It started to rain in the early morning and it was still raining when we got up but by the time we were ready to get under way it had sorted it's self out into an occasional slight drizzle. Result. As we were about to pull away a day boat pulled away from the boat yard opposite so we knew we would have lots of help at the next lock at least.
The river after Bidford on Avon was quite pretty and despite the clouds we didn't get wet.
The sun was making the trees glisten with gold despite the dark clouds in the background.
The hire boat was going quite slowly as they got the hang of the boat etc so we were going slowly so as to share the lock. The bird song from the trees was fantastic. We actually only saw two boat moving (other than the day boat) so it was like having our own river.
The second lock we arrived at was the Robert Aickman Lock. As you can see it was built in 1982 as the original one built was not in a good spot. As you can also see it is the biggest on the river and can take three narrow boats easily. The folk on the day boat were the Birmingham and New York sections of a family and were having a great time and were pleased to have us to make sure they were 'doing it right'.
George Billington Lock was built following a donation from George Billington. The work was carried out in six weeks as he was terminally ill. The construction was completed about a week before he died so he lived to see his dream complete. The tower, lighthouse, was built by Eric Pritchard who was a navigator and craftsman who worked on the locks and weirs etc during the restoration.
This is Norton Corner, a sharp bend in the river. Cox's Bottom is on the left. A little further down the river you come to Dead Man's Ait. This is near the scene of the first Battle of Evesham. In 1265 the army of Simon de Montfort was cornered in the loop of the river. De Montfort led the Rebellion of the Barons against Henry III and became the 'de facto' ruler. During this time he did call two parliaments and at the first did a way with the unlimited rule of the King and the second included ordinary citizens in it and for this he is regarded as the creator of our parliamentary democracy. How ever at the Battle of Evesham Henry III got his revenge by butchering De Montfort, his son and 5000 of his followers. In the 18th Century on the Ait a mass of bones were found as those trying to cross the river were caught and killed.
We soon arrived at Evesham lock despite a rather heavy shower. After the biggest lock this must be the smallest, at least so far.
Soon after the lock we were passing under Workman Bridge and we decided to stop alongside Workman Gardens on the left.
The bridge and gardens are named afdter hnery Workman who was Mayor of Evesham five times. The gardens were the site of warehouses and river wharves. The wooden carving and steel arch are to commemorate an arch formed of a bow heade whales jaw boane that was sent back from a whaling trip on the 'Andrew Marvel' from Hull to the Davis Strait where they caught 6 whales. The actual jaw bones became unsafe so were replaced by the metal arch. There is an outline in the grass of the actual size of the bow headed whale.
Our mooring from Workman Bridge.
The Nat West Bank was a nice building. The sculptur by Helen is a tribute to Eof the pig hearder who had so pigs disappear into a thicket and when he went in to recover them he had a vision of the Virgin Mary. he went and told the Bishop of Worcester who came to Evesham and investigated where upon he had the same vision. He then went to Ethelred the King of Mercia and an Abbey was started her in 701. The name Evesham derives from Eof and Hamm which meant the land in the bend of a river.
The Abbey grew to be very large but was lost, almost at the time of the Reformation of Henry VIII. This was the Almonary and is now the Tourist Information and a small museum. It was closed today but we will go back tomorrow.
In the grounds of the old Abbey is St Laurence's Church in the middle, All Saints on the left and the Bell Tower of the old Abbey behind. The Bell Tower has 14 bells and a carillon that plays a tune after every hour. There are two churches and they were built within 100 years of each other. Why you may ask?! The reason is that St Laurenc's was built first as the parish church for the original Evesham that was to the south. With nthe construction of the Abbey etc the town developed to the north and the parish was split into two and a second parish church was needed. Where better than on the high ground near the Abbey, hence why all the churches are all together.
The avenue of trees took us back to the boat through Workman Gardens after a pint at the Weatherspoon's in town, the Swane Inn.
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