This was a Misty Autumn

Autumn can be a beautiful month but also damp and misty. Summer trying to hold on it seems! This year there were quite a few misty mornings and a chance for some atmospheric shots, with a few shots of other Autumn regulars such as fungi and spiders webs.

Firstly, some images on the River Brett, near to where I live. Navigating a barbed wire gate (carefully) I was rewarded with these beautiful views.

On the other side of the river, the sheep wondered what I was doing.

 Pylons across the valley took time to emerge from the mist.

Even the runners in the Hadleigh Road Race were soon swallowed into the mist.

Lonesome - after the mist cleared.

The lanes that I walk on a regular basis, are really lovely this time of year.

Cobweb made more visible by the mist residue on it.

Rosy Earthstar (Geastrum rufescens) is a species of fungus in the family Geastraceae. It was first described scientifically by Christian Hendrik Persoon in 1801. It has a pale pinkish-buff to pinkish exoperidium and rays. The earthstar is found in Europe, North America (including Mexico), and Japan, where it typically grows at the base of old oak stumps

Giant Funnel (Leucopaxillus giganteus) is a saprobic species of fungus in the Tricholomataceae family. As its common names imply, the fruit body, or mushroom, can become quite large—the cap reaches diameters of up to 40 cm (16 in). It has a white or pale cream cap, and is funnel-shaped when mature, with the gills running down the length of the stem. Considered by some to be a choice edible when young, this species has a cosmopolitan distribution, and is typically found growing in groups or rings in grassy pastures, roadside hedges, or woodland clearings.

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Melford with Sudbury Camera Club

On a few dates during the summer months, Sudbury Camera Club members take themselves off to a local spot to wander and see what they can photograph. Today, a few of us headed to the village of Long Melford.

The Bull Hotel is located in the historic village of Long Melford in Suffolk and was built in 1450. This fine timbered building was originally built for one of Long Melford wealthy wool merchants. It was converted into The Bull Inn in 1580. Coaches from London, Bury St Edmunds and Norwich passed through Long Melford. This is obviously the sign, but for some obscure reason I have no pictures of this beautiful building!

The great size and fine architecture of Holy Trinity Church make it unusual for a village parish church. The church dates from the reign of Edward the Confessor; it was then substantially rebuilt between 1467 and 1497 by John Clopton of Kentwell Hall. It is one of the richest "wool churches" in East Anglia and is renowned for its flushwork, Clopton chantry chapel and the Lady Chapel at the east end with some surviving medieval stained-glass. Edmund Blunden, the World War I poet, is buried in the churchyard. 

The tomb of William Clopton, father of John Clopton.

A church is recorded as having been on this site since the reign of King Edward the Confessor (1042–1066). It was originally endowed by the Saxon Earl Alric. 

The Hare Window.

This unique small stained–glass medieval roundel is located above the north door of Holy Trinity Church in Long Melford, although similar designs have been found in other parts of the world. Although small it has, throughout the ages, been of enormous importance in the spiritual life of the church. The window depicts three hares but the viewer quickly realises that only three ears can be seen. Due to damage during the Cromwellian era the window has required repair

Local landowner and dignitary, Sir William Cordell, founded ‘The Hospital of the Holy Blessed Trinity’ in 1573. During his lifetime Sir William had been Master of the Rolls, High Steward of Ipswich and, in 1558, Speaker of the House of Commons. Residing in Melford Hall he had been born and raised in Long Melford and as an act of piety he provided these almshouses for some of the poor residents of his home town. He also endowed these almshouses with land and property in the surrounding area to ensure a regular source of income for the ‘twelve brethren’ who qualified to live there.

Honey Fungus - spotted along the main road in the village

Some history: Prehistoric finds discovered in 2011 have shown that early settlement of what is now known as Long Melford dates back to the Mesolithic period, up to 8300 BC. In addition, Iron Age finds were made in the same year, and again were found within the largely central area of the current village.

The Romans constructed two roads through Long Melford, the main one running from Chelmsford to Pakenham. Roman remains were discovered in a gravel pit in 1828, a site now occupied by the village's football club. Roman finds in recent years included complete skeletons, a stone coffin, part of the original Roman Road, complete Samian pottery and a Spartan Sword unearthed in a villager's garden.

In June 2013, some archaeological evidence of a Saxon and Bronze Age settlement in the northern area of the village was discovered by Carenza Lewis and her team from Cambridge University, during a student dig.

The Manor of Melford was given to the Abbey of St. Edmundsbury by Earl Aflric c. 1050. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, which lists the manor of Long Melford as an estate of 600 hectares. Long Melford survived the Black Death in 1348-9, and was a brief stop-off in the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. By the early 15th century, the manor of Kentwell belonged to the Clopton family. John Clopton was arrested in 1461 and charged with treason. Clopton was spared execution and he was released and returned to Kentwell. There he organised and largely helped to pay for the rebuilding of the parish church, a notable example of a wool church. During this time the wealth of the parish was increasing, with most of the inhabitants being free men, renting their homes and lands. Guilds were founded, and weaving cloth became a key part of the village's economy.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII granted the manor to Sir William Cordell.

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A day in Cambridge

A day trip to Cambridge (not sure of the reason!) but wish I had taken more photos - I would now, perhaps a revisit?

The Buffalo Skinners - Early days, busking in Cambridge. I believe they are still going and are based in Sheffield.

Shows how organised I was - here are some college buildings but I did not even log which ones!  However, some research says this is Trinity College.

Says Cambridge - Punting on the river.

In the garden of Clare College

Another college - but which one?

Busker in a bin - unique I would say, and he drew a good crowd

More of the Buffalo Skiners

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More Cornish coast and colours

Not sure of the locations of many of these images - apart from the Cornish coast! Just goes to show how important naming and tagging images is because 8 to 10 years down the line -and you are lost!

However, some scenes from a small fishing harbour we visited and a wildflower garden.

Parasol fungi

Nobody about but obvious signs that fishing takes place here. Some colorful floats hanging around.

Don't think this lobster pot had been used recently do you?

I like the many and varied windows and doors seen in most towns and villages. Especially those with a bit of age to them.

More doors - this one with character.

Some beautiful wild flowers we stumbled upon.

We were treated to this approach by the Egret, making his stately way. I believe this was in Mount Bay, near our holiday let.

We have the sulks!

And lastly - a last view of the Mount in the evening before leaving for home.

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Tin Mines in and around Botallack

The tin mining industry in Cornwall began over 2,500 years ago, and references to merchants trading with Cornish tinners are found amongst the most ancient writings of Greek and Roman geographers. The rare and valuable tin produced in Cornwall was taken all over the known world.

These pioneering Cornishmen streamed the valleys and mined the veins visible in cliffs and hillsides. Throughout medieval times, the "tinners" were regarded as special people. 

Charters granted by King John and Edward III gave them unique rights and privileges. 

Cornishmen are justly proud of their mining heritage which, at its peak between 1750 and 1850, firmly established Cornwall as the centre of the hard rock mining world. Apart from supplying most of the world's tin and copper, Cornwall's vast experience in hard rock mining developed unique skills among its miners which were later put to work in mines throughout the world. Landowners, mineral lords and speculators made vast fortunes. 

With the arrival of steam power in the 18th Century, Cornish mining engineers pioneered and developed the massive beam engines which have helped the mines to operate at ever-greater depths. Working in majestic granite engine houses, the remains of which dominate much of the Cornish countryside today, they could either pump water and raise ore and men from mines, or provide power and water for the crushing stamps and ore dressing floors at the surface on which thousands of Cornish men, women and children worked. 

The decline of the industry in the mid 19th Century resulted in thousands of Cornish miners taking their families and their skills overseas to the developing mining areas of Australia, the Americas and South Africa. It is still said that wherever there is a mine you will probably find a Cornishman at the bottom of it! 

The iconic view of the Botallack tin mines

From the National Trust: The remains of the mine buildings at Botallack give a fascinating glimpse of Cornish mining over a century ago. During the nineteenth century there were over 100 engine houses in the St Just district, though mining has been documented in the area much further back than this.

Early mining records date from at least the 1500s. These mine workings are far simpler than later ones and are much closer to the surface because of the difficulties of drainage. Some archaeological evidence suggests that the area was mined in the mid-Roman period, around 200 AD, and there is even suggestion of Bronze Age workings.

Mining under the sea 

As at Levant and Geevor, Botallack is a submarine mine, with its workings reaching half a mile out under the seabed. Many of these workings would have been produced with hammers, chisels and gunpowder, long before compressed and mechanical air drills were invented. Botallack produced roughly 14,500 tonnes of tin, 20,000 tonnes of copper and 1,500 tonnes of refined arsenic. A staggering 1.5 million tonnes of waste would have been dumped into the sea and dyed it a distinctive red colour. 

In the very early 1800s a pumping engine was set up at the base of the cliffs to pump out workings developing under the sea from the lower levels of the old Wheal Button ('wheal' is a Cornish term for 'mine' or 'work) to the north. It was successful and was replaced by the current lower engine house.

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