Passing through Huyton

A Northern DMU passes through Huyton on the edge of Liverpool.

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

Stroudwater Navigation

The Stroudwater Navigation linked Stroud to the Severn estuary and joined the Thames and Severn Canal thus allowing a link between the two great rivers.

The canal was abandoned in 1954 though has been in the process of restoration in recent years, not all the canal is navigable with work ongoing in a number of areas along the stretch between Stonehouse and Stroud which i walked. You can see my photos here.

A visit to the land of my ancestors

Lets begin the 2018 season of travelling about then. I decided (pretty much at the last minute to be honest) to begin my travels down in Gloucestershire. I went to Stonehouse which is apparently where my great-grand mother lived for awhile. I then had a walk along the Stroudwater Navigation (see separate article) and walked to Stroud which is where my great-great-great-great grandmother Mary lived. Who knows maybe they also walked this canal back then?

You can see my railway photos here.

 

 

The railway stations on the Monopoly board

Surely many games of Monopoly were played over Christmas? On the traditional London board the railway stations are Fenchurch Street, Marylebone, Liverpool Street and Kings Cross. This is quite an unusual selection, why not Euston and Waterloo for example? The answer may be when the British board game manufacturer Waddingtons bought the right to the game from a US company in 1935 they headed down from their headquarters in Leeds to London to look for suitable locations.

All four stations they chose are LNER stations which may be no coincidence. They would have arrived in London at Kings Cross and may have seen signs for the company's other stations (or just stuck with their local company!)

Marylebone

Liverpool Street

Kings Cross

Fenchurch Street