Category Archives: topographical

history, personal, topographical

Marsh Days

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What an enjoyable day!  We’ve spent the day on the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust annual members’ tour.

Wedged between Rye, Hythe, the sea, and the high ground of the Weald, Romney Marsh (information here  and here) is an ancient, if man-made, landscape at England’s extreme SE tip. Over the years, roughly from the Romans through to the Reformation, the marsh land has gradually been inned, or reclaimed from the sea. There have been setbacks, storms, the River Rother, which used to enter the sea at Old Romney, then at New Romney, changed it’s course completely (it now enters the sea some miles away at Rye Harbour) with the demise of a major royal shipyard at Smallhythe. Most of the marsh is around 10 feet below high water. Drainage is a constant battle. This is a volatile landscape, made by man and by sheep.

There are 14 churches, plus 4 ruins, on the Romney Marsh. They are all medieval and apart from one (and the ruins) they are all still in use although many have very small parishes. A number of these churches are built on the sites of the earlier Saxon churches; many have seen worship on their site for well over 1000 years. They are important churches and important sites.

The Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust exists to assist with the preservation and restoration of these glorious small country churches which are so much a part of the country’s heritage. With a couple of exceptions they are not grand parish churches in the style of East Anglian wool country or of the West Country. They are small, designed to serve small communities living on the edge – even at the height of the Marsh’s population just before the Black Death, none of the parishes was large. The exceptions were probably New Romney and Lydd.

Every year the Trust organises a tour for its members, usually in July with a repeat in September (both tours easily fill a 50-seater coach). The tour visits three or four of the churches, often to see the results of the Trust’s work supporting their fabric. We’ve been on the tours fairly regularly for the last 10 or so years and have now seen all but one of the 14 churches, most of them of course several times.

This year we visited St Mary, East Guldeford (top); St Clement, Old Romney (above); St Augustine, Snave (the only church not in regular use and for which the Trust has full responsibility); and St Eanswith, Brenzett. The day starts with coffee at the Royal Oak pub in Brookland (right next to St Augustine, Brookland, so the keen can add a fifth church). Two churches are visited by coach in the morning. We return to the pub for a splendid buffet salad lunch and a pint. Then off to do two more churches. And ending the afternoon with tea provided by the Brenzett WI. WI tea is to die for; it is (almost) the highlight of the day: fifty odd people sit down in the village hall and demolish three trestle tables groaning with home-made cake! You end the day feeling like a python which has just stuffed down a tasty gazelle and doesn’t want to eat again for a month.

At each church there is a short talk from an expert – very often the indefatigable Joan Campbell who is the leading expert on these churches – and chance to look round and take photographs. Every time there is something new to discover: newly researched information about Richard de Guldeford, benefactor of East Guldeford; the effects of 13th century storms and the Black Death on the Marsh; church furnishings which quietly move from parish to parish over the years; major restoration work, often (part) funded by the Trust, this year to the Tudor brickwork of East Guldeford.

These are not neglected and forgotten little churches being propped up by a tiny interest group: the Trust has over 1000 members. Film director Derek Jarman is buried at Old Romney (he lived his last years at Dungeness). Children’s author Edith Nesbit is buried at St Mary-in-the-Marsh. Lydd and New Romney regularly stage concerts and other events. These churches are still important parts of their communities.

And I’ve not mentioned the delights of the Marsh: the ever changing patterns of sheep and arable, sky and earth; the views of the scarp to the north which once upon a time was the old shoreline; or the distant vista of Rye nestling atop its hill. Neither have I mentioned my distant ancestors who lived on the Marsh and the surrounding area – in fact I spent some time today looking for gravestones on the off-chance of discovering something new. And we always seem to have good weather, whatever the forecast.

All in all it’s a superbly delightful day out!

pleasures, topographical

The Tubes are Alive!

Thanks to Annie Mole’s London Underground blog, I’ve just spotted that Matthew Somerville and friends have used the recently opened up Transport for London API to create an (almost) real time map of all the trains on the London Underground.  The picture above is a horribly fuzzy screen capture from the real-time map. OK so the application it still needs some refinement – as Matthew says there are “some unresolved (a small number of stations are misplaced or missing; inter-station journey times need improvement; occasional trains behave oddly due to duplicate IDs)”.  This latter comment is indeed true as I was amused to see a District Line train hacking across country between Wimbledon and Richmond!

As a proof of concept – no, it’s better than that! – this brilliantly shows what can be done by skilled programmers in just a few hours.  In my book it is already a useful resource for Londoners, and has the potential to become much, much more especially if the DLR and London Overground data is accessible and they can be included.  Let’s hope Matthew and Co are able to continue developing the application.

Now what we need is a complete real-time map of all trains on the rail network – Matthew already has some prototype segments working.  Now that would be interesting.

arts, history, photography, science, topographical

Queen's Beasts at Kew


Queen’s Beasts at Kew, originally uploaded by kcm76.

You’ll probably want to look at this in a larger size.

We went to Kew Gardens last week, with an American friend who was staying and had a free afternoon to do something different. While there I fulfilled by wish to photograph the ten Queen’s Beasts in front of the Palm House. The beasts represent the genealogy of Queen Elizabeth II. They are (from L to R):
• White Greyhound of Richmond
• Yale of Beaufort
• Red Dragon of Wales
• White Horse of Hanover
• Lion of England
• White Lion of Mortimer
• Unicorn of Scotland
• Griffin of Edward III
• Black Bull of Clarence
• Falcon of the Plantagenet

These aren’t great photos, so I’ll probably redo them next I go to Kew.

And there’s a bit more about the Queen’s Beasts on Wikipedia.

amusements, current affairs, topographical

Unseemly Mess

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So the great British people (well about 65% of them) have spoken through the ballot box.  The outcome reminds me rather of two things:

(a) A small Afghan puppy invented by Frank Muir: What-a-mess

(b) The Victorian hatter’s advert: You may have it cocked up in the latest style.

I’m still predicting a Labour-LibDem minority government with another general election probably next February but may be as early as October/November.

Unedifying.  But that’s democracy.

books, music, topographical

The Power of Okinawa

Anyone who is interested in “roots” music and who doesn’t already know the music of Okinawa and the sub-tropical Ryukyu Islands of Japan really should check it out.  And this is now a lot easier with the new website and weblog, The Power of Okinawa, by my friend John Potter, as well as a second edition of his introductory book, also called The Power of Okinawa (order from the website for ¥2700, about £20 / $30, delivered worldwide).
Potter-san is originally from Norwich (England) but has lived in Japan since 1984, first in Kobe (where he survived the 1995 Kobe earthquake) and then in Mie Prefecture where he was Professor of English at Kogakkan University. He contributes music features to magazines in Japan and the UK; has published articles on literature and education; and written a book on Summerhill School.
His discovery of Okinawan music in the late ’80s led to an abiding interest in the islands and their music.  He has made regular trips to the Ryukyu Islands and travelled extensively in Okinawa, Miyako and Yaeyama, listening to and meeting many of the musicians there.  John accompanied Shoukichi Kina and his band on a visit to England, and has collaborated on song translations for several artists.  In 2009 the lure of island music finally proved too much and he took early retirement in order to move to Okinawa.

Even with the West’s increased interest in “world music” the Ryukyu Islands have remained far adrift from the musical mainstream. Seldom heard, the islands’ centuries-old colourful tradition of music and dancing reflects the people’s determination to express their own culture.  John Potter’s book and website offer the first definitive guide to this vibrant and exciting music, detailing its history and profiling its major personalities.

And for anyone who thinks they might be interested it is worth trying to get a copy of the Rough Guide to Okinawa music CD.  This is wonderfully eclectic, fun and inspirational music.  Real wacky stuff!

arts, history, memes, photography, topographical

Thing-a-Day #16 : Boys on the Tube


Thing-a-Day #16 : Boys on the Tube, originally uploaded by kcm76.

Today we took our friend Sue and her two boys Sam (with book on head) and Harry to the Museum in (London) Docklands. Here’s a montage of two frames I made of the three of them on the London Underground – with Sam and Harry wrecking their copies of Keri Smith’s This is Not a Book.

The Museum in Docklands is well worth visiting; there was much more to see than I’d expected and it was almost all interesting. It charts the history of the Port of London from Roman times to the present and currently has an exhibition on “London, Sugar and Slavery”. Admission is £5 for adults (which entitles you to free entry for a year!); free for under 16s. Follow the link for museum details.

They also have a good café (called 1802) where we had coffee, lunch and afternoon tea with the boys devouring copious quantities of chocolate brownie. And the café does hand-cut, really chunky chips to die for. We all enjoyed the food and I doubt any of us need to eat again this week!

The downside? The Underground ride home was horrible: unstable, wet (it was pouring with rain all day), stuffy, humid, crowded, hot. Yeuch! It was a good reminder of why I hate the Underground and why I used to have panic attacks when I had to use it regularly. But I got to go on the DLR, which somehow I’ve avoided up to now.

But otherwise a good day!