30th June 2005 – Oakham, Tickencote and Coventry
After getting cleaned up and dressed, I bought a condiment jar of Apricot and Pineapple (to go with gammon or even ice-cream apparently). I love locally made preservatives, chutneys and jam – always better than the stuff you find in superstores. Nav and I discussed again our plan of action for the next few days. It turned out that we had made incredible time – most likely because we overestimated the time it would take to see the north/north-east of England. As such, I had to move a destination or two, which were originally planned for Week 4, into Week 3 to fill the gap between today and Sunday (ordination day). We even said that we’d put in a visit to see an old university friend this weekend – that still needs confirming James. The county of Rutland was supposed to be the only thing we would do, but it turned out that the extra stop (Coventry, which was planned for tomorrow), was also completed today.
The county of Rutland is said to be the smallest of all those in England – how many of you have actually heard of it before, because I certainly hadn’t. According to Morton, Rutland is only 17 miles wide. From the guide info that I’ve read, the Rutland River (or that big lake thing that you are more likely to notice) occurred due to the overflowing of local rivers in the 1970s. It flooded two hamlets leaving only that village you find on the peninsula. From the campsite, our first town of call was Oakham.
Now, when we read the book, we said that we would measure people to see if they were to scale with the county (Morton saying something along the lines of ‘everything is to scale here’). We didn’t do that as we could see that everyone was ‘normal’, except I found (again from the guide info) that the smallest man, Jeffery Hudson, was born and lived in Oakham. He was 39 inches tall (approximately 1-metre to those who think metric). On his house, there is a plaque that proudly reads that he was the smallest man born into the smallest county.
We also had a look at Oakham Castle, which turned out to be nothing more than the remains of, and actually looks like a barn. I think that people would easily miss it if there didn’t know about it – it looks like it could be a local house. We went inside and it was full of horseshoes. The story goes that when any royalty comes into Rutland, they are to present the county (castle) with a horseshoe – the reason why had not been documented, said the man at the desk, but did tell us that it could be something to do with payment in the ol’ days. The latest on that the acquires was that from Prince Charles in 2003. Today, there was to be a royal visiting the county (I forget which) so the ‘castle’ was to close at 1pm (in about 40-minutes time) with the appearance of the royal at around 3pm. We didn’t stay for the occasion; instead we headed out of the grounds in search of the Town Pump.
And we found it just outside the castle gates, just down the road a bit. It was a sorry looking pump and obviously was not in action any longer. The handle was clamped to the post.
And then, as special treat to ourselves, we went in search of the Butter Cross – which has a five-holed stock which “is a bit of a mystery” (quoting a guide info leaflet). I looked to our right and found it there, all alone, with nobody else around it. The name Butter Cross may have come from its history where they used to sell dairy products there. And there was indeed a five-holed stock – we couldn’t figure what the middle one was for but could hazard a guess…
We headed back to the car park (Nav happily saying that he “managed not to kill anyone or hit anything” when parking up) and set off for Tickencote. We drove on the north side of the Rutland River (or Lake or whatever) and it was very pretty indeed. The water was quite high up and you could see where the grass nearly meets the water. It is certainly a place to visit properly as there are said to be quite a few activities to do and also some good views over the lake.
We arrived to the two-street village of Tickencote – there was a sign saying ‘Tickencote only’, which basically meant that you were driving into a dead-end. We parked outside the church of St. Peter and St. Paul and it was another of those churches that didn’t seem to get used all that often. Inside, dotted on the ends of the arches making up the vaulted roof were carvings of different faces (or facial expression) and also along one of the six arches of the ‘magnificent chancel arch’ (as quoted by the guide booklet). Other than that, there wasn’t much else to see, although we did stroll around the two streets – an incredibly quiet village even though it stands pretty close to an A-road.
It was around mid-day and we found ourselves having finished Rutland county and Nav now wanted to tour Coventry today. And so we did – we drove east back through Oakham, around Leicester, down the M69 and into Coventry. We only had Kenilworth and Warwick left to visit and that would complete the trip, so potentially we could finish before Sunday. We realised that we didn’t do Winchester, Romsey or Southampton, but seeing as we’ve been to those places before, we decided that it didn’t count. Also, as Morton left from Windsor and didn’t say much about that either, we thought we could play the same game with Southampton.
The sign into Coventry read: “Welcome to Coventry – City of Peace and Reconciliation”, and as we drove around trying to find a place to park on the outskirts of town, we found Coventry to be quite… erm… quite different from any of the towns that we had visited so far. We though Carlisle was in bad shape but then found out about the flooding. The outskirts of Coventry (and also quite some way in) didn’t seem appealing at all. We parked up into a cul-de-sac area that looked pretty okay, although I saw that the Ford next to us had a huge crack in its windscreen. I think that we were both (but Nav more so) that we wouldn’t find our car ever again (or at least its contents). Maybe I’m not doing it justice as I’ve not lived there or seen enough of it to make valid comments, but it didn’t seem the most welcoming of cities. Somebody prove us wrong.
We said our last prayers for the car and let it to be. The walk into Coventry wasn’t difficult and we soon found the Lady Godiva statue positioned outside of the shopping centre – except Nav found it not to be the one Morton observed in the 1920s as this latest was donated in the 1940s. Also, Morton found his in front of the Guildhall.
We tried to find the Fords Hospital (for all of 5 minutes) and then decided that we couldn’t find it and so headed off to Coventry Cathedral instead. What we found were the ruins of the old juxtaposed with the ‘modern’ cathedral – modern as in 1960s. Firstly, the old cathedral; it was pretty big, although maybe this was the effect given by there being no roof. It still had its surrounding walls albeit with some of it missing, but the general outline was easily noticeable. Some parts of the interior were intact such as statues and tombs and a few new benches put in also, but otherwise it was pretty much gutted.
The new cathedral was built in the mid-1960s and just from seeing it, all dresses up in concrete, you could probably tell that. It’s an interesting design and shows what happens when you apply ‘modern’ ideas to something that has been around for centuries. Although it looks okay, it doesn’t quite work and doesn’t convey the feeling that it is much like a cathedral – maybe just a generic modern religious building. They did have this giant stained glass window section that looked pretty impressive.
At the time we arrived to the new cathedral, Coventry Cathedral Choir Girls were practicing for evening song which would start in 20-minutes or so. Only Nav and I were in the building at the time; Nav saying that it would be odd for them to conduct a service to nobody, and me saying that people will probably turn up later maybe especially the elderly who would have more time. This was because the service would start at 5:15pm which is about the time when most would be travelling home from work.
Evening song began and only there was only one other person, who left soon after the first song began. I, too, decided to leave after this song, leaving Nav to his own devices. The nave was deserted, the girls singing more to themselves than for anyone else. I left and walked about town and the university grounds. The cathedrals are placed within (or next to) Coventry University grounds – come out of the new cathedral and look left and you will find the main reception to the university. From there, it provided a good view of the two cathedrals juxtaposed:
I sat between the two edifices deciding where we should camp for the night. Every so often I would look to the cathedral entrance but nobody seemed interested in going in – only on a few occasions did anyone go in but exited soon after. It started to spit and became breezy. Next a tour bus of tourists came into the area and out came 20 or so people with cameras and camcorders, taking shots of the cathedral (the old one had closed at 5pm) – family members and partners standing around to get photos taken. As soon as they had arrived, the had left again, and I was left with spitting rain. It died off and Nav came out after about 30-minutes. He told me how strange it was, that a service would be held even if there was nobody there – I jokily suggested that they probably would sit around and then sudden start singing if someone approached the cathedral.
We got lost trying to find the car; Nav hoping that there was still a car to find, me saying to look out for the plumes of smoke (that would direct us). We eventually found it safe and sound, and drove off south to a campsite near to the final destinations. It was quite unbelievable; that we would complete this journey around England in three weeks – we say that Morton didn’t do much in the north of England as the density of places to distance travelled got less during the course of the trip.
During the Hadrian’s Wall walk, we discussed about the trip; Nav saying that it’s a shame that we didn’t spend more time on the better places. I agreed, but changed my manner about the trip half way, from wanting to see England to finding places to visit further in the future. I’ve certainly got a list of places that I would like to visit again and spend at least a whole day there, but that’s for another time.
We found the campsite easily and set up tent. Tomorrow would be the final day of the trip – Warwick and Kenilworth, finishing with the latter just like Morton did 70-odd years ago.
-- steven
The county of Rutland is said to be the smallest of all those in England – how many of you have actually heard of it before, because I certainly hadn’t. According to Morton, Rutland is only 17 miles wide. From the guide info that I’ve read, the Rutland River (or that big lake thing that you are more likely to notice) occurred due to the overflowing of local rivers in the 1970s. It flooded two hamlets leaving only that village you find on the peninsula. From the campsite, our first town of call was Oakham.
Now, when we read the book, we said that we would measure people to see if they were to scale with the county (Morton saying something along the lines of ‘everything is to scale here’). We didn’t do that as we could see that everyone was ‘normal’, except I found (again from the guide info) that the smallest man, Jeffery Hudson, was born and lived in Oakham. He was 39 inches tall (approximately 1-metre to those who think metric). On his house, there is a plaque that proudly reads that he was the smallest man born into the smallest county.
We also had a look at Oakham Castle, which turned out to be nothing more than the remains of, and actually looks like a barn. I think that people would easily miss it if there didn’t know about it – it looks like it could be a local house. We went inside and it was full of horseshoes. The story goes that when any royalty comes into Rutland, they are to present the county (castle) with a horseshoe – the reason why had not been documented, said the man at the desk, but did tell us that it could be something to do with payment in the ol’ days. The latest on that the acquires was that from Prince Charles in 2003. Today, there was to be a royal visiting the county (I forget which) so the ‘castle’ was to close at 1pm (in about 40-minutes time) with the appearance of the royal at around 3pm. We didn’t stay for the occasion; instead we headed out of the grounds in search of the Town Pump.
And we found it just outside the castle gates, just down the road a bit. It was a sorry looking pump and obviously was not in action any longer. The handle was clamped to the post.
And then, as special treat to ourselves, we went in search of the Butter Cross – which has a five-holed stock which “is a bit of a mystery” (quoting a guide info leaflet). I looked to our right and found it there, all alone, with nobody else around it. The name Butter Cross may have come from its history where they used to sell dairy products there. And there was indeed a five-holed stock – we couldn’t figure what the middle one was for but could hazard a guess…
We headed back to the car park (Nav happily saying that he “managed not to kill anyone or hit anything” when parking up) and set off for Tickencote. We drove on the north side of the Rutland River (or Lake or whatever) and it was very pretty indeed. The water was quite high up and you could see where the grass nearly meets the water. It is certainly a place to visit properly as there are said to be quite a few activities to do and also some good views over the lake.
We arrived to the two-street village of Tickencote – there was a sign saying ‘Tickencote only’, which basically meant that you were driving into a dead-end. We parked outside the church of St. Peter and St. Paul and it was another of those churches that didn’t seem to get used all that often. Inside, dotted on the ends of the arches making up the vaulted roof were carvings of different faces (or facial expression) and also along one of the six arches of the ‘magnificent chancel arch’ (as quoted by the guide booklet). Other than that, there wasn’t much else to see, although we did stroll around the two streets – an incredibly quiet village even though it stands pretty close to an A-road.
It was around mid-day and we found ourselves having finished Rutland county and Nav now wanted to tour Coventry today. And so we did – we drove east back through Oakham, around Leicester, down the M69 and into Coventry. We only had Kenilworth and Warwick left to visit and that would complete the trip, so potentially we could finish before Sunday. We realised that we didn’t do Winchester, Romsey or Southampton, but seeing as we’ve been to those places before, we decided that it didn’t count. Also, as Morton left from Windsor and didn’t say much about that either, we thought we could play the same game with Southampton.
The sign into Coventry read: “Welcome to Coventry – City of Peace and Reconciliation”, and as we drove around trying to find a place to park on the outskirts of town, we found Coventry to be quite… erm… quite different from any of the towns that we had visited so far. We though Carlisle was in bad shape but then found out about the flooding. The outskirts of Coventry (and also quite some way in) didn’t seem appealing at all. We parked up into a cul-de-sac area that looked pretty okay, although I saw that the Ford next to us had a huge crack in its windscreen. I think that we were both (but Nav more so) that we wouldn’t find our car ever again (or at least its contents). Maybe I’m not doing it justice as I’ve not lived there or seen enough of it to make valid comments, but it didn’t seem the most welcoming of cities. Somebody prove us wrong.
We said our last prayers for the car and let it to be. The walk into Coventry wasn’t difficult and we soon found the Lady Godiva statue positioned outside of the shopping centre – except Nav found it not to be the one Morton observed in the 1920s as this latest was donated in the 1940s. Also, Morton found his in front of the Guildhall.
We tried to find the Fords Hospital (for all of 5 minutes) and then decided that we couldn’t find it and so headed off to Coventry Cathedral instead. What we found were the ruins of the old juxtaposed with the ‘modern’ cathedral – modern as in 1960s. Firstly, the old cathedral; it was pretty big, although maybe this was the effect given by there being no roof. It still had its surrounding walls albeit with some of it missing, but the general outline was easily noticeable. Some parts of the interior were intact such as statues and tombs and a few new benches put in also, but otherwise it was pretty much gutted.
The new cathedral was built in the mid-1960s and just from seeing it, all dresses up in concrete, you could probably tell that. It’s an interesting design and shows what happens when you apply ‘modern’ ideas to something that has been around for centuries. Although it looks okay, it doesn’t quite work and doesn’t convey the feeling that it is much like a cathedral – maybe just a generic modern religious building. They did have this giant stained glass window section that looked pretty impressive.
At the time we arrived to the new cathedral, Coventry Cathedral Choir Girls were practicing for evening song which would start in 20-minutes or so. Only Nav and I were in the building at the time; Nav saying that it would be odd for them to conduct a service to nobody, and me saying that people will probably turn up later maybe especially the elderly who would have more time. This was because the service would start at 5:15pm which is about the time when most would be travelling home from work.
Evening song began and only there was only one other person, who left soon after the first song began. I, too, decided to leave after this song, leaving Nav to his own devices. The nave was deserted, the girls singing more to themselves than for anyone else. I left and walked about town and the university grounds. The cathedrals are placed within (or next to) Coventry University grounds – come out of the new cathedral and look left and you will find the main reception to the university. From there, it provided a good view of the two cathedrals juxtaposed:
I sat between the two edifices deciding where we should camp for the night. Every so often I would look to the cathedral entrance but nobody seemed interested in going in – only on a few occasions did anyone go in but exited soon after. It started to spit and became breezy. Next a tour bus of tourists came into the area and out came 20 or so people with cameras and camcorders, taking shots of the cathedral (the old one had closed at 5pm) – family members and partners standing around to get photos taken. As soon as they had arrived, the had left again, and I was left with spitting rain. It died off and Nav came out after about 30-minutes. He told me how strange it was, that a service would be held even if there was nobody there – I jokily suggested that they probably would sit around and then sudden start singing if someone approached the cathedral.
We got lost trying to find the car; Nav hoping that there was still a car to find, me saying to look out for the plumes of smoke (that would direct us). We eventually found it safe and sound, and drove off south to a campsite near to the final destinations. It was quite unbelievable; that we would complete this journey around England in three weeks – we say that Morton didn’t do much in the north of England as the density of places to distance travelled got less during the course of the trip.
During the Hadrian’s Wall walk, we discussed about the trip; Nav saying that it’s a shame that we didn’t spend more time on the better places. I agreed, but changed my manner about the trip half way, from wanting to see England to finding places to visit further in the future. I’ve certainly got a list of places that I would like to visit again and spend at least a whole day there, but that’s for another time.
We found the campsite easily and set up tent. Tomorrow would be the final day of the trip – Warwick and Kenilworth, finishing with the latter just like Morton did 70-odd years ago.
-- steven
posted by Steven | 2:08 am
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