Thursday, 13 September 2012

Chatsworth 'Beyond Limits' ...

I got back an hour or so ago from spending five hours wandering around the gardens at Chatsworth ... and looking at the Beyond Limits exhibition. 

I'm tired now and I haven't got enough time to upload more than one photograph. This isn't one of the Beyond Limits exhibits ... it's just a garden seat that caught my eye.

I'm sure I will upload some more photos from an interesting visit in the next few days ...

Rustic seat at Chatsworth

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

The Search For King Richard III - The Archaeological Dig

This has only been uploaded to YouTube today and it tells you more than the BBC news items do. It is absolutely fascinating ...
 

The English countryside ...

I make no excuses for embedding this short, three minute film from the National Trust ...

Mick Aston ...

 There's an interesting interview with Mick Aston [late of Time Team] in Current Archaeology ...
 

Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Beyond Limits Highlights ...

A Farm Journal ~ from the 1st to the 28th February 1867

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby.
The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

In this photo John is fourth from the left. My great great grandparents, Ebenezer and Hannah Bowman, are the third and fourth adults from the right. John and Ebenezer were brothers and their parents are the elderly couple in the middle, Henry and Mary Bowman.

The Bowman family

"A Farm Journal" continues :~

6 day 1st Fine day Thrash[e]d Cales - & grinding

7 - 2 Fine - grinding at Cales fetch[e]d bl[ac]k tartar seed oats fr[om] Bakewell 27/6

1 - 3 Fine 

2 - 4 Wet day morn[in]g fine aft[ernoo]n B[akewe]ll market & on to Ashford [in the Water] to d[ine] & t[ea]

3 - 5 Showery

4 - 6 M[onthly] M[eeting] B[akewe]ll - very wet morning - on to Middleton aft[ernoo]n Snow & blow - home at night

5 - 7 Stormy

6 - 8 Very wet morn[in]g fine aft[ernoo]n Thrash[e]d at Cales

7 - 9 Fine & spring like

1 - 10 Showery Bowman & Fanny Blore to dine Bowman & I to Chelmorton to visit W.Dawson by appointment

2 - 11 Fine at Cales cleaned boiler etc

3 - 12 Ditto finish[e]d plough[in]g fallow in Pewet Knobs & began ley in Kiln Close S.H.

4 - 13 Fine & spring like Bentley here mending carts

5 - 14 Raw S.E. misty rep[airin]g carts etc stack in S.H.

6 - 15 Ditto - wet evening S.E. - stacks in at Cales could not thrash boiler not in order - to Sheldon in evening to see R. Brocklehurst * - ewe dead at Cales - M.A.Bagshaw died yesterday

7 - 16 Fine did the engine at Cales to 5th day 28 most fine last two days frosty - finish[e]d plough[in]g ley Kiln Close S.H. began Far Piece - Irish Bullock choked with a turnip at Cales - we tried to force it down & so injured the throat - it died  - in future put a stick in the mouth & turn out - dried & ground oats at Cales


 * 'R.Brocklehurst' could well be Richard Brocklehurst who would have been aged 37 or 38 in 1867. According to the 1861 Census Return he was an "Engine Driver also Lead Miner".

  

Monday, 10 September 2012

Beyond hills and by the Blue Waters ...

Back in December 2010 they hadn't tried to stop people feeding the wildfowl in Bakewell so there were plenty about ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

... including some real wild gooses ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

There's a footpath that runs beside the Wye, then across the park and eventually along the back of some houses ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

... between hedges and fences ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

... to bring you to the A6 on the southern side of Bakewell.

If you take Intake Lane on the opposite side of the main road you can soon leave the hustle and bustle of Bakewell behind you ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

Looking back we could see the mist lying in the valley.

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

We continued to quietly squelch our way along along the old track ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

At the end of the lane we walked south and then across the fields to the small pull-in above Conksbury Bridge. In the trees I found another one of these ... no, it's not a bird box ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010


There's more about it here ~ http://www.alecfinlay.com/letterbox.html ~ and this was the circle poem on the rubber stamp inside the box ...


beyond hills ...

I wonder whether this project has fallen by the waywide [no pun intended] as the website seems incomplete. I would be happy to be told otherwise.

The options then were to either head up the dale or down the dale ... or you can go up the country lane ... 

We chose the north-western path into Lathkill Dale.

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

You can't blame us ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

Not quite sure what this couple were doing ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

It could have been a couple of Derby County footballers I used to watch. We reckoned that one or two of them could walk on water.

Now the incredible thing about Lathkill Dale, apart from the fact that my family originates from Over Haddon, the village above the dale, is the colour of the water ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010
  
Well when I say the colour of the water I probably mean the clarity of the water. In the photo above and in the short video below I reckon it's probably five or six feet deep ...



Isn't it weird ?

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

I have learnt today that this section of the Lathkill is known as the Blue Waters and you can see why. I have never seen anything like this anywhere else in the UK.

Near Lathkill Lodge [the house in the bottom of the dale below Over Haddon] it looked as though the ground had been laid waste ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

This would have been where the river had been flowing until it went underground ~ it tends to come and go ...

We passed the Lodge ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

... noting the warning on the back gate ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

We climbed up the zigzag lane out of the dale into Over Haddon. To the north of the village we could see Bakewell church spire and the mist beyond ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

We even found some snow !

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

We reached Bakewell and wound our way towards the cemetery and started to lose height ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

Part way down this lane [Butts Road ?] a path cuts to the left and you're into a quiet little area in the middle of the town ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

... and a hundred yards later walking directly towards the church.

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

This walk had one more point of interest ~ an 18th century rainwater hopper complete with a date of 1743 and with a swift to boot. Delightful ...

Bakewell and Over Haddon ~ 31st December 2010

The walk featured above was followed on the 31st December 2010

Length of walk ~ 5.7 miles *

Total mileage walked so far in 2010 ~ 395.3 miles

Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 30th December 2010 ~ 529.05 miles

83 of 2010


* distance calculated by OS Getamap.



So 2010 ended [before dark] with me having walked just under 400 miles at an average of just over 4.75 miles a walk. Hardly what I used to do ...

What will 2011 bring ?