Tales from the Country 2008 (Tri-region)
Factsheet – Ep1 of 10 - Forgotten Ports
Littleport, Faversham and Lydney

Selina Scott and Tony Francis return to our screen presenting a new series looking at the people and places of the English countryside.

The opening episode looks at life now and then in three different towns – Faversham in Kent, Lydney in Glos and Littleport in Cambs – all of which used to boast fantastic ports and docks.

But what became of them, why did they disappear and do any reminders remain?

The programme begins in Faversham – famous for London bricks and gunpowder – it claims the title of longest preserved high street in the country, with glorious buildings to match.

Faversham’s wealth was built on its proximity to the sea, connected by a creek to the nearby Swale, and the threat of war, especially from over the channel.

Until the 15th Century the UK had no formal navy to act against the threat of invasion. Instead the Crown drew up a contract with 5 leading ports in the South of England. They would provide ships and manpower at the time of naval threat, in return for certain ‘privileges’.

Dover was one of the five ports, and Faversham came under its wing – it to would receive privilege, including an exemption from tax! You can read more about Faversham’s naval past here -
http://www.faversham.org/pages/standard.aspx?i_PageID=15803

Gunpowder manufacture was a mainstay of the town for hundreds of years. Faversham was perfect as it had a stream for powering the mills, low-lying land on which to grow alder and willow – a key ingredient – and of course the port to import the vital sulphur and export the gunpowder up to London.

In the programme Tony visited the Chart Gunpowder Mill – the oldest surviving mill in the UK - which is open between April and October at the weekends and Bank Holiday. For more details click here
http://www.faversham.org/pages/standard.aspx?i_PageID=15848
or call 01795 534915.

Although a shadow of its former self, Faversham’s creek is still home to many boats. A boat yard exists on the creek – you can get more information here
http://www.ironwharf.co.uk – and background details on the creeks tides and workings here http://www.faversham.org/pages/directory_item
.aspx?i_PageID=12684

Selina Scott was in Cambridgeshire town of Littleport in search of its porting past.

The town lies off the River Ouse, which acted as the channel for all manner of goods to be brought in and out – a function dating back to Roman times.

Selina visited what remains of the docks today, the Littleport Boat Haven. For more click here http://www.littleportboathaven.co.uk or call 01353 863 763.

The town also has distinct links to an American icon – the Harley Davidson motorbike. For it was from here that William Harley emigrated to America. After fighting in the American Civil War, he fathered another William Harley, who teamed up with Arthur Davidson in 1903 to form the legendary company.

Selina was given a spin by Nigel Darken, owner of Black Bear Harley Davidson dealers based in nearby Newmarket. For more on them visit http://www.blackbear.co.uk/index.cfm

The Littleport bread riots also bought the town to the nation’s attention in 1816. With the price of bread rocketing, the men returning from war with France took to the streets of the town to protest – and to riot.

After smashing up the town and robbing many of its residents they marched on nearby Ely. Magistrates met in Ely in an attempt to reason with them and meet their demands. This they successfully did, and eventually the mob headed home. But soon the authorities wanted the ringleaders, and eventually 5 men were hung for their part in the mass disorder. For more visit http://www.btinternet.com/~strawson.online/riots/riot.htm#
The%20Riot%20in%20Littleport

Finally Tony was in Gloucestershire town of Lydney, a port given its life thanks to the railway.

The Severn and Wye railway ran the docks from the early 1800’s using it to export coal and timber direct from the Forest of Dean to the rest of world.

Tony took to these rails which now forms the preserved Dean Forest Railway run entirely by volunteers connecting Lydney with the Forest. For more about visit http://www.deanforestrailway.co.uk

Lydney docks is currently in throes of redevelopment by current owners the Enviroment Agency, reopening in 2005.

For more on the docks today and yesterday visit http://www.lydney.org.uk/project_lydney_docks.shtml

One boat calling at the new docks is the Balmoral trips from Lydney to Devon. For more visit http://www.waverleyexcursions.co.uk/index.htm

Tony also visited the Purton ‘boat graveyard’, which lies on the ‘English side’ of the estuary opposite Lydney.

Over 80 boats were deliberately run aground to shore up the land between the River Severn and the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal over the course of the 20th Century.

Tony met up with guide Paul Barnett who has tracked down the history and names of the hulks as they rot away. Paul often gives guided tours and can be contacted via http://www.gloucesterdocks.me.uk/canal/graveyard.htm

The programme begins at the largest reservoir in the South East of England, Bewl Water – all 770 acres of it.

And it’s this vast piece of water which attracts scores of the colourful Great Crested Grebe every spring.

One of the Grebe’s mating rituals consists of a ‘dance’ around each other with their snake-like necks. The best time to view this is around April, but can be weather dependant.

For more information contact Bewl Water at www.bewl.co.uk or call 01892 890 661.

Next up was the dragonfly, hit badly by the heavy summer rains of 2007. Tony joined scientist Eva Raebel who had moved from Spain, to study British dragonflies. Such is her expertise she can sex and identify a dragonfly just from the skins they shed.

It is claimed that dragonflies are the world’s fastest insect, travelling up to 38mph, and can cover 85 miles in a day.

The lifecycle can amaze. Before they become dragonflies, they are nymphs living under the surface of water for up to three years. When dragonflies, they have only weeks to mate before they die. For more on the 39 species of UK dragonfly visit the website of the British Dragonfly Society at www.dragonflysoc.org.uk

Finally we met wildlife artist James McCallum, who takes his paints out into the field in an effort to catch the famous courtship of ‘boxing’ hares and the beautiful Marsh Harrier.

For more on James and to see his fantastic pictures of Norfolk wildlife visit http://www.jamesmccallum.co.uk

Tales from the Country 2008 (Tri-region)
Factsheet – Ep3 of 10 - People of the Hills
Longnor Sports, Dunstable Gliders, Surrey Writers

Selina Scott and Tony Francis take to the hills to find out how an undulating landscape form different unique communities across the English countryside.

On the Thursday after the first Sunday of every September the Staffordshire village of Longnor comes to a halt from and annual ‘Sports’.

For over 100 years the people of this Peak District village have gathered to watch fell, trotting and even motorbike races in an event which is the focal point of Longnor’s social calendar.

In 2008, Longnor Sports will take place on the 11th of September. For more information about the village visit www.derbyshireuk.net/longnor.html

Selina was in Bedfordshire, where nestled amongst the Dunstable Downs is the headquarters of the London Gliding Club, the oldest in the UK.

Gliding began in Germany, where pilots banned from powered flight over World War I still wanted to get airborne. Soon the craze crossed to the UK, and after the odd stop off in the likes of Guildford, the London Gliding club made its permanent home at the foot of the downs.

For over 70 years, the prevailing wind and topography of the hills have provided the perfect venue for the glider pilots ever since.

New wannabe pilots are always welcome for a trial flight. For more information contact the clubs website at www.londonglidingclub.com or call 01582 663 419.

Finally Tony took to the Surrey Hills to follow in the footsteps of the literati who colonised the area they called ‘Little Switzerland.”

HG Wells, Tennyson, Flora Thompson and Conan Doyle were just some of the writers who made Hindhead and Haslemere their home. The area was opened up the railways, and the transformed into a fashionable destination for the nation’s finest writers.
For more information about the history of the Surrey Hill writers contact Haslemere Museum at
www.haslemeremuseum.co.uk or read ‘The Hilltop Writers’ by W R Trotter for more information on that book visit http://www.johnowensmith.co.uk/books/htw1873855311.htm

Selina Scott and Tony Francis set off to uncover some of the oddities in the English countryside.

The Essex coast is the unlikely place to find the UK’s smallest cathedral – but a lonely looking barn-like building is a place of pilgrimage and worship for many.

The building in question is St Peter’s Chapel – which dates from 654AD. Built by a missionary named St Cedd, the chapel is technically a cathedral as there is still a ‘Bishop of Bradwell’ – a post descending direct from Cedd himself.

The Reverends Margaret and Laurence Whitford are now the custodians of the chapel, and have reopened the chapel for regular services. The highlight of the year is the annual pilgrimage, complete with walk from Bradwell village and open service. This normally takes place in July.

For more information on the chapel visit www.bradwellchapel.org

Very close to the chapel can be found the ‘Othona Community’, a spiritual retreat centre named after the Roman fort which once stood on the spot now occupied by St Peter’s Chapel.

The community was founded after World War II by a former RAF Chaplin named Norman Motley. It was here he ended his search for a spot where people could come for personal discovery and renewal.

The retreat is open to all faiths, and many people spend days or weeks here having a spiritual break. The retreat has recently been modernised and can accommodate up to 50 people. For more visit www.othona.org

Selina Scott travelled to the Staffordshire village of Barlaston, home to the HQ of the Esperanto Society.

Esperanto is a ‘common language’ designed to facilitate communication between different nations. It was invented by Ludvic Lazarus Zahmenhof, an eye doctor living in Poland, who wanted the various ethnic groups to be united by a common tongue.

Now, every year people gather in Barlaston, which has hosted Esperanto summer schools since the 1960’s, for a week on study.

The language has been resurgent thanks to the internet, which means that Esperantists can communicate with fellow speakers across the globe.

For more information about learning Esperanto visit www.esperanto-gb.org or call the Esperanto Society on 0845 230 1887.

Finally Tony met Dr Paul Waring. By day, he’s the nation’s foremost moth expert, but by night his passion for rock n roll brings out the inner Elvis.

Paul is the co-author of the Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland, available from numerous outlets. For more about moths visit http://ukmoths.org.uk

Tony travelled with the Paul to the March Jive Club in Cambridgeshire. The club meet on the 3rd Friday of every month at the town’s Braza Club and also every Wednesday in the same location for practice and beginners nights.

For more on the club call organiser Sue Martin on 01354 742309.

Selina Scott and Tony Francis investigate the look in the life of three towns all put on the map thanks to power of flowers.

Tony visited the Surrey suburbs of Mitcham and Carshalton –famed in the late 19th and early 20th Century for its lavender.

Perfume makers Yardley were just one of the companies who bought up bundles of the lavender in what is now part of Greater London. London’s lavender production died out due to thanks to number of reasons – the turnover of ground to food production rather than flowers and the creep of London to subsume what were previously villages, meant that the land of lavender was under threat.

One group have now revived the tradition. The Carshalton lavender project has returned 3 acres of land back to lavender. Every July the group hold an annual lavender harvest, and also sell their own lavender oil.

For more on Carshalton lavender visit www.carshaltonlavender.org

Tony also ventured 20 miles over the border into Kent, to visit one of the largest lavender farms in the UK – Castle Farm lavender. Based close to Shoreham, the farm produces scores of different lavender related products – from ice cream and honey to dried flowers.

Castle Farm shop is open all year round, and has many lavender related events – including art in the lavender fields – when the plants are in flower in June/July.

For more details visit www.hopshop.co.uk or call 01959 523219.

Wem in Shropshire owes its claim to fame thanks to the Sweet Pea. The flowers adorn the towns entry and road signs, and every year an annual sweet pea show attracts growers from across the UK.

Why Wem? It’s all thanks to one man Henry Eckford. He was a nurseryman who began cross-breeding experiments in a bid to develop different strains of sweet pea.

By 1901 he had developed 115 varieties out of a total of 264 then available.

It was not until the 1980’s that Wem decided to commemorate Eckford’s memory with an annual sweet pea show. In 2008 the show will take place on 19th and 20th of July.

For more information visit www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/sweet-pea

Finally town travelled to the Essex town that became so synonymous with a flower it was named after it – Saffron Walden.

Saffron – the most expensive spice in the world – is derived from the saffron crocus.

Thanks to chalky soil, what was then called Chipping or Market Walden, became a centre for crocus cultivation.

The 16th and 17th Century was the boom time of the saffron trade, as the expensive dye was sought to provide a golden glow to the robes of the wealthy and differentiate themselves from the lower orders.

Plain old Chipping Walden, became Saffron Walden – and the name has stuck to this day.

No longer are saffron crocus grown in or around the town. But, it’s influence can be seen in the grand buildings – including huge parish church – built in the back of the valuable spice trade.

Selina Scott and Tony Francis took to the tracks to investigate curious tales on Britain’s railways.

The programme began on ‘The Poacher Line’, which runs through Lincolnshire from Grantham to Skegness.

Each year, the line has a number of events to entice locals and others to take the train. From being serenaded by on-board jazz musicians, to a trip to the local brewery.

Tales from the Country caught the train for the latest initiative – the speed dating train.

This was just one of the ideas from Community Rail Manager for the Poacher Line Chris Watson. For more details on upcoming events contact Chris on chris.watson@lincolnshire.gov.uk

We also retraced a journey which for many would have been their last. For Brookwood cemetery in Surrey – the largest in the UK – was opened up thanks to the railway.

Coming complete with its own sidings, a separate line running from Waterloo into the grounds of the cemetery was opened in 1854. This was the Necropolis Line, with its own dedicated rolling stock to carry mourners and coffins from London direct to the burial ground in the country.

This new vast site was needed as London was literally overflowing with dead bodies. Diseases such as cholera had left the capital’s burial grounds at breaking point. Something needed to be done.

That something was the purchase of 2000 acres of common at Brookwood. It was to become the cemetery of today, and is now home to some 235,000 graves – with room for plenty more.

The funeral trains stopped running into Brookwood, after the station at Waterloo was destroyed in a bombing raid on the 16th of April 1941.

These days, the cemetery is very much active, and is one of the most multi-cultural places in the UK. Every denomination from Anglicans to Zoroastrians are represented in the cemetery, each with their own dedicated area.

There are scores of famous (and infamous) people buried within the grounds of Brookwood.

For more details of a ‘who’s who’ of Brookwood, visit the website of the current owners at www.brookwoodcemetery.com

The acknowledged expert on the cemetery is John Clarke. His book entitled ‘London’s Necropolis: A guide to Brookwood Cemetery’ is available via the cemetery direct.

Regular walks are held throughout the year around key cemetery sites and graves, giving a background on just some of the people buried here. They are organised by The Brookwood Cemetery Society, a friends group who champion the cemetery.

For more details on them visit www.tbcs.org.uk

Selina Scott visited two Norfolk railway stations, which were saved by individuals who remembered them as small boys.

Gunton station lies on the North Norfolk Bittern Line.

It is an ‘estate station’, built to serve the grand 19th Century Gunton Hall, which hosted Royalty from the UK and beyond at many a function.

These days Gunton Hall, after many years of decline, has been restored and divided up into separate accommodation.

Gunton Station still operates, although the platform on which the station house is located is now private.

Selina paid a visit en-route to the village of Worstead, which gave its name to the famous cloth albeit with a slightly different spelling – worsted.

Worstead’s claim to fame was thanks to Edward III, who married a Flemish princess and encouraged her weaving countryman to come to the flatlands of Norfolk.

Here, they took the wool and wove into a fabric that became famous across the land. But Worstead’s industry was very much a cottage one, and when the spinning mills of the north began to open in the early 19th Century, it marked the end for the village’s trade.

Today, weaving can be seen at the Baptist Church at Meeting Hill, just outside of Worstead. The Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers meet here on a regular basis. For more on the guild visit http://www.northnorfolk.org/worsteadguild

Finally Selina arrived at Wymondham, which grabbed the award of ‘Best Small Station’ in 2007.

That accolade owes a lot to the work of one man – David Turner, the current owner of the station.

Twenty years ago the station was a dilapidated mess, now it comes complete with its own ‘Brief Encounter Café’ stuffed full of railway memorabilia.

For more information on Wymondham station – which is on the Wherry Line south of Norwich – visit www.wymondham-station.com

It’s not easy being green - or is it? Selina Scott and Tony Francis go in search of those people who preach the eco way of life.

Selina travelled to the Shropshire town of Bishops Castle, where a new housing development has become a model of all things environmental.

From solar panels to heat hot water to reclaimed bricks and triple glazed windows, ‘The Wintles’ estate put in to practice cutting edge ideas back at the start of the decade when it was conceived.

The colourful wooden framed homes were designed not just to make the best of the environmental crditaionals but to also engender community spoirt from the way they were placed around each other.

The cost of the eco-homes – some 4 bedroomed properties are priced around £450,000 (as of Feb 2008) – was for some too high a price. But the developers have committed themselves to building, smaller cheaper housing in new locations across the UK.

For more on the Bishop’s Castle development visit www.livingvillage.com

For over 30 years Peter and Juliet Kindersley, have turned their Sheepdrove Farm high on the Berkshire Hills into a beacon for the organic industry.

After helping to run the publishing firm Dorling Kindersley, Peter and Juliet now dedicate themselves to making the Sheepdrove a standard-setter for the rest of the agricultural industry.

For example, their organic chickens are watched over by an animal behaviourist to ensure they have the best start in life and the chicken sheds come complete with solar and wind power. The farm even has its own electric car.

For more on the farm, including how to buy the farm’s meat, then visit www.sheepdrove.com

Finally Tony looking into the world of hemp – a plant which is leaving behind its narcotic past and heading for a future as one of the most versatile in the UK.

Industrial hemp does indeed descend from the cannabis family, but its drug inducing ‘qualities’ are virtually nil.

Around 3000 acres of the plant are being grown and cultivated in the UK, used in a variety of guises.

From clothing to bird seed to forming car parts – hemp has a myriad of uses. One such is as a building material, made by mixing the hemp with lime and forming so-called ‘Hempcrete.’

For more information visit the website of growers Hemcore at www.hemcore.co.uk or click on www.hempbuilding.com for more details on hemps uses as a building material.

Selina Scott and Tony Francis go in search of some more oddities across the UK.

One such bizarre ritual is the annual ‘Dunwich Dynamo’ cycle ride.

Every year the ‘Pub on the Park’, at London Fields in Hackney is the gathering point for hundreds of cyclists about to travel 120 miles through the night to the Suffolk coast.

Why? Why not?! Legend has it that the event started when a handful of cycling couriers decided to make for the coast one summers evening as they fancied a dip in the North Sea. Soon many others wanted to follow in their tracks.

The event is best described as ‘semi-organised’. There is no mass start or support vehicles sweeping up any unfortunate cyclists along the route. For many, the self-sufficiency and independence is what makes the event special.

There is one supported stop en-route – in the village of Great Waldingfield – where cyclists halt for food and drink before pushing on for the coast.

The event is open all on a ‘turn up and ride basis’ but bear in mind it is 120 miles, the majority of which will be ridden in the dark – and then you have to get back!

The Dynamo takes place in July on the Saturday nearest the full moon.

For more information visit www.londonschoolofcycling.co.uk/dunwich.html or http://www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk/social/2008/07-Dunwich/dunwichfaq.shtml

For more on the history of Dunwich, the Suffolk coastal ‘town’ engulfed by the sea visit www.visit-dunwich.co.uk

Selina Scott took to the Thames in the company of the man once voted ‘Britain’s Most Eccentric’ – Lyndon Yorke.

Over the years he has built numerous machines ‘to amuse’ including a coal fired, twin paddled steam boat and a 1921 Citroen car complete with body work made out of wicker.

Many of Lyndon’s machines are given their first airing at the Henley Regatta. For more information on Lyndon’s creations visit www.lyndonsmachines.co.uk

Finally Tony Francis visited the Leicestershire village of Illston on the Hill, where the village cricket team is a little bit different.

Here he met Sarath Abeysundera, a Sri Lankan born millionaire who wanted a village cricket team so much, he bought his own. Illston’s team is also unusual in that it is an all Asian team – mostly Sri Lankan.

Test cricket’s leading wicket taker, Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan, has been just one of the star attractions to have graced the ground since Mr Abysundera took over.

For more on the team visit www.illstonabeycricketclub.com

They are the unsung heroes of village fetes, shows and festivals. These are the entertainers, the small town bands, singers and players which delight audiences who may never know their names.

Selina Scott and Tony Francis headed out to meet three very different types of entertainer, attempting to keep the great British public amused.

Selina took to the water to meet the owners of narrowboat with a difference – its also a floating puppet theatre.

Grenville Middleton and Juliet Rogers, are the couple behind the puppet barge - http://www.puppetbarge.com – which travels the Thames in Summer and moors on the Grand Union Canal at Little Venice over the winter.

Together, Grenville and Juliet put on a host of shows using puppets operated by strings – marionettes – in the narrowboat which can hold up to 60 people. The shows are not just for kids, last year featured a version of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

1966. England win the World Cup, Freddie Laker brings the glamour of air travel to the masses and a postman is No1.

Tony went in search of the legacy of the man who outsold the Beatles. Allan Smethhurst, better known as The Singing Postman hit the top of the charts with ‘Hev yew gotta loight boy?’ Fame took its toll on Smethhurst, and he died in 2000 in a Salvation Army Hostel in Grimsby. For more on the Singing Postman visit http://www.anglianmusic.co.uk/index.html?songpages/
postmancds.htm~mainFrame

Tony met Smethhurst’s successor ‘The Singing Farmer’, Winston Harrold. Winston was looking for a diversification scheme with the difference, and gave into his childhood ambition of performing. He now incorporates the songs of Smethhurst into his act. For more on Winston visit his website at http://www.singingfarmer.co.uk

Finally Tony visited the Shropshire village of Jackfield, a place with a unique past and a brass band festival to be proud off.

In July, the Ironbridge Gorege in which Jackfield resides, echoes to the sound of brass, as bands from across the UK come to entertain the audience, and attempt to impress their fellow players.

Jackfield’s legacy lies in the tile industry. The current home of the Brass Band Festival, the former Maws tile works, was the biggest in the world.

That industry also left another legacy – subsidence. In the early 1950s, a number of houses in the village literally cracked in half as the land below them began to shift towards the adjacent River Severn. Today, these former homes are no more. The land is now just woodland.

For more on the Ironbridge Gorge Brass Band Festival, which takes place in July visit their website at
http://www.ironbridgebandfestival.co.uk/index.htm

For more on the Jackfield landslip visit
http://www.broseley.org.uk/jfphotos.htm

They are the people who turned their backs on the conventional, and attempted to build a business far from the city. Selina Scott and Tony Francis went to meet three very different rural entrepreneurs.

Selina travelled to the Forest of Dean, to meet the two brothers hoping to make their fortune in coal.

Steve and Richard Harding now operate the Cannop Mine in the heart of the forest as part of their birthright.

All men of the Forest those born within the ancient area of ‘The Hundred of St Briavels’ have the right to mine minerals in the forest.

This right was conferred on them in the 11th Century by King Edward I, after the miners skills helped him win a battle at Berwick Castle by undermining its fortifications. In return the mining rights were handed over.

But such men who are born within The Hundred of St Briavels, are fast disappearing as the last maternity hospital in the area was closed some years ago. The closest hospital now lies outside of the area.

The brothers are now amongst the last handful of miners in the forest. Its tough work, and long hours but for them worth it. For more on getting hold of the coal the boys are mining visit http://www.forestofdeancoal.co.uk

Selina also met up with artist Yvette Willett who was doing an project relating to the skills of the miners – for more visit http://www.soglos.com/art-culture/27465/Silent-Echoes-at-Dean-Heritage-Centre

A vineyard, a pub a stately home turned office and a farm. They are all part of the empire looked after by the Bunting family.

Tony visited Essex’s answer to the Ewings. For more on the Buntings interests visit http://www.buntingandsons.co.uk/index.htm

For more on the pub, which is part of their interests, visit http://www.anchornayland.co.uk

Finally Tony met the couple behind a thriving jewellery business. Harriet Kelsall started her bespoke business from her kitchen table and it has thrived ever since.

Now operating from a converted barn near the Hertfordshire village of Weston, she employs a host of designers, gold and silversmiths offering personalised jewellery with a difference.

All manner of rings, necklaces even cufflinks can be designed and ordered to meet specific tastes. For more on the company visit their website at http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk or call 01462 790565.