Stow on the Wold - our holiday destination

Having decided to explore some of the beautiful Cotswold area, we initially found some difficulty in booking a cottage for the week, possible since people countrywide had started to spread their wings after the Covid pandemic. However, we eventually found a property in Stow on the Wold which seemed a good place to use as a base. It also appeared central to many of the places we wanted to see.

The cottage on the right is ours - St Anthony`s Cottage

The cottages opposite 

Our lounge/ diner - yes, small! but well equipped and cosy.

The view up the street which is deserted due to it being our Queen`s funeral. Other days it was like a racetrack all day!

Stow-on-the-Wold is the highest of the Cotswold towns standing exposed on eight hundred feet high Stow Hill at a junction of five major roads, including the Roman Fosse Way. Hence the traffic. But of course, its position was the reason for its success as it gathered trade from all directions as travelers passed along these roads.

The vast Market Square testifies to the town's former importance. At the height of the Cotswold wool industry the town was famous for its huge annual fairs where as many as 20,000 sheep were sold at one time.

At one end of the Square stands the ancient cross. The Market Cross was erected as a symbolic reminder to the traders of medieval times to deal honestly and fairly. The shaft, base and steps are medieval, but the gabled headstone is an addition restored by public subscription in 1995. The side panels depict the Crucifixion, Edward the Confessor, the Civil War, and the Wool Trade. 
The Civil War side panel is a reminder that this is the area where the last Battle of the Civil War was fought.



King Charles I stayed in the King’s Arms (above) in May 1645, but the town is best known as being the final location of the last battle of the first Civil War. Sir Jacob Astley, leading a Royalist force to relieve Charles I’s garrison at Oxford, was intercepted near Stow and driven into the Square, where many were killed or imprisoned. Sir Jacob was forced to sit on a drum near the cross and surrender to the Parliamentarians.

At the other end of the Square, the town stocks, shaded beneath an old elm tree.

Around the square the visitor is faced with an elegant array of Cotswold town houses and shops.

The narrow alleyways called 'tures' leading from the Square to the perimeter of the town were constructed for the better control of animals. There are several around the Market Square.

St. Edward’s Hall stands in the Square and was built in 1878 from unclaimed money placed in the Town Savings Bank and numerous generous gifts to provide the town with a meeting place. A figure of St. Edward stands in a niche over the main entrance. The Belfry Spire was added in 1894 to house the fire bell, as the Rector of that time would not allow the church bell to be used as such. It originally housed a museum of flints, fossils, and Roman coins found locally, the library of the local Book Society with a reading room, and recreation rooms with billiards and ping-pong tables. The Main Hall upstairs was used for special occasions like the Hunt Ball.

Today the downstairs is occupied by the public library, a visitor information center, and a collection of artefacts and militaria related to the Civil War. The Hall is managed by a Trustee Committee for the maintenance and further improvement of the building and facilities.

A couple of images of what is claimed as the oldest pub in England. Due to so much traffic, I was unable to get a reasonable front image but did get the above ones!

Like the surrounding area, the parish church of St Edward is of medieval origins and there is evidence to suggest that there has been a holy temple on this site since 708 AD, this is due to the monks of Evesham who used to own the land at that time. However, a church has been historically recorded here since around 986 AD, the chapel being built from the riches of Stow’s prosperous wool trade.

There have been quite a few debates as to which Edward the church was built for. Some say it was a local hermit of Stow hill called Edward whilst others say it was the Saxon King Edward, son of Alfred the Great. However, most have settled on it being built in honour of Edward the Confessor.

Although not much remains of the original Norman building, the stone church dates to the 13th century with the tower being built in the 14th. Finally, it was restored in the Gothic Revival style by JL Pearson in 1847 who also designed Truro Cathedral.

The Rood beam was erected in memory of those who laid down their lives in the great War 1914 - 1918.

The great West window 

Externally, the most striking aspect of St Edward's is the pair of ancient yew trees flanking the 17th or 18th Century North Porch. It is for most people their initial visiting point, including ours!

  Index of posts

The Wenhaston medieval Doom

There has been a church at Wenhaston since the Saxon period when it was owned by Blythburgh Priory. Most of the present building dates to the 14th and 15th centuries. The south door retains its medieval sanctuary knocker. Just inside the door is a beautifully carved wooden panel that must have formed part of a Jacobean pew. at the east end of the nave is a Jacobean pulpit with excellent carved details, including figures of angels on the book rest brackets. The chancel roof is decorated with carved bosses, and the choir stalls have particularly good carved bench ends. The east window has colourful Victorian glass, and on either side are 18th-century marble monuments to members of the Leman family. At the west end of the nave is a plain octagonal font, along with a royal coat of arms to George III and a charity board.

Few people find their way to Wenhaston by chance, located off the beaten track but just a few miles from the famous medieval church at Blythburgh. Those that make the effort to seek out Wenhaston are rewarded with one of the most remarkable medieval works of art in Britain - and this was exactly what I had come to see!

The Wenhaston Doom, a Last Judgement painting, is thought to have been made and erected by a monk from Blythburgh ca 1480 AD. It stood originally over the chancel arch but was probably covered in 1549 during the strongly Protestant reign of Edward VI.

The chancel became completely shut off from the nave by what was thought to be a whitewashed partition. In 1889, this partition was taken to pieces and placed in the churchyard ready to be demolished. Heavy rain in the night washed off some of the plaster, so that parts of the painting began to reappear. The whole partition was then cleaned and during the major restoration of 1892 it was re-erected in its present state over the entrance to the belfry. Later it was moved to its present position on the north wall where it partly covers the monument to the last member of the Leman line.

These paintings of the Last Judgement were quite common in mediaeval churches. The position of the Doom over the chancel arch is explained by the symbolism which pictured the nave as representing the Church Militant and the chancel as the Church Triumphant which are separated by the Judgement. 

An uncommon feature is that the Rood was once attached to the painting, a sculptured figure of our Lord on the Cross, flanked by those of the Virgin and St John. The space can be seen where these figures once had been. A Rood or Rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Under the painting is a text, Elizabethan, from an unknown version of the English Bible, Romans 13, v 1-4 which reads:

"Let every soule submit him selfe unto the authorytye of the hygher powers for there is no power but of God the Powers that be are ordeyend of God, but they that rest or are againste the ordinaunce of God shall receyve to themselves utter damnacion. For rulers are not fearefull to them that do good but to them that do evyll for he is the mynister of God."

Perhaps this was intended to reinforce the severe warnings of the Act of Uniformity and to discourage any form of dissent?

Seated on a rainbow, the Divine Judge holds out His hands showing the wounds. a scroll nearby reads Venite benedicti (Come ye blessed). The Virgin Mary and John the Baptist in camel hair are supplicating for mankind. The second scroll near the moon reads Discedite mal-editicte, (Depart ye cursed).

At the lower right of Cross are the scales for the weighing of souls with a figure representing a good deed and demons representing evil deeds. Satan holds a scroll - formal accusation of the accused.
At the left of the Cross is St Peter in cope and triple Papal tiara holding the key to the gate of heaven. He receives four of the saved - a King, a Queen, a Bishop, and a Cardinal.

Left of that group are the Heavenly (castellated) mansions; with an angel admitting a soul at each gate.

The fish's head and swine's snout on the far right represent the Jaws of Hell. A demon is blowing a ram's horn while figures in attitudes of despair are encircled by red hot chains while they are prodded into the chasm. The Seven Deadly Sins are represented and one, Lust (?) is seen carrying a female figure upside down. Five of the dead are rising from their graves to meet their Judge.

The hidden paintings survived Cromwell's Commonwealth, when iconoclasts like William Dowsing scoured East Anglia for Papist images in a frenzy of destruction. Dowsing visited Wenhaston, and destroyed windows, tore carved angels from the roof, and had the pulpit, altar, and organ removed from the church. It seems remarkable that there are still so many historic features to enjoy!

  Index of posts

Landguard Scavenger Hunt with Gill Moon

The idea of the Scavenger Hunt was to start with a list of words supplied by Gill, and your task was to walk the area with camera in hand and match what you see, to the list of supplied words. Open to interpretation, and nothing is really wrong - just your viewpoint matters. It`s great fun and certainly makes you observe your surroundings very carefully. The first image is in fact not in the hunt for me, although some people used it. It is in fact  a Thames Barge returning from the Pin Mill annual barge race on the previous day.

Thames Barge off the coast at Landguard Point

Image 1:  Person in the landscape. I thought she fitted the bill but I must confess it was initially the dog which attracted me.

Image 2: Nice easy one in that area - Ship or boat.

Image 3: Natural and man made

Image 4: Repetition - railings and containers.

Image 5: Curves or lines

Image 6: Part of something

Image 7: Historic or old - easy with the old fort next to you!

Image 8 & 9: I cheated a bit here and combined two images - Colour and Plant Life

Image 10: As Gill had missed a number, some of us put an extra one in of our own. Mine was this Linnett on the bushes nearby.

And to finnish off, a view of the activity which take place in one of the countries larges container ports all the time. Two large container ships.

  Index of posts

Pembrokeshire with Hayley and Izobelle

One of my favourite parts of the UK is the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire. As Hayley and Izobelle had never visited this part of the world, we were all looking forward with great anticipation, especially with a trip to Skomer booked as well. As Robert Burns penned - `The best laid plans of mice....` To put it shortly, it didn`t work out as planed!

We had booked a holiday cottage near MiIlford Haven - which was lovely. It was also reasonably close to Broad Haven and Little Haven and not too far from St Davids. However, the highlight was to be a trip across to Skoma to see the puffins. Unfortunately, although the weather was reasonable ie not raining, the wind had settled in the north and was fresh. This led to a cancellation of our sailing at 7am on the morning we were going. Dissapointing for all.

This was on top of the most horrendous traffic queus while trying to reach our destination in the first place. Several hours on top of a long journey, in fact!

The glorious coastline of this part of the world.

Some really simple things keep people amused and this swing in the garden was one of them.

A visit and wander along Broad Haven to Little Haven gave us these spectacular views of the near empty beach.

Another view nearer to Little Haven

As we wandered along the beach there were many rock pools to search and various creature encounterd.

Then to just sit in the sun on the beautiful beach and make sand castles.

Or just soak up the sun.

Or even stand in this cave like entrance and pose for Grandad.

Burton (Hanging Stone) burial chamber

This monument comprises the remains of a chambered tomb, dating to the Neolithic period (c. 4,400 BC - 2,900 BC). Chambered tombs were built and used by local farming communities over long periods of time. There appear to be many regional traditions and variations in shape and construction.

The Burton (Hanging Stone) burial chamber is incorporated into a hedge bank which runs northwest to southeast and is formed by a large triangular capstone supported on three tall uprights; internally it is 2m in length, 1.6m wide and 1.6m in height. This we spotted on the map as within walking distance of where we were staying so Hayley and I set off one afternoon to have a look.

The hedge contains many large stones especially the western side and have been suggested as a second capstone and three further uprights and may well incorporate part of the chamber or cairn.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including a buried prehistoric land surface. Chambered tombs may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value.

  Index of posts