A Wren-like Note: IWCP piece

I'm very pleased to see that the Isle of Wight County Press, after a few months' delay, just ran a piece on A Wren-like Note: "Secret life of a Victorian novelist" (Richard Wright, IWCP, 11 Apr 2014, Weekender section, p7).

Angry birds

It was a quiet afternoon on Topsham Underway: until the resident geese and a swan took exception to each other.

Sandrock Spring: quaffing the lymph

Further to The Sandrock Chalybeate Spring, I just found these excessively erudite verse testimonials to its medicinal properties, courtesy Isle of Wight County Press Archive.

Topsham: roads not taken

A bright afternoon, so I took myself for a walk and a quick glance at the Museum, newly-opened for the 2014 season, where I spotted some pictures of of historical 'roads not taken'.

Bones beneath Brixham

Looking out of Ash Hole Cavern, Brixham

A minor detour from yesterday's walk to Berry Head leads to the topic of Brixham's subterranea: the history of its "bone caverns", and the stories of two very different styles of investigation.

Bliss - Brixham again

Looking across Torbay from Berry Head

We were hoping this week would bring good weather - and it delivered. Today, now that the coastal railway's running again, we made the planned return visit to Brixham.

The Eyes! The Eyes! and other ads

It goes without saying that ads for scammy products are nothing new, especially in the days before the Advertising Standards Authority, but these (among many) caught my eye while I was browsing the Isle of Wight Observer for April 05, 1879.

Things that go bump in the night

The Temptation of St. Anthony,
Matthias Grünewald (detail)

From Ghoolies and Ghoosties,
long-leggety Beasties, and Things
that go Bump in the Night,
Good Lord, deliver us.

Following up a query I saw elsewhere, I've been wondering about the origin of this piece of doggerel, which gets variously credited as Scottish, Irish, or West Country. It goes off in interesting directions...

Tisbury Starred Agate

Last week, passing through Tisbury on the train jogged my memory to look up "Tisbury Starred Agate". I've had this nice specimen for decades - I can't remember where I got it - but never bothered to look up its provenance.

Secret Topsham

I'm still occasionally rather slow about realising the possibilities of the Internet; the Internet Archive often makes it possible to retrieve online material lost through site updates and domain changes. So I was delighted to recover this local history article I wrote, which I've now updated to reflect changes in Topsham over the past eight years or so.