, while the alga Trentepohlia was found only in samples taken from external, pink-stained stone at Preah Khan. Angkor Wat has become a major tourist destination. In 2004 and 2005, government figures suggest that, respectively, 561.000 and 677.000 foreign visitors arrived in Siem Reap province, approximately 50% of all foreign tourists in Cambodia for both years. The site has been managed by the private SOKIMEX group since 1990, which rented it from the Cambodian government. The influx of tourists has so far caused relatively little damage, other than some graffiti; ropes and wooden steps have been introduced to protect the bas-reliefs and floors, respectively. Tourism has also provided some additional funds for maintenance - as of 2000 approximately 28% of ticket revenues across the whole Angkor site was spent on the temples - although most work is carried out by foreign government-sponsored teams rather than by the Cambodian authorities. Since Angkor Wat has seen significant growth in tourism throughout the years UNESCO and its International Co-ordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC), in association with representatives from the Royal Government and APSARA, organized seminars to discuss the concept of "cultural tourism". Wanting to avoid commercial and mass tourism, the seminars emphasized the importance of providing high quality accommodation and services in order for the Cambodian government to benefit economically, while also incorporating the richness of Cambodian culture. In 2001, this incentive resulted in the concept of the "Angkor Tourist City" which would be developed with regard to traditional Khmer architecture, contain leisure and tourist facilities, and provide luxurious hotels capable of accommodating large amounts of tourists. The prospect of developing such large tourist accommodations has encountered concerns from both APSARA and the ICC, claiming that previous tourism developments in the area have neglected construction regulations and more of these projects have the potential to damage landscape features. Also, the large scale of these projects have begun to threaten the quality of the nearby town's water, sewage, and electricity systems. It has been noted that such high frequency of tourism and growing demand for quality accommodations in the area, such as the development of a large highway, has had a direct effect on the underground water table, subsequently straining the structural stability of the temples at Angkor Wat. Locals of Siem Reap have also voiced concern over the charming nature and atmosphere of their town being compromised in order to entertain tourism. Since this charming local atmosphere is the key component to projects like Angkor Tourist City, local officials continue to discuss how to successfully incorporate future tourism without sacrificing local values and culture. At the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2012, both parties have agreed Borobudur and Angkor Wat to become sister sites and the provinces will become sister provinces. Two Indonesian airlines are considering the opportunity to open a direct flight from Yogyakarta, Indonesia to Siem Reap.

 

WIKIPEDIA

After a difficult session of photography at a 30742 photo charter with the weather not playing ball. A night photo shoot was setup with the these two impressive locos. Bulleid Pacifics 34092 Wells + 34007 Wadebridge at Toddington on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire railway.

Processing was difficult so I took the liberty of making it look more like a painting...

 

This trip was rather frustrating. First, there was very bright sunlight, making it difficult to expose. Second, there were too many people who kept walking into my compositions. Third, there was a lot of man-made crap built all around the spring... which dissapointed me a lot. Why is it that people take beautiful places like this and put cement walls and manicured lawns all around it? As if humans could make a place MORE beautiful than the way mother nature created it... by "taming" it. Ugh... way to take paradise and turn it into f-ing disneyland. At least the area around the head of the spring was less built-around (although there were still bridges and a visually jarring railing, signage, and red floating barricade to keep people from going near the opening of the spring). Sigh.... at least the water itself was beautiful.

Probably the most difficult thing to read were these telegrams, sent to both his mother and father, at top left and to my mother, at top right and lower left and were, I guess, the hardest notifications to receive from any of the armed forces during the war. This is the 'Regret to Inform you ...' telegram and indicating any 'further information' will be communicated as soon as its available. These three telegrams arrived on the 27th April 1945. Subsequent to this, 11 days later, another arrived, from his 'pal' Tom, on the 9th May 1945 stating that 'Bill Ok. in England Soon' and this was followed two days later by another, on the 11 May 1945, from himself, with thankfully good news, or else I wouldn't be writing this, indicating to my mother, 'In England. quite well..'. The relief which is wife-to-be and his mother and father must have felt can in part be gleaned from the following text written, it is clear by his father, also William Henry Oates.

 

A diary written by William Henry Oates, Snr.

---------------------------------------------

The following entries were extracted from an old notebook written between March 1943 and February 1946. The journal entries were written by my grandfather, during the course of my father’s time (William Henry Oates, DOB 14 March 1925) in the Royal Air Force. The pencil written notes were clear enough, even after all this time, to enable the text to be copied almost verbatim. Only odd words have been added to make short sentences more understandable. The almost empty notebook was almost thrown out, around 2005, as having no particular use; its a very good job I flicked through the pages to see if there was anything in it!

 

The Diary.

---------------

* Joined Up – 16/3/43(aged 18). Volunteered, went to Doncaster for interview – April 1943

* Called Up, 28/6/43

Went to Lords (shop?) to be fitted out and then on to Bridgnorth in Shropshire.

* We paid him a visit in the last week in July, 1943.

(Enjoyed it)

* Came home on first leave, September 1943.

* Went to Yatesbury in Wiltshire when he went back off leave.

* Passed exams and got L.A.C pay in December 1943.

* Came on leave 22nd December and went back on the 29th December 1943.

* First Flight on January 7th 1944.

(Enjoyed it)

* Second Flight on the same day, hit air pocket.

* Missed several flights through bad weather = very disappointed.

* Went up again on 24th January 1944 – enjoyed it.

* Taken up by bomber pilot. Had exciting time.

* Came home on leave on 30th March 1944 and went back on 6th April 1944.

* Came on week-end leave 12th February1944, left in Doncaster station at 3am till 7am. Went back Sunday and had to walk 15 miles.

* Finished lessons for passing out on 23rd March 1944.

* Passed out on Monday 27th March 1944.

** Was asked if he wanted to be recommended for a commission and refused it, 13th April 1944.

* Came on 48 hours leave, 9th May 1944.

* Came on 7 days leave, 13th June 1944, went back on 20th June 1944.

* Granted leave on 22nd July 1944.

* Leave cancelled on 24th July 1944.

* Came on leave 29th July 1944, went back 6th August 1944. Had to hitch-hike from London to Camp.

* Went to Wigtown in Scotland to a new camp, 8th August 1944.

* Went for night flight, something went wrong with plane, landed at Shrewsbury in Shropshire on 24th August 1944.

* Bought gold wrist watch for Son, 21st September 1944.

* Posted 29th September 1944.

* Posted to Tilstock in Shropshire, came on 48 hours leave on Wednesday night. Went back 5th October 1944.

* Posted to Sleap in Tilstock. Crewed up October 1944. Working all day flying, 8.5 hours.

* Went to valley in Isle of Anglesey, 14th November 1944. Enjoyed it.

* Came back from Sleap after 3 days.

* Came home on 36 hours leave, 23rd November 1944. Having a rough time.

* Got watch repaired, needed new glass. Sent it back to Son 25th November 1944.

* Came home on 36 hours leave, 2nd December 1944. Got back in good time.

* Came home on 9 days leave, 18th December 1944. Had a good time, went back 27th December 1944 to another post, Keevil(Wiltshire), but only stopped there a few days.

* Went back to Tilstock.

* Came over for a day on 14th January 1945.

* Came over again on 21st January 1945.

* Came home on 10 days leave, 14th February 1945. Got 48 hours extension.

* Posted to Essex. Matching, then to Rivenhall in Essex.

** Went over to Brussels, 17th March 1945.

** In Great Air-borne Raid over the Rhine, 24th March 1945. ******************

* Came home on 36 hours leave, 27th March 1945.

** Posted to Rivenhall on 9th April 1945.

* Came home on 36 hours leave, 14th April 1945. Very tired. Told mother what he was going to do when he went back.

** Posted as missing in air operations 26th April 1945. ******************

** Got Telegram 27th April 1945. ******************

** Got telephone message from Son to say he was safe, 9th April 1945. ******************

** Son sent telegram to say he had arrived back in England, 11th May 1945. ******************

* Went to hospital at Basford near Wolverhampton.

* Came home on leave 18th May 1945. Six weeks leave. Got extension of leave 20th June 1945. First mention of Doreen.

* Got engaged 23rd June 1945.

* 28th June 1945. Two years in R.A.F.

* Went back to Basford, 18th July 1945.

* Came home on Week-end leave 21st to 23rd July 1945. Not in very good health.

* Discharged from Basford on the 27th August 1945.

* Came home on indefinite leave. Called back to report at Catterick with full kit on 17th September 1945.

* Came back with full kit from Catterick on 22nd September 1945.

* Indefinite leave – waiting to be posted.

* Posted to St. Athan in Glamorgan, 11th October 1945.

** Having new course training for Flight Engineer. Expects course to last 18 weeks.

* Not very settled – keeps coming home for week-ends.

** Thinking of getting married in January 1946.

* Came home on Christmas leave for 9 days. Let it be known they were getting married on the 26th January 1946.

* Offered a ‘B’ release. Accepted it.

* Leaving St. Athan’s for demobed centre Wen(Watton Demob Centre?).

* 23rd January 1946. Expecting to be home, Friday 25th January 1946.

* Came home Thursday 24th January 1946. Granted ‘B’ release and has finished with the R.A.F. on the 14th February 1946.

* Got married on Saturday 26th January 1946.

* Gone to Blackpool for honeymoon. Having a good time. Came back Sunday night 3rd February 1946.

* Gone to Ranskill with Doreen for a few days.

* Came down to see Mr. Strude about starting back in his job, told him he could do nothing for him as he had a ‘B’ release from R.A.F.

* Starting back at SPT (Steel Peach & Tozer), Monday 18th February 1946.

* So, that is the end of his R.A.F. career.

(Ends here)

  

For those interested, a point raised by Adrian Wynn regarding what a 'Release B' referred too above.

It appears that this class of release from the armed forces was issued for those with reserved occupations before the war and who were thought important to get back into the workforce when the war ended. In this instance it appears that whoever 'Mr. Strude' was, he no longer operated one of the reserved occupation businesses which it looks like my father was working for, before he signed up to the R.A.F. in March 1943, aged then 18, si at the most he can only have been in Mr. Strude's employ for 3 years. Sone details regarding the Class 'B' release from the Armed Forces-

.''' The essential details of Bevin’s demob plan had been announced back in September 1944. It divided servicemen into two categories, or classes. Most men – nine out of ten – were in Class A. For these men, the order in which they would be demobilised was calculated according to two factors: their date of birth, and the month that their war service began. Two months of service were equivalent in value to one year of age. Each servicemen was allocated a Release Group Number that he could consult on a simple table published in the official Forces guidebook, Release and Resettlement. The older you were and the longer you had served, the lower your Group Number would be. Groups were to be released in turn, with Group 1 first, then Group 2, and so on.

The exceptional one in ten servicemen were known as the Class B ‘key men.’ They had been in pre-war civilian occupations – coal mining, building and civil engineering, teaching, the police service – which were considered so vital to reconstruction that it was justifiable on grounds of national interest to discharge them ahead of the rest of their Release Group. The plan was well received because it emphasised simplicity and transparency. Everyone’s place in the Class A order of release was based on two straightforward pieces of information; anyone could easily calculate anyone else’s Group Number if they wanted to. Officers and other ranks were to be treated identically. Men stationed abroad would be returned to the United Kingdom to be released at the same time as men on home service. As for Class B, Bevin was emphatic that this was not a soft option or an attractive way of jumping the queue. Anyone released in Class B was expected to work for his reconstruction employer only, and if he left that job he became immediately liable for recall to the Forces. Whereas newly released Class A servicemen would get eight weeks’ leave with full pay upon their release, those in Class B would only get three weeks.

Yet by the end of 1945, demobilisation was being described by one of the Labour Party’s own MPs as “the Achilles heel” of the Attlee government. “Thousands of us are becoming embittered and demoralised,” complained an RAF airman to the Daily Herald; other servicemen spoke of “disgust and rebellion” and how “bitter, frustrated, and completely disillusioned” they felt. Something had gone very badly wrong.The massive influx of people from the armed forces overwhelmed the country's capacity for providing work, housing and above all a sense of well being that should have been accorded to the returning "conquering heroes".As it was the nation was on the verge of bankruptcy, a gigantic industry geared to the war effort suddenly ground to a halt and it's employees thrown on to the Dole,further exacerbating the Job Situation and of course Rationing of food, clothing, furniture etc. was still in force. "A Land Fit for Heroes"-it was not!!! NB. Husbands and wives also had to adjust to living together again after many years apart. One indicator of the social problems this caused was the postwar divorce rate; over 60,000 applications were processed in 1947 alone, a figure that would not be reached again until the 1960s...'

 

View "Difficult to Differentiate" on black or on white.

 

© 2020 Jeff Stewart. All rights reserved.

This very rare ivory object is a utensil handle for which the functional part disappeared.

 

It has a rich and complex decoration that is difficult to perceive with the naked eye.

At the point, a centaur plays the lyre seated on a rock at the base of a tripod. Each foot of the seat forms a fluted pilaster crowned by an engraved capital and completed with a base of four claws.

On the first capital, a man carries an overturned torch and a vase. On the second, another man lifts a goatskin sack of wine, and on the third, there is a woman dancing and raising a tambourine while carrying a stick on her back called a thyrsus. She is a maenad, a woman in trance belonging to the group of Bacchus’s followers.

A border of three masks separates the tripod from the lower part of the object. They are satyrs. Two of these masks represent a long-haired, barbed face with pronounced features turned toward the left. The third, which faces the other, is young and beardless. A vase for drinking wine called the kantharos and a thyrsus separate the masks.

The centaur is none other than Chiron who was entrusted with the education of Apollo’s son Asclepios, the god of medicine, among others. The kantharos, thyrsus, maenad, and satyrs conjure up images of the followers of Bacchus, Dionysus for the Greeks. The masks are allusions to theater, of which he is part of the founding, while the goatskin sack and the overturned sack represent his cult.

 

The tripod symbolizes the seat of Pythia, the prophetess that spoke for Apollo at Delphi where in the winter Dionysus’s followers replaced those of Apollo. Delphi is the place of the alliance of the two divinities with opposite characteristics. Dating back to the end of the first or beginning of the second century, this decoration referred more to Bacchus’s cult who experience a renewal during this period rather than that of Apollo.

 

Discovered in a house on a major road leading to the sanctuary of the area’s current cathedral, this handle could have corresponded to a cult object similar to incense spoons. Was it perhaps linked to the altar with the bacchanalian decoration presented?

Spoon Handel discovered in 1988-1989 in Toulouse (at the corner of the roads Saint-Anne and Saint-Jacques).

 

Elephant ivory.

End of the first or second century common era.

Inv. D.98.2.1.of