Category Archives: topographical

books, food+drink, history, topographical

Capital Cautions

Indigenous food was ever a trap for the unwary. I came across this during this evening’s reading …

A ‘sallet’ is any vegetable dish, raw or cooked – including a salad, which might come with primroses, daisies or dandelions.

‘Good King Henry’ is not a loyal toast but a sort of spinach with a peppery punch to it.

‘Humbles’ (say ‘umbles’) are entrails, usually of a deer, baked with herbs, spices and suet to make a ‘humble pie’. The contents will include not only the heart, liver and kidneys but also the lungs, guts and spleen.

Brawn is a sort of stiff, meat paste made from the head and fore-parts of a pig. It is considered a great treat, usually reserved for Christmas.

‘Gravey’ is a thick sauce of ground almonds, broth, sugar and ginger and is used to dress rabbit, chicken, eels or oysters.

‘Blancmange’ is remarkable for the absence of any strong spices in its preparation. The ingredients are boiled rice, capon flesh finely shredded with a pin, almond milk and sugar. The surface is usually decorated with blanched almonds. On fish days it may be made into a main dish by the addition of dried haddock, perch or lobster.

Beware of English mustard. It is incredibly hot and, if you are not used to it, should be tried with caution. Londoners use it especially to override the flavour of dried, salted fish.

From: Richard Tames, Shakespeare’s London on 5 Groats a Day

photography, pleasures, topographical

Round Kent by Train

Bales
Bales by Brenzett

We spent yesterday on a train excursion round what seemed like the whole of Kent. Only it wasn’t the whole of Kent because there are large parts where there are no trains. This was really a train enthusiasts trip as it was one of the few occasions when a passenger-carrying train is allowed down the branch from Appledore to the nuclear power stations at Dungeness (well as close as the compound gates anyway, which are about a mile from the power stations). But we went along (a) because we like seeing Dungeness and the Romney Marsh and (b) to glimpse a few bits of Kent we don’t know. And it really was only glimpse places as even without much by way of stops it was a very long day, trains always go through the arse-end of everywhere and much of the line-side is overgrown with (mostly sycamore) trees. But we got to see the sea along the North Kent coast, the White Cliffs of Dover and Dungeness.

As I say it was a long day, leaving London Bridge station just before 0900hrs and arriving back at Marylebone about 2015hrs. Leaving London Bridge we went (via a coupl of pick ups) through Rochester to Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey where we had our only real leg-stretch of the day. Sheerness looks a desolate place to live especially with it’s neighbour the Isle of Grain being little more than a glorified oil terminal.

From sheerness it was back to Sittingbourne and all the way along the north Kent coast through Faversham, Whitstable, Herne Bay to Margate. Then round to Ramsgate, Deal, Dover (for a very short break), Folkestone and inland to Ashford. We sat outside Ashford International while the train operators argued with Network Rail about whether we were allowed to take the loco down to Dungeness – despite this having been agreed in advance (as is required; you can’t just charter a train and crew!) and having been done before. Eventually sense prevailed and we were allowed from Ashford through Appledore down the single track to Dungeness; this last leg taking forever due to the 5mph speed restriction, in part due to innumerable unguarded and ungated level crossings across almost unmake-up trackways.

Having stopped at Dungeness for a few minutes and reversed (yet again) we returned to Ashford and thence via Headcorn, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Orpington, round South London to Marylebone.

It was certainly interesting as well as warm and very humid, so somewhat tiring — but a good day out despite the lack of photo opportunities. I’m glad we splashed out on the comfort of first class (a good well-upholstered, heritage coach) rather than scrumming in cattle class. There are more photos on my Flickr.

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!