October Visit to Herefordshire - Part 1: Hatfield and the Aurora Borealis

 

E was on holiday from work last week and wanted to come with us to Herefordshire for a few days when we had the boiler service done.

We travelled on the Tuesday and did the usual click and collect at Morrisons, Leominster in the afternoon. Wednesday was the day of the boiler service and gas safety check.  At least this time it all went to plan!  Sadly, there is a major part in the boiler which is not working as efficiently as it should which might in the future mean a rather expensive repair or a new boiler but I am trying not to worry about that at the moment!

Thursday we visited Queenswood Arboretum which I will write about in a separate post and we came home Friday afternoon.

Aspen trees at the caravan site  - the leaves have turned a beautiful shade of lemon.

The Herefordshire Oak - perhaps a slight autumn tint in some of the leaves?

The Octopus Tree

The Constable Tree

I've picked a few teasels from the garden to dry and put in a vase but I've left plenty on the plant for the birds.

Autumn means mushrooms and toadstools. I've no idea what this species this. So many fungi look similar so unless they are distinctive looking I really struggle over id.

Acer in the garden

On the Thursday evening  we kept going outside to look for the Northern Lights/Aurora Borealis as I had seen there was a red alert from Aurora UK on Twitter that there might be possible sightings.  A red alert tends to mean there is a good chance you can see them anywhere in the UK.  For ages we couldn't see anything at all although it was a bit cloudy to the North where they tend to appear. But then B went outside after the football and said there is a pink glow in the sky to the North East.

We watched the Aurora Borealis for over an hour as the display got better and better and spread to the North as the clouds disappeared. You could see red columns and in places a tinge of green even with the naked eye. I was totally awestruck it is something B and I have always wanted to see and I have looked for them so many times this year without success.  Hatfield is ideal as apart from a few solar lights on the site there is no light pollution.  I was just upset D wasn't with us to witness it too.

The photos are only record shots as the camera was hand held and I used a long exposure of 13 seconds and iso 6400 hence the graininess.  Of course I should have got the tripod and also put the camera on night setting mode but to be honest I was just too excited.

The Northern Lights are appearing more frequently this year as the sun nears the peak of an 11 year cycle.  The number of sunspots on the sun is increasing and there are more Coronal Mass Ejections  (CME's) from the sun. This results in a stream of ions (electrically charged particles) travelling in a solar wind. Aurora Borealis displays occur when this reaches the earth and the ions collide with gases (such as oxygen and nitrogen) in the atmosphere. This leads to light being emitted at different wavelengths as the gases release energy creating the Northern Lights.

In most years the aurora is only seen near the Arctic Circle in the Northern Hemisphere but the number of  large solar CME's has meant it can be seen over much larger areas.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Visit to Kenilworth Castle

 

Recently B needed his usual lift to and from the pub to meet ex work colleagues for lunch so while he was there I took D and E to Kenilworth Castle.

History of the Castle - if you've read my other posts on Kenilworth Castle I would skip this bit!

• The first castle at Kenilworth was built in the 1120's by Geoffrey de Clinton (the Royal Chamberlain) who had been given the land by Henry I.  He built the Great Tower (Norman Keep) and also founded Kenilworth Priory.
• In the early C13th King John added an outer circuit wall and built a dam to retain a large lake.  The castle was now strongly defended and withstood a siege in 1266.
• John of Gaunt, son of Edward III, built the Great Hall and its apartments.
• C15th Lancastrian kings visited to hunt and Henry I  built a retreat at the end of the lake called "The Pleasance in the Marsh".
• In 1563 Queen Elizabeth I gave the castle to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. He turned the castle into a palace fit to entertain her  building apartments and a privy garden for her use.
• After the Civil War fortifications were removed and in 1650 Leicester's Gatehouse was turned into a residence by Colonel Hawkesworth, a Parliamentarian Officer.
• In 1958 Lord Kenilworth gave the castle to the people of Kenilworth and it has been managed by English Heritage since 1984.

Mortimer's Tower was built by King John ~1210 and it may later have taken its name from Roger Mortimer, one of the Marcher Lords, who held a Tournament here in 1282.

I saw plenty of ivy flowers as we walked to the castle and there were quite a few bees on them.

The Great Tower or Norman Keep

Lunn's Tower

It was raining when we arrived so we took shelter in the Stables and had an early lunch.  The Stables were built in Tudor times and now house a tearoom and exhibition.

Pesto, sundried tomato and mozarella pannini for lunch which was very tasty.  I was very good and refused to be tempted by the cake!

It was still raining slightly after lunch so we had a look around the exhibition which is excellent.  These are trebuchet balls which were fired from a trebuchet during a medieval siege of the castle.  They were found in 1960 during an archaeological investigation. A trebuchet, often used to bombard a building in sieges, was like a giant catapult that had a rotating arm and sling which were used to fire missiles.

A model of how Kenilworth Castle may have looked in 1575-80.

Kenilworth Castle as it is today.

This fragment came from a masonry frieze.  The letters RA may once have been part of a larger inscription.

A capital from a small pilaster column perhaps from the edge of a fireplace. It is carved with acanthus leaves in a classical style.

Although the nose and ears have been broken this may represent a lion.

Thankfully, by now the rain had stopped and we had a look around some of the rest of the Castle.

Leicester's Gatehouse built in 1571/2 by Robert Dudley.

The Great Tower

The Queen's Privy Garden was a private garden created for Queen Elizabeth I by Robert Dudley in 1575.

The garden was recreated by English Heritage in 2009.  The design was based on a description by Robert Langham in the C16th who had managed to sneak into the garden.  Archaeological surveys and historical research were also carried out to help plan the garden.

We walked around the outside of part of the castle.

Queen Elizabeth I's appartments.

Before leaving we had a look around the shop and bought a few items for (dare I mention it so early!) Christmas.  I bought a couple of presents, some Christmas cards and a few bottles of Lyme Bay wine - quite expensive but worth it! I particularly like the Ginger Wine - ideal for a cold winter's night.

I watched a Common Carder bee on this trough of plants.

There have been a few reports of ghosts being seen at Kenilworth Castle such as  the silhouette of a  cot that rocks itself, a ghostly child running across a stable roof and then disappearing, ghostly chickens pecking around the stables and a mysterious "white lady"  wandering around.

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Reference: English Heritage Guidebook to Kenilworth Castle and English Heritage website.

September Visit to Herefordshire - Part 4: All Saints, Monkland

 

After the visit to Monkland Dairy Shop we stopped off at the church in Monkland - All Saints. I've driven past this church so many times and always wanted to have a look round.

A cell of the Benedictine Abbey of Conches (Normandy) was founded here by Ralph de Toden c 1100.  The Abbey was suppressed in 1414.  A few Norman windows remain in the church.  The West Tower is late C13th although a restoration of the church in 1865/6 by G E Street resulted in the addition of a shingled spire with broaches to the tower.

The Reverend Sir Henry William Baker was vicar at Monkland from 1852 until he died in 1877.  Sir Henry was the first chairman of the compilers of the "Ancient and Modern Hymn Book" which is still in use in most churches today.  He wrote many hymns for the book himself including "The King of Love My Shepherd Is".

The lychgate was erected in Sir Henry's memory by G E Street.

As usual with my church visits I didn't have long and I'd promised D I'd only be 20 minutes. First I had a quick look round the churchyard.

This unusual chest tomb with lion's paws is for William Perry who died in 1828.

I went in search of the grave of  Sir Henry Baker  which is just a simple cross under a yew tree near a wicker gate.

Oontitoomps!! - moles get everywhere!

Then a very brief look in the church.

The font is a round Norman bowl type font.

West Window

View along the Nave towards the Chancel.  Even with the lights on the church was very dark and I had to use really high iso and f2.8 so sorry but many of the photos are a bit "iffy"!

I loved this little model of the church.

There are a few C14th tiles by the pulpit.

The pulpit from the G E Street Restoration is made of oak and walnut with carved figures of the four Latin Doctors.  It was carved by Thomas Earp.

C14th stained glass with a crowned head.

East window by Hardman 1865.

Memorials in the church and a list of the Vicars of All Saints.

In my haste I missed a few features mainly the memorial brass and window to Sir Henry Baker in the chancel area.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks)

Reference:

"The Buildings of England Herefordshire" by Alan Brooks and Nikolaus Pevsner, The University Press 2017

"Tales from Herefordshire's Graves and Burials" by Nicola Goodwin, Logaston Press, 2005