Tag: Southwell Minster

Retirees Go Abroad – Ordinary Lives living in the UK – Svein’s Day Tour

Our day started completely differently to yesterday. Yesterday was very wintery but today the sun is shining and although the air is cool it is comfortable. I was determined to show Svein the grand tour of Long Eaton. So scarves on and beanies pulled over our ears, we strolled off to the High St.

Long Eaton has been invaded by a Tesco Extra, and an equally big ASDA store. Beside Tesco is a large Aldi Store. All of these stores have been constructed on the fringe of the central business district so it should come as no surprise to learn that the Long Eaton High St has been decimated. The High St, once the centre of commercial activity in the town, is now a ghostly mall with mostly charities and vacant shops. But there is one unlikely survivor, Rowells, a 19th century haberdashery shop. On entering the shop I am reminded of the haberdashery shops my mother visited in Stones Corner and Bay St Wynnum in the early 60’s. Perhaps because of Tesco and ASDA, Rowells continues to survive offering old time service and selections.

At the end of the High St where it joins Main St. we turn right and proceed to an abandoned building which must have once been the tallest in town with its clock tower above. Pasted on the grime and dirt covering the building is a hopeful notice of a planned renovation. I have no idea whether this is current or past history. We walk along Main St passed Bank St where once Glitter and Dance had its warehouse. The street is largely unpaved and derelict. Access to the warehouse was from the car park of another merchandise shop. It looks sad without the colourful posters inviting customers to drop in. We walk around past the Duchess Theatre which always looks closed but the advertising assures that a local theatre group will be putting on a show soon. Then past the “antiques shop” which apart from its contents is advertised for sale or lease. We walked on to the library and into Tamworth Rd. We followed the road around through Market Place back into Regent St and home. I have included photos of two icons of Long Eaton – Rowells, and the “antiques” shop.

Our next stop was the Attenborough wildlife centre. There are some new visitors, a flock of black and white tufted ducks (these are here all year round apparently but I don’t recall seeing them) and a porchard duck – all on his own. Some Canada Geese goslings were there in their teenage plumage. I showed Svein the bird hide but with everything else we wanted to achieve we could not go walking through the wetlands.

We drive into Nottingham stopping at the DH Lawrence centre in the grounds of the University of Nottingham where we have morning tea and check out the ice on the lake and how the birds are handling the cold weather. I had hoped to show Svein the George Green display but it has finished so we must go to the windmill.

On to Nottingham which sits on top of a sandstone shelf which has given the people of Nottingham the resource for caverns and tunnels under the city. We find a park below the place where Nottingham Castle once stood and park the car. Some of the tunnels and caverns are immediately apparent but the best thing we could do to show Svein how this rock shelf has been used was to visit the UK’s oldest pub – Ye Olde Trip to Jeruselum said to have been founded in 1187. We could not pass the Olde Trip and its rooms in the base of the Castle rock. A glass of mulled wine and an inspection of the pubs interior gives you a clear idea of how the locals used the sandstone shelf.  Pictures of the excavated sandstone and some of the caverns follow.

We head off to Sneiton and the windmill. This is the windmill where George Green Nottingham’s famous but almost forgotten mathematician started life and raised his family. Uneducated beyond primary school Green developed theories on physics and magnetism that are still in use today.

 

Then onto Southwell Minster and Arch Bishops Palace. A magnificent cathedral it has seen some of England’s more tumultuous events. From the tiles for the former Roman villa to the Saxon foundations the Norman nave and transepts with its gothic extensions it really is extraordinary. Some different photos of the Minster are set out below.

To end the day we went to Thoresby Abbey where Warner Hotels has brought the old Abbey back to life as part of one of its leisure hotels. Some different photos of the Abbey are below. The sun has now set as we warm ourselves in front of the fire with a beer in hand. It will take us an hour to drive back home but we have had a pleasant day.

Bishops Visit – Interval- De je vu – Southwell Minster

Between returning from Scotland and leaving for France, we had a window of opportunity which I have called “the Interval”.

During these few days we visited Southwell Minster north east of Nottingham, Haddon Hall north west of Nottingham and London (I presume you know where that is). This blog concerns Southwell (pronounced “Suthull” by Nottinghamites and “South Well” by its residents – work that out). Norwell (pronounced “Norrell”) approximately eight miles northwest may support the notion of there being “south” and “north” wells in the area.

Southwell is a town in Nottinghamshire, best known as the site of Southwell Minster, the seat of the Church of England diocese that covers Nottinghamshire. The town lies on the River Greet, approximately 14 miles (22 km) northeast of Nottingham.

The early history of this Minster as noted by Wikipedia: “Eadwy of England gifted land in Southwell to Oskytel the Archbishop of York, in 956. Eadwy’s charter is the first dated reference to Southwell. Evidence of a tessellated floor and the 11th-century tympanum over a doorway in the north transept are evidence of the construction of the minster after this time. The Domesday Book of 1086 has much detail of an Archbishop’s manor in Southwell. A custom known as the “Gate to Southwell” originated after 1109 when the Archbishop of York, Thomas I wrote to every parish in Nottinghamshire asking for contributions to the construction of a new mother church. Annually at Whitsuntide the contributions known as the “Southwell Pence” were taken to the minster in a procession that set off from Nottingham headed by the mayor followed by clergy and lay people making a pilgrimage to Southwell’s Whitsun Fair. The Southwell Pence was paid at the north porch of the minster to the Chapter Clerk. The name of this custom – the Southwell Gate – derives from the Scandinavian word “gata” meaning street or way to. In its original form it persisted well into the 16th century. In 1981 Dolphin Morrismen revived the tradition.

Geoffrey Plantagenet was ordained as a priest at Southwell in 1189. On 4 April 1194, Richard I and the King of Scots, William I, was in Southwell, having spent Palm Sunday in Clipstone. King John visited Southwell between 1207 and 1213, ostensibly for the hunting in Sherwood Forest, but also en route to an expedition to Wales in 1212. The Saracen’s Head was built in 1463 on land gifted in 1396 by the Archbishop of York, Thomas Arundel, to John and Margaret Fysher. When built, the first floor overhung the roadway in the vernacular of the time.

In 1603, James VI of Scotland passed through Southwell on his way to London to be crowned King James I. During the English Civil War, King Charles I spent his last night as a free man in May 1646 in the Saracen’s Head (then the King’s Head), before surrendering to the Scottish Army stationed at nearby Kelham. The fabric of the town, the minster and Archbishop’s Palace suffered at the hands of Oliver Cromwell’s troops, as they sequestered the palace as stabling for their horses, broke down monuments, and ransacked the graves for lead and other valuables. In 1793, iron rings fastened to the walls to secure the horses were still in situ. The end of the civil war left the Archbishop’s Palace in ruins apart from its Great Hall. It is reputed that Cromwell also stayed in the King’s Head.”

Norman arch
Norman Nave
Vestments locker
Saxon “bread” pews
tiles from Roman villa
Gothic separation old and new
Gothic Nave
Gothic chandelier
Carving on Chapter house
Carving on Chapter house
Carving on Chapter house
Great Hall
Procession of the Cross
Procession of the Cross

So you can see that this small town (around 7,000 people) has played a big part in bits of history of the UK. The Archbishop’s Palace was home to Cardinal Wolsey who was Henry VIII’s advisor and when unable to secure Henry’s divorce from Rome Wolsey hid out at Southwell until summons by Henry to London but fortunately for Wolsey he died on his trip back to a trial and execution planned by Henry.

The Saracen’s Head is still there. It changed its name from the King’s Head when Charles lost his head. So we visited the Minster and the pub. Whilst at the Pub we picked up this fascinating leaflet on the history of the hotel which told us more of the story of Charles I last meal than the dry facts given by Wikipedia. Remember that in 1642 Charles had raised his standard at Nottingham Castle to signal the beginning of the Civil War. By 1646 the Royalist Army had been all but defeated or surrendered. After the Battle of Naseby Charles realised he needed the Scots to help him defeat the Parliamentarians.

The leaflet told us that Charles escaped from London and went to the Inn disguised as a Clergyman with his clerk to meet with the Scottish commissioners then in Southwell Minster with a regiment of Scottish soldiers. You may recall in earlier blogs I have written about Cromwell’s son in law Henry Ireton and how he was negotiating with Charles around accepting a role as constitutional monarchy. Well the Scots were talking to Charles about supporting him if he accepted Presbyterianism as the religion of England and Ireland amongst other things.

So Charles revealed himself to the Scottish general and started negotiations to have the Scottish forces join his Royalist Army. However he prevaricated so much (as he was doing with Ireton) and refused to sign an agreement that the Scots who left Southwell and marched with Charles as their “prisoner” to Kelham outside Newcastle where they treated with Cromwell’s Parliamentary army and handed over Charles in exchange for 400,000 pounds. And, as they say the rest is history and Charles lost his head at Whitehall on January 30, 1649.

Whilst at the pub and we saw a copy of Charles I death warrant signed by Parliament and in particular Cromwell and Ireton. The leaflet says that as well as Charles I many other notable people stayed at the Inn, namely:

  • Lord Byron (who lived close by),
  • Cardinal Wolsey of course
  • Kings of England, Richard I, Richard II, John, Henry II, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, and Edward IV
  • King of England and Scotland James I
  • Charles Dickens – he was a very wide travelled individual as he has popped up as a visitor in many places we have been; and
  • The Beatles

So well worth a visit to this village and see the Minster (there are displays of the remains of an old Roman villa under the Minster visible, Saxon “bread” pews and Norman and Gothic architecture), the ruins of the Archbishops Palace and the restored Great Dining Hall and the Saracen’s Head (so named as the sword used to behead Charles was a Saracen sword)