Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Isle of Wight Trip – Day 6 (Ryde to East Cowes)

    And the journey is now over, we completed the last section of the walk from Ryde to East Cowes which was a distance of just eight miles.

    The breakfast at the Royal Esplanade Hotel was better than I expected, although overall I’d be unlikely to stay at the hotel again. There are though plenty of hotel options in Ryde and it’s one of the cheaper places to stay on the island.

    The first side expedition of the day was to Ryde Pier Head, which is the first train line that I’ve seen which runs for the entire length of a pier. There are three separate structures which go down to the end of the pier, the structure carrying the train line, the structure carrying the pedestrians and cars and the abandoned structure which once carried trams.

    There’s a small display at the end of the pier about the history of the railway network on the Isle of Wight, now sadly much depleted from its former state. Someone shouted a few things at Richard about his shirt, which caused much hilarity, and then it was back to the hotel to start the walk properly.

    The first substantial stop was at Quarr Abbey which is an early twentieth century monastery of some considerable architectural interest. There is also an old abbey, of which we saw the remains, but this was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and much of the stone sent to Cowes and Yarmouth to use in their fortifications.

    There wasn’t a great deal of coast walking today as most of it was inland. There was a bit more road walking than was ideal, a total contrast to the open spaces on the southern parts of the island. We walked into East Cowes and had a late lunch at the Prince of Wales pub, a former hostelry used by the coachmen of Queen Victoria.

    From there it was the excitement of using the chain ferry to get from East Cowes into West Cowes, a strangely enjoyable final section of the coastal journey. From there it was a short walk back into the centre of West Cowes and we had completed the entire coast path.

    The evening meal was at the appropriately named Coast Bar, where the pizza was marvellous and the service engaging. With everyone tired from their exertions that is now the end of the trip. Well done to every single person who took part and thanks for their forbearance.

  • Isle of Wight Trip – Day 0 (Cowes – Holy Trinity Church)

    Sadly, Holy Trinity Church in Cowes was locked when I tried to visit, so I wasn’t able to see inside. However, it was built in 1832 and was designed by Benjamin Bramble using primarily Isle of Wight yellow brick and was based on the same designs which were used for St. Thomas’s Church in Ryde. The church was funded by Sarah Goodwin and intriguingly she did this to provide employment for her son-in-law the Reverend Maximillian Geneste. How rather noble…

    The church was formally consecrated on 21 June 1832 by the Rt. Reverend, the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. There was a collection held after the service which was donated to the Funds of the County Female Penitentiary. I liked how the church was advertising for a new curate in 1867 and they wanted “an active, earnest fair preacher, of no extreme views”.

    A view of the tower which has extensive views out to sea, so it’s no surprise that there is a strong connection with the maritime community. In the garden of the church there is a memorial to those killed in the Fastnet Race in 1979, when fifteen yachtsmen died along with another four people who were watching the event from a yacht.

    It was mildly disappointing that I couldn’t get to see inside, but maybe another time.

  • Isle of Wight Trip – Day 0 (Cowes – Cowes Ale House)

    The Cowes Ale House, the sister pub of the Newport Ale House, which has a marvellous concept of a welcoming environment, bar snacks, no jukebox and a community feel. A few years ago this was a clothes shop and the conversion is a positive move, this trend of bringing shops back into use as small pubs is one I’d like to see even more of. The staff member at the bar was helpful and warm, so the environment was welcoming.

    The Good Beer Guide said to expect the occasional mild and porter. So I did. And they didn’t have any. The nearest to a dark beer they had was the Robinsons Trooper, which is linked to Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden. The beer was well kept and at the appropriate temperature, which was good as it was in a cooling jacket and these are sometimes more effective than others.

    The beer tasted a bit bland to me, no real strong flavours or depths of taste and I couldn’t get the subtle hint of lemon.

    Some of the pump clips from past beers, and there are some interesting past selections, not least the Ernie’s Milk Stout. The prices of the beer were reasonable, mainly coming in at just under £4 per pint.

    The pub wasn’t particularly busy when we went in on a Saturday afternoon, but there was a welcoming and comfortable feel to the pub. I do really like the whole concept of this pub and the environment feels just right for a relaxed drink. Unfortunately for me and this visit the beer selection didn’t have anything to interest me.

  • North Walsham – Supermarket

    I’m sure my memory must be fading…. There’s a photo (which is likely copyright, so I’ll just link to it) at:

    https://www.northwalshamarchive.co.uk/1/archive/770px/the-precinct-1970s.jpg

    Which shows that there were two supermarkets in the old Ship Yard, an International and a Fine Fare. Although I thought the Fine Fare was where the International supermarket was in the photo, which I thought then moved to what is now Roy’s and which then in turn became Gateway which in turn became Somerfields, who then built a store out of the town centre which is now Sainsbury’s.

    However, the confusion I’ve caused myself might be resolved as I’ve found out that International was bought out by Fine Fare in 1984, and rebranded as Gateway in 1988. So perhaps the Fine Fare that I don’t remember being there simply moved into the International store at that time……

    Anyway, I can’t imagine my memories of North Walsham supermarkets are of much interest to anyone, but part of the reason I posted is because the web-site I linked to above has some marvellous photos of the town.

  • North Walsham – Reeves Lane (The Dog)

    Still on the theme of pubs in North Walsham in 1839, the Dog pub (also known for a time as the Dog Inn) was in operation from the late eighteenth century until the late nineteenth century. For part of its time it was run by the Coltishall Brewery which at one point in the mid nineteenth century operated nearly sixty pubs in the county.

    By 1892, the Dog was operated by Morgans Brewery, who were trying to let the pub out. At the time Morgans operated 600 pubs and they remained trading until 1961 when they were taken out by Bullards and Steward & Patteson. There is no further mention I can find of the pub operating after 1892, so perhaps Morgans couldn’t find a new tenant and it ceased trading.

    After the pub fell out of use the building became used as Craske’s fish and chip shop. If a building can’t be used as a pub, then this seems a perfectly acceptable alternative to me.

    What was known as Dog Yard, I assume because of the pub, became Reeve’s Court when the council approved the demolition of some old and run down buildings with an anonymous and unexciting new one. I’m sure that they were more suitable and comfortable in which to live, but visually it’s not great. I can’t quite see from the map exactly where the Dog pub was, but it seems to be under the housing development that is known as Reeve’s Court.

  • North Walsham – Market Street / Bear Street (The Bear Pub)

    Again carrying on my theme of pubs now disappeared in North Walsham, the Bear was once located on Bear Street, now better known as Market Street.

    It’s possible that the name of the pub comes from a time of bear baiting, although I’m unsure how prevalent that would have been in the market town of North Walsham. The pub was trading from the late eighteenth century and it finally closed in 1967 when Bullards, the owner, decided that it was uneconomic.

    For anyone in the town on Thursday 10 October 1850, they could have gone to watch the auction performed by William Pope auctioneers. It was the property of William Youard who was the landlord leaving the pub and for sale was “all the household furniture, china, glass and sociable” belonging to him. There was an indication of the scale of the property, as it was noted that there was “a commercial room, a dining room, an assembly room, sleeping rooms, a porter room, a bar, store room, kitchen, wash-house and yard”.

    In 1872 the pub was available to be let and it was noted by the agent that “as the contemplated railroad from Norwich to Cromer will pass very near this house, it cannot fail to derive great benefit from it”.

  • North Walsham – Market Street (Angel Hotel)

    From Google Streetview

    Following on from my list of pubs from the 1839 Pigot’s Directory, the Angel (known both as the Angel Hotel and the Angel Inn) is one of those which is no longer trading. This is primarily as it was thought to be a marvellous idea to knock the building down in 1992 and build another one that looked like it. But the new building would be flats, not a pub.

    It’s a shame that the council in its wisdom allowed for the destruction of a pub that had been trading for perhaps as long as 350 years, especially as they seemed to like the design so much the replacement building looked nearly the same. Although they gained a pavement for pedestrians to walk along, which I suppose is an improvement.

    The building which was demolished was constructed in the late eighteenth century and built with white bricks. The landlord in the early 1890s was Edward J. Morris, apparently a well-known athlete according to the press of the time. He died at the age of 43, after he had left the Angel, and he also became the landlord of the George and Dragon in Haymarket (better known as McDonald’s now).

  • North Walsham – Pubs of 1839

    From 1839’s Pigot’s Directory of Norfolk, these were the pubs that existed in North Walsham at the time. Those still trading include the Black Swan, the Blue Bell and the White Swan. More on those, and others no longer trading, in other posts….

  • Thetford – Thetford Railway Station (1845)

    This illustration in the Illustrated London News is of Thetford railway station, just after it had opened in 1845. There must have been a lot of excitement about the increasing possibilities of rail travel which were opening up, a golden age…..

  • Thetford – Thetford Railway Station

    Thetford railway station is an attractive flint-faced building which opened to passengers in July 1845. It expanded throughout the late nineteenth century due to the increasing volumes of passengers and it remained a junction station until in 1953 when the line from Thetford to Bury St. Edmunds closed.

    The listed building register notes just how important the building is in terms of its heritage:

    “There are numerous stations throughout the country that retain three building types but only approximately forty in which a group of four or more types survive. Thetford retains nine, including the loading gauge which would once have been a familiar feature in all country stations but is now an increasingly rare element. Very few stations have survived with this number of buildings, and Thetford thus provides an almost complete picture of an early station that continued to evolve throughout the second half of the C19”.

    The main station building isn’t currently in great shape, and most of it isn’t used, but there is an on-going restoration work to protect the fabric of the structure. There are longer term plans to open the former station building back up, which would give a better first impression than its current boarded up state.

    Looking down onto the tracks in the direction of Norwich railway station. The track curves off to the left at the end of this photo, with the old line to Bury St. Edmunds once going off the right. It was unfortunate that the line between the two towns closed, as it might have been viable to connect the towns via a circular route, as it’s not as easy as it perhaps should be to connect from Thetford to Bury St. Edmunds by public transport.