Europe Report Card Final

Monday 

Hertfordshire Record Office - spent all day doing research on various Hertfordshire lines...hopefully got some good documents.

St Albans - went for a bit of a walk down the main street after 5pm then curry and a pint at 'Blacksmiths Arms' pub.

Tuesday 

St Albans - really just travelling to Heathrow, getting the hire car returned, checking in, eating all our remaining food....and then waiting,waiting waiting.....for our flight.....11 hours London to LAX, then 14 hours LAX to Sydney - appears we had some interesting fellow passengers on this leg - Jeff Fenech, one of the stars from Underbelly, and the Australian Surf Team just back from Panama with medals round their necks

Wednesday

The 'lost day' - we gained a day going over and lost this day coming back....darn, I thought there might have been a way to get younger!

Thursday

Arrived Home! It doesn't matter how fantastic a trip away is, it is always just the best feeling to get back home!

Overall Report Card

Hightlight of the trip:

Me - meeting up with all the wonderful people - lovely relations and wonderful friends from all over. 

Darryl - the mining history walk at the cliffs in Cornwall - understanding why his ancestors came to Australia

Biggest WOW moment:

Me - walking out of Cologne railway station and seeing the stupendous Gothic Cathedral. 

Darryl - the Cheesewring

Biggest disappointment:

Me - Paris...and not being able to go to the Louvre. 

Darryl - to have to spend so many days looking at Churches and Gravestones.

Scariest time:

Me - driving down the narrow one-car-width lanes, bordered both sides with ancient rock walls covered in blackberry, hoping that there is not a car, tractor or truck coming the other way. 

Darryl agrees - unfortunately these are all over the place.

Nicest Town/City:

Me - I still love Edinburgh, but Fowey is very picturesque. 

Darryl says Rockhampton!

What did we pack and didn't need:

Me - 3 sets of thermals! Didn't even need one set...even though one night it apparently got down to 2 deg.

Darryl - the same.

What should we have packed:

Me - gardening gloves, a trowel and baby powder to clean up and read gravestones.

Darryl - nothing.

Most interesting city/place:

Me - I was amazed by de Grey Mausoleum at Flitton Church (almost as big as the church itself). 

Darryl - Paris, but unfortunate that it was so dirty.

Most different culturally:

Me - Paris and London - having to pay to go to the toilet (and the lack of facilities).

Darryl - Paris. 

Most eye-opening:

Me - the cost of living - for food, fuel, accommodation and IT. 

Darryl - the same, the cost for accommodation was a minimum of $130 a night.

Europe Report Card Week 5 Photos

Europe Report Card 5

Monday

Bank Holiday in England...so, of course, very busy on the roads. Great weather. Spent all day checking out villages, churches and cemeteries.

Went to Gwinear, Phillack, St Erth, Lelant, Morvah, and St Just - looking for Angove, Nankervis, Lawry, Casley, Trembath, Trewhella, Carter, Floyd, Glasson, Hampton, Michell, Penhale, Christopher, Nicholls, Provis, Richards, Rock, Veale, Wearn and Uren - started off with a very small cemetery near the church, and then Darryl found a larger one across the lane. Lovely old celtic crosses in most cemeteries.

St Ives - very convoluted..couldn't find parking or anywhere to turn around so ended up going out and coming back in...didn't see much. 

Cape Cornwall - staying at the 'Golf and Country Club' - walked out to a monument to watch the beautiful sunset - views of Land's End

Tuesday

Darryl went for an early walk along the cliffs, and found some of the old mines and ruins.















Botallack - walked around the ruins of smelters and mines - a memorial to a mine disaster in 1913 where a Trembath was killed. Found a display relating to the mines, with lots of interesting information.

Again checking out small villages and churches - Gulval, Perranworthal, Feock, Veryan, St Stephen - looking for Kessell, Bray, Oats, Ga, Eustis, Pascoe, Roberts, Williams, Vowden, and Cundy - and found quite a few

Fowey - arrived late afternoon at Arthur and Janet's - scenic views across the harbour. Went to a very enjoyable dinner at the sailing club with Arthur, Janet, Roger and Ann - Janet and Ann are sisters, and Darryl's second cousins on the Bindon side - (once removed for those who care for the details), and just lovely people.

Wednesday

An easy start for the day, first stop St Neot for the Bray family.

Golitha Falls - lovely walk though mossy trees along the Fowey River - we walked twice as far as we didn't recognise the falls (more like rapids). But at least there were toilets and a mossy bank to sit and have our lunch picnic.

St Cleer - unfortunately there was a funeral on, so we could not intrude. We checked to stones the walked to the Holy Well, then came back to the church - not sure if we found the tomb of Ingelram de Braye - will have to look in detail at the photos, and then went onto

 

Bodmin Moor seeing 'The Hurlers' at Minion, along with Cheesewring and Stowes Pound, before heading to Rosecraddoc (which is now a holiday village).

We found a guest house - Elnor, went to look at Liskeard Church before going for dinner.

Thursday

Liskeard - a nice town - went to the library and got a few sources for further research.

Plymouth - tried to visit, but as we started to enter the city there was a huge traffic jam, so we found a place to turn around and continued our journey.

Stonehenge - we drove past it....Darryl's reaction was the same as mine when I first saw it - "is that it? It seems too small..." 

Oxfordshire - Nuneham Courtenay - drove through...couldn't find church, fuel or somewhere to stay...drove to a couple of nearby villages, got directions to the church..but no Andersons.

Oxford - found a B&B - Green Gables....very comfortable - run by a lovely Indian family.

Friday 

Bedfordshire - Sandy - Church had a funeral so couldn't go in.

Bedford & Luton Archives - Bingo!!!! Found some fantastic information on the Wright family and associated names.

Hitchen - accommodation in 'The Old Priory' - a big surprise...much larger and far more impressive than I thought (here for 3 nights).

Tilestreet Baptist Church - found the gravestone of George Lake and Mary (Honour).

Saturday 

Bedfordshire/ Hertfordshire 

Maulden, Gravenhurst, Barton le Clay, Higham Gobion, & Holwell Parish Churches - found some stones...

Flitton had the de Gray mausoleum which, although nothing to do with our family (unfortunately!), was just amazing with the largest funeral collection in England

Flitton - the place when the Wright family originated (as far back as is currently known) with John Wright in 1700.

 Shillington - has a stained glass window - the main one - dedicated to John Lines & Fanny Furrian (Wright) - this church also has a crypt which was interesting...and I got a shot of the Parish Chest.

Pirton - Many family gravestones and memorials - Pirton Grange, Pirton Hall (now an old people's home), Hammond's Farm and, amazingly, "Wright's Farm" - we spoke to the current owner (who has lived there over 50 years) and he didn't know of the connection, but believed to be the farm of John Wright who may have been there from around 1790...even the power transformer outside is called 'Wrights'!

Sunday 

Hertfordshire

Rushden - saw 'Shaw Green Farm' entrance, but Darryl wouldn't let me go in.

Weston, Cottered, Codicote, Ayot St Peter - churchyard but not much luck...

Preston - the church here was built in 1900, and the graves didn't seem early enough, a local suggested that early burials would have been in Kings Walden so we went there, but there weren't any.

Lemsford - grave of George & Emma Wright (nee Lake) - Darryl's 2nd great-grandparents

Cromerhyde - got within 200m of the ancestral farm but Darryl said he wasn't interested and wouldn't go on (I saw it in 2000)

Sandridge - 'Rose & Crown Inn' run by the Parsons family, 'The Queens Head Inn' owned by the Parsons family...plenty of Thrale graves in the churchyard.