Seven
to Westerleigh
October 1999
Written by Earl P. Crandall (1937 - 2002)
An important reminder: This is just one person's recollections of the trip ... Seven of us went so there are indeed seven different variations possible. And if we count our tour guides, nine!!
At Ye Olde Inne, Westerleigh, Gloucestershire, England - 9 Oct 1999
Left, from front: David E. Crandall, Jr., Cassandra E. Crandall, David E. Crandall, Sr., Sam Harbold, Lorraine C. Corr;
Right, from front: Earl P. Crandall, John Fleming, Pat Fleming, Judy Harbold.
Ye Olde Inne, Westerleigh
Our trip to England was a combination of [not in total alphabetic order!]:
Abbeys, Agnates, Avon, Bath, Bristol, Birdlip, Bourton-on-the-water, Buckfast, Caerphilly, Corr, Crandall, Crondall, Chipping, Chepstow, Coalpit Heath, Cotswolds, Cornwall, clotted cream, Cymru, Dartmoor, Dartmeet, Devizes, Emmersons Green, Exeter, fens, fish & chips, Fleming,football, Gatwick, Gloucestershire, Gammon, git, Harbold, Henbury, Harry Ramsden, Henry VIII, Iron Acton, Jagger, James, Llandoger Trow, Magna Carta, male collapse, Mickey, Merthyr Tydfil,Midlands, motorways, neolithic, Normans, Old Vic, Oxford, Paddington, palaces, parks & gardens, William Penn, princes & princesses, Pucklechurch, Plymouth, Princetown Prison, pubs, Quakers, Queen Elizabeth II, quid, Rhaglan, Romans, royal, roundabout, Severn Bridges, S.S. Great Britain, St. Mary's, St. James, Shakespeare, spotted dick, Stonehenge, Stratford-on-Avon, sunshine, Taunton Dean, Tintern, Thornbury, Tudor, Vauxhall, Victorian, Virgin Atlantic, Wales, Widecombe, Winterbourne, Wye Valley, xenophobia, Ye Olde Inne, Yorkshire Pudding, Zanzibar, Zuider Zee, Zippo -
... all this and more, too!
After a hectic time at Boston's Logan Airport where the seven of us met - 4 Crandalls, 1 Corr, and 2 Harbolds - we were up, up, and away on Virgin Atlantic's Flight 12 to Gatwick Airport in London.
Day 1 (2 Oct '99)
Upon arrival there at about 8:00 a.m. GDT, we were met with all sorts of things, including the male collapse of one of the Crandalls (EPC), who had to be tended by one of our guides, John Fleming, whilst the rest of the group went on out of the airport to the minibus with our other guide, John's wife, Pat.
After this delightful and awkward event with airport paramedics (which took up nearly 1½ hours!), we were on our way out of London towards the small village of Emmersons Green. We were all tired and somewhat uncomfortable - travel teeth & breath, rumpled clothes, unshaven, etc. But we were excited to be in the country of our immigrant ancestor, Elder John Crandall who was baptized in Westerleigh, Gloucestershire 15 Feb 1617/18. Five of the seven of us are agnate descendants of Elder John and two of the five are also enate descendants. The other two passengers were Crandall spouses.
Pat & John took us via many back roads, highways, and byways, and had we been on the motorways all the time, we would have missed much.
One of our first pleasant surprises was noticing a sign for the village of Crondall in Surrey as we were heading from London into the midlands towards South Gloucestershire. We pulled off the main road and paid a visit to this quaint little village in the midst of almost nowhere!
This village had been listed in the 1086 Domesday Book (a survey of all the manors in England at that time - the survey was for tax purposes!). As most manors, Crondall was a village that "grew up" around a Church, and we all toured the grounds of that Church which included a very nice cemetery. We had our first group photo op there!
Whether this village of Crondall was named after a member of our family or whether it was named after a landform in the area - a crundel, a gravel or chalk pit which may have contained water within the depression - may never be known.
From Crondall we went on to Stonehenge. The weather had changed from rainy and foreboding to a beautiful but breezy day. The sky overhead at Stonehenge was crystal clear and made the ancient Druid site of neolithic design a tourist's and photographer's delight!
We stopped at Devizes on the way to Emmersons Green - in this village is a section of the Kennet & Avon Canal with a set of more than 25 locks ... it was very picturesque and we all enjoyed walking around the site.
Because of the male collapse mentioned above, it was decided to bypass Salisbury Cathedral and get the victim back to the Travel Inn as soon as possible! We arrived there late in the afternoon or early evening, ready to rest up and get on with our exciting trip!
We dined in the Beefeater Restaurant, which was a part of the Travel Inn. Thence to bed for a much-needed and deserved sleep!
Dear Readers - perhaps at this point, before going on, I should explain a little about the male collapse for those who weren't there to "enjoy" this part of the trip!
The term comes from the official paramedic report. While it can, I suppose, be called that, at no time did I actually collapse! I had to lie down on the floor of the airport because sitting just didn't do it! I felt very nauseous and dizzy and just couldn't go on normally!
After John Fleming called the paramedics, curtains were rolled in place around me as I was examined. I knew it was not a heart attack or stroke, but the paramedics had to determine this, too.
During the examination at some point I shifted position and got onto my side from my back. ... and this made all the difference, because it forced me to vomit. ... and vomit ... and vomit! I felt so ridiculous ... right on the airport floor! But, I immediately felt better and recovery wasn't too far after that.
I am forced to conclude that it was some mild [!!] case of food poisoning, even though there were plenty of people on the plane who ate exactly what I did!
What an introduction to England for the other 6 in the group, and what an introduction of me to our new friends, the Flemings!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Day 2 (3 Oct '99)
Our first full day in England, a Sunday, was to be represented by a day of churching! John & Pat picked us up at the motor lodge about 9:30 a.m. to bring us to Westerleigh. It was the at this parish church, St. James The Great, where on 15 Feb 1617/1618 our group's Crandall immigrant ancestor, (Elder) John Crandall, "sonne of James Crandell", was baptized.
Westerleigh village was, according to the road signs, 2½ mi from Emmersons Green via the Westerleigh Road and around at least one roundabout ... As we pulled up to the church, we were greeted by the pealing of the bells in the tower. They knew we were coming!!
We walked a bit around the churchyard of this Norman building from the 13th century. Graves of some of its former parishioners were in the yard - some sections well tended, the older sections just sort of left to nature. The only ancestor we know for sure that is buried in the yard, according to the official church records, is Elder John's mother, Eleanor, who died in Jun 1618.
When we went inside, through the doorway which happened to be one of the oldest sections of the church, we were greeted in a most friendly way by Rev. David Wilcox, the current vicar. He was most gracious, as were all the parishioners who spoke with us.
The service began - all the pomp and circumstance of an Anglican service in this small village church. It was a wonder to think that we were sitting in the church where our ancestor had been baptized nearly 400 years earlier ... where he and his family attended church when he was a young boy ...
Please note: You can click on any of the highlighted items throughout the document
to be taken to the photograph or site described!
St. James The Great, Westerleigh
After the service we all spent some time roaming about the church's interior, looking at the inscriptions on the gravestones that made up parts of the floor, walking by the font ... absorbing some of our history. We then spent more time roaming around outside. The clicking of camera shutters was one of the sounds most often heard during this period of time!
For lunch we went to the old building next door, now known as Ye Olde Inne. There is an underground tunnel between the church and the inne. The current proprietor of the inne, John King, told us that he had closed it off, but that it was there because the inne is where the monks used to live in the very early days of the church. It is now a very congenial English pub and we had a delicious Sunday luncheon special of roast beef, vegetables, and Yorkshire pudding for a very moderate price of about £4.95. You'll find a link below for the village of Westerleigh and its surroundings.
http://www.westerleigh.f9.co.uk
We then got back into our mini bus and went to another nearby parish, Iron Acton. This is another small parish church, St. James The Less, where Elder John's great-grandfather, Nicholas Crondall, had been vicar in 1577. We again roamed about outside and inside ... part of our family's history was right there before our eyes!
St. James The Less, Iron Acton
From Iron Acton to Winterbourne, another parish church, another Crondall vicarage! This was also a rather small parish church, St. Michael. This church has some singular Crondall/Crandall history, as Nicholas (mentioned above) had some problems with his parishioners when he was vicar here. In 1583 something happened to the steeple and there were some disagreements with the way the repair had been handled. The local lore states that the steeple fell on "olde Mr. parson Crondall", killing him.
That steeple is now in a neighboring orchard, set up atop what may have been an old root cellar. It was found in the woods here, and no one seems to know quite how it got there.
Photo courtesy of Pat & John Fleming
This Nicholas' son, Nicholas, was also a vicar at St. Michael's in Winterbourne, and he also encountered some problems with the parishioners there when the new steeple was damaged in a thunderstorm in 1593.
The second Nicholas' wife, Elizabeth, according to the parish records, was buried here in the churchyard 20 Jun 1605.
We are going to have to find out more about all these religious squabbles concerning our two ancestors!
We then went to another parish church in nearby Thornbury, St. Mary The Virgin. Four of us attended a special service there to honor the 10th anniversary of the organist while the other three went to Thornbury Castle, not too far away from the church.
We almost went to a harvest auction back at the parish in Westerleigh ... that would have been nice - to meet up with some more natives of that area. Most everyone was too tired from the long day, so we went back to the motel instead and had a quick dinner and retired to be ready for the next day - a relatively long day in Wales.
Day 3 (4 Oct '99)
John & Pat arrived at the Travel Inn about 9:00 a.m. in order for us to commence a busy day into eastern Wales. We first drove to an overlook so as to get a view of the two Severn Bridges over the Severn River - the old one which we would cross entering into Cymru* (Wales to the Welsh!) and the second and newer one further downstream a bit, which we would cross upon returning to England.
[*Prounounced "coom-ree" according to a Welsh tourguide in 1987 when I was there in Merthyr Tydfil at a Mormon History Association Conference.]
It was another beautiful day - not particularly "English" or "Welsh" for October, we heard! But the day made it another one of those postcard picture days for us.
Our first major stop was at Chepstow Castle, one of many in Wales, this one dating back to early Norman times ... While here we were able to visit the castle, do some banking in the village, and were even interviewed by a local radio station!!
After Chepstow we went to the little Welsh village of Tintern and stopped to see the eerie but beautiful ruins of Tintern Abbey. This is one of the many abbeys that Henry VIII "dissolved" during his reign in order to remove Roman Catholic opposition to all his shenanigans regarding all his wives. He also needed some money and what better way to get some gold and silver for his coffers?
We then went on to Rhaglan (also Raglan), another Welsh castle, one with the outside a bit more in tact. We had a picnic lunch here on the grounds before crossing the moat!
John & Pat drove our minibus around some of the Welsh countryside, especially into the coal mining areas. Although coal mining is much less of an economic boon to the communities, the small villages that grew up around the mines still exist. Many are on San Francisco-esque hillsides in this very hilly area. Pat even drove us past a typical village area where John's father had been born in the early 1900's.
We took our tea in a small Italian Welsh pub and then headed back for the border and the Second Severn Bridge, but before that we stopped at Caerphilly, another Welsh castle, which seemed larger than the other two.
Our three guides! John (holding Mickey) & Pat.
Of course, at each stop, many of us ran into the souvenir shops to just look things over!
That evening we stopped at a huge ASDA hypermart, something akin to a Sam's Club in the USA. As a matter of fact, WalMart may even have recently bought them out. We looked around, did some shopping, and then went to a nearby Harry Ramsden's restaurant, noted in particular for its fish 'n chips.
We happened to be there during one of their Murder Mystery Dinners, and although we weren't a part of it, we were close enough to hear and see most everything! The fish 'n chips were very good.
From Harry's back to the Travel Inn for a well-needed rest! After all, another day is coming soon!
Day 4 (5 Oct '99)
Since this day was to nearby Bristol, there wasn't a rush to get up and out of the motel! For those who had been pushed to the brink of exhaustion it was a morning to sleep in!
Our first stop in the city was at St. Mary Redcliffe Church in downtown Bristol. This was our introduction to the horrible bombings of Bristol during WWII. Some of the church suffered from bombing and most of the damage has since been repaired.
In 1574 Queen Elizabeth I visited this church on a visit to Bristol. She said that this was ... the goodliest, fairest and most famous parish church in England.
On the wall of the church there is a plaque commemorating the Penn family. William Penn's family attended this church. Wm. Penn was later
one of the "fathers & founders" of the Quaker religion in
America.
We next went to the maritime
museum along the Bristol-on-Avon docks. This is where the
19th century ship S.S. Great Britain is being
restored and also on display. There was an interesting
presentation there at the museum and following that we were able
to walk around on board the ship. The world's first iron passenger
ship was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was launched in 1843. It made 32 trips around
the globe before being abandoned off the Falkland Islands in
1886. It's wreckage was returned to Bristol in 1970 on a flatbed
tug and it's currently being restored at the dock where it was
built as a reminder that it's the prototype of today's modern
vessels. It was easy to see some more
damage from WWII bombing here, as some of the dock area on the
other side of the river still hadn't been repaired. We had lunch at a small pub
restaurant on the museum site. From there we went to the Christmas
Steps, the site that John Cabot
sailed from in 1497. We walked down the steps to a shopping mall
and spent some time roaming around there. Then to a large suspension bridge
spanning the Avon just outside the city. The bridge was finished
in the mid-19th century and was designed by none other
than I. K. Brunel (mentioned above). There was a park area
nearby the bridge and we took the time to walk around and see the
beauties of Mother Nature along the cliffs of the river. We then stopped by a set of
retirement cottages that had been built specifically for the
servants of nearby Blaise Castle. This was a most charming
set of small cottages in a very peaceful setting ... Back to the Travel
Inn for a few minutes as we were returning to the city center
for the evening. After a quick supper we returned
and some of the group went to see One For The Road (a
nicely done comedy) at the Old Vic in Bristol. The others
roamed around a bit with our tour guides, Pat & John. After the theatre we went into a
pub practically across the street, called Llandoger Trow,
a 17th century pub where Daniel Defoe
is said to have met Alexander Selkirk, whose true-life island exile served as the
inspiration for Defoe's 1719 Robinson Crusoe. Then back to the motel to get rest
for the next day ... Day 5 (6 Oct '99) This day we motored to the
birthplace of the bard, William Shakespeare, Stratford-on-Avon
with a nice stop in a couple of places in what is known as the
Cotswolds.
The Cotswolds are a
prominent range of limestone hills running over 50 mi in a
northeasterly direction from Bath. The thin soils are difficult
to plow but are ideal for grazing sheep, and the wealth generated
by the medieval wool trade was poured into building majestic
churches and opulent town houses. Stone quarried from these hills
was used to build London's St. Paul's Cathedral as well
as the villages, barns, and manor houses that make the landscape
throughout this area so picturesque. When most people think of English
countryside they are probably thinking of a cottage scene from
this part of the country. We stopped in Bourton-on-the-Water
and ran around a little enjoying the scenery and the shops. Then, right into the city of
Stratford-on-Avon, which since the very first time I personally
visited here in 1972, has become very commercialized! But it's
still a beautiful place and our first stop was at Anne Hathaway's Cottage - she was the wife of William Shakespeare, and the cottage has become a national
treasure and national landmark. We ate a picnic lunch there in one
of the gardens. Again, Britannia's Mother Nature proved
to be on the side of her American visitors! Then we went right to a car
park near the center of town and were let loose by Pat &
John for a couple of hours. Time enough to visit Shakespeare's birth place on Henry
St. or stroll down the riverside to Trinity Church
where Shakespeare and some of his
family are buried.
At the church I bought a CD of some organ music played on the magnificent organ there ... When I listen to it at home I am amazed at Peter Summers' lightening speed as he tickles the ivories and pedal board! Who said English musicians are stodgy?
Time, too, to wander in and out of shops - and finding a smoker's shop I was forced to buy a couple of Zippo lighters for my collection!!
We returned to our motel and had dinner. Many of us had cottage pie, an English dish of minced beef topped by whipped potatoes and accompanied by some vegetables (in this case peas and green beans). Shepherd's pie, we discovered, is the same dish but with minced lamb instead of the beef.
Day 6 (7 Oct '99)
Since this day was to be a visit to the nearby city of Bath, we were allowed to sleep in a little later! We had an interesting ride through the country to Bath, in particular past the country home of Prince Charles and not too far from Princess Anne's home.
Before arriving in Bath proper, our guides took us to a vantage point of the city that I had never seen before, even though this was my 4th visit to the city. That vantage point is shown in the accompanying post card view:
We drove around in the city and were taken to the Royal Crescent & Circus, an area of the city where there are some quite splendid examples of Georgian architecture. Then to the car park to settle in for the afternoon.
Most of the group went in to the main attraction of the city, the Roman baths. This is a very special site, bringing the visitor back more than 2000 years in history. Most Americans don't have that particular feeling ...
Even though there were some minor complaints of all the tourists in the baths, we were lucky not to have been there in the peak tourist season of July or August. People - a mere trifle when at such a historic spot as this!
While the rest of the group was in the baths, I spent some time in a cybercafι near the railroad station. I read some of my accumulating e*mail and replied to a couple of them. The cost was a very tolerable £2.50 per hour.
Then I walked into the city and waited in the drizzle for the group to finish up their tour. I sat outside in the square with the impressive Bath Abbey to my left. I also walked around the abbey and out of the square into the main shopping district.
When I caught up with my nephew we went into the abbey and then walked around the city for a little bit, including into a couple of antique shops where I bought two old Victorian medicine bottles and an old "Eiffel Tower Lemonade" bottle.
The group rejoined and we went for tea in a nearby Marks & Spencer department store, after which we headed for the car park. There were a couple of large stores near there, and Pat went into one to buy some food for another box lunch we would be having on Friday when we went to Plymouth (the next day).
We returned to the travel lodge at Emmersons Green and once again ate our dinner in the restaurant there.
Day 7 (8 Oct '99)
7:00 came early for us! We had a full day ahead. The motel's restaurant wasn't open at this hour, so we ate on the motorway on the way to Plymouth in a stop named Taunton Dean. It was a nice highway stop, but the cost was a little bit steep seemingly more out of line than we had noticed in other places during our stay.
On the way south we stopped in the small town of Buckfastleigh and walked
around Buckfast Abbey. It was founded in Norman times, fell
into much disrepair after Henry VIII's dissolution, and it wasn't
until 1882
that a group of French Benedictine monks set up a new abbey here,
which wasn't completed until 1938.
We arrived in Plymouth before noon and went first of all to the Mayflower
Steps, the place where the Mayflower Pilgrims embarked in Sep
1620.
Since all of us have Mayflower lines it certainly seemed a fitting
place to visit.
Note: Just about all Americans who have New England heritage can
find a primogenitor who was on the first crossing of the
Mayflower.
My brother, my nephew, and I all share the following: William Brewster , Arthur &
John Howland, George Soule, Stephen Hopkins, and Francis Cooke. The others may have the same or may
have a different lineage.
At least one descendant of some of the passengers left a permanent
impression at those steps! A mysterious footprint was left behind in
some fresh cement on the stairs! Sherlock Holmes, anyone?
Earl P. Crandall, Samuel W. Harbold, Judith (Crandall) Harbold, David E. Crandall, Jr.
From this site we walked up the hill to Plymouth Hoe, a hill high
enough in elevation to be seen from out at sea,
and as the story goes, the seamen upon seeing this would exclaim,
Plymouth, Ho! Must be sort of like Land, Ho!
It was on this hillside that Sir Francis Drake is said to have calmly finished his
game of bowling as the invading Spanish Armada approached the port in
1588!
This area, like Bristol (mentioned above), was bombed severely during
WWII and has been all rebuilt over the past 50 years.
On this hillside we stopped and had another delicious picque nicque
lunch that Pat had prepared for us all! And then on again, heading back to
Emmersons Green through the famous Dartmoor, made famous in literature by A.
Conan Doyle in The Hounds of the
Baskervilles and Daphne DuMaurier in Rebecca. (Our guides
assured us that the weather was safe to travel through this area without it
befuddling them if it befogged us all around!)
So, just what is a moor? After a little investigation, it was
discovered that much of England is actually made of limestones, sandstones,
and shales, all deposited by the seas as the island was again and again
covered by water millions of years ago. Then, for some reason, the section
known as the moors underwent some orogeny (as the geologists call
it), and that entire area was
buried, then melted, and then thrust up again into a plain.
The resulting rock was granitic and not very porous at all. Hence, there is
less erosion at the surface and that results in less soil. Then combine
that with the rather damp conditions of any island, and you have a
moor!
So when the air gets damp and it cools off suddenly, we have the perfect
conditions for a fog forming very quickly giving visibility that is near 0!
And, built right in the middle of the Dartmoor in Princetown, is the
famous Dartmoor Prison! There are few escapes from here because of
the moor effect!
This was indeed a lovely site! The scenery was grand and I think we all had
some Victorian Gothic thoughts as we rode around through this
area.
We drove by the foreboding prison, but we saw all sorts of sheep and some
horses in the fields, a few small villages,
and of course, at tea time, a pub!
It was a chilly and blustery day, so we were all ready for some refreshment.
Several of us had the English Cream Tea, which consisted of a pot of
tea, two scones, and a nice serving of fresh clotted cream and some
strawberry preserves.
'Twas like being in heaven and since clotted cream is close to
being a heart attack on a plate, some of us might have reached
heaven sooner than expected!
For the uninitiated, clotted cream is whipped cream that is just
about on its way to becoming butter, but not quite! Absolutely
exquisite!
From thence we wandered "home". It had been a long day, so a little repast
at the motel restaurant and then a good night's rest!
Did you know, perchance, that the city of Plymouth is at the mouth of
the River Plym? And that Dartmouth is at the mouth of the River
Dart?
Day 8 (9 Oct '99)
Our last full day in England was to be spent in Oxford. It is a typical
smaller English city with lots of character, and because it was Saturday,
lots of people! Of course, it is a famous college town, too, making
it a little more than sparsely populated!
I had been in Oxford for nearly-two-week conference of the Mormon History
Association in July 1987. I had actually lived in a dormitory of one of
the Oxford colleges. Therefore, I was quite familiar with the city and
chose this day as a time to meet some friends of mine who live in
London.
Originally they were going to take a train from Paddington Station in
London and meet me about noon. However, earlier in the week there had been
a terrible wreck at Paddington, so my friends had to come by car! They were
indeed at Oxford Station at noon as we had planned.
I left the rest of the group in John's & Pat's capable hands! They took a
quick tour of the city, walked around a bit, and went into one of the
museums there. Meanwhile, Sue, Pete & Suz, and I went to a pub called
The Grapes and had a fine lunch.
After the main course I was introduced to treacle pudding and what
a treat that was. (As a matter of fact, we all discovered on our trip that
the English really do know their desserts.
However, none of us was ever able to get up enough nerve to order the
pudding named spotted dick! And that even though my friend,
Pete, urged me to order it at our last meal later that night
in Westerleigh when he would be miles away, back in London!)
After four hours in Oxford too short for me! I met up with "my American
group" and we headed back towards Westerleigh.
We went through a different section of the Cotswolds, through a town
called Bibury, which has to be about the most picturesque area I've ever
seen! And for that reason, we stopped for a very unique photo op!
Bibury, right on the River Coln [also spelled Colne], has a set of
charming cottages dating back to 13th century. These cottages
were linked to the wool industry so prevalent in this area and were built
for the weavers in the area. Their looms were usually
set up in the attics. It's time to re-read Silas Marner!
We took many photos of this most charming of all areas!
Lorraine C. Corr, David E. Crandall, Sr., Cassandra E.
Crandall, David E. Crandall, Jr.,
Samuel W. Harbold, Judith C. Harbold, Earl P.
Crandall
Back to Westerleigh for our last supper! (See the photo at the top
of the page.) We all ate well. No one ordered spotted dick for
dessert.
One of the other patrons, named Andrew, helped us with some group shots at
our table. He also took one shot that fortunately didn't come out. Had it,
I may have been arrested when
I picked up my developed prints. Our group of nine knows exactly whereof I
speak!
We returned to the motel. We had to get up mighty early (5:00 a.m. to
leave about 6:00 a.m.) the next morning to get back to London's
Gatwick Airport in time to go through the process of waiting on line
to get into another line to wait some more before boarding
our Virgin Atlantic Flight 11 to return to Boston.
We said some sad good-byes to Pat & John (& Mickey, too!). It had been a
real pleasure, but we all realized that we had made some very good friends
and we have our photographs and very fond memories to satisfy us until we
meet them again on our side or their side!
Fortunately we did leave early because John informed us later that there had
been a massive delay on the motorway later in our direction, and had
we been involved in that mess we might not be back to the USA yet!
for all her help arranging this trip for us!
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