Menoffagainorrhoea; Me-Now-Views with Lots of Peek and Lots of Speak

[Am tempted to break this into two parts - but I won't, or we'll be here till Christmas. There are going to be a few longer-than-usual posts and this is the first!]

On Saturday, Mac2 wanted to show me around the older part (West) of Putney. We walked along the top of the hill from her place and passed the Polish Church, which was immaculately maintained and we lingered admiringly.

Not just the building itself, but the gardens and lawns around it. Mac2 told me that she has seen queues out the door on Sundays, it is that well attended.

From here we passed several mansion-like homes and pretty gardens, then along the older part of the main street and down a very attractive mews and past a range of smaller, terraced, homes, which would once have been the housing of the workers on the Thames, which is but five minutes down the hill from them.

AS we approached the river, there were still some rowers drawing in from their morning practice. It being the weekend, there was a lot of folk simply wandering the pathways and quite a few were dressed 'to the nines' - clearly headed for a wedding somewhere. Mac2 wondered if it might be at the Putney church itself - but as we came up to the bridge and looked across to that ancient building among the modern high rises, it clearly was not in the throes of marriage celebration. What was on offer there, however, was lunch. We had not planned on eating there, but due to tardy start and lingering observations along our way, it was already after one p.m. and I, at least, was ready for sustenance. (Am an early riser, whilst Mac2 is most definitely not...)

Our lunch was wholesome, vegetarian and very tasty. As we ate, we realised that we could enter the church building directly from the canteen and elected to do just that.

During our wandering, I had asked questions regarding history and Mac2 admitted that she could do with learning more and that perhaps there was a society she could join in order to do this. Imagine our joy, then, on discovering that St Mary Putney was about to provide us with lots of history as well as enchant us with its unusual interior.

In terms of the history, do please click the link just provided. It's a fascinating building. What is more, it was the centre of a very important part of British constitutional history as it hosted the Putney Debates.

❝...I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, Sir, I think it's clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under.

Extract from Col. Rainsborough's famous appeal for democratic rights

After absorbing as much as we could of the exhibit, we then took another half an hour to enjoy the calm and welcoming quality of the church itself...

We wandered out on our original track, which was to get to the Putney Rail Bridge, walk across to Fulham and then on to the Bishop's Palace. The old YAMster was starting to lose track a bit. (Remember, a combo of arthritis, spondylitis and general lack of walking fitness!) However, there was the promised prize of a beautiful building and gardens at that end and a bus back. Needless to say, I recorded our progress...

This last shot is of the gatehouse and moat bridge of the Bishop's Palace (now more correctly referred to as Fulham Palace). Beyond that I got nothing other than the carved tree... because it turned out that all those folk in tails and ball gowns we'd seen earlier were indeed attending a wedding and that wedding was at this very place, meaning that all the interesting stuff was closed to the public. No signage. Hey ho. Boy was I glad to get that bus back over the road bridge (having had to also climb a whack of steps to get up to that level) and up Putney hill...

Mac2 had another guest arrive for Saturday night, so individual time with my younger sister was more or less over at that point. I'd done well out of the two days and was grateful for them. I was impressed with what I did see and was quite ready to prepare myself for the next part of my travel on Sunday...