Not the book meme but have a picspam instead
We had our most successful trip to Lincolnshire for what seems like years. Not only did the sun shine but we got stuff done. Unfortunately this means I really didn't read very much so no book meme this week but have a picspam instead.
We started our journey at the new and very shiny King's Cross Station. Somehow I don't think Harry Potter would recognise it any longer but the much greater space in the concourse is a huge improvement.
J comes from Boston in Lincolnshire, on the short list for most boring town in the UK. It acquired it's much more famous, and I'm sure less boring, namesake due to being a hotbed of Puritanism in the 17th century despite imprisoning the Pilgrim Fathers. One minister of Boston, John Cotton, decamped for the New World with nearly all of his parishioners. The church that he left behind is still Boston's most famous landmark, affectionately known as Boston Stump because of its tower though it is more formally known as St Botolph's Parish Church.
We happened to be walking past it on Sunday evening and I liked the light.
The tower has been used as a landmark for centuries. J and I once walked out along the river on a summer evening and everything else faded from view until all we could see was the Stump. It felt like leaving the modern world behind.
Boston Stump from a different angle
It's about the same size as a small cathedral inside with a very long aisle. I can confirm this as nearly 30 years ago I walked up it in a white dress and some very uncomfortable shoes :)
The Stump is famous for its medieval misericords. This is a well known one of a schoolboy being birched by the schoolmaster.
I don't know if it was usual or not but the foundation stone of the current church was laid in1309 by a woman, Dame Margaret Tilney, and her effigy is still in the church.
The inside of the Church tower taken from a very odd angle as I was trying to avoid the scaffolding and not quite succeeding.
Finally some Victorian stained glass commemorating women with a connection to the Stump. Not sure how Margaret Beaufort slipped in but the others are Anne of Bohemia (not sure about her either), Anne Bradstreet and Jean Ingelow (a little known Victorian poetess). The Pilgrim Fathers might be in there somewhere as well, but I liked the fact the window commemorates women.
And that was Boston Stump.
Speaking of women there was an excellent programme on TV on Tuesday about Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, one of the forgotten heroines of English history. The way Michael Wood told it she probably deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Elizabeth I. She founded and refounded towns, fought and negotiated with the Vikings and was so successful as a ruler that the Mercians wanted her daughter to succeed her. Unfortunately her brother Edward the Elder of Wessex had other ideas and her daughter Aelfwynn was deposed. As one historian chillingly put it "we don't know what happened to Aelfwynn". It was a riveting programme in a fascinating series about Alfred the Great and his descendants.
We started our journey at the new and very shiny King's Cross Station. Somehow I don't think Harry Potter would recognise it any longer but the much greater space in the concourse is a huge improvement.
J comes from Boston in Lincolnshire, on the short list for most boring town in the UK. It acquired it's much more famous, and I'm sure less boring, namesake due to being a hotbed of Puritanism in the 17th century despite imprisoning the Pilgrim Fathers. One minister of Boston, John Cotton, decamped for the New World with nearly all of his parishioners. The church that he left behind is still Boston's most famous landmark, affectionately known as Boston Stump because of its tower though it is more formally known as St Botolph's Parish Church.
We happened to be walking past it on Sunday evening and I liked the light.
The tower has been used as a landmark for centuries. J and I once walked out along the river on a summer evening and everything else faded from view until all we could see was the Stump. It felt like leaving the modern world behind.
Boston Stump from a different angle
It's about the same size as a small cathedral inside with a very long aisle. I can confirm this as nearly 30 years ago I walked up it in a white dress and some very uncomfortable shoes :)
The Stump is famous for its medieval misericords. This is a well known one of a schoolboy being birched by the schoolmaster.
I don't know if it was usual or not but the foundation stone of the current church was laid in1309 by a woman, Dame Margaret Tilney, and her effigy is still in the church.
The inside of the Church tower taken from a very odd angle as I was trying to avoid the scaffolding and not quite succeeding.
Finally some Victorian stained glass commemorating women with a connection to the Stump. Not sure how Margaret Beaufort slipped in but the others are Anne of Bohemia (not sure about her either), Anne Bradstreet and Jean Ingelow (a little known Victorian poetess). The Pilgrim Fathers might be in there somewhere as well, but I liked the fact the window commemorates women.
And that was Boston Stump.
Speaking of women there was an excellent programme on TV on Tuesday about Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, one of the forgotten heroines of English history. The way Michael Wood told it she probably deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Elizabeth I. She founded and refounded towns, fought and negotiated with the Vikings and was so successful as a ruler that the Mercians wanted her daughter to succeed her. Unfortunately her brother Edward the Elder of Wessex had other ideas and her daughter Aelfwynn was deposed. As one historian chillingly put it "we don't know what happened to Aelfwynn". It was a riveting programme in a fascinating series about Alfred the Great and his descendants.