Back to my homeland (part 6-final)

Days 1-4
Days 5-8
Day 9  Crowland
Day 9  Croyland Abbey
Day 9  Thorney

This seems to be a good point to show just how hectic our holiday really was.

Between June 6th and 23rd, I:

• Drove through or visited 21 counties of England and Wales
• Visited and/or met up with 16 friends
• Spent time with 9 cousins (three 'new' ones)
• Slept in 9 different beds
• Visited 8 graveyards
• Explored 3 churches
• Had 4 Bangers & Mash dinners,
• 3 cream teas (scones, strawberry jam with clotted cream & a pot of tea)
• and Scampi and Chips twice!
• PLUS I got addicted to Big Brother and now have to check online for updates!

So, on to Day 10: We started the day with a long morning drive from Peterborough to Sussex.  This was a day for people-visiting. Our first destination was to the home of a newly discovered cousin, and her niece (also a cousin).  they are direct descendants of the Thomas Sutton I mentioned yesterday so they were especially interested in hearing we'd learned more about their ancestor.

After a lovely afternoon, we visited friends of my sister's who have recently moved to Sussex.  We all went out to dinner and stayed with them overnight.

Day 11: Eastbourne. Talk about a quick tour.  I think we ended up with about an hour running around Eastbourne!  I've never been there before, despite spending most of the first 35 years of my life living within a couple of hours' drive of that town.  I'm sure to return to explore it properly though, because my sister and her husband are buying a new home nearby.

I photographed this pub because although one takes these things for granted when you live with them all your life, I was suddenly struck by the age of this establishment.  (Click on the pictures for a closer look and then use your back button to return to the blog.)

Yes. That's right.  The sign indicates that the pub has been here since 1160.  What we see of the building doesn't look that old, but no doubt parts of it are.

We wanted to look at St Mary's church, being in the older part of Eastbourne, on the offchance that we'd find Thomas Sutton's family in evidence...

... but as you see, gravestones were sparse.  In fact most of them were 'planted' around the edges with much of the writing on them hidden.

The few that we could read were of no help to us, but I took advantage of the opportunity to photograph the view over the rooftops.

After a quick drive around the town and a visit to the bungalow which will soon be my sister's home, I went off to have afternoon tea with some old friends, and then on to my old stomping grounds in Kent to have dinner with two more old friends.  A busy day indeed.

Day 12: After those two busy days of visiting people, I had a slightly more leisurely morning with my friend walking around Rochester.  I grew up a few miles from Rochester and so it's a familiar place.  There are certain things I still like to photograph every time I'm there, but each time I notice something different.

This is a very ordinary view of Rochester High Street, lined with a mixture of buildings old, new and in-between. It's mostly pedestrianised so there is very little traffic.

This is Eastgate House, one of my favourite buildings.  I like the timber and the intricate red brickwork.  Until this visit I had never really noticed the age of the building which dates from the 16th century.

Here's another.  I've always liked the clock which sticks out over the road.  One reason I like it is the inscription below it.

Who could forget the name of Sir Cloudsley Shovel?

Nearby, a glance up a narrow street gives the passerby a view of the Norman keep known as Rochester Castle.  The castle was built in the reign of William the conqueror, almost 1000 years ago.

This is the 17th century Guildhall.

In keeping with the city's proximity to the River Medway and the Royal Dockyard, the weather vane on the cupola is in the form of a ship.

 Outside the Guildhall there is an early Victorian pillar box.  Usually they are red, but the early ones were green, and this one has been painted in its original livery.

After leaving Rochester, I returned to London to spend part of the weekend with my cousin. 

Day13: From this point on it's more about the people than the places.  This was a family reunion/celebration day in Winchester - no scenic photos, no graveyards and no architectural wonders.  Mind you, it was a wonder that some members survived the day's events given the amount of Shiraz consumed, but it was very entertaining and an excellent day all round. 

Days 14-16: During my last few days in England I managed to squeeze in four more visits with different friends, some last-minute shopping, and - finally - my packing.  My last evening was spent dining with friends in Whitstable, and a short walk to the beach got me my only glimpse of the sea, where I took this final photograph.

Lovely.  Thanks for looking - I've enjoyed sharing these with the world.  :)

Back to my homeland (part 5)

Days 1-4
Days 5-8
Day 9 - Crowland
Day 9 - Croyland Abbey

Day 9 (continued)

It was quite a day for the Cherringtons, but time was short so we pressed on to Thorney Abbey. We don't have any direct ancestral links to Thorney Abbey but there are connections to Thomas Sutton (1829-1906) and a possible connection to the Cherringtons in a roundabout way.

There were two families in which we were interested.  Baley and Buckworth.  James Usill Baley (son of Susanna Usill Baley and Richard Cherrington Baley)married Elizabeth Sutton, daughter of Thomas Sutton; Frances (Fanny) Buckworth (daughter of Rowland and Mary Buckworth) was the wife of Thomas Sutton (our g-g-grandfather's brother).

Both these marriages took place at Thorney Abbey, so it was reasonable to assume that we would find those surnames in the graveyard, also.

 Sometime ago I found the photograph above here. All due credit and full acknowledgment is given to the photographer for capturing this memorial before its inevitable collapse.  When we arrived, all that was standing was the obelisk, which itself is unmarked, so without this older photograph we would never have known whose burial site it was.

The inscription as recorded on the Churchmouse website is as follows:

East side:

 IN MEMORY OF RICHARD WILLIAM 

THE BELOVED SON OF 

RICHARD CHERRINGTON AND MARY BALEY. 

WHO DIED APRIL 27TH 1885 

IN THE 37TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.

West side:

SACRED TO THE MEMORY 

OF MARY 

THE AFFECTIONATE WIFE 

OF RICHARD CHERRINGTON BALEY. 

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE 

MARCH 29TH 1849,

IN THE 36TH YEAR OF HER AGE.

North side:

IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF 

RICHARD CHERRINGTON BALEY 

WHO DIED MAY 29TH 1888 

IN HIS 76TH YEAR.

South side:-

IN LOVING MEMORY OF 

SUSANNA USILL 

THE SECOND WIFE OF 

RICHARD CHERRINGTON BALEY

WHO DIED SEPT. 26TH 1903 

IN THE 86TH YEAR OF HER AGE.
PEACE, PERFECT PEACE

I'm still working on finding out Richard's Cherrington connection.  If, as I suspect, he was a cousin of our own Elizabeth Cherrington, then his son, James, was a distant cousin of his wife's.

The stones are hard to read, having weathered over two hundred years.

However I was gratified to find the burial place of Thomas Sutton's in-laws, the Buckworths.  Unfortunately the shadow of the trees  made it a bit difficult to read or to photograph clearly.

Here is another member of the Buckworth family.

Inside the abbey it was interesting to find this memorial (not one of ours) on the church floor.

More views of Thorney Abbey.

Yes.  It's a boot-scraper.

Away from the Abbey, I took pleasure in seeing this old round house. I love quirky buildings (so why I live in a rectangular box, I don't know) and this is one of many buildings that caught my eye as we travelled.  Interestingly, across the road was this new house.

I like the way "they" have started building new houses less like identical characterless boxes.  New homes in England are nowadays often more in keeping with their surroundings - at least in historical towns like this one.  (I'm not talking about housing estates and frame houses.) You will notice that to give this house the appearance of being older than it is, it has what look like bricked-in windows.  In 1792, owners of houses with 7-9 windows had to pay a tax of 2/- (two shillings), and those with10-19 windows would pay a tax of 4/- so some people avoided the extra tax by bricking in some of their windows. Many 18th century houses can still be seen with bricked in windows, but this one is a brand-new fake.

Next time we head south, to Sussex.

Back to my homeland (part 4)

Days 1-4
Days 5-8
Day 9

Day 9 (continued): Croyland Abbey.  The church of Saints Mary Barthlomew and Guthlac adjoins the ruins of the Abbey. The churchyard is filled with stones - some half buried and many weather-worn and faded.

Click on the pictures for a closer look, and use the back button to return to the blog.

Our mission was to find graves of ancestors and to see the place where great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph Sutton married great-great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Cherrington.  It was also the place where all their children were Christened.

 This is one of many Cherrington gravestones we found, but it was almost as hard to read in real life as it is now.  It might have been easier to take a rubbing of the stone, but we didn't have paper and crayons to do it with.  This one dates to the early 1700s but the date is hard to make out.

These could be the graves of Elizabeth's parents - my great-great-great-great-grandparents.  But they might not be.  Research that far back isn't easy.  Still it's gratifying to know that they lie still undisturbed.

Entering the church the font is the first thing we see. 

The font in the middle of the floor is several hundred years old, and is almost certainly the one used to Baptise Elizabeth and her children. There is an older font set into the wall, which more resembles a well.

The area around the font is well-lit with natural light from clear glass windows.

There is an ornate screen before the altar which has traces of coloured paint on it.

The ceiling above the quire (or choir) has a depiction of the Green Man.  An ancient Pagan symbol of fertility, commonly found in old English churches.

On the wall, a wooden plaque commemorates the passing of a man, his wife and children, and reminds us of our own mortality.  It is dated 1706.

I was excited to find this on the wall near the altar.

"Beneath this stone lieth 

Interr'd the Body of 

Frans Cherrington, 

Relict of 

Willm Cherrington, 

who died August 1:1787 

Aged LX Years.

Reader stay: it is but just

Thou dost not tread on common Dust:

For underneath this Stone doth lye

One whose Name can never die.

Trace her through all the Series of Life,

You'll find her free from Envy, Hate & Strife."

I believe William and Frances Cherrington are Elizabeth's grandparents, which makes them my great-great-great-great-great-grandparents.  (In case you were wondering, we each have one-hundred-and-twenty-eight of them and I have no idea who the remaining one-hundred-and-twenty-six of them are!)

I have a greater appreciation of some of these old churches nowadays.  I've always enjoyed reading monumental inscriptions, but how much more interesting they become when they are for one's own ancestors.

In the next instalment we'll be heading for the south of England.

Back to my homeland (part 3)

Days 1-4
Days 5-8

Day 9: Crowland, Lincolnshire.  This is where it all began, in a way. Our great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph Sutton, came to Crowland at some point and married a young widow called Elizabeth Price.  She was from a long-established Crowland family by the name of Cherrington and had recently inherited a large sum of money from her wealthy uncle.  Joseph Sutton had a business in West Street in which he was variously and sometimes concurrently a grocer, draper and postmaster.

Click on the pictures for a closer look and use the back button to return to the blog.

This is where West Street meets South Street today. Few buildings at the beginning of West Street date as far back as 1840, when we know Joseph had his shop, but there are many other buildings further down the street that do. Since we don't know exactly where his shop was, we can only try to imagine how it looked based on what we can see now.

 The pub on the corner of North Street, bedecked in England flags for the 2010 World Cup, dates back to 1789. It faces Trinity Bridge - originally built to provide a dry crossing over three converging streams but now provides an intriguing focal point in the middle of the road. I can imagine generations of children playing on, under and around it.

This is North Street, as seen from the top of the bridge.

This small Fenland town is quiet, flat and has plenty of wide open space and isn't crowded with people and traffic.

At the South end of the town stands the church of Saints Mary Bartholomew and Guthlac which is built within the ruins of Croyland Abbey.

The thatched roof of the Copper Kettle Tea Room with its thatched tea cup abuts another building with ornate brickwork commonly found in houses of the 17th century.

Time for lunch at the Copper Kettle.

This is absolutely the best tea room in England.  Look at that. That was my lunch.  Then look at this:

All the cakes are freshly baked on the premises.  I had a slice of the chocolate and orange cake on the right, but I must say I would have loved to have tasted that lemon cake in the middle.  The tea room is housed in what was a Victorian pharmacy for the doctor who worked next door.

Now for more of Crowland.  The following are all photographs of West Street.

More of Crowland.

Next time, Croyland Abbey.