Oh for the simple life on the boat. I have no idea where the time has gone since we came home, but I haven't stopped! We did get a break away at the start of November though, as we rented a Landmark Trust cottage, that was for a full family weekend away, but my son got called back to sea so there were only three of us.
There is no canal in this blog, but I have added it as it is all close to the canal at Tixall and Great Haywood areas so may be of interest to some. We drove over but as we weren't able to get into the place until 16:00 we stopped off and spent a couple of hours at the Wedgewood Museum near Barlaston. We had booked on a tour of the factory and spent a good while in the museum and of course the shop. Helen came away with a couple of mugs, no not me and our daughter, and other items. The Ingestre Pavillion is up a long drive from the main road, not in as bad condition as we were led to believe. The property was in the middle of a beech wood that was just about displaying its best colours.
Our place was the Pavillion marked in red on this 6" OS map from 1880/81. We couldn't see the main house, or any house from where we were. You can see that we aren't that far from the Trent and Mersey running beside the River Trent at the top right hand corner., between Hoo Mill and Weston Lock
Ingestre Pavilion was built in 1752 for the Viscount John Chetwynd who was 'doing the estate up'. It seems that they were later connected by marriage to the Clifford Constables of Burton Constable Hall near where we live. I think they moved from Ingestre to Burton Constable and let the house. I think they late also had the Tixall estate next door to Ingestre. There were rooms behind the facade but there were no signs of chimneys or fireplaces so it must have been like a summer house. By 1802 the rooms had gone with just the frontage left standing. In 1960 the estate was sold off, and by 1988 the owner of the woodland that was home to the pavilion was very worried about its state so gifted it to the Landmark Trust. This charity is all about building preservation and the rescue of historic buildings, tastefully and sensitively restoring them, but in a fashion that also allows them to be rented out.
We had an early start the next day as we were off to Cannock Chase to take part in the Park Run at The old site of RAF Hednesford. The site opened in 1939 as the school of Technical training for the RAF and Fleet Air Arm on airframes and engines. By the height of WWII there were 4000 trainees living in about 200 Nissan huts and 800 staff. Funnily enough there was never an airstrip there but at least three aircraft flew in landing on the playing fields to be used as instructional items. The last intake was in 1947 following which it was used as a demob and transit camp, and later as as a camp for preparation for overseas postings. By 1950 it was a basic training camp for the RAF National Service men. They spent 8, later 6 weeks basic training here 'square bashing', before moving to their next postings. In 1956 the RAF moved out and were immediately replaced by between 800 and 1200 refugees following the Hungarian uprising. In 1959 everything on the site was sold off and the rest left to be vandalised and decay. In 1962 the forces cleaned up the site, just leaving the officers mess to be used by the Territorial and Cadet forces for training camps. A year later it was sold to Staffordshire Council who did some work to make the site safe and then just left it to regenerate. In 1983 a visitor centre was opened and the site became part of the Cannock Chase AONB. Today the old roadways and paths can still be traced, and it was along these that the Park Run went on. No.1 daughter did well considering she normally runs in a park in Hull that many Park Runs from far and wide attend to get personal bests as it is so very flat!
After heading back to the house for a shower we headed into Stafford as none of us had been there before. Here are a few highlights of our trip around.. Above is Crabbery Street. The pale building was the frontage to the St. John's Indoor Market. It moved here in 1912 and was open on Tuesdays only for farm produce. It was extended over the years and became a general market. In WWII it was requisitioned as a food buffer store and warehouse for the RAF. It returned to its former use in 1946. The Market moved to new premises near the Guild Hall in 1989 and the market here was demolished in 1991, but this frontage retained. Next door, to the right of the picture is the former Noah's Ark Pub. At its heart is a building built in 1575 as a pub. It is said the Queen Elizabeth I stopped here for wine on her way through the town. In the late 1800's the front was altered and the ashlar cladding was added when the road was widened in front. In 1967 it became offices for the market and has since been empty and pubs, cafes etc.
On Greengate Street is the Ancient High House that is the largest timber framed building in England and was erected in 1595. The local oak trees were cut and carved on the ground as frames and then assembled and then infilled. It was for the Dorridge family. In 1643 Charles I arrived in Stafford just after raising his standard in Nottingham and stayed here with his son Prince Rupert and his dog 'Boy'. However the Parlimentary forces later took the town and the house was used to house the better off prisoners.
The various rooms are set out for different periods of the house. In the stairwell there is the remains of wallpaper that was put up in around 1760.
One of the rooms is set out as a shop as the ground floor was converted to several shops in the 1800's. The top floor is set over to the museum of the Staffordshire Yeomanry and is well worth a visit. The whole house is looked after the Council after a threat to demolish as the alterations to it had weakened the structure and would be too expensive to fix. It was fought by members of the public and is now free to enter.
Off Greengate Street is the Market Square and this is the Grade II listed old National Westminster Bank that was erected around 1900 in the Neo Classical Revival style in Portland Stone.
The Picture House was built for the local company Goodall Pictures and opened its doors in February 1914. The mock Tudor and stucco frontage is quite striking as is the full length wrought iron and glass canopy that adds elegance. The original box office at the front is still in front. There was another for the front stalls round the corner bu this has gone. In 1917 an organ was installed to accompany the film, and in April 1930 the equipment to show the new 'talkies' was fitted. Later that year the theatre was sold to the Everson family and continued in their ownership until the last picture was shown in 1995. It was bought by J.D. Weatherspoons and following planning etc it was opened in 1997. It retains many of the original features and may provide a further excuse to pop in and have a look.
Victoria Park is land between the Town centre and the railway station. In the 1880's the Corporation put in the Izaak Walton walk alongside the River Sow. They put in railings and benches, and later planted trees. In 1903 the Corporation bough the rest of the land towards the Railway Station and raised the height of the boggy land by 3ft and created Victoria Park. The bandstand was moved to the park from the Market Square and the park opened to the public in 1908. Along the Izaak Walton Walk this bronze statue of the man himself, by Peter Walker was installed in 2000. Izaak Walton is best know for his book 'The Compleat Angler'. He was born in Stafford in 1593 but moved to London in his teens where we was a linen draper under the Company of Ironmongers. In 1644 he retired to a farm he had bought at Shallowford near a river and north of Stafford. By 1650 he was back in London on the restoration of the Monarchy, and it was revealed he was a rue Royalist and had played a risky part in securing part of the Crown Jewels following the defeat at the Battle of Worcester. He spent the last forty years of his life visiting clerics and others who enjoyed fishing.
In the corner of the park is Victoria Square and there are two war memorials there. This one is the Stafford Borough War Memorial and was erected in 1920. It was sculpted by Joseph Whitehead in bronze with Portland stone and ashlar with bronze detail. The figure is standing on a pile of debris but looks to be celebrating victory, or peace with his helmet raised. It had to be moved in 1991 with the building of the Courts and other alteration in the streets around, but not very far.
This was just a quick sample of the buildings and sights of Stafford. It is just a short bus ride from Baswich on the Staffs. and Worcester Canal, and we will be back I'm sure.
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