The parish church of St Nicholas in the Warwickshire village of Radford Semele dates from the 12th century, the tower being added in the 14th. The church was mostly rebuilt in 1889, and again in the 21st century after the fire in 2008 which destroyed everything except the tower and the shell of the nave.
The church is in the Perpendicular style, the west tower having two stages. The nave has a north aisle and a south porch.
Aspley Guise is a village on the border in Bedfordshire, on the border with Buckinghamshire, near to Milton Keynes.
Aspley Guise is derived from Aspenlea, meaning aspen clearing, and from the de Guise (de Gyse) family who were lords of the manor in the 14th century. The first recorded settlement in the area dates to the 10th century and the parish was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The area remained mostly agricultural with two windmills in the parish mentioned in the 16th century. The village is situated at a cross roads and has remained small. A market charter was granted in 1267 by Anselm de Gyse though the market has long since been discontinued.
By the 20th century brick making and clay extraction had become major industries though nowadays many inhabitants will work (and commute to) elsewhere. The parish church of St Botolph (a seventh century Anglo-Saxon abbot and scholar) dates from the 13th century, from around 1223. The church was extensively reworked in the early nineteenth century. The church is made from ironstone with ashlar dressings, the tower from limestone rubble.
The church tower dates from the fifteenth century at least and has a clock that dates from then too. The oldest monuments in the church date from the 1400s including a tomb effigy thought to be of Sir William Tyrington who died in 1400.
At the start of the month i changed to a new work regime where i don't work Fridays anymore (well for now anyway), up until now i have spent my free Fridays doing gardening but finally this week i took advantage of the day to do some rail photography at Stafford. It is always better doing this on a weekday as you can see much more freight and special workings. You can see my Stafford photos here, it was not disappointing though getting sunburnt did put a bit of a crimp on my day!
Holy Trinity Church in Barrow upon Soar in Leicestershire dates from the 12th century. However, little of the original church has survived apart from some pillars in the knave. Much of the current church dates from a rebuilding in the 1860s following the collapse of the tower.
The church has a two aisled nave, a chancel, a west tower, transepts and clerestory. The church is built from pink random granite rubble with a sandstone dressing.
The second model kit of the year has been completed, a bit behind schedule but at least it is done now. Project #113 is a Grumman F4F Wildcat and has been built with it's undercarriage up.
The village of Lidlington is in the Marston Vale in central Bedfordshire.
Lidlington was mentioned in the Domesday Book, the manor of Litinclitone (as it was known then) being held by the Abbess of Barking. After the dissolution, the manor was surrendered to the Crown before being handed over to Edward Ditchfield in 1628. In 1801, the manor became the possession of the Duke of Bedford. The Duke built a Gothic style church in the village in 1845.
Next to the village was a brickworks (a common feature in the Marston Vale), the site is now a large Amazon warehouse. Also next to the village is Millbrook Proving Ground, once the test track of Vauxhall cars, but now used by many manufacturers and is one of the largest vehicle testing centres in Europe.
Lidlington railway station opened in 1846. The main station building (now a private residence) was in the Gothic Revival style on the insistence of the 7th Duke of Bedford.
Denham is an interesting place, the original village is now a fair walk from other parts of Denham (such as Higher Denham and Denham Green) which have grown up in the last hundred and fifty years or so after the opening of the railways. I have been to Denham twice before but not visited the original village, so on my third trip yesterday decided to finally right that wrong. Unfortunately, i picked a day with heavy rain and i got soaked! Still, it was still lovely to see the original village at last, you can see my photos here.
Let us revisit the lovely little church of All Saints in Little Kimble, Buckinghamshire. On my second visit to the church a few weeks ago it was open so i could have a look inside. I do prefer a simple nave and chancel layout church to be honest. The church has traces of painting on the walls, a reminder that medieval churches usually did not have white washed walls but instead vivid depictions of Biblical stories.
A year ago (or a year and four days ago to be exact) my then-new website replaced my railway stations blog. Since then five other sections of my web site have replaced or supplemented my other blogs. Phase 2 of Project Deblogification will see the ending of new posts on three other blogs (including this one). This will take place over the next few months.
However, there is a new blog in development which will be book review and history based. This will replace Knell Lane (this blog), this will happen sometime in the Autumn.
A few days ago i finally created a master list of calculators in my collection, though the list is not yet complete. I have been collecting the things for over twenty years and they have been placed in little bundles all over the house so i may have more to yet discover and add to the list! I do have a new machine to add though, which came today. This Detson 803PM, which works nicely. My list also helps me know that this is the second Detson in the collection.
Bearley is a lovely village in south Warwickshire between Claverdon and Wilmcote. I have been before and revisited the village hoping to see inside the church of St Mary the Virgin which is one of my favourites. Alas, it was locked again. Maybe i'll have more luck on a future visit!
Stewartby is a model village in central Bedfordshire.
Stewartby was built for workers of the London Brick Company in the first half of the 20th century, named after the Stewart family who were directors of the company at the time. Work began on the village in 1926, the new village being based around two farming settlements called Wootton Pillinge and Wootton Broadmead. The village was named Stewartby in 1935. At it's time the Stewartby brickworks was one of the largest in the world, it finally closed in 2008. The final chimneys were demolished in 2021.
Next to the village is a water park and some other leisure facilities. The village gained a sixth form college in 2013. The village has a station on the Marston Vale Line, this station was originally for Wootton Pillinge and opened in 1905.
Let's go back to number 1 in the Churches series! I recently revisited St Peter's in Wootton Wawen, the oldest church in Warwickshire with parts being Saxon. Finally, the church was open when i was there so i was able to go inside at last! The mix of styles and periods inside is fascinating.
At the weekend i headed down to Buckinghamshire for the first time in a while. I visited Little Kimble again, which is one of my favourite places in the world. This time though i also walked the mile to the neighbouring village of Ellesborough. On returning to Little Kimble, i was able to go inside the church of All Saints for the first time. You can see my photos here.
Leighton Buzzard is a market town in the south west of the county close to the Buckingamshire border.
Leighton Buzzard may have been founded as early as the 6th century. The name Leighton is thought to be derived from the Old English for farm clearing in the woods (Leah tun). The Buzzard part of the name may come Beau-desert and was added to the town's name in the 12th century. However, there are other theories about the origin of the town's name.
Leighton Buzzard gained a market charter in 1086, and it became a successful market town thanks to it's good transport links to local agriculture and to London. These transport links included the Grand Union Canal which flows through the town. Leighton Buzzard gained a railway station in 1838 which is now part of the West Coast Main Line. One of the oldest surviving narrow gauge railways also has a terminus in the town (Leighton Buzzard Light Railway). A more modern transport link built close to the town is the M1 motorway.
