Mulubinba Moments

Whitby Abbey, Yorkshire

Perched upon a cliff on the north-east coast of England is the ruined Benedictine abbey of Whitby which was founded in 657AD by Hilda, its abbess. The Venerable Bede, 731, writes that "All who knew her called her mother because of her outstanding devotion and grace". Interestingly, the monastery housed both nuns and monks. It was also home to the great saxon poet, Caedmon who was encouraged and supported in his work by Hilda. Caedmon's original hymn can be heard here. In 664, the abbey was the site of the Synod of Whitby which brought the practices of Iona into conformity with the Roman Church.

Vikings attacked the abbey in 867 and it was abandoned until 1078 when it was refounded. Of course, it met it's final demise at the hand of Henry VIII (Incidentally, I recently heard a certain Anglican Archbishop of Sydney's strategies likened to those of Henry VIII).

For me, the abbey ruins had a very supernatural feel about them. Perhaps I was being a little too fanciful - the landmark did help inspire Bram Stoker's Dracula. In the book, Whitby is the destination for the doomed ship Demeter which carries Dracula to England. No cloaked figures emerging from coffins anywhere? Certainly there is something mysterious about this place.

Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire

An English Breeze

Up with the sun, the breeze arose,
Across the talking corn she goes,
And smooth she rustles far and wide
Through all the voiceful countryside.

Through all the land her tale she tells;
She spins, she tosses, she compels
The kites, the clouds, the windmill sails
And all the trees in all the dales.

God calls us, and the day prepares
With nimble, gay and gracious airs:
And from Penzance to Maidenhead
The roads last night He watered.

God calls us from inglorious ease,
Forth and to travel with the breeze
While, swift and singing, smooth and strong
She gallops by the fields along.

Robert Louis Stevenson

I'm not sure what "God's call" is all about but I'm starting to feel that my "call" is not with the Anglican Church - I'm pretty disillusioned with ours and if they're not careful the Church may well end up like many of its counterparts in England (ie. in ruins)

Wells - Vicars vs Rectors

A trip to Wells is always routine when any of our family first arrive in England. Wells is also one of my sister's preferred shopping centres as opposed to the larger centres near Bristol. This visit, we found a surprisingly convenient parking spot right opposite Vicars Close (above). It is said to be one of the oldest planned streets in Europe. Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury built the Close in the 14th Century to house the Vicars of Wells (subordinate members of the Cathedral). Some sources mention that it was built in order to keep them from temptation (reportedly their behaviour was often "scandalous with womanising, fighting and stealing"). Vicars are still accommodated there today but I'm sure not for the same reasons as their medieval predecessors.

This leads me to wonder what the difference is between a Rector and a Vicar in the English Church? I thought they were the same but apparently not. I have discovered one definition which states that a Rector directly received the tithes of his Parish while a vicar was paid a salary instead (sometimes by the diocese). Which one was more autonomous I wonder? Was the Rector more independent and able to run the Church as he wanted or was he under the control of the local Lord of the Manor?

Muchelney Abbey

After walking along the River Parrett, we discovered Muchelney Abbey (or the remains of) and the abbots' lodging (Tudor) pictured above. It was the second largest in Somerset and was Benedictine. in 1538 the abbey was surrendered to Henry VIII.

Swans on River Parrett, Somerset

Photo shows swans on the River Parrett near Muchelney. Seeing a river with accessible banks like this is a rare treat - our river banks are usually steep and bush covered making access difficult. There are no snakes around here either - nothing that bites or stings! (.....apart from the swans...I suppose they would get temperamental if we were to wander too close to their nesting site).

Eaglereach

Last week we took a short holiday and decided to holiday close to home.
We sampled the local wilderness resort of Eaglereach.
Yes there were eagles.
Eaglereach is set in
an elevated bush setting
in the Hunter Valley
near Vacy.
The highlights
were the bushwalks
which included magnificent views
and the abundance of wildlife -
lots of kangaroos.
Brown snakes,
goannas,
frogs also seen.

Lacock

Lacock village dates back to the 13thC and is largely unchanged. It is therefore managed by the National Trust of the UK with the abbey being owned by the Trust. It is close to both Bath and Bristol and was therefore easy for us to get to. Lacock Abbey was our destination simply because Anna (youngest daughter) has been a fan of Harry Potter for many years and part of the film was made in the old abbey cloisters. There is nothing like a movie to generate an adolescent interest in place and indirectly facilitate learning some English history at the same time. Lacock Abbey was founded in 1232 by Ela Countess of Salisbury as a nunnery, (love the word), for Augustinian Abbesses. The cloisters remain today.
After the Dissolution, the notorious Henry V111 (whose suit of armour in the Tower of London incites some rather loud guffaws from irreverant tourists) sold the Abbey to William Sharington who in 1539 renovated it into a family home. It was remodelled again in the 19th C by William Fox Talbot (discoverer of the negative/positive photographic process) and donated to the National Trust in 1944/46.

At the risk of sounding like a guide book, this is a very aesthetically pleasing village and abbey and has been used as a location for films such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and.....Harry Potter. We actually visited the cloisters last having spent a large amount of time looking inside the house at the rooms which are furnished and decorated in keeping with the 18th/19thC. Very lovely! (Photos are thumbnails so take a closer look if you wish).

Hoarded Ordinaries

Lorianne at Hoarded Ordinaries writes a wonderful post called "Through the Stile" today. I couldn't resist publishing this picture of an old stile I discovered in Somerset.
Hope you like it Lorianne.
Addendum: I have enlarged the sign on the stile post for Lorianne:

Nettlebridge And Harridge Wood - a walk in Somerset

Walking is one way of getting to know an environment really well. This is why I wanted to take as many walks around the environs of Somerset as I could. It is also a journey back into childhood for me - when I was 10 we lived in Germany for 18months and I have memories of green summers, the broadleafed trees, the meadow grasses, the flowers and the birdsong - respite from the long winter. English summer reminded me of these times.

On our first full day in the country we chose to take a walk from the Somerset, Wiltshire and the Mendips Pathfinder Guide. These guides describe a number of walks complete with directions and Ordnance Survey maps that vary in difficulty from "easy", "modest" to "more challenging". Our walk was circular beginning and ending at the hamlet of Nettlebridge (near Frome in the eastern Mendips) and taking us through Harridge Wood. The photos here are taken in the middle section of the walk which runs through a steep wooded valley beside a stream. Occasionally ruins could be seen in the vegetation - buildings from a 19th C paper mill and industrial community. Left overs from the era of the "dark, satanic mills" portrayed in the song "Jerusalem". Here is an example of nature reclaiming back its land from man rather than man destroying the environment as is so often the case.

The walk also took us through pastures with dairy cows lazily watching us as they chewed their cud, over stiles and through kissing gates. To many people these are familiar objects but I had never seen a stile or a hedgerow until I came to England - all new experiences for me. Years of walking through long grass and bush had taught me to watch out for snakes and other poisonous creatures waiting to bite and it was a novelty to discover that the only thing likely to sting on this walk was a nettle. How wonderful not to have to swat away flies from your face when you walked!

Natural underground water is prevalent in the Mendips and there are many springs throughout the area. We passed one spring on the walk called St Dunstan's Well which in the past must have been frequented by many people but now was forgotten and used only as a drinking place for animals. St Dunstan was according to the Catholic Encyclopaedia one of the greatest saints of the Anglo-Saxon Church. He was born into a noble family whose property was located near Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset. I have been unable to find any record of this well and its use, but did hear that many wells were "eye" wells used for curing eye problems - washing eyes in clean spring water could I imagine heal many simple eye complaints. The water was clear and bubbled out of the ground with some force.

The walk took us two hours to complete and we had time to explore more places in the afternoon. Next post - Lacock.

Squirrel stealing food from the bird feeder

This is my third attempt at writing a post tonight - typepad has "unexpectedly quit" on me twice and both times I was ready to publish. The photo above was taken from my sister's back yard. At the bottom of the garden is a fast flowing stream - the young River Yeo which is responsible for carving out Cheddar Gorge just up the road from my sister's house. I was delighted to see this squirrel although the locals were less than pleased to see him. I believe they are responsible for invading the native red squirrels' habitat and the red squirrel is now an endangered species.