"Engineers working on North Lock on the River Soar were surprised to find seven safes among the debris in the bottom of the chamber when the lock was drained. Unfortunately all the safes appeared to have been already emptied before being dumped."
The other
"A man has been arrested and charged with murder following the discovey of a woman's body in a suitcase in the Grand Union Canal near Little Venice"
Those were just to keep a watery theme going on an otherwise dry land day.
We found the juxtaposition of old and new quite interesting, if not attractive. Never did find out what the gigantic container housed.
Some mews
We visited Halls Croft, home of the Bards daughter Susanna and her doctor husband. They were considered wealthy and had the house built in 1613. Lawrence is really interested in the oak framing of these ancient places.
The steel props are all around the outside, supporting the building
And they have gone to great lengths to hold up this old tree.
Annoyingly, there was no info on what type of tree it is or how old it is.
The spit mechanism in the kitchen fireplace is really clever.
Up the chimney is a fan arrangement, installed some time in the 1700s. The fan is driven by the hot air rising up the chimney and the revolving fan in turn,turns the cog wheel, which turns the spit.
There are still many Tudor buildings in Stratford
Details of the wooden pegs that, in that era, were the equivalent of nails and nuts and bolts
Sunday
The Shrieves House and Barn claims to be the oldest lived in house in Stratford. The first record of a building on this site is from 1196. It's other claim to fame is it is the most haunted building in England. If you can't claim a Shakespeare connection a good haunting will do.
Some Elizabethian buildings (this is going to get as boring as the narrow boating bits!)
This one is for Imogen and Nick. Lawrence saw this building and said "Imogen and Nick think they have problems, look at this place"
We walked passed this van -the future of dog breeding. Pity the results
Came across a Pashley Cycles rally. In the best British tradition, Pashleys commenced building bikes in 1926 and don't seem to have changed their designs much since then.
Today one of the places we visited was the house where Shakespeare was born (after The Mary Arden's Farm story, I'm a bit sceptical - no doubt it is a very old building tho). These props were one of the first things that greeted you as you entered the house
The sign reads " over 400,000 visitors pass through the Birthplace each year, and from time to time the house needs some special care and attention" which one can translate as these two struts are holding up a rotten beam, which in turn holds up the floor above. It made Lawrence and I, featherweights as we are, rather apprehensive about going upstairs.
Trying to get the kiddies interested in history
Another for Imogen and Nick
We were watching a couple of actors performing some Shakespeare, of course, when suddenly the little boy toddler person, who was getting right into the performance, stood up by himself for the first time. So naturally mum and dad screeched, the performance stopped and the little kid got more accolades than the actors.
Thought I should include a picture of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre as we are moored opposite it.
To return to a watery theme. Looking back toward Bancroft Basin from an old bridge across the Avon. Lawrence wanted a pic of the rowboat.
If you haven't had enough of Tudor buildings, or want to see more crooked beams, small doorways,,roof trusses etc, just let me know , I have lots more!
