Fog Yesterday, Fog Today and Fog Tomorrow.

The Millenium White Horse in fog, to the left on Roundway Down

The weather is in its "Dire November" mood, with fog, drizzle and widespread gloom.  I did venture out today, as yesterday I spent the day nursing my aching right wrist, that's what comes from writing too many German emails.  The top photo shows the path from Quakers Walk to the foot of Roundway Down, the site of an English Civil War battle on 13th July 1643.  Cromwell was never here, but there are references to him, with a pub named, "The Oliver Cromwell" and part of the Down is called "Oliver's Castle."  It was here, at "Bloody Ditch,"  that the Royalists drove the Roundheads over the edge of the chalk escarpment and won the battle for King Charles 1.   Each year a group re-enact the battle with much  colourful relish, the clashing of swords, gun smoke   and artificial blood!    www.devizesheritage.org.uk/battle_of_roundway.html  

To the left of the photo is a foggy white horse carved into the chalk, you may just be able to make it out near the top of the hill.  There is a tradition in Wiltshire of carving horses into the chalk and this one was created in year 2000 to celebrate the Millennium.  It is unusal in that it gallops to the right,  but that is because it can then meet the neighbouring Alton Barnes horse that is galloping to the left.  They can meet and kiss in the middle.  On its 10th anniversary, many of us stood on the horse in the shape of a 10, while a plane few over and took  photos.  I'm in them somewhere and will post one tomorrow, if I remember. 

The view under the bridge shows swans with their cygnets, and the blue boat is "Avon Vale" a K&A Trust workboat that helps keep the waterway clear of fallen trees and other obstructions.



Quakers Walk



Towards Devizes Wharf through Cemetery Road Bridge

The Sarsen Stone Valley on Fyfield Down near Marlborough.

Sheep among the Sarsen stones.

This valley of stones at Fyfield Down was formed when the overlaying sands and chalk eroded over the millennia, to leave behind these huge bolders.  The Down has the best assemblage of "Sarsen stones" in England, and they support nationally import lichen flora.  The stones are known locally  as "Grey Wethers"  because, when seen from a distance, they look like sheep. These are the boulders used  in the building  of the Stone circle  at Avebury and the more distant Stonehenge, and must have been transported by prehistoric  man from here  to their eventual resting places.  The landscape is hilly, and many man hours would have been needed to pull them up hill and down dale.  Silbury Hill, the artificial prehistoric manmade  mound is nearby, as is West Kennet Long Barrow and many other Bell Barrows, all ancient burial sites.  Much of this area is a World Heritage Site and a place of international archeological importance. I am very fortunate to live in this part of wonderful Wiltshire.  

I walked with the "Mid Wilts Ramblers" a group who organise local walks on Sundays.  I have lived in Wiltshire for ten years, and this was my first visit to the stones.  I will visit again, as many of the stones are named and  have interesting markings.  Yesterday it was not possible to linger awhile, sit on a stone and commune with my ancient ancestors.  The sunset was glorious as we arrived back at our cars, but I failed to capture its full glory on my camera.  http://www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/  and search Fyfield Down.

The Ramblers walking among the bolders.



Sunset over Fyfield Down

Climbing a ridge to sit on the stones for a tea break

A Mass to Celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Parish "Mary, Mother of the Church."




A full congregation in St Mary's Church.



Only three  known  Catholics worshipped in Devizes in 1761, although by 1861 in nearby Chippenham 20 more were worshipping.  The first centre for the Mass  in Devizes was a  disused warehouse  in Monday Market Street, which was served  from Chippenham until 1864.   In 1865 the new Catholic Church was opened.  Last night the "White Horse Opera Chorus" sang parts of Haydn's "Nelson Mass" to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the opening of the catholic church. The church was packed with worshippers, and our voices singing in this magnificent medieval church sounded wonderful.  Haydn's Mass is a glorious piece to sing,  I enjoyed the music in spite of its top As and Bs.

St Marys  is now redundant, and is to be turned into a much needed arts, dance, exhibition and music centre for the people of Devizes.   The pews will be replaced with moveable seating, a wooden floor laid,  and an extention will provide toilets and facilities for refreshments.

Below is a photo of the bright candles in my window.  I do hate the dark, early evenings of winter, and the brightness of the light makes me feel so much better.  Many people suffer from SAD, Seasonal Effecive Disorder, and bright light in the form of a lightbox, which mimicks sunlight is used as a therapy.  Sitting with bright light really works on cold, dark winter evenings and nights.

My lights to brighten the dark winter nights.



The Legend of the Wiltshire "Moonrakers."



The Crammer Pond with the church of St James in the background.

"Listen 'ere, whyle e tell ye a tale of contraband and excisemen and thik gurt yaller cheese int pond and us group yokels."  That is the limit of my Wiltshire dialect, which is still going strong in Devizes.  It sounds lovely, but I fear it will disappear completely, now that standard English has reached Salisbury Plain and the Vale of Pewsey.  The photo above shows the "Crammer" pond,  a word probably coming from the German for "Kramer" meaning tradesman.  This area was formerly part of the wasteland forming Bishops Cannings, and was used for fairs and stalls.  The plaque below gives another possible meaning for the word "Crammer."   I hope you can enlarge my photo to read the information.

History has it,  that  one evening a group of canny Wiltshire smugglars tricked the local excisemen, by throwing their contraband kegs of brandy into the Crammer pond.  They thought they would come back and retrieve it when the coast was clear.  One moonlit night they  returned, and as they were raking the kegs  out of the pond,  the  excisemen arrived.  "What ye doing?" they shouted.  Thinking quickly the smugglars replied, "We're raking the thik gurt yaller cheese out of pond." 

They were, of course,  trying to rake the reflection of the moon out of the pond.   The excisemen continued their journey thinking,  "what a bunch of stupid yokels we 'ave here."   Meanwhile the smugglars laughed to themselves,  they had  safely retrieved their contraband.  This old story is popular in other parts of England,  but folk born and breed in Wiltshire are still known as "Moonrakers."   Unfortunately I am not a "Moonraker."

The Crammer Pond and its Legend of theWiltshire Moonrakers.



Rehearsing in St.Mary's Church for the "Nelson Mass."



St Mary's square clock tower.



I hope you can just about make out the clocktower of St Mary's Church where we recently held a rehearsal of the "Nelson Mass." I think the clock shows 7.15pm.  Our singing sounded wonderful, and I did not want the practise to end, but by 9.30pm we were all getting a little crokey.  The soprano line is very high, and on several occasions we have to reach a top A, and a single top B, which is almost out of my range.  I really have to breath well, but somtimes restort to miming the high notes and smiling the while!  We are singing the Mass on Friday to a large congregation that will include the Mayoress of Devizes.  It will be the first time a tradional Mass has been sung in the church for many, many years.  This church is one of three huge medieval churches in Devizes, which is almost unique for such a small town.  St Mary's is now redundant and moves are being made to turn it into a community arts and music centre.  It is a wonderful building and the oldest of the three churches.  I have sung in St John's Church but not in St James's the third church.   www.devizesheritage.org.uk/st_marys.html  

The rather ghostly photo below shows the south door, and I must admit I was rather surprised that the photo came out as well as it did, even on a night setting.  The lowest photo shows some of the altos and tenors resting during our break.  The young man, second from right, is our conductor.  He is only 22 years old but has a maturity far beyond his age.  His mother sings in the choir and said he was musical almost as soon as he was born!  He is very talented and is lovely to work with.  I'm now off to watch a programme about "The Symphony," the history and development of the musical form. beginning with the works of Joseph Haydn in the 18th century.   Nighty night!



The South door of the church.




Having a break during the rehearsal.



The Walk to Rowde along the Kennet & Avon Canal.

A narrowboat flies the Wiltshire Flag.

With my friend Jenny,  I run a German conversation group in Rowde, a small village west of Devizes.  Our four regular members endeavour to speak only German over a cup of tea and chocolate biscuits on  two afternoons a month,  and it is a very pleasant way to spend two hours.  I like to walk to Jenny's house, a gentle three mile walk down Caen Hill from Devizes to her house in Rowde.   Right is a photo of a narrowboat flying the "Wiltshire Flag"  a green stripped flag with a picture of the "Great Bustard," a large bird that once lived in Wilshire but which,  by the 1840s had been hunted to extinction.   It has now been reintroduced by birds from Russia and is thriving once again  on Salisbury Plain. http://www.greatbustard.org.uk/  In the background can be seen the "Black Horse" pub, which burnt down last year, and has now been rebuilt.  It is one of my favourite pubs and lies beside the canal.  On a warm sunny day, it is nice to sit and drink beer, chat to friends and watch the narrowboats cruise by.

Below you can see narrowboats moored chevron style on the Britishwaterways moorings at the top of Caen Hill.  It is very expensive to moor boats here.  BW has a workshop nearby, and the parked van shows the BW logo and a sign advertising the pleasures of using the canal as an open-air gym!

Rowde Church, pictured lowermost can be dated from around 1215, when mention is made of the first priest who served there.   It is a lovely church with an enormous Yew tree in the grave yard.   http://www.rowdevillage.co.uk/

Moored boats at the top of the "Caen Hill Flight" of locks.



A Britishwaterways van advertising the leisure opportunities of the canal.




A quintessenntially English Church, St. Matthew's in  Rowde.



The Geology Group in the "Crown Centre."



A view from the Crown Centre of the "Brittox"

On the first Tuesday of the month, the U3A Geology Group meets in the "Crown Centre" to discuss and try to unravel the complex geology of our planet's great land masses.  Complex it is, and although I have a general grasp of what might have happened, I don't understand the  details  the complex strata, the layers of clay, stone, gravels, sand and chalk, laid down, and then uplifted, submerged,  eroded and overlaid during the millions of years it has taken to form our landscapes.  I cannot conceptualize the eons of time needed to produce the land on which Devizes now stands.  But that is enough said about a complex subject, now a much easier one to understand, the history of the beautiful "Crown Centre"  a former old coaching inn, which was in continous use from 1544 to 1966 and much used during the coaching era.  It was advertised in 1869 as having stables for forty horses.  It has recently had a facelift, having needed major renovations to rectify structural problems and water leaking into the cellar.  The photo below shows the centre, standing mid picture, within its setting of old buildings.  The yellow building is now "Wetherspoons" part of a well known pub chain.

In Britain, buildings of special historical interest carry a blue plaque on their frontage, and this one gives a date for the "Crown Coaching Inn."  The lower photo shows some water plants called crinoids, fossils that we examined this morning.  I will buy myself a copy of the book shown lowermost, it contained some wonderful pictures of fossils, all presented so well and with simple explanations.   www.bbc.co.uk/nature/fossils

The Crown Centre, the central building.



Blue Plaque outside the building.

Fossil crinoids

Everything you need to know about fossils.