The Crooked Spire ...

It was Spring 2011, perhaps I'd been to hospital and I had some time to play with ... I can't recall ... but I found myself in the Church of St Mary and All Saints in Chesterfield.

If you know the church at all you'll probably know it better as the Crooked Spire ...

It was rather dull outside so I went in to look around ... and noticed this memorial to Betty Bower ...



 ... dead at 25 having given birth to at least four children.

I was just in time to take a tour of the tower.

On our way upward we looked down into the nave of the church ...



 We reached the bell room where the bellringers ring the bells ...



 Then we reached the belfry and the bells themsevles ...



 According to Wikipedia "The tower upon which the spire sits contains ten bells. These bells were cast in 1947 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, replacing a previous ring. The heaviest weighs 25cwt. The place in which the bells are situated once held the builders windlass, which is one of the only examples of a medieval crane in existence and is the only example of one that has survived from a parish church. The windlass is now on display at Chesterfield Museum and Art Gallery".

We reached the bottom of the spire and looked upwards ...







  It's an interesting jumble of woodwork. The tour guide told us the weight of the tower but it hasn't stuck. It was certainly some tons ... and there we were with it above our heads.

We went out into the open and looked up at all the lead rising towards heaven ...



 ... then down, into Chesterfield ...



 I must admit as I looked up it made my head spin a little.

By the time my feet touched the ground the sun was still out ...



 We'd been stood just above the clock ...



 If you're in Chesterfield and have half an hour or so to spare the Crooked Spire is worth a visit ...


 

Feet together/poles apart ...

Having taken Abiraterone for two weeks now I can report that I feel better generally but I still have some discomfort in my groin ... so I bought myself some walking poles to make walking easier.

They were just £15, hardly top of the range, but they should take some pressure off my hips and pelvis etc.

In the event, just this afternoon, I walked for just 45 minutes, quite slowly from Alport up to the packhorse bridge near Youlgreave ...


 

I'm not a big fan of walking poles but at least they enabled me to get out into the countryside. This may be as good as it gets unless my pelvis improves ... somehow.

We'll see.

The other news is that the Abiraterone hasn't affected my kidneys or potassium levels etc. The pharmacist declared yesterday that the results of Tuesday's bloodtest were "absolutely fine".

Finally my compact digital camera has gone kaput so I'm going to have to replace it or stick with my SLR which is bigger and more cumbersome. The two photos above were taken with my phone !

It will be interesting to see how my groin/pelvis feels during the night and in the morning. It is surprising how you don't realise as you turn over in bed how your body 'corkscrews' on your pelvis  ... until you have a problem with your pelvis. Ouch.

On Instagram ...

Sign on one of the buildings at the Cromford end of the Cromford Canal posted on Instagram earlier today ...

Walking with The Boy ...

Benjamin was ten when I took him up to explore a Forestry Commission wood near where I used to live until I was about his age.

The wood is named as Bown Piece and it's only in the last year or two that walkers have been able to explore this wood ... open access and all that.

It's hard to describe a walk like this because although there are some paths on the ground they're often not marked on a map ...

  

Half the fun is just following your nose knowing that you can't get lost in a small wood like this ... can you ...

Find a branch that's the right height and smooth enough and you can sit and have a chat about life and both learn something ...

 

We reached the corner of the Five Fields and I looked across to the spot where Benjamin's great grandfather died 50 years ago. Was it the right time to tell him something of that death. I decided not ...

  

... not today.

I suppose these trees were growing up as I grew up nearby though some of them have probably been around longer than me ...

 



Then we got lost ... a bit ...
 

Once we'd found our way again we were following a good path ...

 

Time for a 'group' shot !

 

Before we knew it we'd found the path which led us back to the car.

 

What I couldn't understand was why the path was so distinctive in places and in other places it just didn't exist.

This walk was followed on the 29th January 2011

  Length of walk ~ 0.96 miles *

 
  Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 32.63 miles

  Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 29th January 2011 ~ 561.68 miles

   10 of 2011

 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

A Farm Journal ~ from the 1st to the 15th November 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.

"A Farm Journal" continues :~

 

7 day 2nd of 11 Mon[nth] - Fine finish[e]d plough[in]g N[ethe]r Intake

 

2 - 4th Fine day put tups to ewes 177 in all began turnip pitting Jesse Bonsall* & Wm. Hadfield - Tho[ma]s & Charles work the horses harrow[in]g fallows etc began plough[in]g Watricle 2 ton Rape cake from P[arsley] Hay for milk cows 2 lb p[e]r day

 

5 - 7 Fine plough[in]g & turnip pitting Eb[eneze]r Howitt took his young horses - Martha A to Middleton Very fine weather 

 

up to 5 - 14 wet day got on well with turnip pitting & plough[in]g

 

6 - 15 Fine 

 

 

In the 1871 Census Return there was a Jesse Bonsall aged 33 [described as a "laborer" (sic)]  living with his wife Ann also 33 and his three sons Richard [10], Joseph [9] and Thomas William [5]. 

 

A Farm Journal ~ from the 17th to the 30th September 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.

"A Farm Journal"continues :~

 

3 - 17 Fine but very cold N.E. Wind Self to Nott[ingha]m Q[uarterly] M[eeting] & back - very interesting occasion - there were B. Braithwaite, Ewd Smith, R. Fry, Jon[athan] Grubb of Y[early] M[eeting] Committee to meeting of ministers & Elders who gave us some excellent advice & spoke to the Binghamites we must not judge one another but do all we can to help each other by word & deed to continue on our heavenward journey & endeavour to act as Christians

 

5 - 19 Fine Mary A came - Thrashed rye winnow[e]d etc at corn in Watricle 

 

6 - 20 began N[ethe]r Intake corn

 

2 - 23 Very wet to fetch Dr. after breakfast & mother from Ashford to S.A. sold Widdowson 6 [?] brown cows 13 5/- J Hemsley - Shelton to O.A. bo[ugh]t some calves

 

3 - 24 Fine day Baby born about 4 oclock this morn[in]g - a very fine lad

 

4 - 25 Fine corn cutting 45 Irish heifers came £6 10/- each

 

5 - 26 Fine

 

6 - 27 Fine cutt[in]g corn to 3 - 30 

 

S.A. was John Bayliff Bowman's wife, Sarah Ann [formerly Armitage]. It seems therefore that on the 24th September 1867 their first child was born.

 

Chatsworth ~ two more sculptures ... and a wooden seat.

I'm just about finished with the photographs I took at Chatsworth in September of this year. 

There are some sculptures that are permanent and there are some seats that are probably less though. 

Here are two examples of the former and one of the latter ...

 



 

Quite a contrast between the three pieces but I rather like them all though my particular favourite is the one in the middle.

An excellent piece of design ...

Whilst wandering around the garden at Chatsworth a couple of months ago I discovered the most impressive bench rather tucked away from the paths.

If you look at it straight on you can see straight through it ...

Initially I didn't latch on to what it was. Then I got nearer and thought what an interesting feature ...



Eventually I realised this is a bench or seat [I can be slow] ...



If I had had more time I would have taken more photographs, it was just so pleasing to the eye ...



One of the best things about it is that it's great to sit upon.

It was designed by Corin Mellor.

I think it's more interesting than some of the sculptures I've seen in the grounds at Chatsworth.

Laura Ellen Bacon ... at Chatsworth

I've posted some photographs of Laura Ellen Bacon's work before. Here are a few more ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beyond 'Beyond Limits' ...

Here are a few more features I saw when I was at Chatsworth a couple of months ago.

The first is a fan of a Rolls Royce jet engine ...

 

... it needs a duster running round it !

After the Conservative Wall I included in a recent blog here's a more modern greenhouse built in 1970 ...



Here's the same greenhouse beside a more traditional greenhouse on the right and the Conservative Wall in the background ...



After discovering the gravestone in memory of the tame red deer earlier in the day I then noticed another gravestone erected in memory of Smut, Grandpa ... and others ...



Smut and Grandpa etc appear to have lived for 12 to 15 years so I assume they are dogs.

Then on its own nearby was a stone in memory of Portly who was born in 1951 and died in 1962 ...

 

Why Portly was buried on his or her own I don't know. What Portly was I don't know.

A bit of a mish-mash of photographs but it gives you an idea as to the variety in the garden at Chatsworth. You could easily spend an hour or two looking around. They're worth a visit but even more so when the Beyond Limits exhibition is on. Then you can spend a couple of hours just looking at the sculptures in that exhibition.

Cromford Canal ~ temporary towpath closure

I was walking along the towpath beside Cromford Canal this morning before discovering that part of it is closed for the whole of November.

It was enough to put me off and I took a few photos instead.

The closed section runs from Aqueduct Cottage as Derbyshire County Council call it [I've always known it as Wayfarers Cottage] to Gregory Tunnel. It's being closed whilst a works depot is being demolished.

Whilst I was stood there taking the photo four cyclists came up having ridden along the closed path. They removed the fence, came through and then put the fencing back in place ...

Before anyone points out that there are only two cyclists in the photo perhaps I should add that the other two are a little way away along the towpath, behind them.

This is the first time I have uploaded a photo from my phone to Flickr and then to Blogger. I'm quite impressed though I will stick to the camera generally. Still, the photo also went to Facebook and Twitter almost immediately ... or it would have done if the signal had been better !

Matlock Bath ~ an old black and white photograph

During my legal 'career' clients got to know that I was interested in local history and photography and some kind souls used to hand me photographs and books etc that they thought I might like ... rather than dump them in the bin. So there was an upside to the law.

Here's an interesting black and white image [scanned from a photograph I was given] which was taken I believe on the main road passing through Matlock Bath, about five miles from here.

I have the feeling that these buildings have gone though I think I saw them before they were demolished. Who knows someone might come along and tell me they are still there.

Whilst this may not be of much interest outside our immediate area I thought that it might be of passing interest to one or two of you.

If anyone has any information as regards this photograph I would be pleased to hear from you.

On the back of the photograph someone has written "WALKERS (PLUMBERS ETC.)"

 It's over to you ...

The Conservative Wall !

The Conservative Wall is at Chatsworth ...

... and I can do no better than show you the information panel [in Chatsworth blue rather than Conservative blue presumably] that explains why it is so called.