27 Jan - Passing through ...

I was once travelling around north Wales, when I met an young Australian man. I asked him where he had come from and where he was going next. He'd flown to Switzerland or somewhere like that, travelled through Europe, arrived in London, got on a coach for North Wales for a spot of rock climbing and fallen asleep. All he remembered of the coach trip across England was waking up briefly, looking out of the window and seeing the placename 'Southam' as he passed through.

Being on the (1) Welsh drover's road to the London markets, (2) the Southampton-Oxford-Banbury-Coventry-Birmingham road, (3) the Stratford-Warwick-Daventry-Northampton road, and (4) being a market town, Southam has been a place to pass through or use as a stop-over for many centuries, but it never become a major centre. In spite of being granted town status in the thirteenth century, it just couldn't compete with its neighbours - Coventry, Daventry, Banbury, Warwick. It has no castle, seat of county government, major market, navigable river, canal access, railway or even bus station. In the era of the stagecoach, the town must have been a welcome break on those rattly long journeys, but it was a service and dormitory town even then, a place to pass through, not a final destination.

Some famous passers through:

Daniel Defoe - cantered through the town, leaving a brief description, on his tour of England, calling it, "a considerable market town ... which subsists chiefly by the great concourse of travellers".

Oliver Cromwell - stayed here with his troops during the Civil War

Charles I - also stopped here with troops when romping around the country during the Civil War

William Shakespeare - well, not really, but he was kind enough to mention Southam in one of his plays as a place which someone passed through on the way to somewhere else.

Justin Welby - now Archbishop of Canterbury, was rector of Southam for a little while.

25 Jan - The Big Barn

Another non-walking day. Not much pleasure in traipsing trough the fields in this weather. However, I'll try to keep some regularity to this blog by writing on other subjects of interest. Today, the Big Barn!

Last year, groundworks for a new building in Southam town centre unearthed the foundation courses of a large, medieval building, 10m (30 feet) wide and perhaps 40m (130 feet) long. It was immediately identified as a 'tithe barn'. In medieval times, one tenth ('tithe') of all produce had to be given to the church, and this was the building it was stored in. The new buildings being constructed here are going to be called 'Tithe Mews' or something like that, in commemoration of it.

The foundations of the barn - only the western half was uncovered, the building would have continued to the east.

However ... In 1951 Josephine Tey wrote a detective novel called 'The Daughter of Time', in which a detective hospitalised with a broken leg decides to pass the time during his recovery by reviewing the case against Richard the Third as a bad king and child murderer. This image is methodically unpicked using historical sources, until it become evident that Richard was probably an excellent monarch whose reputation was comprehensively trashed by his successors for their own political ends, and the image fixed in the public mind by the popularity of Shakespeare's play, itself written to please the descendants of Richard's enemies who were still in power and controlled the theatre. It's a novel I think every student of history should read, because it really makes one think about the nature of 'fact', and question received wisdom.

Was the thing found in Southam really a tithe barn? When it comes to the subject in general, there are no mentions of 'tithe barns' in any medieval source. The term first appears in the mid-1500s, and even then is not linked to any specifically large buildings. The tithe barns of later centuries are always smaller buildings, often tucked away in side streets or country lanes, and, even then, probably had multiple functions. It appears to have been later generations, looking back at these impressive ancient buildings, such as the one uncovered in Southam, who imagined that they must have had some special purpose other than being simply 'big barns'.

So, Southam's 'tithe barn' was really just a big barn. Big and impressively constructed because it was built by and belonged to the church. The church was very much in charge of everything in those days, and when it decided to build anything it tended to work on a grand scale in keeping with its status. The building would have functioned throughout the year, a place for sheltering livestock, storing feed, threshing corn, as well as having non-agricultural functions such as a place of assembly, festivals or even church courts or council meetings. There is no documentary evidence of Southam's building, so it must have disappeared by the end of the medieval period (1066-1500). A document of the eary 1400s does mention 'a long building beside the churchyard made for the drapery', but this reference is probably to a lesser structure, as a big stone barn does not seem a likely site for cloth manufacture.

I visited the site in August, and a man in a suit said "I'm not letting you on the site" even before I'd asked. "We're going it rip it up and use the stones to build feature work in the new construction." I took some photographs over the fences, but within a few days the stonework was indeed 'ripped up' and put in to large storage bags, and the site covered up.

Goodbye, big barn.

Addition, 11 Feb: the date of the barn is confirmed as being built sometime between 1250 and 1400. See comments for detail.

3D model based on the surviving remains - there was probably at least one more doorway.

 Frocester Barn (Gloucestershire) is of a similar size and construction to the one in Southam.

Image from: Gloucestershire Photo Library.

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23 Jan - A grey day

No intention to walk today. Grey, windy, wet. Several miles behind schedule, but looking forward to brighter days and also intend to play my 'Get Out of Jail Free' card - a few easy circuits around Draycote Water - if need be.

Colorado landscape - Barbara Churchley (2014)

Another artist I like is Barbara Churchley, who lives in Colorado (mid-west of the United States). I don't like everything she does, but occasional pieces are better.

22 Jan - Christmas Hill - 945.5 miles to go

There are many odd places on the map, things that I've wondered about, questions I have, which can only be answered by walking. One of these questions is, were did I drop my camera lense cover last Friday? It was on a muddy track near Calcutt Elms Farm, and the lane has since been churned over by some vehicle, so the thing is probably lost forever.

Another question is ... the wife of an old family friend, both deceased a number of years, said that when a child (1930s?) she and her friends played on a local hill, and that there was a big stone up there, under which, her mother had told her, some soldiers were buried. I remembered this as being called Lammas Hill, but on studying the map I think was probably Piper's Hill or Christmas Hill ... so is there a stone up there?

Parking by the church, took the path which starts (SP386575) opposite Manor Road, past Piper's Hill Farm to Long Itchington Holt, than back along the ridge over Christmas Hill.

A good walk, lots of little stiles to hop over. Piper's Hill was the more more picturesque part of the walk, with the top of Christmas Hill being a flat, less interesting plateaux - I found no stone, and met no one who could enlighten me. 2.8 miles.

In memory of Joan and 'Dixie' Dean.

On Piper's Hill

Mud rules

One of the many little stiles on this walk

Burton Dassett Beacon Tower from Christmas Hill

I love the colours everywhere - the greens and yellows and browns

An unexpected challenge - more mud. The paths on this walk were well marked and in good condition, the farmer had even run a vehicle across this field to mark the track.

21 Jan - Calcutt revisited - 948.6 miles to go

Hadn't really done this walk justice, so decided to re-do it, this time taking in Napton Junction (the point where the Oxford Canal joins the Grand Union Canal).

Not a stunning walk, and not one with much unity of theme, but I enjoyed my couple of hours out in the morning mist. In several places the paths crossed open fields, a nice change from hugging hedgerows. The frosty ground make walking easier than before, crackly and hard rather than squelchy. 5.5 miles.

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Sunrise - Napton Reservoire

Bridge 108 - a modern construction but still a graceful arch

Grand Union Canal east of Napton Junction

Approaching Calcutt Locks - that's a heron flying away

Fields near Calcutt Elms Farm

18 Jan - A pause ... - 954.1 miles to go

Josie Russell - Llyn Dinas and Llyn Isaf (2013).

With grey skies, rain and drizzle, and work demands, am going to have to give the walking a break for a few days.  Getting behind schedule, as need to do 20 miles a week, but just ain't happening at the moment. We'll see ...

The picture here, for the sake of putting something colourful, is by a Welsh textile artist, Josie Russell (no relation). I spent a lot of time in Wales when younger, and the way she works somehow captures the spirit of the landscape wonderfully. In this picture I imagine the grassy fields where the sheep are grazing, the fern and bracken slopes higher up, and the cool, breezy summits.

17 Jan - Calcutt - 954.1 miles to go

A bit of a random ramble today, and squelchy everywhere thanks to yesterday's rain. This was a good enough walk, nothing special, but probably more interesting later in the year when the flowers are out and the ground less soggy.

Napton Reservoir car park (SP465631), across a lock gate at Calcutt Locks, bridle path to Calcutt Spinney, north past Calcutt House Farm to Calcutt Elms Farm, SW past Calcutt Farm (the farmer, busy herding sheep, kindly let me use his farm track, but on reflection the proper footpath across the open field would have been more interesting) and back along the canal to the start.

That's a lot of Calcutts. In addition there are the groundworks of the medieval Calcutt (or 'Caldecote') village, but in the rain which came on I just wanted to march on and and get back to the car.

Didn't plan this walk very well, and made it a circular route more by luck than judgement. To make it a little more worthwhile in the future, I'd go south along the canal, east from Napton Junction and along the east side of Calcutt Wood - and do it on a dryer, sunnier day.

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Another Wellie walk. The suction wading through the mud almost removed my boots a couple of times.

A lichen and moss jungle, millimetres high, on the edge of a gatepost.

Another lichen landscape on a twig.

Old farmhouse at Calcutt Elms Farm

16 Jan - Banbury Road - 959.6 miles to go

Xanthoria parietina (Common Yellow Lichen) on Brown's Bridge.

1.5 miles walking to work and back. The photograph is of a lichen on Brown's Bridge. The species is Xanthoria parietina (also known as the Common Yellow Lichen), and is found all over the place if you look for it. Can't help being fascinated by these microscopic jungles, and wonder about the lifespan and ecology of these lowly forms of life. I've read that some lichens, where they aren't disturbed, can be centuries old.

These things are strange life forms, part fungus and part algae (the fungus providing a home for the algae). Some species, including Xanthoria parietina are found all over the world and almost anywhere, and yet we hardly ever notice them. They also host certain species of tiny mite, and cannot reproduce without the mites' help, and there are thousands of different species. An extract fron Xanthoria parietina has been found effective against viral diseases. Amazing stuff. There is, of course, a British Lichen Society.

15 Jan - Banbury Road - 961.0 miles to go

Another 1.4 miles shaved off the total by walking to work.

14 Jan - Hambridge Road - 962.4 miles to go

Today's walk was a real pleasure, such a contrast to 11 January. Footpath from Bishop's Itchington (SP391576) to Holmes House Farm, across the road and towards Ascote Hill, then back by track, road and path to the village.

The footpaths were well preserved and the landscape green and pleasant.  With the biting breeze, rolling landscape and sheep one could almost have been on a Welsh hillside. 

The River Itchen

In the shadows of the hedges there were small pockets of frost

This is how footpaths should be - the landscape all around this area appeared well-managed

Ivy, lichen and barbed wire scene.

Spectators

A railway actually bisects this walk, but somehow is not instrusive and even adds interest.

Small hawthorn trees dot the landscape east of Hambridge Road

Hambridge Road

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13 Jan - 966.2 miles to go

Simply a walk to work today. Lovely clear sunrise a little later. 1.5 miles.

11 Jan - Mud - 967.7 miles to go

That was not pleasant! Walked by an ordinary footpath from Southam (SP421625) to Stockton, this was reasonably okay. Then a short stretch of the Millenium Way, this was okay(ish) also, apart from a muddy-pawed hound jumping up at me without any attempt by its owner to restrain it. Finally back to Southam along a bridle path, which proved non-existent on the ground - the hopeful yellow guideposts pointing across acres of mud. On the plus side, heaving along the extra pounds of mud clamped on the bottom of my boots was good exercise for the leg muscles. 4.9 miles.

The first field. A bit sticky underfoot, but nothing too bad.

Looks promising, but then ...

Ah, mud! Have to praise the Wellington boots yet again. Could not imagine doing this walk in anything else.

Lichen-encrusted twigs

10 Jan - Offchurch & Hunningham - 972.6 miles to go

Had intended a circular walk between Offchurch and Lillington, but the flooded River Leam put a stop to this at the footbridge crossing the river (SP360676), so walked by the river, with a bit of creative footpath-following (i.e. fence/hedge hopping), to Hunningham and back by road to Offchurch. 5.3 miles in just over two hours, bringing me precisely back on schedule.

One slight glitch. Neglected to put a memory card in my camera before going out, so, in spite of taking numerous carefully-frames images, there is no visual record of this walk! I'm a genius.

It was a reasonably pleasant walk. The road on the way back was thankfully very quiet. The only person I spoke to was a lady passing on the bicycle, who said, "Morning", as she peddled past.

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If you like reading my blog, do also visit my  JustGiving  page.  I am raising money for the charity Freedom from Torture (also known as The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture), which does wonderful work helping people rebuild their lives after terrible experiences. Please consider making a donation. Thank you.

9 Jan - Brown's Bridge - 977.9 miles to go

Having done some mental sums, realise that I need to dig a little deeper to find that thousand miles. So, now walking to work! The 1.4 miles there and back will make up may be a couple of hundred miles over the year.

I pass over Brown's Bridge on my way to work.

This is the original Brown's Bridge, built in the eighteenth century.

There are actually two Brown's bridges. The recent one, built in 1929, which carries the road traffic, and the original, built in the eighteenth century, which runs along side it and now carries only a small side road to a cul-de-sac. It was described in 1928 as "a very narrow and dangerous bridge ... at which slight accidents have frequently occurred." What is presumably the name of the builder or builders are inscribed on a central stone of the older bridge, but the letters are so worn in places no proper word or name can be made out.

The 1929 bridge with the River Stowe

My route to work - Banbury Road