York and the Minster

I've been reading a book by Ken Follet called The Pillars of The Earth. One of the main characters is a stone mason who dreams of building a cathedral. He describes the building of it in his mind, naming the different parts and their function. This afternoon The Man and I visited York Minster and the book came to life. In my minds eye I saw Tom, the mason, sketching out the plan on a plaster tablet, using multiples of his rod to create the perfect dimensions. Each structure a multiple of a single measure, thus making it pleasing to the eye.

Our modern buildings go up at breakneck speed compared to the years and manpower that it took to build a masterpiece such as The Minster.

There are many many tombs within the great building, some with dates as early as 1740. The beginning parts of the church are much older though dating from the mid 1100's

Outside proud of countenance, is a statue of a Roman conqueror call Constantine. He declared York was Roman back in AD746. Hows that for age. It continues to astound me that people just like you and me lived worked, laughed and loved all those thousands of years ago. 

York is a nice place, but boy did we notice the cold, it must have been all of five degrees there today, good thing the wind wasn't blowing or it would have felt a good deal colder.

Coldharbour...

I’d like to share this story about the Isle of Dogs

Charles Napier Hemy, R.A., R.W.S. (1841-1917) Cold Harbour, Blackwall 1896

Coldharbour in Blackwall is one of the most unusual streets in Docklands, it was once part of the old Blackwall that followed the river until it reached Trinity Buoy Wharf.

However the construction of the West India Docks and the City Canal in the early years of the 19th Century effectively cut off Coldharbour from the rest of Blackwall.

There has been buildings on the site since the 17th Century, but two of the better known is the Gun public house which still exists and another tavern called the Fishing Smack which has been demolished but had a curious history.

There had been a tavern on the site since the 1760s, firstly called the Fisherman’s Arms before changing its name in the early 19th Century to the Fishing Smack. We know it was called the Fishing Smack in 1808 due to the following report in The Gentleman’s Magazine

As a young woman, a servant in the Fishing-Smack public-house, Cold Harbour, Blackw’all, was standing on the steps leading to the River, she was so much alarmed by a flash of lightning , that she fell in the river and was unfortunately drowned.

The change of name probably reflected the arrival of Fishing Smacks from Great Yarmouth who frequented this spot when selling their catches in London. This trade and the area was known to Charles Dickens who had written about the other Taverns in Blackwall such as the Artichoke and Plough that were known for their Whitebait dinners. Although Dickens did not write directly about the Fishing Smack, he did use characters in his books that could have had their origins in this  area.

George Haw recalls walking around this area in 1907 with well known local MP Will Crooks and having the following conversation with some old characters that used to work this stretch of the river.

“Ah!” exclaimed the other, fetching a sigh; “but don’t you remember that old Yarmouth fisherman who used to bring his smack round here from the Roads and sell herrings out of it on this very Causeway?”

“Remember! What do you think? That was the old man who would never keep farthings. In the evening, when he’d got a handful in the course of the day’s trade, he would pitch them in the river for the boys to find.”

“Likely enough,” interposed Crooks. “I mudlarked about here myself as a lad.”

The eldest of the ancient watermen would have it that this old boy from Yarmouth was the original of Mr. Peggotty, and that it was at Blackwall Dickens first made his acquaintance. He said he had often seen Dickens himself about those parts.

We ventured a doubt.

“Why, bless my life!” he cried; “ain’t I talked to him at the Causeway here many a time?”

This, of course, was unanswerable, so we asked what Dickens did when there.

The ancient waterman thought a moment.

“What did Dickens do?” he ruminated. “Now, let me see. What did Dickens do? I know: Dickens used to go afloat!”

The other declared that Dickens did more than that: he would often go into the fishing-smack.

We immediately assumed that it was the fishing-smack of the old Yarmouth salt that was meant. We were wrong. It was another “Fishing Smack,” one of the quaint old taverns by the river still standing in Coldharbour.

Mr Peggotty of course was a character from David Copperfield  and it was not impossible  that Dickens could have met some of the old Yarmouth fisherman at this very spot.

Although the old tavern was rebuilt with a frontage onto Coldharbour in the  early 20th Century, it did not regain its glory days and was eventually demolished after the Second World War.

And that leaves us with a mystery for although Coldharbour  has escaped much of the recent developments of the Docklands, there has been modern developments.

However standing at Number 9 Coldharbour  is a line  of brown shiny bricks that seem strangely out of place with the well attended houses nearby.

This line of bricks is the last remains of the Fishing Smack tavern , but why is it still there ? A local writer recalls being told that the last owner of the pub sold the land but demanded that a small part of the old pub must remain.

Whether this is true or not, nearly 70 years later we still have a strange small reminder of the historic tavern.

Historic Coldharbour

 

All that remains of it today

A little of this and that...

 Well I am very pleased to be able to write that he spots are definitely fading. Thanks to the steroids. Within an hour of taking them it was looking much better thank goodness

Had a bit of a flare up earlier today but…pop a few more steroids and voila, well not quite that fast, but is was improved. Taking a strong antihistamine helped too.

So I guess I will be taking the pills for a bit longer.

Had a good score this evening… no no it’s not what you think

Walking along Church Road, out street, The Man and I spotted a bookcase abandoned on the side of the road….possibly ot abandoned but it certainly looked like it.

So we waited a couple of hours and went out and there it still was, so we’ve been good Samaritans and given it a good home.

Saw this in the freebee paper this morning, falls into the category…but is it art...not my in book it isn't Tim...

 

 The inaugural exhibition at the newly opened Serpentine Sackler Gallery, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, presents a site-specific installation by Adrián Villar Rojas. One of the most exciting artists to have emerged in recent years,

A bit more about Windsor,

It is the largest inhabited castle in the world from the time of William the Conqueror. The castle floor area is approximately 484,000 square feet and is approximately 44,965 in square meters. This Castle is recognized as one of the official homes or residences of the British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II is known to have spent many weekends of the year in Windsor castle. The castle is also used for both state and private use. Most of the Kings and Queens of England, Great Britain and Commonwealth realms have direct influence on the construction and evolution of the said castle. This castle serves as their garrison fortress, home, official palace and sometimes their prison. When the country has been at peace, it is said that the castle was expanded and was enhance but during the war, the said castle was fortified.


Inside the proximity of the castle is where you may find the so-called Home Park. This Home Park is comprised of parkland and two working farms. Within this property, you will find estate cottages. Employees mainly occupy these cottages. Frogmore estate is also found in the Home Park. Frogmore House and Garden are open to public for viewing on certain days of each year the remaining part of the Home Park is classified as “private,” meaning no visitors allowed.
In the Home Park located at the north of the castle stands a private swimming pool. Eton College is located approximately half mile north from the castle across River Thames.
Way back in 1660 the restoration of the castle begun. Prince Charles II did much work to restore and refurnish the castle from the damage

 Windsor Castle estate (including Windsor Great Park) has over 450 clocks. When British Summer Time (BST) begins, it takes the Queen’s clock maker 16 hours to move every clock forward by one hour.  At the end of BST it takes him 18 hours to adjust them back one hour (as he actually has to move them forward 11 hours!)

·  When Hitler was planning his takeover of Britain he decided that he would keep Windsor Castle as one of his homes so consequently Windsor Castle and Windsor were never targeted during the war.

What a weekend...

The Man and I have had a fantastic weekend at Windsor.
We absolutely walked our feet off and the castle is incredible.
We're both tired and happy.
Had a bit of a diversion transport wise as we got back to Clapham junction which meant we were a couple of hours later than expected getting back to Crystal palace.

Thats all all I'm going to write 'cos its goodnight from me and goodnight from him.

I will share just one picture tho...

Catching up..

OK, I know it’s been a few days since I wrote a ‘proper’ blog entry.

It has been hard to find that slot of time. Take yesterday for example.

I didn’t’ leave work until 6pm. The Man and I get to Canada Water train station only to discover that there are no trains running between there and Crystal Palace.

So plan B swings into operation. That means getting the next train to Clapham Junction  and then a Southern train back to Crystal Palace. Which we did, but that meant we didn’t walk in the door at our little flat until well after 7:30pm. So by the time tea was cooked and devoured I hardly had time to t write more than a line or two.

Last weekend we were able to go to Croyland, which is where my Hall ancestors came from. So I have again walked where they walked.

I think that my three times great grandparents, John Hall and Martha Wyment married at the abbey back in 1796. The present parish church is actually the north isle of what was once a magnificent abbey.

Croyland Abbey was a monastery of the Benedictine Order in Lincolnshire, sixteen miles from Stamford and thirteen from Peterborough. It was founded in memory of St. Guthlac early in the eighth century by Ethelbald, King of Mercia, but was entirely destroyed and the community slaughtered by the Danes in 866.

Refounded in the reign of King Edred, it was again destroyed by fire in 1091, but rebuilt about twenty years later by Abbot Joffrid. In 1170 the greater part of the abbey and church was once more burnt down and once more rebuilt, under Abbot Edward. From this time the history of Croyland was one of growing and almost unbroken prosperity down to the time of the Dissolution. Richly endowed by royal and noble visitors to the shrine of St. Guthlac, it became one of the most opulent of East Anglian abbeys; and owning to its isolated position in the heart of the fen country, its security and peace were comparatively undisturbed during the great civil wars and other national troubles.