Castle Aching

[Ian Smeeton]

Gedney Hill had a Mountain Rescue Team,

 

Regards

 

Ian

[Northroader]

Going walking along the sea wall where the Wash ends and the Welland begins (OK, I know this bit is Lincs.), what hits you is the vastness of the sky. Completely flat, unimpeded horizon all round, and a huge vision of sky. You can see clouds forming far off miles away. Try doing that on a back scene.

[ChrisN]

James,

I am most impressed with your idea of a 3D backscene.  It sounds a great idea if you have the space and can pull it off, which I am fairly sure you will be able to do.

 

Hills.  I bought some Rape Seed Oil from Hill Farm the other day.  The address was Suffolk, near the coast.  The post code is IP9 0ED.  This is not what I understand by the term 'hill farm' but if you go to street view, yes there is a hill.  I was talking to my wife about the hill at the end of the road.  She told me there was no hill.  As we then drove down it I said that this was the hill.  "This is not a hill!" was her reply.  She was brought up in High Wycombe.  This, hopefully is Marlow Hill

[Donw]

You could try this as a backscene

 

 

or this if you want more detail

 

 

This station is on a hill and they don't like to stop on the upward journey

 

 

Kelling Heath with the heather

 

 

Nearby railway crossing could make a nice feature

 

 

We do have our share of flat bits in Somerset with Glastonbury a spectacular pimple in the flat area and some wonderful mud flats at Steart

 

Don

[corneliuslundie]

Norfolk around Hoit is definitely not flat. And the view from Kelling Heath to the sea is definitely DOWN. The Heath is an interesting place with odd rermains of WW2 activity. But comparing Norfolk hills with Yorkshire or Northumberland ones is like comparing Welsh mountains with those in the Balkans. Caerphilly Mountain creeps up to just over 1000 ft. When I was young, Plymlimon (English spelling I think) was 2468ft but it seems to have grown 2ft since. In Peja we were at 1200ft and that was at the foot of the mountains.

And will Castle Aching have a "wool" church to be seen from miles around and big enough for half the population of the county? If not on scene then perhaps on the backscene, where one notices them piercing the skyline.

Jonathan

[webbcompound]

I tell you, living in the Fens plays with one's perceptions of reality!

 

Either that or it's the medication, I suppose ....

 

Not far from the truth. I did some work in Wisbech and the museum has a pamphlet about the fens and Laudnum (tincture of opium). the chemist in the town during the 19th century had a 100 gallon tank to contain his weekly supply, and when it was banned in the 20s there was a temporary exemption for Norfolk. There is a suggestion that the popular image of Norfolk people as "slow" derives from the fact that most of the labourers were permanently stoned.

[Edwardian]

Yes, Northroader, the Fens are Big Sky Country, and to try to capture a sense of that will be the challenge of the Isle of Eldernell & Mereport Railway.

 

The West Norfolk, on the other hand, runs through more conventional countryside.  Looking to see what I had in the old archives, I came up with a shot of the countryside beyond the ramparts of Castle Aching, sorry Acre, itself.  This was about 4 years ago (the Boy is a lot bigger now) and was taken in March, so still a bit brown and sparse compared with May and all the new growth.  Still, I suspect this is the sort of thing I should be aiming for.

 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[Edwardian]

 

And will Castle Aching have a "wool" church to be seen from miles around and big enough for half the population of the county? If not on scene then perhaps on the backscene, where one notices them piercing the skyline.

Jonathan

 

It will have a fine old church, larger than the community warrants in true Norfolk style.  As was often the case in Norfolk, the church was some distance from the centre of the village.  If the layout is able to be long enough, I thought of putting it towards the rear on the left side, perhaps balancing the castle on the right.  If the layout is not long enough for this, it could be included behind the village scene as part of the 3D backscene. 

 

If I model the church, I might consider using the scalescenes church as a basis.  I believe there is a version in flint!  It bears a passing resemblance to St James the Great at Castle Acre, and I am mindful that I am unlikely to return to Norfolk to photograph the building to the extent necessary to create a kit of it. 

 

Sorry to say that no spiritual provision has yet been made for either non-conformists or recusants, and space constraints may prevent this.  The plans for the IOE&MR included far better provision, with quite a number of denominations covered, including at least one tub-thumping sect I made up!  I would be a little nervous of setting up a grand Roman Catholic family in one of the local great houses lest it attract a visit from Father Brown (a creature of the 1900s, not the 1950s, after all), and murder ensued!    

 

Castle Aching has planned better provision for temporal needs, however. With the addition of the Ostrich on the High Street, there are now a total of 3 pubs planned.  I am considering whether I can cram in another, little, one and make a fourth!

Edited April 26, 2016 by Edwardian

[corneliuslundie]

Of course, Castle Aching is not that far from the centre of High Church Anglicanism in Walsingham.

When one of our grandchildren was christened in the adjacent church to East Rudham (formerly M&GNR), the father leant over worriedly at one point and asked ihis wife if it was the right church, or if they were in the Catholic church by mistake. All bells and smells.

I feel that to include a church building of anything like the right size would dominate the layout. Better to have a steelpe reaching for the sky on the backscene several fields away - that is how most them seem to be viewed most of the time anyway.

Jonathan

Edit: Glemsford (Suffolk) changed to East Rudham. She has lived in so many places in East Anglia . . .

Edited April 27, 2016 by corneliuslundie

[Edwardian]

Of course, Castle Aching is not that far from the centre of High Church Anglicanism in Walsingham.

When one of our grandchildren was christened in the adjacent church to Glemsford (formerly M&GNR), the father leant over worriedly at one point and asked ihis wife if it was the right church, or if they were in the Catholic church by mistake. All bells and smells.

I feel that to include a church building of anything like the right size would dominate the layout. Better to have a steelpe reaching for the sky on the backscene several fields away - that is how most them seem to be viewed most of the time anyway.

Jonathan

 

 

I do take your point.  I think that I felt that I should do right by the spiritual, as well as the temporal, authorities.  The rear of the layout is down to about 3mm Scale in terms of full relief structures, which might just mean a 4mm scale kit at full size and still too big!

 

I also have to bear in mind the bl**dy great hill at the other end with the castle on top, which will certainly dominate ("Norman Yoke! Norman Yoke!")

[uax6]

I'm concerned that you may not have a Methodist chapel in there somewhere, here in Norfolk they are everywhere (sadly the one in our village has been demolished recently), and are actually quite stylish buildings....

 

I would be tempted to have a beautiful round towered flint church if I was modelling round here....

 

Andy G

 

If you are in no rush I may be allowed out to take some photos of some for you....

[Edwardian]

Generally quite fond of non-conformist chapels, and not just because one of my favourite illustrated children's books is Betjeman's Archie and the Strict Baptists (if you have never read this, YOU MUST DO SO), I just don't see one fitting into the Castle Aching scheme.  I would also like a farm (have one in mind), a watermill (have one in mind) and a windmill (take your pick), but I don't think I'll fit any of them in either.  I am sure the village would run to a Methodist chapel, but this may well be part of the significant off-stage portion of the village.  We will see, and the way to tempt me is to show me photographs of Methodist Norfolk chapels!

 

Castle Aching needs a parish church, however, and, whether fully or partially modelled, some attempt must be made to depict it because it is such a prominent building (beside which, the good people of Castle Aching deserve to have bishops to show them the way).  

My maternal grandmother, a character created by J B Priestley,  was a proud daughter of Yorkshire and proud Methodist.  She signed The Pledge and she and her mother would stand at the doors of public houses, turning the men away.

It was an age of social deference and chivalry towards the weaker sex, nevertheless I think it says a lot for the forbearance of those ordinary working men who just wanted to slake their thirst with a pint or two after a hard day of manual labour that they did not shove my grandmother and great grandmother aside in their rush to the bar!

 

More commendably, same great grandmother was an extra when they filmed The Railway Children on the K&WVR!    

 

I have lots to do, little time and no scope for hurrying.  Now I am so far away from Norfolk, all photographic contributions are very welcome and appreciated.

Edited February 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[uax6]

Fincham Methodist is here:

http://www.myprimitivemethodists.org.uk/page/fincham_primitive_methodist_church_Norfolk

 

My village one sadly gone:

http://www.myprimitivemethodists.org.uk/page/ten_mile_bank_primitive_methodist_chapel?path=0p9p59p

 

Its easier to just give you the list page:

http://www.myprimitivemethodists.org.uk/category_id__59.aspx

 

How can you resist?

 

Andy G

[Nearholmer]

Did Norfolk have lots of Strict Baptist churches, and a bewildering selection of what my father used to call "tin hut religions", as was the case in the Weald of Kent/Sussex?

 

K

[uax6]

Not sure, I've only come across a Baptist church in King's Lynn, and no tin hut versions in the wilds...

 

Quick search shows there are about 5 or 6 in the county now, but I can't find any historical info at the minute.

 

 

Look at this page full of round tower Norfolk Churches!

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norfolkround.htm

 

Andy G

[runs as required]

And why not a great Italianate Catholic family? After all 'Wot is the Duke of Norfolk?'  - (and however did the family get away with it over a few hundred years until the Catholic Emancipation Act?)

We had a grand one in Blaydon who (in addition to hosting the Blaydon Races) also secretly funded Garibaldi's Red Shirt campaign with gold concealed in frequent consignments of firebricks to minor ports in the mezzogiorno.

dh

 

Edit to post proof - this could well be the start of the Italian Futurist movement.

Edited April 26, 2016 by runs as required

[Edwardian]

In terms of Roman Catholic laity I was thinking more of such as the Paston-Beddingfelds.  I recall from my university days that Sir Henry, I think it was, was a Herald/King of Arms.  But, as I say, if there is such an ancient recusant family in the neighbourhood, Father Brown will visit and someone will get killed.  You just can't argue with these narrative conventions.  In terms of survival, in the Eighteenth Century, the P-Bs had to have a very tall wall to keep the Proddy villagers at bay!

Edited April 27, 2016 by Edwardian

[Edwardian]

Not sure, I've only come across a Baptist church in King's Lynn, and no tin hut versions in the wilds...

 

Quick search shows there are about 5 or 6 in the county now, but I can't find any historical info at the minute.

 

 

Look at this page full of round tower Norfolk Churches!

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norfolkround.htm

 

Andy G

 

 

That is a great link.  I was tempted by a round-towered church.  I wonder if I can have an extension to Flitching, so I can fit in a watermill, a farm and another community with a church?  More pubs, too!  Oh, and a station I suppose!

 

I do like those Primitive Methodist chapels, the majority of which conform to a recognisable basic type, making a model of any one of these representative of Norfolk..  

Edited April 27, 2016 by Edwardian

[Nearholmer]

Having been sparked to re-look at strict baptist churches by mention of Betjeman's Bear, what do I find, but that the chapel that all the older members of my father's family were part of was founded as a result of a vision given to a Norfolkman!

 

"In those dark days there resided in the Neighbourhood, at Old Buckhurst, a comparatively young man, Mr Doggett by name, who had come from Norfolk. One night his rest was broken by a dream, in which The Forest appeared to him as a great roaring sea .... in a certain spot appeared a lighthouse ..... the dream made such an impression that he felt it to be an indication of the will of God to establish the preaching of the gospel in that spot where, in his dream, the lighthouse appeared to stand ..... on this spot he found an old barn .... had it licensed as a place of worship .... still forms the walls of Forest Fold"

 

I love the first two sentences, which read so like something from a Digger tract of the 1640s ( I've got a copy of one that starts "I am lately come out of Buckinghamshitre, where a new light shines in the hearts of men ......."), or Bunyan slightly later.

 

The Paston-Beddingfirlds would be totally beyond the comprehension of these people, who, from what I can gather, regarded ordinary parish Anglicanism as something between a popish-cult and the "yoke of Norman oppression" at prayer.

 

Kevin

Edited April 27, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

In the meantime, I have not been entirely idle.  I built up some of the ground levels and laid cobbles on the High Street.  I lightly sprayed these to tone the colours down to represent distance (see comparison between 'as printed' and 'as sprayed').

Edited February 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[Edwardian]

Post scriptum: 

 

There are a series of bands in the cobbles.  I think this will not detract as there will be various bits of what is presently visible covered up and, in any case, the need to maintain perspective means that under normal viewing conditions there will be no bird's eye views and only bits of the street surface visible from any one angle of view.

 

The reason there are bands is because each band is slightly smaller than the next.  From memory each successive band is 2% smaller than the last as we approach to the rear of the layout.  Frankly, that is not very apparent on these scenes at the rear,  although perhaps if the stones had not become progressively smaller, it would be apparent!

 

If you compare the cobbles bottom left with those top right in the first shot, you ought to perceive a slight difference in size (!).  This effect will probably be most important as we progress down Bailey Street toward the full size buildings.

[Trains&armour]

You should see what they call a "hill" in the fens!

 

End of our lane was "Chapel Hill", for which read "Chapel Pimple"

The fens always make me feel right at home. Seems a distant forebear had something to do with that. Still, too many hills, but the rest of Britain is even worse, bloody mountainous if you ask me....

[Edwardian]

The fens always make me feel right at home. Seems a distant forebear had something to do with that. Still, too many hills, but the rest of Britain is even worse, bloody mountainous if you ask me....

 

The landscape of the North Cambridgeshire Fens, the setting for the fabled Isle of Eldernell, was largely the creation of a Dutchman, Sir Cornelius Vermuyden.

 

Vermuyden was hired by the gentlemen adventurers, headed by the Duke of Bedford, to drain the Fens for agriculture, and Vermuyden, who is still remembered in the Fens today, encountered much opposition from the "Fen Tigers", whose traditional, if rather soggy, way of life was being swept away. 

 

Vermuyden canalised the river Nene from Peterborough to its outflow in the Wash, and along its new course he created the Washes, an embanked flood plain used as rough pasture in the summer months and flooded at need in the winter: 

[Edwardian]

The fens always make me feel right at home. Seems a distant forebear had something to do with that. Still, too many hills, but the rest of Britain is even worse, bloody mountainous if you ask me....

 

The landscape of the North Cambridgeshire Fens, the setting for the fabled Isle of Eldernell, was largely the creation of a Dutchman, Sir Cornelius Vermuyden in the Seventeenth Century.

 

Vermuyden was hired by the gentlemen adventurers, headed by the Duke of Bedford, to drain the Fens for agriculture, and Vermuyden, who is still remembered in the Fens today, encountered much opposition from the "Fen Tigers", whose traditional, if rather soggy, way of life was being swept away. 

 

Vermuyden canalised the river Nene from Peterborough to its outflow in the Wash, and along its new course he created the Washes, an embanked flood plain used as rough pasture in the summer months and flooded at need in the winter.  Below you see one side of the Washes, with the dyke to the left and the flood plain to the right of the water course.  Vermuyden was able to incorporate earlier flood-prevention and drainage schemes, and the water course pictured is one such; Morton's Leam, named after the Sixteenth Century Bishop who commissioned the work: 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[Trains&armour]

Above photo was taken no more than  half a mile  three quarters of a kilometer from our house....

Edited April 27, 2016 by Trains&armour