Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Wednesday 16 September 2020

Herefordshire - Part 4: Weobley

 

Decided to persevere with new Blogger so wish me luck 😀 I quite like the new feature when you can add emojis!

Weobley is one of the villages on the Herefordshire "black and white" village trail which we have visited several times before.  It is mentioned in the Domesday Book and contains many early timber framed houses including examples of half Wealden, Wealden and 15th century Hall houses.  Sadly, quite a few were destroyed by a fire in November 1943 in the market square.  After the Battle of Naseby 1645 King Charles I stayed in the village at what was then the Crown Inn and which is now a private house called The Throne.  Weobley's name is derived from "Wibba", the Anglo Saxon son of Creda and "ley" meaning a clearing or glade in the wood.  Weobley became wealthy due to its wool trade and then through ale and glove making.


The Green Bean Cafe











The Gables which is one of the larger 15th century hall houses in Weobley.  We stayed here for a long weekend a few years ago and they also have a super tea room.




Classic view down towards St Peter and St Paul.  Apologies for the parked cars!



The Lavender Tea Room and what was once the Red Lion Pub now an Indian Restaurant, I think. The building is 14th century with 17th and 19th century additions.











I persuaded B and E to walk down to the church of St Peter and St Paul which has a spire of 56 metres tall which is the second highest in the county.  The church is a landmark for miles around.



Glebe House is the only Georgian House in Weobley and was built in 1780. In 1821 it became the vicarage.  Dorothy Wordsworth visited at some stage as she mentioned in her diary seeing the garden.  In 1986 brick stables nearby were converted into what became the new vicarage and the house was renamed Glebe House.






Building of the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul began by the then Lord of the Manor, Hugh de Lacy, in the 12th century with canons from Llanthony Priory providing the labour.  The Norman arch inside the porch is all that now remains of the original church.  Originally the tower was separate from the church. Most of the present building including the tower is 14th century.


West Door and tower with spire




Ball flower decoration




OS bench mark - B was chuffed to spot this!














At this stage a group of elderly people came through this churchyard entrance and they really were a pain.  They seemed totally oblivious to my presence and rather than concentrating on taking photos I had to keep a wary eye on them as several times they came marching towards me as if I didn't exist.  Social distancing does not seem to apply to some!  In fact we saw other again elderly people in Weobley and also later in Eardisland showing the same disregard and we had to keep leaping into the middle of the road to maintain social distance!  




14th century Preaching Cross with 5 octagonal steps



In Medieval times travelling friars would celebrate the feast days of saints from Preaching Crosses. After the Reformation King Henry VIII ordained that no cross should be more than 4 feet high!













South Doorway is late Norman probably 1260


The church was open but only for private prayer - a shame as my photos from a previous visit are very dark and I could have done with getting some better ones. There again B and E wouldn't have been happy if I had gone inside and held them up and also I am still very nervous of entering buildings 😒

I do like these emojis!


Continuing our walk around the village.



Plants in Walls




Pump house in the car park - built to reflect the character of the village.











The Corn Mill c 1850-60 - 4 storeys with one added since.







Ye Olde Salutation Inn we used to go here for evening meals when staying at The Gables. It is 15th century with many 17th century additions.







17th century Unicorn Inn.  Apples used to be picked from its orchard to make cider to sell in the pub.




The magpie is a symbol of the "black and white" villages in the area.  This sculpture is the work of Walenty Pytela a contemporary artist who lives in Herefordshire and is recognised as a leading metal sculpturer of birds and beasts.






Weobley was famed for its witches.  There were once said to be more than 50 sorceresses within a 2 mile radius of the village.  In the past superstitious signs of rain included jackdaws circling the church spire, when wind blew in "Weobley hole" and legends in connection with nearby Lady Lift Hill.

Ella Mary Leather lived in Weobley from her marriage in 1893 until her death in 1920.  She was a well known folklorist who wrote a book on Folklore in Herefordshire. She also searched for singers to maintain oral traditions and folk songs.  She worked in hop fields to mix with Romanies so that she could learn their traditional songs. In 1908 she met the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford and took him to meet her singers.  He returned for many years and wrote down around 80 songs.


I am sure you have seen enough  of Weobley but if you want to see more when D and I did more of the Heritage trail please see the link here   Hope it works!

I have also noticed the more photos I upload the slower it is to write text.

Caroline from "Wild and Wonderful" has mentioned she can no longer access a gallery of my photos if she clicks on a picture.  I wonder if I couild ask if anyone else has the same problem?  I can access it from here but would like to know if others can't.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.

Thankfully, next post on Eardisland will have less photos!








9 comments:

The Quacks of Life said...

nice to see you enjoying Herefordshire it is a lovely county

Ragged Robin said...

The Quacks of Life - Thanks Pete. I love it there - family connections so has always had a special place in my heart :)

Rustic Pumpkin said...

Well done! However, there's a huge, and I mean huge, amount of white space from the end of your writing to the comments {at least on my laptop} and I took a while to realise this, thinking something else was amiss. I clicked on a photo and the gallery came up as per usual, so you can pass that on.

Great pictures. I don't like geraniums, but there's something quite endearing seeing them in a window box. I don't think I will ever adjust to hopping along the marked out boxes, or one way flows, in shops and cafes. I've been in the pharmacy this week, so much signage, brain on overdrive processing it all!

Ragged Robin said...

Rustic Pumpkin - Thanks so much and it is slowly getting easier although with the amount of photos I uploaded blogger got very slow and unreactive towards the end! You are right - there is a huge gap on my screen as well between end of post and comments bit. Perhaps I put too many line spaces in? To be honest not sure what I did wrong!! Thanks for confirming the gallery still comes up.

Well done on braving the pharmacy! I was very tempted to go in the Green Bean in Weobley because they did seem well organised about precautions but in the end decided not to. Couldn't face faffing around with a mask!!

Ragged Robin said...

Rustic Pumpkin - Hopefully it looks a bit better now - have edited. Not perfect but better re: blank space!

Millymollymandy said...

I love the wobbly houses in Weobly! Shame I can't do a smiley face in the comment form. I wonder why your comment form is so different from other Blogger blogs? I don't normally come across the comments opening up in a new little window. I thought before it was because you were using an even older version of Blogger. I can still view your photos in a gallery, but do you have anyone commenting that they have had problems commenting on your blog? I get this a lot, often they tell me on facebook or in a Blogger comment on another post.

We have no one way systems in shops in France! It's just like it always was, no difference whatsoever apart from wearing masks. The supermarket does have a one metre line marked on the floor in front of the check outs but nobody pays the slightest bit of notice. Also yesterday whilst out for a walk a couple walked towards us walking quite far apart, but didn't even bother to move over together so we had to walk between them! I think it's no wonder France is having such a rise in numbers of infected people. [shakes head in despair]

Ragged Robin said...

Millymollymandy - Thanks so much Mandy. I think I picked an option for the comment form to pop up in a new little window although I am pretty sure I use the most basic of Blogger layouts! Sometimes think of changing it then think it might cause more problems than it is worth! Good to know thank you that you can still see the gallery. No, I don't think I have ever had anyone saying they have had problems commenting.

Population seems divided between those like me who are petrified and hardly going out (at least not round where I live!) and who are taking as many precautions as possible and those that are just carrying on as normally as they can. Of course there are others who are inbetween the two extremes! OH and son when they go on daily walk say on some buses most of the people on there are not wearing masks :( Even in Weobley saw a man go in butcher's wearing no mask although I suppose he may have been exempt for some reason. Times are still really scary I think with the rise in cases in Europe and in this country. That problem is common with people walking two or three abreast on pavement and not going single file as you encounter them over here too which is why I won't walk locally let alone the bikes who whizz past you on the pavement.

CherryPie said...

The town and church look delightful :-)

Ragged Robin said...

CherryPie - Thank you - well worth a visit :)