Autumn beauty along the canals ...

Our county is blessed with the Shropshire Union Canal that gently crosses it at various points. It is one of my favourite pastimes to wander along these often hidden spaces that wind through some deep cuttings before passing houses, fields with animals or towns on their watery way. 

With the most beautiful Autumn colours deepening this year, I suggested a walk along a strip I have visited many times.

Tyrley Locks is a pretty walk along the canals where 5 locks drop or raise boats on their journey. 

What makes this walk special is the deep cutting with interesting rocks & soil that is exposed by digging out the canal. It was muddy underfoot because of some recent rain but our study walking boots did well. 

The autumn colours did not disappoint with a thick carpet of leaves underfoot & more falling gently all the time on our walk. There is a sense of calm, of peace, of clearing your mind when out in nature. This is important time for me, to just be ...  

A very elegant grey heron appeared several times along the canals, staying on the side furthest from us while being cautious. 

A passing canalboat was glad of the offer of help with the final lock so hubby helped with the lock gates to lower the boat on its way to Nantwich. 

We enjoyed a chat with the boating couple & their gorgeous dog. 

We had spent a week on a canal boat a few years ago with Ms M & her family so had an idea how to work the gates etc. 

On returning to the canal bridge at the basin by the top lock, I noticed a cottage for sale. However, the voice of reason did not join in my enthusiasm. 

I wonder what it would be like living right next to a canal & having a prime seat on canal life? 

Would it be cold in winter & busy in summer when boat hire is at its peak or would the fascination be the key to enjoying it? 

I won't know but it is nice to think about it. 

Thank you for stopping by, it is always appreciated.

Dee ⛴️🪾🌳🍁🍂

Murder before Evensong in Worfield

 A new TV production called 'Murder before Evensong'  was filmed locally in Shropshire & an unexpected free morning made us decide to head out to the village again. 

I have been watching it because I recognise so many of the locations locally like the boathouse at nearby Dudmaston Hall, the timbered buildings of Worfield, also Chillington Hall. 

I have been previously to Worfield, it is just a tiny village that retains its charm through the black & white buildings & a church that towers over it. 

An unexpected free morning saw us head out on my suggestion. We parked up to walk the street that features in the filming. It is chocolate box pretty, the houses all well maintained & it looks like a filmset. There are several listed buildings in the village.  

We had not previously visited St Peter's church because we visited on a Sunday when a service was in progress so today we took full advantage to do so. 

The church steeple towers over the church, a landmark as you drive in. The ancient yew trees in an avenue in the church yard. 

The church features in all the episodes & the first murder was committed in there in the series. 

What a fantastic space - much bigger than it appears from outside, a haven of calm (incongruous with its tv fame) .

I always light a candle & lit two today as a friend needs a prayer for her hubby in America who is ill. It is those quiet moments in churches that connect you again. This side chapel is St Nicholas - I am rather partial to that name as it was one of my late Father's names. 

I am fascinated by the history in these places - people remembered across the centuries, tombstones in the aisle floor where they are buried underneath, two magnificent memorials to the side & more. 

It has a leper window or hagioscope that is now on an inside wall - it would have been on the outside wall previously so lepers could follow the service without being a danger to others. 

The incumbent priests husband popped in & what a fascinating long chat we had. We got some history as well as an update on the filming. 

The font used in the production was a replica of the one seen, it was placed in the middle aisle where the first murder takes place. 

Spoiler alert - there is no crypt under the font!  

The font near the door was replicated & placed over this grid in the aisle, which supposedly had a crypt under it. 

The production team spent several weeks in the village & they 'might' be back.  

The village shop & pub also feature regularly & it is interesting to stroll along a 'real' film set. 

Viewing figures drive this but apparently the series has been well received to we can but hope. 

We asked about some of the memorials & were directed outside & then to the higher graves high above the church in the pretty elevated woods. 

Apparently this high area was used for the plague burials centuries ago - there is no marker as there was to the plague pits I saw at Ross-on-Wye. The reality was that most villages had plague pits & the exact location of many of them is lost in time. 

Apparently, the large yew tree by the gate is the place where infant death babies of unwed mothers were buried in times past; in the church grounds but not close to the church as social norms were at the time.

A fascinating morning enjoying our Shropshire villages & the history of them, as well as the modern influence of TV series which helps to preserve churches as the production money all helps. 

I hope you have enjoyed this morning wander with me, thank you for stopping by, 

Dee ⛪️🔔📽️🎬

Folklore, customs & beliefs in ancient places ...

Old buildings here often have various markings on them. Some are on the outside stones - a makers mark of the stone carver or inside on the timbers, a sort of signature of the mason.  I have a general understanding of them from visits to many churches & historic places here. 

This past week,  I joined a podcast chat by two people I have followed on Instagram  because they look at the folklore of the many customs we unconsciously participate in without a thought to the origins, particularly how marks were supposed to protect people & places from witches & malevolent forces.

The talk was held in the evening at a local English Heritage property that I often take visitors to - Boscobel House.

I blogged about its connection to King Charles II when he was hidden there after the Battle of Worcester & that of the nearby White Ladies Priory. 

It is the first time the house has been opened to an evening event & we arrived keen to see it in a different light.  It is a striking black & white building which looks on to a field where the Royal Oak is (where King Charles II spent a night in the oak tree, hiding from Cromwells men.) 

We wandered around & joined our small group of about 20 people in the stables tearoom for hot chocolate & a chat before heading to the house. 

  

The parlour is accessed by a side door, crossing a small room, under the inside balcony, up some stairs & into quite a dark room, even in the day time. The fireplace is black slate with carved images of the history of the house, while the dark panelling & magnificent sideboard hold their own in the space.

What a fascinating evening with two very knowledgeable ladies speaking about the history of witches who were often just women with special skills of herbs, of healing in a time of home medicine & of women who were deemed a threat for whatever reason. They became targets with terrible consequences as they were burned at the stake, drowned, hung etc. 

The famous witch trial of Pendle near Lancaster is well known but it is just one of many such trials at that time. The Salem witch trials in America are notorious too. 

This information plaque is in The Quarry in our county town of Shrewsbury & tells the story of Mrs Foxall burned at the stake for poisoning her husband in 1647. (Not a great photo I took a few years ago ...)

She was burned at the stake on 23 December 1647.

Was it a deliberate poisoning, accidental, was he ill prior to the meals, who made the claim etc 

Can you imagine - burned at the stake? 

Homes often had protective marks put on entrances & near chimneys to prevent malevolent spirits entering - witches marks. 

Boscobel house has 'burn marks' above an entrance - these marks were deliberately made to protect the house against fires. The same upstairs rooms has a M mark to (Mary) to protect against ill fortune & spirits.  

I have been in those rooms several times previously but not understood what they were, so thanks to the EH curator who took us up & pointed them out. 

Many of our modern day customs stem from these folklore beliefs - bodies leaving a house feet first after death so the spirit is confused & won't return. In previous times coffins were taken on corpse roads across rivers, in an even path so the spirits did not know how to return etc on the way to the church for burial. The coffin could not just be put down anywhere when the bearers were tired because it could 'ground' the spirit to that place so consecrated coffin stones were used en route to rest the coffin on.  

This is a lych gate I photographed recently at St Andrew's Church, Hope Bowdler in Shropshire 

The history of lych gates at churches makes sense too. They are a covered porch like structure over a gate at the entrance to churches.  I have passed through dozens of them but they were where coffins were placed prior to funerals, sometimes overnight with someone staying to watch over the coffin for its safety. This space under the cover often had seating on either side where the coffin was placed.  It is where the priest would conduct the first burial ceremony from before moving in to the church. 

Lychgates serve to differentiate consecrated and unconsecrated space, and serve as a liminal space. Stone lychgates may create an increased aural awareness of the transition from one space to another by creating a tangible contrast between sounds inside and outside. In England, there was a folk belief that the spirit of the last person buried stands watch at the gate until the next is buried, leading to funeral fights at the entrance to decide which corpse should be buried first.

Lych is the ancient Saxon word for corpse & then the history of the various lych or knell bells came in to the discussion. Church bells were rang to signal that someone in the parish was close to death, different number for men, women or children & it was a harbinger of bad news to follow.  Some funerals still have a funeral bell toll (For Whom the Bell Tolls ... )  

A fascinating evening of folklore, much that is still in our customs & traditions today. 

Boscobel House was splendid lit up at night & it was a great space to hold this talk with the dark countryside all around the house & the night sounds filtering in. 

I hope you have enjoyed the history too; do you have any of these observances that supposedly ward off evil or protect your home?  Tell all & thank  you for stopping by, 

Dee ⛪️🙏