Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – All Hallows’ Day. This Christian celebration, also called All Saints’ Day was originally set on 13th May but by the 7th century, the church in the British Isles and Bavaria were celebrating it on 1st November. It was adopted by the Frankish Empire in 835 and by the Roman Catholic church around the late 11th century. It has been proposed by James Frazer that the 1st November was chosen because Samhain was the date of the Celtic festival of the dead. However, Ronald Hutton argues instead that the earliest documentary sources indicate Samhain was a harvest festival with no particular ritual connections to the dead and he proposes that 1st November was a Germanic rather than a Celtic idea. The night before was All Saints’ Eve or Halloween. The modern Halloween, Trick or Treat and pumpkins is merely an American invention.
The sun shines brightly but everywhere is saturated. It is steadily getting windier as Storm Ciarán approaches. A pale moon is still in western sky. Ticks, squeaks and peeps come from the hedges and the gabbling of Canada Geese from the lake. The wet hips and haws gleam. The water level in the lake is still very high although bits of the islands can now be seen. There are just the Canada Geese and a couple of Coot on the water.
Magpie chatters in the trees by the meadow. A pair of Mistle Thrush are at the top of the tall Lombardy Poplar. Carrion Crows and Jackdaws fly out of Westfield Wood. A pair of Mallard wing over at a considerable speed. One of the donkeys in the paddock starts braying, a truly hideous row.
A large flock of Canada Geese and Mallard are near the mainly submerged island in front of the south hide. The Great White Egret, several Mallard and two Great Crested Grebes are at the western end. Coot and three Greylags are to the south west. Strangely there appears to be no Cormorants present. A pair of Grey Herons fly in and disturb the egret, then ignore it. A Green Woodpecker is on the dead tree towards The Vern. The western sky is darkening.
Back to the meadow. A Common Buzzard sails out of the woods. Sheep are in the dessert apple orchard. Rain is in the air. As I drive along the Gloucester road, a Fallow buck, with a fine set of antlers, dashes across the road and up into woodland.
Thursday – Home – Storm Ciarán is travelling slowly up the English Channel with damaging winds of up to 100mph. Here the wind is rising and it is raining. The atomospheric pressure is lowest I can recall at 952mB. By mid-afternoon, the pressure is beginning to rise as the eye of the storm moves east, but the wind also rises.
Friday – Worcester – The sky is blue, a scattering of white clouds and bright sunshine – a gap between the fronts moving across the Atlantic. Into Le Vesinet Gardens. The River Severn is raining fairly high and brown. A GWR Intercity train screeches over the viaduct. Once the river could be forwarded here because it is at the tidal range limit of the river. By the 11th century there was a wooden bridge crossing the river and Worcester was a major trade and passage route. In 1313 stone bridge was built near this spot upstream from the current bridge. The present bridge was erected in 1781. Despite much opposition an Act was passed in 1842 giving commissioners the power to improve the Severn and levy tolls. Locks and weirs were constructed and the river was dredged between Gloucester to make it fully navigable; the work was completed in 1872. Steps leading down to the moorings, once the North Quay, from which pleasure craft depart are submerged. Debris has collected against and under the bridge. A Cormorant flies upstream towards the railway viaduct but changes its mind, turns and heads back down the river.
Downstream from the road bridge is the large herd of Mute Swans, rapidly crossing the river as somebody has some food. A car park at the foot of Copenhagen Street stands on the site of Worcester’s first porcelain manufactory, based within a grand mansion, Warmstry House. The Mute Swans decide no more food is forthcoming and start to drift back across the river to the cricket ground side. Four Black-headed Gulls drift down stream on the falling tide. Another Cormorant flies upstream, descending to the water just before the bridge. The promenade passes the foot of the cathedral precinct. A sign states that bats roost along the passages here and lighting has been removed so as not to disturb them.
Up through the water gate from where the Cathedral Ferry crossed the river and onto College Green. Out through the Edgar Tower and into the College Precincts via St Mary’s Steps. Into the cathedral. There is a photography exhibition in the Chapter House. Into the crypt where the boots of a 15th century pilgrim are in a case. They came from his grave found under the tower in 1987. It seems likely that the pilgrim is Robert Sutton who died in 1454. Sutton was a Dyer and Bailiff in Worcester who, in his will, requested to be buried within the cathedral. Back up to the main body of the cathedral. A pillar is gently coloured by sunlight passing through a stained glass window. One memorial catches my eye:
Richard Inglethorpe (1560-1618) was a wealthy Worcester philanthropist who left his fortune, after his widow’s death, to the poor. Nearly four hundred years later, the Trust set up by his executors still exists.
King John’s tomb is a reminder that hereditary as a system of governance is a bad idea. Despite recent revisionism about John, it still seems clear that his reign was one of failure – he lost most of the lands in France, lost the confidence of England’s nobles and lost the Crown Jewels.There is something strange looking upon the face of one of the most famous kings, thanks to Robin Hood, with his large nostrils!
It is clouding over as I head into the shopping streets.
Saturday – Home – Rain falls for much of the day. A couple of the drains on the chicken run sheeting are blocked and the water has badly bowed the wooden struts. I clear the blockage and water starts to drain away. By mid afternoon the atmospheric pressure has dropped to a new low, for me, of 952mB.
Sunday – Leominster – As the atmospheric pressure slowly begins to rise the skies blue with barely a cloud in sight. There is a coolness about the air but it is not cold. Over the railway and up to Butts Bridge. Blue Tits squeak and a Wren rasps but there is no Robin singing. The water level in the River Lugg has risen to its highest level since last winter. The water is coloured pale brown and is flowing rapidly. At last a Robin decides to sing. Jackdaws search the yard at the foot of the railway bridge for food, although I cannot imagine there is much there to fill their stomachs.
A Holly tree by the entrance to the White Lion is lit up by the heavy crop of crimson berries. The partly chewed body of a Brown Rat is in the car park. A tree, possibly a Turkey Oak, behind the houses in Pinsley Mill has turned copper and is shining in the sunshine. Field Maples are turning yellow. The Millennium Park is quiet, just the odd peep and cheep. A Chaffinch pinks and a Magpie churrs in the Peace Garden. The River Kenwater is running fast and high. The Minster bells toll. There are rather exotic trees here, a Quercus species, what seems to be a White Mulberry although there is no sign of fruit and several Birches, possibly Himalayan Birch.
Into the churchyard. The bell ringers start their Sunday morning practice. A half moon is still high in the sky.
Wednesday – Leominster – The fields to the south of the town are underwater where the River Arrow has burst its banks. More rain falls.
Bodenham – The songs of Robins cut through a gentle hiss of rain. The water level in the lake has risen and at the boating lake view point it is almost spilling over. All the islands have disappeared, just a few sticks and stalks sticking above the water. Just a single Mallard is on the water. Tractor tyre tracks have chewed their way across the meadow mud as the hay bales were collected. Redwings and Blackbirds flee from the meadow into the safety of the hedge as I approach.
The rain intensifies as I approach the hide. Again there is little on the water, a single Mallard swims past the island. There does not appear to be a single Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Mute Swan or Canada Goose present. The rain stops. A single Cormorant flies down to the lake, glides past a few feet above the water then rises and continues southwards. A Grey Heron sits hunched on a fence at the western end. A Great Crested Grebe appears by the island. Gulls circle, steadily drifting eastwards. A single Canada Goose flies in. A Raven is cronking high overhead. A Robin is ticking and flicking its wings on a briar.
Back across the meadow. Redwings fly off eastwards. Into the orchards. Large quantities of cider apples lay on the ground. Few dessert apples remain now and any that had fallen will have been eaten by the flock of sheep in that orchard.
Saturday – Stroud – Ken and Brigid are visiting and we drive down to Stroud for the Farmers’ Market. Through Stratford Park where the trees are turning wonderful shades of copper and gold. The town is fairly busy and the market crowded but not uncomfortably so. We buy bits and pieces of groceries. Down the hill to the canal. Formally called the Stroudwater Navigation, it enabled Trows to bring goods from Bristol, the Forest of Dean and the Midlands to the terminus of the canal at Wallbridge Basin, Stroud. It was opened in 1779 and with the later building of the Gloucester Sharpness canal the two were joined together at Saul Junction. The Stroudwater was initially commercially successful but finally abandoned in 1954. It is still owned, and leased out, by the original builders, The Company of Proprietors.
Slad – We stop at the village made famous by “Cider With Rosie” by Laurie Lee who lived here for most of his life. The village lies on the slope of Slad Valley, carved out by Slad Brook which rises a couple of miles north at Bulls Cross and joins the River Frome in Stroud. The churchyard rises steeply from the road and the church, Holy Trinity, stands on a platform on the hillside. It was built in 1833/4 by Charles Baker of Painswick in the perpendicular style and reconstructed by Benjamin Bucknell in 1869. It was consecrated on 14th October 1834, within the Parish of Painswick. Rt Rev Lord Bishop of Gloucester carried out the consecration. It not only served the village of Slad but the developing area of Uplands further down the valley towards Stroud. Beside the path is the gravestone of Laurie Lee. Inside the church, a window commemorates Laurie Lee. A pulpit of Painswick stone and Devonshire marble was installed in 1881.
Next to the church is the mid 19th century schoolhouse and school, both now residences. Opposite is the Woolpack pub, very small and quite crowded and, inevitably, with lots of Laurie Lee reminiscences.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – A sunny morning with plenty of blue sky. Extensive flooding remains south of Leominster with Canada Geese, Mute Swans and gulls on the water. Along the track haws have lost their scarlet lustre and are turning black. They have been thinned by birds of the thrush family. The water level in the lake remains high. There appears to be just two Canada Geese on the boating area. The meadow is sodden. Westfield Wood is a glorious, glowing copper and gold. A Great Spotted Woodpecker chips in the lakeside trees.
The first scan of the water from the hide reveals a couple more Canada Geese and a Coot. It is getting depressing coming here; where are the flocks of Wigeon, the Goldeneye, the Teal, the Goosander? Even the Mallard, Tufted Duck and Cormorants seem to have deserted the lake. A Great Crested Grebe pops up. A few Mistle Thrush fly over. Three Little Egrets appear. A Little Grebe emerges from the reed bed. Four Mallard fly around the water. A skein of Canada Geese fly in, adding to the cacophony of yelping.
Back to the meadow. Mewing Common Buzzards glide high above the woods. Fieldfares, uttering their harsh calls, are in the cider orchard. A Common Buzzard circles followed by a posse of Jackdaws. A warden and helpers are working on the pond in the orchard. He tells me there are large numbers of wildfowl on the flooded fields to the south and they will eventually come back to the lake. One can only hope.
Sunday – Leominster – Last night I looked out to see if I could see any Leonids, a meteor shower is associated with the Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Cloud was sweeping over the sky leaving a few clear spots through which I could see Orion and Jupiter but no meteors.
A brisk wind sweeps grey clouds across the sky. Everywhere is wet. Over the railway bridge and onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has not changed. A Kingfisher alights on one of the Willows which are out in the river then heads off downstream. A Robin sings intermittently and Blackbird issues a brief alarm. Wood Pigeons fly out of the trees.
Through Pinsley Mill. By the railway, dead stalks of Rosebay Willowherb, some with bedraggled white remains of their seeds, stand above the Stinging Nettles. The ground either side of the gate into the Millennium Orchard is yellow with Field Maple leaves. The Minster bells toll. A heavy crop of Lady’s Finger cider apples are still on the tree being picked at by Blackbirds. There are also some apples on the Dabinett.
A Robin ticks by the Peace Garden. The White Mulberry still has a fine canopy of leaves. The River Kenwater is still flowing swiftly. Into the churchyard. A Song Thrush sings rather tunelessly. Bell practice starts. A large flock of Feral Pigeons fly over the town centre.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – The fields south of Leominster are still flooded although the area of water is reduced but still enough to attract a large flock of gulls. The morning is cool but not cold and grey and overcast.
A Magpie chatters in the car park and Wood Pigeons fly to and fro overhead. Herb Robert is still in flower along the track side, bright pink among the dull greens and browns. A few Mallard and Coot are beside the slowly emerging islands although the water level does not seem to have dropped a great deal. Three Goosander are on the far side of the boating lake, two females and a drake. Three Little Egrets fly about. In the trees beside them boat compound a mixed flock of Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Blue and Long-tailed Tits seem to be causing a Mistle Thrush concern as it rasps continuously. The Mistle Thrush ceases its complaints and commences to feed on Mistletoe berries. A bird appears, about the size of a small Fieldfare and seems to have a black throat. This describes a Black-throated Thrush, a very rare far eastern vagrant. However, my view is partially obscured and brief as it flies off towards the orchards. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flies up and down the lakeside trees, chipping frequently. A Green Woodpecker calls nearby. Another flock of Blue and Long-tailed Tits are in the Alder plantation.
Into the hide. Canada Geese gabble on the island. A family group of Mute Swans, six cygnets still in mottled greys, are at the western end of the water. A Moorhen swims over the submerged scrape. A single Cormorant is in the trees. A pair of Tufted Duck are out on the water. Several more Cormorants fly in. Jays squawk on the island. More Mallard are slowly appearing.
Back to the meadow. A line of molehills runs across the grass from one side to the other in a large meander. Sheep are in the cider orchard and the large quantity of fruit that could have produced gallons and gallons of cider are disappearing down their throats! Fieldfares are in the trees along with Chaffinches. I look in vain for my strange thrush from earlier but find nothing unusual. The trees around the car park contain Redwings, Mistle Thrushes, a Nuthatch, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins and Blackbirds.
Leominster – In the evening there is an event in the town centre. A parade of lanterns and puppets proceeds from Grange Court, which is lit up in red, to Corn Square. The square is alight with various lit-up balloons, sticks and other bright objects for children being sold by numerous vendors. The buildings north side of square have pictures of old Leominster and street name signs projected onto their walls. A number of the shops are open. Down Drapers Lane where some shops are lit by Christmas lights. At the Buttercross another building has old advertisements of Leominster shops projected onto the walls.
Friday – Stourbridge – A blustery, showery morning. Occasionally the sun blazes before disappearing behind the clouds again. Restoration work continues on the Red House Glass Cone. Across the very busy Wolverhampton road and down to the Stourbridge Canal tow-path. Past former works and newer buildings in a similar design, all apartments and offices. The works were all part of the Stuart Crystal Glassworks. There was also a flour mill and a bone mill here. Down beside one of the sixteen locks in this section of the canal. Moorhens after in the water, Canada Geese on the far side. A large block of stone with steps carved into it towards the top stands by the tow-path at the next lock.
Under Henderson Bridge. The canal widens. More Moorhens, Canada Geese and a fair number of Mallard are on the water here. Black-headed Gulls fly overhead. The next lock has a large overflow channel next to it. All the locks are very deep. Modern housing is beside the canal. A large park lies to the west. The final lock on the flight is by Wordsley Junction. Over the bridge and onto the spur that leads into Stourbridge. This canal branch, owned by the Great Western Railway, was derelict by the turn of the 19th century.
A pair of Mute Swans and two cygnets preen under the modern Longboat Lane Bridge then set off along the canal. Mallard shelter under some Elder prunings that have tumbled into the water. A Stock Dove searches the tow-path. Junction Cottages are a short row of buildings from around 1830. They are all that remains of the canalside community here. Audnam Brook passes under the canal to join the River Stour a short distance away. Under Chubb’s Bridge, an original route. Beyond are factories and workshops, once Dial Glass Works. There are still doors that would have opened onto the canal and old mooring rings in the wall. The remains of the cone were found in 1992. On this side of the canal was Audnam Foundry and Dial Ironworks, both already disused in the early 1900s.
Late Victorian houses back onto the canal with modern infilling in an area called The Platts. Many have patios, mainly overgrown and decaying. A Kingfisher flashes past. A stretch of Bulrushes have chocolate candles above the browning leaves. Under Coalbournbrook Bridge, a modern concrete roadway on the old original bridge. A canal boat is tied up opposite an old wooden wharf of the Glass House. Robins sing and Blue Tits flit through the trees. Past recent housing developments, one still under construction. More boats are tied up here. A large overflow channel runs down to the River Stour.
The canal turns sharply eastwards passing an iron bridge cast at Coalbrookdale and 1873 by John Bradley and Co. The spur led to a large ironworks, now all gone, replaced by a park and modern buildings. A short section of wall reinforced by cast iron plates is presumably all that is left of the ironworks. Beyond the park is the River Stour and a private hospital. Opposite is an area called Holloway End, now being developed for housing. Neville Garrett Bridge ironwork was cast by John Bradley, here of Stourbridge in 1838. Past the moorings. On one side was the Titan Works, on the other side is now waste land and a ruined building. As the Canal Street, now cobbled, approaches the main road, there is the Bonded Warehouse of 1779 built by former Stourbridge Canal Company and the Stourbridge Navigation Trust offices.
Onto the Wolverhampton road. Opposite a modern industrial estate stands on the old railway goods yard and engine shed, the gas works and a large leather and parchment works. I am surprised to find the Titan works are still here. The firm of Jones & Attwood Ltd took over a sawmill here and developed it for their metal products business. Walter Jones also invented a pipe cutter in the mid Victorian period which was still being sold to gasfitters and water pipe fitters in 1973. By 1973 the firm was owned by the Higgins Family, but by the mid 1990s they had moved on. Most the housing around here is modern, although a couple of cottages by the Amblecote Holy Trinity church have some age.
The church is being set up for its Christmas bazaar. Amblecote appears in the Domesday Book as Am-bel-coit or Elme-le-cote probably meaning a cottage or possibly a manor belonging to Æmela. It formed part of the Manor of Enville (Enfield), property of the Earls of Stamford and Warrington. It was considered that Amblecote, which had grown in size, should have a church of its own, and in 1838 a “Commissioners Church,” was designed in an Early English style by Samuel Hemming of Birmingham and consecrated in 1844. In 1849 the organ, built by J. Nicholson, was opened and an Organist appointed. In 1856 the East Window was installed in memory of James Foster, the cost met by his former employees at John Bradley & Co Iron Works and by friends. Mr Foster was the largest contributor to the subscription list for the building of the Church. Glass in the nave is all 20th century, dating from 1948 to 1990.
A large gateway is the entrance to Stourbridge War Memorial Athletic ground, now home to both the town cricket and football clubs. Iron gates and an abandoned lodge house stand by the drive of Corbett Hospital. The old hospital had its origins in a seven-bedroom mansion known as The Hill, the home of George Mills, a glass manufacturer who was a partner in the Albert Glass House situated in Wordsley. He committed suicide on 13th November 1885 after several years of mental illness. John Corbett, purchased the rather rundown house in December 1891. He repaired and refurbished the house, changing its use into a hospital. The original hospital is now a housing estate but the Corbett Outpatients Centre is behind it.
The traffic queues heading for the town centre seem interminable and are very slow. Across the road is a row of early 20th century three storey houses. A small brick building rises from a wall on the corner of Coalbourn Lane, possibly a stable at one time. The house beyond is modern. The road comes to a large junction. A rail track once ran down the Wollaston road. On the junction is an installation showing a glass-blower and a cone declares “The Crystal Mile, Centre of the Glass Industry”. On up the road past a number of older houses, some quite large. The Amblecote and Wordsley Methodist church is modern built when much of the original church was demolished in a 1993 road widening scheme. Route
Saturday – Leominster – A frosty start to the day. The corrugated iron fence along the alleyway sparkles. Overhead the sky is clear. During the night the moonlight was intense. Venus is brilliant overhead. In the western sky, Betelguese shines red. A satellite moves north to south; ERS-2, launched 1995 from French Guiana, is equipped with instruments that measure the ozone content of the atmosphere and monitor changes in vegetation cover.
During the morning I join up with a small group of volunteers to make a start on pruning the apples trees in the Millennium Orchard. I work on the Lady’s Finger which is badly overgrown. Overlapping and wayward branches are removed and those hanging down close to the ground are trimmed. The branches shooting upwards at the top of the tree need reducing, but that is for another day. Whilst we are working a steam train, London Midland & Scottish Railway Black 5 44871 speeds past. This engine was one of the four locomotives chosen to be used on the last British Rail-run steam-hauled passenger train, the Fifteen Guinea Special on August 11th 1968, which ran from Liverpool to Carlisle and return.
In the early evening it is getting cold. The moon – fat, yellow and gibbous – and Jupiter are rising in the east. Saturn should be to the south but it is still too light. A little later I check again but, of course, the entire sky has clouded over.
Sunday – Leominster – It is a dull and uninviting morning, overcast and cold. An occasional chack rings out from the rooftop Jackdaws. Over the river and onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has fallen again. The water is grey-green and reasonably clear. A Dipper flies across the river to a rock uttering sharp chirps. Carrion Crows bark in the distance. A Robin starts to sing. Fine drizzle falls.
Back over the railway down the ginnel to the White Lion. White Snowberries adorn the hedge along with the studded heads of Ivy. Through the Millennium Park. And into the Peace Garden. Leaves are falling en masse from the White Mulberry now. The water level on the River Kenwater has dropped and it is flowing less rapidly. The churchyard is quiet. Although the drizzle has stopped, it seems to be getting darker.
Monday – Cheltenham – In Cheltenham for the annual car service. Along the Tewkesbury road and over the railway. It is damp as usual and the clouds lay flat across the sky many lit up by the sun which is trying to penetrate from the East. Cheltenham Rest Garden is a small community garden with places to sit and chat, a greenhouse and racks of flowerpots. St Peter’s church, is now youth charity centre. A few end of terrace houses have beautifully painted murals right up to the roof.
The former Cheltenham Gas Company offices, built in 1880 in the Gothic style, stand on the junction with Gloucester Road. The bright red brick building has a tower with a lead covered cupola. A long wall runs along the Tewkesbury road, behind it the former gas works are now a supermarket. A cast iron bridge once carried the closed GWR Cheltenham Branch railway, now a cycle and foot path. Into the Winston Churchill Memorial Garden which started life as a cemetery when the parish vestry acquired a small orchard in the south side of Lower High Street the use of a burial ground between 1830 in January 1931 after St Mary’s churchyard became full. A chapel is in a classical style designed by Roland Paul. The burial ground went out of use in 1864 and following a period of neglect, the cemetery was purchased by the council in 1965 and developed into the garden. This part of High Street is very run down and few shops seem to be occupied. A house had been converted into a Sunni mosque, Masjidul Falah. The next section of High Street as an interesting mixture: an Asian grocery store, fish and chip shop, a Polish store and an Irish pub. Modern housing is down the side streets, probably slum clearance developments. What was clearly a former pub now houses the Cheltenham Labour club. On the corner of Devonshire Street is another fine mural of a Tawny Owl and an eagle skeleton. Down the street is a fine terrace of Victorian houses built in alternating red and yellow bricks leads to Devonshire Street school, built in 1847, with a large attached school house. A plaque on the wall commemorates the old boys who fell in the Great War. All is now divided into residences.
On down the High Street. A worn pediment and plaque records “Wilkes Ironmonger”. Nearby, a plaque depicts a swan, or possibly a pelican, plucking its breast. Opposite is what once was a fine Georgian house with semi-circular bow windows. A pub looks like it was more likely to have been a department store once. Normandy House is a large mansion with a four storey extension at one end. It was first shown as a villa on a map of 1834. It was sold in 1839 and converted into Cheltenham’s first General Hospital and Dispensary. In 1849 the hospital was closed when a new one opened on Sandford Road. The building was also used as a hospital for officers invalided from the Crimean War between 1853-6.
In Ambrose Street is a bowling green with the Cheltenham Chapel of 1809 behind it. Another building on the High Street has a mural of a Gannet. A large modern block contains a hotel and then a large empty space, a former Wilko store. Into St George’s Place, a street of three storey Georgian houses. A blue plaque states there was a house here that Dr Jenner practised medicine. At the end of the street is the former electricity sub-station of 1895. On the other corner is the massive edifice of the public library, built in 1887 by WH Knight and Chatters in the Mixed Renaissance styles. Opposite is St Matthew’s church built 1876-79, designed by Ewan Christian, with the tower completed and spire added in 1883-84. In 1952 the spire was removed, with the tower being reduced in height in 1972.
Into Crescent Place. An odd, vaguely ecclesiastical building (it transpires it is the rear of the Salem Baptist Chapel) is a restaurant. John Dower House, a very large block of apartments, was formerly the Police Station and Magistrates Court, built in 1812. Other buildings are four storey town houses. Royal Crescent is a classic spa town Georgian crescent. Clarence Parade is dominated by a large chapel, the Salem Baptist Chapel of 1843-4, now a nightclub. Into Promenade where the Municipal Offices are in a former terrace of 19 houses, begun 1823. Building continued to around 1840. It was possibly by designed by George Underwood for the Imperial Estate and built by the Harward Brothers. Two War Memorials stand on the green outside. At the other end is a memorial to Dr Edwards Adrian Wilson, who died with Scott on 1912 in the Antarctic. Opposite are upper end shops. At the end of the promenade is a sculpture of Neptune designed in 1892 by Joseph Hall the town’s borough engineer and executed in Portland stone by R L Bolton and Sons.
Into St George’s Road where there is another long Georgian terrace. The end house had a large red ribbon and bow like a vast Christmas present. Along Montpellier Street, the first part taken up entirely by Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Past St Andrew’s church Built in 1885-6, for the Congregation from “Cheltenham Chapel” (Presbyterian) by Thomas Arnold. The terrace here is early Victorian and rather less grand, hosting shops below apartments. Down a short alley to Imperial Square. In the alley and along Montpellier Terrace are a terrace of shops with flats over, built some time between 1836 and 1845, with caryatids(female figures seemingly supporting the building) of 1840. The terrace was designed by WH Knight. At least 3 caryatids are by Rossi of London, serving as models
for others by WG Brown of Tivoli Street, Cheltenham. Across the road, a War Memorial is dedicated to those who fell in the Crimea. It originally was surmounted by a gun from Sebastopol but this was sent for metal for armaments during the Second World War. A skating rink has been set to in the square. The Town Hall backs onto the square. Its entrance is on the A46. It was erected in 1901, designed by FW Waller. Opposite is another Georgian terrace. In front of it it is a small cherry tree coming into flower. Beside the Town Hall is a large modern block, mainly glass, not an awful design but somewhat incongruous.
I endure a shopping mall. I have forgotten my hat and the temperature is dropping. At least I find a new one here. The mall terminates in High Street and I head back. Most of the buildings are late Victorian, large former stores and in some cases still occupied by large retailers. The Post Office is in a shop in a concrete brutal building which may look better if it was not so dirty. Opposite is a building with plaques of roses high on the facade and large first floor windows in a vaguely Art Nouveau style. By it is a far more traditional Victorian building with four pillars holding the pediment. Opposite is an equally traditional bank.
I am back at the former Wilko shop. Opposite is St George’s Hall. Behind the modern building is the Brewery Quarter and Cupola Tower. In 1760, Thomas Gardner, local baker and maltster, founded a brewery on this site. In 1888 was registered as the Cheltenham Original Brewery Company Ltd. A raging fire destroyed some sections of the building in 1897. After a fire in 1897 it was rebuilt by brewery architects, William Bradford and Sons. By the 20th century, the site contained extensive malting, brewing, cooperage and bottling facilities. By 1963 it was owned by Whitbread but ceased brewing in 1998. The Quarter is full of chain restaurants. In side streets there is a chapel converted into a dwelling with a worn tablet with the date 1812, the Ebenezer Chapel of the Wesleyan Methodists and another, Gas Green Baptist church built around 1836 for the Primitive Methodists. It is raining by the time I get back to the car dealers. Route
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – The temperature has risen barely above freezing. There is a light frost. The sky is overcast. Last night the moon shone brilliantly, painting the ground white. Dunnocks squeak by the car park. Robins sing and Blackbirds chuck. The inevitable cackling of Canada Geese comes from beyond the trees. A Kestrel is at the top of one of the Lombardy Poplars, surveying the orchard below.
The water ripples gently across the boating lake. Over sixty Canada Geese are by the submerged islands. A few pairs of Mallard are scattered around. A small flock of Redpoll and Siskin are at the top of trees by the compound. Westfield Wood has the last remnants of copper being replaced by grey, skeletal winter trees. Presumably the same Kestrel is now on wires above the sheep paddocks.
Into the hide. A flock of over eighty Canada Geese are on the south side. Beyond in the meadow between the lake and the river are a flock of around thirty Greylags. Half a dozen Wigeon are out on the water with Mallard and a few Teal. The reed bed is beginning to flop. A Little Egret flies in, landing close to a Grey Heron. Cormorants, Great Crested Grebes and Mute Swans appear to be absent. There are very few Coot. A Muntjac, also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, suddenly appears in front of the hide but soon detects my presence and dashes off. They are native to South Asia and Southeast Asia and were brought from China to Woburn Park in Bedfordshire in the early 20th century. They are now widespread and increasing in number and range. A Blackbird flies into the large rose briar to feed on the still quite numerous hips. A pair of Mandarin Duck appear at the western end.
Back to the meadow. A Fieldfare is delicately plucking berries off a Hawthorn. More Fieldfares, along with Great and Blue Tits are in the cider apple trees. A few Redwings fly across the dessert apple orchard
the cricket ground side. Four Black-headed Gulls drift down stream on the falling tide. Another Cormorant flies upstream, descending to the water just before the bridge. The promenade passes the foot of the cathedral precinct. A sign states that bats roost along the passages here and lighting has been removed so as not to disturb them.
widow’s death, to the poor. Nearly four hundred years later, the Trust set up by his executors still exists.
goods from Bristol, the Forest of Dean and the Midlands to the terminus of the canal at Wallbridge Basin, Stroud. It was opened in 1779 and with the later building of the Gloucester Sharpness canal the two were joined together at Saul Junction. The Stroudwater was initially commercially successful but finally abandoned in 1954. It is still owned, and leased out, by the original builders, The Company of Proprietors.
stands by the tow-path at the next lock.
overflow channel runs down to the River Stour.
of High Street as an interesting mixture: an Asian grocery store, fish and chip shop, a Polish store and an Irish pub. Modern housing is down the side streets, probably slum clearance developments. What was clearly a former pub now houses the Cheltenham Labour club. On the corner of Devonshire Street is another fine mural of a Tawny Owl and an eagle skeleton. Down the street is a fine terrace of Victorian houses built in alternating red and yellow bricks leads to Devonshire Street school, built in 1847, with a large 
attached school house. A plaque on the wall commemorates the old boys who fell in the Great War. All is now divided into residences.
outside. At the other end is a memorial to Dr Edwards Adrian Wilson, who died with Scott on 1912 in the Antarctic. Opposite are upper end shops. At the end of the promenade is a sculpture of Neptune designed in 1892 by Joseph Hall the town’s borough engineer and executed in Portland stone by R L Bolton and Sons.
now on wires above the sheep paddocks.