Two churches and a Tweed mill, North Wales

If I was travelling solo or having to organise a day out, I would never think about coming to these three places. However when I'm in the hands of a coach driver and wishing my Mother a good holiday, I was prepared to give anything a go.
This post was essentially a morning tour of 2 short stops with a lunch break before the main location of the day in the afternoon. As it wasn't a humorous morning, I decided when writing this to insert some detailed content as a personal Google experiment because these are generally unknown places to the majority of the average North Wales visitors.

The unusual first site of the day was new to me as I had never even heard of it before. St Trillo's chapel on the promenade at Rhos-on-sea is well hidden out of sight on the coastal side of the Llandudno to Rhos-on-sea road.

The age of the current building is unknown but it is thought that the 6th century French Missionary, St Trillo, built a basic structure over a pre Christian Holy well and used this source originally for healing properties of drinking water and facilities for baptism.

Had to hurry to beat the coach party to get these "people free" images !

From ancient maps, the "cell" as it was known at the time was originally thought to be on an island possibly linked by a causeway. As a result, St Trillo sought to spread the Christian message to mainly fishermen and farmers before moving inland.
St Trillo came from a background rich in church history as his brother, sister and father also founded churches of their own when they arrived in North Wales.
The building was later upgraded to an 11 x 8 ft size stone structure before falling into a poor state long after disuse following The Dissolution of the Monasteries. The last major restoration took place to the exterior of the building during the 1890s by a church benefactor called William Horton.

St Elian was a Catholic saint who was thought to have landed in Anglesey from Rome to build a church there in 450AD. Local folk lore would suggest that he warranted his picture depicted somewhere. An ancient place like this seems ideal even if his beliefs are a little different to the current Anglican church.

In times of early Christianity, Monks and Missionaries lived in quiet places where life was a lot slower so as they could be free to meditate in solitude with the surrounding beauty and commune with their creator... My camera timing data shows that I was only allowed 8 minutes of photographs here ... shame, not enough time to enjoy that here then !!

As a place of worship, the church was re-consecrated on 16th June (St Trillo's day) 1935 and is used for Anglican services every week and is arguably the smallest church in Great Britain.

It comfortably seats ... six people ! On special event days, allowances are made for about 20 people to attend ... at a squeeze !

The next location is a spectacular church that I have passed many times at close proximity and at great speed on the A55 North Wales road without knowing anything about it.

St Margaret's church (The Marble church) at Bodelwyddan took four years to build starting in 1856 at a cost of £60,000. The building is constructed from local limestone, oak and 13 or 14 different kinds of marble decorated in a Gothic style with a spire that reaches a spectacular height of 202 feet.

Coming from a background of eminent lawyers and rich land owners, Lady Margaret Willoughby de Broke wanted to leave something in memory of her late husband (Henry Peyto-Verney, 16th Baron Willoughby de Broke) after he died in 1852. One of the things that she was passionate about was the creation of a separate parish for Bodelwyddan away from the neighbouring "mother" parish of St Asaph to which the church commissioners eventually agreed. However the irony is that Lady Margaret would never know that problems of identity would continue into the 20th century as the newly formed parish that seemed stable enough within the county of Flintshire, changed hands to Clwyd in 1974 and then Denbeighshire in 1996.

(Anglesey) Marble Arch !!

The church contains a rich variety of marble with examples from Sicily, Belgium, France, Ireland, England and Anglesey.

J_on_tour obsession !!  ... Chester, Bangor, Sheffield and now "Bodz" !

Not short of cash, Lady Margaret employed Mr T.H. Kendall of Warwick to create the lecturn at a cost of £600 with 6,000 carving hours ! He came highly recommended as he had previously worked on some dining room walls in the House of Commons and at Sandringham.

Pulpit carving

East window

I must apologise to those of you who want to see more images of the church interior. As you may have guessed from the first location, it was difficult to photograph "people free" subjects as we were on a tight time schedule. Once again my camera data told me that I was here for the longer time of ... 19 minutes !!

The area around the church became famous for another two reasons, one of which we didn't have time to see and the other that I didn't have time to see. The owners of Kinmel Hall, next door to the church, allowed part of their grounds to be converted into a camp as a staging post for the return home of Canadian soldiers from World War 1. Unfortunately they survived the combat but not the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918 - 19 within the camp and 83 were consequently buried in the churchyard due to pneumonia and influenza.

The story doesn't end there as some of the survivors were due to be taken home but their ship was diverted to Russia for food supply reasons in one of the many sailing delays they endured. A riot ensued amongst the 20,000 soldiers and 5 were killed and buried in St Margaret's churchyard next door. The Canadian authorities always denied the theory of mutiny and after months of research in Canada and Wales, a lawyer (Mr Kent) from Toronto confirmed that mutiny was not the cause.

There was nearly mutiny when I heard that we were going to visit the second Woollen mill in two days at Llannerch Park just south of St Asaph !!
The driver redeemed himself though when this was the opportune moment for a lunch stop in the adjoining cafe. While the rest of coach party looked around the large warehouse shop, I opted to go outside and view some garden furniture and plants !!

It's not 6th or 19th century, so let's start again !! ......

Bristol - Maritime history and a bit more

Bristol in the south west of England has a rich and famous maritime and Engineering history based on travel, made from its location and links with the sea. The city has done well to preserve this heritage and there is evidence for these links not just on the water....

"Sailing South" !!

When visiting any location, the famous people are usually local to the area, but the first man to make his mark on the city was an Italian 15th century trader and explorer.

John Cabot had an unusual background as there was some confusion over his place of birth due to the translation of his name. He lived in Venice for a while and consequently was able to trade in the Mediterranean at a time of great prosperity. Due to later financial difficulties, he was forced to move to Spain looking for work which turned out to be unsuccessful in both Valencia and Seville. Christopher Columbus had just discovered North America about this time and he tried to gain funding and backing to replicate the trip from both Seville and Lisbon. The authorities wouldn't entertain the idea and eventually he arrived in London where he got his wish.
He relocated to Bristol which was the second largest English seaport at that time to prepare for the voyage with The Matthew. The first trip didn't work out well as the crew underestimated on 7 months supplies and had to return before embarking on a second trip and eventually landing in Newfoundland in 1497. The details after this point are a bit vague but in the following two years, he organised another unsuccessful atlantic crossing which was affected by the weather and some of his fleet were lost. It is not known whether he died in England or at sea in 1499, but with the lure of conquering the Ocean once..... I'll let you make up your mind !!

The Matthew "replica"

Anniversaries of the event have been commemorated down the centuries and a replica boat was built which successfully crossed the Atlantic in 1997 which was met by the Queen, Canadian and Italian dignitaries.
When not on tour, the vessel does sedate and peaceful selected evening trips around the harbour.... nice experience, although I was struck by the fact during the sail that it is difficult to believe that it crossed the Atlantic both in the original form and the replica.

Tall things... ancient and modern !!

In 1897, Cabot's Tower was built out of red sandstone on a prominent hill seen here between the Cathedral Tower and an industrial harbour side chimney. It is poignant that my time in Bristol was at a time of significant redevelopment and a crane seemed to be always part of the skyline. It was unfortunate when I visited the Tower on several occasions that it is in a slight state of disrepair due to underfunding with temporary fencing around the area.... that's another story though.

During the 19th century, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was at the forefront along with other builders constructing the railways of Britain. Brunel originally from Portsmouth, had more than just an interest in railways and I'm not just talking about his fashion !! .....

Little man syndrome ... Tall hat !!

There is so much to this man, it is difficult to know where to start. He had great and grand plans that were largely successful but like all inventors and builders, some prototypes didn't stand the test of time.

He was given the task of building a railway initially from London to Bristol which terminated at the magnificent structure of Bristol Temple Meads railway station.

The building had a dedicated platform as a terminus which is unfortunately now a mix of station car park, Commonwealth museum and Nursery. Brunel extended his railway and bridge work further into South West England to continue his "Great Western Railway" project and the need for the terminus platform to the west of the station was reduced.

"Now where did I leave my bike ?!"

Like all great cities of our day, travelling and commuting are a problem. This was the view inside the station on many of the day trips I took to local towns nearby.

SS Great Britain in dry dock

Brunel had plans for people to travel from London to Bristol by train and then cross the Atlantic by boat. The three famous ships were the SS Great Western (the longest ship in the world at that time),

SS Great Britain (the first non wood ship / first propellor driven ocean ship) and the unsuccessful  Great Eastern (the longest ship, once again, of its time). It is unfortunate that the Great Eastern was well ahead of its time and ran into budgetary and technical problems as a passenger ship. It eventually ended up for industrial use. Not quite what Brunel had in mind.

Gateway to America 1840's

Lastly, there was a competition to build a bridge ( first photo of this set and also in the background of the above to the right ) and although I'll not go into the underhand tactics used in the competition !! , but Brunel's design for the Clifton Suspension Bridge was the eventual winner. Sadly he did not see the completed structure as he died from illness, aged 53.

These days, passengers can still leave Bristol harbour (when the tide time is suitable for the River Avon) for trips in the Severn Estuary / Bristol Channel. I once had the opportunity to travel on the Balmoral from Clevedon to Illfracombe and it was an awesome experience passing all the ships at a speed of 20 knots.

As I said earlier, Bristol has done well to preserve the maritime heritage in a modern city. Cranes line the harbourside in front of the Industrial museum (currently closed long term for upgrading) while at the same time the view to the left is one of postcard beauty...

St Mary Redcliffe church

The harbourside is accessible for both the commuter in the morning and the tourist throughout the day from the above landing stage by a fleet of various boats and the Bristol Ferry company....

"Matilda"

Modern Engineering ... Pero's bridge

Some aspects of the harbourside such as the footbridge may seem modern but on examination reveal a small glimpse of Bristol's infamous past with the slave trade saga.

Boat Restaurant

It may seem unusual but boats in the harbour have different uses other than their intended purpose and each have to pay rent for the right to dock.

house .... and garden

Like all modern city riverside developments, living accommodation is highly sought after and old grain stores are converted into top class apartments as is evident from the above photo. However, as construction is an on going process, some sights are difficult to take in......

York - Shops, Alleyways and a bit more.

There is always too much to see in York that this set was difficult to edit down into a part 2 of 3. This set is a pot pourri of most of the daylight hours taken outside in and around the streets. I have acquired a lot of digital material from my last three trips that I need to save some for another time so as I do not bore you excessively in numerous subsequent posts. I have plans to return here in the first week of March for an event with friends. (Need to book my train ticket quite soon for that to get a good rate.)

sunrise in Petergate

As I said in my last post, after sunrise, I went for some breakfast and to think about my plan for the day. My plan consisted funnily enough of nothing recorded on this post except the Christmas market post (shown earlier) and something I am keeping up my sleeve for another time.  This set was essentially J_on_tour observations of the day.

After Breakfast, I wandered along Stonegate (picture in last post) and decided to take a shortcut to Petergate (also shown in last post) via some alleyways....

and eventually leading to the most famous street in York called The Shambles, which is sometimes referred to according to some Newspaper polls as the most picturesque street in Britain....

spot a straight line !

It is certainly a well preserved medieval street that takes it's name one way or another from an old saxon term.... The street of Butchers !! ...

....where there are always interesting things to discover for the tourist, shopper, photographer, but unfortunately for some..... not Butchers anymore !!!

window shopping

I'll show you more of the overview of The Shambles in the next post (the tease that I am !!), but for now I continue my tour in a clockwise direction around the city down to the bottom of the Shambles and across the road where I stumble on an alleyway leading to Lady Peckett's yard........

A mix of 16th -19th century

....... that I thought I recognised but I knew I hadn't seen before. I have been to York more times than anywhere else and had always missed this view, it turns out that I commented on it earlier in cranberry morning's York post.

Just around the corner is an award winning Yorkshire produce shop called The Hairy Fig that sells specialist cooking oils, vinegars and high quality Yorkshire food produce.

Immediately beside The Hairy Fig shop is a tunnelled walkway to the The Merchant Adventurers Hall built in 1357 for the early merchants to discuss business and have social occasions....

Strangely enough, things do not change much as it is now open for hire as a wedding venue, no doubt a wedding photographer would try his or her hand at some garden shots..

Across the street and through a short open shopping centre, I arrived at Clifford's Tower (1st image in this post). This was originally known as York Castle built to order by William the Conqueror in 1068 and was burned down twice in the early years by rebels that didn't like William the following year and later for harbouring Jews in the Crusade times. During the 13th century, the Castle was rebuilt in stone and it is unfortunate that the the Tower should be now known as Clifford's Tower due to Roger de Clifford being hanged there. Nice !!

All lines lead to the door... and then vanish !

Nowadays the hollow building is owned by English Heritage who try and keep the landmark in the public eye. The best selling point of a visit here is probably the views of the city... but for me, that is for another day. A coach party arrives and there seems to be enough business at the moment.....

"How many more steps do we have to climb?"

It is about this time that the traveller gets weary and hungry. Despite using the facilities of the Christmas market, many tourists feel the need to visit the famous tea shop....

Unfortunately what they do not realise is the expense of such a visit and more to the point, the length of waiting time outside to enter....

"To warm myself up, can I afford two teas when I reach the door?!"

This scene is repeated at all times in the year and I must confess, I still haven't had the patience or money to stand in the queue. There's only enough time to do a bit of window shopping...

"we feel cold just watching them queue outside"

Meanwhile, just around the corner from the door a group of buskers try to rustle up enough money to get a cup of Betty's tea !

Betty's fund !!

Lastly, I came across an unusual shop called "Give the dog a bone" which at first I thought was a pet shop but it turns out it is a gift shop not for pets as I thought next but for Adults who have an interest in pets... although it is not necessarily anything to do with pets either.. confused ??, I am !!

"Hey, are you not going to buy me a present ??!! "....