WALKING IN THE RAIN

Sue and I had a great time in Richmond yesterday despite the very wet weather, so after a wander round in the rain we made our way to the cinema and we really enjoyed the film Red Joan with Judi Dench. We came out at about 7.30 and decided to go into the local “Chippy” and treat ourselves to fish and chips, which was delicious.

We had hoped that today the weather would be fine but sadly when we woke up the skies were grey and the rain was hammering down. However Sue is not a “fine weather walker” like me, so off she went at about 10 o’clock for her power-walking. Determined not to be beaten I went out at about 10:30 and walked along the road towards Stanwick, passing some soggy looking sheep on the way. I took the shot of the signpost at the top especially for Terrifo because her relatives came from this area.

It was very cold and wet but I was determined to make it to the Church of St. John the Baptist that stands in the centre of Stanwick Camp Iron Age settlement and which was about twenty minutes along the road. Sadly this is now a redundant church so no longer used for regular worship, but it is still beautifully kept.

On the way, walking past Kirk Bridge, a very large farm, I spotted a herd of cows and although it was raining I stopped and spoke to a couple of them - well when you’re on your own, on a miserable day, with no-one to chat to, it seems a good thing to do! Before I knew it, the whole herd ambled over, so I chatted to all of them - what a shame I didn’t have my microphone with me!

In the grounds of what was a very large house, sadly now demolished, belonging to the Duchess of Northumberland, and used as her summer residence, is an ice house - at the top left of the collage - and this looks rather strange standing in a field next to the Church. Sue knew about this because her late husband had done been to the very bottom of the ice house when he did renovation work on it some years ago.

The next photograph shows a very old horse trough on the road to the Church, with water still flowing into it - and this could have been to “water” the horses when they came to the big house, known as Stanwick Park or Stanwick Hall.

I then walked through the lych gate, up the path into the Church, some parts of which date back to the 13th century and which contains many interesting things, such as the font, beautiful stained glass windows and many tombs and monuments to the Smithson family. The effigies of Sir Hugh Smithson and his wife can be seen at the top and bottom right of the collage, which I thought were very unusual as he is reclining on one elbow, looking down on his wife rather than lying on his back, like his wife!

Sir Hugh’s great grandson married Elizabeth Percy and inherited through her the Earldom of Northumberland. Interestingly, and for any American Blip friends, it was his illegitimate son’s bequest that created the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.

The bellows for the one-manual organ, shown at the bottom left was obviously hand pumped - see the next shot - and there were many initials carved into the wood. It reminded me of when I attended Gorse Hill Baptist Church when I was much younger - you always knew when Graham had been pumping the bellows, because there were sweet papers all around!

An interesting morning - sadly I had quite a long and wet walk back, but I enjoyed finding out more about the Church. It was good to hear about the involvement Sue’s husband had with the ice house and I must say that Sue is a fount if knowledge about the area in which she lives. It has been great to spend this time with her.

“History is
who we are and
why we are
the way we are.”
David McCullough

PS Apologies again for not commenting - we are out shopping at the moment so I have a reasonable signal to post this!

PPS The extra is my “nod” to Silly Saturday!! ;-)