Moreton Tea Rooms, Hurst Road, Moreton, 09/07/15.

Tags

Clouds Hill, Dorset, Lawrence of Arabia, Moreton, Moreton Tea Rooms, motorcycle, motorcycling, River Frome, St Nicholas and St Magnus Church Moreton, T E Lawrence, tea., Wall Garden Moreton

The village of Moreton is a very interesting place. You can stand on the pedestrian bridge over the River Frome and watch the world go by. You can walk across the ford through the River Frome if you like, but I don’t recommend that from my personal experience, unless you’re wearing something on your feet! The windows, engraved by Sir Laurence Whistler, at St. Nicholas and St. Magnus Church are breathtaking. There is a walled garden, with a cafe and a farm shop [where we had our first pot of tea], which is opposite the Moreton Tea Room [where we had our second pot of tea].

Moreton is also the final resting place of T. E Lawrence, more popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, although he was motorcycling around this particular corner of Dorset at a time in his life when he wanted to escape his celebrity status. We visited the grave, which is very well kept, but it was the motorcycle parked outside the Moreton Tea Rooms that got me thinking. Lawrence was a keen motorcyclist and it didn’t take a great leap of the imagination to picture him motorcycling through Moreton, down Hurst Road, passed the Old School House on his way back to his cottage at Clouds Hill.

If you want to see a photograph of Clouds Hill, which is quite a remarkable building, follow this link to a previous Photo Archive post here: Photo Archive: Clouds Hill, Dorset, June 2011.

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The Sign and Lamp of the “Old Ship Inn”, 16 High West Street, Dorchester, 07/07/15.

Tags

Dorchester, Dorset, glass, lamp, Old Ship Inn, Old Ship Inn Dorchester, Public houses, pubs, rigging, sails, Ships, signs, sun

Mermaid in a Tea Cup, Mermaid House Tea Gardens, Wakeham, Isle of Portland, 06/07/15.

Tags

cup and saucer, Dorset, Isle of Portland, mermaid, Mermaid House Tea Garden, mythical creatures, tea cup, tea., Wakeham Portland

“Sorry, No Cats Allowed”, “The Lister Arms” Public House, Malham, 19/07/15

Tags

Cats, dog owners, dogs, Malham, paw prints, Public houses, pubs, signs, The Lister Arms Malham, The Lister Arms public house, welcome

William Cox – H.M.S Good Hope, The War Memorial, The Church Yard, St. John the Baptist’s Church, Bere Regis, 10/07/15.

Tags

Admiral Maxmillian Von Spee, Battle of Coronel, Battle of the Falkland Islands, Bere Regis, Dorset, First World War, HMS Good Hope, memorial, Military History, Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock RN, Royal Navy, St John the Baptist's Church Bere Regis, William Cox, World War One

William Cox – H.M.S Good Hope.

Every name on a memorial has a story behind behind it, but some names stand out more than others and different names stand out for different people. The name William Cox stands out for me in this Roll of Honour because he clearly served in the Royal Navy, were as those listed above him served in British Army units more familiar to me. I knew nothing about the H.M.S Good Hope; was William Cox lost at sea?

Ship’s Cook William Cox (347466), along side 919 officers and men, of the Drake Class armoured cruiser H.M.S Good Hope, including Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock, who was using the Good Hope as his flag ship, and four Midshipman of the newly formed Royal Canadian Navy, were killed in action at the Battle of Coronel.

Rear Admiral Cradock’s British Fouth Cruiser Squadron engaged the superior forces of Admiral Maximillian Von Spee’s German East Asiatic Squadron on the 1st November 1914, off the Chilean coast. By the end of the battle H.M.S Good Hope and H.M.S Monmouth had been sunk with the loss of all hands.

Although I could not find any further biographical information about Ship’s Cook William Cox, detailed biographies of Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock are available and he strikes me as a very interesting character. In 1904 he received a testimonial from the Royal Humane Society for jumping over board into Palmas Bay, at night, to save the life of a drowning Midshipman. In 1911 he received The Board of Trade Medal for Saving Life at Sea for his part in the rescuing of passengers from the SS. Delhi, which ran aground off Cape Spartel.

Admiral Maximillian Von Spee’s Squadron attempted to raid the Falkland Island on the 8th December 1914 and was surprised by a superior force of British warships, reinforced following the Battle of Coronel. Six German warships were lost following the Battle of the Falkland Island, including Admiral Von Spee’s flagship, which capsized with the loss of all hands, including the Admiral himself.

It is amazing what you can learning from researching only one name on a memorial…

Sources.

The Coronel Memorial http://www.coronel.org.uk/description.php 

The Roll of Honour: A Biographical Record of all Member of His Majesty’s Naval and Military Forces who have fallen in the War, Volume I, page 96. Available on-line at https://archive.org/details/rollofhonourbiog01ruvi 

Singular Mitten, Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, 18/07/15.

Tags

bridleway, gate, glove, lost, mitten, Ribblesdale, walking, Whernside, Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge

With a view of Whernside in the background.

The View from the Roof of The Keep Military Museum, Bridport Road, Dorchester, 07/07/15.

Tags

British Army, Castle, Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, Dorchester, Dorset, Dorset Regiment, flags, Military History, military museums, Museums, The Keep Military Museum, The Rifles, Union Flag, views

The view looking towards the junction of Bridport Road and Cornwall Road.

Heights have been something of a theme recently. The Keep is an impressive, in terms of its scale, Portland stone construction, dating from 1879 and, if you are willing to pay the admission price for the military museum that now occupies the building, you can climb the spiral stairs all the way up to the roof. Once informed by the ladies stationed at the entrance that I could go up onto the roof I thought to myself, “It would be rude not to!”

On the roof of The Keep.

The Keep Military Museum’s own website quotes a description of the building by the well know art and architectural historian Pevsner, who describes it in less than favourable terms: “The monumental gatehouse is a knock-down affair. Two round towers to the front, the archway between. Three storeys of long slit windows. Rock faced with a vengeance. Today it is a grade 2 listed building. The designer was probably Major AC Seddon R.E, head of the War Office Design branch at this time…The barracks behind were humble by comparison“. As somebody who grew up by the seaside, The Keep reminds me of the castle shaped plastic buckets and the resulting crenelated sand castles they produced.

The Keep is topped with two flags, the Union flag and the flag of The Rifles. In 1958 the Devonshire Regiment and the Dorset Regiment amalgamated to form the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment. In 2007 the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment was amalgamated with a number of other regiments to form The Rifles, which still has a Reserve Company [the Territorial Army as was] based Dorchester.

The flag of The Rifles.

The spiral staircases in the towers give access to the museums galleries on three floors and then you are invited carry on and step out onto the roof. It was a rather windy day and the situation was unique in my experience, in that the area of the roof is very large, but the battlements around it are very short. The two gentlemen working on the maintenance of the tower didn’t seem to mind climbing up even higher and out onto the scaffolding you can see on my photographs, but one of them did remark to me that, “It was a bit windy”.

The Keep is tall enough for you to get a unique perspective on a number of tree tops  and the comings and goings of the Bridport Road. The military museum itself is very interesting and, if you like heights, I would recommend a walk on the roof.

The Keep.

“…Smoked Sprats & More”, Cove Fish. Main Road, West Lulworth, 09/10/15.

Tags

bass, Chalk board, coloured chalk, Cove Fish, Cove Fish West Lulworth, crab, Dorset, fish, fishmongers, Food and Drink, Kippers, lobster, Lulworth, mackeral, samphire, scallops, sea trout, signs, smoked sprats, West Lulworth

Insect House in The Shape of a Church, The Church Yard, St. John the Baptist’s Church, Bere Regis, 10/07/15.

Tags

Bere Regis, church, Church of England., church yard, Churches, Dorset, gardening, insect house, insects, ivy, St John the Baptist's Church Bere Regis, tree stump, wildlife

The Ribblehead Viaduct, Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, 18/07/15.

Tags

Grade II listed, Ingleborough, Pen-y-ghent, railways, Ribbledale, Ribblehead Viaduct, Settle and Carlisle line, Settle and Carlisle railway, Trains., viaduct, views, walking, Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge

The impressive Grade II listed Ribblehead Viaduct was a heart warming sight as my walking companions and I trekked from Pen-y-ghent to Ingleborough, probably because it was one of the most recognisable structures in Ribblesdale from which to take a bearing. The viaduct carries the Settle to Carlisle railway line over the Ribble Valley and we narrowly missed a steam train crossing, although we could hear its distinctive tones [we also had to the privilege of seeing and smelling the black smoke blown from its chimney, down the railway embankment, across a couple of farms and straight up into our eyes and noses].