Sunday – Leominster – The air is cooler after several days of oppressive heat. The sky is covered by high grey cloud. Wood Pigeons persistently coo from rooftops and trees. Below the railway bridge Rosebay Willowherb and Evening Primrose still flower but the umbellifers, Teasels and St John’s Wort are all running to seed. The water level in the River Lugg has fallen further still and the gravel spit spreads out into the middle of the river. Unfortunately, rubbish is scattered across it where young people have had a fire but could not be bothered to clear up after themselves. A fresh growth of Upright Hedge-Parsley stands in the rapidly turning brown grass. Creeping and Spear Thistles are in flower. Hedge Bindweed is threading its way through the Himalayan Balsam. A Robin ticks from the top of the piles of grit bags in the Brightwell’s compound, another calls from the riverside trees. More of the dust carts have gone from the compound. Lesser Black-backed Gulls are on the tall security lights, a Carrion Crow barks from the trees and there is the distant keening of a Common Buzzard. Stands of Himalayan Balsam show the considerable colour differences, some white, others deep rose pink. A Wren sings from the scrub across the river. Yarrow flowers at the end of the path. Dock has turned bright rusty red. The few inches of water in Cheaton and Ridgemoor brooks gurgles over the stones.
The sun emerges from the clouds and it starts to get warmer. The market is fairly large, nothing of interest to me though. A yellow and black striped Gold-ringed Dragonfly darts this way and that beside Ridgemoor Bridge. The Minster bells are in full flow. The water in the River Kenwater is shallow and crystal clear, however I have not seen a fish in here for some time.
Wednesday – Pipe Aston and Elton – A grey cooler morning. I briefly stop in Pipe Aston to visit St Giles’ Church in the wonderfully named Killhorse Lane. We visited in 2012 when the building was locked. However, it is wide open today, just the bird screen across the porch and the door wedged open. Under the wonderful tympanum and inside the building. The church is 12th century and was partly rebuilt and altered in the 13th century. It was restored in 1879 and a vestry added in 1948. Inside, the east and side walls of the nave have 12th century wall paintings in red pigment with addorsed flowers on stalks against a painted masonry effect background. The font is made from a 12th century stone in the form of a truncated cone, which was dug up in a nearby field in 1943, hollowed out and placed on the present base. The cone is carved with a dragon, a beast and scrolled foliage. The carving suggests it was undertaken by the same hand as carved the tympanum. The three-sided pulpit is 19th century. In the chancel is what could be a “leper window” inserted to allow those suffering from leprosy, not allowed in the church, hear the service. An early 14th century stone coffin lid incised with a cross, stands in a blocked doorway which possibly led to a north vestry, since demolished. The roof is late 14th century. A single bell in the bellcote, added in 1879 to replace a tower, was cast by John Martin of Worcester in 1691.
Beside the church is a large house, the former Rectory, rather larger than the church. A Goldfinch lands on a post beside the road before dropping down to search among the grit then flies off over a tall hedge into the fields. The post surrounds a bridge under which flows a small brook, a tributary to Allcocks Brook, flowing from the Mortimer Forest. Opposite an old blacksmithed fence is rusting away. Around the bends is Pipe Aston farmhouse, 17th century, with a range of timber framed barns converted into dwellings. House Martins flash thorough the sky above. House sparrows chirrup from the hedges. Across the road is Aston Tump, a heavily overgrown Norman castle site. It was built, probably by the Mortimers, between 1138-9. The motte has traces of a polygonal shell keep and a small D-shaped tower on its summit.
Back down the road to Elton and St Mary’s church, which is locked. The building is 12th century with 13th century alterations. It was restored in 1876 by W E Martin. The graves near the church are relatively modern, yet all names of Welsh derivation, Edwards, Owen, Price, Morgan. The older graves are all eroded to illegibility. Elton Hall stands next to the church. It was built in the 17th century with possible earlier origins and partly rebuilt and re-fronted in the mid 18th century. The house formerly belonged to Andrew Knight, brother of Richard Payne Knight, who built Downton Castle nearby. Andrew Knight was a founder and, for 27 years, president of the Horticultural Society and he experimented in raising new varieties of fruit at Elton. In 1809 he left Elton to live at Downton Castle.
Thursday – Leominster – In the early morning there was a vague rainbow to the west. Later the rain arrives although it is light. North of the railway bridge both sides of the track are splashed with blocks of pink from the flowering Rosebay Willowherb. A Magpie chunters in the trees. The water level in the River Lugg remains very low. A Dipper flies off upstream.
Back to the White Lion. A young Magpie is squeaking to an adult across the tracks from the pub car park. Through the Millennium Park to the River Kenwater which is also very shallow. Through the churchyard to the town. The street works continue making it a daily puzzle as to which way will be open. Kay calls to say avoid the top of Etnam Street as the police have closed it because a car is on fire!
Home – Another two rows of potatoes, Red Duke of Yorks, are dug. It is very hard going as the soil comes up in large clods, which despite being honeycombed with wormholes are still rock hard. The crop is fair but not great. Rampaging vines and Brambles are cut back, the former piled up in the chicken run where they are being torn to pieces. Tomatoes are now ripening in decent numbers. Cucumbers keep coming. Basil needs cutting soon – pesto incoming! The aubergines have quite a few lovely purple flowers. Chillies are ripening and many more flowers have appears. There is a large efflorescence on what is supposed to be a winter cropping purple sprouting broccoli.
Saturday – Leominster – The Farmers’ Market is still in the car park as Corn Square is a building site. Not helpful in the main holiday season. However, most stalls seem to be attracting customers. On the way back home, over 90 Jackdaws fly westwards. The day started grey but has warmed up considerably. There is a large kink in the Jet Stream and this is about to drag hot air up from the continent where near record temperatures have been reported.
Home – A Speckled Bush Cricket has been on a bright red dahlia for some days now. House Sparrows and Blue Tits are visiting the feeders in decent numbers. Yesterday a small flock of Long-tailed Tits were on the peanuts. The greenhouse and courgettes need daily watering. The two water butts by the chicken run and two of the three on the patio are now empty and the third is almost gone now.
Sunday – Leominster – An overcast morning and slightly cooler than it has been of late. A pair of rabbits are on the old track by the station. The water in the River Lugg is crystal clear and the level remains very low. A few umbellifers, including Angelica, a lot of Ragwort and Himalayan Balsam are in flower in Easters Meadow. On the far bank of the river Himalayan Balsam stands in huge swathes having suppressed any native plants that grew there.
The market is busy, but as usual I find nothing to purchase. The number of Pond Skaters below Ridgemoor Bridge has increased considerably. The River Kenwater is also running low and clear. There are Pond Skaters beneath the Priory footbridge. There are half a dozen police officers in Bridge Street car park for some reason.
Home – A Jackdaw caught its foot in the cleft between the arms of the feeder. I free it but the leg is a bloody mess. The Jackdaw flies of at great speed with its leg dangling. The design of the feeder is poor so I wire up the gap to stop this happening again. The last of the Red Duke of York potatoes are dug, several are quite large. The onions are also lifted, not a bad crop. A damson tree is cropped resulting in several pounds of fruit. My arms are scratched all over! The greengages are also picked, sadly only half a dozen fruit. A rat trap is placed next to the hole under the hen house with chicken wire over it to stop the hens getting to it.
Monday – Home – In the afternoon I rake over the now cleared potato bed, breaking the clods as best as able. Winter Rye is to be sown as a green manure but I will wait until a decent amount of rain is incoming. The rat trap has worked. I suppose we should be grateful that we have chickens here for 16 years now and this is the first time rats have been a problem. As predicted, it is very hot. There is the mere suggestion of a breeze. More watering will be needed.
Thursday – Stokesay Castle – We take Kitty to this castle at Craven Arms. We firstly visited in March 2009. It is warm and windy day. The castle is busy. There are two trails for young people to investigate following clues. Swallows have several nests within the castle. They range from one where the parent is still sitting on eggs, through small chicks sticking wide open mouths over the edge of the mud cups that form the nests to one nest where the youngsters are about to fledge. Down in the moat, apples are ripening, Dog Roses have both flowers and bunches of hips, a few Red Valerian are in flower but umbellifers are now heads of brown seeds.
Home – Courgettes are coming on fast now. A tray of them are left outside the garage doors for passers-by. They are all gone by the time we get back from Stokesay.
Friday – Leominster – A classic summer day with blue sky, billowing white clouds and hot sunshine. Down the road and through Pinsley Mill. Beside the railway tracks, Rosebay Willowherb is beginning the turn to white fluff. There appears to be three different sorts of Willowherb here; Rosebay which is unrecognisable as a simple column of pink flowers; another with pink flowers with white centres, probably Great Willowherb and yet another with much smaller pink flowers and white centres which could be one of a number of varieties. Into the Millennium Orchard. The cider apples are some way from being ripe. Tiny catkins are already appearing on Hazels. There are ripe sloes on the Blackthorn. An apple tree at the end of the park which used to provide an early crop has now been completely overwhelmed by Birch, Spindle and an Oak tree.
Into Pinsley Mead. The greengage crop is non-existent, the plum crop is very meagre but there is a decent number of pears on the young tree. A Small White butterfly crosses the grass. This is the only species of butterfly I have seen in any number this year; indeed I have not seen any Red Admirals or Peacock butterflies and just a few Speckled Wood and Meadow Browns. The town is hot and busy with a lot of noise from the street-works.
Saturday – Leominster – Up and out at dawn. The sun is rising as I cross the Grange and into the churchyard. Rabbits bound off in every direction. I check the plum tree on Pinsley Mead but the amount of fruit is less than I had thought so I move on. Into the Millennium Park and gather some sloes.
Home – The day grows cloudier and more humid. The plums from the Marjorie Pippin are picked. Many have Brown Rot fungus and are useless. However, I have a couple of pounds of unaffected ones. Sadly, when I come to prepare them they are badly wormed with Plum Fly. The lawns and the orchard area are mown. House Sparrows are busy feeding on the seed feeder. Although Jackdaws have demonstrated they can get to the seed, they have raided it infrequently.
Sunday – Craig-y-Nos – Fforestfawr Geopark is located between Y Fforestfawr, the Great Forest and Y Mynydd Du, The Black Mountain in the Bannau Brycheiniog. It sits on a layer of Carboniferous Limestone. The day started bright and sunny but had now clouded over. Craggy mountains rise either side of the park, sheep feeding on pockets of grass between the grey rock faces. The Afon Tawe flows across a rocky bed. Just upstream is the confluence of the Tawe and the Afon Llynfell. Across one bridge and a short distance along a path is an older one with a crest and crown. Up a small hill on the other side of the bridge is Craig-y-Nos Castle. Hogweed and Knapweed are in flower alongside a track which leads back to the first bridge.
Behind the Information Centre is a lake with a large number of Mallard. Some of the drakes are beginning to regain their breeding plumage. There is much squabbling. Young Moorhens peck at the grass beside the path. Up the slope is a vegetable garden with a good crop of purple peas and runner beans. It appears that purple sprouting broccoli had already been harvested. Strawberries are doing well. A Brown Hawker, Aeshna grandis, dragonfly is sunning itself on the top of a small raised bed of lettuce. A bush has been shaped into a large snail.
Pontardawe – On down the Swansea valley. Former pit villages run one into the other, sometimes with a small bit of open land, often old industrial sites returning to nature, between them; others just seem to be one conurbation with a change of name. Into Pontardawe. The name simply means “Bridge on the Tawe.” A long town of stone built terraces. One side of the road set back is a modern swimming pool; opposite is the church of St Peter. The graveyard is large and packed. There is clearly a service taking place as there are cars parked in and outside the grounds. Some of the older graves are in Cymraeg but the modern ones are all in English. The church was built in an unusually elaborate mid 14th century Decorated Gothic style in 1858-60 by builder J Holtham to the designs of Swansea architect J H Baylis at the expense of local colliery and tinplate-works owner William Parsons.
South along the High Street past shops, one being a butchers but the rest are the usual service and fast food outlets. The former Cross Hotel stands on a busy junction, The Cross. It is now a Community Centre, although whether or not it actually opens is another matter. In James Street two pubs stand on opposite corners, both closed down. The Wesleyan Cymraeg chapel of 1902 (declared in large flowing script on the face of the building) is also abandoned and in poor condition. Three old thatched cottages (Llydiarty Fagwr) were pulled down to make room for the foundations. It was built in the Arts and Crafts style and opened in 1905 with a capacity for 500 worshippers and closed in 1997. Across the road the Upper Clydach River rushes through trees. Back at the junction that is the entrance to the local nature reserve a circular installation, a sundial of chains and leaves where the person stands on a step and acts as the gnomen. It was made in 1994 by Andrew Rowe. Another installation is across the paved space. The nature reserve is a wooded gorge called Mae Glyn Cwm Du’n. At the top is Glenrhyd plantation where exotic trees surround the ruins of Glenrhyd House built in 1877 by Arthur Gilbertson the steel and tin plate manufacturer. Across the road the river flows through steep banks. Into Herbert Street. A bridge crosses the Swansea Canal which in turn crosses the river and comes to a terminus. The canal was built to serve collieries, iron works and copper works in the Tawe valley and the first section of the canal from Swansea to Godre’r-Graig was opened in 1796, and the whole length of 16½ miles was completed by October 1798. The last commercial traffic was in 1931, boats continued to operate on the canal after that date but only for maintenance work, with horse-drawn boats last recorded at Clydach in 1958.
On along Herbert Street. The War Memorial stands outside an imposing building housing the Arts Centre. It was converted from the former Pontardawe Public Hall and Institute, built in 1908 on the site of a house called Ynys-gelynan, and opened by Adelina Patti, the opera singer who lived at Craig-y-Nos Castle. Opposite is the entrance to the former cinema and concert hall. The Rechabite Infants’ School stood here in the late 19th century. In 1912 the Hall was converted into a variety theatre by Rowland Williams renaming it The Palace, later becoming a cinema. In the 1930s it was sold, renovated to enable the showing of “talkies” and renamed the Lyric Cinema. Stained glass – much of it blue – decorated the new entrance foyer and it was referred as “Ty Glas”. A little remains over the entrance. The cinema closed around 1980. Through the entrance, a bridge crosses the river. Beyond was a recreation ground and beyond a large steel and tinplate works with a maze of railway lines. It is now largely the Community School. Herbert Street ends in a large main road interchange. A bridge rises over the Afon Tawe. Herbert Street originally ended at the station. Back to the War Memorial and into Holly Street. The Soar Elgwys Bresbyteriadd Cymru is dated 1866. Opposite is the Library, built one assumes, at a similar time time as the Public Hall. Live singers in pubs seem in competition with each other wailing at deafening levels at each end of the town.
Clydach – Into Clydach past the huge refinery. Sir Ludwig Mond was the man behind it all, a German Jew, who at the age of 23, came to England where he set up a research laboratory in the stables of his London home with young Austrian chemist Carl Langer as his assistant. Langer discovered a new method a refining nickel. Mond set up a refinery here in Clydach. The business was sold to Vale in 1928 and they still operate the site. The town was a small village until the coming of the Swansea Canal and then the opening of the refinery.
A parade of shops opposite the end of the refinery site turns into High Street. The church of St John the Baptist built in 1847 to designs of William Whittington of Neath, County Surveyor, largely at the expense of the Miers family of Ynyspenllwch. It is no longer used as a church. The graveyard is large and overgrown. On past houses that are hard to date, many have been rendered and have modern plastic windows. The modern police station looks tired. The Carpenters Arms is a vets. An ironmongers and fishing tackle shop, H R Jones has been here for 129 years with just four owners. The library is modern. The Midland and a Barclays banks are bars. A row of houses are at the top of steep steps next to the church of St Mary which is set into the hillside, Mount Pleasant. The parish church was built in 1904-5 because the previous church of St John was too small. St John’s became the Welsh church. St Mary’s was designed by E M Bruce Vaughan of Cardiff. The primary school is at the top of the hill. Opposite the church is the Baptist chapel, Calfaria Addolyd Bedyddwer of 1868, designed by the Revd Henry Thomas of Briton Ferry. At the bottom of the hill is the Lower Clydach River. A footpath leads to a section of the Swansea Canal which passes over the river which joins the Afon Tawe just beyond. A large patch of Japanese Knotweed is on the banks of the Lower Clydach River. Hemp Agrimony and Purple Loosestrife grows prolifically along the canal banks. Pont John is a black cast iron footbridge over the Swansea Canal, dated 1887. It was installed by the Swansea Canal Company as a toll bridge and later the toll rights were sold to a local mining company. A footpath heads back towards the town centre passing another extensive area of Japanese Knotweed.
Swansea, Abertawe – My hotel is by the Prince of Wales dock. Of course all the accoutrements for a dock and shipping are now gone and it is surrounded by apartments, hotels and car parks. Yet again the air is split by the sound of someone singing very loudly at a bar. Norwegian church, Siømanns Kirk, stands at the edge of a car park. It was moved to a site by the Afon Tawe in 1910. It closed in 1988. In 2004 the building was dismantled and reassembled here by Prince of Wales dock where it later reopened as a jewellery gallery and later as a nursery. A few remnants of the past are still here including the former grain warehouse built circa 1895, now containing businesses. Beside the Sail Bridge is the Ice House, constructed in the 1880s as an “ice factory” to serve Swansea’s growing dock trade, before becoming a chandlery business in the 1920s. It is now apartments. The Sail Bridge crosses the Afon Tawe. A large marina occupies one side of the river. A large branch has stuck in the river presenting a useful perch for Cormorant which stands drying its wings. A pair of Tufted Duck are diving. A good many Lesser Black-backed and Herring gulls are on the water, most washing themselves. Juveniles are lined up on a boom.
Off the bridge at the East Burrows Road and the Dylan Thomas Centre. Old warehouses have been repurposed, although one still is the depot for a builders merchant. The modern construction between the Dock Offices and Exchange Offices have not improved with age. Into Wind Street, also not a place improved with age. The bars of fizzy beer are busy. I manage to get a couple of pints of average beer before the band starts.
Down to the docks. A couple of anglers boats come through the locks, although without anglers! A feral pigeon gets closer and closer to me along the bench seemingly unconvinced that I have nothing for it to eat. A cool wind has sprung up. The boats enter the second lock. Through a yard where yachts are on the hard for work. A scruffy yacht is for sale for £6700. Goodness knows what the big stuff here would cost. Back to the Sail Bridge. There are a few Black-headed Gulls here now, having lost their black heads. A black Black-backed Gull, the Baltic sub-species, is on the water. Back near the Norwegian church is a War Memorial to the Merchant Seamen and Fishermen of Swansea who lost their lives in WWII. It states that they have “No grave but the sea”. A large number of Moon Jellyfish are in the dock.
Monday – Port Talbot – Talbot Dock is now a large empty space of water. On its south side is a large pale brown cement works, Heidelberg Materials. To the east is the famous Port Talbot steelworks now under threat. To the north the town is nestled under Mynydd Dinas, Mynydd Margam and Mynydd Emroch with the M4 motorway running along their base. These hills all have the remains of Iron Age hill-forts. Bronze Age farming ditches have been found on the side of Mynydd Margam.
Into the town in the Aberafan district. Port Talbot was formed from the merging of multiple villages, including Baglan, Margam, and Aberafan. The name “Port Talbot” first appears in 1837 as the name of the new docks built on the south-east side of the river Afan by the Talbot family. Along Forge Road where there is greengrocers! St Agnes church is a wide building by F R Kempson built in 1910. It has a Catholic feel with Stations of the Cross and a Marian statue. There is some fine glass installed between 1950 and 1966. Across the road is a mural of Michael Sheen and the steelworks. A supermarket stands on the site of Margam Tinplate Works which had closed by the start of the 20th century. Forge Road, originally Grugos Terrace, is now a parade of shops, in what were houses. The Tabernacle Newydd of 1909 is closed, decaying and up for auction. It was built at a cost of £3,427 on land donated by Emily Charlotte Talbot of Margam Park, and replacing earlier chapels of 1824 and 1871 which were located elsewhere. It apparently has a fine Art Nouveau interior, not accessible now. A tall brick building is the Afan Masonic Temple. It was built in 1909 with money provided by Emily Charlotte Talbot. The builder is thought to have been Morgan Cox, a master of the lodge in 1902 and 1917. The frontage is plain with three oculi and plain tablets set high in the brick. Into Station Road. Another terrace of houses are now shops. Modern buildings, one dated 1988, stand on the site of Aberavon station. On the junction is the Bethany chapel dated 1879 and also decaying badly. It was built by John Cound, architect, and David Jenkins, contractor, at a cost of £1,700. The foundation stone was laid by Sir H H Vivian. It was in fields to the east of Aberavon, the town developing around it. Along Station Road where a three storey building was once good quality but is now rotting although there are still businesses on the ground floor. Station Road continues with a mixture of large Victorian buildings, now pubs and shops and modern insertions. Although it is past 9:00 on a Monday morning, barely any business is open. A long row of three storey have ornate pediments, one dated 1897. St Oswald’s Chambers is a closed down club. It was the head office of Bryngurwen and Bryngrugos Colleries.
Station Road ends at the Grand Hotel. The hotel was opened in 1900, designed George Robinson of Cardiff. Opposite is the modern and architecturally good station. A gold statue, “Man of Steel” of a man carrying bars of steel was created by artist Sebastian Boyesen is at the end of the bus stand. Along what was probably Margam Terrace, the area has altered greatly, and past car parks. A new Carmel Bethany Presbyterian church stands only 100 yards from the old one. Beside it is the also modern Riverside Valleys Baptist church. A long GWR train, bound for London, draws into the station. A modern bridge, one of six in a short distance, crosses the Afon Afan. A footpath passes under the railway by the Aberfan shopping centre. A mural on St Mary’s Parish Centre commemorates the execution of Dic Penderyn at the age of 23 for his part in the Merthyr Rising of May and June 1831 which took place when the coal miners and other working people took to the streets of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales in protest against unemployment and lowering wages. His last words were “O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd, “Oh Lord, this is an injustice”. He is buried in the churchyard here, possibly because a grave in Merthyr Tydfil would have been a rallying point. The church is of medieval origin, first mentioned in 1254, and shown in much later drawings with Tudor-style windows. It was rebuilt on the same site in 1858-9 by Prichard and Seddon. One of the medieval windows as reset into the north aisle, but the arrangement of tracery is not original. The church is locked and does not seem to have been opened recently.
Through the shopping centre where there is, rather weirdly, a large tableau of the D-Day landings. Out of the centre into a square where there are the Borough Council offices, the Princess Royal Theatre and the Ebenezer Baptist chapel. The chapel was first built in 1821, rebuilt in 1836 and again in 1882, the last to the design of the architect George Morgan of Carmarthen. It is constructed in the Lombardic/Italinate style. It is raining. Over the river where a Swallow zigzags downstream. The bridge was built in 1842 to the design of William Kirkhouse, engineer of the Tennant Canal and author of an unexecuted plan to extend the canal to Aberavon. It was later widened by half, probably in 1893 (lower date on keystone). The bridge formerly carried the A48 trunk road. It now has a modern series of awnings over it. On the other side, in Station Road, is a statue called “The Mortal Coil” by Sebastian Boyesen, commemorating the mining heritage. Back into High Street and then Forge Road to the ever present screech of young gulls and the yelps of adults.
Neath Abbey, Abaty Nedd – It somewhat unfortunate that opposite the entrance are two crammed full rubbish bins with paper blowing about the grass. Beside the ruins is a bridge over the Tennant Canal. George Tennant, born in 1765 and the son of a solicitor in Lancashire, moved to the area in 1816, after he had bought the Rhydings estate. The Glan-y-wern Canal, built to connect Richard Jenkins’ colliery at Glan-y-wern with the River Neath, was unused at the time, following Lord Vernon’s distraint, but Tennant, who had no previous experience with canals, decided to lease it, enlarge it and extend it.
Neath abbey became one of the largest in south east Wales. It was founded in 1130 by Sir Richard de Granville, one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan. He gave 8,000 acres of his estate to Savigniac monks from western Normandy. The first monks arrived in 1130. Following the merging of the Savigniac order into the Cistercian order in 1147, Neath Abbey became a Cistercian house. The abbey was ravaged by the Welsh uprisings of the 13th century. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII of England the last abbot, Lleision ap Thomas, managed to buy time through payment of a large fine in 1536, but the abbey was dissolved in 1539. The abbey was turned into a large estate, initially granted to Richard Williams, although by 1600 it was owned by Sir John Herbert, and had a substantial Tudor mansion occupying a part of the cloisters. The mansion itself was only inhabited for 100 years or so, before being abandoned as the site was being used for copper smelting. In the late 18th century, an iron foundry was opened near the abbey ruins by a company owned by the Price, Fox and Tregelles families. The ruined walls of both the Abbey and later mansion were gradually engulfed in quantities of industrial waste. The ownership of the site passed to the Rice family, Barons Dynevor, and it was in the 1920s, under Walter FitzUryan Rice, 7th Baron Dynevor that a local group of amateur archaeologists began the process of uncovering the medieval ruins. The ruins are extensive but there is little in the way of information.
Resolven Canal Basin – a lock and basin on the Neath canal. The canal was completed in 1795 and along with the Tennant canal in 1824 these led to a growth in the coal mining industry in the Vale of Neath. The canals prospered into the 1880s but then the railways proved too much competition and the waterway traffic had virtually ceased by WWI. Navigation on these canals came to an end in 1934. The canal runs alongside the Avon Neath. A pair of Goosander are on the River. The south end of the basin flows out into two small culverts. At the other end is a lock. This was restored in the early part of this century. Along the tow-path is Ty Banc cottage, the former home of William Evans, known as Will Banc, who was employed by the Company and Proprietors of the Neath Canal Navigation which had owned the canal since 1775. He started work in 1929 and was employed to keep the canal clear of weeds and silt, repair the banks and tow-path, locks, bridges and aqueducts. He worked for canal for nearly half a century yet never saw any commercial boats on it. It starts to rain.
Back over Bannau Brycheiniog. Clouds cling the hillsides. Sheep walk along the edge of the road with no intention of moving out of the way of traffic. The tourist hotspots along the road are busy.
Wednesday – Guildford – This Surrey town is mentioned in the will of Alfred the Great from 880CE as Gyldeforda. The exact location of the main Anglo-Saxon settlement is unclear and the current site of the modern town centre may not have been occupied until the early 11th century. Following the Norman Conquest, a motte and bailey castle was constructed; which was developed into a royal residence by Henry III. During the late Middle Ages, Guildford prospered as a result of the wool trade, and the town was granted a charter of incorporation by Henry VII in 1488. The River Wey Navigation runs through the town connecting the town with the Thames. It opened in 1653, facilitating the transport of produce, building materials and manufactured items to new markets in London.
Getting into the town is a bit of a nightmare with roadworks and a large lorry up against the railway bridge when the driver has suddenly realised he cannot get under it. Sky is cloudy but there are a few blue patches. Into Woodbridge Meadows. A footpath runs alongside the River Wey Navigation. A canal boat passes. Hemp Agrimony, Tansy and Purple Loosestrife flower on the bank. A series of rusted iron standards with aluminium fish on them are on an area of rough ground. A hidden Moorhen squawks. Under the railway bridge which funnels the lines from a number of directions into Guildford station before they diverge again to different destinations. A footbridge is attached to the railway bridge. This leads to Dapdune wharf, the historic home of the Wey barges that worked the waterways from Guildford to the Port of London in the first half of the nineteenth century. A canal service boat is unloading bags of rocks to reinforce the bank.
Path leads away from the canal to the main road through new apartment blocks. The road passes a closed 1930 style garage then terraces of houses probably Edwardian. A public footpath leads up to a bridge over the railway. A Field Marigold is in flower with intensely yellow petals and a dark orange centre. The footpath passes through the modern buildings of the University of Surrey and then into woodland. The route passes through more modern housing and up Stag Hill and into a small park which contains an astronomical observatory.
Through a maze of paths in the University and finally into the precincts of the cathedral at the summit of Stag Hill. It was designed by Edward Maufe and built between 1936 and 1961. Earl Onslow donated the first 6 acres of land on which the cathedral stands, with Viscount Bennett, a former Prime Minister of Canada, purchasing the remaining land and donating it to the cathedral in 1947. The cathedral nave towers high in pale Somerset limestone pillars and white Italian marble floors. There are numerous pieces of sculpture by modern sculptors, including notably Eric Gill, Vernon Hill, Mary Spencer Watson, Dennis Huntley, Alan Collins and local artists John Cobbett and Douglas Stephen. Charles Gurrey created a series of sculptures above the West Front, to mark the Millennium, whilst Canadian sculptor Nicholas Thompson completed a sculpture of a WWI mother and child in 2016. The cathedral organ was installed in 1961 by the Liverpool firm of Rushworth and Dreaper. It is a reconstruction of an organ dating from around 1866, previously in the Rosse Street Baptist Church in Shipley, West Yorkshire. The Treasury has a large number of silver pieces, much from churches in the diocese. It seems sad these are kept here rather than where they were meant to be. A gold angel stands at the top of the tower, designed by William Pickford and created by four silversmiths, before being positioned in Spring 1963. The wooden cross which stands outside the eastern end of the cathedral was erected in 1933 before construction work began in order to mark the site of the new cathedral. Known as the Ganges Cross, it is made from timbers of Burma teak from the battleship HMS Ganges. The cathedral has a ring of twelve bells; ten of which were cast by Mears and Stainbank in 1965. Two Whitechapel trebles were added in 1975.
A path descends the hill to a road, Ridgemount. A pair of houses set at an angle at the foot of the steps down from the cathedral. It seems that they have built at the same time as the cathedral itself. on down to the town centre. The road is a mixture of housing, some possibly inter-War, others modern including a very modern building with a rust red folded steel sides and roof. Into Guildford Park Road. A Baptist Church is in a modern building. The houses are getting older, one is dated 1882. Past the entrance to the station.
Onto Farnham Road, the A31. Westwards St Katherine’s House is dated 1890. A short distance beyond is Farnham Road Hospital. It was designed by Edward Lower with advice from Florence Nightingale. The foundation stone was laid 3rd July 1863, opened 27th April 1866 with Neo-Georgian porch added in early 20th century. Back to the town centre. Just before the railway bridge is the site of Guildford motive power depot. The railway arrived in 1845 with a six-mile length of single track was joined to the South Western’s mainline at Woking. In 1896 60 locomotives were allocated to the Guildford depot. By 1926 allocation was just over 80 locomotives and had a staff of 465 workers of whom 328 were drivers, fireman and cleaners. Pre-nationalisation, the allocation of steam locomotives was mainly Maunsell classes U and N 260s along with King Arthur, Schools and S15 classes. By 1965 most of these engines had been withdrawn and the allocation was down to 28. Just two years later only four steam engines remained. These were sent to the Barry scrap yard and the depot was razed to the ground. The semi-round house engine shed has disappeared in the site which is now a multi-story car park. The station is wholly modern.
Into Park Street where some of the houses are late 16th and 17th century with later alterations. St Nicholas’ church in High Street is hosting a children’s event so I do not stop. Within, Loseley chapel 15th century, the remainder built in 1870-75 to the designs of Samuel Teulon, but executed by Ewan Christian. A plaque on the side of the church about four feet above the ground marks the flood level on the 16th September 1968. Town Bridge, erected in 1902 after the stone bridge was destroyed by a flood on the 16th February 1900, crosses the River Wey. It was rebuilt in 1985.
Up High Street and into Quarry Street. St Mary’s church is locked. It has a pre-Conquest tower, circa 1040, with Norman transepts, around 1100, lengthened into apsidal chapels in circa 1180. Nave arcades were added in 1170-1180, with aisles widened in the 13th century It was re-roofed in 15th century. A majority of windows were inserted in 14th century. The chancel apse was removed in 1825 and church restored by T. Goodchild in 1882.
Into the grounds of Guildford Castle. There is no record of it in Domesday, so construction was probably a little later. The first castle was a timber motte and bailey. The stone castle was built in the early 12th century either by Henry I or Stephen. During the 13th century Henry III ordered improvements to be made. The great hall was decorated with paintings and coloured glass windows, his apartments were painted green with gold and silver stars, he added a garden with marble columns and the bailey was extended with a set of rooms being built for his son Edward. The castle was never involved in any battles or sieges and from the 14th century started to fall into disrepair, by 1379 everything but the King’s chamber and the keep had fallen down. The keep continued to be used as a jail until 1544 when it relocated and the gardener John Daborne was left in charge. In 1611 King James I granted the castle to Francis Carter who removed the roof and rented out parts of the grounds for farming. In 1885 the then owner, Lord Grantley sold the site to the Guildford Corporation who restored the walls and tower and opened it to the public. There are some fine gardens with purple being the theme.
Along Tunsgate, mainly modern shops. A portico was the entrance to the corn market built in 1818. Out into High Street. Opposite is the Guildhall, a Hall or courtroom built around 1550 and extended in 1589; the front council chamber and façade added in 1683 by public subscription, a cupola rebuilt in replica in 1882, internal alterations in 1893 and further restorations and alterations carried out in 20th century. From the centre of the pediment projects an ornate clock, dated 1683 and possibly made by John Ayleward, although the mechanism seems to be older than the case It is supported on a gilded beam and five elaborately ornamented and scrolled ties. The minute hand was added in 1828. Up the street is Abbot’s Hospital, almshouses founded in 1619 by George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1611 to 1633. Opposite is Holy Trinity Church, like apparently all churches in Guildford, it is locked. The church was built between 1749-63 incorporating the Weston Chapel of 1540, which has chequerwork walls of alternating freestone and flint. The rebuilding, in a Palladian style was by London architect James Horne. At the top of the street is a statue of George Abbot.
The Three Pigeons pub is apparently a timber-framed building of the late 17th century but was built around 1918. The Guildford Workingman’s Home and Coffee Palace is a Church Army hostel. After a couple of expensive pints I head down North Street to the Friary which was a house of the Dominican order, founded in 1274 by Eleanor Provence widow of Henry III. It was always a small Priory never more than 24 friars who lived by begging, although they sometimes receive gifts from the King. Henry VIII closed the priory in 1538 and the building to a destroyed. A mansion was built on the site then, in Victorian times the Priory brewery which was demolished in the 1970s and the shopping centre built.
Over the town bridge and then alongside the river. Across the river is the Treadwheel crane made in the late 17th or 18th century, repaired in 18th century and 19th century, dismantled and re-erected on present site around 1970. Kayakers paddle past followed by a skein of noisy Canada Geese. Across the river is the Electric Theatre on the Electricity Works of 1913. Under the Onslow Bridge of 1832. Large former warehouses are followed by modern apartments. Various plants are growing along the side of the canal – Yarrow, Pennyroyal, St John’s Wort, Tansy, Comfrey, Wild Hops and Field Bindweed. An abandoned canal barge is full of soil and brushwood. The river comes to Woodbridge Old Bridge built in 1913, carrying the A25.
Friday – Home – Storm Lillian blew through last night with some violent gusts. It is now on its way to Scandinavia but it is still breezy. Unfortunately, the storm did not bring much rain and the soil is still bone dry. Some lettuces are planted out into a trough in the greenhouse. Those outside have proved unsuccessful as they bolted before coming to anything. Tomatoes are still ripening. The two bags of potato plants are emptied – the Red Duke of Yorks are rather disappointing but the Home Guards are better. Courgettes keep coming. The pea plants are cleared away and the weeds hoed. A round of weeding fills a bag. Half a dozen beetroots are harvested, they are a decent size with little damage. Three species of butterfly visit – Speckled Wood, Large White and Gatekeeper. I had forgotten that swedes are a brassica; Large White caterpillars have stripped their leaves to the ribs.
Sunday – Leominster – A fine day with a blue sky and a few high clouds, different from yesterday’s grey and rain. There is still a brisk breeze. Wood Pigeons are calling from the rooftops. Gulls screech as they have been doing long before dawn. Onto the railway bridge. Just a few Rosebay Willowherbs are still in flower and these will soon turn to fluffy seed. The water level in the River Lugg remains low. A Dipper stands on a stranded branch in the middle of the stream. Small mace heads of Ivy berries have appeared. A Wren emits an alarm call. Surprisingly, a Blackcap begins to sing. A Rook caws.
Into Easters Meadow. Himalayan Balsam and Ragwort are still in flower. Despite the considerable number of Ragwort plants there are no Cinnabar Moth caterpillars. As the leaves on the Black Poplars begin to fade the large balls of mistletoe grow more intensely green. Just three dust carts remain in Brightwells’ compound. Four of the desert camouflage army trucks are still there. A Meadow Brown flies past. A Dipper, maybe the same one, is on the gravel at the confluence of the Kenwater and Lugg. Hoverflies feed on one of the few remaining umbellifer flowers. The water level in Cheaton Brook is low. Haws have already turned scarlet. Ridgemoor Brook is also very shallow.
The market is busy. The large field to the east of the market is brown with ripened drying legumes. There are ever more Pond Skaters by Ridgemoor Bridge. Cloud is building. A skein of Canada Geese flies over. Like the other waterways the level the Kenwater is very low. The Minster bells are ringing, however maybe there is a beginner campanologist or it is new piece because it does not sound right.
Friday – King’s Norton – A conurbation in south Birmingham. A Romano-British settlement was near here. Before the Conquest the land belongs to belonged to Earl Edwin, the Anglo-Saxon Earl of Mercia. It was simply called Norton, north settlement. Earl Edwin kept the land after the Conquest but revolted against William two years later and his lands confiscated. William kept Norton for himself, hence, King’s Norton. By 1130 the 3 carucates were held by the Earl of Leicester. They passed to Saer de Quency in 1204 as husband of a co-heir of Robert FitzParnell; Saer was created Earl of Winchester in 1207. The manor passed through various hands, often through marriage. In 1514 was acquired by Robert and John Borowe and Henry Peyll from George and Mary Kyngeston, and Robert Borowe’s descendants transferred it to Thomas Whalley in 1582. The Walley’s held it for 170 years and, again through marriage, was in their family until 1847. The estate apparently passed to the Heap family and later to the Powys-Kecks; as part of the Powys-Keck estate, it was bought by the Cooperative Wholesale Society, Ltd. in 1919.
After a cool, very autumnal start, the day warms up with an almost cloudless sky. I park up in a modern housing estate. Into Wychall Lane. Houses here are mainly mid 20th century although one short terrace has an Edwardian, almost Arts and Crafts influenced look. Across the road is a small park with a culvert pouring water into the River Rea. Into a nature reserve containing Merecroft Pool. This area belongs to British Waterways now the Canal and River Trust. Streams here were used to feed the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Through an area of Oak trees and open ground with Rosebay Willowherbs. A Speckled Wood flies by. Alongside are paddocks where Jackdaws and a Magpie stalk the short grass.
Into King’s Norton Park. Dating back to medieval times, the park was formally laid out when it was bought by Birmingham Civic Society in 1920 and donated for public use four years later. Original landscaping was supported by a gift of £850 from Quaker philanthropist George Cadbury and his wife Dame Elizabeth Cadbury. Wide open areas lead to an avenue with stone benches. This leads out of the park into Pershore Road, beside the graveyard of St Nicholas’ church. Between the graveyard and church is the old Grammar School. Probably built as the priest’s house to St Nicholas’s Church. It was built in the early 15th century. The building has a stone plinth and a ground floor brick with stone quoins. The first floor is half-timbered. The building, while empty, was the target of an unusual attack by suffragettes. The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), formed by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903, used militant methods including attacks on property its campaign to get the vote. This extended to arson, but as the target was property rather than people, the suffragettes only attacked empty buildings. In April 1913 two windows were forced open but no fire was set. A message on the blackboard read ‘Two Suffragists have entered here, but charmed with this old-world room, have refrained from their design of destruction.’
The church replaced a small 11th century church, which stood on the site of the present chancel, in the late 13th century. It was rebuilt again in the 14th century. The west tower and spire with contemporary south porch are 15th century. In 1615 the church roof was raised by the addition of a clerestory and the unusual gabled roofs. The chancel arch with its ballflower ornament is 14th century but the chancel as it now appears dates from the restoration which was carried out in 1863 by Ewan Christian. The north aisle was rebuilt using the old materials and a vestry added to north west end in the restoration of 1872 by W J Hopkins. The church is locked. In the graveyard is a monument with unfluted Corinthian columns supporting a finely dentilled entablature, surmounted by a big urn. The only two inscriptions now legible are in memory of Ann Middlemore, 1873 and Martha Middlemore,1876. An outsized monument in the middle of the graveyard is of Henry Grant, who with his brother Thomas built many properties in the Cotteridge area nearby. He who died in Nice in 1926, aged 57 years and his wife, Rosa who died in 1938. On the stone is an Arts & Crafts image of the Archangel Michael and the words, in a very large font, “Thy Will Be Done”.
On the other side of the precinct is The Green with shops and houses, some dating from the 15th century. A house, built in 1492, was built by a wool merchant, Humphrey Rotsey. Part of it became the Saracen’s Head pub. The Battle of Kings Norton Green took place here on 17th October 1642 was one of many skirmishes of the Civil War. The King’s nephew, Prince Rupert, left Shrewsbury to scout the West Midlands prior to the royalist advance on London. After leaving Stourbridge with eight troops of cavalry and three hundred footsoldiers on Kings Norton Green, he was surprised by Lord Willoughby of Parham, commanding a parliamentary force of eight hundred cavalry and footsoldiers on their way to join the Earl of Essex at Worcester. The royalists were routed with fifty killed and prisoners taken; twenty parliamentary troops were killed. The dead lie buried together in the churchyard in an unmarked grave. In 1643, Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, came to the area leading a replacement army. She slept in the Saracens Head while the soldiers camped on land behind the Church. Following the visit a room in the Saracen’s Head became the “Queen’s Room” and various roads commemorate the visit e.g. Camp Lane. Beside it is The Bull’s Head, built in 1901 to replace an earlier pub here which was pulled down by brewers M&B.
Back to Pershore Road where there is the large red brick Kings Norton Board School was built by William Hale and opened in 1878, improved and extended in 1901 by Edward Holmes. Opposite is a Co-op with the Co-operative Hall above in what looks like a 1930s building. The store is relatively new, the previous ground floor shops were closed a few years back. Over Wharf Road and past The Navigation Inn, possibly early 19th century in date. King’s Norton hospital is a group of modern buildings. Terraces of early 20th century houses lead down to the Baptist church, built in 1847, and a large bridge over the Worcestershire and Birmingham Canal. A new apartment block is being built beside the canal.
South along the tow-path. Canal boats are moored all along the canal. Across the canal is an industrial estate. The bank below the estate is spotted white with the trumpets of Bindweed. On this side there are good numbers of ripe blackberries. A Black Black-headed Gull flies up the canal. The canal comes to Wast Hill Tunnel, built in 1796-7. The tunnel runs under Hawksley and comes out some 2,726 yards later at Wast Hill. The tow-path rises to some delightful late 18th century canal cottages. Into Foyle Road where there are large primary and secondary schools.
On to the A441 the Redditch Road. On a piece of waste ground is Dyer’s Rocket, Hedge Mustard and Evening Primrose in flower. The area has been under development since the mid 20th century and new houses are still going up. Into Grange Hill Road, a rather more salubrious area with large detached houses. On the junction of the Rednall Road is Kings Norton tennis club. It is noticeable that the apostrophe in King’s appears and disappears across the borough. Route with GPS Glitches
side walls of the nave have 12th century wall paintings in red pigment with addorsed flowers on stalks against a painted masonry effect background. The font is made from a 12th century stone in the form of a truncated cone, which was dug up in a nearby field in 1943, hollowed out and placed on 
the present base. The cone is carved with a dragon, a beast and scrolled foliage. The carving suggests it was undertaken by the same hand as carved the tympanum. The three-sided pulpit is 19th century. In the chancel is what could be a “leper window” inserted to allow those suffering from leprosy, not allowed in the church, hear the service. An early 14th century stone coffin lid incised with a cross, stands in a blocked doorway which possibly led to a north vestry, since demolished. The roof is late 14th century. A single bell in the bellcote, added in 1879 to replace a tower, was cast by John Martin of Worcester in 1691.
on pockets of grass between the grey rock faces. The Afon Tawe flows across a rocky bed. Just upstream is the confluence of the Tawe and the Afon Llynfell. Across one bridge and a short distance along a path is an older one with a crest and crown. Up a small hill on the other side of the bridge is Craig-y-Nos Castle. Hogweed and Knapweed are in flower alongside a track which leads back to the first bridge.
horse-drawn boats last recorded at Clydach in 1958.
Pontardawe Public Hall and Institute, built in 1908 on the site of a house called Ynys-gelynan, and opened by 
a builders merchant. The modern construction between the Dock Offices and Exchange Offices have not improved with age. Into Wind Street, also not a place improved with age. The bars of fizzy beer are busy. I manage to get a couple of pints of average beer before the band starts.
1910. It has a Catholic feel with Stations of the Cross and a Marian statue. There is some fine glass installed between 1950 and 1966. Across the road is a mural of Michael Sheen and the steelworks. A supermarket stands on the site of Margam Tinplate Works which had closed by the start of the 20th century. Forge Road, originally Grugos Terrace, is now a parade of shops, in what were houses. The Tabernacle Newydd of 1909 is closed, decaying and up for auction. It was built at a cost of £3,427 on land donated by Emily Charlotte Talbot of Margam Park, and replacing earlier chapels of 1824 and 1871 which were located elsewhere. It apparently has a fine Art Nouveau interior, not accessible now. A tall brick building is the Afan Masonic Temple. It was built in 1909 with money provided by Emily Charlotte Talbot. The builder is thought to have been Morgan Cox, a master of the lodge in 1902 and 1917. The frontage is plain with three oculi and plain tablets set high in the brick. Into Station Road. Another terrace of houses are now shops. Modern buildings, one dated 1988, stand on the site of Aberavon station. On the junction is the Bethany chapel dated 1879 and also decaying badly. It was built by John Cound, architect, and David Jenkins, contractor, at a cost of £1,700. The foundation stone was laid by Sir H H Vivian. It was in fields to the east of Aberavon, the town developing around it. Along Station Road where a three storey building was once good quality but is now rotting although there are still businesses on the ground floor. Station Road continues with a mixture of large Victorian buildings, now pubs and shops and modern insertions. Although it is past 9:00 on a Monday morning, barely any 
business is open. A long row of three storey have ornate pediments, one dated 1897. St Oswald’s Chambers is a closed down club. It was the head office of Bryngurwen and Bryngrugos Colleries.
Presbyterian church stands only 100 yards from the old one. Beside it is the also modern Riverside Valleys Baptist church. A long GWR train, bound for London, draws into the station. A modern bridge, one of six in a short distance, crosses the Afon Afan. A footpath passes under the railway by the Aberfan shopping centre. A mural on St Mary’s Parish Centre commemorates the execution of 
there are the Borough Council offices, the Princess Royal Theatre and the Ebenezer Baptist chapel. The chapel was first built in 1821, rebuilt in 1836 and again in 1882, the last to the design of the architect George Morgan of Carmarthen. It is constructed in the Lombardic/Italinate style. It is raining. Over the river where a Swallow zigzags downstream. The bridge was built in 1842 to the design of William Kirkhouse, engineer of the Tennant Canal and author of an unexecuted plan to extend the canal to Aberavon. It was later widened by half, probably in 1893 (lower date on keystone). The bridge formerly carried the A48 trunk road. It now has a modern series of awnings over it. On the other side, in Station Road, is a statue called “The Mortal Coil” by Sebastian Boyesen, commemorating the mining heritage. Back into High Street and then Forge Road to the ever present screech of young gulls and the yelps of adults.
the Savigniac order into the Cistercian order in 1147, Neath Abbey became a Cistercian house. The abbey was ravaged by the Welsh uprisings of the 13th century. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII of England the last abbot, Lleision ap Thomas, managed to buy time through payment of a large fine in 1536, but the abbey was dissolved in 1539. The abbey was turned into a large estate, initially granted to Richard Williams, although by 1600 it was owned by Sir John Herbert, and had a substantial Tudor mansion occupying a part of the cloisters. The mansion itself was only inhabited for 100 years or so, before being abandoned as the site was being used for copper smelting. In the late 18th century, an iron foundry was opened near the abbey ruins by a company owned by the Price, Fox and Tregelles families. The ruined walls of both the Abbey and later mansion were gradually engulfed in quantities of industrial waste. The ownership of the site passed to the Rice family, Barons Dynevor, and it was in the 1920s, under Walter FitzUryan Rice, 7th Baron Dynevor that a local group of amateur archaeologists began the process of uncovering the medieval ruins. The ruins are extensive but there is little in the way of information.
and a dark orange centre. The footpath passes through the modern buildings of the University of Surrey and then into woodland. The route passes through more modern housing and up Stag Hill and into a small park which contains an astronomical observatory.
high in pale Somerset limestone pillars and white Italian marble floors. There are numerous pieces of sculpture by modern sculptors, including notably Eric Gill, Vernon Hill, Mary Spencer Watson, Dennis Huntley, Alan Collins and local artists John Cobbett and Douglas Stephen. Charles Gurrey created a series of sculptures above the West Front, to mark the Millennium, whilst Canadian sculptor Nicholas Thompson completed a sculpture of a WWI mother and child in 2016. The cathedral organ was installed in 1961 by the Liverpool firm of Rushworth and Dreaper. It is a reconstruction of an organ dating from around 1866, previously in the Rosse Street Baptist Church in Shipley, West Yorkshire. The Treasury has a large number of silver pieces, much from churches in the diocese. It seems sad these are kept here rather than where they were meant to be. A gold angel stands at the top of the tower, designed by William Pickford and created by four silversmiths, before being positioned in Spring 1963. The wooden cross which stands outside the eastern end of the cathedral was erected in 1933 before construction work began in order to mark the site of the new cathedral. Known as the Ganges Cross, it is made from timbers of Burma teak from the battleship HMS Ganges. The cathedral has a ring of twelve bells; ten of which were cast by Mears and Stainbank in 1965. Two Whitechapel trebles were added in 1975.
13th century Henry III ordered improvements to be made. The great hall was decorated with paintings and coloured glass windows, his apartments were painted green with gold and silver stars, he added a garden with marble columns and the bailey was extended with a set of rooms being built for his son Edward. The castle was never involved in any battles or sieges and from the 14th century started to fall into disrepair, by 1379 everything but the King’s chamber and the keep had fallen down. The keep continued to be used as a jail until 1544 when it relocated and the gardener John Daborne was left in charge. In 1611 King James I granted the castle to Francis Carter who removed the roof and rented out parts of the grounds for farming. In 1885 the then owner, Lord Grantley sold the site to the Guildford Corporation who restored the walls and tower and opened it to the public. There are some fine gardens with purple being the theme.
the Friary which was a house of the Dominican order, founded in 1274 by Eleanor Provence widow of Henry III. It was always a small Priory never more than 24 friars who lived by begging, although they sometimes receive gifts from the King. Henry VIII closed the priory in 1538 and the building to a destroyed. A mansion was built on the site then, in Victorian times the Priory brewery which was demolished in the 1970s and the shopping centre built.
Speckled Wood flies by. Alongside are paddocks where Jackdaws and a Magpie stalk the short grass.
while the soldiers camped on land behind the Church. Following the visit a room in the Saracen’s Head became the “Queen’s Room” and various roads commemorate the visit e.g. Camp Lane. Beside it is The Bull’s Head, built in 1901 to replace an earlier pub here which was pulled down by brewers M&B.
built in 1847, and a large bridge over the Worcestershire and Birmingham Canal. A new apartment block is being built beside the canal.