Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Blog

  • Index of Places Long Since Visited

    Locations visited in the past…..

     

    2018

    Peterborough, UK

    Poznan, Poland and Gniezno, Poland

    Hayes, London, Hounslow, London and Harlington, London

    Kiev, Ukraine

    Poltava, Ukraine

    Lviv, Ukraine

    Brighton, East Sussex

    Bristol

    Aldershot, Hampshire

    Oxford, Oxfordshire

    Vilnius, Lithuania

    Lewes and Newhaven, East Sussex

    Riga, Latvia

    Szczytno, Poland

    Mragowo, Poland

    Olsztyn, Poland

    Lake District

    Whitby

    Smuggler’s Trod Challenge Walk, UK

    Ely, UK

    Wisbech, UK

    Madrid, Spain

    Seville, Spain

    Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

    Heathrow T3 BA Lounge, UK

    London, UK (just briefly)

    Limoges, France

    Trier, Germany

    Gdansk, Poland

    Grudziądz, Poland

    Ridgeway, UK

    Canterbury, UK

    Luxembourg City and Thionville, Luxembourg and France

    Bremen, Germany

    Aarhus, Denmark

    Coast to Coast Two  [ Day 0 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 6+1 ]

    The below trips I’ve bored people with on Facebook over the years. I might go back at some stage and copy the photos over, with added commentary. I’ve gone back five years from the time I wrote this (June 2018). However, writing these up might take some time….

    April 2018 – Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff and Bournemouth (UK)

    February 2018 – Szczecin, Warsaw and Lodz (Poland)

    January 2018 – Los Angeles, Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville and Las Vegas (United States)

    January 2018 – Dublin (Ireland)

    November 2017 – Bydgoszcz and Katowice (Poland)

    October 2017 – Oradea (Romania), Wroclaw (Poland) and Bedford (UK)

    September 2017 – Budapest and Visegrad (Hungary)

    August 2017 – Bath and Nottingham (UK)

    June 2017 – Hadrian’s Wall 2017

    May 2017 – Carcassonne and Narbonne (France)

    April 2017 – Southampton and Huntingdon (UK)

    March 2017 – Budapest (Hungary) and Lublin (Poland)

    January 2017 – Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City (US) and Dublin (Ireland)

    November 2016 – Bartoszyce, Gdansk, Sopot and Gydnia (Poland) and Sofia (Bulgaria)

    October 2016 – Porto (Portugal) and Zagreb (Croatia)

    June 2016 – Krakow (Poland)

    May 2016 – Coast to Coast 2016 (Morecambe to Scarborough)

    March 2016 – Geneva (Switzerland)

    February 2016 – Durham (UK)

    December 2015 – Milan (Italy) and Edinburgh (UK)

    October 2015 – Chennai and Bangalore (India) and Atlanta (United States)

    September 2015 – Amsterdam (Netherlands), Dubai (UAE) and Tampa (United States)

    August 2015 – Baltimore and New York (United States)

    July 2015 – Austin and Las Vegas (United States) and Frankfurt (Germany)

    June 2015 – Denver (United States) and Toronto (Canada)

    May 2015 – Prague (Czech Republic), Luxembourg City (Luxembourg) and Dusseldorf (Germany)

    April 2015 – Chicago (United States) and Zurich (Switzerland)

    March 2015 – San Francisco (United States) and Friedrichshafen (Germany)

    February 2015 – Houston and Las Vegas (United States) and Darmstadt (Germany)

    January 2015 – Toulouse (France), San Diego (United States) and Montreal (Canada)

    November 2014 – Belfast (UK) and Fort Lauderdale (United States)

    October 2014 – Seattle and Washington DC (United States)

    September 2014 – Lake District (UK), Singapore (Singapore), Boston (United States) and Beijing (China)

    August 2014 – Luxembourg City (Luxembourg) and Chengdu (China)

    July 2014 – Amsterdam (Netherlands), Bergen and Stavanger (Norway) and San Diego (United States)

    June 2014 – Phoenix, Dallas and Fort Worth (United States)

    May 2014 – Sydney (Australia) and Beijing (China)

    April 2014 – Dubrovnik (Croatia), Sydney (Australia) and Shanghai (China)

    March 2014 – Hong Kong (China), Brussels (Belgium) and Moscow (Russia)

    February 2014 – Los Angeles (United States) and St. Petersburg (Russia)

    January 2014 – New York (United States)

    December 2013 – London (UK)

    November 2013 – Copenhagen (Denmark), Chennai (India) and Berlin (Germany)

    October 2013 – Rome (Italy), Baltimore (United States), Doha (Qatar) and Barcelona (Spain)

    September 2013 – Hyderabad and Mumbai (India) and Kissimmee (United States)

    August 2013 – Bangalore and New Delhi (India)

    July 2013 – Manchester (UK), Mexico City (Mexico) and Canterbury (Kent)

  • Lewes – Barbican

    The barbican gate in Lewes dates to the fourteenth century and was designed to protect the main Norman castle.

    Taken from the castle side of the barbican’s inner wall.

    The barbican itself, there are two rooms above the gateway.

    Inside the barbican.

  • Lewes – Bowling Green

    That’s some history, this bowling green has been in use since 1640 and was previously used as a tilting, or jousting, ground. The bowling green was once larger, but they’ve lost some of their land to building over the centuries.

    The Bowling Green Society was founded here in May 1753 and it seems that the Lewes bowling club has some rather different rules to other clubs. They have a different jack because their green is uneven, although I do wonder why they haven’t levelled it out a bit, given they’ve had over 250 years. Apparently there is a fee of £1 for every session, but there’s a surcharge of 50p each for those on the losing team. That seems to make things a bit competitive for my liking, but it seems to have worked well in Lewes.

  • Lewes – Anne of Cleves House

    This property is named Anne of Cleves House and it might, at first hearing, be assumed that this is the house that Anne of Cleves lived in. Or perhaps visited. She did neither, although it did form part the divorce settlement with King Henry VIII, so there is a link. It’s not though some sort of fake name to tempt visitors in, as the property has historically been known as Anne of Cleves House.

    From Herald Magazine in 1926.

    I didn’t go in as I was irritated that the site decides to off-load tickets cheaply on Groupon. I don’t like that sort of set-up where people, who may not have much money, can turn up on the door and have to pay a lot more money than those who happened to have seen it on Groupon. And, Groupon charge a lot of money, so, and in just my opinion, it all seems a rather botched set-up to me. So, I changed my mind and didn’t go in.

  • Lewes – 22 Station Street

    Continuing the theme of 23 Station Street and 25 Station Street, this is 22 Station Street and it was the Jolly Anglers pub between 1825 and 1955. It was originally known as the Coach and Horses, but it changed its name in 1874.

    The article in the Sussex Agricultural Express in November 1955 confirming the closure of the pub. It’s in a rather good location, a short walk from the railway station, and also between the station and the town centre.

  • Lewes – 25 Station Street

    Next to 23 Station Street is, well, 25 Station Street. The signage on the street explains that there was an outbreak of smallpox here in 1794, but the family refused to go to the pest house located at the former Saint Nicholas Hospital. So, helpfully, the local authorities put some fences up around their house, and also at the end of the road, in an attempt to warn others. Unfortunately though the smallpox spread and it was ultimately necessary to inoculate everyone in Lewes.

  • Lewes – 23 Station Street

    There’s a fascinating information board on Station Street in Lewes, detailing the history of the street which was once known as St. Mary’s Lane before the arrival of the railways. It gives details about the history of the street, but also some background about some of the individual houses. This is a great idea, turning what was otherwise just another street in an historic town into something much deeper.

    This house is the birthplace of Gideon Mantell and he lived here with his four brothers and two sisters. Mantell started his career as a doctor in Lewes, but it is his work as a palaeontologist that has gained him recognition. Amidst much mockery at the time, Mantell was able to prove the existence of what he named the Iguanodon.

    A report of Mantell’s work published in the local newspaper in October 1826. Mantell went on to live in a grander house in Lewes, before later on moving to London.

  • Lewes – St. Anne’s Church

    St. Anne’s Church is the oldest church in Lewes and although it looks interesting from the exterior, it has a much more fascinating interior than I had anticipated.

    The chancel of the church, with the aisle to the right being a later addition in the twelfth century. This visit was lifted by a lovely Canadian lady who showed me round and that included areas that I might not have otherwise have seen. She also explained the church is located on what was once a pilgrimage route, which explains its grandeur.

    I’ve visited hundreds of churches over the years, but none better than this as an experience. The welcome was everything that a church should be, with an extensive guidebook available on the church’s history. There are also panels with the history of the building and the passion of the church volunteers is clear, it’s a delightful place. And the church is rightfully proud of its history.

    The font dates to the twelfth century has a basket-weave pattern to the stone. It’s still in use today, that’s a lot of generations who have been baptised here.

    Looking back towards the slightly more modern tower. I had a little look in here and noticed the scary looking ladders fixed to the wall which went up to the belfry.

    The wooden pulpit is magnificent with its carvings, dating to 1620.

    This is the oldest memorial brass remaining in the church and is dedicated to Dr. Thomas Twyne. He was a doctor in Lewes for thirty years and he died in 1613, with a rather interesting epitaph (English translation provided).

    I’ve never seen one of these before, this is the area where an anchoress would have lived. This is someone who is devout and who effectively walls themselves up in an area by the side of the church. There’s no record of how long this cell was used for, perhaps just once or maybe for generations, although a burial has been found here. They have a reasonable amount of space, well for someone who has been walled up anyway, and it was for those who wanted to dedicate themselves to prayer.

    There’s another opening, now in a wardrobe and so not accessible to the public, where the anchoress would have sat to dispense wisdom to those who wanted it. The kind lady at the church showed me in the wardrobe, it’s a fascinating piece of history which has been retained. Above is the what is now the other side of the wall.

    The first three of these cast iron leaping board grave markers are dedicated to children from the Medhurst family who died at an early age. I think there are more markers than this noting the deaths of more children from the family (there were a total of eleven children who died, an incredibly loss for any parents), and the markers themselves are now listed as Grade II listed monuments.

    The churchyard at the rear of the church.

    If there is such a thing as a perfect English church, it’s this one.

  • Newhaven – Tide Mills

    I’ve walked the Seven Sisters in East Sussex many times, although usually ending at Exceat or Eastbourne. I’d never gone into Seaford and Newhaven which are a little further along the coast, but between them is this lost village that I hadn’t previously been aware of.

    Without the information boards I wouldn’t have been any the wiser as to what the remains of the buildings were. There was a settlement which built up around the mill which was located here, and there was a relatively sizeable population by the mid-nineteenth century.

    The mill stopped operating in 1900 and this made most of the housing lived in by workers redundant. In 1936 the settlement was designated as being unfit for human habitation and in 1939 the remaining residents were told that they had to leave.

    This is part of the nurses’ home.

    The remains of the marine hospital.

    More information about the marine hospital.

    More of the marine hospital building. The buildings location by the sea isn’t helping its preservation, which is part of the reason that the settlement fell into such disrepair even when people were still living here.

    The old railway line which ran to the mill site, and there is a former railway station here which is currently being investigated as part of the archaeological dig.

    As mentioned above, there’s currently an archaeological dig taking place to try and understand more about the site, and I only had time to visit a small portion of it. However, it’s quite a large site and the remains are relatively extensive. I shall visit again and spend more time here.

     

  • Riga – Museum of the Occupation of Latvia

    This is the temporary home of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which concentrates on the period between 1940 and 1991 when the Russians were effectively in control in the country. They have a new building being built at the moment, which isn’t likely to open until 2020, which will give them much more space. I also had a rather positive experience at their second site, which is temporarily closed, the Corner House KGB Museum.

    There are a limited number of exhibits and interactive displays at the moment, as they don’t have the space to show everything that they’d like. Instead there are a lot of information boards which tell the story in chronological order and they’re clear and well presented. Above is one of the boards which shows what street names were changed to in Riga during the relatively brief period of German occupation during the Second World War.

    This is a purse which was meant to be used for a Latvian soldier’s identification badge, in case he was killed in action and needed identifying. He used it instead to place prayers from his mother and sister in, a reminder of the home-life that he was missing.

    One of the special exhibition displays, the notice reads “this item (like history itself) is being made right now!”. It went over my head….

    The museum started operations in 1993 and its site closed in 2012 for the new building to be constructed. I look forwards to visiting Riga again when the museum is open, as there was a special display on some of the plans that they have, and it looks an exciting project. I noted that there was a staff member at the entrance to the museum who was welcoming everyone and giving them an introduction to what there was to see, it set a positive tone for visitors.