Me-Now-Views; Less Speak More Peek

These images all taken at Baylham St Peter's church... likely my last visit there.

This last image is in the cemetery, which is in the yard itself. Most of the stones are well kept. This one, it seems, no longer has anyone to care. I preserve it in memory now.

Me-Now-Views; Less Speak More Peek

Thank you all for putting up with the onslaught of images since the 'great break'... they at least keep me in the ether. Couldn't keep me away!!! Next few LSMP posts will be leftovers from my hectic summer...

Me-no-here...or F.Y.E.O. post 1

I mentioned that Suffolk held some memories relating to things mysterious. I have also mentioned previously that my father was an electrical engineer. The main reason for much of my childhood being spent in Suffolk is due to his having contracts down there. Mainly the standard electrification of remoter regions via poles and pylons kind of stuff.

However, at the time we were there, the American military also was. I used to babysit for USAAF families who lived in our village. The 'cold war' was still raging. There came a contract which had a degree of secrecy about it. As far as we knew, dad was working on a giant radio station. Which wasn't untrue; just not the whole truth.

Orfordness has a long history of use by the military. It was acquired by the War Department (precursor to the MOD) in 1913 for experiments in flying. Almost exclusively, the spit of shingle became attached to all things aerial. By the time of WW2, the RAF controlled the spit and brought on many civilian scientists with a view to improving ballistics and testing aircraft defences and vulnerabilities. One of the scientists was Robert Watson Watts who developed RADAR here. Then came the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.

Established in 1954,  AWRE Orford Ness was one of the few sites in the UK where purpose-built facilities were created for testing parts of nuclear weapons. At the height of the Cold War, Orford Ness was used to develop the atomic bomb. Within its stone walls, bombs would be put through their paces to test how they would deal with extreme temperatures, G-force and vibrations. Although no nuclear material was used in the testing, it was present at the site, increasing the risk of an explosion, which is why the 'pagoda' labs were designed to absorb an explosion. There are still some files closed on this matter. 

It was in 1968 that work began on the top-secret System 441A OTH ('over the horizon' a.k.a. AN/FPS-95) backscatter radar project; codename - 'Cobra Mist'. Father has informed me that he was given an honorary rank of Fl Lt in the RAF in order for him to be able to access this building. The main contractor was the USA's RCA. In a number of documents I have read, there is no mention of the sub-contractors (the actual builders) of the masts, Balfour Beatty. Which might be a blessing, as things did not run smoothly and RCA would have to hold the responsibility of that in the end. Not that I could track down any evidence - rather, there seems to have been quite a lot of 'tap-dancing' to get more money out of the government to 'fix' things... On Thursday a little less history and more about the father's work.

Me-Now-Views; Less Speak More Peek

Lanercost and Carlisle Centre - the remaining views...

Menooffagainorrhoea; Away From The Hutch

On Monday, we spent the morning on the Northwards and outwards (from Carlisle) part of the trip enjoying three churches, a private castle and a fine lunch.

Next we drove the scenic route, leaving the firth behind and following the flow of the River Wampool, past an installation of radio towers at Anthorn... I rang the father, knower of all things electrifying, and he advised us it was built by the parent company in which he spent his career (BICC). Originally there had been an airfield there, and it was part of the navy (HMS Nutchatch, before becoming RNAS Anthorn). It is VLF (very low frequency) transmission for comms with submarines! Now it is the source of the time signal in the UK. Link for the curious.

Anyway, we moved along to our next church, at Kirkbride, only to be disappointed. It was locked. Jess and I were glad of the porch though, for there was a little shower of rain at that point.

Onwards to Aikton, where the door was more welcoming.

St Andrew's is well away from the actual village and sits quite high with extensive views of the surrounding country; it is extremely peaceful. A good portion of the building is the original 12th century Norman - the extension of the South aisle (to right in photo) was made in the 19th C. The roof timbers are the originals.

There is a stone font from the Norman period, carved differently on each side. This churchyard also had the misfortune to be 'visited' by body snatchers; perhaps due to its rather isolated location.

For the record, am including this photo of St Peter's at Kirkbampton, because we did stop the car and go to the door - but this was the second church to be locked to us. The literature reassures that all churches are open, and had there been a notice of explanation (upcoming funeral service, for example) it would not have felt quite so rejecting! Such a shame. We circumnavigated the outer building, admired a couple of headstones, then travelled on - to St Giles at Great Orton. Our seventh and last for the day, as it was already 5pm and the rain was getting set on again. The door was open and this proved to be an interesting place, with a wall leaning well to the left; it is said to have been done to represent The Ark. It is considered to be the first church built in the region (1098) and does retain some of the original Norman features and, of course, uses much of the stone from the Roman wall. I particularly wanted to visit this church and was glad it was our final one; St Giles is the patron saint of the lame and crippled and Edinburgh's great central Cathedral is named for him also. Not that the saint was Scottish - he was French! There is an ornate font cover in here, and a copper font jug which is patterned in similar style.

We drove back into Carlisle, parked, had a cuppa and decided that we would take the bus into the centre (not far to walk, I know, but remember, the YAMster's legs and back are not what they used to be and they'd been busy all day!) and attempt another couple of geocaches before finding food. One of the finds took us to an old canon and another up onto a bridge with interesting fretwork (covered in laminate which made imaging a tad difficult). From here there was a good view of Dixon's Chimney - a fabulous structure!

...and yes, both caches were located! Not by me - by the expert.

Walking back into town we pondered about food; deciding just to check menus and follow our stomachs! It didn't take long. First place we looked at had an interesting offering so in we went. It was starting to get chilly out - but it was very warm in there... almost too warm for me... but the food was fab; I had to get a doggy bag as the portion was ridiculous. As we enjoyed, we reviewed our stay and how much we'd managed in so short a time - and that there was definitely a lot to draw us back to this part of the country. Aitch is planning to retire up this end, so it will be lot easier to plan get togethers such as this. We got the bus back to the guest house and into bed. Unfortunately I didn't have the most restful night (who knows why? It just happens sometimes), so was rather groggy for our final brekky. Aitch headed off East and I turned Li'l Ren North - but only got half an hour away, where I made a stop at a shopping mall for some art materials and 'pit stop' to get my head more 'on'. It worked; I was good to go and, despite the weather deteriorating once more, managed back to the Hutch in a little under four hours. That was that for this adventure!