Train Daze - Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, Dungeness, Kent

"I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

Let's go!"

John Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Robert Daisley (1980)

Train Daze - Watercress Line, Hampshire

"Train I ride, 16 coaches long
Train I ride, 16 coaches long
Well, that long black train got my baby and gone

Train, train, comin' 'round, 'round the bend
Train, train, comin' 'round the bend
Well, it took my baby, but it never will again, no, not again."

Sam C. Phillips, Herman Jr. Parker (1953)

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The Watercress Line

Avebury, Silbury Hill and West Kennet Long barrow

Virtual exploration of an Island Archaeology

I've been kindly sent these photos by a friend who is on holiday in Isles of Scilly:

St Levan Church (A Slight Return) .. Cornwall pt 7

An afternoon walk to The Church of St Levan allowed us time to take in the carvings which adorn the church pew ends. The majority of pew ends date from the early 16th Century through until the modern era - with two probable exceptions which may date back to the 14th Century (Hoyle, S. 2007).

I have captured only a handful of these carvings .. and look forward to future visits to explore them further - along with the Rood Screen!

St Levan's fishes

In Hoyle's work the carving of St Levan's fishes, is considered "..the most precious pew-end in the church because it is the only surviving pre-Reformation reference to Selevan." Selevan - St Levan - after whom the church and nearby holy well are named. Hoyle goes on to recount the story of Selevan - catching two fish, throwing them both back dissatisfied - only to re-catch them. Taking them home, he finds his sister and her children visiting. Cooking the fish for supper turns to disaster as the children eat so greedily that they choke on the fish and die.

The Jolly Fool

The Grim Fool

The Santiago Pilgrim

Hoyle tells us that this pilgrim has been to Santiago de Compostela a popular site of pilgrimage since the 1100's - as indicated by the scallop shell which adorns his hat.

Bibliography

Hoyle, S. (2007) The Church of St Levan A Guide & History Hypatia Publications, Penzance

Boleigh Fogou .. Cornwall pt 6

south eastern "entrance"

looking north west - the creep entrance on left

continuing north west through fogou

I've been hankering after a visit to the Iron Age souterrain called Boleigh Fogou for sometime now. Earlier visits to the more accessible Cornish fogous at Carn Euny and Chysauster - along with the thrilling ramblings of Julian Cope in The Modern Antiquarian (1998) - mean't that this visit was long overdue. These man made caves and passageways still hold a mystery as to their original purposes - with grain storage, defence or ritual all being suggested (perhaps a combination of all?).

Boleigh Fogou lies in the wooded - private garden of Rosemerrynwood - as such a visit to this site is by appointment only. However, a swift exchange of phone calls mid-week secured both a Friday viewing and a warm welcome from the host. We were left free to explore the site alone, and were given no time pressure in which to do this.

As you enter the subterranean building from the south eastern "entrance" it is only a short way through, before you find a door on the left hand side. This door leads into a further passage - both lower in height and more intimate than the first. This second passage is known as a "Creep". Any ambient light from the doorway is lost almost completely as you edge forward into this new passage.

Turning the head torch on I jumped as a seated figure hove starkly into close view. This anthropomorphic stone is presumably not an original feature of the Iron Age archaeology - instead carved and placed by modern hands - to represent mother and child - a product of modern ritual use of the site?

Beyond the "mother" stone the creep turns left at what feels like a right-angle. Underground the alignment of the creep, to the wider passage from which you first enter is a little disorientating? McNeil Cooke (1996) has a schematic drawing which shows the creep running away from the main passage at an approx. 45deg angle - when I was inside it felt almost as if the creep was in parallel with the wider passage and sharing a wall along it's length? A timely reminder not to take up the sport of caving perhaps, for how could I ever find my way out of a complex cave system, when a simple two passage underground building confuses my senses?

As you turn and exit the creep - a second humanoid object can be seen. A tiny clay figure - standing dark against a small pale spherical rock. A further reminder that this Iron Age site retains ritual significance into the modern era.

A mooch around the Historic Cornwall website provides a wider insight into the frequency and occurrence of these enigmatic Iron Age features, and a discussion of their possible uses.

Bibliographys

Both Julian Cope's Modern Antiquarian (1998) and Ian McNeil Cookes Mermaid to MerryMaid Journey to The Stones (1996) have been fully referenced elsewhere in this current series of Cornwall blogs