Amelia's photos

Lychgates or corpse gates are relatively unseen in a Scottish church. It's thought that Cromwell's influence at the time of building may have caused this to be erected here. This a really good example of a mortsafe in a corpse gate in Ayr On each side of the corpse gate you can see a large black ironwork structure. This is a mortsafe, which was extremely common in Scotland. Early 19th century Scotland was plagued with body snatchers. Medical science was moving on at such a pace that universities could no longer keep up with the need for bodies to dissect. Scottish law required that corpses used for medical research should only come from those who had died in prison, suicide victims, or from foundlings and orphans. The shortage of corpses led to an increase in body snatching by what were known as "resurrection men". Measures to ensure graves were left undisturbed, such as the use of mortsafes exacerbated the shortage. This gave rise to the terrible trade of body snatching whereby newly buried bodies would be dug up and sold to the universities. In this very graveyard, relatives of the newly deceased would take it in turns to watch the graves. This could be done for weeks after the burial until the body was too badly decayed to be of use. If you couldn't afford that, you could use a mortsafe like the one hanging on the wall shown in the photo. This heavy cast iron frame was clamped around the coffin before burial, thus preventing the body snatchers from opening the coffin. As the weeks passed and the body became decayed, the coffin was dug up and the mortsafe removed ready to be used again. The Ayr mortsafe, pictured dates from 1816. How gruesome is all this?

Here at Attingham Park access to the deer park is not available because there have been cases of Bovine TB, and the deer are being culled. We didn't even have the privilege of listening to and seeing the rut. At weekends it is possible to walk on the other side of the river Tern but certain areas are still out of bounds. We haven't seen deer here for almost 4 weeks now. The deer park was established in the early 1800s by 2nd Lord Berwick and is home to the Attingham fallow deer, which are descendants of the original deer herd. I hope they are soon able to eliminate the TB, and allow us the pleasure of the full 4 mile walk around the parkland and woodland.

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The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales. The aqueduct was designed by civil engineers Thomas Telford and William Jessop. The work, which took around ten years from design to construction, cost around of £47,000. Adjusted for inflation this is equivalent to no more than £4,060,000 in 2021. The length of canal from Rhoswiel, Shropshire, to the Horseshoe Falls, including the main Pontcysyllte Aqueduct structure as well as the older Chirk Aqueduct, were visited by assessors from UNESCO during October 2008, to analyse and confirm the site management and authenticity. The aqueduct was inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List on 27 June 2009. The canal here is poetically titled 'the stream in the sky'. Walking across the aqueduct can cause severe vertigo, and many people start out then turn back, which isn't surprising as the structure is 126 ft (38 m) high, with a narrow footpath. The PiP is a sculpture representing 'the stream in the sky'. For more details visit here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontcysyllte_Aqueduct

The King's Bridge carries the road from Pentrefelin to Berwyn over the Llangollen Canal, the River Dee and beneath the Llangollen and Corwen Railway viaduct. It was built in 1902-1906 and named to commemorate the Coronation of King Edward VII. Built of rock-faced rubble with arches in blue engineering brick, the bridge has five segmental arches set on three water piers at the south end and is threaded through one arch of the 1862 railway viaduct. The piers have triangular cutwaters on the upstream side. The northern arch spans the Llangollen Canal and is numbered 49A in the canal bridge series.

What can be found in the cemetery that is unusual, Rosa? The photo and the PiP gives you a clue, but I guess you may already know. Another PiP is available for Rosa and everyone else. Well here is the answer to the mystery. There is a War Graves Commission stone with two names on it in this cemetery. According to a local it is because J.E. Chalk, who loved horses, wanted to join the army at the beginning of WW2, and was deemed to be too old. He then emigrated to Canada, changed his name and joined the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps. I have yet to verify this, but I don't think that there can be many War Graves with 2 names on them.

The Butt of Sherry is a Grade II listed building in the centre of Mere and dating from late 18th century with coursed limestone rubble walls and a plain tile mansard roof. A small courtyard at rear adds to the facilities of this single bar pub. If we'd stayed in Mere for longer than one night, we'd have visited this charming looking pub.

The centre of Mere contains a clock tower which stands on the site of the original market house, which also served as a school. The house was demolished in 1863 and the present clock tower built. This was opened in 1868 by the Prince of Wales, (later King Edward VII).