Bearing up in Warwick.

The 8 hour day and 53 locks yesterday must have taken it out of the crew as they were sluggards this morning and I could only prise them out of bed after a cup of tea. We were heading into town for a full day sightseeing as the last time Amy had been here was about twenty years ago.

We took our usual route from the canal up past the hospital entrance then followed the train tracks to the subway underthem that took us into Priory Park and up the hill through the woods rather than via busy traffic busy streets. It brings you out on Cape Street close to the junction with Northgate. I had never noticed this sundial the corner of the Northgate House Conference Centre. There is the double on the other side of the point too. We followed the Northgate to St. Mary's Church and it seems the buildings seem to have been finished.

Amy had never been to see the Beauchamp Chapel and it is well worth seeing. As we have been here several times I thought rather than repeat the same pictures I thought I would have a theme of bears. This one is at the foot of the effigy of the body of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick who died in 1590. The bear and ragged staff have been the emblem for the Earls of Warwick, the Beauchamp family since around the late 1200's, and originally they were separate as here. The bears are just about always seen as muzzled and chained.

This bear at the foot of Richard de Beauchamp does not look too happy but he is sitting on the finest 15th century bronze tomb in the country. Richard died in 1439!

One of the volunteers in the church told us that the bear has always been depicted muzzled since Thomas Beauchamp I think it was imprisoned in the Tower of London for going against the King. When he was let out the King apparently said that he could no longer muzzle him so he would ensure that he was reminded to beware by ensuring that his emblem the bear was muzzled. It seems that in the 1990's the Bear and Ragged Staff was adopted by the Warwickshire Council. Recently the idea of a muzzled bear is certainly not a vote getter, so the bear has once again become unmuzzled.

On the walls of the church are a couple of shelves. Several local people left money in their wills to buy bread for the poor in 1625, 1714 and 1733 and the bread was placed on these shelves right up until the early 1900's and again for a couple of years in the 1970's.

This beautifully carved pulpit was presented to the church to celebrate the 60th year of the reign of Queen Victoria in 1897 by the Warwickshire Provincial Grand Master and Brother Freemasons. I don't suppose that there are too many that have Freemasonary pieces.

These are lovely pieces above the front entrance to the old Court Building which is now the visitor centre and the Warwickshire Yeomanry Museum.

We then went to see the Lord Leycester Hospital. It has had a long history and is a beautiful building that dates back well over 450 years. It is still the accommodation for 8 ex serviceman who live in flats dotted around and help run the place too. It is well worth the entrance fee.

In the courtyard is another muzzled bear with a ragged staff.

After the death of the Earl in 1588 the Beauchamp line died and the lands etc passed to Mary Beauchamp who was married to Sir Henry Sidney and the blue Porcupine is that family emblen and is also found in the Great Courtyard.

Under the eaves of the north side of the courtyard are a series of these bears that are holding their staff in various ways. They look much more like modern day Teddy Bears.

This is another device of the Sidney family and is thought to be the source of the broad arrow that is stamped on all government and military property after a member of the Sidney family was Joint Master General of Ordance 1693 to 1702. However it had been in use a little before this.

Here is a more modern bear and ragged staff in the knot garden of the Lord Leyster Hospital.

We walked to the bridge over the Avon for this view of the Warwick Castle. I wonder if one day there will be narrow boats passing under the bridge and with such great views of the castle. It may be if plans to build a series of locks up from the river to connect with the Grand Union just to the east of the city ever happen.

After some lunch out we went back to the boat for a cup of tea and a rest before collecting Amy's stuff and walking up to the station, just a 15 min walk, for her to catch the Chiltern Trains service to Marylebone Stataion in London. We were pleased to see her, especially as it made our trip down the from Birmingham much easier with three.