Havering-Atte-Bower,London Borough of Havering 19th September 23

So on Tuesday the 19th September 2023 its another walk on my doorstep, its just a 2 mile drive to Havering-Atte-Bower and I park up by the Horse Riding centre next to the church.

I pull on my boots and walk over to St Johns Church.

There has been a church on this particular site, since the time of Edward the Confessor. One of the pieces of evidence for this, is the 800 year old Purbeck marble font, at the back of the church. Over the years, the church has served as a chapel for the many noble and royal people, who passed by as a result of Havering Palace being in existence.

The church as we know it today, was built between 1876 and 1878, after the previous building (also known as St Thomas) was demolished. The last service was held on Easter Day, April 16th 1876, after which all services and church meetings were temporarily transferred to a barn at the back of the Orange Tree public house, which is still in existence. The new church was consecrated on Saturday 13th April, 1878. During this time, there were two major benefactors, Mrs Macintosh and Anne Pemberton Barnes. Both were key to the church, and both contributed financially. For this reason, St Johns has the unusual feature of a dual entrance porch, designed, purposefully, to give equal welcome to both women, each of whom, had a house in the opposite direction to the other.

There are five stained glass windows, four on the south wall, and one large one behind the altar on the east wall, which was replaced in 1946 after a stray German landmine destroyed the original during World War II. There are two war memorials located on the site. One, inside, along the south wall, is dedicated to the memory of the eleven men killed in the Great War. The other, is by the gate to the Green, and is dedicated to the five men killed in World War II. There are two war graves, situated between the church and the riding stables.

The church has six bells, a treble, second, third, fourth, fifth and tenor. They were dedicated in 1897, replacing the single bell that was there before.

The Parish Room (the church hall) was built in 1902, with money provided by Ann Pemberton Barnes and her son. A second, smaller Parish room was built behind the original in 1933. This building was known as the Pemberton Room (and still is!).

In 1997, the Church Hall, and the Pemberton Room both were connected, with a second floor added in from the high ceiling of the hall, and facilities vastly improved upon what they had been before.

The village green still has on display its original village stocks, while on the opposite side of the road is a pond known as "Ducking Pond", rumoured to have been used for trials of witches. Though the name of the pond suggests such a history, hard evidence is yet to be uncovered.

The history of the area dates back to Saxon times and archaeological finds in and around Havering Country Park suggest a Roman villa or similar structure in the area.

Two particular myths arose from this time. One was that Edward was in Havering Park (backing onto the site that the church currently sits on) and the noise from the Nightingales stopped his prayers. He then prayed that there would no longer be Nightingales in the park. Apparently, since then, there indeed have not been!

The other myth is that on some occasion, Edward was in a procession, a beggar asked for money, and as Edward's almsman was nowhere near, Edward took a ring off his finger, and gave it to the man. So the legend goes, years later, two pilgrims were in the Holy Land and spoke with the same old man; who revealed he was St John the Evangelist. He gave them the ring, and asked them to return it back to Edward. Hence the name Have-a-ring Atte (at the) Bower. Who knows?

The village is steeped in royal history. Edward the Confessor was the first royal to take interest in the area. He established a hunting lodge here, which over the years would become a palace or 'bower.' It is believed, though disputed, that he may have died in the house that he had loved so much before being buried at Westminster Abbey.

I walk on down the road and take a path opposite the now closed Oak Public House.

The surrounding areas, including the parishes of Hornchurch and Romford, formed the Royal Liberty of Havering from 1465 to 1892. Until the 17th century, royalty used the house of Havering Palace for various reasons, adding the architectural style of the day to the expanding palace.

Another palace, east of the village, called Pyrgo, was purchased by Henry VIII to relieve the now ageing Havering Palace. By the 17th century, the Royal Palace of Havering was in decline, and it was eventually pulled down. Pyrgo was also demolished later, in the 18th century. Only one set of plans exists from the original Havering Palace, courtesy of a survey by Lord Burghley in 1578.

The village sits on one of the highest points in London, in the far north of the borough and near the M25 motorway. It is situated 344 feet (105 m) above sea level with striking views of east London, Essex and Kent. To the north is open countryside and to the south are the large suburban developments of Harold Hill and Collier Row.

Along the footpath, I stop to say hello to some horses.

On my right is the Water Tower. Built by the South East Essex Water Company in 1934 to help maintain water pressure to the town of Romford, some two miles distant. It is still owned by the water authority but believed to be not now required for its original purpose. With the sun shining on it, it can be seen from the top of the London Eye, seventeen miles away.

My earliest memory of this tower is my Dad trying to scare me saying its a Witches tower and I of course told my kids the same story.

I walk a short way past where our walk turns right so walking back I cross a small ditch and follow the path.

Here I met a young Pheasant, who I thought was rather friendly and was running alongside me. They normally fly off or runaway when you get near.

However this was not a pleasant Pheasant at all. It pecked me and drew blood. It then started a full on attack! It was flying up in the air and flapping it wings at me. I had to kick it back a couple of times. I tried to walk away but it started to run after me. So I managed to outrun the F*cker, even though it meant a ran a distance in the opposite way I wanted to go!

I stop and look back, it's gone. So I carefully walk back the way I came, keeping an eye out for the pheasant.

Pyrgo House, Playground for Princess’s Mary and Elizabeth, daughters of Henry VIII.

At the woodland's edge stands a pair of iron gateposts which once marked the entrance to the grand residence of Pyrgo. Nothing now remains of the house save this one rusting sentinel. In the 16th century, Pyrgo played an important role in determining the royal succession. Henry VIII had seen little of his second daughter, Elizabeth, since her mother's execution in 1536. In 1542, Henry VIII met her when he summoned both of his daughters to dine with him at the ancient house. Henry was impressed by Elizabeth and her sister, Mary, and decided to reinstate their place in the line of royal succession. This was confirmed by Parliament in 1544, restoring the sisters to their place after Edward thus giving England one of her finest monarchs when Elizabeth became Queen.

Pygro Palace

I walk on passing Home Farm, a Equestrian centre.

As I walk I saw a Buzzard and shortly afterwards I saw a Red Kite pictured above soaring above me.

I walk through the field next to some more sweetcorn.

I follow a path through a field and through a kissing gate at the bottom and into a wood.

This path leads me out onto a track to leads to Two Oaks and Randalls Car Breakers.

I emerge out onto Broxhill Road that I follow uphill back towards Havering-atte-Bower.

I take a path on my right off Broxhill Road and head uphill back towards the way I came across earlier.

View through the corn to the Water Tower.

I join the path where, I first met the pheasant, thankfully he isn't here.

I follow my footsteps from earlier, always looks a little different from another angle.

I see the Roundhouse, that I didn't see walking down. It really does make a difference walking the same path in a different direction.

The Round House is a Grade II* listed late Georgian elliptical stuccoed villa located on Broxhill Road in Havering-atte-Bower, London. The house was built between 1792 and 1794 by John Plaw for William Sheldon.

The building houses a residential recording studio called The Hideaway, created by Imogen Heap in 2006.

I am now back at the car and a nice walk, well apart from the Pheasant attack!

Bakewell Peak District 29.08.23

On Tuesday the 29th August 2023 Mel and I drove to Bakewell in the Peak District before going onto our hotel in Matlock Bath. We arrived just after 12 and parked up at Smiths Island Car Park. We walk across The River Wye via a bridge and see huge Brown trout fighting with the geese for the food being thrown in.

We walk alongside the River Wye and up to the Lovelocks Bridge.

Lock locks started to appear on the Wye Bridge in 2012 and were the first to appear in Derbyshire, presently there are many hundreds now attached to the bridge. The love locks may be loved by some and hated by others however it does indicate that there is still some love in the world.

The tradition of love locks fastened to bridges is believed to have begun in Serbia during World War I, after a woman died of heartbreak when her lover deserted her for another woman he met at war. The local women, horrified at befalling the same fate, began to fasten padlocks on the bridge where the two lovers used to meet. Today, love lock bridges can be found all over the world.

Following the river along we reach the Bakewell bridge. 

The Grade I listed five-arched bridge over the River Wye was constructed in the 13th century, and is one of the few surviving remnants of this earlier period. A chalybeate spring was discovered, and a bath house built in 1697. This led to an 18th-century bid to develop Bakewell as a spa town, in the manner of Buxton. The construction of the Lumford Mill by Richard Arkwright in 1777 was followed by the rebuilding of much of the town in the 19th century.

We cross the bridge and walk round down Market Street and into Granby Road to use the toilets there before we walked on into Water Street.

A market was established in 1254, and Bakewell developed as a trading centre.

We pass the Bakewell Pudding Factory but I buy a Bakewell Pudding from Bloomers Bakery, no shortage of businesses cashing in on the Bakewell Pudding theme.

These delicious puddings were first made by accident at a local inn (the then White Horse) around 1860. It seems clear that the recipe was originally something of an accident, the result of a misunderstanding between Mrs Greaves, mistress of the inn and her cook.

Visiting noblemen ordered strawberry tart, but the cook, instead of stirring the egg mixture into the pastry, spread it on top of the jam. The result was so successful that a Mrs Wilson, wife of a tallow chandler who lived in the cottage now known as the Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop where candles were made, saw the possibility of making the puddings for sale and obtained the so-called recipe and commenced a business of her own.

Bakewell Puddings, still made by hand from the secret recipe, are sent away to many corners of the globe from the world-famous bakery, as well as eaten as a sweet in our famous restaurant as they were meant to be eaten - hot with custard or cream.

We walk on down Bridge Street and up to Rutland Square.

Although there is evidence of earlier settlements in the area, Bakewell itself was probably founded in Anglo Saxontimes, when Bakewell was in the Anglian kingdom of Mercia. The name Bakewell means a spring or stream of a man named Badeca (or Beadeca) and derives from this personal name plus the Old English wella. In 949 it was Badecanwelle and in the 11th century Domesday Book it was Badequelle. Bakewell Parish Church, a Grade I listedbuilding, was founded in 920 and has a 9th-century cross in the churchyard. The present church was constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries but was virtually rebuilt in the 1840s by William Flockton. By Norman times Bakewell had gained some importance: the town and its church (having two priests) being mentioned in the Domesday Book and a motte and bailey castle was constructed in the 12th century.

After turning left up Matlock Street we walk down a alleyway to the Lavender Tea Rooms where we had a Cream Tea.

We walk back down Granby Road and back down Water Street passing Tiroler Stuberl.

Austrian Coffee Shop and Sausage Importer, They also sell Bakewell Puddings!

We walk pass the famous 'The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop'. and finally back to the car.

I drive the short distance up the road to Thornbridge Brewery and its taproom.

I love their Cocoa Wonderland Porter and others of theirs I've tried, so looking forward to tasting more.

The Thornbridge story began back in 2005 when the founders Jim Harrison and Simon Webster recruited two young brewers to brew on a second hand 10-barrel kit in the grounds of Thornbridge Hall.

The brewery was originally based in the outbuildings of Thornbridge Hall, surrounded by beautiful gardens within the 100-acre estate. The buildings were renovated in 2004 in preparation for the brewery installation. Jim Harrison and Simon Webster recruited two young brewers, keen to kick-start their brewing career. Their first brew was Lord Marples, a 4% classic bitter, which went on to become a core Thornbridge beer.

Next, they were tasked with brewing something a little different, an IPA which packed a punch in terms of both flavour and ABV. In mid-2005 Jaipur was born. A 5.9% IPA packed with American hops and like nothing else in the beer industry at that time. Following an array of awards and national recognition, Jaipur catapulted Thornbridge into the spotlight, demand outstripped supply and the need for a new Brewery became clear.

In 2009 a brand new state of the art brewery was built at Riverside, Bakewell to meet with demand and allow Thornbridge to develop their range of beers. Brewing still takes place today on the original kit which has been moved to beside the Taproom at Riverside, which allows us to experiment with new brews, create bespoke Hall brews, collaborations and assist the main brewery in Bakewell.

I had a flight of Wild Swan (Pale Ale), Green Mountain (IPA Session) and a Chula Vista (Lemon and Seasalt Sour). All very nice.

We left the brewery and drove to our hotel in Matlock Bath, The New Bath Hotel.

The hotel has a Open Air Pool that is a natural geo-thermal spring feed enters the shallow end at a constant 19.8 degrees Celsius (around 68 degrees F). The feed is a continuous flow and therefore holds a good temperature throughout the pool but due to exposure to air temperature, the main body of water varies between 15 degrees C in the depth of winter and 23 degrees C on a very hot Summers day. The most typical range though is 17-19 degrees.

Nothing added and nothing taken away. The spring water from exiting the ground is very simply gravity fed toward the shallow end and continuously flows through the pool and is then routed to the River Derwent. The perfect quality, purity and balance of the mineral rich water has been recently proven by a Doctor in Hydrogeology.

Originally constructed in 1934 with imperial measurements, the pool measures Forty yards in length by Fourteen yards in width. Length equates to approx. 36.5metres.

I had a swim the next day,  I'm used to wild swimming but it was a tad cold even for me !

We had the outside annexe rooms, they were a little tired but still great value for the price paid.

We walked down into Matlock Bath in the evening.

Originally built at the head of a dead-end dirt road running along the valley of the River Derwent from Matlock, the settlement developed in the 19th century as residential and a spa town which remains a tourist destination. The steep hillside restricts development with most buildings on one side of the valley and only footbridges across the river. The road was upgraded, becoming a through-way, now designated A6, avoiding the previous coaching road approach to Matlock from Cromford over very steep hills near to the Riber plateau area.

In 1698, warm springs were discovered and a bath house was built. As the waters became better known, access was improved by building the bridge into Old Matlock and in 1783, the opening of a new entrance at the south of the valley. Princess Victoria of Kent's royal visit in 1832 confirmed Matlock as a society venue of the time. Victoria's party visited a pair of museums and a petrifying well. John Ruskin and Lord Byron were visitors, Byron comparing it with alpine Switzerland, leading to a nickname of Little Switzerland. Erasmus Darwin recommended the area to Josiah Wedgwood I for its beauty and soothing waters, and members of the families vacationed and settled there. Edward Levett Darwin, son of Francis Sacheverel Darwin, lived at Dale House in Matlock Bath, where he was a solicitor.

When the North Midland Railway opened in 1840, carriages plied for hire from Ambergate station. The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway ran a number of excursions, taking the passengers onward from Ambergate by the Cromford Canal.

Matlock Bath is a designated conservation area with an Article 4 direction in relation to properties, predominantly along North and South Parade.

Matlock Bath is dubbed the Seaside resort a hundred miles from the sea. It is full of chip shops, amusement arcades and candy floss.

The thermal springs were said to cure a variety of ailments and when the Old Bath Hotel opened in 1698 (on the site of what is now the Grand Pavilion’s car park), Matlock Bath became a renowned spa resort. ‘My maternal great grandfather was mad for curative waters,’ Smith says. ‘He was a self-taught chemist and built up a successful paintworks company. Using his paint-gotten gains he invested in a hydro, a spa hotel, in Matlock. My dad remembers swimming there as a boy before the war.’

Besides ‘taking the waters’ many visitors took to the scenery. From Derwent Gardens the trail climbs the steep tree-lined valley. Peering down from the summit, the pastel-coloured houses and shops line the bottom like sweets in a bag. Ahead is the vast limestone crag of High Tor. At 300 feet, it’s one of England’s tallest inland cliffs. High Tor creates a dramatic, almost alpine setting. Matlock Bath’s Victorian nickname was ‘Little Switzerland’. Today, there is even a cable car, which takes visitors to the Heights of Abraham country park.

Matlock Bath’s sightseers included Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne and the then Princess Victoria. Another was Mary Shelley. Her 1818 novel Frankenstein includes a comment on the landscape: ‘The country in the neighbourhood of this village resembles Switzerland; but everything is on a lower scale.’

We stop in The Fishpond pub where I have a pint to Abbeydale Heathen (Pale Ale-American), the brewery is in Sheffield not too far away.

We had a delicious burger here, before a stroll along the River Derwent and back to the Hotel.

Cromford and Cromford Mills Derbyshire 31.08.23

On Thursday the 31st August 2023 Mel and I drove up the road to Cromford Mills in Cromford Derbyshire. I learnt about this place in history lessons at school and about Richard Arkwright and his water frame and the start of the Industrial Revolution.

We have breakfast in the café here, two amazing Sausage cobs. Cobs is what they call rolls in this part of the country.

Cromford Mill is the world's first water-powered cotton spinning mill, developed by Richard Arkwright in 1771 in Cromford, Derbyshire, England. The mill structure is classified as a Grade I listed building. It is now the centrepiece of the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is a multi-use visitor centre with shops, galleries, restaurants and cafes.

Following the invention of the flying shuttle for weaving cotton in 1733, the demand for spun cotton increased enormously in England. Machines for carding and spinning had already been developed but were inefficient. Spun cotton was also produced by means of the spinning jenny but was insufficiently strong to form the warp of a fabric, for which it was the practice to use linen thread, producing a type of cloth known as fustian. In 1769, Richard Arkwright patented a water frame to use the extra power of a water mill after he had set up a horse-powered mill in Nottingham.

He chose the site at Cromford because it had year-round supply of warm water from the Cromford Sough which drained water from nearby Wirksworth lead mines, together with Bonsall Brook. Here he built a five-storey mill, with the backing of Jedediah Strutt (whom he met in a Nottingham bank via Ichabod Wright), Samuel Need and John Smalley. Starting from 1772, he ran the mills day and night with two twelve-hour shifts.

He started with 200 workers, more than the locality could provide, so he built housing for them nearby, one of the first manufacturers to do so. Most of the employees were women and children, the youngest being only seven years old. Later, the minimum age was raised to ten and the children were given six hours of education a week, so that they could do the record-keeping that their illiterate parents could not.

A large part of the village was built to house the mill workers. Stuart Fisher states that these are now considered to be "the first factory housing development in the world". Employees were provided with shops, pubs, chapels and a school.

The gate to Cromford Mill was shut at precisely 6 am and 6 pm every day, and any worker who failed to get through it not only lost a day's pay but also was fined another day's pay.

The cotton mill ceased operation in the 19th century and the buildings were used for other purposes, finally a dyeing plant. In 1979, the Grade I listed site was bought by the Arkwright Society, who began the long task of restoring it to its original state.

The importance of this site is not that it was the first but that it was the first successful cotton spinning factory. It showed unequivocally the way ahead and was widely emulated.

The sluice in the mill yard used to control the water supply.

We leave the Mills and walk pass St Marys Church down by the River Derwent.

We cross the road and walk over to the Cromford Canal.

The Cromford Canal ran 14.5 miles (23.3 kilometres) from Cromford to the Erewash Canal in Derbyshire, England with a branch to Pinxton. Built by William Jessop with the assistance of Benjamin Outram, its alignment included four tunnels and 14 locks.

From Cromford it ran south following the 275-foot (84 m) contour line along the east side of the valley of the Derwent to Ambergate, where it turned eastwards along the Amber valley. It turned sharply to cross the valley, crossing the river and the Ambergate to Nottingham road, by means of an aqueduct at Bullbridge, before turning towards Ripley. From there the Butterley Tunnel took it through to the Erewash Valley.

From the tunnel it continued to Ironville, the junction for the branch to Pinxton, and then descended through fourteen locks to meet the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill. The Pinxton Branch became important as a route for Nottinghamshire coal, via the Erewash, to the River Trent and Leicester and was a terminus of the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway.

A 6-mile (9.7 km) long section of the Cromford canal between Cromford and Ambergate is listed as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Local Nature Reserve.

In addition to purely canal traffic, there was a lively freight interchange with the Cromford and High Peak Railway, which traversed the plateau of the Peak District from Whaley Bridge in the north west, and which descended to the canal at High Peak Junction by means of an inclined plane.

We start to walk along the canal, but it doesn't look aspiring so we decide to drive to Dovedale for a walk.