| England, May 2005, places | ||
| These first views are of places in and not too far from Malvern. | ||
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Lower Brockhampton
House is a 14th-century manor house that you reach by driving down
into a bowl, so even on a cold day it's relatively protected and warm. The
grounds around the house are planted with old varieties of fruit trees. The
moat still has water in it, but it was never intended for protection as it's
too small. The bedrooms upstairs (up very steep stairs!) open to a balcony that overlooks the great hall. Half-timbered houses were not painted black and white until the 18th century or later.
Nether Alderley Mill dates to the fifteenth century but has been altered over the years. Some of the equipment is very similar to what we have in our early nineteenth-century mill.
Malvern Priory is worth visiting. It was founded a very long time ago, and has some very interesting and famous mediaeval tiles, these wonderfully carved chairs for the choir, and one monument that is rather grand. The figure at the end of the monument is a grieving daughter. The old bell clappers dating from 1380, 1611, and 1707 have been preserved and are mounted in the entrance to the Priory.
And while we are in Great Malvern, let's check out the local railroad station. The locals are proud of the decorated ironwork, which is kept in wonderful condition. While we were there a train arrived, and deposited and picked up passengers. It must have deposited more than it picked up, because the carpark was much less crowded after the train left.
We were out for a drive one day with Carol and Gordon when we saw a roadside sign for a Norman church. We finally found it, in the middle of nowhere, no village in sight. The newer church adjacent to the ruins of the Norman church dates from the early nineteenth century. |
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