Tag Archive | Dorset

1955 University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour of the West Country

In the 1950s the University of Bristol Dramatic Society had a tradition of undertaking summer tours of West Country villages, performing one of two plays in schools, church rooms, and village, town and Women’s Institute halls. I don’t know when this tradition started, nor when it ended, but I do know that such a tour took place both in 1955 and 1956. My parents became engaged while they were on the 1955 tour, when my mother was 21 and my father about to turn 24.

1955 UBDS Players Tour programme

I know little about these tours, but during my riffling through family papers and photographs I have been able to piece together a small account of the 1955 tour. I’ll try in the coming weeks to do something similar with the 1956 one, for which I have less information. But right now the focus is on 1955.

The two plays that were performed were As You Like It by William Shakespeare, and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. The first performance of the tour was on Friday 8 July 1955, at Wells Town Hall in Somerset, and the final performance was possibly at the Town Hall, Dulverton, also in Somerset, on Thursday 4 August 1955. In between the tour travelled mainly through Somerset, but also ventured into Devon and Dorset. On Friday 29 July my parents got engaged, while they were at the Somerset village of Hardington Mandeville.

Luckily a typewritten itinerary for the tour survives, annotated by my father, as well as my mother’s diary for 1955. There is a very slight discrepancy between the two for places and dates, but I would be inclined to follow the itinerary as I think the diary entries might represent the preliminary dates given to the cast and crew, before being refined into what was presented in the typewritten itinerary. Certainly my father didn’t amend any of the dates or places on it.

The 34 photos that survive are very small black and white prints, but they can tell a lot about the life on the tour. Two lorries were packed up by the side of the Victoria Rooms in Bristol: it seems the whole production was carried in these two vehicles. The students roughed it, sleeping in the halls after the performances, or if the weather was clement, sleeping out under the stars. Each day the production had to be unpacked from the lorries, the stage, backdrop, sound and lighting, and seating for the audience set up, the costumes and make-up and wigs put on often in makeshift dressing rooms (again, sometimes outdoor ones), and the performance given. Then everything was taken down, packed up and ready for the next stop on the schedule. Sometimes there were two performances in a day, a matinee and an evening performance, in different places. Sundays were a day off.

My father’s annotations of the itinerary mark three open-air performances, and that there was no audience for the evening performance of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Women’s Institute hall in Beer, Devon, on Monday 1 August!

The photos as found were in a muddled pile, with no negatives to help with ordering them, and no annotations on the backs. I have put them in some sort of order here, but as many of the places shown are unknown to me, I almost certainly haven’t placed them in the right order.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Packing the lorry outside the Victoria Rooms, Bristol, ?8 July 1955. Photo 2264.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Packing the lorry outside the Victoria Rooms, Bristol, ?8 July 1955. Peggy Riddel at left. Photo 2265.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Travelling in the lorries. Photo 2266.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. A stop in a town. Squinting at the original with a jeweller’s loupe I can see the pub/hotel is The Old White Hart or less likely The Old White Hare, and that the street opposite the pub/hotel is South Street. Photo 2267.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. I assume the students are buying some food from this gentleman. Photo 2268.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. ?Roger Montague having a snooze in the back of one of the lorries. Photo 2269.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. A stop for candy floss and lollies. Photo 2270.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Shenanigans. This camp site with its distinctive wall was used again during the 1956 tour. Photo 2271.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. On the swings. Photo 2272.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. One of the camp sites. Photo 2273.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Two nymphs and onlookers. Photo 2274.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. I think this lady is Prudence Knowers. Photo 2275.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Night time relaxing – after a performance? ?Roger Montague standing at right. Photo 2276.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Camping in a village hall. Photo 2277.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. I think this must be in one of the Town Halls that the tour visited. ?Peggy Riddel. Photo 2278.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Camp beds in one of the halls. Roger Montague and Peggy Riddel at the pole. Photo 2279.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Constructing the stage. Photo 2280.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Hanging the backdrop with a cuppa. Photo 2281.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. A painted backdrop for As You Like It. Photo 2282.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Getting ready for a performance of As You Like It. Photo 2283.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Backstage at an outdoor performance of As You Like It. Roger Montague seated at front right. Photo 2284.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. An outdoor performance of As You Like It, at a school. Roger Montague at right. Photo 2285.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Drumming up publicity in Somerton, by the Butter Cross, for that evening’s performance of The Importance of Being Earnest: Eric Stevens, (Rev. Canon Chasuble), pushing Pat Whitehouse (Miss Prism) in a chair. Photo 2286.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. A poster for the performance of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Memorial Hall, Merriott on Tuesday 19 July 1955 at 7.30 pm. Photo 2287.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Getting ready outdoors for a performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. John M Cann standing in foreground, Roger Montague second right. Photo 2288.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Waiting for the performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. Eric Stevens in costume as Rev. Canon Chasuble. Photo 2289.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. L-R: Algernon Moncrieff (Roger Montague), Hon. Gwendoline Fairfax (Lesley Coleman), Lady Bracknell (Margaret Stallard), Lane (the butler – Wallace Weaving), John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing (John M Cann). Photo 2290.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. L-R: John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing (John M Cann), Hon. Gwendoline Fairfax (Lesley Coleman), Algernon Moncrieff (Roger Montague). Photo 2291.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. L-R: Hon. Gwendoline Fairfax (Lesley Coleman), John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing (John M Cann). Photo 2292.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. L-R: Algernon Moncrieff (Roger Montague), Cecily Cardew (Peggy Riddel). Photo 2293.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. L-R: L-R: Miss Prism (Pat Whitehouse), Cecily Cardew (Peggy Riddel), Algernon Moncrieff (Roger Montague), John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing (John M Cann), Rev. Canon Chasuble (Eric Stevens). Photo 2294.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. L-R: Algernon Moncrieff (Roger Montague), John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing (John M Cann), Hon. Gwendoline Fairfax (Lesley Coleman), Cecily Cardew (Peggy Riddel). Photo 2295.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. L-R: Lady Bracknell (Margaret Stallard), Hon. Gwendoline Fairfax (Lesley Coleman), John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing (John M Cann), Rev. Canon Chasuble (Eric Stevens), Miss Prism (Pat Whitehouse), Algernon Moncrieff (Roger Montague), Cecily Cardew (Peggy Riddel). Photo 2296.

University of Bristol Dramatic Society Players’ Tour 1955. Performance of The Importance of Being Earnest. L-R: Lady Bracknell (Margaret Stallard), John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing (John M Cann), Hon. Gwendoline Fairfax (Lesley Coleman), Rev. Canon Chasuble (Eric Stevens), Miss Prism (Pat Whitehouse), Cecily Cardew (Peggy Riddel), Algernon Moncrieff (Roger Montague). Photo 2297.

A lovely story I remember being told was that my parents were so deliriously in love that they kissed during a scene in The Importance of Being Earnest when they weren’t supposed to.

A member of the tour was Wallace Weaving (‘Wally’). He married Anne Lennard, my mother’s good friend at university, on 6 July 1957, just a couple of weeks before my parents married. The Weavings had three children, including Hugo Weaving, who went on to become a rather more famous actor than his father …

We took many of our family holidays in the West Country, and my parents often commented on the large Wellingtonia that grew by the old road by the village of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (now the south side of the A303, just near the turning for Crewkerne), remembering it from their time on the tour. In later years they moved to West Dorset, and I would pass this tree every time I drove to see them. For me, it will always be the tree that marked their falling in love.

A stock photograph in my parents’ photo collection of St Audries School in Somerset. The tour visited here on Thursday 14 July 1955 for an open-air evening performance of As You Like It. I wonder if the cast camped out here? It’s a very romantic setting … Photo 2356.

There are also photos from the 1956 tour, though I think only my mother took part in this (just after she’d graduated) as my father graduated in 1955 and was working by then, and I can’t see him in any of the photos. I don’t have a programme for the 1956 tour, but I do have an itinerary. I will try to put together a piece on what I know of it.

I pulled together a list of everyone I know from the programme that was involved in the 1955 tour: there may be others missing.

Players (some backstage positions as well):

John Barrett: AYLI; 1955 Tour Committee electrician
Carolyn Blackmore: AYLI
Roger Bull: AYLI
Edith Burke: AYLI; assistant producer AYLI; 1955 Tour Committee property mistress
John M Cann: AYLI; IBE; 1955 Tour Committee assistant director
Lesley Coleman: IBE; dance arranger AYLI
Michael Gibson: AYLI; stage manager IBE; 1955 Tour Committee stage director
Jean Goffe: AYLI
Diana Greenhalgh: AYLI
Brian Ives: AYLI; stage manager AYLI; assistant producer IBE
Jill Marshall: AYLI; 1955 Tour Committee catering officer
Roger Montague: AYLI; IBE
Mary Nowell: AYLI
Peggy Riddel: IBE
Margaret Stallard: IBE
Eric Stevens: AYLI (x2 parts); IBE; settings and production AYLI
Ian Turner: AYLI (x2 parts)
Peter Wagstaff: AYLI; IBE
Wallace Weaving: AYLI; IBE; 1955 Tour Committee assistant business manager
Pat Whitehouse: IBE; 1955 Tour Committee property mistress

11 men, 9 women = 20 actors / actors and backstage

Non-acting involvement, might not all have been on the tour:

Sylvia Alexander: music composer AYLI
Helen Floyd: 1955 Tour Committee wardrobe mistress
Prudence Knowers: production, costume and setting design IBE
Jay Parry: 1955 Tour Committee director
John Pople: 1955 Tour Committee business manager
Anne Simon: costume design AYLI
Barbara Somerville: costume design AYLI

2 men, 5 women = 7 non-actors

If all those listed went on the tour, 13 men and 14 women = 27 total. There might have been yet more people on the tour that aren’t mentioned in the programme.

If any readers have any memories or knowledge of the tour, or recognise any of the people or places in the photographs, I’d be delighted to hear.

Sunday stroll: RSPB Arne

Oct9

On Sunday we headed out to the Arne peninsula on the south-western side of Poole Harbour, to visit the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve there. We saw a group of spoonbills, recent arrivals to the UK which are now breeding here. It’s a lovely reserve, with areas of deciduous woodland, heathland and marshland, so attracts lots of different kinds of birds.

Looking through the Scots Pines (Pinus sylvestris) to Poole Harbour. There’s a group of spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) in there, not that you can make them out!

The best my crappy camera could manage of the spoonbills. I counted about 48 individuals.

Either a Common darter (Sympetrum striolatum) or a Ruddy darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) dragonfly. He let me put the camera almost on top of him!

If I was clever I would stitch these next two photos together … but I’m not. Various islands in Poole Harbour, including Long Island, Round Island, Green Island and Brownsea Island.

The sandy cliffs by the beach at Shipstal Point. The archaeologist in me wanted to cut them back to a vertical section ….

RSPB website

Man O’War Cove and Durdle Door, Dorset

Jul6

Last Saturday (30 June) we rather rashly decided to visit the Dorset coast – along with most of the rest of the UK, it seemed. The weather has been scorching and so we decided we wanted to see Man O’War Cove and Durdle Door, neither of which places we’d visited before.

Man O’War Cove is part of a larger bay called St Oswald’s Bay, and is marked at its western end by a headland of almost vertically-bedded rock. On the other side of this headland is the famous rock arch, Durdle Door, and another bay. The cliffs behind the bays are steep. Click on all photos to enlarge/embiggen/bigify.

The view of Man O’War Cove as you approach from the car park. Durdle Door is on the other side of the headland, off to the right of the photo.

Man O’ War Cove is the nearer of the two bays: all together this is St Oswald’s Bay. The rocks in the sea are Man O’War Rocks, and the promontory separating the two coves is Man O’War Head. Looking to the east.

Durdle Door, with the high ground of the Isle of Portland (not actually an island) in the background to the left, and Weymouth in the background to the right.

Durdle Door. Some lads were climbing up the right hand part of the arch and jumping off into the sea – you can make them out if you enlarge the photo.

We climbed up a footpath back to the car park, and were rewarded with this fabulous view of the headland: Man O’War Cove on the left and Durdle Door on the right.

All the time we were there was a constant stream of green t-shirt clad walkers was coming from the west. They were all taking part in the Macmillan Cancer Support Jurassic Coast Mighty Hike, a 22-mile walk along the coast to raise sponsorship funds for this fantastic charity.

Green-clad charity walkers for the Mighty Hike organised by Macmillan Cancer Care. The walkers were doing a 22-mile walk in the scorching heat – much respect!

If you are interested in the geology of the area, this illustrated article is a good place to start.

Sunday stroll: West Dorset

May7

Yesterday the weather was so glorious that we headed out first thing for an adventure. We wanted to do a walk along a river, and as the rivers round our way are mainly lacking in public rights of way, we headed to one of our favourite parts of the world, West Dorset. Click on all photos to embiggen/bigify.

Our first port of call was Pilsdon Pen, a hillfort-topped hill very near where my parents used to live. It used to be thought the highest point in Dorset, until a re-survey showed that the neighbouring Lewesdon Hill was a mighty two metres higher.

Lewesdon Hill from Pilsdon Pen.

On a really clear day the views are spectacular, but the heat haze made the visibility not so great. Lots of lovely chubby lambs on the hill.

Chubby lamb on Pilsdon Pen.

Then we drove on to Whitchurch Canonicorum, and did a short walk along the banks of the River Char, which flows down to the sea at the aptly named Charmouth.

River Char to the right of the photo. It’s narrow and quite deeply incised.

The walk was pretty, but a bit disappointing nature-wise: we only saw five species of butterfly (orange tip, peacock, small white, speckled wood and brimstone), and very few birds, though we did have a brief encounter with a heron. The wild flowers were also rather limited: mainly dandelions, lady’s smock (also known as cuckoo flower), greater stitchwort, bluebells, wild garlic and field buttercups.

Loads of lady’s smock in the damper areas.

Beautiful wild garlic.

Bluebells and greater stitchwort growing in the shade of a hedgerow.

Afterwards we went to the village pub, the Five Bells, but as they didn’t have any alcohol-free lager (I know, we’re both on the wagon and needs must when you fancy a cold one!) we went on to the Shave Cross Inn in Marshwood Vale. We’ve been here many times and it’s a lovely pub, but sadly too popular yesterday as we couldn’t get a table to eat. And no alcohol-free beer either, so we contented ourselves with big glasses of fizzy water with ice and a slice of lemon and pretended they were g&ts, sitting in the sunny garden. There’s a lovely old Victorian postbox built in to the side of the pub.

Victorian postbox built in to the side of the Shave Cross Inn. The VR stands for Victoria Regina (Queen Victoria).

Then on to the pretty market town of Bridport, which unsurprisingly was Sunday-shut. We snaffled a supermarket sandwich as a pub lunch anywhere wasn’t going to happen (too busy on this Bank Holiday weekend and too late). We took the coast road eastwards out of Bridport, and stopped at the National Trust-owned Cogden Beach at the western end of Chesil Beach. There were quite a few anglers fishing from the shingle, and a few hardy swimmers. The water was pretty calm and I was tempted, until I went for a paddle. Not warm! One very excitable young woman was swimming and shouting to her friends on the beach ‘I love the sea!’ so happily that it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s grown a mermaid tail by now.

She loves that sea!

I tried to take an arty-farty photo of the shingle (pea to grape sized here, where at the eastern end of Chesil they are sweet potato sized), but when I looked at it on screen just now it looked like I could have taken the shot of a dumpy bag of gravel at my local Travis Perkins. Not one for Instagram!

Hmm. Cogden Beach or Travis Perkins?

Then back in the car and we decided that rather than take the A35, the quick road back to Dorchester, we’d bimble along the road that runs vaguely parallel and to the south of it. I cycled this road back in 1987 (a Sunday cycle) when I was working on the archaeological excavations ahead of the construction of the Dorchester bypass and had bought myself a bicycle so I could see some more of the countryside. It was quite nostalgic visiting again – we drove through Long Bredy, Littlebredy and passed the gateway of a new country house that I remember seeing a tv progamme about many moons ago: Bellamont House, built in the Neo Georgian / Neo Gothic Revival style. We admired their golden duck gates and the longhorn cattle within.

Bellamont House, between Long Bredy and Littlebredy.

We decided to head home via the Cerne Abbas Giant: he always seems so pleased to see us.

The Cerne Abbas Giant.

Look closer.

Sunday stroll: Bulbarrow

Nov9

Bulbarrow Hill is a beautiful hill in north-central Dorset, south of Sturminster Newton and west of Blandford Forum. Here the chalk hills rise to 274 metres, making it the third-highest point in the county (after Eggardon Hill at 279 m and Pilsdon Pen at 277 m). It has spectacular views all around, especially to the north and north-west, over the Blackmore Vale, and south-eastwards towards the Dorsetshire Gap. This is in the heart of Thomas Hardy country, and is as lovely as it was in his day, seemingly little-changed. Click on all photos to enlarge: if you then click on the photo again, you get an even bigger version.

View looking south-west from Bulbarrow Hill. The Dorsetshire Gap is on the right in the distance.

By the stile to the footpath leading to Rawlsbury Camp was this sign:

Dating, Dorset style. I wonder what was in the message and if they ever met up again?

Rawlsbury Camp is a small multivallate hillfort, dating from the Iron Age. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and according to its listing, does not appear to have been excavated. A large, fairly new wooden cross has been placed within the hillfort. I can see no mention of this in the listing and wonder if it is a modern construction or replacing an older, historic one. I would hope the latter, as I cannot see how such despoilation of a scheduled ancient monument would be allowed otherwise.

Rawlsbury Camp with its intrusive cross.

The Dorsetshire Gap is a prominent landscape feature, a very obvious gap (and thus passageway) between Nordon Hill to the east and Nettlecombe Tout to the west. Five ancient trackways meet at the Gap.

The earthworks (ramparts and ditches) of Rawlsbury Camp. It must have been a bleak life living up here. The Dorsetshire Gap is on the horizon.

A beautiful windswept oak on the ramparts.

One of the things that struck us here is that even though there is a road running right across the top of the hill, there is no road noise, allowing you to enjoy the proper sounds of the countryside. This is in marked contrast to another favourite Dorset spot of ours, Fontmell Down Nature Reserve, where the A350 runs noisily close by and the neighbouring Compton Abbas airfield sees plenty of small aircraft coming and going.

Looking north across the Blackmore Vale towards the Shaftesbury escarpment and the lone tump of Duncliffe Hill. You can just make out the clump of trees on Win Green on the very right of the photo, on the skyline. (Click to embiggen/bigify).

On the way home we stopped at the River Stour, just north of the wonderfully named village of Hammoon. Here there is a small brick-built river water monitoring station, run by the Environment Agency, and there is a very touching plaque mounted on the wall.

The lovely plaque at the water monitoring station by the bridge over the River Stour, near Hammoon. Tom Poole was clearly much loved by his colleagues.

The River Stour, taken from Tom Poole’s Bridge (as I shall call it from now on).

The River Stour, and in the background Hambledon Hill. I have a very soft spot for Hambledon: it was here I went on my first proper archaeological dig, in 1979.

Sunday stroll: Ashcombe

Jul3

Yesterday was a glorious summer’s day, and we went on a walk we’ve done a couple of times before, on byways and footpaths through the grounds of the Ashcombe Estate, near Tollard Royal in south Wiltshire. Ashcombe House was once the home of Sir Cecil Beaton, and he wrote a wonderful book about his life there. Click on photos to enlarge.

1:25,000 map of the area. Each blue grid square is 1 km x 1 km.

Google Earth image with route marked. We started at Tollard Royal at the bottom of the image and walked the route anti-clockwise direction, going up the straight byway at the start of the walk.

Going up the long straight byway. A byway is open to all traffic: we met a couple of cheery off-road motorbikers.

Lovely vista of Ashgrove Bottom, one of the many dry valleys (coombes) on the chalk downland.

The path is still climbing, and on the left and centre you can see the tops of the wooded coombes in which Ashcombe House nestles.

Lovely meadow cranesbill (Geranium pratense). It’s a much more vivid blue than this – the colour never comes out right in my photos.

Still climbing.

If you just squint you can see a part of the roof and dormer windows of Ashcombe House in the centre of the photo, surrounded by the woods. It is in the most wonderfully secluded spot.

Looking down on the woods. To me, there is no finer sight than the English countryside in summer.

Not that you’ll be able to spot them, but there are two red kites (Milvus milvus) in this photo. The red kite has only colonised this area in the last 15 years or so.

A common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), just starting to go over.

Another common spotted orchid flower, slightly differently coloured (they are quite variable).

Ferne House, just to the north of the Ashcombe Estate, with its double avenue of trees. Despite looking like it has sat in its grounds for centuries, this mansion was built in 2001 for Lord Rothermere. It was designed in a Palladian style by architect Quinlan Terry.

Ferne House and grounds. I’m fascinated by the groups of trees that have been planted – squares, circles, crosses, triangles and even what might be a love heart! This is the highest point of the walk, and is only a few metres lower than Win Green, the nearby highest ground with a trig point and fabulous vistas over south Wiltshire and north Dorset.

Starting the steep walk down through the woods to Ashcombe Bottom. You can see here how Ashcombe got its name – valley of the ashes. There were also some beautiful beech trees in the woods, and luckily no sign of the dreaded ash die-back disease we’ve been hearing so much about recently.

It was a lovely surprise to see so many nettle-leaved bellflowers (Campanula trachelium) in the woods. The ransoms/wild garlic (Allium ursinum) leaves were dying off but the aroma was still pungent – delicious!

Walking down Ashcombe Bottom. Along with the estate trees (with their stock-proof cages) it was lovely to see the hawthorn bushes (Crataegus monogyna) on the hillside: such a classic part of chalk downland life.

Heading back to Tollard.

A rather crappy photo of a gorgeous comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album) with its ragged wing edges.

Journey’s end: the beautiful wildlife pond at Tollard Royal.

Such a lovely walk: we saw some many wildflowers and grasses, including goatsbeard (Tragopogon pratensis), quaking grass (Briza media), pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis), common spotted orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), common valerian (Valeriana officinalis), field scabious (Knautia arvensis), nettle-leaved bellflower (Campanula trachelium), meadow cranesbill (Geranium pratense), chalk milkwort (Polygala calcarea), lady’s bedstraw (Galium verum), wild carrot (Daucus carota), greater knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa), hedge bedstraw (Galium mollugo) and many others. The one plant I expected to see and did not was the harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), an absolute classic flower of chalk downlands.

We saw ten butterfly species: small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), small white (Pieris rapae), grizzled skipper (Pyrgus malvae), marbled white (Melanargia galathea), peacock (Aglais io), red admiral (Vanessa atalanta), comma (Polygonia c-album), meadow brown (Maniola jurtina), speckled wood (Pararge aegeria) and gatekeeper (Pyronia tythonus). We weren’t really looking out for birds so much, but saw red kites and buzzards, plus a female blackcap and heard a beautiful male blackbird’s song in the woods. A blue damselfly settled on the drive in front of us as we walked along Ashcombe Bottom. It’s a wonderful walk in beautiful countryside, and we shall be doing it again before too long.

Sunday stroll: Winterborne Tomson and Fontmell Down

Apr11

Yesterday we headed south to visit a small church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, in the hamlet of Winterborne Tomson in Dorset. The church is St Andrew’s Church, a Norman church dating from the early 12th century. It’s tiny – a mere 12.20 m (40 feet) from end to end and 4.60 m (15 feet) wide. It still has some of the original stone roof tiles, though most are replacement terracotta ones.

St Andrew’s Church, Winterborne Tomson, Dorset.

The door is studded with nails (and additional pretty orangey yellow lichen).

Inside it is wonderfully plain, with the only Norman apse in Dorset: a beautiful rounded east end to the building, with the oak beams above echoing the shape and decorated with intricately carved wooden bosses.

Oak beams and bosses in the apse ceiling.

The interior is furnished with plain oak box pews, a pulpit, a simple screen, and communion rails, all of which were added in the early 18th century.

Over the door the old rood-loft has been converted into a gallery. It is so wormy and rickety that the public is asked not to climb up there, and certainly looking at it I’m not sure it would have borne our weight.

The view from the pulpit, with the wormy rood-loft gallery, and the nails bent over on the inside of the door.

The pulpit viewed from the east end of the church, with the screen.

Inside one of the box pews.

The communion rails and altar.

The church is redundant (ie no longer used for regular services), but still consecrated. It was last used regularly in 1896. It is clearly much loved: there were beautiful, simple vases of flowers around the sides.

Another view from the pulpit. Lots of simple flower decorations.

Daffodils and tulips in one of the windows.

On one of the interior walls is a plaque commemorating the architect in charge of the restoration of the church from 1929-1931, Albert Reginald Powys: apparently before that time it was used as a livestock pen for the neighbouring farm. The funds for the restoration were provided largely by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB): the Society sold some manuscripts it held by Thomas Hardy, himself a SPAB member for 47 years, to fund the costs.

The plaque commemorating Albert Reginald Powys.

Right next to the church is a farmyard with some very inquisitive (and licky) calves.

On the way home we had a blustery walk up on Fontmell Down Nature Reserve.

Fontmell Down Nature Reserve on a very blustery spring day.

The reserve wasn’t looking quite as glorious as the last time we were there, but the common spotted orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) are on their way up: the plants with their well-named leaves were apparent in some numbers.

Leaves of the Common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)

Sunday stroll: Portland Bill

Jan24

Today we went for a walk at Portland Bill, the most southerly point on the Isle of Portland. The Isle of Portland is a strange place, hanging off the bottom of Chesil Beach like a stony teardrop. The island is an outcrop of Jurassic limestone which has been valued as a building stone for centuries. If you know the Tower of London: that’s Portland Stone. And St Paul’s Cathedral. And Buckingham Palace. And the United Nations headquarters building in New York City. And the Auckland War Memorial Museum in New Zealand. I could go on …

The Isle of Portland seen from Ringstead Bay on a sunny summer's day. To the right of the photo is Weymouth.

The Isle of Portland seen from Ringstead Bay on a sunny summer’s day in 2012. To the right of the photo is Wyke Regis, near Weymouth. Chesil Beach – a narrow spit of land, or tombolo – joins the two.

Quarrying has created a weird and atmospheric landscape on the island, with worked-out quarries and others that are still in use, and piles of discarded, sub-standard stone and workings piled in heaps and dumped over the edges of the high cliffs.

At the southerly end of the island is Portland Bill, with its two lighthouses to warn ships of the rocks and the deadly currents – the Race – where the water of the English Channel churns around the tip of the island in a furious boiling wash of water. Pulpit Rock is all that remains of a stone arch that was cut away by quarrymen.

Portland Bill lighthouse, and the other lighthouse (once the home of Marie Stopes) visible in the mid distance.

The Trinity House Obelisk, a daymarker to warn shipping off the coast during the day. All the land in the foreground is made ground, waste dumped by the quarrymen in centuries past.

Pulpit Rock.

It was a mild and windy day, and we scrambled down to a sea ledge to have a look at the stone and the seascape better.

Fossiliferous limestone exposed on the ledge by Pulpit Rock.

Dumped rejected stone near Pulpit Rock. The black dot on the water is a cormorant - we watched it repeatedly dive for food.

Dumped, rejected stone on a waste heap near Pulpit Rock. The black dot on the water is a cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) – we watched it repeatedly dive for food.

Earlier in the day we had been in Weymouth looking for jewellery goodies for my Etsy shop, and met this fellow in the car park:

Herring gull on the bonnet of our car in Weymouth.

Herring gull (Larus argentatus) on the bonnet of our car in Weymouth.

Sunday stroll: Down through Dorset

Sep14

Not really so much a stroll as a bimble in the car with a short walk at the end of it. Chap and I headed for the seaside yesterday, taking a long and slow route through Somerset and Dorset’s winding country lanes.

We stopped off at several places en route. First stop was the church of St Andrews in Yetminster. Here we admired the 15th-century painted decoration still surviving on the stonework and woodwork and a reminder of how our mostly now-plain parish churches would have looked in the past. There was a splendid brass monument to John Horsey (died 1531) and his wife on one wall, and another, stone this time, to Bridgett Minterne, who died in 1649. While we were there we were surprised by the church bells, which rang out ‘God Save the Queen’ – very unexpected. Apparently this happens every three hours to remind the villagers of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1897. I wonder if it happens through the night? There are some fantastic gargoyles on the tower, and a beautiful golden weathercock, but my photos of these haven’t come out very well and so don’t do them justice.

15th-century painted decoration at St Andrew’s, Yetminster.

Brass monument to John Horsey (died 1531) and his wife, St Andrew’s, Yetminster.

Monument to Bridgett Minterne (died 1649), St Andrew’s, Yetminster.

The tower with gargoyles and golden weathercock, St Andrew’s, Yetminster.

Next stop was the reservoir at Sutton Bingham. We went for a short walk along the edge of the reservoir through the wildflower hay meadow that is managed by Wessex Water, but as it had been given its annual cut not too long ago there wasn’t much to see. On the water there were mainly gulls and a few ducks, and a heron perched on the opposite shore. Sadly we didn’t see the osprey that are summer visitors here. A few dinghies and sailboats from the yacht club were pootling up and down the water, all very Swallows and Amazons.

A Mirror dinghy on Sutton Bingham Reservoir.

Then down into deepest Dorset and the Marshwood Vale. We stopped at the village of Stoke Abbott, parking near a lovely lion’s-head fountain of spring water with a spring-fed stone trough for horses nearby, both under a mighty oak planted in 1901 to celebrate the accession of Edward VII to the throne following the death of Victoria. We wandered off to look at the church of St Mary the Virgin. There had been a wedding there recently, as the fresh and dried flower confetti lay on the path and the church was still adorned with the wedding flowers. The church is in such a pretty setting, and has a 12th-century font with wonderful carvings.

Lion-headed fountain for spring water at Stoke Abbott.

Spring-fed water trough for horses, Stoke Abbott.

St Mary the Virgin, Stoke Abbott.

Wedding flowers at the porch, St Mary the Virgin, Stoke Abbott.

The 12th-century font, St Mary the Virgin, Stoke Abbott.

Wedding flowers and the simple lectern, St Mary the Virgin, Stoke Abbott. The flowers included agapanthus and Mollucella laevis (Bells of Ireland).

Notice in the porch, St Mary the Virgin, Stoke Abbott.

The sadly sheep-free graveyard, set in the most beautiful countryside, St Mary the Virgin, Stoke Abbott.

A lovely thatched house near the church in Stoke Abbott.

When we got back to the car a family (grandparents and wee granddaughter, we guessed) were filling up a car boot-load with numerous bottles and containers of the spring water, so I assume it’s safe to drink.

After a fruitless search for the cottage in Ryall where my family had spent several summer holidays in the late 60s (Mr and Mrs Kinchin’s B&B), we headed for the sea at nearby Charmouth. The weather was wild and windy, and we had a chuckle over the couple braving it out with their windbreak and deck chairs. We watched a kestrel quartering the top of the landslip cliffs, searched in vain for fossils, walked a short way up the beach and then decided to head home, via Bridport, Dorchester and Shaftesbury. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

A blustery afternoon at Charmouth.

No-one in the water, unsuprisingly.

The well-named Golden Cap on the right.

The shell grotto at St Giles House

Sep10

One of the nominations for the recent prestigious Historic England Angel Awards was for the craftsmanship in the restoration of the shell grotto at St Giles House near Wimborne St Giles in Dorset. Chap and I were very disappointed when it didn’t win – we thought it deserved the title, but then again, we are a little biased as we know the team from Sally Strachey Conservation that undertook the work.

The grotto is featured in the video above, from 2:10 onwards.

The grotto was built in the grounds of St Giles House, the family seat of the Earls of Shaftesbury. It dates from the early 1750s, and was built by John Castles (d. 1757) of Marylebone in London. Unlike some other grottoes, this one is free-standing rather than built into a rock face or hill slope, and is built over a springhead in the grounds. It is now safely roofed once more and even though it is not quite ordinary-looking from the outside, nothing prepares you for the fantastical realm within.

The grotto comprises an entranceway leading to a central room – the inner chamber – with tiled floor and a fireplace. This is flanked on either side by a curving side passage.

The main room is described in the Shell Guide to Dorset by Michael Pitt-Rivers (1966) as ‘an attempt at an underwater room rather than just a shell room’, and you certainly get the sense of being in some mysterious and magical undersea kingdom. The decoration comprises shells of all sorts of kinds, sizes and colours – huge conches are fixed to the walls as well as tiny jewel-like bivalves – and the marine effect is heightened by the clever way corals and sparkling mineral crystals, such as quartz, have been incorporated in the decor, as well as the way the shells have been attached to branches to mimic life in a coral garden. (You wouldn’t know there are branches under there, as they have been fully covered).

The main chamber of the shell grotto at Wimborne St Giles. Photo by SPAB.

The main chamber of the shell grotto at Wimborne St Giles, following the recent restoration work. Photo by SPAB.

Old photo of the grotto used by the conservators as a guide.

Old photo of the grotto before it fell into disrepair, used by the conservators as a guide.

Apparently some of the original shells came from the Caribbean, courtesy of the father of William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey: we know Fonthill and its grottoes well. In the restoration many of the shells had fallen from the walls and part of the work included sifting and storing those that could be saved. Replacement shells were sourced from all over, including eBay and beaches!

Repair work under way, rebuilding the shells on to the lath and plaster work.

Conservation work under way, rebuilding the shells on to the lath and plaster work.

Conservation work under way. Photo by Sally Strachey Conservation.

The main chamber after the completion of the conservation project. Photo by Sally Strachey Conservation.

We were impressed with how meticulous and intricate the work was, and the great care that was being taken by the team.

The side passages are mainly decorated with huge, knobbly flint nodules, though hiding in amongst these are the occasional whale vertebra and piece of architectural stone. The floors of the passages are set with smaller flint pebbles, much like the wonderful grotto at Stourhead and the much smaller one at the Larmer Tree Gardens.

The grotto is described as ‘recently restored’ in the 1966 Shell Guide; clearly it fell back into disrepair not long afterwards as by the time of its listing by English Heritage in 1986 it is described as ‘overgrown and in a state of dereliction … The main grotto which cannot now be easily entered has walls lined with shells, fossils, coral and stone mounted on a lathe and plaster vault, partially collapsed … An important example of this type of grotto but now in a state of considerable disrepair.’ It was placed on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register, and its fate looked bleak.

However, in the past few years the present Earl of Shaftesbury instigated a sizeable programme of works to save not just the grotto, but St Giles House itself, which was also on the Register. The work was largely funded by various government bodies. The work done on the house won the Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury the Award for the Best Rescue of Any Other Type of Historic Building or Site at the recent Angel Awards.

Repairing the roof of the grotto.

Huge congratulations to everyone involved in the work, both at the grotto and St Giles House, both of which are now firmly off the Register.

If you want to know more about John Castles’ grotto work, this blog post is an interesting place to start.

Further information and reading

The English Heritage Grade 2* listing of the grotto

Sally Strachey Conservation page about the project

A blog post about a SPAB visit to the grotto while the restoration work was underway last summer

RCHM (Royal Commission on Historical Monuments), Dorset vol V, 1972, p. 97, no. 6.

Newman, J and Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 1972, p. 473.

Pitt-Rivers, M, Shell Guide to Dorset, 1966, p. 141.

Jones, B, Follies and Grottoes, 1953, pp. 47-49.

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