Warwickshire Places (5) : Claverdon

The Warwickshire village of Claverdon is in the Stratford district of Warwickshire and is about eight kilometres from Warwick on the road to Henley-in-Arden [1]. The manor of Claverdon (then Cleverdone) was recorded in the Domesday Book. Over the centuries it was owned by the Earls of Warwick, Kent and the Spencer family (of whom Diana was a notable member in recent decades).

The village currently has a population of just over one thousand two hundred. The village has no real notable industry, though is amid extensive farm land. The most notable building in the village is the parish church of St Michael and All Angels - the chancel arch may date from the fourteenth century though the rest is the result of nineteenth century rebuilding [2].

North-East of the village is Stone building: an isolated rectangular tower. Claverdon Hall dates from the seventeenth century though has been much altered in recent years. Claverdon has a railway station and is not far from the Stratford Canal.

St Michael and All Angels

Red Lion pub

Claverdon Top Lock 33, Stratford Canal

Claverdon station

A cooker shop

Houses

[1] "Parishes: Claverdon." A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 3, Barlichway Hundred. Ed. Philip Styles. London: Victoria County History, 1945. 69-73. British History Online. Web. 3 February 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol3/pp69-73.
[2] Nikolaus Pevsner & Alexander Wedgewood, Warwickshire (Penguin, 1966) p. 233

Berkshire rails

Concluding the review of the Easter weekend trip to Guildford, I also visited a number of stations in Berkshire: Reading, Ascot and Wokingham. Most time was spent at Reading. It is a busy station and I saw my first Class 802s there, though as they look so similar to 800s I didn't realise until I was processing the photos and noticed the numbers were different! My photos can be seen here.

Chasing D-Trains

Not being at work yesterday I went down to Bletchley to see the Class 230 D-Train, new DMUs made from former London Underground D-Stock. I was able to see the D-Train finally at Ridgmont and also travelled on it a couple of times, also visiting the rather charmingly named Kempston Hardwick. You can see my photos from this part of Bedfordshire here.

A trio of Surrey locations

Last weekend's saw a busy trip to Guildford which of course included travels to other parts of Surrey including Dorking and Ash. I also finally explored Guildford itself including it's splendid castle which I have only briefly looked at before. Guildford also includes a number of rather nice churches. I also took another walk along the Wey Navigation which flows through the town. You can see those photos here.

You can see photos of Guildford, Dorking and Ash (not of trains or waterways) here.

FAST Museum

FAST is the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust and it's museum at Farnborough is dedicated to the work of the Royal Aircraft Establishment which conducted aeronautical research for the British armed forces, especially the Royal Air Force, since the early years of the twentieth century until 1991 when the RAE was merged into other MOD research groups. The museum is small but has plenty of interest including a replica of the Cody Flyer - the first British aeroplane to successfully fly in 1908... at Farnborough of course! Photos from the museum can be seen here.