Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire

Many times on our travels we’ve driven past a narrow winding country lane at the top of which stands a brown heritage sign pointing the way to ‘Lilleshall Abbey’.   I’ve said ‘Let’s go’, DB has always replied, ‘Not now we haven’t got time’.   Well a few weeks ago on a gorgeous sunny afternoon we finally found time to turn down that lane and visit. 

The lane winds up and down between hedges and trees before another brown heritage sign points you to the Abbey ruins partway down a narrow farm track with a small parking area.

The main entrance to the Abbey church.

Founded by Arrouasian Cannons in the mid 12 century and later absorbed into the Augustinian Order, Lilleshall Abbey is built of deep red triassic sandstone and lies on the edge of Abbey Wood about a mile south of the village of Lilleshall which is reputed to date back to Saxon times. 

Inside the main Abbey church.

The name Lilleshall is believed to originate from ‘Lillers Hill’.   Liller was a servant of Edwin, King of Northumbria and it is thought the village was given to him for services rendered to the Crown.  The village is also mentioned in the Doomsday Book as having a population of about 150 people.

A beautifully carved ceremonial doorway.

Owning extensive tracts of farmland, water mills and other properties, including the right to charge tolls on Atcham Bridge over the river Severn, Lilleshall Abbey prospered for 400 years.

King Henry III is said to have twice visited the Abbey during hunting trips in the area.

In 1538 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII Lilleshall Abbey was closed and the lands granted to the Cavendish family who later sold them to James Leveson of Wolverhampton.

This archway is one of the entrances to a narrow passage, called a slype or parlour,  that once had doors at each end.  The passage may have given access to the canons infirmary and it's thought was used as a place where important matters could be discussed without breaking the cloister rule of silence.

Two spiral staircases remain, one of which you can climb to the top, it even has some 19th century graffiti on the wall at the bottom.   Although I’m not over keen on climbing this kind of stair case, up is fine, as for down, well, let’s just say I prefer to have someone in front of me.

There is even some 19th century graffiti on the wall at the bottom of the stairs.

There is a nice view of the Abbey pond from the top

During the English Civil War the Abbey was fortified for King Charles I by Sir Richard Leveson and besieged by Parliamentarian troops in 1645. 

Reputed to be haunted, the Abbey has been visited by various ghost hunters over the years including the famous ghost hunter the late Elliott O’Donnell. 

 

Visitors have reported seeing what looks like the figure of a monk passing from the church to the sacristy; others have heard soft footsteps along the path from the cemetery.    During the 1930’s a boy who lived in nearby Abbey Cottage couldn’t sleep because of strange noises during the night, one of which sounded like someone turning the pages of a large book. 

I'm glad to say that as we visited on a lovely sunny afternoon, we, thankfully, neither saw nor heard anything remotely spooky.

The site is now administered by English Heritage http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/lilleshall-abbey/ entry is free and this year it is open from April to the end of September.

Have fun, we are!

An English country estate

On what, for once, turned out to be a gloriously warm sunny day I (DB decided to stay in the garden) took myself off to visit Doddington Hall on the Cheshire/Staffordshire borders.  

 

Doddington Hall is a privately owned historic country estate, home to the Delves Broughton family for over 650 years with an interesting history.

 

Sir John De Delves purchased the manor of Doddington in 1352 and later fought with the Black Prince (the son of King Edward III) as one of four squires with Lord Audley at the battle of Poitiers in September 1356.

 

Described as a ‘Goodly Mansion’ when it was built in 1364 the sandstone tower is the only thing that remains of the original Elizabethan Doddington Hall, which was surrounded by formal gardens and a deer park. 

 

Sandstone statues of the four squires stand at the bottom of the tower, but I have no idea which one is Delves of Doddington.

Garrisoned by Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War the original Doddington Hall was demolished in 1762 leaving only the sandstone tower.

The new hall built between 1777 and 1798 was constructed to the designs of Samuel Wyatt and later landscaped by Capability Brown.   

Access to the house is through the door under the curving stone steps, which leads to the ground floor and I assume was once the servants’ entrance.

Iron railings follow the curve of the stone stairs to the main doors and through into the entrance hall

From the entrance hall, double doors unique to Doddington Hall and one other house which I believe is somewhere in the USA lead into different rooms, including the circular saloon below.

The double doors are somehow engineered so that when one door is opened the other opens automatically, which must’ve been very handy for the servants.

A new, narrow flight of wooden stairs takes you out onto the roof which was one of the renovations partially funded by English Heritage.

Another view of the house showing the circular saloon from the outside.

One side of the stables.

Now silent horse boxes.

In the undergrowth just outside the stables is a bear cage where Sir Henry Delves Broughton (Jock of ‘White Mischief’ fame) kept 3 Himalayan bears he used to take out for walks around the grounds. 

During WWII French sailors camped at Doddington and Polish refugees camped there until 1960. 

In 1943 Doddington became a Ministry of Defence camp, the family left the hall when it was requisitioned by General Dwight Eisenhower and became the European Headquarters for the American Army. 

After WWII a girls school occupied the building until the mid-1980’s since then the hall has been unoccupied.

I enjoyed my visit to Doddington, the hall is a lovely building, very Pride and Prejudice, I almost expected to bump into Mr Darcy!

Have fun, we are!

Thank you!

Thank you to Susan over at  Travel Bug http://travelbug-susan.blogspot.co.uk/ who has very kindly nominated me for The Versatile Blogger Award.

Versatile Blogger Award Rules

Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.   Done

Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy.   Done

Next, select 5 blogs you enjoy/follow regularly.   Done

1000 Miles on My Own Two Feet
http://1000milesonmyowntwofeet.blogspot.co.uk/

Lens Travels, Living Our Dreams!

http://www.mytripjournal.com/lenstravels&i=1

Life on the Open Road

The continuing adventures of a Full Time RVer

http://lifeontheopenroad.blogspot.co.uk/

Brits on Tour (Back Home)

http://britsontour.blogspot.co.uk/

Rick & Paulette's RV Travels
http://rickpaulettervjournal.blogspot.co.uk/

Nominate those 5 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.   Done

Finally, mention a few random things about yourself.

1.   I like early mornings, but don't like getting up.

2.   I can read a map and 99.99% of the time I get it right.

3.   I must be an optimist as I always expect English summers to be gorgeous hot sunny days with long warm evenings and a few rainy days thrown in to keep everywhere lush and green, whereas it's usually the opposite way round.

4.   I love to read and although my Kindle is fabulous there is nothing like opening a brand new book.

5.   One day DB and I will manage to get a permit and do the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike.

That's all for now

Have fun, we are!



A sunny afternoon

On a gorgeous sunny afternoon we took a stroll along the towpath, the wildflowers were simply gorgeous.

Cowslips

Red Campion

We had this view from our canal side seat before we turned and headed back.

Blossom covered hawthorn trees line sections of the canal.

Cow parsley and hawthorn creep through the gate.

We had a lovely stroll before heading off to the pub for a couple of beers.

Sadly since then the weather has rapidly deteriorated, we’ve had grey skies, wind and torrential rain, hopefully summer will come back soon, please!

Have fun, we are!

Pima County Fair

Before we came home at the end of April (I realise it’s now June, but unfortunately events overtook my blog updates) a friend and I headed off to Pima County Fair.   DB declined preferring his sun lounger under the awning.

We went before it got too hot and too crowded, we had a great time checking out exhibits.   I know two little boys who would’ve spent hours looking at these old John Deere tractors.

And imagine the fun they’d have ‘bullriding’.

A prize winning quilt in the craft section,

Some neat trucks

not to mention eating Indian Frybread and carousels.

It was a tough afternoon, but someone had to do it!

 

Have fun, we are!

Lake Valley

Not far from Hillsboro lies the town of Lake Valley which was founded in 1878.   Situated in an area of intermittent spring fed lakes, one was named Silver Lake, not for the silver subsequently found in the area but for the sparkle and clarity of the water.

The original townsite was moved after the creek overflowed and moved again when the Bridal Chamber Mine was discovered.  The mine contained a blanket of silver ore reputed to be 10 to 20 feet thick.   At its peak the town had a population of 1,000 people but as with so many silver mining towns when silver was devalued in the 1890’s the town died and most people moved away.

I think this is an old Plymouth?

The mine entrance and the remains of the old railroad station. 

In 1895 a fire in the saloon building owned by William Cotton rampaged through the town, as most of the buildings were built of decade old tinder dry milled lumber, nearly all the town especially the commercial district was soon reduced to ashes.   It was thought to be arson and a man named Abernathy was jailed.

An old photograph of the town.

This was once the busy commercial district. 

Foundations, bits of glass and tins are all that line the road, with the exception of a huge safe that was blown up into the air and remains where it landed.

The town is now owned by the BLM, although the mines and some of the houses are still privately owned, in fact one of the house was lived in until the owner died in the 1980’s.   A museum in the old school house which also doubled as a community hall is interesting and a walking tour guides you around the site.   We spent some time chatting with the knowledgeable caretakers who told us things not to miss.

Inside the school house. 

Despite the day being hot and sunny a gusty wind whistled around the buildings, lifting corners on the corrugated iron roofs, sending dust devils swirling through the town, the old Conoco sign swinging creakily back and forth really perfecting the ghost town atmosphere.

It’s a really interesting place to visit, there is no admission charge, but donations are appreciated.

Have fun, we are!

More Ghost Towns

Another road trip to find a couple more semi-ghost towns, Hillsboro and Kingston, this time we managed to find them both.

 

Our first stop was Kingston on the way we stopped at the parking area to visit the historic Warren Deck Truss Bridge that spans Percha Creek.

Built in 1927 as part of the Black Range Highway, the bridge crosses Percha Creek a pretty but very deep gorge, sorry no pictures of the gorge.   There are also a couple of low bridges on the way so it’s not a road we’d be able to travel with BT and the Cougar, well not if we wanted to be sure our air conditioners stayed on the roof!

 

Kingston is now a quiet little place with lots of For Sale signs.

Visiting now it’s hard to believe that during the 1880’s Kingston was a bustling silver mining town.   At one time it had 14 grocery and general stores, an opera house where Lillian Russell once performed, 23 saloons, a brewery, 3 newspapers, stage lines serving major routes and numerous hotels and as with nearly everywhere we visited last summer, Butch Cassidy was here!

There are a few remnants of the old town left, the assay office and Victorio Hotel but these are now private residences.   There is a museum in the old bank building but unfortunately the day we visited it was closed.

We had planned to continue up Emory Pass through the mountains on the way to Silver City, but as the clouds rolled in we decided to return to Hillsboro.

Hillsboro was a gold mining town founded in 1877, despite fierce Indian attacks the town grew and eventually became the county seat of Sierra County in 1884.

The mines in the area produced about $6 million in gold and silver and by 1907 the town had a population of 1,200.   It is also believed that Hillsboro had the last working stage line in the US.

We had a very late lunch at the Old Barbershop Café, we’d been told to try the bumbleberry pie, it must be good as the day we visited they’d sold out.

Have fun, we are!