Festive Tidings 2024

 

This independent coffee shop in our town always does something different when it comes to decorating the windows. Its monotone hue is strangely calming amongst all the glare and flare of the sparkly Christmas offerings which sit alongside it [which I have also appreciated]

May I take this opportunity to thank everyone who takes the time to drop in and read all my weird wanderings and wonderings. Seasons greetings to everyone. Tomorrow I shall be celebrating Yule with a dance inside 'The Big Stones'. It's always a privilege to be given access to them.

Aril, Mr GBT, TYM and Humphrey🐾

Pemsey

Without fail every book that I borrow from the library about Sussex teaches me something new about my home county. This latest one was some of the old place names people used to use. One was Pemsey....what we now call Pevensey. It's given me just the nudge I needed to write a little something about our trip over there last month. 

It's quite a hike across Sussex to get to this part, so we've only made it across a couple of times. Many centuries ago Pevensey was a bustling harbour [it was probably bigger than it is now] which attracted the attention of those wishing to invade. It has Roman remains and an impressive castle built to defend it from such folk. The red eagle on the village sign harks back to the arms of the de Aquila family. Euguenulf was one of those who came over with William the Conqueror. This member of the family died at the Battle of Hastings, but one of his descendents, Gilbert, received the 'Rape [borough] of Pevensey'.

Besides fancying a poke round a place I'm not that familiar with I also wanted to catch the free 'Bewitching Pevensey' exhibition which was coming to the end of its run that weekend. It was held at the Mint House [shown below] which is a 16th century timber framed house. It's had several different incarnations over its long life, but from 1908-2013 it was an antique shop. Over the past few years the Friends of the Mint House have been working hard restoring it with the aim of reopening it as a museum and eco centre.

In recent months it's held some very original and interesting sounding slightly left of field events [ie right up my street] and having finally made it over this one was no exception. Whilst only scratching the surface here, I learnt a huge amount about magical practices and how the accusations of witchcraft affected those within Sussex itself. Usually those who ended up under such charges were old and poor women. However, not every case followed this trajectory and I was fascinated to learn about Edward Roydon who was a glover so both male and working within a profession. He stood accused by people he would have known and although he was acquitted, the records show that he still felt a need to make a fresh start. He moved across from this area over into West Sussex. For me locally our local victim of these atrocities was Margaret Cooper, who came from the village of Kirdford not far from me. She too went against the stereotypes for she was married to a surgeon. She faced a charge sheet of offences and the use of waxen dolls. Sadly despite protesting her innocence she was hanged in the spring of 1575 over at East Grinstead. In both of these cases it seems likely that the truth was that trouble had sprung from some sort of dispute and those seeking revenge realised that by jumping on the witchcraft mania they could achieve their aim. So many lives taken over spun lies. On a more upbeat note that fabulous carving is part of one of the overmantles inside the house and if you fancy a festive tipple perhaps that Sussex speciality for glow worm wine might tempt you......it claims to be an excellent cure for drunkenness and lust. I think I'll pass this time thanks!

This charming building has the claim to fame of being in its heyday the smallest courtroom and townhall in England. It still has the original dock and bench plus the two cells beneath. If you get a chance to chat to the volunteers in these places they've always got more juicy info to share. It's now a tiny museum with all sorts of randoms exhibits, but I was amazed to hear that the director goes to the trouble of organising a free history fortnight every August which covers all sorts of varied happenings. 

This is Betty and Bill Breach. Now Mr Breach enjoyed a tipple or three which, from her actions, presumably his wife wasn't totally on board with. One day she found him in the pub again and lost her rag. She swiped his drink out of his paw and threw it in his face and then stamped on the glass. Unfortunately for her these actions were witnessed by a local rather halfcut magistrate who decided to press charges. Big mistake. Unsurprisingly Betty had the sympathy of most around her and when the constable ordered her to be released she stood her ground and refused to walk out of cell until the 'numskull' who'd put her there in the first place came and apologised to her in person. Betty won the day!

To finish with a few more varied shots to give you more of an idea of what it's like here. Despite it being a cold, raw sort of day we were delighted by our time spent here.

Arilx

Beware of the bench.

I think if you heed the advice in the text below you might want to think twice about sitting on this bench.....them dragons is dangerous beasts ya know🐉🐲🔥😁

 

Just a silly for today. Horsham is riddled with dragons and has two tales of its very own. I have shamelessly copied and pasted the text from a previous post about the story of St Leonard and his encounter with a dragon [spoiler alert it doesn't end well for the poor creature] and put up a link to my other post which covers the dragon pamphlet for anyone who might be interested https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/2014/08/happy-400th-birthday.html. The new bench appeared in our local park a couple of weeks ago. Have a fab weekend! Arilx

'The wood gets it name from the 6th century French Saint Leonard who happened to be hanging around this part of the Wealden forest for reasons unknown [it's sounding more plausible by the moment]. To pass the time he slew the resident dragon which was giving the villagers a bit of trouble and in the process accidentally cut himself. Saint's blood is potent stuff and where it fell supposedly lily of the valley now grows. As a reward Leonard got to banish all the snakes and silence all the nightingales so that his prayers wouldn't be disturbed by their singing.'

Lighting up our evening

Christmas...I keep it as lowkey and simple as possible. Don't get me wrong I'm not the Grinch [well maybe some of the time], but I like to keep it in December and ignore all the hoo-hah going on around me. I don't do crowds at the best of times😊 One thing I do most definitely enjoy doing is going for a quiet early evening walk to enjoy the festive lights. We're usually treated to a good display in our town, but this year they've been organised by a different group and I think they're next level. All of these  are Mr GBT's photos [my camera doesn't really cope with night shots] bar the last one which I've twonked about with so it's in black and white....I was a little spooked to find that some of the shadows look very much like horned Krampus figures👀😕

We rounded off our little sojourn with a half of cider and a shared bowl of chips in the local Spoons. Keeping it classy as ever!

Arilx

Through the wardrobe.

 Another magical Monday and another planned trip over to Nymans. Every year I think that they can't do Christmas any better and every year they surpass themselves. I think this one has to be my favourite yet. If you'd care to wander under the arch of books and then through the wardrobe with me this much loved tale from my childhood will once again unfurl. I'm not going to put up explanations as I'm sure that most people will have read this classic or seen it at some point in time🪄

As ever the NT has thought of every little detail from the themed wreath on the second hand bookshop door to the incredible sets using mixed media from the smallest felted creations to the full sized White Witch. Believe you me Mr GBT and I were definitely not the only adults sans enfants going round. There were gasps from the biggest children reliving their memories as they opened different wardrobes dotted round the gardens to reveal their surprises within. I think that there were many of us stepping back to the time when we first came across Narnia. I was more than happy to enjoy several pieces of Turkish Delight when I returned to GBT as a distraction from the much loathed festive tasks of card and gift wrapping. All done now thankfully! Have a great weekend folks.

Arilx

Ta-dah!

 My new dancing mask has been finished for a good six weeks or so, but in classic Mythago tradition this is the first time I've been out during daylight hours when Mr GBT has been able to take a photo of it. It turns out that we perform quite a lot in the dark at this time of year! We were back at the Weald and Downland Museum doing their annual tree dressing event again. There's something rather wonderful being stood beneath a couple of lantern bedecked trees making music as the light fades and a few hundred people swoosh past you laughing their heads off as they all go past in one massive spiral dance😊

Arilx

Crooked

I thought people might enjoy this rather bonkers house. Imagine being the poor devil who had to hang that front door....never was the phrase 'measure twice, cut once' more apt! No surprises that this place is called 'The Crooked House'. Its myriad of angles are down to one of its internal chimneys apparently, but fear not for the whole building has been stabilised by a metal brace.

This was a recent flying visit I made to Canterbury with my friend Jo. We were meeting a mutual friend for a long overdue catch-up over lunch. There was much chatting to be done and exploring was not the order of the day. Before we left though Jo and I did get the chance to take a quick spin round the cathedral precinct which is usually only available to those who have parted with their £17 entry fee. At the moment though it's housing part of the Christmas market so we got to have a nose round the outside for free. Have a great weekend folks.

Arilx

 

Splashback

 This is one of the railway bridges in Horsham [or at least part of it] which everyone calls The Iron Bridge. It's a sturdy Victorian example and it marks the change in name from one part of the same road to the next. Besides that on a couple of occasions a bus or a lorry has misjudged the height and got firmly wedged underneath it. Beyond that it's just there and rarely remarked upon.

Yesterday someone asked on a local group what those funny bee skep brickwork additions in the corner were [there are four in total dotted around]. Various theories were put forward including they were there to provide additional support to the structure or as something to deflect any horse drawn vehicle wheels which were in danger of damaging the brickwork. What was obvious was many of us have been walking past them for decades and not noticing them.

As one who loves social history, the answer proved to be much more interesting. This is a urine deflector. Back in the day there were 6 or 7 pubs within a very small area [all now gone] and public toilets would have been few and far between [if at all]. Too much urine caused corrosion so these were put in to discourage chaps from piddling in the corners....if they had done so it would have splashed back and landed on their shoes😁 I was aware of such devices, but have only seen photos of examples made from angled metal attached to walls and didn't know that they came in this sort of shape too. Had I seen one and recognised it as such then I would have certainly taken a photo and told you all about it. All that time and there they were right under my nose!! I'm always at the point of thinking that there can't be any more stories to tell about my home town and yet time and time again I am thankfully proved wrong. It's been my working Monday today, but this [and the opportunity to stock up with new library books] got me out into the sunshine once I'd finished. It's meant that I've had another perfect weird sort of day...there's no point being a weirdling if you don't finely hone your art is there now😊

Arilx

And now for the good news.

 Rather than 'The News' which frankly should be called 'The Bad News' here's a recent Ted Talk about good news for a change. Thought you might enjoy something on a more upbeat note as you head into the weekend.

Arilx

Ghost Walk

 If you go hunting for ghosts on a sunny Saturday afternoon the likelihood of encountering any spectres must diminish somewhat. Of course, with those facts at our fingertips that is precisely what my friend Elena and I decided to do when we headed over into Kent a few weeks back. It might seem a slightly odd decision, but factor in that we were in allegedly the most haunted village in the UK maybe Pluckley wasn't such a daft idea👻

Fortified by lunch and tales from the landlady about how you soon get accustomed to seeing a little girl sitting on the end of your bed and that the unexplained odd happenings in the pub are so regular that you barely register them we sallied forth to the parish church of St Nicholas. So with a mere 13 different spooks to choose ranging from monks, dogs and a young lady who poisoned herself with a drink made from toxic berries, this one is the haunt of the White Lady [white and grey ladies abound in the UK]. It's been reported that strange lights have been seen inside the church and the belief is that they emanate from the wife of one of the Dering barons who owned most of the village from the 15th century through to 1928. It's claimed that her grieving husband had her buried in the family vault [see photo below] encased in several lead coffins with a red rose and an outer oak sarcophagus to preserve her beauty. In truth we were more spooked by the weird pulsating orange stream of light we saw as we approached the church tower....we speculated as to what on earth we were seeing, but I'm afraid that the mundane explanation is that there was a tiny scrap of leaf or caterpillar caught on my friend's phone camera lens which was being blown about by the wind😁

Those very same Derings are the same lot who are responsible apparently for this unusual shape of window which you see throughout the place. Sir Edward ['gentleman extraordinary' of the King's Privy Chamber no less]. During the Civil War this chap made good his escape from Cromwell's forces by diving head through such a window. There's nothing quite like blowing your own trumpet is there...just in case anyone forgot this chapter of history he had all the windows built in the same style in his rebuilt manor house [burnt down in 1951]. Or did he? Another version has it that one of his descendants saw that all the village buildings had the windows to commemorate this great escapade. When you own the village I guess your word goes!

Pluckley itself is small and most charming. It pays absolutely no heed to its haunted reputation and although you may never heard of it, it's known as the place where 'The Darling Buds of May' was filmed back in the day and during the Great War it was a Remount Centre for moving horses to and from The Front. We enjoyed stumbling across the different styles of building as we followed the ghost walk route. Not everyone we encountered was friendly though. As one in the ownership of black cats, I tend to assume that they're all friendly souls, but this one definitely gave us short shrift. The message was loud and clear...just bog off you two will you and leave me to sunbathe in peace in my personal puddle of sunshine😼😾

Having completed our little circuit we carried on out along the surrounding country lanes. Looking at those gorgeous blue skies it seems hard to believe that it had been grey and teeming down when we first arrived. 

Is anyone with me in wanting to rescue that poor old Moggy Minor rusting away out in the elements like that? I'm sure someone would love to have a go at restoring it, although it may be that the bodywork is already too far gone😢

Our final stop was the Dering Woods. You know if somewhere is also known as the 'Screaming Woods' there's got to be a story behind it. On 1st November 1948 a gruesome discovery of 20 bodies piled up was made. They were local people and the cause of death has never been fully explained. Officially carbon monoxide is suspected, but if there was foul play no one has ever been brought to justice. The original newspaper article is here https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/The_Dering_Woods?file=DeringWoodMassacre.jpg However, if you create a vacuum people are going to fill it and the whole affair has taken on a life of its own within the 'creepy pasta' [ an internet genre of short horror stories I gather.....the things I learn when blogging!!] sector especially since 4 students were supposed to have disappeared in there following a camping trip in 1998. Frankly I don't know what to believe. We did venture in and I can confirm that it has some rather natty fungi [the white one is Candle Snuff, but I don't know the pink one...Rosy Bonnet maybe?]. 

In truth there's a bit of an odd vibe in there so we didn't tarry. For whatever reason sometimes places seem to retain an atmosphere of sorts which doesn't always feel welcoming. It may of course simply be a case of a febrile imagination after an exciting day of adventuring😀

Arilx