The Oldest Church In Cambridge

It wasn't really fair of me to say that The Round Church was the second oldest church in the city without telling you about the oldest one. So lets put that to rights.

St Bene't's (not a typing error but a contraction of St Benedict's) stands in Bene't Street and in spite of its great age and central position is largely ignored by visitors to the city. One glance at the tower will tell you that this is an unusual structure and that it must be old; it doesn't really look like any other church towers. The detail is quite crude and the stonework on the corners is unusual. According to the experts it shows that the builders knew the kind of work which was done on the continent but that knowledge was rather superficial. And how long ago was it built? Well, King Canute was on the throne, the Normans were still in Normandy, so probably about 1020 AD. Which means that in eight years time.....

Just inside the gate is this old pump which used to supply drinking water to the parishioners before Cambridge had a water company.

The door swings open on these mighty hinges - you can't buy those in the local DIY store.

Inside there are more Saxon survivals, chiefly this magnificent arch which again shows the "long-and-short" stonework which we saw on the corners of the tower. The arch itself doesn't really match the columns which support it, again evidence of the lack of experience of the builders. Still, it's stood for nearly a thousand years!

The main body of the church has been rebuilt but even so the arcading dates back to the 13th century. The outer walls of the church date from a Victorian enlargement.

The stained glass, which is also 19th century, looks wonderful with the late afternoon sun streaming through.

There's a fine chest dating from the Medieval period..... 

....and a modern sculpture, quite small but very powerful, by Enzo Plazzotta. But lets go outside and have another look at the Saxon tower.

Those small round holes are thought to be to encourage owls to nest, and presumably to control the mice in the area.

Take care.

Answers To The Quiz And Some Action!

 Answers to the Christmas quiz:

Mr and Mrs Bickering and their children were out for a walk in the

country. Roger had stolen Cleo's bronze bracelet and had torn the badge..

..right off her cape. "I've broken the clip on your badge," he laughed,

"and you've got enormous ears!" "Do I always have to tell you of f, Rog er,"

said Dad, " that's the sixth or seventh time today".

"Just keep ignoring him," said Mum shrewdly, "he only misbehaves..

..to attract attention."

"It's such a drab bit of countryside," Roger complained, "and we must be..

..a ver y long way from home."

"We might be a really long way from home if the car won't start. I hate

to admit it but the car I bought in Rotherham's terrible," said Dad,

"I wish I'd bought a new T oyota. They've got terrific acceleration,

they really do go like a bullet."

They came, later that day, to a steep and attractive valley. "I'd

pre fer returning that way." said Cleo. "Pardon me," said Roger, "but

I want to go a totally different route back."

"It's no use always arguing," said Dad, "You both are wrong;

there's a sign up there which implies we go this way."

"Well, I only wanted to see some animals," said Cleo,

"we never see any on our walks!"

Well, how did you get on? "Ant" and "tit" weren't supposed to be there but clever children kept finding them!

Take care.

Grantchester Barrel Race

Today saw the super-athletes of Grantchester and the surrounding villages line up for the annual Boxing Day barrel race.

The event started way back in the ancient days of the last century, its exact origins lost in the mists of time; but at sometime someone-and-his-mates challenged someone-else-and-their-mates to a race, rolling beer barrels through the streets of the village. This soon became a race involving teams from the four pubs.

The victorious team today was from the smallest pub in the village, The Blue Ball.

In the spirit of the times a women's race was added.

Each race is a back-and-forth relay so there is plenty of scope for collisions.

There are now several team races and "international" competition in the form of teams from the neighbouring villages. So here are some more photos....

....with the team from Impington dressed as Imps, of course.....

Well, that's the end of racing for another year!

Take care.

Beachcombings

To leave it all behind. To go to an empty space. Where the wind blows and the sand drifts and the sea surges and roars in the distance. The call of the wide open skies.

Wandering the North Norfolk coastline.

Take care.

Hidden Creatures

A long time ago, in what seems now a different lifetime , I used to lead walking holidays in the more mountainous parts of these islands. In the evenings we did our best to keep people entertained with games, dancing, quizzes and talks. As there were all kinds of people on these holidays it was difficult to find things that suited everyone. But this little quiz which I devised does the job. Children and adults can compete on equal terms.

There's no prize for this, just a feeling of general smugness if you spot them all. You can cut and paste this, print it out and try it out on kids young and old this Christmas. I'll get around to giving you the answers one day!

Hidden Creatures

Animals, birds, insects and fish can hide in all sorts of

unexpected places. This sentence is hiding one!

Can you see the dingo in

".........is hiDING One"?

See how many creatures you can find in this story.

Mr and Mrs Bickering and their children were out for a walk in the

country. Roger had stolen Cleo's bronze bracelet and had torn the badge

right off her cape. "I've broken the clip on your badge," he laughed,

"and you've got enormous ears!" "Do I always have to tell you off, Roger,"

said Dad, " that's the sixth or seventh time today".

"Just keep ignoring him," said Mum shrewdly, "he only misbehaves

to attract attention."

"It's such a drab bit of countryside," Roger complained, "and we must be

a very long way from home."

"We might be a really long way from home if the car won't start. I hate

to admit it but the car I bought in Rotherham's terrible," said Dad,

"I wish I'd bought a new Toyota. They've got terrific acceleration,

they really do go like a bullet."

They came, later that day, to a steep and attractive valley. "I'd

prefer returning that way." said Cleo. "Pardon me," said Roger, "but

I want to go a totally different route back."

"It's no use always arguing," said Dad, "You both are wrong;

there's a sign up there which implies we go this way."

"Well, I only wanted to see some animals," said Cleo,

"we never see any on our walks!"

Take care.

Holkham National Nature Reserve

Having strolled around King's Lynn for an hour I caught the Coasthopper bus to Holkham NNR.


The Wild Geese of Winter

A cold wind whipped across the grazing marsh. A familiar honking sound was carried on the breeze. Small dark flecks appeared over the tree tops and gradually assumed a recognisable shape. Dozens of wild geese approached and whiffled down onto the grasslands.

Around 70,000 Pink-Footed Geese visit North Norfolk every winter (that's around a quarter of the world population). In the evening long skeins of geese stretch across the winter skies as the birds go to roost.

If you want to sort them out from other geese then it's not usually very practical to look for the pink feet; chocolate-headed geese would be a more helpful description. The other geese to be seen at Holkham were White-Fronted Geese, Brent Geese, Egyptian Geese and Greylags.



Down Along The Shore

An Oystercatcher strutted along in search of a meal.

Right by the sea I encountered a flock of my favourite little waders - Sanderlings. Not for them the hours of standing on one leg with head tucked under the wing like so many other waders. Sanderlings are tiny energetic clockwork toys, scurrying up and down the beach with the incoming waves. Sometimes, like today, they seem almost oblivious to people strolling along the strand.


An Earnest Intervention

"Did you see a bird of prey fly over just now? Could have been a Rough-Legged Buzzard. One been seen here recently. Been reported on BirdGuides. There's Firecrests too. Check the flocks of Tits. Any Snow Buntings on the saltmarsh? "

How could I tell him I'd spent the last fifteen minutes photographing some dead bracken?


View From The Jordan Hide

Also known as the Tower Hide, it gives splendid views across the grassland and pools. Marsh Harriers quartered the area. Lots of Wigeon too.

Salt's Hole

I've always loved this spot and now there's an information board telling me that this small pond was once the mouth of an estuary until it was cut off from the sea by the shifting dune system. It keeps its level by sea water seeping through the sand. The water is salty and it still supports several marine species.

Take care.

Old Lynn In The Cold Light Of Dawn

I travelled up to the North Norfolk coast today and found myself with a little over an hour to wait to make a connection between the train- and the bus parts of my journey. I decided to keep warm by taking a stroll around King's Lynn, or Lynn as the locals call it. The only problem with my plan was that it was still almost dark.

Believe it or not, Lynn was once the third largest seaport in England and was a very wealthy place; the old town centre has many buildings which testify to its former glory. It also was the home of one of the country's finest yet largely forgotten sea-faring heroes - more of him later.

The sun was slowly making its way over the horizon, throwing St Margaret's Church into a striking silhouette. The church was founded by the Bishop Of Norwich in 1101 but very little of that building remains having been largely rebuilt in the 13th century and then again in the 18th. It was also further restored by the Victorians.

The church is nevertheless an impressive structure as it soars above the Saturday Market Square.

Not far away stands the only remaining part of the Franciscan Friary known as "Greyfriars". But what an amazing survival it is; it looks as though it could be blown down by the first strong wind but here it has stood proudly since Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1538.

Parts of the beautiful Town Hall date from 1421 and though it's been added to over the centuries the unusual "chequerboard" pattern of the stonework has been used throughout giving the structure a sense of unity. It shows better than any other building the wealth and style that the historic town possessed.

There are some fine streets too where many of the merchants houses survive intact.

All this grandeur was paid for by money earned by the port much of which can still be seen today though most of the commercial activity has moved a few hundred yards downstream. The little ferry still plies its trade, taking people across the River Great Ouse to West Lynn on the opposite bank. It can be seen behind the larger vessel in the picture above.

The 17th century Customs House was described by the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as "one of the most perfect buildings ever built". In front of it, among the old chains and anchors stands a small statue of George Vancouver.

Captain Vancouver, as his name suggests, was almost certainly descended from a Dutch family. There were close trading links between King's Lynn and  the Low Countries so it would not be surprising if some of them settled in Norfolk. He is mainly remembered, when he's remembered at all, as the man who led the expedition to chart the Pacific coast. His survey was extremely accurate though he somehow failed to chart the outlet of the Columbia River. But this oversight, important as it was, was not the reason that George Vancouver died in obscurity and was largely forgotten in English history. His problem was that he had disagreements with influential people on his return to England. The link above gives a fairly full account of the Captain's life.

A nearby monument lists those with King's Lynn connections:

 CAPTAIN GEORGE VANCOUVER 1757 - 1798

SEARCHED FOR NORTH-WEST PASSAGE

ACQUIRED BRITISH COLUMBIA FOR THE CROWN

CAPTAIN

SAMUEL GURNEY CRESSWELL

1827 - 1867

FIRST MAN TO NAVIGATE

THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE

 ADMIRAL

SIR W EDWARD PARRY

1799 - 1855

 ARCTIC EXPLORER

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH

1580 - 1631

VIRGINIA PIONEER

FOUNDER OF NEW ENGLAND

FRIAR NICHOLAS OF LYNN

DIED 1369

VOYAGED TO ICELAND

REPUTED DISCOVERER OF THE AMERICAS

ADMIRAL LORD NELSON

1758 - 1805

HERO OF

 THE NILE, COPENHAGEN & TRAFALGAR

KING EDWARD IV

1442 - 1483

FLED TO FLANDERS

FROM THE PORT OF KING'S LYNN IN 1460

ADMIRAL JAMES BURNEY

1750 - 1821

EXPLORED WITH COOK AND VANCOUVER



Just to prove me wrong about Vancouver being forgotten by the rest of the country when I got on the train to return home this evening I glanced at the nameplate - "Captain George Vancouver". 

Take care.