50- Wentworth part 2

We walked throughb the village and passed one of the pubs, The George and Dragon, we thought about going in, as it was so hot, but decided maybe on the way back. However Lou noted that at the side of the pub there was a small beer-off. Duly noted, on our return back to the carpark, Lou popped in and bought himself three of the local brewed beers, all of which he says were rather good!


We headed towards the grounds of the local Church which we had passed as we came in; However Wentworth has two churches, the Old and the New Church.

We walked up this beautiful green and leafy avenue towards what is called the New Church.




The New Church is Victorian Gothic in style and was commissioned in 1872 by the 6th Earl Fitzwilliam at a cost of around £25,000 in memory of his parents. the Church was designed by James Loughborough Pearson ) and has been described by architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "a very fine, sensitive, and scholary piece of Gothic revival".






Here's another picture of the New Church taken from the side... just so that you can see how grand it truely is. It can seat over 500 people, much more than the village population at this present time or when it was built! if you want to know more about the New Church it has it's own web site, just click on the link, and where you can find out much more. we didn't go in as we had the dog with us, something to go back and explore in more detail later.

Oh and it even has it's own moat!

We then walked across to the Old Church, a short distance away from the New Church, which is sadly now more of a ruin, though they do still hold services and concerts there. Belived to have Medeival origins, the church has some wonderful mouldings dating back to the late 13th century.

The church, which is now maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust, was closed on the day we were there but is normally open to visitors on the Spring Bank Holiday weekend; there was also an otice there that stated that it was possible to arrange access to have a look round inside at other times. Apparently, the remaining building is home to a collection of monuments to various generations of the Wentworth family, Thomas Wentworth (1587), William Wentworth (1614), Thomas Wentworth (1641) and William Wentworth (1685).

You can also access the Fitwilliam family vault by a tunnel from the graveyard on these open days.. again something to go back and have a further look at!

The graveyard itself is wonderful to walk round, especially if you are like myself, and have alove of old graves. I get a real 'feel' of history and conncetion when I look at headstones, some of which go back to the 16th and 17th century.

I took a few pictures of various stone which got my attention...

This one is of Elizabeth Bales, who died in October 1761, aged 4 years old, and followed by her brother who died in 1768.

Another one near by in emmory of two children, of George and Hannah Hoyland who died in 1781 & 1784, aged 3years old and 2 years old.

There were not only graves of children, of which there did seem to be a lot, but we found one which was the headstone of a Hannah Jennet, who had been the hosuekeeper of Charles Watson-Wentworth, the second Marquis of Rockingham (1730-82).


Hannah was 64 years old when she died, which I imagine was good age for those times.

This is this the grave of Mary hardy, who died ages 26, in Febuary 1768, I love the little angel on the top of the headstone. Intresting is the verse at the bottom of the stone, which states; 'You that are young and do pass by, I was young and here must lie, My marriage bed is in the dirt Yet hopes ro rise amonst the 'few' (I think) '

One has to wonder what her story was....

Around the back of the church is the entrance to the vault, where two chamfered slabs of stone, which weigh over forty tons each, cover the entrance. The vault is then surrounded by ornate iron fence on which there is an inscription, which reads

"This place of burial was constructed A.D. MDCCCXXIV By William Earl Fitzwilliam and Charles William Viscount Milton for the Wentworth branch of their descendants in the hope that they may pass through things temporal, that they lose not the things eternal."

The vault was built around 1824, by William Wentworth Fitzwilliam and his son Charles William John Wentworth Fitzwilliam, for William as he had said that when he died he did not want to be covered in dirt and stones.

Lou took the picture of myself at the Church to show where we had been, as part of the critera!







And I took one of Lou, William and Shea, as we set off back down the tree lined Avenue!

We left the Churches and walked back towards the carpark, and to another pub called The Rockingham Arms, where

we had a drink and a snack to eat, ebfore heading off home.

I have to admit I forget to take a photo of the food, but I had a glass of white wine, and a rather nice Jacket potatoe with Tuna mayonaise, while Lou, had a large lemonade ( he was driving)and a steak sandwich, William shared ours and had a portion of chips of his own, and a glass of fresh jucie! Though I have to say William decided to share most of his, and ours, with Shea.

So here is a picture of Shea and William after Shea had eaten all our food and was looking to see what else she could find!

There was lots to see at Wentworth and we only really scraped the surface, I do hope we can get back there and see some more of this facinating village and find out more about it's eleaborate history.

50- Wentworth part 1.

As I don’t have the full year that I would have liked, (I know I procrastinated too much), we decided that I would have to look close to home for a number of places to visit. Indeed it surprising how many places there are near home which while I may have heard of, I have never actually been too.

So on Sunday 5^th July, Lou, I, Shea and our grandson William, set out in the car and headed North... not sure where we would end up. Well we didn’t have to go too far.

Our first stop was a village called Wentworth.

Wentworth is a small village just north of Sheffield, between Rotherham and Barnsley. It just off junction 35a of the M1, and approximately 11 miles or 26 minutes from where we live.

Wentworth is thought to have taken it;s name from an early Anglo-Saxon settler, possibly the person who first carved a clearing out of the woods.

In 1086 the village and the surrounding area were part of Roger de Busli estate and incldued in the Manor of Wath. The Domesday Book records that the King had retained three other estates as well as Wentworth.

Wentowrth is a real treasure, and although I had heard the name of it before, and possibly had family living there, it somewhere that I had never visited.

The village itself dates back to at least 1066, and its history and some of its buildings are inextricably linked with the history of the great aristocratic families of England and the UK, such as the Wentworths, the Watsons and the Fitzwilliams.

We didn’t actually manage to get to Wentworth Woodhouse or sadly to Wentworth Castle but they are places we may visit at a later date.

Much to William’s joy and Shea’s surprise, when we got to the car park, we saw a couple of horse drawn carriages, which seem to set the scene for the day.

We followed the horse and carriages out of the car park and turned left and walked towards the Church, we passed a row of wonderful cottages on the right hand side of the road.








And on the left we saw the most wonderful enclosed gardens. The houses at the side were all lived in by local villages, who keep the gardens themselves.

There's more, sooooooo please read part two!

50 and counting!

Now shall we count up or down??

While up would be numerically correct, I like the idea of a countdown – especially as I am counting down to my 50th Birthday!

Another aside, I am dieting (groan- I know), though mainly for health reasons, I have a dicky ticker..., and need to get rid of a few stones, but I also have to admit to some vanity - so hopefully these pictures will also show me shrinking too . The problem is that I am real foodie ( and cakie)...as well a liking a glass of wine or two, *laughs*, so it may be a slow journey!

Warning

Warning


When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

By Jenny Jospeh

50 and counting!

In November of this year, 2009, I will be 50 years old, so I asked myself what kind can I do to celebrate this fact?

After all it's the BIG Birthday, the BIG 5 0 - and I want to have something to remember it by. of course there are times that I think actually I just want it to pass quietly, and not aknowledge the fact that it's looming on the horizon.

I came to the conclution that it's not the actual day that's the worry, but the lead up to it, so after a glass of two (maybe more) I decided that what I needed to do is have a plan, a project... I always loved a project. A project that I would not only enjoy, but one that I would not get too bored with and what would add something to my experience of this rather humongoues year!

So what to do??

I decided that as I always wanted to travel, but never got round to it, - I had children instead, that ‘travelling’ would be a major part of the project. But where to go? What corner of this wondrous globe we live on? There’s a whole world out there, waiting to be visited, explored, tasted, and experienced... If only I had the resources...

So plans were concieved, books were looked at, read and digested, web sites scoured, holiday brochures gazed upon, and thoughts of tropical sunsets and long tall glasses of magical concoctions dreamed of.

Should I backpack, across distant lands, and try and relive my youth, but that would mean youth hostels and such. or should I become one of the new brand of middle aged hippies who like to ‘wander ‘but with all mod cons? ( we are getting old ya’know!)

Should I sail down the Nile on a tradtional Felucca and visit the Pharaohs, or travel across Australia, and come face to face with Kangaroos? Should I fly across to new Zealnd, to see the Tattooed faces, and follow in the footsteps of the inhabitants oif Middle Earth? Oor head across to Miami and see if I could get my own special Ink!

What about a cruise around the Caribbean, or the Arctic Circle, could I make it for the Northern Lights?

Should I travel by train across Europe, all the way down through France and Spain to see the Alhambra and the Arabian delights of Southern Spain, – and then perhaps across to Africa?

All of these would be wondrous things to do, they would be wonderful places to go and I am sure there would be amazing people to meet!. ...

Then one day while looking at a map of the UK, I realised, that instead of travelling across the world, I should travel across my own lands, my own country. There are so many places I have never visited, seen, or experienced. There are places here in the UK that visitors travel across the globe to see, while I an inhabitant of this Fair Isle, have thought about visiting and indeed heard off.

So then it came to me, instead of taking the BIG journey around the globe I should do it here. I should make my journey one where I travel/visit 50 places, here in the UK, and all before I am 50 years old

So then I had to decided on a set of criteria for the project, for this journey, and these are:

1. Any place I visit must be a place of interest, it must have something to offer, historical or otherwise. It should be a place with a 'view' whatever that may mean, it can be industrail or rural, by the sea or in the hills.

2. It should be place where I can stop, stretch my legs and have a good look round, - it has to be a place that I can 'experience'.

3 It can be a city, a town, a village or a hamlet...but it must be an actual place and not just a neighbourhood etc.

4. It must be a place where I have never been before, - I may have passed through it on a journey, but it must be somewhere that I have never actually walked around/visited.

5. I have to stop and get out of the car, train or whatver mode of transport I have used to get there.

6. I should be able to get a drink and/or something to eat - preferably tea and a piece of gluten free cake.

7. I have to record the visit, and so need to take photographs of the place, the things I see, and especially one of myself which shows the name of the place I am visiting.

8. I have to spend some time in the place I visit, - this could be a day trip, a weekend away or even an hour or two.

Like many things, I started to talk about this journey over six months ago, but have left it and left it till I only have less than six months to complete it - procratination moi? I don't know what you mean *smile*

So hold on to you hats, it's gonna be a mad dash... as I travel too as many places as I can.. . and try to meet and talk with lots of new people, and fingers crossed I manage to get to the 50^th places before 4.28pm on November 24^th 2009.

EDIT- all suggestions encouraged.... please leave details of any place you think I would like to go in the comments, please include details of tea room etc.. that you think may be of interest; I can't promise I will get to visit them all but I will have a jolly good try - oh and I will take pics when I'm there!