This plan (© IWM Q 60569) of the galleries of the Imperial War Museum dates to 1936 and would have been when they moved to their current site at the former Bethlem Royal Hospital. And, I have to say, I like this kind of layout for a museum, there’s a clear narrative to the story and it seems appealing to me looking at the map. This is probably why I’m not finding some current museum layouts to my taste, since it appears I’m getting on for a century out of date…..
I last went to the Imperial War Museum before it closed for a substantial refurbishment in early 2013 and the opportunity to visit now when it was quiet seemed quite appealing. It remains free of charge, provided with substantial funding from the Government, whilst it makes the rest from its commercial activities.
The museum first opened in 1920 and it had become essential to tell the story of the First World War and other conflicts that the British had become involved with. This first museum was located at the Crystal Palace, before a new site being found in South Kensington in 1924 and then, finally, the museum moved to its current site in 1936, at what was previously the Bethlem Royal Hospital in Southwark.
The entrance hall is impressive, with various military vehicles and planes visible. There are, broadly, four main exhibition halls which cover the First World War, the Second World War, the Holocaust and the Lord Ashcroft Gallery.
The First World War gallery is perhaps the museum’s best, although I found it drifting all over the place and it didn’t present a clear narrative. The Second World War gallery was, in my limited view, hard to follow and again lacked any clear direction. There were lots of facts presented in a random manner and I’m not sure that I discovered anything new about the Second World War. It is a country mile behind the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, although it might be unfair to compare it to this Polish institution, which is I think one of the best museums in the world.
I’m not entirely sure why the Holocaust exhibition has been shoved into the Imperial War Museum, although it has been given the size and status that it deserves within the building. The UK needs a Holocaust Museum that isn’t just part of another institution, but the Imperial War Museum is currently working on a new set of displays that are meant to complement the controversial Holocaust memorial being built by the Palace of Westminster. The Holocaust displays are excellent, although very powerful, perhaps too powerful. They have some graphic images of nudity and videos of people about to be hanged, I’m always uneasy that someone who suffered in the Second World War should be further humiliated in this way. But, this was a sizeable display and it was laid out clearly and with a central narrative. Ideally, I’d have liked the Imperial War Museum to operate a Holocaust Museum on another site (preferably nearby) where it could have more space and more funding.
This is the top of the building, I’m not sure what it’s usually used for.
The Lord Ashcroft Gallery was, I think, designed for children and it has the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses. I struggled to engage with this gallery, I wanted them to pull out interesting stories of some of the individuals who had been awarded military honours, but there were just a few words about many individuals and the most confusing mixed usage of fonts, media and display methods that I think I can recall. I think I’m getting old and grumpy, but I did see lots of children reading the displays and that’s perhaps the most important thing, that they engage with the history.
All told, I think I preferred the more traditional nature of the old museum displays, rather than the pared back current building. I often come to that conclusion though, but the Imperial War Museum is well-reviewed and is clearly doing something which appeals to the majority of visitors. But, the staff were all helpful and engaging, with visitors seeming to be enjoying their experiences. I think I wanted something with more narrative and I would have liked more exhibits and more stories about individuals. It was a perfectly pleasant way to spend a couple of hours though and more people should come here.
And, as an aside, I have discovered that the Imperial War Museum has placed part of their vast photographic archive on-line, which is very exciting as there are over 350,000 photos on their web-site. That’s an impressive effort, but they have 11 million photos so the size of this archive will be incredible when they’ve finished making it all available.
Our weekend mostly consisted of visiting pubs in the Good Beer Guide, but there was a quick visit I thought I’d make, which was to the only JD Wetherspoon outlet in Norfolk and Suffolk that I haven’t been to. I accept that I need to get out more, but this also proved to be a handy breakfast spot.
It’s not the most inspirational of buildings and it takes its name from the grocers who traded on this site between the 1870s and the early 1900s. They, as can be imagined, had a rather more beautiful and glamorous building, with the site taken over by the Co-op during the twentieth century, until it became a Wetherspoons.
The breakfast which was perfectly adequate other than the egg was over-cooked. But, this isn’t an expensive breakfast, so I managed to cope with what was served. Someone appears to have pinched the pub’s milk jug though, as they didn’t have one and I was invited to just pour it from the 4-pint plastic containers that the pub had behind the bar.
The reviews on TripAdvisor for this pub are pretty dreadful for a JD Wetherspoon outlet, mainly about cleanliness. I have to say, when we visited, it could have all been cleaner. Everything was keenly priced though and so there was little to complain about, but equally, there was nothing particularly exceptional. Anyway, that at least means I’ve visited every JD Wetherspoon in Suffolk.
I don’t know who William Hawkins is, but he must have been relatively powerful or influential to have had a vault here at St. Botolph’s Church. The vault would have been here since before the fire at the church in 1648, and perhaps before the Dissolution of the Monasteries just over a century before. It’s perhaps not an ideal situation for your vault, which was deliberated designed to be inside, to be left out in the open. However, it’s also interesting that the site has been marked and not left to be forgotten over the centuries.
It’s hard to deny that this pub obviously has character, even before walking in that’s evident. Although it wasn’t originally named after Winston Churchill, it is now at least a little themed around him and the pub’s web-site notes that his grandparents drank there.
The interior of the pub was no less quirky. The staff in the pub were friendly, with the operation of track and trace being handled professionally and everything seemed clean. Just as my view, the beer selection was weak with no dark options, limited to London Pride (and I know many people like London Pride, but its appeal is a little lost on me) and Honey Dew, both from Fuller’s Brewery, who operate the pub. The pricing was some of the most expensive that I’ve seen, over £6 for a pint of real ale which tops the prices of nearly every central London pub I’ve visited. I was rather pleased that I only ordered half. The drink was, well, metallic in flavour with some sweetness. Lovely if you like Metal Mickey I suppose.
The Honey Dew taste and price was enough for me to abort my plans to eat food, which was awkward as the staff member seemed moderately confused as why I hadn’t ordered after I said I was planning to. This was quite a surprise even to myself, as it was half price day for food as part of the Eat Out to Help Out, and the Thai kitchen menu items seemed intriguing and tempting. The reviews suggest that the food is excellent (and I could hear the number of phone calls coming in asking for reservations, but they were full), but there is something I didn’t like about any pub, even in Kensington, topping £6 for a pint of real ale, so I resisted the temptation of the Jungle Curry.
But, the pub is clearly a local favourite and it has a long tradition with a friendly welcome. It wasn’t for me though, but I’d have probably been more of a fan of the whole experience if they’d stocked Fuller’s Porter. Incidentally, although the Thai cuisine perhaps seems a little mismatched for the British theme of the pub, it clearly works as they’ve been doing it since the early 1990s. Besides, any pub which has its own page on Wikipedia is likely worth a visit.
In the tenth century, there was a church here dedicated to St. Botolph, but a Kentish priest with the name of Norman fancied setting up an Augustinian priory. So, after some research and approval, this magnificent structure was built and the religious institution was established. It was the first Augustinian priory to be constructed in the country and it also, very sensibly, honours St. Julian.
The rather glorious remaining section of the west front of the priory.
Much of the church has been reconstructed using Roman brick that was robbed from various walls and buildings around Colchester.
These pillars have stood the test of time…..
This is the nave, looking towards the west end of the priory. The priory was closed down during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but the nave area was saved as this was used by the local population at their church. Everything that the monks used, such as the cloisters, numerous chapels and their area for prayer was all pulled down.
The church in its new form survived until 1648, when it was destroyed during a siege that took place during the English Civil War. There were plans to rebuild the church after the Civil War, but they never came to pass, so the ruins have stood here now for over 350 years, currently under the management of English Heritage.
This memorial notes where Sir Charles Lucas (1613-1648) and Sir George Lisle (1610-1648) were shot on the orders of Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Parliamentarian General. The two men were shot in the castle yard on 28 August 1648, following the surrender of the town to Parliamentary troops during the Civil War. The men were buried at St. Giles’s Church in the town and after the restoration of the Monarchy, there was a commemoration ceremony and the actions of Fairfax were rejected by many. Lucas was given a posthumous peerage in 1666 and the decision to shoot them was seen as a miscarriage of justice, even for the period. Lisle had said to the firing squad “now rebels, do your worst” and Lucas was equally brave.
This memorial stone was unveiled here behind Colchester Castle, where the men were killed, on 20 October 1892 at a ceremony attended by Henry Laver.
The Victoria’s web-site has the message “we pride ourselves on being able to source many ales that you may not have tasted before, many from micro breweries who don’t usually supply nationally so we take the time to go and fetch them ourselves. Not for us the safe route of Adnams, London Pride, Doombar, etc……” which is one of the most reassuring things that a pub can say. Although I understand that many pubs are tied and don’t have this flexibility, it’s still relatively rare to get an interesting choice of beers.
Some of the real ales and ciders, there were also pumps to the right with what might be defined as more exotic craft options, with beers from Bone Machine, Turning Point and the Cloudwater Brew Co. There was a friendly welcome from a staff member perched by the counter, giving him an ideal vantage point to get customers to sign in, seat them and engage with them as required. The staff members were helpful, friendly and there was a relaxed feel to the whole pub. All rather lovely.
This is the two-thirds of the Mary Ann is Dead from Bone Machine, although I caused some moderate confusion by ordering a drink in this measure. The barman was immensely helpful in working out the price and finding a suitable glass, I have somewhat got in the habit of ordering in thirds without checking the pub was set-up to do that. I liked that this unintentional curveball didn’t annoy the barman though. The drink has a rich and decadent taste of mint running through it, along with the chocolate flavour, very moreish. There was a limited aftertaste though, although the initial hit was quite strong, but this is still a very beautiful drink.
I pinched from Nathan a taster of the Multi-Dimensional Being from Cloudwater Brew Co. and I have no idea what on earth this drink was, defined loosely as a brown ale and it had a whole array of different flavours. My palate wasn’t good enough to know what these flavours were, other than slightly fruity whilst maintaining some elements of a stronger beer such as notes of chocolate. But, whatever the flavours were, this was a quite magnificent drink and I opted for one of my ever rare 4.75 out of 5 scores on Untappd. I could rightly say that no-one is really bothered about what I think of a beer, but I’m pleased that the brewery noted and acknowledged the score when they saw it.
It was a little bit of a shame that the pub didn’t open longer into the evening, as there were numerous other drinks options that looked tempting. But, I’m sure I’ll be back in the future. And this is one of my favourite pubs of the year.
I didn’t spend long in the village of Hope, it was just sufficient time for us to visit the pub, the Cheshire Cheese Inn. The village name though is intriguing and The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of English Placenames notes:
Hope, Derbyshire. Hope in 926, Hope in the Domesday Book. From Old English ‘hop’, meaning valley.
I was slightly disappointed with this, I had hoped (excuse the pun) for something more inspirational. The dictionary takes some time explaining this word, it has numerous meanings, but in this part of the country, it was a relatively common Old English word to describe a valley. The village has had the same name for probably nearly 1,500 years and that’s some going, also making it one of the earlier places in Derbyshire to have been recorded.
This was our choice for food following our visit to the rather wonderful Swiss Tap in the nearby town of Edale. It’s listed in the Good Beer Guide and is a sixteenth-century building with some heritage to it. The owners of the building put stucco plaster on the frontage in 1877, but when this was removed it was evident that this was once two cottages.
The main bar area of the pub.
The same room, with a downstairs area visible down some steps on the right-hand side. There were people in there so I didn’t disturb them by taking a photo, but this was the second cottage that was once used to house animals downstairs whilst the owners lived in the upper part. I like that the pub has made an effort to explain its history on their web-site, noting:
“The Inn owes its name to being an overnight stopping point on the old salt carrying route from Cheshire across the Pennines to Yorkshire. Payment for lodging at the Inn was actually made in Cheese. The original cheese hooks can still be seen in the lower room. Today it retains a relaxed unspoiled, old world atmosphere with open fires, traditionally brewed hand pulled beer and a reputation for good wholesome food.”
There’s a small bar area to the left.
And here it is, but customers were advised to take advantage of table service, rather than trying to order in this limited area.
The menu, with primarily traditional British dishes, but an effort has been made to cater for vegetarians.
I’m going to have to admit that my beer tasting ability couldn’t cope easily with this, the Daily Bread from Abbeydale Brewery. The staff member warned me that it was a very yeasty beer, hence the name, but I couldn’t work out whether it was slightly past its best or whether the yeast was meant to make it taste like that. Since I wasn’t competent enough to know which it was, I’m assuming that it was just a strong flavour and it wasn’t unpleasant, just different to what I’d usually have. Interesting though, I like that there’s something different to try.
I had the beer-battered haddock, which was moderately expensive at £13.75. The fish was well cooked and tender, with the batter retaining some crunch and having a pleasant flavour. The mushy peas were, as they often are, pretty pointless as they were devoid of flavour, but the chips were homemade and moreish. All very acceptable though and the portion size was towards the generous side.
Back to the price, I wasn’t entirely delighted to note at the end that, despite being listed on the Amex Shop Small site, they decided they didn’t accept Amex and that meant I couldn’t claim my £5 from the card company as part of the scheme. Anyway, that aside, the staff here really were excellent and our main server was personable and helpful. It was a comfortable location and I liked the history to the pub, with the friendly staffing all adding the atmosphere. Not a bad choice of mine at all……
