"Literary Links" - London - 'How Green was my... Love Bug'

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

Quaintly snuggled between the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre is a surprising row of 18^th Century homes - surprising in that they have even survived on this busy waterfront. 

The ornate plaque on number 49 declares that Christopher Wren (1632-1723) stayed here while working on St Paul’s Cathedral opposite (between 1675-1710), but this is a dubious claim.  We do know that as the head of the Office of Works he had a house in New Scotland Yard near Trafalgar Square.  We also know he went on to have a home near Hampton Court, leased to him by Queen Anne, and a London home in St James’s Street where he died.  The assertion that he lived here at number 49 is not supported, particularly since this building was not built until 1710 – the same year St Paul’s was finished!

However, there is a claim that the plaque once stood on a home east of here which was demolished, and the ceramic plaque was saved and put here.  

Despite debunking the claim for one famous resident number 49 can still lay claim to be the home for five years (1934-1939) of the English Actor and film director Robert Stevenson (1905-1986) and his wife the actress Anna Lee (1913-2004).

Robert Stevenson

  Robert’s name may not be as recognisable as Wrens, but you will instantly know his work.  He directed over 50 movies including King Solmon’s Mines (1937), Mary Poppins (1964), The Love Bug (1968), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), and Herbie Rides Again (1974).  

Anna Lee

Anna Lee was in over 60 films including How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), The Sound of Music (1965) and in the American soap opera General Hospital.  

This is an excerpt from the tour London River Walks - South Bank which explores the southern bank of the River Thames.  The full tour is found on  www.obelisktours.co.uk

"Literary Links" - Elizabeth Barrett-Browning

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

Ledbury's Clock Tower and old Library building were constructed in 1892 and are named The Barrett- Browning Institute in honour of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861). 

Mr Edward Moulton Barrett (1785-1857) lived just outside of Ledbury near the village of Colwall.   He was the wealthy owner of Jamaican sugar plantations run by slave labour.   His oldest daughter Elizabeth was cursed with poor health, but found great solace in reading and composing her own poems from an early age – poems which were good enough to be published and acclaimed.    Some of her poems actively opposed slavery – which was an awkward position to be in to advocate the end of your own father’s business. 

In 1844, now 38 years old, she published a volume simply called ‘Poems’.  It caught the eye of a fellow poet Robert Browning (1812-1889) who started corresponding.  Letters turned to love and love turned to marriage.   Her father was horrified at such a match.  He never forgave Elizabeth when she secretly married, and he disinherited her.   His embittered soul was finally laid to rest in Ledbury parish church where a memorial depicts him ascending into the heavens.   It is such a pity that he did not put aside his anger, and forgive and move on. 

Elizabeth’s words influenced other poets like Edgar Allan Poe, and Emily Dickinson.  One of Elizabeth’s most oft quoted poems is:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.

This is an excerpt from the tour Ledbury which explores this medieval market town.  The full tour is found on www.obelisktours.co.uk

"Literary Links" - Wordsworth's Ledbury Bells

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

Our visit today is the site of St Katherine’s Hospital in Ledbury.  A plan of how the hospital complex would have looked is engraved in the pavement and shows an assortment of hospital and farm buildings including the remaining Chapel, Hall, and almshouses.

St Katherine's Chapel & Hall, Ledbury
The Master's House stands behind this building

The hospital was named after Katherine Audley (1272-1322) the cousin of King Edward II (1284-1327).   Her husband had died and local legend claims she heard the bells of Ledbury ringing without any bell ringers and took it as a sign that she and her attendant Mabel should settle here and establish a hospital for the poor.  William Wordsworth (1770-1850) captured her experience in his poem St. Catherine of Ledbury (1835)   ....

Ledbury bells Broke forth in concert flung adown the dells,
And upward, high as Malvern’s cloudy crest;
Sweet tones, and caught by a noble Lady blest
To rapture! Mabel listened at the side
Of her loved mistress: soon the music died,

And Catherine said, “Here I set up my rest.”
Warned in a dream, the Wanderer long had sought
A home that by such miracle of sound
Must be revealed: --she heard it now, or felt
The deep, deep joy of a confiding thought;
And there, a saintly Anchoress, she dwelt
Till she exchanged for heaven that happy ground.

In fact the hospital was founded in 1232 - some 80 years before Katherine's arrival - by Bishop Hugh Foliot (1155-1234), Bishop of Hereford, but Katherine’s will of 1313 helped it to expand and, quite fittingly, was named after her. 

Master's House during renovation

The Masters House is looking very fresh after its modern refurbishment.  The original timber framed open hall house was erected around 1487 and had additions added in the 16^th, 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries.  In recent years (2011-2015) the whole building was protected and hidden away under a huge umbrella of scaffolding and tarpaulin.   Underneath this watertight cocoon the whole place was gutted – over 450 skips of waste were removed!  The roof was stripped of its tiles and the long process of carefully restoring the ancient roof timbers began.   The stripping back to the bare medieval structure revealed some great original features the best of which has to be the fabulous roof which has to be seen from inside to be appreciated. 

 The building now houses Ledbury's public library so is open most days for you to enjoy these timber delights. 

This is an excerpt from the tour Ledbury  which explores this delightful medieval market town.  The full tour is found on www.obelisktours.co.uk

"Literary Links" - Christ Church Authors

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

Christ Church College in Oxford has its fair share of famous alumni including three notable wordsmiths: Dorothy Sayers, W.H.Auden and Richard Curtis.

·         Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) was born at Christ Church!  Her father, Reverend Henry Sayers was the chaplain and headmaster of the Choir School.  Dorothy returned as a young woman to be educated at Somerville College, and was one of the first women to receive a degree from Oxford.    Dorothy was an avid writer, but is best remembered for her murder mysteries featuring the amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey.

·         Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973), more commonly known as W.H.,  arrived to study biology, but soon switched to English Literature.  A wise move for that is where his future was heading.   With his monocle and cane he wandered Oxford’s streets lapping up the student life, enjoying good food, music, sports and conversation.  He published hundreds of poems, essays and reviews.  Although he eventually settled in America he returned for three weeks each year between 1956-1961 to lecture as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.

·         Richard Curtis (1956-  ) studied English Language and Literature, and his love of words has entertained us ever since.   Richard met Rowan Atkinson in Oxford drama clubs and they created Blackadder and Mr. Bean.  His pen went on to write or adapt numerous films and TV series including  the Vicar of Dibley,  Spitting Image, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love Actually and War Horse. 

This is an excerpt from the tour Oxford’s Noble and Great Ones - Part 1  which explores around the southern part of Oxford.  The full tour is found on www.obelisktours.co.uk

"On the Road..." St Oswald's Priory

"On the road..." is a series of posts about our Discovery of Britain's highways and byways.  Whether it be some family fun, a surprising connection or just a beautiful spot we want to share our love for this country with you.  

Today we visit Gloucester

The remains of Saint Oswald's Priory

A small Anglo-Saxon church was built here around 900 AD by Aethelred  (d.911) the Earl of Mercia and his wife, Aethelflaed (d.918)- the daughter of Alfred the Great (849-899).  They dedicated the church to St. Peter. 

Nine years later it was rededicated to Oswald (604-642AD) the King of Northumbria who, during his eight year reign, became the most powerful king in England.  His kingdom stretched down the East of the country through what is now East Yorkshire, Northumberland, Durham, Berwickshire, and East Lothian.  He is credited with helping Christianity spread in the north of England by granting the Holy Island of Lindisfarne for the Bishop to govern and minister.  So, why did Aethelred and Aethelflaed change the church’s name from Peter to Oswald?

Oswald was killed in battle in 642 AD.  He was dismembered, but it took 267 years for all of his body parts to find a peaceful resting place.  One arm went to Bamburgh near Lindisfarne only to be stolen by Peterborough monks, 250 miles south, who took a fancy to this arm joining their fine display of ‘sacred’ relics.  Relics meant pilgrims, and pilgrims meant money.  Peterborough also claimed to have pieces of the Saviour’s swaddling clothes and manger, remains from the five loaves and fishes, remnants of Mary’s cloak,  and bones of Peter, Paul, Andrew and Thomas the Becket.  They guarded Oswald’s precious arm in a specially made tower in case anyone else got the idea of stealing it from them - a classic example of holy relics getting out of hand. 

Oswald’s head and a rib went to Durham Cathedral.  Although a number of other European monasteries wanted to cash in on the action, so there are four other contenders for the keepers of the holy head - Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands  and Germany. 

Meanwhile, back on the field of battle, a raven is supposed to have carried Oswald’s other arm to a nearby tree.  Thereafter miracles began around that tree and the spring of water nearby and it became known as ‘Oswald’s Tree’.   The area where the rest of him was buried is known today as Oswestry in Shropshire.

Thirty Seven years later these remains were moved 150 miles east of Oswestry to Bardney Abbey (679) where his niece wanted the saintly and miraculous bones of her Uncle Oswald near to her.   His reputation for miracles accompanied him and for the next 230 years he continued to be revered at this Lincolnshire spot. 

But…Lincolnshire was repeatedly under threat from Viking invasions and in 909 AD the much loved remains of Oswald were removed for safety 150 miles south west here to Gloucester.   Although it seems he may have been dispersed a bit further afield as monasteries at Bath, Glastonbury, Hexham, Reading, St. Albans, Christchurch, Tynemouth and York all claimed to have parts of him as well!    This five headed, three armed man is starting to sound more like a mutant than a saintly king.  But here, in Gloucester, most of him was finally laid to rest and both Aethelred and Aethelflaed were buried near him.   

This royal burial spot became overshadowed and side-lined as the new Norman Cathedral began to rise (1089) and St Oswald’s became a humble monastic house for Augustinian canons (1152).  They added a cloister which is marked today by the hedges between the ruin and Archdeacon Street. 

In 1536/37 the priory was one of 5 monastic houses closed in Gloucester and one of 56 in the whole of Gloucestershire during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.  It served for a century as a parish church but met its end when it was destroyed during a Civil War siege (1643).  The remains became part of people’s homes until it was finally left just as an ancient monument – a reminder of over 1115 years of history.    

This is an excerpt from the tour Gloucester City Tour - Part One which explores the streets around the Cathedral.  The full tour is found on  www.obelisktours.co.uk