Monday – Leominster – The heat wave has well and truly gone now. The sky is covered in grey clouds and cool southwesterly wind blows. Along Hereford Road and on to the footpath that leads to Cockcroft Lane. Half of the large field running the hillside beside the path is covered in fine mesh fabric. A cereal crop is on the other field between the path and the primary school. Sun Spurge and Fumitory flower beside the path. A Carrion Crow stands at the top of a Silver Birch behind the school.
Onto Cockcroft Lane. Skylarks sing overhead. A Red Kite drifts across the ridge. Broad beans grow in the big field to the west of the lane hedgerow. Yellow rogue oil-seed rape flowers are dotted throughout the beans. The view towards the Black Mountains is fairly clear and very green. However, that towards the Radnor Forest looks like rain is falling. A few pure white Field Roses flower in the hedgerow. Little pink Field Bindweed peep out of the grasses.
Onto the path that is still Cockcroft Lane. Here are large displays of delicately pink Dog Roses. Below is the richer pink of Herb Robert. A Chiffchaff calls, a Goldfinch and a Dunnock sings. A couple of clumps of richly purple Bloody Cranesbills flower on the large mound in the field. Further on, a Blackcap alternates between a burst of song and its tapping call.
Home – First thing this morning I used a rather excessive amount of sealant on the hoses that lead from the chicken house guttering down-pipes to the butts. This proved timely, as by mid-afternoon it is raining steadily and the butts are filling up nicely.
Tuesday – Home – The rain did indeed fill the butts and soak the parched soil. The tray of beetroot seedling is planted out. Another couple of courgettes are planted into spare spaces. Two aubergine seedlings are potted on. The final tomato plant is put into the greenhouse bed. The roses on the western wall are sending out long shoots which are pruned back. Cleavers and bindweed are in the bed below and removed although they will be back. Broad beans need too fill out a little more and they will be ready for cropping. The bolting stems on the chard are cut off and fed to the hens. The plants should continue to produce leaves for a while yet. Later a couple of rows of carrots, Paris Market, are sown.
Cheeps and chirps of young birds are everywhere. A Goldfinch is singing high in the Ash tree. Showers of rain move through followed by a burst of sunshine before the next clump of cloud arrives.
Wednesday – Leominster – A cloudy day, threatening rain and rather muggy. Down to the Millennium Park. A couple of Blackcaps are singing around the orchard area. Wood Pigeons call. Tiny green four-lobed fruits have appeared on the Spindle tree. Although it is not easy to tell, it looks like the apple crop may be limited this year.
Meadow Cranesbills and Ox-eye Daisies are flowering in the park. A Dunnock sings and a Blackbird chinks its alarm call. Much of the park is now rough meadow. Hogweed and Stinging Nettles make it impossible to see the old pond any longer. The Peace Garden is succumbing to Stinging Nettles. It is a great shame that this area is subject to such neglect. I am unclear how this situation has arisen. It seems that the grounds maintenance was handed over by either Leominster Town Council or Herefordshire Council to Grange Court. However, Grange Court has no source of finance to undertake any work, so either they tried to hand it back to the Council or request payment, neither of which has happened. The result is no-one takes responsibility for the Millennium Park and only a few of us, as volunteers, try to keep the orchard area under control.
Thursday – Cardiff – We catch the train to Cardiff. There has been the threat of rain but it seems to have passed by the time we arrive. The station façade never fails to impress, a large stone frontage with “Great Western Railway” emblazoned across it. Into St Mary Street. The Pierhead clock is in a glass box on the street. It had was constructed by Potts of Leeds and installed in the Pierhead building in 1897. It was restored by Smith of Derby, who now own Potts, and unveiled here on Tuesday November 8th 2011. As the clock strikes, three monkeys swing on its mechanism and use a hammer to ring the hour bell. The monkey design was originally conceived by the Third Marquess of Bute as a direct, satirical rebuttal to Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. These brass monkeys were added by the artist Marianne Forrest when the clock was restored. This corner was the site of the South Gate of the city walls.
On the junction and into St Mary Street is the Royal Hotel, designed by C. E. Bernard and built between 1864 and 1866. On 13th June 1910, a fundraising dinner was hosted by the Chamber of Commerce for Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated expedition to Antarctica, which sailed from Cardiff two days later. Across the road is the Royal Arcade, the oldest arcade in Cardiff, being built in 1858. It houses independent and niche shops, tea, whisky, posh frocks etc. At the other end is The Hayes. The Central Public Library stands here, now the Museum of Cardiff. The building was opened in 1882 as the Cardiff Free Library, Museum and Schools for Science and Art, which included an art gallery. The design was by architects James, Seward and Thomas, and the building was erected between 1880 and 1882 for just over £9,000. The museum is very “interactive”, not necessarily to my taste. However, there is a beautiful corridor, the original entrance to the building, lined with ornamental wall tiles, by Maw and Co of Jackfield, Iron Gorge, designed to depict the four seasons and night and morning.
On up The Hayes. St John’s Gardens, originally part of a graveyard, has some fine specimen shrubs and trees but needs a lot of weeding. Beyond is the church of St John the Baptist. The church was built in 1180 as a chapel of ease for the larger St Mary’s Church, itself founded by Benedictine monks from Tewkesbury Abbey. It was sacked during a rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr in 1404 and rebuilt in the second half of the 15th century and given a perpendicular tower with a peal of ten bells. This is dated circa 1490 because of the similar Jasper Tower of Llandaff Cathedral which was built at this time. The organ was built in 1894 by “Father” Henry Willis. The Herbert Chapel has a Jacobean monument of, unusually, to two brothers: Sir John and Sir William Herbert. The reredos by Sir William Goscombe John was carved in 1891-2. The glass windows in the north chapel date from circa 1855, with references to the Bute family. Those in the north aisle are by Morris and Co, with individual saints being designed by Morris, Burne-Jones and Ford Maddox Brown. Outside is the mediaeval preaching cross, with a worn carved top of the crucifixion and saints.
We return down St Mary Street to Caroline Street where we have an excellent lunch in a tiny Asian barbeque restaurant. After a couple of fairly pointless visits to large national stores, we have a couple of pints (at city prices) and catch the train home.
Sunday – Leominster – Another grey morning, cool but milder than yesterday. Across The Grange where a young Blackbird is rapidly flicking its wings at its parent who is feeding it invertebrates pulled out of the grass. Into Pinsley Road. A Goldfinch sits on a wire. A Blackbird sings loudly. Past the old school. A Blue Tit is in the trees seemingly manic as it dashes to and fro through the branches seeking insects. Over Priory Bridge. The water level in the River Kenwater has risen slightly following the rain in the last few days. There must have been rather more water earlier in the week as the large branch that was in the middle of the stream last week has now gone. On to Ridgemore Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg remains low. A Chiffchaff is in a Field Maple overhanging the river. The tree has numerous winged fruits. Over the road, a red-flowered Horse Chestnut has small furry Conkers. A Chaffinch sings loudly. A Cormorant flies south, high over the A49.
The wooden construction by the bridge over Ridgemoor Brook had been dismantled. The market is much smaller this week. Back to Paradise Walk. A Chiffchaff calls much less stridently than its earlier spring call. Umbellifers flower all along the edge of the river.
The festival vintage and classic car rally is being held in Bridge Street car park. As well as classic cars, several mid-century heavy goods lorries growl up.
Home – I sieve some compost from the big bin. It is good quality. Some sand and vermiculite is mixed in a trays of cabbage and kale are sown. Another row of mange tout peas are sown in the bed along with some spring onions. Yesterday afternoon three more canes were fixed in the greenhouse bed and another three tomato plants are planted. As usual I have lost track of what tomato plants are where, no matter we will hopefully find out in a couple of months. Kay is doing an heroic job emptying and sieving the leaf mould bay. I trim the vines against the wall to stop them climbing up into the trees.
Monday – Llandeglau/Llandegley – A small village at the eastern end of the long ridge of Llandeglau Rocks. The village is by-passed by the A44. Blue sky is showing briefly through the grey clouds. The temperature has dropped over recent days. A large farm and several houses are on the far side of the junction with the main road. By the small road through the farm are stone barns, one with steps leading to a hay loft. Opposite is a house on the site of the smithy and Burton House, built in the 17th century and added to in the 19th century when it became the Burton Arms pub named after Edward Burton of Shrewsbury. It was a coaching inn and a stopping place for sulphur springs which are across the fields towards Mithil Brook. Beside it is the church of St Tecla of Iconium.
St Tecla was a companion of St Paul. The dedication is probably due to the fact the site had a reputation as a healer and the sulphur springs. The church dates from the 12th century. The first recorded vicar was Geoffrey Applepen in 1401. It was significantly restored in 1876 by S W Williams, architect of Rhayader, who added the chancel and at the same time a vicarage (a very large house some distance up the A44– and church school were built. The entrance to the porch looks rather like the entrance to a barn. The tower was rebuilt in 1953. It has a single bell dated 1630. A single manual pipe organ stands in the chancel. The font is a typical Norman tub type. A chest with two carved panels is beside the organ. The east window is dated 1897 by Jones and Willis of Birmingham and London. One side window in the chancel is dedicated to Major General Robert Children Whitehead by his widow. As an Ensign in the 97th Regiment Whitehead served through the Crimean War, and was at the storming of the Redan in 1855. He was then mentioned in despatches, and received the Crimean Medal with clasps for Sebastopol, also the Turkish Medal and the fifth class of the Medjidie. He commanded the 58th Regiment through the Zulu campaign after the disaster at Isandhlwana, and was present at the Battle of Ulundi. Colonel Whitehead was again mentioned in despatches, and has been rewarded with the Companionship of the Bath. In 1908, he was appointed the High Sheriff of Radnorshire. The other is dedicated to Emily Augusta Severn, who was known as a philanthropist, by Sarah Ann Whitehead. They are both early 20th century and also by Jones and Willis. Stairs lead to what seems to be a modern or well restored minstrel gallery with a door in it leading to the tower which is splattered with droppings. The last resident vicar left in 1949.
In the churchyard is the grave of J Morgan-Evans, a highly regarded Spa Physician of Llandrindod Wells, who died in 1938 and John Evans, Surgeon, who died in 1891. nearby is an ancient Yew tree, hollow with a number of dead trunks high in the air. However, there various clumps of small leaved branches and the remains of the main trunk. A Song Thrush sings in a clump of trees in a sheep paddock below the graveyard. A group of chest tombs are near the tower but overgrown with vegetation and no sign of any inscriptions.
Across the road is the old church school, now a residence. Beside it is a long, low cottage, Yr Friallen, believed to have been built in the 19th century. I decide to try and find the sulphur spring. A footpath sign points through a gate and along a field of long grasses, buttercups and sedge. Everything is soaked and very soon so am I. It seems the possible site is a lot further through this saturated field so I decide to give up and squelch back to the village.
Back along the A44 and up the winding road towards the Builth Wells junction. Into a lay-by and then a walk back down the road. A gate looks out over a field and beyond is the motte and bailey of Castell Crug Eryr (Crug Erye meaning “The Eagle’s Crag”). The site commands the Edw valley. It is believed the castle belonged to the princes of Maelienydd, as Maelgwn ap Cadwallon, “Prince of Melenia” (i.e. Maelienydd), son of Cadwallon ap Madog, received the Archbishop of Canterbury at Crug Eryr Castle in March 1188 when he was accompanied by Gerald of Wales, (who called the site “Cruker’s Castle”) on a tour intended as a recruiting campaign of the Third Crusade. The herald-bard Llywelyn Crug Eryr lived here in about 1300. It probably went out of use later in that century.
– Leominster – The heat wave has well and truly gone now. The sky is covered in grey clouds and cool southwesterly wind blows. Along Hereford Road and on to the footpath that leads to Cockcroft Lane. Half of the large field running the hillside beside the path is covered in fine mesh fabric. A cereal crop is on the other field between the path and the primary school. Sun Spurge and Fumitory flower beside the path. A Carrion Crow stands at the top of a Silver Birch behind the school.
Onto Cockcroft Lane. Skylarks sing overhead. A Red Kite drifts across the ridge. Broad beans grow in the big field to the west of the lane hedgerow. Yellow rogue oil-seed rape flowers are dotted throughout the beans. The view towards the Black Mountains is fairly clear and very green. However, that towards the Radnor Forest looks like rain is falling. A few pure white Field Roses flower in the hedgerow. Little pink Field Bindweed peep out of the grasses.
morning.
wire. A Blackbird sings loudly. Past the old school. A Blue Tit is in the trees seemingly manic as it dashes to and fro through the branches seeking insects. Over Priory Bridge. The water level in the River Kenwater has risen slightly following 
the rain in the last few days. There must have been rather more water earlier in the week as the large branch that was in the middle of the stream last week has now gone. On to Ridgemore Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg remains low. A Chiffchaff is in a Field Maple overhanging the river. The tree has numerous winged fruits. Over the road, a red-flowered Horse Chestnut has small furry Conkers. A Chaffinch sings loudly. A Cormorant flies south, high over the A49.
it became the Burton Arms pub named after Edward Burton of Shrewsbury. It was a coaching inn and a stopping place for sulphur springs which are across the fields towards Mithil Brook. Beside it is the church of St Tecla of Iconium.
school were built. The entrance to the porch looks rather like the entrance to a barn. The tower was rebuilt in 1953. It has a single bell dated 1630. A single manual pipe organ stands in the chancel. The font is a typical Norman tub type. A chest with two carved panels is beside the organ. The east window is dated 1897 by Jones and Willis of Birmingham and London. One side window in the chancel is dedicated to Major General Robert Children Whitehead by his widow. As an Ensign in the 97th Regiment Whitehead served through the Crimean War, and was at the storming of the Redan in 1855. He was then mentioned in despatches, and received the Crimean Medal with clasps for Sebastopol, also the Turkish Medal and the fifth class of the Medjidie. He commanded the 58th Regiment through the Zulu campaign after the disaster at Isandhlwana, and was present at the Battle of Ulundi. Colonel Whitehead was again mentioned in despatches, and has been rewarded with the Companionship of the Bath. In 1908, he was appointed the High Sheriff of Radnorshire. The other is dedicated to Emily Augusta Severn, who was known as a philanthropist, by Sarah Ann Whitehead. They are both early 20th century and also by Jones and Willis. Stairs lead to what seems to be a modern or well restored minstrel gallery with a door in it leading to the tower which is splattered with droppings. The last resident vicar left in 1949.
no sign of any inscriptions.