Cathedrals (8) : Worcester

The magnificent cathedral at Worcester has early Norman origins with work starting on the cathedral in 1084 but not finishing until the early 16th century. However, this replaced an earlier building with dated from 680. No remains of this first cathedral have survived.

The cathedral contains a number of different architectural styles from early Norman to Perpendicular Gothic. The former survives in the cathedral's crypt. The cathedral has two transepts which cross the nave. The building has a chapter house and a cloister. The central tower once had a spire though this has now gone. The cathedral contains King John's tomb, other burials include Prime Minster Stanley Baldwin.

The Tomb of John de Nowers... or is it?

Inside Christ Church cathedral in Oxford is a fine effigy of a tall knight in full armour, however the effigy is not quite how it at first appears...

The figure bears the garb and crest of the Nowers family. Which member of the Nowers family the effigy represents however is in question. It is thought that it represents John de Nowers who died in 1386. It has also been suggested that it represents Sir George Nowers who was Lord of the Manor of Tackley and died in 1425. The armour the effigy wears would be wrong for the period however.

The tomb under the effigy may indicate the truth or at least point to it [1]. Analysis of the tomb has revealed what appears to be a greyhound and crests of the de Gaynsfords. The tomb was therefore probably originally for a member of the de Gaynsford family and  appropriated by the Nowers in a medieval example of re-cycling. A new effigy was installed on the tomb. The effigy itself shows evidence that parts of it have different origins, the feet being cut into a de Gaynsford greyhound. It is possible therefore that the feet are from the original effigy. The rest being removed and replaced by one representing Nowers.

[1] Mark Turnham Elvins, "The knight and the appropriated tomb", Christ Church Library Newsletter Vol 6 Issue 2 (2010) p. 12

Churches (47) : St Lawrence, Long Buckby

The church of St Lawrence is the parish church of Long Buckby in Northamptonshire. The church has existed since medieval times, possibly since 1280s when the current market place was laid down. The church has a West tower, a nave, chancel and aisles (North and South). The church is made from coursed ironstone rubble and ashlar.

The church was restored in the nineteenth century with the aisles being gothicised.

Leicester and the King

Although I have been to Leicester station quite a lot, especially lately, it has been usually to change trains and I have only actually left the station once before! So yesterday I ventured into Leicester again, the main objective being to see the tomb of King Richard III who was famously found in an ex-car park a few years ago and finally reburied in the cathedral.

Leicester cathedral and the Richard III exhibition are both excellent and well worth a visit. I like the city too, I must go more often. You can see my photos here.

Castles (13) : Long Buckby

Compared to well preserved castles like Cardiff and Warwick, Long Buckby castle in Northamptonshire these days has little surviving features (on the surface anyway) apart from a mound. The castle was possibly built in the mid twelfth century during the reign of Henry II by the de Quincy family who held Long Buckby at the time.

The castle had a ring motte with a bailey to the West and a larger bailey to the East. Excavations were made in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries when the foundations of the former wall and a ditch around the edge of the baileys were discovered.

Castles (10) : Bedford

Only part of the motte now remains of Bedford castle which was built by Henry I sometime after 1100. The castle was greatly expanded during the following decades and was besieged by Stephen in his war with Matilda. The castle withstood the siege though the defenders were eventually starved into surrender.

The castle was besieged again by Henry III in 1224 in an operation involving thousands of men. After the fall of the castle Henry ordered the castle's destruction. The castle was left a ruin, stone from the walls and defences used to build new houses, pave the streets and build a church in Bedford. The castle was partially restored during the Civil War though afterwards became derelict again. The motte was even used as a bowling green! The site of the castle's remains is now an archaeological park.

Castles (9) : Tamworth

Tamworth is a well preserved example of a Norman motte and bailey castle though was built on the site of earlier Saxon fortifications. The original castle was made from wood in the years following the Norman invasion. It was rebuilt from stone while under the ownership of the Marmion family. When the Marmions turned against King John in 1215 he ordered the castle destroyed. The castle destruction was halted after John's death and the damage repaired. The Marmions were restored to royal favour and Henry III visited the castle in 1257.

The castle had a number of additions as it passed to the Ferrers family especially during the Elizabethan period with the castle being made more suitable for habitation than war. During the Civil War it was captured by Parliamentary forces and used as a garrison. The castle changed ownership a few times in the following centuries, fell into disrepair but was restored. It was finally bought by the Tamworth Corporation in 1891 and remains a council owned museum and tourist attraction with well preserved interiors.

Castles (7) : Bridgnorth

Not much remains of Bridgnorth Castle in Shropshire these days. The castle, which was built in 1101 by Robert de Belleme the third Earl of Shrewsbury, is situated on a cliff which overlooks the river Severn. Robert was said to be fond of a little torture so it is likely some of his castle's guests did not enjoy their stay that much.

The castle once had a great tower over twenty metres high and a bailey that encompassed the top of the cliff. The castle was a Royalist stronghold during the Civil War and was destroyed by Parliamentary forces under orders from Oliver Cromwell.

The castle tower was left as a ruin which leans at an angle of fifteen degrees. This is largely all that remains of the castle today.

Castles (6) : Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth castle is ruins nowadays, though recognisable as having once being a substantial castle. The castle and it's predecessor have had a troubled history.

The first Aberystwyth castle was a motte and bailey castle built in 1100 to the South of the current castle. The castle was besieged and later burnt down in 1136. The castle was rebuilt but burnt down again at a later date. The current Aberystwyth castle was built by Edward I in 1277. However it was captured and burned down just a few years later!

The castle was finally considered finished in 1289 though by the 1340s it was already said to be in a state of disrepair. However it continued to be an important political centre being well situated on the coast and next to a thriving town. The castle was captured by Owain Glyndŵr in 1404 during the Welsh uprising.  The castle was finally destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in 1649, the castle having been a royalist centre and mint during the Civil War.

Castles (5) : Stamford

Stamford Castle was a Norman structure built around 1075. It was built on a small hill overlooking the river Welland and the west of the town of Stamford. Little details of the castle's early existence are known though it thought to have been a standard motte and bailey design. The castle may have been built on the site of earlier fortifications.

The castle was besieged in the civil wars of the twelfth century but fell into decay in the following century when it was described as old and decayed.

The castle was largely demolished in 1484, the site remaining vacant for hundreds of years before being built on in the twentieth century. All that remains of the castle now are a small part of the curtain wall.

Banbury Cross and religious radicalism

The current Banbury Cross dates from 1859 and was built to celebrate the marriage of Princess Victoria to Prince Frederick of Prussia. Later additions also commemorated the coronation of King George V. It was the first cross the Oxfordshire town had had for over 250 years after several previous medieval crosses were destroyed by the Puritans. The destruction of the crosses is just one event from the town's radical past.

Banbury has a long history of radical religion with Puritans also disputing the erection of a maypole in the town in 1589, the maypole was destroyed sparking riots. The old crosses were destroyed in 1600 as they were seen by Puritans as objects of superstitious veneration. Even before the Reformation Banbury was known for its unorthodox religion, the phrase "Banbury gloss" meaning twisting of the truth may refer to what was seen as erroneous readings of Scripture.

Camden's Britannica from 1610 stated that Banbury was known for "cheese, cakes, and zeal"! In the 17th century the phrase "Banbury Man" was used as a derogatory term for a Puritan which is evidence that the town well known to outsiders for religious radicalism. The town had become one of the major centres for Quakers and Presbyterians also flourished. By the 18th century however the town's religious zeal was on the decline with the High Church (establishment backed Anglicanism) welcomed back in the town though religious radicals continued to have influence.

The Banbury Cross is mentioned in a nursery rhyme "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross" though this likely refers to the earlier crosses as the earliest recorded versions of the rhyme predate the current cross by some margin in the mid-18th century.

Colvin, Christina, Janet Cooper, N H Cooper, P D A Harvey, Marjory Hollings, Judith Hook, Mary Jessup, Mary D Lobel, J F A Mason, B S Trinder and Hilary Turner. 'Banbury: Introduction.' A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 10, Banbury Hundred. Ed. Alan Crossley. London: Victoria County History, 1972. 5-18. British History Online. Web. 3 March 2015. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol10/pp5-18.

Churches (21) : St Swithun, Worcester

The Church of St Swithun is a former Anglican church in the centre of Worcester. The church's origins date to 1126 when permission was granted to build a church dedicated to St. Swithun by the Dean of Worcester. Little of the original church remains however. The tower was built in the fifteenth century. The church was completely rebuilt in the 1730s, the tower also being resurfaced. The church is thus considered an example of early Georgian architecture. There were further changes to the church in the nineteenth century.

The church was declared redundant in 1977 and since then has been preserved as a venue for concerts and ceremonies.

Churches (19) : St Botolph, Aspley Guise

There has been a church in Aspley Guise since Saxon times, the church of St Botolph (a seventh century Anglo-Saxon abbot and scholar) dates from the early thirteenth century at least with the first record of the church dating from 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 though to be of Sir William Tyrington who died in 1400.

Churches (13) : St. John the Baptist, Henley-in-Arden

The church of St. John the Baptist in Henley-in-Arden was built in the mid-1400s replacing an earlier church built just over one hundred years previously. The church is located next to the High Street and the Guildhall and indeed is connected to the latter [1]. The church is largely the same as built on the exterior though the interior has seen a number of changes and updates especially in recent times.

The church is in the English Gothic perpendicular style. The style being dominated by straight vertical lines and having a "single defining motif, applied with an unerring visual logic" [2].

[1] Nikolas Pevsner & Alexandra Wedgewood, The Building of England: Warwickshire (Penguin, 1966) p. 309
[2] John Cannon, Medieval Church Architecture (Shire, 2017) p. 61

Castles (4) : Duffield

Duffield Castle in Derbyshire dates from Norman times, the castle was built by one of William the Conqueror's soldiers Henry de Ferrers who had been granted a number of estates in return for his service. He already had a castle at Tutbury but another castle was needed at Duffield to protect the North of his Derbyshire estate. The site the castle was built on has probably also been a defensive position in Saxon times and earlier.

The original Duffield Castle was made out of wood in the traditional Norman motte and bailey style. The castle was rebuilt in stone following the original's destruction by Henry II after Henry de Ferrers great-grandson William picked the wrong side in a rebellion. The rebuilt castle had the third largest medieval keep in the land, only slightly smaller than the Tower of London.

Two generations of owner later and the castle was destroyed again, this time on the order of Henry III after the castle's then-owner Robert again rebelled against the king. This time there was no comeback for Duffield Castle. It was razed to the ground and the stone reused in other buildings. The site was rediscovered in 1885 though the Victorian archaeologists missed some of the features of the castle when they cleared the site and marked the foundations.

Oakham Market Cross

Oakham Market Cross is a buttercross, a type of medieval cross often found in market towns. The name buttercross comes from the practice of selling local dairy produce and eggs around the base of the cross. Oakham cross consists of a stone pillar with a wooden octagonal pyramid roof around it held up by 8 timber posts [1]. The cross is located outside of Oakham school and near the market place. A set of stocks lies underneath the roof by the pillar - no longer in use!

[1] Nikolaus Pevsner, Leicestershire & Rutland (Penguin, 1960) p. 318

Earliest Railways Part 1 : England's first railways

Many people assume that the story of railways began in the early 19th century with the Rocket and other early steam locomotives, however the story of railways goes back many hundreds of years before that. This series will examine the earliest railways of Britain until the dawn of the steam age.

What is a railway? Well a definition many people will agree with is that a railway is a track system which wheeled vehicles run on, guided by the tracks. The earliest of these tracked systems goes back all the way to the Classical World [1].

Ancient Greece and later Rome had a number of tracked systems, the most well-known of which being across the Isthmus of Corinth called the Diolkos which was used by the Corinthian Navy from 600BCE to transfer ships [2] from the Corinthian Gulf to the Saronic. These tracked systems were unlike what we would consider a modern railway though, consisting of deep grooves cut in stone slabs for the wheels of vehicles to travel in. Such grooves have been found in a number of locations across the Classical World, a notable one being at the Três Minas gold mine in Portugal [3].

One problem with tracing tracked systems of this period is that the passage of time and the lack of supporting evidence means that it is difficult sometimes to know for sure if grooves are the remains of a track system or just the natural wear and tear caused by thousands of carts over the years [4]. However consistent gauge and depth is a good indicator that a tramway once existed at a given location. The gauge usually used by Roman tramways was around 1.2m which isn't far off standard gauge today [5]. The grooves usually cut across the centre of the slabs, which would be remarkable to just be by coincidence.

After the fall of the Roman Empire such tramways fell into disuse or at least their continued use in the so-called Dark Ages has not been documented. Railways began to reappear in Europe during the late Medieval Period, a common type being known as the Leitnagel which used pins on trucks guided by a wooden track. A method similar in manner to a Scalextric! [6] These railways were generally short in length and usually underground in mines to transport mined materials to the surface. Leitnagel trucks were small in size, around 1.2m long and 1/2m wide (early mines often had narrow tunnels) and were pushed along by miners. The blunt pin running in the groove in the track to stop it from leaving the track. The trucks were known as dogs as when they moved they were said to make a sound like a dog bark! [7]

It was this type of railway which was introduced to England in the 1560s. Queen Elizabeth set up the Company of Mines Royal in 1564 to mine copper which was needed in ever greater quantities for bronze production for cannons. Surviving inventories from the time list, and physical evidence has been found, of Leitnagel type railways at mines in the Keswick area of Lake District in the late 1560s. These railways are probably the first in England.

Leitnagel Trucks by Georgius Agricola (De Re Metallica) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Within a few decades the earliest surface railways would appear, a network of horse powered lines that would soon exceed over 1,500 miles of track. [8]

To be continued...

[1] Andy Guy & Jim Rees, Early Railways 1569-1830 (Shire Publications, 2016) p. 7
[2] J. G. Landels, Engineering in the Ancient World (Constable, 2000) p. 183
[3] Mark Jones, Discovering Britain's First Railways (History Press, 2012) p. 15
[4] Landels p. 182
[5] Jones p. 10
[6] Guy & Rees p. 8
[7] Georgius Agricola, De Re Metallica Book VI (1561) p. 156
[8] Bertram Baxter, Stone Blocks & Iron Rails (Tramroads) (David & Charles, 1966) p. 15

Churches (9) : St Peter & St Paul, King's Sutton

Kings' Sutton is a Northamptonshire village on the Southern boundary of the county with Oxfordshire. Settlement has been in the area since the Bronze Age, remains of a Roman town being found half a mile to the North of the village. Kings' Sutton is said to have been the birthplace of Saint Rumbold, an infant who died just days after his birth in 662AD but professed his faith throughout his short life.

The church of St Peter & St Paul dates from Norman times (though may include some Saxon material) with a Norman font and chancel remaining intact. Much of the building was built in later centuries. North and South aisles were added in the 13th and 14th centuries. The spire on the tower was probably added in the 14th century and is 60m high [1].

[1] Christopher Winn, I Never Knew That About English County Churches (Ebury Press, 2014) p. 192

Churches (7) : St Mary de Crypt, Gloucester

Tympanum : a (usually) decorated recessed triangular space atop a building entrance such as a door.

St Mary de Crypt Church dates from the first half of the 12th century being first recorded as The Church of the Blessed Mary within Southgate. The church has a number of surviving Norman features including a carved tympanum over the West door depicting a lamb and a flag, symbols of the Resurrection.

The church was rebuilt and extended a number of times in the following centuries. The nave for example dating from the 15th century. The Crypt School was founded next to the church by Joan Cooke in 1539. The school later moved to larger premises and is now a grammar school in the city. One of the founders of Methodism George Whitefield gave his first sermon in the church after his ordination as a priest.