The Reades' ministry: Blackgang and Punrooty

Another Blackgang, Isle of Wight, story: "Mr. Charles Reid, at Blackgang, in the Isle of Wight, is indefatigable in calling the sinner to sobriety.” notes the author of Drink: the Vice and the Disease, in the October 1875 London Quarterly Review. This one-liner spins off into an unusual saga of 19th century missionary activity by unlikely people in unlikely places.

Shanklin Home of Rest

Further to the previous post, I checked out Shanklin Home of Rest as planned. Its history turns out to be quite well-documented. But I'm always of the opinion that there's never any harm in another take on a topic - especially as this, it turns out, ties in with a previous Shanklin post on JSBlog.

Rambles Through England: Isle of Wight

Rambles Through England: Isle of Wight is a rather idealised description of an 1890s Isle of Wight visit by the uncredited correspondent of the Fleet Street based Ludgate Monthly - launched in 1891 as "a new illustrated threepenny magazine". A deal of it is pretty standard stuff - feel free to skim - but it's a pleasant account of touring the Wight in more genteel days, with a few topics worthy of commentary, such as the uncommon account of the decor of Mrs Harvey's Home of Rest in Shanklin, and the procedures for getting to visit Osborne House when Queen Victoria was alive.

The Isle of Wight: in a series of views printed in oil colours (1874)

The Isle of Wight: in a series of views printed in oil colours is the Victorian  equivalent of a coffee-table book, published in 1874 by Thomas Nelson & Sons of London, Edinburgh & New York. I always like these collections, of which the 19th century Isle of Wight supported a huge industry, and the best of them are lusciously printed, showcasing state-of-the-art chromolithography. This is one of the many lovely and otherwise scarce books now downloadable from the Bodleian Library digital collections.

Blackgang: Five Rocks

"Here once was a fine house
Spacious, warm and bright.
Where the island’s lords and ladies
Danced all thro’ the night.
But then the boggarts and the brownies
And elves, in they came.
Took over the mansion
Now things aren’t the same.
It’s dark and it’s gloomy.
The humans have fled.
It’s a fine house no longer.
It’s Rumpus instead!"
- cited from transcript at jbonline.org.uk/blackgangchine

The Temple and Tower at Exmouth

If you're in the area of the Imperial Hotel at Exmouth, Devon - on Alexandra Terrace, or its junction with Morton Road and the Esplanade, or the Clock Tower on the Esplanade - you can see an unusual neo-classical building in the grounds of the hotel. This is the surviving member of a pair of Grecian follies built in 1824.

Princess Elizabeth at Newport Minster

Coincidental to the recent celebrations of the discovery and reburial of Richard III, a few days ago we visited the site of an earlier royal reburial: Sts Thomas Minster, Newport, Isle of Wight, which contains the memorial and tomb of Princess Elizabeth Stuart, second daughter of Charles I.

The chapel on the tor

Video 2 of Torbay Council's renovation of Chapel Woods and the 13th century Chapel project. Other videos at barrie-james.co.uk.
An example of the many brilliant topographical views made conveniently accessible by UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) technology: Barrie James's movie commissioned by Torbay Council of the progress of woodland management work at the hitherto-obscured site of the 13th century St Michael's Chapel, at the summit of a crag of limestone above Torre Station, Torbay.

Bruges-la-Morte photos

I just took the liberty of colour-adjusting the thirty-five beautiful photos by Ch.-G. Petit et Cie (Charles G. Petit & Co.) that illustrate Georges Rodenbach's 1892 novel in French, Bruges-la-Morte: roman (The Dead [City of] Bruges: a novel) - see Bruges-la-Morte (January 2009).

Petty and Barker on stately homes

Further to the previous revisit to the outcast Black Country writer John Petty, I found a good example of his Angry Old Working-Class Man style: his extremely hostile review of the Duke of Bedford's 1959 autobiography The Sound of Brass, published four years after Duke's opening of Woburn Abbey to the public.

Shell Cove - development?

I don't normally gripe about planning issues, but this one has historical / topographical interest. The January 9th Exeter Express & Echo carried the story Storm-hit Dawlish line 'threatened' by new cliff-top homes plan, which carried a picture of the collapsed cliffs above the Riviera Line between Hole Head and Teignmouth following the February 2014 storm damage, and the story of planned development of retirement homes on the cliff above the railway. On the face of it, this looks a ridiculous proposal - but as is often the case with planning schemes, the story proves more complicated.

Southlands: Puseyites and Polynesian princesses

A bit more about Southlands, the long-disappeared marine villa at Blackgang, Isle of Wight: one segment of its short history links in to the story of two notable figures in Victorian Anglo-Catholicism, and that of a tragic exchange visit.

Giant angry owl - "Yarp"

A couple of Sundays back we were in Wells, Somerset - England's smallest city - as Clare had been shortlisted in a writing competition. Unfortunately she wasn't placed, but it turned out to be a pleasant day out, as I hadn't been to Wells since I was about 7.

Salisbury tower explained

I've been meaning to check out the prominent Italianate tower that you can see from the Salisbury-Exeter train a few minutes out of Salisbury - I'd been speculating a Catholic priory or abbey - but it turns out to be the village of Wilton's extravagantly-designed Church of England parish church of St Mary and St Nicholas.

Langstone Cliff - civilised lunch and a missing elephant

I recently went to a Ladies' Probus lunch at the Langstone Cliff Hotel, above Dawlish Warren (it was the President's Lunch, to which spouses are invited). It's a very pleasant location, with a view across to the High Land of Orcombe and Sandy Bay. It also has a verandah perfect for 3D photography, and some interesting coastal history nearby.

Weston House: a ruined Devon villa

Yesterday I took a closer look at the remains of Weston House, which is a few minutes' walk from the Donkey Sanctuary at Weston, near Sidmouth, East Devon. Given general trends either to demolish or to renovate derelict buildings, it's unusual to see the extant remains of a house ruined in a fire nearly two centuries ago.

St Margaret's Church: 3D

Following the experiments in 3D photos in woodland vistas - see Undercliff - there and back again: 3D - I took a few stereopairs in St Margaret's Church, Topsham.

Mapping Topsham

Topsham Museum has made a major departure from the worthy-but-dull with Mapping Topsham, its current exhibition of creative and beautiful artworks interpreting the theme of Topsham maps, from the conventional to the highly stylised.

"I shot Prince Albert ..."

"... but I did not shoot his architect". Further to Harriet Parr in Shanklin, I just ran into another anecdote from the memoirs of Lord Ernle (Rowland Edmund Prothero), in which he confesses to shooting Albert, the Prince Consort.

Almost Fairyland

A couple of times I've mentioned here a classic and very scarce Isle of Wight book, the privately-circulated 1914 Almost Fairyland: personal notes concerning the Isle of Wight, written by John Morgan Richards, the American ex-pat businessman who retired to Steephill, near Ventnor. I'm pleased to say that I finally got to read it.