Topcliffe Mill

Those who saw my last post may remember a smart, board-clad, gambrel-roofed building which I identified as Topcliffe Mill. It stands back from the road opposite the church and is not obvious to anyone driving by. But this weekend is National Mills Day, when around 450 of Britain's historic windmills and watermills are opened up to the public, so lets investigate. 

There's been a mill on this site since at least 1086 when the village of Meldreth was recorded as having eight-and-a-half mills - I'm guessing that one stood astride a stream that formed the parish boundary. The present building dates from about 1780 and operated till 1942.

It is, of course, a watermill powered by the waters of the little River Mel. Sadly there's no waterwheel in place and, although replacing it has been considered, it would be very expensive and it's reckoned that the stream would also have to be modified to produce enough power.

Inside the building however all the mighty machinery seems to be in place and you can figure out how everything worked, though it's hard to imagine how the building would have throbbed and hummed with life when everything was operating.

Here's the miller's desk where he kept a record of the grain he'd milled and how much he was owed by everybody.


















Lovely old handwriting; not many of us can write like that these days!

Climb up one floor on a rather basic wooden ladder and you're in the heart of the building where the huge millstones ground the flour and the "crown wheel" turned other pieces of equipment - machinery to clean the grain and hoists which lift the grain up to the top of the mill.

A sign told me that the bit of gear above is called a "smutter" and was used to remove spores of a fungus called "smut" which attacks the grain and spoils the flour.

Here's a wonderful piece of rural technology: at the top of the picture you can see a piece of string which is attached to a wooden chuck, when this chuck is pulled out the shaft swings into the vertical and the gear-wheels engage. Simple but effective.

Ascend more steps to the apex of the roof space.....

the sacks of grain were hauled up here by a system of pulleys so that gravity could then feed the grain down through the milling gear. 

A nice little reminder that we haven't changed too much over the centuries - nineteenth century graffiti. I think it reads IVET.E.FARNHAM  MELDRETH 1867. If I'm right then there was an Ivatt Farnham who lived in the village and who would have been 14 at the time. His father was a corn merchant.

I decided to walk back home via the meadow footpath and couldn't resist one more photo of the mill with a foreground of yellow buttercups.

If you want to know more about the history of the mill and indeed the rest of the village then visit http://www.meldrethhistory.org.uk run by the Meldreth Local History Group.


Take care.

A Gap Between The Showers.

It stopped raining for a few minutes yesterday afternoon so I popped out to see what was happening in the wood. Bluebells were blooming, as you can see. I'm not sure if these are good old English bluebells or those nasty foreign ones that are taking over in so many places. Pretty anyway.

Even gnarled old trees like this one are resplendent in their new finery as leaves burst out all over.

Down in the meadow - literally down, as in down on my knees - to view the buttercups from an insect's point of view.

Look up, little insect, there are cowslips in the meadow too.

Topcliffe Mill, which was once a watermill to grind wheat and barley, stands smartly in the corner of the meadow, next to the little gate leading to a public footpath. 

That cheerful little flower, Herb Robert, growing in the churchyard. It grows in my garden too, no matter how much of it I pull out! "Fresh leaves can be eaten or tossed into a mug to make tea", or so I've read in a book. Judging by the stink it leaves on your hands I wouldn't want to try it. It also repels mosquitoes, which shows that your average mozzy has more sense than people who write books!

"Pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies, 

Let them live upon their praises; 

Long as there's a sun that sets, 

Primroses will have their glory,

Long as there are violets, 

They will have a place in story: 

There is a flower that shall be mine, 

'T is the little Celandine."

Thus wrote Mr William Wordsworth of the Lesser Celandine. In fact he wrote three poems about the flower, but despite the poet's enthusiasm few others seem to notice it.

While poets and photographers are down on their knees admiring the flora an almighty storm could be brewing just behind them. Best head for home and get the kettle on.


Take care.

You Want Some More? Well, Here's Some More!

Some more photos from the gardens of my fellow-villagers in Meldreth. I'm not sure how some of these didn't get into my two earlier posts.

Take care.

Walking Into Spring

An afternoon spent at Fen Drayton Lakes, RSPB bird reserve, in Cambridgeshire. 

Some of the birds seen and/or heard: Sedge Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Egyptian Geese with goslings, Common Tern, Cuckoo.
Yes, I heard my first Cuckoo of the year!

Take care.

Commandeered!

On Sunday morning I was poking about taking photos in the vicinity of our parish church when a woman unexpectedly approached me. I feared that she was going to ask me if I was going to attend the morning service (which I was not), but instead she enquired if I was taking photographs (which I admitted I was).

"Wonderful", she said, "and will you be visiting the Open Gardens this afternoon?".  I said that I hoped to. At this the good lady invited me to take some pictures for her to include on the village website - "just one of each garden". And that's how I became the "official photographer" for the day.

So here's what I came up with:

Jim and Jane's garden in Bell Close

Just a small plot which I walk or cycle by almost every day and invariably get a friendly wave from Jane or Jim. Always best to keep an eye on what Jim's doing if you want to be successful growing vegetables, but he also finds time (and space) to grow some lovely flowers.

 Tricia and John's garden in Chiswick End

A really tiny garden which is full of interest despite only having been started from scratch in 2014. In such a tight space all the visitors soon get involved in conversation with each other and with the owners.

 In Flambards Close, Jim and Margaret's garden

Another garden which I pass by regularly, though I had no idea that there was such an extensive and beautiful garden hidden away behind the house.

 Julie and Peter at The Dumb Flea

The Dumb Flea used to be a pub many years ago, hence the weird and wonderful name of the house. This is where the lady I met at the church earlier in the day resides. When I arrived she was busy taking her grandchildren for hair-raising rides around the garden on her mobility scooter! 

"The Limes", Frances and Richard's garden

A large spacious garden, all beautifully manicured and full of interesting plants. Having walked around once, very slowly, I then walked around again and found plenty more to photograph.

"The Court", a garden tended by Annemarie and Nick,

but, I suspect, mainly owned and occupied by their children!

A huge and rambling garden where one would like to be five years old on an endless summer's day. Besides having all those boring adult things like flowers, lawns and trees, this garden has a slide, swings, a Nelly-The-Elephant water-fountain and loads of awesome places to hide! 

Take care.

Meldreth Open Gardens

On Sunday some of the good people of Meldreth opened their gardens to the public in order to raise money for the village church. You-know-who went along to take a few photos, but ended up taking quite a lot. Here are some of them:

Take care.

A Learned And Likeable Fellow

John Stevens Henslow was, in his time, known as "the man who knows everything". He was not called this in jest or jealousy by unlearned men, but in admiration by his colleagues at Cambridge University. Not only that but the Reverend Professor Henslow left his own memorial, albeit one which, though much admired, does little to shout his name to visitors.

The admirers are those who seek out the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens. Many come to wander among the trees and enjoy the flowers but few realise that, as they do so, they are reading a book. That book is a textbook of all that was known about botany at the time when Henslow became professor of that subject in the early nineteenth century. For the garden was designed to be a learning resource for his students.

The trees around the perimeter are carefully planted in family groups and a large part of the garden is laid out in what are known as the Systematic Beds which similarly group other plants. This allowed direct comparison to draw out the differences and similarities between plants. It was nothing less than a living book. So just who was this man who developed this instructive but beautiful garden?

Having graduated in 1818 Henslow went on to become Professor of Mineralogy just four years later. Then having taken holy orders, he was soon appointed Professor of Botany, a science which had increasingly interested him. At that time Botany was hardly studied at the University and the Botanic Garden was a tiny plot near the centre of the town.

As a teacher Henslow is said to have listened just as carefully to the newest student as to the most learned authority. He often invited his students to his house to discuss ideas in a less formal setting and he encouraged his students to learn for themselves through field work and indeed gardening. So when there came a chance to acquire a forty acre site (16 hectares) to develop a Botanic Garden he jumped at the chance. 

Henslow was an inspiration to many of the young men who came to study and one in particular became known as "the man who walks with Henslow". His name was Charles Darwin and he became fascinated by Henslow's work on plant families and the variations within them. One branch of Henslow's studies concerned what he called "monstrosities", but which we would nowadays call genetic mutation. All of which later influenced Darwin's work on the origin of species, of course.

The young Darwin

But Henslow had an even greater influence in that it was he who recommended Darwin as a suitable candidate to sail as the naturalist on The Beagle with Capt Fitzroy. 

Then in 1837, soon after Darwin had returned from his voyage, Henslow was appointed rector of the parish of Hitcham in Suffolk. Then, rather than appoint a curate to do the hard work for him, he immersed himself fully in village matters. Although he retained his post at the University he was more concerned with developing a village school, providing allotment gardens and improving farming methods within his parish. He gave talks to farmers on such delightful topics as the fermentation of manure.

As a Christian and a creationist, he could not support Darwin's theories, but nevertheless continued to encourage him and when necessary defend his right to publish his ideas. Henslow died in 1861 and is buried in Hitcham churchyard. There is a small, modest memorial to him in the church but surely the great garden he designed is his greatest legacy and I'm sure he would have approved of the way it has developed and is used today.

Take care.