Of Ghost's and Ghouls

 

 Lock-down is with us again in England so that is it for four weeks till I am able to get out again. Last time I was lucky in that sprig had come and I was able to show the results around the garden and greenhouse. This time the greenhouse has plants stored along with some garden furniture, the beds are cleared and look empty and will not be growing much till spring. Thinking what to write I went out for a walk for inspiration and after visiting the churchyard thought of this

This is the old Waterloo public house. It was built along the Turnpike that went to Reading in 1816 the year after the battle of Waterloo hence the name where it was a hotel for travellers. In the 1840's the railway came and no doubt the pub was still used for that until the Railway opened it's own hotel. a couple of hundred yards away by the Station at Moulsford.

 

The hotel did not last that long either because the station moved about half a mile up the track and they opened a new one in 1892. The old hotel became a guest house and when I was younger a roadside cafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the place that took it's place, the Railway Hotel and tavern. It later became the Brenford Tailor

Which is how I knew it when I worked there in the 1970's, it's also where I met my future wife. The pub had the notoriety of having over 200 different whiskey's and people used to bug me by coming to the bar and after spending time looking for an obscure one would ask for it thinking I we being clever. My answer was point it out then please. That tended to shut them up.

Now what has this got to do with ghosts and ghouls well the first place the Waterloo

 This is it a few years ago. Back in the 1970's it was a very popular pub where I used to go, the old entrance I sat in as a kid eating crisp's and drinking coke was where the centre window was. By the 1970's I was drinking beer and enjoying myself at the discos that were held out the back in the barns there. One night my mate (who used to live there when we were kids as his dad run the pub) said to me you have to come and look at this? So he took me around to the lounge bar where the landlord was decorating the place and showed me a mural on the wall. It was a very old one dating back to the 1800's and showed ghosts and ghoul's dancing around the grave at Cholsey Church and the Railway in the background. Then he said look up! and their painted on the ceiling was a pentagon. I must admit the whole gave me the creeps. My friend had lived there for years and neither him or his dad knew it was there. The place may well have been used for satanic rights or a protest against the railway that has taken the pubs trade. I don't know but what was in the ceiling did it for me I never went in that bar much after that.

The Church and Railway in the picture well the church is on the left and the railway around 200 yards away to the right. The graveyard would have been about 25 yards past the brick wall you see behind the the line above it. the brick was was built in the 1950's to enclose the new one. The railway was a branch line that went to Wallingford, it shut in 1961.

The trains that run then in the 1800's would have looked like this lead time that was found up on the church roof

the drawing done by E Giles. Note he spells Berks like I did when I had to write it down and still do

On another tile shows his full name Edward Giles.

Hope you enjoyed my little story about a three pubs and a railway with some creepiness thrown in .

Take Care

 Taking Part in My Little Corner of the World  Our World Tuesday and Imag-in-ing, you can find all the links in the right hand column

Take Care Everyone

Roll's of Honour

 

This week is Remembrance Sunday so as a change from what I normally do I will be showing some of the Rolls of Honour that I have come across in churches.

 

Another Rainbow

 

 How you do not mind another after the one last week. A few days later we had some more rain and the sun came out after. I thought is there a rainbow, looking out the window at the back I saw there was so set about getting a few pictures. No full arc this time but I Managed the two halfs

 A double arc was the first thing I noticed

 Though not there when I went over to the left a bit

 Still there on the right though

 When I went out the front to see if the whole arc could be seen, all that was left was this part. It was all over took quickly

Happy Skywatch

 

Spider in the Web

 

 

 

A Morris Minor

 

 Now if you come from the UK and your around my age or even younger you will know what a Morris Minor is, most of us will know it looking like this beautiful example which was at a local classic car run The Morris Minor was built between 1949 and 1972 at Cowley in Oxford

 

You might even remember the traveller with it's wooden parts on the rear quarter. District nurses used both types. I have even see modified versions of both cars

A few weeks ago I spotted a very different version I never knew existed

My first reaction was it was an Austin Seven

Right colour Green

Missing a front seat

Even has an AA badge on the grill

It was outside my old school which is now a community centre / home

The badge on the bonnet (Hood) tells all Morris Minor above is the temperature gauge. The car was built somewhere between 1928 & 1932 . I think it had broken down because when I came back a guy was tinkering with it under the bonnet. Nice looking car.

 Taking Part in My Little Corner of the World  Our World Tuesday and Imag-in-ing, you can find all the links in the right hand column

Take Care Everyone

St James the Great, Denchworth

 

This week the Church Explorer takes you to St James the Great in Denchworth which is not far from Wantage. The church looks very historic from the outside, just a shame it was not open but I do intend to return when I find out it is.

The Whole Rainbow

 

Sunday It rained a lot of the day and when it stopped I looked out and noticed the sun was shining, I thought would there be a rainbow so looking out the opposite side I noticed the end of a rainbow. So I got my phone then Going around the front of the house I spotted the whole arc

 Could not believe my luck

 Zoomed in on the centre to show the colours and what I thought was another underneath

 But looking at the photo after I noticed a second arc above. Perfect

Happy Skywatch 

Flash Feet

 

The old Railway

 

There used to be a railway that ran from Didcot to Newbury  then onto Southampton. It went over the Berkshire downs and on to Newbury till the 1960's when Dr Beaching had it and many others closed down. Mush of it can still be traced which is what I did a number of years ago. Part of it went through a village called Hampstead Norreys where there was a station and a bridge it went under. I first stopped off there to see what remained in 2011.  This post is a little longer than I normally make it.

 

 

This was where Hampstead Norreys station used to be

And this was where the railway went from the bridge on the right towards Hermitage

Last year West Berkshire council made the old line into a cycleway where people could ride or walk between the two villages

It is certainly a far cry from the saplings that used to bar the way

This is the view towards the bridge which is downhill. I suspect the cutting was partly filled

Above looking through the station to the road bridge, Hermitage is in that direction

Further after coming from Hampstead Norreys you go through another cutting the under a bridge

The last time I was here it was impassable with trees growing in the cutting

Now it is quite clear and easy to go along.

A little further brings you to the end near Hermitage

Where you come out here to go under the M4 and then back into another cutting for a shorter section before coming out in a housing estate. I thing this was a good use for this section of the old railway, it's just a shame the government did not have presence of mind to to that back in the 1960s after the railway closed. If you would like to find out more about the railway then visit my blog the

 Didcot to Newbury line  

 Taking Part in My Little Corner of the World  Our World Tuesday and Imag-in-ing, you can find all the links in the right hand column

Take Care Everyone

St James Little Milton

 

This week the Church  Explorer visits St James Little Milton, a church I have been to many years ago but at the time it was locked. After the visit last week I found out St James was also open so I visited it on the way home for photos of the inside. Please visit the link and have a look.