Footnotes

A few curiosities that I've encountered on my travels:

The Suffolk Chainsaw Masterpiece

We don't perhaps have so many murals in this part of the world, but our nature reserves and public parks are increasingly playing host to wooden sculptures like the one shown here. They seem to appear without much fanfare and most seem to be uncredited. A search on the internet has persuaded me that this magnificent owl at RSPB Minsmere is the work of Norfolk-based woodcarver Luke Chapman. What's more it appears that this detailed and delicate work was achieved using a chainsaw. You can sometimes see these artists displaying their talents at country shows where you can also buy some of their work.

Fire Plaques

I often find these attached to buildings throughout East Anglia. They are fire plaques and date from the time when the only fire brigades were in the hands of fire insurance companies. The lead plaques announced that the occupant of the building had paid their insurance premiums and the relevant fire fighters would then attempt to put out the fire. I think the ones shown here have been bought from elsewhere; they often turn up on eBay. I wrote about the history of fire insurance here: A Little Bit Of History

Help On The Way

The small wildlife park just down the road from me also operates a Hedgehog Hospital, which tends to the needs of sick or injured animals brought in by members of the public. The local MG car dealership recently donated an "ambulance" which is used to pick up the casualties and also visits schools and other groups to spread knowledge about these delightful, prickly individuals.

A Sign Of The Times

I spotted this on my recent travels. Theft of lead from our church roofs is a constant problem for many villages, particularly when the church is in an isolated position. It's just one reason why many churches are keen to be open to the public; a stream of frequent visitors is a strong deterrent to thieves.

The Wives Of Francis Rowly

These two small brasses on the floor of Brent Pelham church commemorates the lives of the two wives of Francis Rowly; Mary, who died in 1625, and Ann who passed away just two years later. Sadly in those days many young women died in childbirth. The two brasses appear to be almost identical, maybe they were just a standard design, or perhaps they really were similar.

Scots In The Fens

On the Summer Walk at Welney a series of small signs have sprung up this year. They tell the story of the thousands of Scottish prisoners of war who were put to work digging the twenty-one mile long Hundred Foot River in the early 1650s, part of the drainage scheme designed by Cornelius Vermuyden. They lived in appalling conditions and any who tried to escape were shot by firing squad. Despite the terrible hardships, when those who survived were finally released, many stayed in the area and occasional Scottish names turn up in old records.

Nocturnal Visitor

The other day my neighbour informed me that a badger was coming to the area outside our houses and clearing up under the bird feeders which he's hung on the tree. The normal visitors include many Starlings and Grey Squirrels who make a good deal of mess. So when I happened to wake up at 01:45 I couldn't resist peeping through the curtains. Sure enough there was not one, but two badgers busily feeding. 

I thought I'd try to take a photo despite it being very dark, with just one streetlight providing a little illumination. For the technically-minded here are my camera settings: 1/13 sec, f 4.5, 210mm (equivalent), ISO 25,600. I'd always wondered why the ISO went up so high (!) and it accounts for the grainy look of the picture. I knew badgers were in the village because I'd seen the little pits they dig while looking for food but this is the first time I've seen them in years.

Take care.

The Old Curiosity Blog

As I wander the highways and byways of this fair land I come across many curiosities which do not fit into my regular blogposts. Here are just a few of them.....

A Sign Of Past Times

In the 1920s and 30s the AA (Automobile Association) erected some 30,000 of these distinctive yellow signs to help their members find their way around the country. Most of them were taken down during the Second World War when a Nazi invasion seemed a real possibility (I'm not sure how that would have inconvenienced them to any great extent). Some of these ended up in museums and a few, like this one at Anstey in Hertfordshire have been returned to their original positions.


How To Start Your Aeroplane

This wonderful contraption was seen at the Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire. The first planes had no means of starting other than have a member of groundcrew standing in front of the plane and swinging the propeller by hand: many were injured, or even killed, carrying out this task. This machine solved the problem and was on hand at the annual gathering of Tiger Moth bi-planes.


A Bridge Too Low

This bridge near Ely railway station holds an unenviable place in the record books. It has been involved in more road traffic accidents than any other bridge in the land! One can hardly blame the bridge, it's doing its best, festooned as it is with warning signs and chevrons. Short of jumping in the air it's difficult to see what else a bridge can do. But with tedious regularity drivers of trucks and vans look at the signs and think "Yeah, we can get under there" - and don't.


Ducks Crossing

Lets hope that this sign, painted by schoolchildren, is more effective at preventing unnecessary road accidents.


The Cambridge Oak

Nobody knows the exact origin of this hybrid tree or when it acquired its common name of Cambridge Oak. It's thought to be a cross between an American evergreen oak and a British oak tree. It has the unusual habit of hanging on to its old leaves until next Spring when the new copper-coloured leaves appear along with yellow catkins - I'll try to remember to take some photos next year for you. In the last few years it has begun to be colonised by fungi which may mean it's in decline and a replacement tree has already been planted elsewhere in the Botanic Garden. The fence has been placed around for reasons of safety as the gardeners have decided to let nature take its course without intervening and there's a real danger of falling branches.


Live And Let Live

This sign was included in my collection of pub signs that I showed you a while back, but I didn't know its story then. Here's what it says on the pub's website:

The Live and Let Live has been a pub since the 18th Century. The Bow Street Runners, founded in 1749, were a group of men who would solve petty crime for a fee.  Some 200 years ago landowners in Hexton called on their services to combat large scale poaching in the area. They had a tip-off that these petty criminals were discussing their next deed at the public house in Pegsdon. Finding themselves trapped inside by the Bow Street Runners, a compromise was made. With a promise to give up poaching the 'Runners' allowed the criminals to go free. To mark the occasion the landlord changed the name of his establishment to the 'Live and Let Live'.


In Memory....

This sad memorial stands just inside the churchyard of St Mary's church in Baldock. I doubt that this is the original wooden board, but presumably a replacement paid for by parishioners who still wish to remember the little lad.

A Rare Beast Is Expected!

And with that I'll bid you adieu till next time.

Take care.

A Snaggle Of Snippets

Time for another random picking from the hedgerows of curiosity. As I travel around I find lots of little items that don't really fit into any particular post, so from time to time I gather them all together for your entertainment and education. We'll start off in a car park....

Signal

In a car park in Hunstanton you'll come across this unlikely interloper - a railway signal, and behind it an old railway building. They are all that remains of Hunstanton Railway Station which was closed down in the 1960s. And if such items should be preserved it's surely in this little seaside town. You see, Hunstanton owes its existence to the railways. In the nineteenth century it suddenly became fashionable to visit the coast. The landowner here, the magnificently named Henry L'Estrange Styleman Le Strange, foresaw that if he were to build a new town on his land and connect it with a railway to the centres of population, then he might bring prosperity to the area. All this came to pass, though unfortunately for Le Strange he died of a heart attack in the very week that the railway was opened.

Church

At first glance, as you approach along the footpath, this looks like a very old church. The tower has that squat gnarled look of something that may date from Saxon or Norman times. Closer acquaintance however reveals that the body of Shepreth church is solidly Victorian and the tower includes many modern concrete blocks, especially in its buttresses. My theory is that the building was almost ruinous in the nineteenth century and most of it was rebuilt, but enough remained of the tower that it was patched up using some of the old stone and in its original style.

It even includes this fragment of an early gravestone. All we can read today is "Here lyeth ye Body of Elizabeth ye Da-----r of Fr-----???" The skulls are a common feature of old memorials - they didn't mess about in those days with any fancy words or symbols but told it like it is.

Garden

Just down the road

…..is this showy display of potted plants in front of an otherwise unremarkable house.

Stone

This crudely carved stone is on display inside Moulton church is thought to date from the eleventh century. It's probably some sort of Sheela-Na-Gig, a phenomenon which has been defined thus: a carving of a woman with exposed and/or exaggerated genitalia, usually found on religious buildings. The female figure is the one on the left and, as you can see, is not very clear. The other figure is a man, though again much damaged. These images usually just consist of the female figure and are found on churches throughout Britain and Ireland and indeed elsewhere in western Europe. They are not common around here though there is one particularly shocking one at Whittlesford. But what are such things doing in church? There are many theories - a Celtic pagan survival, a Goddess, a fertility figure, a warning against lust, a protection against evil - none of which is at all conclusive.

A Dog's Life

Two little signs for our canine friends:

and

I'm not sure what I can say about either.


Sunset

And finally a nice sunset taken from just outside my front door a few evenings ago.

Take care.

Cuttings From The Blogging Room Floor

Another selection of bits and bobs that I've seen on my wanderings...


Wonderful Inventions

When you get off the train at Biggleswade and cross over the footbridge you'll find this mural painted on the parapet. If you notice it at all you might think it's a badly painted representation of an old steam traction engine and there's no sign to tell you otherwise, or to explain its significance here.

It commemorates the achievements of inventor Dan Albone (1860-1906) who lived all his life in the town. The high point of his career was probably the invention of the first light agricultural tractor. The steam traction engines which preceded it were great heavy beasts which ploughed by having two engines placed on opposite sides of the field and pulling a plough back and forth between them by means of steel cables. Some manufacturers had tinkered with the internal combustion engine powering similarly heavy machines using the same system. But it was Albone who came up with the idea of having a tractor which was light enough to pull the plough behind itself like all modern tractors.

Before this ingenious breakthrough Albone had invented a safety bicycle, which was much like the bicycles we ride today, and also manufactured cars and motorbikes. I'm fascinated by the fact that he also invented and patented the little clips which attach a pump to a bike frame. What's more he was the first person to come up with the idea of making a child seat for a bicycle.

Out Of Sight

Recently while walking around Stow Hall Garden I came across these intriguing little steps which lead to some kind of tunnel. A nearby sign explained:

"This tunnel was used by gardeners arriving to and returning from work in the walled garden....This was so they would not be seen from the Hall (which has since been demolished).....Fortunately today the gardeners are allowed to be seen and use the main gates!.....We are not sure when it was built, but it was likely to have been in the early 1800's."

Forgotten Sign

My brother spotted this when we were out on a walk through the village of Elmdon recently. He reminded me that once nearly every village hall in rural England used to have such a sign to announce that it acted as a branch library where you could order any books you wanted to borrow from the main library. They've almost all disappeared now as their role has been taken by mobile library vans.

Black Diamonds

These diamond-shaped, black-bordered coats of arms are sometimes seen in our old churches. They are known as "funerary hatchments" and refer to the deaths of great men or women in the community, usually the Lord and Lady of the Manor.

These hatchments were hung above the door of the deceased's former residence for six to twelve months after their death and were then transferred to the church in which the person had been buried. The practice started in the seventeenth century and recalls an earlier time when a knight's shield would accompany the funeral procession and be left in the church. 

As is always the case with heraldry if you understand the conventions then much can be learned about the dead person, whether it was a man or woman, whether or not they were married, whether their partner pre-deceased them or was still alive and so on. I must admit that I get thoroughly confused by it all, though I can remember that the ribbons depicted around the arms on the left mean that it was a lady who had died.

Signs Of The Times

A year or two ago I showed you some of the "ghost signs" which were being re-painted around Cambridge. I wondered if the one for the old Hot Numbers record shop would be resurrected. As you can see below it's now as good as new..

Extra Apostrophes

As we all get older we get more frustrated by the incorrect use of the apostrophe, whether it's included where it's not needed as in the market-stall holders' "Mushroom's £1", or where it's been unforgivably omitted as in St. Johns Road. But here a graffiti artist has cleverly added one to the road sign to comic effect.

Take care.

Further To Our Earlier Enquiries

Another trawl through my photos for things I meant to share but somehow didn't.

The Girton Pioneers

In the town of Hitchin, not far from the railway station but in a quiet residential street, stands the house in the picture above. It's called Benslow House and is now a nursing home though it once housed some very different residents.

Benslow House was purchased in 1869 by a lady called Emily Davies, that's her in the picture. She was much involved in the movement to gain the vote for women, but she did not support the more violent forms of protest; she was a Suffragist rather than a Suffragette.

She had worked tirelessly to gain young girls the right to sit the secondary school exams, which were then only open to boys. Having succeeded in this aim she then wanted to give young women the right to study at Cambridge, Oxford or London Universities which were then exclusively male domains. She could not have chosen more unbending adversaries!

Being unable to get much co-operation from the universities she set up her own establishment The College for Women at Benslow House, initially with just five students. Although the universities would not admit female students there were within these institutions a small number of men who supported their cause and so the railway between Cambridge, Hitchin and London became a vital link.

Three of Emily Davies's students were able to sit Cambridge University examinations on an unofficial basis. When they passed these exams it became difficult for the authorities to maintain their position that women could not be educated to this level. Emily Davies moved her college from Hitchin to the outskirts of Cambridge and founded Girton College there, which is now part of Cambridge University. The college has a song entitled The Girton Pioneers.....

But of all the Cambridge heroes

There’s none that can compare

With Woodhead, Cook and Lumsden,

The Girton Pioneers

Letter Box

Once you start looking at the humble post box you find that there are all sorts of variations. The type shown above is the "Ludlow Box" which was designed to be a cheap alternative to the big cast-iron pillar boxes. They are cheap because they are largely made out of wood with just a metal sheet on the front, consequently they are always built into walls or brick pillars. I particularly like the dated look of the lettering which goes to the trouble of telling you not to post letters containing coins, paper money or jewellery.

On The Street

This is the main street leading through my nearest town, Royston. It is part of the old Roman Road known as Ermine Street, later called the Old North Road. As you can see from the photo it's actually two parallel streets, a form it retains right through the old part of the town. Originally there would have been market stalls on the central portion, all trying to tempt the passing traveller. In time these traders did well enough to build permanent shops.

F H & W

High on a wall in Hitchin is this elaborate mosaic sign for Freeman, Hardy & Willis, once one of the best known chains of shoe shops in the land. 

Some years ago I fell into conversation with an old man who was a cobbler and he told me the following tale:

When shoes began to be made in factories, rather than in individual cobbler's shops, the work was split into three parts. New apprentices only were taught one part of the process. This was to prevent them, once they'd trained, from setting up their own business in competition. Unless of course three of them joined forces, and Freeman, Hardy & Willis were just such a three.

Unfortunately I'm unable to find any evidence that the tale is true and much to say it's not. Never mind it kept me entertained while I drank a pint with the old fellow!

Big Gun

Cambridge's Lensfield Road is an unlikely place to spot the device seen above. It's a harpoon cannon from a whaling ship. It's in the grounds of the Scott Polar Museum to remind us of the uncomfortable truth that whaling was an important economic factor in the exploration of both polar regions. 

Take care.

Trifles And Tidbits

Grade One

The Village College is an institution which, as far as I know, is only found in Cambridgeshire. It was the brainchild of Henry Morris who was Chief Education Officer in the county for over 30 years. The idea was to build schools for 11 to 16 year-olds in their home rural areas and also to provide classes for adults in the evenings. Their links to the local community have always been very important. 

Impington, in 1939, was the fourth to be built and, it may surprise you to learn, is a Grade I listed building. The reason for this high designation is that it's the only building in the UK to be designed by the pioneering architect and founder of the Bauhaus school, Walter Gropius. He had fled Nazi Germany and  formed an architectural partnership with Englishman Maxwell Fry. Gropius soon moved on to the USA, but not before designing the Village College at Impington.

Grade Two

Believe it or not this late nineteenth century water pump is a listed building too, though only a common old Grade II. As you can see it's very smartly painted and bears the words Bamford's Frost Protected Lift Pump. Bamford's of Uttoxeter was founded in 1845 as an ironmonger's shop, but grew to be a large manufacturer of farm equipment, not ceasing production till 2008. Henry Bamford's grandson Joseph Cyril Bamford founded a rival company which still exists. It's known by Bamford's initials - JCB.

What's The Time?

A rather crude sundial high on the wall of Oakington Church. "God always cares" it says, but not enough to get the time right in this corner of the world it seems. This was taken at 11 o'clock but the shadow seems to indicate about a quarter to twelve. The metal part has got bent no doubt. Incidentally that metal bit that casts the shadow is called the "gnomon". Now that's a word that's bound to come in handy someday.

Foxed

Weather vanes are a feature of many buildings and I often think I'll collect photos of them but rarely remember to take a snap. I rather liked this fox relentlessly pursuing its prey while a (real) starling perches cheekily on his tail.

Places To Live

You can end up at some dodgy addresses in England. Who'd want to live at either of these...

Meanwhile these two, unusual as they are, might appeal to certain enthusiasts....

And here's a special address that I should have really posted on Valentine's Day....

Take care.

Snaps And Snippets

Time for a few more snaps of odd things seen on my travels, interspersed with some snippets of news from The Norfolk Annals published in the nineteenth century.

In the small Cambridgeshire village of Wicken there stands this stone pillar, all that remains of the market cross which has stood on this site since 1331, when one Humphrey Bassingbourn was granted the right to hold a weekly market on the green.

It is thought that in earlier times markets had sprung up around the old preaching crosses which were erected as places of worship before churches were built. I suppose that these would have been in central places within the community where a number of people could congregate, so it made sense for trade to occupy the same sites.

However as religion and trade became more organised it became desirable to separate the two activities. The surprising thing is that such a small settlement should have had a market at all.

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Aug 16 1854.—On this date was published an extract from the “New York Express,” giving particulars of a confession of murder by a soldier named Thomson, then stationed at Halifax, North America.  He stated that when at Norwich eight years previously he was on terms of intimacy with a woman named Ann Barber.  A quarrel had occurred between them, and he had thrown her into a canal.  The crime had so preyed upon his mind that he determined to give himself up to justice and allow the law to take its course. Two police-officers came to Norwich, investigated the affair, and elicited the following remarkable facts: Thomson had indeed  had an affair with Ann Barber and thrown her in the canal. However they also had occasion to interview a local man who told them that in the month of August, 1846, he was fishing for eels in the river  when he heard a scuffle, a shriek, a splash, and the sound of retreating footsteps.  He immediately rowed to the place and assisted out of the water a young woman, who refused to give him her name.  She went away, and no report was made to the police.  In 1850 Anna Barber was again seen in Norwich.  It was evident, therefore, that the remorse which impelled Thomson to make his confession was groundless.

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When we wandered through Babraham recently we saw a field of sheep, but I failed to mention the importance of the village to the development of sheep-farming.

In 1822 Jonas Webb became the tenant of Church Farm. He acquired a small flock of the then rare Southdown sheep. He began a programme of selective breeding to develop a larger, heavier animal with a better fleece. These were exported widely and a statue of Webb now stands in the village, paid for by friends and farmers across the world.

This pioneering farmer was also a noted breeder of Shorthorn cattle.

Fittingly the Babraham Institute, just down the road, which carries out  research into molecular biology, has a building named after him.

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July 27 1868.—Mr. Simmons ascended in his large balloon from the Victoria Gardens, Yarmouth, and descended at Caister.  On August 6th he made an ascent from the Greenhill Gardens, Norwich, and descended in Horstead Park.  Mr. Simmons, on August 13th, exhibited the balloon in Norwich Market Place, where, in a captive state, it made several ascents.  The aeronaut, accompanied by Mr. William Maris, then ascended to the height of 10,000 feet in the space of two minutes, when the balloon drifted away in a north-easterly direction.  The passengers made a perilous descent near the sea coast.  They narrowly escaped with their lives by jumping out. The balloon, blown out to sea, fell into the water two and a half miles off Sheringham.  The voyage from Norwich lasted only fifteen minutes.

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The photo on the left, looking straight up from Senate House Passage in Cambridge, showing the gap between the Senate House and Gonville and Caius College, will have to serve as an illustration of a phenomenon which I can not show you in any other way.

In the 1930s a book was written under the pseudonym of Whipplesnaith. It was called The Night Climbers Of Cambridge and detailed climbing routes up various college buildings and across the rooftops. It included the Senate House Leap, the jump between the two buildings in the picture.

A secret society existed (and still exists) within the University, which dedicates itself to such nocturnal acts of derring-do. It's easy to imagine how this all started: the college gates are locked at night, but this would prove little deterrent to high-spirited and imaginative young men who sought ways to climb back in. The secrecy was to protect them from the college authorities.

If their identities remain secret their exploits are occasionally very public. Who else would be responsible for decorating the four spires of King's College Chapel, 150 feet (45 metres) above the ground, with Father Christmas hats, as happened in 2009?

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Aug 28 1826.—Ten thousand persons were attracted to the neighbourhood of St. James’s Hill, Norwich, to witness the performances of “Signor Carlo Cram Villecrop, the celebrated Swiss Mountain Flyer from Geneva and Mont Blanc,” who was to exhibit “with the Tyrolese pole, 50 feet long, the most astonishing gymnastic flights never before witnessed in this country.”  It was a hoax.

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High on a wall in Cambridge's Regent Street is the carved stone on the right, unseen by 99% of those passing by.

Between the dates 1851 and 1934 is a representation of an owl perched on the side of a pestle and mortar. Beneath is an inscription which I think reads "Sciendo et Girando". I can't remember much of my schoolboy Latin but I think it's something to do with "knowledge" and "stirring", which would make sense since this was once the premises of an apothecary or pharmacist.

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Jan 12 1827.—A bull driven along St. Martin’s Street, Norwich, entered the Bess of Bedlam public-house, and rushing upstairs made its way into a room where a musical party was held.  The animal was dislodged with great difficulty.

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This house in Great Abington, Cambridgeshire, has the name of "Jeremiah's Cottage" and is said to be named after Jeremiah Blagden who lived there.

According to legend Jeremiah was a well-known highwayman who operated along the road which runs through the parish.

All this sounds highly unlikely to me - I've never read the book    Highway Robbery for Dummies(!) but I'm sure that anonymity, or at least elusiveness, was a requirement for being a highwayman. Having all and sundry knowing your name and address would have surely led to an abrupt curtailment of ones career and prospects.

Take care.