Lad in the Lane

Instead of having to travel far and wide to see this country's architectural treasures sometimes they are just on your doorstep. Take the Lad in the Lane public house in Birches Green for example. It is probably the oldest house in Birmingham and may have been in existence since the end of the 14th century.

The building was originally a dwelling but since the 1780s has been a public house, known as the Green Man for a long time but the Lad in the Lane in recent decades. Although the building has been much altered over the last six centuries some of the beams have been dated to the 15th century and maybe earlier.

Churches (57) : St Mary the Virgin, Attenborough

The parish church of St Mary the Virgin in Attenborough, Nottinghamshire may date from late Saxon times with the church being listed in the Domesday Book. The chancel may have been built in the mid-11th century and existed in 1042CE. It is probably the current church was built on the site of an earlier Saxon chapel which was built in 964CE.

The church was built from dressed stone and ashlar and has a West tower, vestries, nave, North and South aisles and a South porch. Much of the current church dates to the 15th century with some later rebuildings kept to that style.

The spire was rebuilt in 1848 and is forty metres tall and the church restored in 1869.

Arriving at Redditch

My train arrives to take me back home.

Leicestershire Places (2) : Sileby

The town's origins date from the mid-9th century when a settlement was established by the Danes and was part of the Danelaw. One of the families were known as Sighulf which is probably where the name of the town comes from. Sileby was an agricultural settlement that developed near the river Soar later on with a cottage industry in clothing manufacture.

In latter centuries Sileby became an industrial town noted for the manufacture of hosiery, shoes and wallpaper though most of these factories have now gone. However the wealth bought in from industry helped the town treble in size in the late Victorian and Edwardian period.

The oldest building in Sileby is the parish church dedicated to St Mary which was founded in 1152CE. There are also a number of houses from the 18th century. The town is situated between Leicester and Loughborough.

BGLR : Time for some layout work?

With the pandemic closing many if not most attractions there may soon be plenty of time to work on the layout! At the moment though we are just doing some operating. Here Black Beauty takes a freight train through the station with Jam on the bay platform with the express passenger train. Normal services and no real social distancing required in the model world!