Lady Isabel of Tong, a lady with vision

This week we popped to a local church to look for a plaque for a neighbour whose family worshipped there. The village has a long history dating back to the nearby Roman camp & an entry in the Doomsday book of 1086

St Bartholomews church in Tong was once part of a castle complex that was very influential. I visit it several times a year & often take visitors there.

The church has some magnificent monuments to past influential incumbents. 

The tomb of Lady Isobel 1409-1446  (foundress of Tong college and church) & her third husband Sir Fulke de Pembrugge lies close to the central aisle. What makes her effigy different is that she is adorned with a garland of roses on her marble head & in her hands on Midsummers day each year. 

Why is this? The background info provided by “Women of Tong” church book 

She was born Isabel Lingen & outlived 3  dry rich & influential husbands: Sir Thomas Peytevin, Sir John de Ludlow (1366-1398) of Stokesay Castle & Sir Fulke de Pembrugge (-1409) who shares the same memorial. 

She took it upon herself to set up a college & rebuild the Tong church & even though she was widowed, she forged ahead with these plans. She applied to both The Pope & King Henry IV for the special licences needed for these. It cost her £40 to buy the advowson from the Abbot of Shrewsbury. 

The small church was rebuilt to the large one we visit today. It was here that mass would be said daily for those commemorated in the memorials, also for the victims of the Black Death plague. 

Lady Isobel championed education at her college for teaching ‘reading, singing & grammar’ to the clerks, servants of the college & children of Tong & the surrounding villages. Clearly a lady of great vision to improve lives in her immediate space through education by using her own wealth & influence. 

The College was dissolved under King Henry VIII but the church survived.

She survived her last husband, Sir Fulke, by 37 years, dying aged 76 in 1446. That was a great age in those times. Her husbands magnificent tomb in the church was enlarged so she could be interred beside him in her simple widows robe. 

Her lifetime spanned several English Kings - Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, V, & VI and Edward IV.

One can sit in the choir stalls & look on to the many tombs. 

The 15th century oak choir stalls have interesting pre Reformation misericords carved in to them. 

In times past long sermons required much standing & the seats could be raised & one could rest on the carved front, to take the weight off the legs. 

These ancient oak ones are particularly interesting & original.

The benefactors board in the church shows that Isabel was not the only one who took education seriously & the notes show bequests to be used for education by others too. 

I am always fascinated by local history & how some people used their wealth & influence to improve the lives of ordinary people. 

I hope you have found this short account of the life of Isabel interesting too. Thank  you for stopping by, it is always appreciated. 

Dee 

Winter blooms ...

 

I am rather hit & miss with planting winter bulbs, especially the ones that are meant to flower at Christmas. 

Even though I buy 'forced bulbs' they seldom bloom at Christmas & in a way, that is a blessing because there is so much else going on, that colour on grey January days is very welcome. 

I bought in some hyacinth bulbs - whites & one pink one that went in to a vintage Wedgwood bowl that I use often. 

Because the bowl was in the cooler conservatory, they were dormant. I brought them in to the house after Epiphany / Twelfth Night once the decorations were down, & they sprang in to life. 

The winter cyclamen  in the same bowl, had been happy indoors for weeks until they threw a strop when  brought in & had to be relocated to a pot under shelter. 

As much as I love cyclamen, they can be rather tiresome at times. 

The ones that have been in the other kitchen window are doing well with their generous blooms alongside the vase of the iridescent & delicate honesty pods that came from the summer garden. 

The tall hyacinth stems started to bend under the weight of their blooms, so I took them outdoors & cut some red dogwood (Cornus) stems from the garden  to poke in to the soil as supports. 

I prefer using natural garden twigs / stems as flower supports & the upside is that they sometimes even root in a warm spot. I hope you have a bowl or two of colour to brighten up your day too. 

Thank you for stopping by, it is always appreciated.

Dee 💐🪻🪴🌷

Needle & thread time during snowy weather ...

 

A very snowy time in Shropshire brought quiet time because it was too icy underfoot outdoors. 

While dropping off my excess decorations stash prior to Christmas at local charity shops, I spied a ready made sewing kit. It was new, unopened, clearly an unwanted gift & so I thought - 'why not, it has everything in it to do a quick activity.' 

The snowy calm reminded me of the kit. 

The insert had stitch instructions but no particular coding for any part which is great to just stitch. It was useful to have a selection of threads but I also used some others from my threads as I didn't want to include the yellows. 

The kit came with a hoop but it was a little too small to get the needle in close to it so I changed to a slightly larger one & used my hoop stand so I could leave it out easily. 

I like stitching at the small drop side trolley in front of the window where the natural light is good & I also have a magnifying light if needed in our low light afternoons. 

Snowy scenes outside the windows, a podcast on the ipad & time to just stitch without sticking to a set pattern. 

Snow brings a certain calm & quietness to the landscape, sounds are deadened & everything seems pure & white. 

It is perfect calm times with no urgency ... 

The brighter pink was from my own threads; it comes out a bit bright but who cares, it is just for my own enjoyment & it's always interesting to see how colours bounce off each other. 

I used just a small selection of stitches which I can do without too much thinking - back stitch, stem stitch, French knots, fly stitch, lazy daisy, running stitch etc. I like that colour palette too - the berry colours always look good together. 

The first sewing done for 2026; sometimes it is best to just jump in & stitch for the sake of stitching. 

I hope you find time to do more of what you enjoy this year too. Thank  you for stopping by, it is always appreciated. 

Dee 🧵🪡📍

Twelfth Night is upon us ...

I like to put up the decorations slowly over a few days & also to take them down on my own time, slowly, intentionally packing them away so I know where they are next year. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the festive packing up, so a little at a time makes it manageable because it has none of the excitement of putting it up. 

I try to keep to the tradition to have it all down by Twelfth Night. It links back to the rhyme of the 12 days of Christmas my true love gave to me and the hidden Biblical meaning behind the rhyme. 

I count the 12 days starting from Christmas day to the night of the 5th of January.... 

Today it was the living room that was packed up.  

The large Christmas tree with its white, rose & old gold ornaments (gold, silver & pink by any other name) were returned to their large container. 

The lights are wrapped around a cardboard sleeve (from an online shop), interspersed with bubble wrap & placed in a container with the large fireplace garland - lights still wrapped on it.  

I try not to focus on the change of space without the tree occupying the whole corner, but to embrace the space where I can read in the chair by the radiator. 

The conservatory was next,  time to light the candle, make some gifted Christmas coffee with a mince pie or piece of stollen. 

I love marzipan so opted for the stollen as a packing up treat. 

 The heart shapes were removed from the window blinds & the doors of the sideboard , the windows of the dining room & stored with those from the dining room etc. 

I like to keep like with like. The festive wares are packed up in a particular order, then they are returned to the tall cupboards in the kitchen.

The deer were next from the dining room clock & sideboard - 7 from there & 2 from the conservatory; all safely stored together in a container for another year. 

The dining room sideboard had the collection of 3 on the left, then one with animals on its back on the right.

I do love their presence & the woodland connection.  

The  little tree with the hand beaded ornaments were packed up gently. 

They have been a joy to pass several times a day, an eclectic collection that reminds me of my heritage. 

They have their own small tins that they are stored in.  

The wooden German decorations (bought in Munich some years ago) are stored in 2 little bags I made, again in their own little tin. 

Ms M & I bought them on a tour of several Christmas markets in Germany & Austria & I like the nod to the Prussian / German heritage of that great grandfather. 

He would have had similar decorations growing up which reminds me of the complex heritage I have. 

They were draped over great grandparents photo on the wall ... 

The conservatory sideboard has once again been well used with the various festive wares - they were returned to the high kitchen cupboard where I do use some of them from time to time. 

I have left the pretty festive Ralph Lauren tablecloth in the conservatory - the calming reds are not strictly festive so they can stay longer.  It replaced the tartan one midway after use. 

What to put on the sideboard? After the busy festive patterns, I seem to gravitate towards cream / Parian ware with a solitary vintage green plate holding centre court. 

I put up some pink patterns then my eyes fell on my ruby / cranberry glass in the kitchen. They are enough colour & still ties in with the table cloth so they came out.  I do love their colour & shapes - all vintage, Ms M & I collected some together in Dorset from the market stalls & a charity shop. They remind me that random ones can happily sit together. 

The family are not Christmas / fruit cake fans so our bought cake was uncut until today. 

The glass cake stand was one of Olive's and the cover is a salad bowl that fits exactly on the cake stand. 2 unconnected things that go well together in a practical sense. 

It is a wonderfully dense fruit cake that needs cake forks which I duly retrieved from the drawer. 

I have a selection of new red cake forks & spoons  that we use often. They are stored in a drawer in the conservatory. 

I also have a collection of 6 forks & little knives from Olive. 

Their fork tines are much closer together - she used to call them tea knife & forks & we use them for scones from time to time. They have pretty detail to their collar & are very dainty. 

The modern & vintage ones compliment each other quite happily, probably a half century apart in age but in the same colours. 

I think it is so important to use & enjoy the things you have. I handwash these because of the handles but it takes no time to do. 

The Wedgwood cream Parian ware bowl with lion head handles was planted up with pink cyclamen flowers some weeks before Christmas.  

It is perfect bowl shape goes well with the two matching bowls with their pink border next to it.  

The planter has pink & white hyacinths around the edge but they have not yet flowered so I just enjoy it as it is. 

I have learnt that hyacinths flower when they like & I seldom get them to flower at Christmas. However, the brighter colour is a good transition from festive to winter plants.

I think it is done for now, I know I will tinker with it but I do enjoy the change & I like to see other things out too. 

Moving things to their places brings a sense of calm & order to spaces. 

It is a ritual to take everything in the house down by Twelfth Night, a calming signal that the festive season has come to an end & normal life will resume with work & routine again. 

The last thing to come down is always from the front door. 

On Twelfth Night, I take down the front door wreath / garland. It is stripped of the adornments, ribbons etc then it is hung on the garden shed for a few more weeks. 

For me, this signals that the house reverts to its winter state. 

We always have a fresh door wreath & I love seeing it in the garden & how the birds flit in & out of it, helping themselves to the moss etc. 

I do not like to hurry through this period - I like a reset without abandoning this time of the calendar. 

Wintering touches stay - woodland scents of herbs like bay & rosemary, citrus, pine & eucalyptus remain.  We still have fluffy throws on chairs to curl up in while we read or relax with a warming tea or hot chocolate - slow living when time allows, as winter should be a time to slow down, hibernate even when possible. It is a slower time dictated by nature & the weather. 

I keep the twinkling lights on the kitchen windowsills which light up the glass candle holders - a reminder to enjoy the home I have. The windows face the garden & I love watching the changes happening outside the window & how the low light hits differently on the plants, sometimes making them glow. 

How do you do the change from the festive season after Christmas?  Do you just let winter be winter & enjoy it without trying to hurry it by? 

Thank you for stopping by, it is always appreciated. 

Dee 🌲💐