Churches (90) : St James, Hartlebury

The Church of St James in the Worcestershire village of Hartlebury dates back to around 1300CE (though a church may have been on the site from Saxon times). Only fragments from the church's earliest days remain. Most of the current structure was built in 1836-7 though the West tower is from 1587CE, though the porch is a later addition. 

The church has a nave with North and South aisles, a chancel (from 1825) and North and South chapels. The church is built from sandstone ashlar from nearby quarries.

Model Week : Is it time for a change?

The model railway mojo has gone missing over the last few weeks. Perhaps Birches Green as it stands has reached a point where the design flaws and mistakes made years ago can no longer be ignored, and also it is time for a fresh challenge. We are therefore looking into a new layout to replace Birches Green. This new layout may feature the return of the N gauge fleet which has been waiting patiently in boxes for the last few years. As yet there are no firm plans either way but some feasibility studies may be made.

Corn by canal

A Pathe newsreel on the importance of the canals for inland trade in 1940.

Golden Age (30) : Seven Dead

Seven Dead by J. Jefferson Farjeon is one of those crime novels which features a fantastic opening premise but unfortunately the story which follows doesn't quite live up to it. In this story a burglar breaks into a seeming empty country house and has the fright of his life when he discovers a room with seven corpses in it! DI Kendall investigates what happened in the house, with the help of an amateur detective (of course) in the form of yacht owner Hazeldean.

The house's owner was not among the dead and the search for the owner takes Hazeldean across the channel to Boulogne. Kendall finally joins him but a bit late in the book, which is unfortunate as Hazeldean is a bit of an annoying character. For a start he becomes quite obsessed with the portrait of a child on the wall of house so that he must find the woman (she luckily) is now. Quite odd, something that hasn't aged well.

The story is fine and worth persevering with, to find out just what actually happened to those seven unfortunates, and it is novel. It just could have been a bit better. It is certainly is an unusual crime story if not a brilliant one.

Arriving at Hinckley

In Leicestershire.