Day Out!

Yesterday I decided that of the sun shone and if I was awake I would head out somewhere, it has been a while since I did so.  Last year was horrendous with my knees irking me and the bug that never leaves never leaving.  So after what passed for a late breakfast I made off towards the bus stop with seven minutes to spare.
It has been a while since I toddled off on the 'zimmer' bus  and I was surprised that he arrived on time and did not delay us by changing drivers as they usually do.  'What Ho! Jeeves!' I said to myself and presented my bus pass to the drivers machine.
It didn't work.
It didn't work a second time.  The driver looked at it and said "It's out of date."  
I was surprised as it read 14th July. 
"2017!" he said.
Jings!  I knew it had been a while and mentioned I was sicker than I thought I had been and began to reach for my cash.  Checking my pass carefully he gave me back my money and proffered a free ticket reminding me to get a new pass right away.  I offered thanks and sat in the back of the bus full of embarrassment and shame at my stupidity.  His kindness stuck in my mind, not all drivers would do this although most of them around here are good I find, but the shame of my inability to read the bus pass humbled me as did his reaction.  

Apologising again as I got off I headed into the sun to find something different from the daily grind. I had been desperate to get away from the usual wandering about town and wished to see sunshine and something new.  This wee town, village actually with about 5000 inhabitants, is only six miles away and offered a few photos and a newish scene.  This waterfront looks good today but the buildings were no doubt industrial at one time.  The 19th century saw this village as heavily involved in brewing, four breweries here now turned into other uses, and many remnants of industry remain, often used as housing these days. 

An excellent view and as you can see Paddington Bear was happily enjoying the view and soaking up the sunshine.  Just like Peru or Paddington Station!

A monastery was established by Stephen and Matilda in 1140 and the Abbey remains are now in private hands and unreachable down a long, muddy, lane.  However the tithe barn remains an excellent example of the barns in which the citizens deposited their tithe of produce to the church.  This one, Grange Barn, was closed today (much to my delight as it costs £7:50 though you do also get admission to one of the famous houses in the town) and the National Trust folks were working in the surrounding area so I kept away.  I was in it many years ago but I believe it has been upgraded for visitors since.

I noticed one small Beehive sitting outside the barn with a red tile on it.  Whether this is the way they control bees around here I know not but the monks in days past must have kept bees as well as the sheep which they hoped would make them rich, wool a great industry at the time.

The muddy lane allowed me to see some sunshine and a wee bit of countryside which was what my little brain needed.  Some decent houses around here, large and small, many dating back aeons and almost 300 listed buildings in such a small place.  

 
We had a book in the museum which gave detailed plans of how many Coggeshall houses had been constructed.  Many began as simple four walled dwellings and developed over the years, additions to the side or back, possibly another story added as wealth allowed with the fireplace and brick chimney at the end as soon as the owner could afford one.  This house calls itself 'Tudor House' and it may well be from that period. 

 
Coggeshall has a reputation for strange behaviour, the people are not that friendly, middle class wealth abounds and historical attitudes have not died down as yet. The stupidity is revealed through the tale of chaining a wheelbarrow after it had been bitten by a dog in case it spread rabies!  Some of the older women smiled at me somewhat nervously as I passed but there is nothing new in this...

I wanted to see countryside but there were few views and at this time of year little is to be seen.  The sun shining brightly obscured my shots as I aimed in his direction but here we see greenery, with trees in the distance and that is almost countryside!

While sheep did not die out farming did increase and this magnificent Georgian looking farmhouse stand in from of a large ancient building which tells us that some farmers were doing very well around here.  Whether they treated their serfs well or paid their men more than the seven shillings and sixpence some earned by 1900 I cannot tell but someone was doing OK throughout the 19th century.

Farming has changed a lot in the past fifty years and this petrol pump may in fact have been used only for Diesel.  Farmers use tractors and other vehicles off road therefore they do not have to pay tax on the fuel they use in them, this diesel is coloured red and 'Red Diesel' is popular among truck drivers as it saves them plenty.  A traffic police sergeant some years ago informed me of the various dodges they use to fill their large tanks with this illegal substance as it save them a fabulous amount. When caught with red and not blue (taxed) diesel they end up paying out more.  This farm has not made much use of theirs for a while.

   
Electricity, just to proove that it is available in this village, in case you doubted...

I thought that with it being half term the kids would be out and about.  However the cold wind might have forced mum to keep them indoors.  This will not help the ducks and swans that usually reside under the bridge, none were seen today.

Look!  No ducks!

The monks in the distant past attempted to revive the dead Roman art of brick making, their bricks ceased in time also, however the 19th century was a great time to be a maker of bricks around here, especially red bricks, the village is covered in them.  Admittedly many go back into the distant past and the many walls around large old buildings may be older than I can determine but red bricks in the houses chimneys and walls are everywhere.   The temptation to carve your names and your supposed love life on the walls never ends.

This tree abounded with these, whatever they are.

This other tree was full of these.

Some folks made good use of their money.

The blue sky above the clock tower does not indicate the cold chill.  It was time to get back on the bus.  However when it arrived it was the same driver and my shame forced me to wander away and await the next bus.  I paid the cash on that one determined to fix the bus pass problem very soon...

More!

As yesterday's post was so successful I will post a hundred more pictures from the day.  What's that you say....?  

Usually this river is teeming with ducks but at the time only this family of swans were elegantly dumping their damp feather all over the bank.  Difficult to take pictures when the vehicles are an inch from your heels.  Old villages ideas of wide roads do not fit in with mine.  

These have the look of Victorian Alms Houses, designed for the 'deserving poor' to keep them in their old age.  Quite who qualified and how I know not but it is better than the Workhouse. Who lives their now?  Something at the back of my mind indicates they have long since been sold.  I do like the statue at the door however, that is the first time I have seen one that fits in place!

This is Spooner's House dating back to 1467 they say.  It does look like two houses have been knocked together and what once was doors are now two large windows.  I preferred the doors that once stood there but I suppose these folks like to see what they are eating.  Of course since they were built all these houses have changed inside and out over the years.  If only my landlord would change our windows instead of just painting them to make them look as if they are OK.

Outside one of the remaining junk antique shops i saw this bike used as dressing for the shopfront. Very good indeed I thought and I was impressed by the finding of a bike in worse condition than mine!  I suspect this bike was dragged from the bottom of the river but whether the lass riding it at the time was also recovered is not made clear.  

Of course if I have nothing else to say I will use the other pictures....

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Thursday Shopping!

This depressing view is how we shop today.  Romance tells us that in the past small shops were friendlier, more sociable and more human.  The last is certainly true!  The sociability and friendliness depended on the shop owner but their size at least was easier for as human to comprehend.  Today large shopping centres are geared to the rich man in his automobile, leaving a depressing emptiness outside, even if clean and safe.  The large buildings house all those shiny things we long desperately for, whether they make us happy or just fill our emptiness is another question.  Today in search of something shiny I took myself to the Stanway centre by bus, I left the Bentley in the garage.  

Now some weeks ago it came into my head to fix the broken PC, I need this in working order in case the laptop dies, dead computer means life as we know it comes to a halt, and that will never do! Struggling with this idea I was in Chelmsford, at Maplins shop, investigating a motherboard an other nameless bits on the shelves there.  My brilliant brain decided to leave it and investigate PC World and the vast stocks on their shelves, therefore I was here in their Stanway shop.  Here I discovered, via a friendly and competent young assistant, that since uniting with 'Curry's,' PC World/Currys no longer stock the inside bits for PCs, only shiny new ones.  The young lad suggests I try 'Maplins,' they stock motherboards he offers helpfully.  My slumped shoulders headed for the bus stop where I caught the next one into Colchester itself in the vain hope that their shop would be readily available in the town centre, it wasn't!  Bah!  So I wandered about, avoiding the charity and book shop temptations keeping my eyes upwards looking in case something interesting was to be found.  Several bumps into people and street furniture later I changed my approach.

      

Behind the Roman wall at what once was the edge of town stands St Mary at the Wall a redundant church that has stood here for around a thousand years and now is merely an 'arts' centre.  I suspect it will be an excellent venue according to the many big names that have appeared there, it must hold a thousand or so in the main hall.  Had it not been for the dual carriageway someone had dumped in front of me I would have had a closer look.  

This is a pub called 'The Bull.'  They have enabled even the daftest to realise this by placing a 'bull' high above the door.  This of course was what was done in days of yore when education was lacking, even the daftest could tell the difference between a bull and a Swan, as many were named.  The flags are out to tempt people to watch the 'Six Nations' rugby which is on at the moment. Sadly the sun shines on the other side of the street hence the dullness.

  

The Edwardian's liked fancy buildings!  The Baroque Town Hall was built in 1902 with a rich patron, James Paxman, paying for the tower soaring high above crowned by the statue of St Helena the towns patron saint.   Inside and out it represents the wealth the men of the town wished to impress upon the world, and bask in reflected glory themselves.  No doubt some of those men were around when Henry Charles Fehr sculpted the war memorial raised in 1923.  The usual words bedeck the memorial as the townspeople attempted to believe their war was indeed just and glorious.  Memorials raised today do not inspire such admiration I think.

I was unable to find 'Maplins,' probably because it lay on the other side of town from where I landed, so instead had a closer look at the 15th century gatehouse to St Johns Abbey, the only remaining part of said abbey.  Besieged during the English Civil War, which was not very civil as may lost their heads here, the gatehouse survives although behind lies merely a car park, and only for the use of the members of the organisation based here.  

At one time this supported a statue of either a saint or a local worthy, today it just wears away in the rain.  The siege may also have caused damage, the twin was almost worn away.  

Inside the small gate reflects the small size of people in those days, six foot tall people were unusual at the time, and I wondered about the people who peered from the windows at those waiting outside for them.  The Benedictines moved in late in the 11th century and moved out when Henry VIII kicked them out.  The Abbot refused to hand the place over and was gently hanged just outside the gate. Henry had no patience in those days.  The Lucas family took over and moved in, sadly they supported the crown during the civil war in 1648 and this led to their end and the bits of damage to the gatehouse.  The buildings inside disappeared over the years.

I was impressed by this wee house, dated 1823, clearly enlarged since and more so round the back I noticed, but remaining a delightful small cottage.  I am not jealous I state here, not jealous at all.  St John's Green primary school also drew my admiration, although I am not willing to attend there.  Built in 1898 in a kind of Dutch style it reflected the weaving history of the area and the Flemish connections from the past.  

  
As infants rarely have the ability to read I am struck by how many old schools put directions above the doors to ensure the wee ones went into the right area. Maybe they were a wee bit brainier in those day?

This area abounds in churches that date back a millennium, the disused Church of St Giles goes back to the 12th century but I am not sure what it is used for these days, signs are not obvious. The tower got my attention, that appears very Saxon in its style but it dates from around 1700ish.  As always it has been amended and added to over the years but now lies quietly surrounded by the iron railings that also go back to the 1700's.  

Behind me as I took this picture lay the main police station, the cells I believe lie behind the small square, thick glass windows I leant against, you may no better.  When this station was built in the 80's an archaeological dig discovered 371 Roman burials and this building dating from 320 - 340.  The evidence indicates this could be the earliest church building in the British Isles but further evidence is wanting.  Some reckon it is possibly a Roman soldiers Mythraeum, but they would, wouldn't they?   Ever known archaeologists to agree?  Bah!

Having wandered around the town with my money still in my pocket I splashed out on a £1.50 coffee from this man at the bus station and well worth it it was! I was intrigued as to how somebody ends up running a very successful coffee stall and it transpires this man is an ex-serviceman.  That got me wondering also.  Now he may be happy in his work, he may be making a good profit, this is a busy place to operate, and he may well make sufficient to keep his family happy but it suddenly seemed sad that a man who risked his life in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan should be running a coffee stall.  As stated he might well be happy but it seems to me men who have risked lives for the nation could be getting better treatment than they do, especially when they are capable, knowledgeable and possess that amiability we often find in such men. I am just glad he is as fit as he is, IDS would be naming him in parliament otherwise.

While admiring Coggeshall's old buildings and remembering I was going to visit there I found this cat that I noticed last time.  He slinks on the roof high above the crowd looking for birds that are not gathering in front of him.  Maybe they think he is real!  It reminds those with cameras to always look up, and check it is safe to do so, as above the shop doorways there is often something intriguing awaiting you. 

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Door

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The village down the road, the one that attempted to stop the plague in medieval times by putting a rope across the street, contains this door. I wonder if......well maybe I shouldn't..... 

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