There and Back

This is the second in my series based on listed houses in Hadleigh. This particular post is going to focus on properties in the the short road at the end of the High Street - Bridge Street and Corks Lane. As with my previous Blog posts, the technical description of the property is taken from Historic England or Heritage.Suffolk.Gov sites. Front and side view of No 1 Bridge Street. This property was built around the C17 with red brick front added later. Walking around the side, the surprise is the timbered section, as shown in the above photo. It has two storeys with a three windows format and a tiled roof. Many of the Hadleigh properties have exposed timber structures visible, once you move to the sides and backs - not always possible I am afraid. No 11 / 13 (on the left) and No 15 Bridge Street. This lovely building is a two storey timber framed building and is now plastered. It has cross wings on the northwest and southeast, with projecting upper storeys on the front. Little altered...

John Betjeman once said:   “Hadleigh is one of the most perfect small towns in England, with trees, old red brick, flint and plaster and that unassuming beauty of East Anglia, which changes to glory in sunlight.” There are around 246 listed buildings in Hadleigh, which by any standard is amazing for a small town like ours. This is a photographic record of a few of them, with the `Listing Text` for each building coming from Historic England. Unfortunately large numbers have been refronted, especially in the C18-19, the plaster and brick walls hiding much medieval timber framing. The preservation of so many mediaeval and Tudor buildings is due to the poverty that struck the town after the collapse of the wool trade in the 16th century: the inhabitants could not afford to knock down or renovate in accordance with the fashions of the time. I have restricted each blog entry to the same street, where possible; this first entry being buildings in the High Street. Amazingly, of the 137 bu...

At the Butley end of Rendlesham Forest, is an area called Staverton Park, and it was to there that we travelled for a Photographic Workshop with Gill Moon.This woodland area has been claimed as an ancient ‘wildwood’, but it is thought to actually be an overgrown medieval deer park and all the ancient oaks are pollards (some over 400 years old). A park is recorded here in the 1260s, and may have been made from an existing wood – one is mentioned in Domesday Book. In 1528 Mary Tudor, Dowager Queen of France (sister of King Henry VIII) and her husband Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, hunted foxes here and ‘took their dinner under the oaks, with delightful entertainment and games’. According to legend, it was amongst the young oaks of Staverton Park that St Edmund was murdered by the Danes, tied naked to one of the trees and made a target for their arrows. It was also here that the last sighting of a wolf was recorded in 1150. Later it was owned by the monks of nearby Butley Priory.  ...

Autumn has made its presence felt with dull, damp days, and the sun setting earlier. However there are always pluses to balance, such as the beautiful colours that we usually get on the trees and woodlands. On top of that, this is the time for most fungi to make their appearance. Here is a small offering from my camera on a recent walk around part of Rendlesham Forest. I hope I have named the fungi correctly, but please don't hesitate to correct me if I am wrong! On a warmer day, a great spot to sit' The sun is lighting up the bracken which is rapidly changing colour. Tangled trees Now for a few fungi - this one being a Cauliflower Fungus (Sparassis crispa) Puffball fungi Redlead Roundhead (Leratiomyces ceres) Parasol fungi (?) And lastly - Hairy Curtain Crust fungi No doubt a few more visits to the woodlands are on the cards for the next month, to record this beautiful season. The only unfortunate thing about autumn? - Winter follows!  But not to worry, perhaps we can get some...

On a rather dull, gray morning, a walk at Flatford and a coffee and cake seemed a good idea. Get us out of the house anyway, even though the weather looked threatening! Not a lot to photograph that we have not photographed before, but some tree shapes might make a picture, we thought.  So, first picture was of Willy Lott's Cottage on a grey day This one I guess has been broken for a while as its branches have curled upwards toward the sunlight. This one has seemingly grown a lot since falling, as its branches have grown skyward. The power of the wind. `Framed`. This broken tree formed a frame for the river and cow on the opposite side. `Come on in` Looks like a doorway to somewhere. `The pathway in` - from the carpark.  Not too much to shout about but an hour or two in the open strolling by the river - lovely.    Index of posts