Chippenham and Lacock Abbey

                                                                The Yelde Hall, Chippenham

Another walk with my friend Merv, on a very grey day. I thought I would start this blog with a picture of the fine Yelde Hall (or Guildhall), built in the15th century. It was variously a meeting place for the Council, a public meeting room, a courthouse, a gaol and a Tourist office among other things. It seems unclear what it should be used for now.

We parked near the station and headed downhill to turn left at The Bridge. We were quite taken by the imposing building on the corner, for all that it looks rather run down.

We headed on into the High Street to reach the Town Hall. It was built in 1833 and enlarged in 1850. The extension, the Neeld Hall, is on the right and housed a corn exchange and Cheese Market. Now the Council's Customer Services occupies the ground floor and the remainder is a community and arts centre.

Coming into the Market Place we encountered the Butter Market (where milk and cheese were sold). It has a surprising history. The original Buttercross stood at the current location of Barclays Bank. In 1889 it was sold and moved to Castle Combe Manor House, where it was used as a garden gazebo. In 1995, the Buttercross was re-erected in the town by Chippenham Civic Society. It looks well in its latest home.

Further into the Market Place is the imposing Angel Hotel.

A little further on we reached St Andrews Church, which Pevsner describes as "quite an impressive church", even though the upper parts of the tower date from 1633 and the interior was rebuilt in 1975-8. 

Opposite the church are these buildings which we first took for almshouses. It is in fact a former church hall, now refurbished and renamed as King Alfred Hall.

At right angles with the hall, and beyond the church, is St Mary's Street has a succession of interesting buildings: in succession a Georgian mansion, a fine red brick and then "one of only two half-timbered houses in Chippenham worth mentioning" (Pevsner of course; the other house is not mentioned again).

We decided it was now time to walk to Lacock. So far as I could see from the OS map it was a relatively straight line from Chippenham to Lacock. I had got it into my head that the route involved a redundant railway line and all we had to do was to get off along the right path. This proved to be much more lengthy and difficult that we could have imagined but after several several false starts we walked across open land to pass the first definitive milestone: Rowden Manor. 

We then had a struggle to find the right path past the Sewage Works, but eventually emerged on the right path to then skirt the Lackham Agricultural College. We passed an interesting WW2 pillar box - they are not usually square ...

... and carried on to reach the fine bridge at Raybridge.

But by now it was raining and when we reached the outsides of the village we sought the sanctuary of a pub. Later we walked along the wide street towards the Abbey.

We entered the Abbey precincts, passing the rather lovely archway. Lacock was founded in 1229 for Augustinian canonesses, led by a strong woman by the name of Ela, who became the first abbess and reigned until 1261. The Abbey was dissolved in 1539 and a little late the house passed to the Talbot family who kept it until1958.  In the 19th century it was the location of W H Fox Talbot's pioneering work in photography.

Before going through the archway we looked at the large and rather picturesque courtyard ...

... and then passed the Great Hall, sadly closed on this day (no reason given).

We walked round the edge of the buildings and into the rather lovely cloister ...

... on the left is the impressive Chapter House.

We completed our visit by looking at the interesting exhibition of Fox Talbot's work. And then decided, that as it was raining, we would get a cab back to Chippenham rather than walk.

Map: Explorer 156 (Chippenham & Bradford-on-Avon.

Distance: The walk from Chippenham to Lacock was supposed to be 3 miles, but Merv's electronic route map suggested nearer 5.

Conditions: Grey and later wet.

Rating: four stars. Chippenham and Lacock were interesting and enjoyable.

King's Lynn

The Town Hall and Guildhall

We are on our way home from an excellent few days in Norfolk and have decided to take a quick look at King's Lynn on the way. It is soon obvious that it deserves much more time than we have available. The town was was originally called Bishop's Lynn when it was founded by the Bishop of Norwich, Herbert de Losinga in 1093. It was one of England's busiest ports in medieval times. The name was changed to King's Lynn at the Reformation.

We had picked up a town trail map at our hotel in Blakeney and started our walk in the Saturday Market Place and admired the Town Hall and Guildhall complex (there is also the 18th century gaol just out of shot to the right). The Guildhall, on the right, was built for the Guild of Holy Trinity in 1422-28. The Town Hall harmonises well with it, although it dates only from 1895.

More or less opposite is the church of St Margaret, recently renamed King's Lynn Minster. It was founded in the 12th century and rebuilt in the 13th. The nave was substantially rebuilt in the 1740s after storm damage. I especially liked the great arches under the crossing.

Turning left out of the church brought us the the entrance to Nelson St. The building on the right is known as Hampton Court.

A simple gateway reveals a fascinating courtyard made up of four separate ranges developed from the 14th to the 17th centuries.

We walked along Priory Lane past cottages restored from the remains of a Benedictine monastery and right into Church St to reach the start of Nelson St, with Marriott's Warehouse on the left.

Nelson St is very picturesque and is apparently often used as a film set - it is conspicuously lacking in modern street furniture. It is a lovely street with buildings from many periods - and remarkably quiet.

At the end of the street, passing Hampton Court on the left, we turn into St Margaret's Lane, with teh Georgian St Margaret's House on the right and the half-timbered Hanseatic warehouse behind it. (King's Lynn was a member of the Hanseatic League, the commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns which was influential between about 1400-1800. We saw Baltic examples of Guild buildings in Riga and Tallinn recently.)

This brought us out on the spacious South Key, with the wide River Ouse flowing by.

We headed back into the town along College Lane to find a nice view of the facade of St Margaret's and then walked along Queen St past Thoresby College, founded in 1500.

Opposite is Burkitt Homes of 1909, its dramatic red brick Gothic slightly out of place in this street.

Queen St passes the Custom House (1683) on the quay on the left (currently under restoration) and leads into King St, where St George's Guildhall can be found on the left. The coffee shop in the undercroft was open, but unfortunately the 15th century Guildhall itself was closed.

King St leads into the wide expanse of Tuesday Market Place, seemingly the palce to find a lawyer of a financial adviser. The most striking building is the Corn Exchange of 1854, converted to a concert hall in 1996.

We crossed the square and headed towards St Nicholas's chapel. We got a shock when we reached it to be greeted by what looks like a substantial parish church. Pevsner explains that it was founded as a chapel of ease in 1146, but almost wholly rebuilt in 1419. The lead spire is by Sir George Gilbert Scott (1869).

Inside there is single large airy space. Attention is focused upwards when the roof has angels as hammerbeams. Most are playing a musical instrument like this lyre. Rather sadly, the church is now redundant but enthusiastic volunteers will tell you all about it and collect donations for its upkeep.

At this point we had to face the fact that we did not have time to complete our walk around this lovely town. Instead, we headed briskly to the main car park and headed off into the Friday afternoon traffic.

Conditions: hot and sunny.

Distance: 2-3 miles.

Rating: four stars.

Norwich 1: The city centre

The Royal Arcade

We have just arrived in Norwich at the start of a short visit to Norfolk with our friends Merv and Pud. This post describes an excellent initial stroll around the city centre. The highlight was the incredible Royal Arcade, of which more later.

We started our walk, guided by Pud who was brought up in Norwich, in Elm Hill, a very picturesque street, and chuckled as we passed a jeweller's called Stoned and Hammered.

At the top is a wonderful old house, now a coffee bar and restaurant, called Britons Arms.

We passed The Halls, once the site of a monastery ...

... and in Bridewell Alley saw the former Bridewell. A plaque outside explains that it was built in the 14th century and was acclaimed as the finest piece of flint work in England. Closer inspection reveals that it was built with flints shaped into square bricks - how hard must that have been to do? It was originally a rich merchant's house, but became a prison for women and beggars (a ‘Bridewell’) in 1585 and in the mid 18th century became a conventional prison. Later it was a factory and warehouse, eventually becoming a museum.

From here Swan Lane and London St led us to Gaol Hill and the handsome Guildhall. It was built between 1407 and 1413 and served as the  seat of the city's government, including being the city gaol, from then until 1938, when it was replaced by the new City Hall.

On the left was the market occupying a site where it has been since medieval times.  We turned left into St Peter's Street to pass in front of the City Hall.

It is a fairly plain building, but the tower is imposing - a little like the contemporary example in Southampton - and the stylised lions outside the main door are pleasing. I was surprised by Pevsner's assessment however: "the foremost English public building of between the wars". Standing with your back to the City Hall, you can see the Castle perched on its hill.

Next up was St John Manthorp, an imposing 14th century church.

Inside all is light and the magnificent roof with its wooden fan vaulting and carved angels was a wonderful sight. We saw similar angels in Stamford recently.

We passed the new Forum, on the site of the city library which was destroyed by fire, and turned right into Theatre Street to visit the 18th century Assembly House. We liked the simple Georgian facade, but we felt the central portion just wasn't in quite the right proportions to the other parts.

Inside the main rooms were exquisitely painted and plastered.

Now we walked back down Theatre St and turned right beside St John Manthorp to reach Haymarket and Gentleman's Walk, where on the right we entered The Royal Arcade of 1899 by the architect George Skipper. 

Inside there was a harmonious composition of pale green and cream bricks with bands and panels of ceramic flowers.

There was also beautiful stained glass over the rear exit.

On the way back we passed this fine house in Princes St, Garsett House. It seems to have originally been medieval, hence the jettied out up storeys, but was then remodelled in Georgian times.

Finally, going through the area known as Tombland, we walked through the courtyard of Augustine Steward House built in 1549. We marvelled at the absence of straight lines.

My final picture shows Samson and Hercules House (after the figures in the porch who were put there in 1890) and which now houses an American-style lobster bar. It was apparently a dance hall in the 1930s and is said to date from 1657.

We were staying in the nearby Maids Head hotel, so this marked the of a wonderful introduction to the city. Tomorrow we will visit the Cathedral.

Conditions: warm with some cloud and some sunshine.

Distance: maybe 3 miles.

Rating: five stars. The Royal Arcade is an absolute gem.

Riga: The Old Town

Town Hall Square

So here we are in Riga, capital of Latvia. Latvia is a small country (25,000 square miles - three times the size of Wales). It has a population of just over 2 million; Riga accounts for almost 700,000 of these..  Modern Latvia came into existence in 1918, having previously been part of the Russian empire. It was occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War and remained part of the Soviet Union from 1945 until 1991. There are still many ethnic Russians (27% of the population).

We started our walk in Rãtslaumskums (Town Hall Square). In many ways the two red brick houses in the photo above are symbolic of Riga. The house on the right, The House of the Blackheads was founded in 1344 as a guildhall and was later taken over by the Blackheads, a guild of unmarried foreign merchants (their name derives from their patron, St Maurice, a black, and black-haired, Roman legionnaire). Both it and the Schwab House next door (built in a complementary style in 1891) were devastated by bombing in 1941 and later demolished. They were reconstructed in 1999 in readiness for the city's 800th anniversary in 2001.

The original Town Hall was built in 1334, but the current one is a modern one behind a neo-classical facade.

Not far away is St Peter's church whose soaring spire can be seen from Town Hall Square. It dates from 1209, although the three Baroque portals were added in the 17th century.

Behind St Peter's is St John's, built in 1234 as the chapel of a monastery and later extended. The outside is fairly plain, but inside the nave has simply wonderful gothic web vaulting.

A few minor streets brought us to Lĩvu Square, where colourful buildings stood beyond a grassy area with delightful flower plantings.

To the right of them is the Small Guild Hall which represented Riga's German craftsmen. The current building dates from the late 19th century.

To its right is the Great Guild, appropriately enough in a bigger building. Although the Guild was established in the 13th century, the current building is from the mid-19th. It is now a concert hall.

We now headed towards the superb art deco Freedom Monument built in 1935 on a site where there was previously a statue of Peter the Great. It was designed by the sculptor Karlis Zale and is 42m high. The three stars represent the three cultural regions of Latvia and other elements represent four virtues: work, spiritual life, family and protecting the fatherland (not sure that would be my four!).

Our next stop was the Powder Tower and St Jacob's barracks. The barracks housed Swedish soldiers during a period of Swedish rule in the late 17th century, but the buildings are now all converted into restaurants. The Powder Tower once formed part of the city walls (along with 17 others) and was rebuilt also by the Swedes after they destroyed the original during a war of 1621. There is also a Swedish Gate nearby.

At the end of the Barracks we turned left passing the Parliament building and St Jacob's cathedral to turn into Maza Pils iela where there are three old houses known as the Three Brothers. A tour group listening to a pair of musicians prevented me getting a single clear shot of all three. Numbers 19 (apricot) and 21 (green) are from 17th and 18th century respectively. Number 17 (the partially visible white one) is the oldest stone-built house in the city and dates from the 15th century.

The musicians played Deutchland, Deutschland uber alles to the delight of the tour party, who turned out to be German.

We passed the former castle, now the Museum of the History of Latvia and reached the River Daugava, with the impressive Vansu Bridge off to the right. Unusually, there is only one suspension tower.

Our next stop was the Cathedral, founded 1211 but altered many times since.

We were lucky enough to arrive at the start of a wonderful short concert of organ music. The cathedral's most wonderful feature is a three story renaissance cloister with a cross-vaulted roof over the lowest level.

The cloister houses items from the History Museum, including the rather wonderful former weather vane.

Riga is justly famous for its art nouveau buildings and we will focus on this is other walks over the next few days.

Conditions: sunny and quite warm, but with rain forecast.

Distance: about 2.5 miles.

Rating: four and a half stars.