100 Photos Meme: day 15

[herecirm]

Little known fact: I was actually a water nymph in a past life.

Obviously, I've chosen to interpret this question in a more figurative fashion by providing a photo of the village I lived in rather than my actual house. My parents still live there so I'd best not! Stranger Danger and all that. Ha. I could've shared a photo of my grandparents farmhouse (they still live there, too, but people don't tend to walk or drive past that), but then I would've missed out on an opportunity to wax lyrical about my village's history. And I do love me some history. Also, thanks to Pepsi, I did spent most of my time out and about.

This is not my photo; I took it from the village website and there was no photographer credit so I can't pass that on. It shows the 15th century humpback bridge that is in constant danger from moronic lorry drivers who can't read weight limit signs, and instead blindly follow their sat navs through the village and have to cross it. Why yes, this is a bugbear of mine. The white railings belong to a modern footbridge that runs parallel with it.

My home village was mentioned in the Domesday Book (with 35 villagers. Current population is close to 2,000!), but almost certainly has been a settlement for a long time previously. A few random historical notes of interest:

• it was the ancient site of a gallows, which - according to folklore - was knocked down in 1209 by a man after a woman was hanged
• the church dates from the 12th century, and one of the buttresses features a fragment of carving believed to be Anglo-Saxon
• in 1780 a drummer boy was murdered there, and his ghost is still said to haunt the road. I have never seen him.
• we still have our 16th century Manor House, now serving as the village pub. In fact there are quite a few Elizabethan houses still standing and lived in
• the Ermine Street, a Roman road between Londinium and Eboracum, runs through the eastern edge of the village
• it was the site of a Royal Forest, owned by the crown between the 13th-17th centuries until wardenship was granted to one Oliver Cromwell. One of the names of this Forest was 'Walberg' - which might sound familiar to those of you who follow my Shire horse posts...

Also, a town seven miles away was attacked first by Boudicca and her Iceni, and later by a bunch of Vikings who just sailed up the river ... y'know, doing Viking things. This has no real relevance to my home village, but it's a cool fact and I love repeating it.

This is a bit of a discombobulated history, I apologise. :P

Day 15 - Your childhood home