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 31 August 2022

Herefordshire Again! - Part 4: Herefordshire Tree, Leominster, St James the Great Kimbolton and the Poet's Stone Leysters

 

The Herefordshire Oak seen from the caravan. Still green by the look of it.



On Friday before going to Stockton Bury Gardens we popped into Leominster as D had a cheque to pay into the bank and all the local branches near home seem to have closed!

Sheep made by children I think by the car park to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee.




















I finally went into the bookshop. There is a great selection of local books including some by the super Logaston Press. There were two I was very tempted by one on Herefordshire Geology and one on Marcher Lords.  I resisted as I have 3 or 4 at the caravan still to read - two of which I bought at Aardvark books.






David popped into the greengrocers to get some garlic to use for the tea and also bought two marrows so I could bake Stuffed Marrow with Tomato sauce when we got home.




Model of the Grange - somehow I've missed this on previous visits.








These little homemade glass suncatchers caught my eye. I may be tempted again next visit!!!




We checked the river by the car park for Kingfishers but no sign of one this time. It is B who always seems to spot them!




We then spent a couple of hours at Stockton Bury Gardens (see last post)  where I read that one of the possible places where Owain Glyndwr, last Welsh Prince of Wales, (c1359 - c1415) may be buried was at Kimbolton Church.

So a slight detour was taken to the church.




On September 16th 1400 Owain had started the Welsh Revolt against the reign of Henry IV of England.  He was proclaimed Prince of Wales by his supporters. The revolt began succesfully but was eventually put down.  After the final battle of the Revolt in 1412 Owain Glyndwr disappeared without trace.  Some historians thought he died in 1421.

One idea suggests he spent the last few years of his life, as a chaplain and tutor at his daughter Alys' estate in Herefordshire.  She was married to Sir Henry Scudamore, the sheriff of the County.

One rumour suggests Owain was buried in a mound at Mornington Straddle.

However, Historian Gruffydd Aled Williams suggested in 2017 that the burial site is the chapel at Kimbolton - now the Parish Church of St James the Great - which was once a chapelry of Leominster Priory.  He based his suggestion on manuscripts found in the National Archives. Kimbolton does have connections with the Scudamore family.

But, of course, no-one knows where he is actually buried.




St James the Great has a Norman chancel and the rest of the building is mainly C13th.  There is an unbuttressed west tower with a tall broach spire.  The church was restored by Haddon in 1874/5.  The church appears to be normally open but is closed all August for repainting of the chancel!

































I drove back to Hatfield via Leysters. Some of you may recall that twice before I have tried to find the Poet's Stone there where William Wordsworth and his wife Mary sat in 1845.  The first two occasions were unsuccessful as it turned out to be further away from Leysters church than I realised! Today, really thanks to D who spotted it, we were successful.  The stone was also visited by the Victorian Diarist Francis Kilvert.










We came home at lunchtime the following day but we did stop off at Brockhampton as D wanted to see the manor house and gatehouse there so I'll write about that in the final post of this break.


I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

Reference: Buildings of England: Herefordshire by N Pevsner and A Brooks 2017 Yale University Press.

BBC Wales History website




Sunday 28 August 2022

Herefordshire Again! - Part 3: Stockton Bury Gardens

 

We went to several places some briefly on Friday.  Some I will write about in a separate post but the main visit was to Stockton Bury Gardens, Kimbolton, which D hadn't been to before.  

The Gardens have been created over the last 35 years by the owner Raymond Treasure with help from 1984 by the gardener Gordon Fenn who had been Head Gardener at Hereford Cathedral.

In 2014 Tamsin Westhope who was a garden magazine editor arrived to help with the garden.



Raymond Treasure's great grandfather came to the farm in 1886 and started to create a garden by planting a monkey puzzle tree on the main lawn by the house.  Laurel hedges surrounded the main lawn and kitchen garden.  In 1900 20 men and boys were employed to farm the land plus two grooms/gardeners.  Today the farm and garden need just four staff.

Following the death of the great grandfather 2 great aunts continued to live at the farm spending a lot of time on the upkeep of Kimbolton Church.  For the next 20 years nature reclaimed the garden until in 1944 Henry Treasure arrived to farm the land and repair the farm buildings.


*D


By 1970 the old main house required so much repair that it was demolished and a new house built in the Georgian style.  After this the creation of the present garden began.


*D

The gardens opened to the public in 1995 and extend over four acres.  The gardens really are charming with many varieties of plants and hidden features.


*D








Part of the cider orchard



The tithe barn houses a cafe.




















The three bells at the end of the long barn are rung every hour.  There has always been a tradition of bell ringing here and in the past they were rung at 6.00 am to summon men to work. The largest bell was newly cast by the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough especially for the gardens.




*D



The Elizabethan Garden












The Pool Garden






The Kitchen garden with vegetable beds to the right and herbaceous borders on the left.  The perennials were a little past their best.












Timothy climbing apple trees again!






*D










The Dingle Water Garden created from an old quarry.





The Grotto













The Secret Garden











The Pillar Garden






The Sunken Garden














Monkey Puzzle Tree Cones



The Spring Garden next to the house with bee skeps and a little summer house with painted panels illustrating flowers.







The Pigeon House Garden












Medieval Dovecote with 510 nesting holes and a revolving ladder. It is Grade 1 Listed.






*D

There is a small museum with old gardening tools and a display of Roman items found in a Hoard discovered at Stockton Bury.





Oh look!  This is interesting - one of the rumoured resting places for the body of Owain Glyndwr is at nearby Kimbolton Church!











Time for cake which was very nice. I had Lemon Polenta cake and D had Elderflower and Lavender.







*D


David really enjoyed the gardens so I was pleased we had chosen them.  

The next post will include brief visits to Leominster and of course I couldn't resist stopping off at Kimbolton Church!  I drove back via Leysters and finally found the Poet's Stone!

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.


Photos taken by me with the Pansonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.  Those marked *D taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera.  (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Reference: Guidebook to Stockton Bury Gardens.