Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Peterborough – Bishop’s Road Gardens (War Memorial)

    Peterborough – Bishop’s Road Gardens (War Memorial)

    This war memorial is located in what was many centuries ago the gardens of the Abbot of Peterborough Cathedral, which led down to the River Nene. Some of that area is now a small well-presented park (and other parts of the former gardens now include a large car park and a road, which are rather less tranquil), which has this war memorial in a prominent location. The rocks which comprise the memorial are from the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland, an element of peace which contrasts to the two soldiers who died in the Province during The Troubles.

    The architect of the memorial was Columb Hanna and the Bishop of Peterborough was present at its dedication on 30 September 2001.

    Corporal Michael Boddy was killed in Belfast on 17 August 1972, aged 24. He was killed by a sniper’s bullet whilst serving for the 2nd Battalion of Royal Anglian Regiment.

    Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was killed in Bessbrook on 12 February 1997, aged 23. He was also killed by a sniper’s bullet whilst checking documentation at a checkpoint and he had been serving in the 3rd Regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery. Stephen was also the last soldier to be killed by the Provisional IRA before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. This case proved a difficult one at the time, as Bernard McGinn was sentenced to 490 years in prison for this killing, and numerous others, but he was released a year later under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

    More recently, a third name has been added to the memorial, Company Sergeant Colin Beckett, who died at the age of 36 in Helmand Province on 5 February 2011. The Ministry of Defence issued this statement at the time:

    “Company Sergeant Major Beckett deployed to Afghanistan on 15 October 2010 as Company Sergeant Major of C Company, 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (3 PARA). He was based at Patrol Base Folad in the Nad ‘Ali district of Helmand province. On the morning of 5 February 2011 he was deployed on an operation to interdict the movement of insurgents into Shaheed, a village on the Nahr-e Bughra canal where C Company have been developing a protected community. At 0834hrs Company Sergeant Major Beckett was fatally wounded by an improvised explosive device which detonated as he was moving into position to cover his fellow patrol members.

    Company Sergeant Major Beckett, known as ‘Tom’ in the Army, was born on 20 February 1974 in his home town of Peterborough. He joined the Army in July 1990 and was posted to 3 PARA on completion of his training. A strong performance on the anti-tank cadre in 1993 saw him take the first steps down a specialisation in which he would become a master, leading anti-tank soldiers at nearly every rank. Company Sergeant Major Beckett’s outstanding command ability was recognised early and he moved up the ranks swiftly, excelling on anti-tank and rifle command courses as he went, all fitted around operational deployments to Northern Ireland and Kosovo.

    It was as an Anti-Tank Section Commander that he deployed to Iraq during the first Operation TELIC in 2003 but he had been promoted by the time he deployed as a Platoon Sergeant with C Company on Operation HERRICK 4, 3 PARA’s first deployment to Helmand in 2006. He was soon back in Afghanistan on Operation HERRICK 8, again at the forefront commanding his soldiers, this time as a Fire Support Group Second-in-Command during 3 PARA’s tour as Regional Battle Group South. After promotion to Warrant Officer Class 2 in 2009, Company Sergeant Major Beckett took over as Company Sergeant Major of C Company in the vital lead-up to operations. It was in this most challenging role that he deployed to Afghanistan in October 2010 as part of the 3 PARA Battle Group, Combined Force Nad ‘Ali (North).”

  • Peterborough – Rule Breaking Pigeons….

    Peterborough – Rule Breaking Pigeons….

    This amused me for a short while. I accept that I clearly need to get out more….

  • Hempnall – St. Margaret’s Church (Ephraim Thain)

    Hempnall – St. Margaret’s Church (Ephraim Thain)

    There’s a lot to be said for slate gravestones, they usually retain their clarity so that they can still be read centuries on. This is the grave of Ephraim Thain, a name which somehow requires a clear articulation of the syllables to pronounce. Or maybe that’s just me….

    The gravestone also contains the names of Ephraim’s wife, Ann, who died on 21 July 1835 at the age of 35, and their daughter, Frances Ann, who died on 11 June 1835 at the age of 3. Unusually, it seems that the Ann had to wait for Ephraim’s death before the gravestone was placed here, given that his details are on top and he didn’t die until 1860, at the age of 60. The mother and daughter also died very close together, within just a matter of weeks, which seems to tell a story of its own. Or at least, I think they died within a few weeks of each other, it’s quite hard to discern between the ‘3’ and the ‘5’ on the grave due to the style of writing.

    Ephraim had married Ann Lettington on 9 October 1824, at Pulham St. Mary. In the same year, and at the same church (which might have caused some comments at the time) their child Sarah Elizabeth Thain was christened.

    One difficulty about Ephraim’s name is that the transcribers have struggled to spell it correctly at any stage, which makes things rather more challenging. Ephraim Thain (listed as Shain) appears on the 1851 census, noted as a widower, and he was listed as being a farm servant at the Green in Hempnall.

    Ephraim was buried on 19 December 1861. The gravestone that he has been given is expensive and I can only imagine was paid for by the owner of the farm, who took great care to ensure that Ephraim’s wife and child were also listed on it. This likely explains why they hadn’t had a stone of their own, it would be unlikely that Ephraim could have afforded anything. I don’t know why the mother and daughter died within weeks of each other, there are no newspaper reports and no records of the deaths have survived. Cholera was a problem at the time in the country, and indeed in Norwich, but it didn’t affect rural villages in quite the same way.

    The element that interested me about this grave is that this family very nearly became anonymous. It’s hard to find records of them due to their names not being transcribed correctly, with some records seemingly missing or so incorrectly transcribed they can’t be readily located. Ann Thain died before the first census took place and the details of her children are also scant. Being farm workers, their lives didn’t trouble the local media, so their life stories are also lost. Without this gravestone, which someone spent some money on, there’s the chance that their lives would not have been remembered at all. It’d be nice to hope that more of this family’s life can be told in the future, but I’d be moderately surprised if the written record has much more to tell.

  • Fritton – St. Catherine’s Church

    Fritton – St. Catherine’s Church

    I never knew about this church in Fritton, and indeed, nor did I even know that there are two Frittons in Norfolk. I’m a little surprised that one of the Frittons wasn’t renamed East, West, Great or something to avoid confusion. What I did discover here, and I might mention this again later, is that I’ve decided this is one of my favourite churches, it is absolutely beautiful.

    The lych gate, with ‘lych’ being the Saxon word for a corpse, as this is where coffins are placed during part of the funeral service.

    The church is reached down a small lane, or loke, and the churchyard looked all rather welcoming with daffodils.

    There’s a round tower with the bottom two thirds likely being early Norman and the top third is a medieval repair or reconstruction.

    This is the now blocked Norman doorway on the north side of the church.

    The chancel end of the church has had something of a Victorian repair, and some work appears to have previously gone on to increase the height.

    I’m not sure that I entirely understand what has happened here in terms of when the church was repaired and restored. A closer inspection shows that there is a brick frontage of much of the nave’s exterior, but that isn’t how it would have been built. It seems that there was a substantial repair during the seventeenth century (some sources say the eighteenth century), which is an unusual time for churches to be restored, giving it quite a unique appearance. The scale of the repair can’t be underestimated though, it seems that they thoroughly rebuilt the walls, but the inner section remained intact as the survival of earlier wall paintings testifies.

    There’s a drawing at Picture Norfolk, and there is quite an effort to maintain copyright here which is unusual for an older print, so I’ll just link to it, but it shows the church in the mid-nineteenth century.

    Entrance to the church is now through the early medieval porch on the south side of the church, with the holy stoup visible on the right of this photo.

    Graffiti, which is probably medieval (but might be from last year for all I know) on the south door.

    The door is fourteenth century and the initials of church wardens have been placed onto the metal strut.

    The beautiful tiles, which I assume are Victorian or older.

    A guidebook in the church mentioned that this recess in the north wall would have marked the site of an Easter Sepulchre which is where the Consecrated Host would be “buried” between Good Friday and Easter Day. This is a relatively simply version and there’s some evidence of wall painting near to it.

    A consecration cross.

    Looking down the church from the tower end. George Plunkett took a photo here in 1939, but not much has changed in the last 500 years, so there’s little difference since he was here eighty years ago.

    There’s an area where some of the wooden panelling has been taken off the wall, revealing something of a damp problem. The church has only recently had electricity installed and before relied on Calor Gas, which has apparently caused some of these issues.

    The ladder to the church tower. There are three bells in the belfry and they all date to the sixteenth century.

    The font is from the fifteenth century and has smiling lions. That’s quite a jolly little set-up.

    There’s no shortage of wall paintings in this church, these two were discovered later than the others.

    This panelling on the screen is from the early sixteenth century and although some of the faces have been vandalised either during the Reformation or during the Civil War, it’s still in excellent condition.

    More images of the screen.

    The rood screen, which was added in 1913.

    Looking back down the nave from underneath the screen.

    The chancel.

    The rood stairs are still in place, but have often been filled in to some degree at many churches.

    All still intact.

    This depicts St. Christopher and was funded by John Alward and his wife in the early sixteenth century.

    I rarely know what wall paintings are supposed to represent as they’re so faded having been covered in whitewash. This takes little initiative to identify as George and the Dragon, a reminder of when churches were bright places to be with lots of colour on the wall.

    The walls of this church are quite thick, and it seems that every space had some form of wall painting on it. I did think about the man (and I assume it was a man) who painted this several hundred years ago, wondering whether he considered how long it would survive for.

    My final thoughts is that this church is magical with its fine wall paintings, its heritage and it had a warm atmosphere. Sometimes the Church of England don’t perhaps do enough to open up their churches to the communities that they serve, but the local vicar and parish seems to have fully engaged with the wider community. Definitely one of my favourite Norfolk churches.

  • Homersfield – Homersfield Bridge

    Homersfield – Homersfield Bridge

    This is the path up to Homersfield Bridge, where there has been a crossing for centuries, but the current structure was constructed in 1869. And for those who like concrete (I’m sure that it has a niche following), this is one of the earliest concrete bridges in the country. This is also the county border, so this side is in Suffolk and the other end is in Norfolk.

    Clicking on this image will make it appear in a larger size and it shows where Church Lane crosses the river (this older bridge) and where the new B1062 bypasses Homersfield.

    The bridge was designed by Ipswich architect Henry Eyton and was installed by Messrs W & T Phillips of London, under the supervision of Sir Shafto Adair. Adair was the Baronet of the Flixton Estate and the coat of arms of his family is attached to the bridge. Since he paid for it, it seems only fair that he gets to put his family crest on the side. Adair also ensured his initials of SA were placed on the balusters and Eyton also added a panel with his name on it (he added several, perhaps he thought some would fall off).

    The bridge could support a weight of around 200 tons, although it seems that this was a bit made up as they had no way of testing it. Before the bridge opened to the public they put a heavy roller with four horses on the structure, as well as a waggon with flour sacks and two more horses. They were delighted that the bridge didn’t fall down, but their test involved just 5 tons of weight, somewhat off their maximum.

    There was a toll for vehicles to use the bridge, to recover at least some of the costs, but it has always been free for pedestrians to walk across. There was a slight problem with this though insomuch there is a passable ford that can be driven through near to the bridge, as long as the water isn’t too high. The local press reported in 1933 that some vehicles were getting stuck in the water in order to save paying the toll to use the bridge. Slight disaster also hit the bridge in that year when someone drove off rather too quickly after paying the toll and they managed to take part of the bridge with them, which it’s fair to say isn’t ideal. The estate worker got the details of the car’s registration plate, but the driver did a bit of a hit and run and cleared off before his name could be taken.

    The bridge crosses the River Waveney and it was part of a restoration effort in the 1980s after it had rather fallen into disuse since the construction of a new bridge. An excellent job was done, although proving ownership of the bridge was difficult and a compulsory purchase order was required in the end.

    A little dirty, but this is a rather useful and informative sign about the bridge.

  • Bungay – Bungay Well

    Bungay – Bungay Well

    This is the town well in Bungay, which was used from Roman times until 1923 to get fresh water. It was possible until recently to get the key to go and have a closer look in, but I expect someone fell in or something as it’s guided tours only now. I’m sold on the story that this has been in use for hundreds of years, with Romans getting water before their big chicken supper (I’m not entirely sure what Romans ate, but I’m sure they ate chickens). When the well was drained there was some Roman pottery found in it to help the dating process.

    I’ve marked the location with a little crosshair thing, although I accept that this is akin to something out of Puzzler magazine to see it (it’s near to where the arrow pointing to the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is).

    Clicking the above image makes it more readable…. In short, there was a new brick surround added in the Tudor period and repairs have been the responsibility of the Town Reeve (a Saxon word for magistrate). A lovely shiny new pump was placed in the market place in 1812, but it wasn’t until 1923 that a new pumping station at Outney Common saw this well become redundant.

  • GeoGuessr (King’s Lynn Version)

    GeoGuessr (King’s Lynn Version)

    I know King’s Lynn reasonably well, but there’s still clearly much history that I’ve yet to discover. I’m using my GeoGuessr tactic of getting the web-site to suggest five random locations in the town and then visiting them. I’m not claiming it’s akin to climbing Mount Everest in terms of excitement, but it’ll do for the moment. Also, on this one, and unusually, I visited the locations in order that GeoGuessr presents them. The five random locations generated are in the screenshots above, and I used a map of only central King’s Lynn, which had a total of 71 possible places.

    I started off in the town centre, near to Greggs, where I’d just accidentally purchased a chicken bake. Above is White Lion Court, with its post-box located just inside the arch. It’s named after the White Lion pub which once stood on Norfolk street, with that archway now also leading through to Vancouver Court and Burtons Court.

    And here’s the first location, the High Street of King’s Lynn. All very decadent.

    The walk to the next location went by numerous historic buildings, this one is 2 St. Margaret’s Place, which is where Sparrows Hall stood. It was rebuilt in 1513 and has since been lived in by merchants, doctors and a vicar, although the frontage to the building is from the early eighteenth century. This is Grade II listed and the record notes that many internal features remain in place, including eighteenth century doorways and frames.

    A short distance down the road is St. Margaret’s Vicarage, which was built for a wealthy merchant in around 1821, but taken over by the Church of England in 1912 to be used as a vicarage. It’s a Grade II listed building and the record notes that a few internal features remain, including some wood panelling and section of plaster cornices (which are apparently uninteresting). Before this residential building was constructed, there was a seventeenth century building here that the Burney family lived in, of which perhaps most notable was Fanny Burney.

    The stretch of wall doesn’t look overly exciting, but there’s a plaque with information attached to it noting that one of the people who lived here was William Claiborne (1600-1677) and his son went off to the New World, becoming the first Surveyor of the Virginia colony in 1621.

    This is St. Margaret’s House which was built in around 1755 for Edward Everard (1699-1769). It replaced the Hansa Merchant’s House which were former warehouses and office buildings relating to the Hanseatic League. The current building is once again called Hansa House, although I’m not entirely sure what it’s used for now, I think it’s rented out as offices and is also licensed to hold weddings.

    Priory Lane, which I think retains something of a medieval feel. OK, imagination is required as there’s a tarmac road with double yellow lines on it, but otherwise, it has that feel.

    This is the site of St. Margaret’s Priory, which stood here between around 1100 and 1538, and was attached to St. Margaret’s Church. The buildings along here date from the fourteenth century and they were restored in 1975, with the Duke of Edinburgh popping along in early July 1975 to formally commemorate the work.

    This was a complete surprise to me, I have walked nearby to it before and never noticed it. This is the value to me in doing GeoGuessr in this way, it means that I have to walk to places I wouldn’t have thought about going to, thereby actually noticing things….

    It’s the Jewish cemetery in the King’s Lynn, although unfortunately it’s all locked up and so I had to point my camera through the bars. It’s in a walled off area of its own and I can see why they want to protect it. Known as Millfleet Burial Ground, it was used by the community of Dutch Jews who lived here between around 1750 to 1846.

    All Saints Church, which is located within a small housing estate and seems to be the geographical hub of the community, although I’m not sure if it’s the spiritual hub. It’s the oldest parish church in King’s Lynn and has been here since at least the eleventh century, although the current building is primarily from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. There was an anchorite cell here and there looked like some interesting structural elements to the building, not least with the tower that has fallen down. I was hopeful of seeing inside when I saw that the outer doors were open, but, unfortunately, the inner doors were locked. I note that others have also struggled to gain access, which is all rather unfortunate.

    I couldn’t find the exact spot for the second location and wasn’t overly concerned, it was near enough.

    This library is one funded by Andrew Carnegie, a wealthy man who spent much of his money on building libraries in numerous countries, including the United States, the UK and Canada. In the end he funded 2,500 libraries, a remarkable contribution to the state of world literacy, and he was here in person on 18 May 1905 to open King’s Lynn’s library.

    I haven’t quite worked out the origins of this street name (indeed, I haven’t worked the origins out at all), but this sign is on the road that leads into the bus station.

    The third location, which is on Norfolk Street, very near to where I started off.

    There are several of these older street signs in King’s Lynn, and the traces of an even older one underneath.

    My fourth location was back where I had just come from, so I returned via St. James’s Park, and I hadn’t realised just how big this park was. This section was a churchyard which was turned into an area of parkland at the beginning of the twentieth century.

    The park was reasonably busy, but it’s such a large space that it didn’t feel particularly congested. On the right of the above photo is Red Mount Chapel. There wasn’t much litter about either, so it wasn’t like the scenes I’ve seen in newspapers of how hordes of locals have descended on parks and left their rubbish behind.

    And this is Red Mount Chapel, more formally known as the Chapel of St Mary on the Mount, and its been here since 1485. It became used as a stop-off for pilgrims who were walking to Walsingham, but following the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was taken over by the town council. It rather lost its religious purpose after that, with the signage at the site noting that the council started to dismantle it and the structure has since been used for water storage, as a gunpowder store, as a study, as an observatory and as a stable. It has been restored recently and looks in good shape externally, although I can’t imagine there’s much original left inside.

    The Gaywood River meanders through the park.

    I never knew that this was here either, it’s the Guannock Gate, which was part of the town’s defences. These defences were never really tested during the medieval period, it was only during the Civil War that they became useful, and they’ve never been breached. Most of the defences were removed in the nineteenth century, including some big chunks as they were in the way of the railway when it came to King’s Lynn. This section is more in keeping with an ornamental garden, to interest those promenading around the park.

    Talking (or writing) of the promenading, this is the Broad Walk, which was established in 1753 to allow locals to have somewhere to walk and exercise. However, the owners didn’t want the riff raff walking through here, so a gatekeeper was installed to ensure that only the wealthy and fashionable classes were allowed to walk in this area. Important to maintain high standards….

    A wooden statue along Broad Walk.

    Framingham’s Hospital, which is no longer in use, but was originally constructed as almshouses in 1677, although the current structures date to 1848.

    The fourth location, which was on London Road and not that far from the second location.

    A former school along Millfleet.

    This is very odd, a Biedronka store in King’s Lynn, which doesn’t seem to fit the normal look of the Polish chain. I like this chain in Poland, as it tends to be cheaper than Aldi and Lidl, but this one seems a more unique set-up and I’m not sure exactly what link it actually has to the Biedronka in Poland.

    This building was constructed in 1859 as the Union Baptist Chapel, designed by RM Smith. It was turned into the town’s museum in 1904, an innovative way to use the building, and it has continued to be used for that purpose.

    The fifth location was King’s Lynn bus station, which concluded this little adventure. I accept that this was hardly the most challenging of walks in terms of the length, but I did find more history than I had expected simply by heading off in random directions. There were numerous areas I didn’t get the chance to visit, so I might have another go at this little exercise next week. How lovely….

  • King’s Lynn – Book Bench Project

    King’s Lynn – Book Bench Project

    Well, this is quite marvellous, a project which has put seven benches around King’s Lynn with the theme of books. Indeed, it’s so popular that it’s been hard to even get these three photos, as so many families are walking around collecting photos of their kids on all the benches. And, I’m obviously all for projects which encourage children (or anyone) to go walking.

    The organisers of the trail said:

    “The trail consists of seven benches, supplied by Wild in Art, who have produced trails in this country and abroad. These benches are already decorated by artists, and will be temporarily placed in landmark locations around King’s Lynn. A further three benches have been decorated by local artists with designs submitted by local young people and these will remain as permanent features in King’s Lynn, Hunstanton and Downham Market.”

    The only downside that I’ve noticed on several of the benches is that people think that they can sit on them to relax. They can in theory, it’s just that families keep coming by wanting photos so they have to move. But what a wonderful thing it is that families want to engage in a book-related project, and I saw some kids look excited as they ran towards them having spotted them.

    For those who want to go and catch them all (or whatever that Pokemon phrase thing is), they’re at:

    The Saturday Market Place

    The Bus Station

    Outside the Majestic Cinema

    Clifton House

    Red Mount Chapel

    King’s Lynn Railway Stations

    King’s Staithe Square

    There’s more information at https://www.storiesoflynn.co.uk/explore-a-book/ and I am impressed at this community project. Most lovely.

  • King’s Lynn – George Vancouver Statue

    King’s Lynn – George Vancouver Statue

    George Vancouver (1757-1798) was born in King’s Lynn and was the sixth and youngest child of John Jasper Vancouver. The legacy of Vancouver today is not insubstantial, he has a major city in Canada, a large US city, two mountains and a shopping centre in King’s Lynn all named after him. I’m not sure which he would have been most thrilled at, but I do wonder what his family would have thought if they could have known how widely their name has been used.

    Becoming an apprentice in the navy, Vancouver served on ships captained by James Cook and was on the ship when Europeans first saw the Hawaiian islands. He also fought during the Battle of the Saintes, part of the American Revolutionary Wars, which was a little bit of a disaster for the French navy and quite a success in a small way for Vancouver himself.

    © The Trustees of the British Museum

    From the ‘A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean’ book written by Vancouver, this is Mount Rainier which was named after his friend, Admiral Peter Rainier. This was part of the expedition that was led by Vancouver, when he commanded HMS Discovery and HMS Chatham, which set sail on 1 April 1791 and didn’t return until September 1795. That must have been some cruise… It also seems that Vancouver managed not to annoy the residents of the areas that he visited and was also respectful of the natives and their lands. He seems to have been quite a forward thinker, and also a popular man from the accounts that I’ve seen.

    Vancouver died on 10 May 1798, perhaps not getting the praise that he deserved for his navigational efforts. Although, he did get quite a lot of stuff named after him, including the shopping centre in King’s Lynn, so he hasn’t been entirely forgotten. He was buried at St Peter’s Church in Petersham, near London, and his grave is now Grade II listed. It’s notable though that the press made nearly no mention of his death, his legacy was forgotten very quickly and didn’t really strengthen again until the twentieth century.

    So, with this great heritage and something that King’s Lynn should be rightfully proud of, it was no surprise that many locals though Vancouver Quay would be a fine name for the new development that was being planned in the harbour area of the town. West Norfolk Council disagreed, they liked Nelson Quay, because Nelson visited the town once. Nelson has absolutely no other connections with King’s Lynn, but this little issue hasn’t deterred the council. I liked the comment from a local community group who said “they may as well call the project John Glenn Quay – he must have flown over the borough at some stage of his space exploration.”

    Anyway, back to the actual sculpture rather than my musings about the local council, which frankly aren’t entirely relevant here. The statue was placed here in 2000 and it was designed by Penelope Reeve, with the plinth made of stone from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

  • King’s Lynn – Bitson’s Fish and Chips

    King’s Lynn – Bitson’s Fish and Chips

    Another day, another chance to try chips somewhere else, and this is Bitson’s fish and chips in King’s Lynn. The set-up is well signed, customers go in to place their order and pay, then they move outside to collect their order. The staff member seemed all sufficiently friendly and I think it’s a family-run place. My perennial complaint comes to the fore here again, it’s cash only.

    There’s a bit of a Five Guys situation here, the medium chips are what I would consider large, so I perhaps should have just gone for small. The prices were high compared to other chip shops, a small battered sausage and medium chips was £3.60. But, then again, they’ve also given a large portion than others might. Anyway, my life is too short to worry too much about such things….. Two sachets of sauce would have been 70p, which is excessive, but being thrifty I always carry spare in my bag. I really do need to get out more….

    The chips tasted fine (perhaps slightly greasy if I’m being a little picky), but as I wrote earlier on another post, I’m not a very good judge of those. The battered sausage, which I do consider myself more of an expert on, was excellent and the quality of the batter was very high. I should have asked for scraps given how flavoursome that batter was. So, all fine, and I wouldn’t go back because it’s cash only and I prefer the convenience of cards, but I would have otherwise returned for anything they sell which is battered. I like to think they’re relying on traditional family cooking tips for their fish and chips, maybe some skills passed down the generations.