Coriolanus at RSC Stratford

This is a complex play about politics and soldiers, never an easy mix. This is a rarely performed play and I found the dialogue hard to follow in the first half. Either the diction wasn't as good as it should have been, or I'm going a bit deaf. Fortunately it did improve as the play went on.

I found this modern dress version worked quite well, although I became a little tired of the comparison of the costumes between the hierarchy and the mob.

The set was very good as was the lighting and music. Like Julius Caesar, I found Andrew Jackson's direction to be clunky and rushed. As if trying to get the whole play into three hours including the interval. It was so much better in the quieter slower moments.

I found the casting of Sope Dirisu as Coriolanus strange to start with, but that didn't last long. His muscular performance is suited to soldier who is unable to make the transition to politician. Better still was Haydn Gwynne as his mother Volumnia. Her delivery was first rate in comparison to the men.

The biggest drawback for me was that I still had the movie directed and starring Ralph Fiennes in my head. For me, the location filming suited this play so much more than the confines of the theatre. When a mob is represented by a dozen or so, you have to suspend belief. The movie also benefited from the adapting of the play by John Logan who sharply cut the text, removing the obscurer passages but retaining its lucidity and eloquence and providing a sharp, graphic narrative. 

Last night, I did find more subtlety in the plot, and more emotion than the film. I guess they were both so different. And Ralph Fiennes suited the role so well.

Hulne Abbey

Hulne Abbey or Priory is situated in Hulne Park. The photos are all taken by Alison on the tablet the afternoon I monopolised the camera at Alnwick Garden. She was so taken by the ruins of the Abbey when we found it on our run through the park, that she wanted to go back and take more time to explore the site. As before, the place was deserted.

It was the Carmelite Friars who founded the priory in the 13th Century, thinking that the top of Brizlee Hill felt a little like Mount Carmel. It is the best preserved of all Carmelite settlements in the country as well as being the earliest.

In 1488, Henry, the 4th Earl of Northumberland built the tower in memory of his wife Maud. The remains of the priory and Hulne Park still belong to the Duke of Northumberland and the Percy family under the auspices of Northumberland Estates.

HULNE PARK

Hulne Park is not advertised as a tourist attraction. It has no visitor facilities. I only found it when searching for a run. Alnwick Harriers have details about access on their website. The park has well made roads or tracks and when we ran there, we hardly saw a soul.

The route along the river is beautiful. I only found later that it has a hydro electric scheme that was in operation until 1948 and has recently been restored. Hulne Park is like a secret that nobody wants to share. All credit to Northumberland Estates for allowing access to this private land.

Holiday in Northumberland

This was our second holiday in Northumberland, staying longer this time than in 2013. As previously, we stayed at the wonderful B&B that is Greycroft in Alnwick. Website is www.greycroftalnwick.co.uk.

We left home on Monday and arrived at 4.15pm. A long journey of nearly six hours with a big delay avoiding the roadworks on the M1.

TUESDAY

The weather promised to be sunny so we headed for Craster where we parked the car and headed for the tiny harbour. As we looked along the coast, we could see our first port of call (and Alison's main target for the holiday) which was Dunstanburgh Castle.

We spent over an hour at this English Heritage site (free to NT members).

Note the blue sky in the following photo.

A view from half way up the tower.

Before we dropped down onto the beach for a walk along Embleton Bay, Alison climbed along a rocky promontory.

It was over two miles to Low Newton along the beach, always with views of the castle in the distance.

There was not much to see at Low Newton, but we found a bench for our lunch.

Back along the beach with the tide coming in and a wander around Craster where we found the Shoreline Cafe for a welcome cup of tea and cake when it finally arrived. We sat by the harbour in the late afternoon sunshine before heading back to our room. Dinner was at Di Sopra, a good Italian restaurant we found last time. And less than a ten minute walk into Alnwick.

WEDNESDAY

A cloudy day and as we were due a run, we walked through Alnwick to Hulne Park where I had found a map.

Hulne Park is owned by Northumberland Estates, which is the property company of The Duke of Northumberland and the Percy Family. From their website:
The Estate maintains a large residential portfolio and considerable farming and forestry interests throughout Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, amounting to some 100,000 acres (almost 40,500ha). Alnwick Castle and The Alnwick Garden remain amongst the more popular tourist attraction in the region.  

Hulne Park is open to walkers (and runners) from 11am as there are residential properties within the park. It is also closed on certain occasions. Apart from a few vehicles on the roads, we hardly saw a soul. It felt as if we had the whole park to ourselves, apart from hundreds of pheasants. The three coloured routes are discreetly marked along the way, we headed up the main Farm Drive for the blue 6.2 miles.

This park is a gem for runners. Well made roads and tracks, beautiful scenery and deserted on a Wednesday morning. We found the remains of Hulne Abbey that is marked on the map, more of that in a separate post.

 After this slight detour, we were running beside the river down Lady's Well Drive. Quite superb. In the end I ran 7.6 miles and Alison another two. There are hills but not too steep.

Back for a shower and back into Alnwick for early afternoon bacon and sausage rolls at Baileys cafe. We still had the rest of the afternoon, and Alison found advice from tourist information that Alnmouth was only a short distance by car. Just right for a untaxing walk by the estuary.

We picked up some salad stuff from Sainsburys on our way back, and had it in our room.

THURSDAY

Rain was forecast for later in the day, so we drove to Amble for a look round. However, as we arrived, it immediately started to rain. So we returned to Alnwick and went to Barter Books instead.

By lunchtime, the weather brightened. Alison wanted to go back to Hulne Abbey with a shorter run, and I took the opportunity to go to Alnwick Garden which I missed last time. It turned out to be a wonderful sunny afternoon and the garden was outstanding.

I took so many photos. I started with a guided tour of the Poison Garden Then to the eight water features which were absolutely amazing.  The Torricelli:

Then the Waterglass, Reflection, Canyon, Starbirst, Menisus and my favourite the Dish Vortex:

My photos do not capture the spectacle of the rising water as it rises and falls. The work of William Pye is described on his website:

Here an air-core vortex is generated within a circular stainless steel dish.  Water rises and falls within the dish in a programme of water activity.  When the system is full and flowing over the perimeter and down the sides, the top surface is comparatively flat and smooth, only broken by the vortex in the middle.  However, as the level drops, the body of water seems to take on a life of its own, increasingly rocking and swaying as its volume diminishes unaided by any outside force.  From a point where the dish is almost but not entirely empty, water is suddenly pumped in and entirely different shapes and forms develop, now more turbulent and violent until lapping over the outer edges when the mass of swirling water returns to that curiously becalmed state.

I stayed for ages watching the complete cycle.

Then up past the Grand Cascade:

To the Ornamental Garden.

I was surprised how much was still flowering at this time of year.

I liked the hidden water features:

And the fountains down by the Grand Cascade were excellent:

By the time 5pm came around, there was hardly anyone left in the garden. And the sun had stayed out. Wonderful. And all for the discounted price of £8.45 on a Concession Day.

This great day was finished off with a terrific meal at the Thai Vibe restaurant. Just look at the reviews on tripadvisor.

FRIDAY
Friday dawned to a lovely sunny fresh morning, so we were off early to Lindisfarne. On their website:

We are a tidal island in that access is by a paved causeway which is covered by the North Sea twice in every 24 hour period. Study the tide tables carefully. Lindisfarne versus Holy Island: Locally the island is rarely referred to by its Anglo-Saxon name of 'Lindisfarne'. Following on from the murderous and bloodthirsty attack on the monastery by the Vikings in 793AD, it obtained its local name from the observations made by the Durham monks: 'Lindisfarne - baptised in the blood of so many good men - truly a 'Holy Island'. Its more appropriate title is 'The Holy Island of Lindisfarne'.

Driving across the causeway is always spectacular. But the highlight, as last time was Lindisfarne Priory.

And yes, that is blue sky again!

We spent a long time looking round. Although it was only four years ago that we were here, we just seemed to see so much more. There were a number of information boards that gave you a great idea of the original building.

It was just beginning to cloud over as we made our way to the lookout tower. There were great views of the whole island and I spotted a number of seals resting on a sandbank in the distance.

We headed for the castle, but only in passing as it was covered in scaffolding for a major restoration. Further along the path we came to Gertrude Jekyll's Garden.

A short walk around the coast then back to the car before the tide cuts off the island from the mainland. We stopped for tea and cake at the Barn at Beal. (barnatbeal.com). This is a great cafe, as we found last time.

We drove to Bamburgh, intending to walk along the beach, but as we parked the rain set in. So we headed back to Alnwick. Half way it stopped raining, and when we saw a sign for Seahouses, we took the side road. However, the back roads took us almost all the way back to Bamburgh. By late afternoon, Seahouses was pretty much deserted and we had a pleasant walk around the harbour and clifftop.

Dinner in the evening was once again at Di Sopra.

SATURDAY

The day started sunny with clear blue skies. We missed breakfast at Greycroft as we had to get to Drurudge Bay parkrun. It turned out to be a beautiful two laps of the lake, slightly undulating but we were both pleased with our times.

We had tea and cake in the Visitor Centre with some other runners before changing and taking the very short walk to the beach. This must be one of the biggest stretches of sand in the country (actually seven miles long), very quiet and great in the sunshine.

As it was still sunny, we headed for nearby Amble. The harbour and marina looked good in the sun.

We could see Walkworth Castle in the distance.

We walked down the pier and caught a glimpse of a seal.

On the way back it became cloudy as we found the newish retail pods.

Next door was The Old Boathouse which had been recommended by our friend Philip. It was well past lunchtime and we were able to get a table. The Old Boathouse Cod and Chips was a speciality. Alison had some of mine as well as the smoked salmon.

All the food looked excellent. My fish and chips were even better than Rick's at Padstow. The mushy peas and tartare sauce were memorable.

www.boathousefoodgroup.co.uk/theoldboathouse-amble.html

It was late afternoon by the time we left, so it was back to Alnwick, calling in at Sainsburys for an evening snack in the room with Leicester v Liverpool from BT Sport on the laptop.

We left at 9.30 the next morning for the drive home, four and three quarter hours, much better than the Monday drive up. We stayed an extra couple of days than four years ago and were very glad we did.

Detroit, The Limehouse Golem and mother!

When you follow a director as I do, it would be impossible to ignore a new Kathryn Bigelow movie. Much as I wanted to. This is not a  happy film. The riots in Detroit in 1967 are condensed into one horrible incident. The firing of a toy? gun sparks a heavy handed response from police and national guard. What follows next is gruelling to watch. No wonder Dunkirk ( a movie without a single American actor) has done better at the box office in the USA. Bigelow does not spare us. The cinematography by Barry Ackroyd is up close and way too personal in that documentary type of action this director had made a trademark. I had previously been critical of John Boyega's acting in Star Wars. Let me now say that must have been the script as here he is excellent.

I'm afraid to say that The Limehouse Golem was way too hammy for my taste. I know it was supposed to be a Victorian melodrama, but everything just seemed cheap. Even Bill Nighy in the lead role of the Inspector felt as if he was just turning up for the money. The story was OK, but Jane Goldman's script could have been better. It was quite good fun, but let down by some second rate acting.

I was prepared for the worst and hopeful for the best, given that the critics were split down the middle for the latest movie from Darren Aronofsky.  From early on, you know that jennifer lawrence's unnamed character (note the absence of capital letters on the poster) is in for a hard time. Unfortunately, if she thought the first chapter was bad enough, she really had no idea of the mayem to follow. Her husband javier bardem as been likened to some sort of God like character. I actually thought he was more like a devil, Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate came to mind.

The camera hardly ever leaves Lawrence, either in close up or following her around the fabulous old isolated mansion she is trying so hard to make perfect. This single set is marvellous, and the sound design is unbelievable. This is black comedy mixed with horror and physiological warfare. There are elements of the director's Black Swan as our tortured heroin is not quite sane. This is a surreal movie, one to be experienced rather than enjoyed. I think I liked it.

Tring Book Club - Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland

I would never have read this book if it was not a book club choice. There is not a single newspaper review, only The Mail Online has an article and this is under their chick-lit section. Having said that, it has an amazing four and a half star average on Goodreads, with 99.9% being female reviewers.

My first impressions were OK. I'm a sucker for that conversational style of a first person narrator. "My bike with a basket on the front. What of it?" - "I didn't go to the poetry night. What of it?" - "I know what you're thinking". However this does get a little repetitive. There are times when the story is quite cute, but in the end I found the whole thing pretty bland. The writing did seem a little childish, was the author trying to write in the character of young Loveday? If so, this was a mistake, if not it needed to be a lot better.

A Visit to Lincolnshire

I had been planning this visit for quite some time. My project on the lives of my Ascough ancestors needed me to see the villages where they lived and complete my research at Lincolnshire Archives. So on Monday 4th September, I set our early. I was meeting the church warden of Toynton All Saints at 10.30 am but before that I wanted to look how the neighbouring East Fen looked at the present day. Of particular interest were the drainage systems that were instrumental in destroying the way of life of the fen commoners by changing the common wetlands to the enclosed dry farmland we now see.

I would have liked to have stopped at Boston to look at where the East Fen drains find their way to the sea, but had to do with seeing the River Witham as I passed over and the main waterway junction that is Anton's Gowt. I pulled off the main A16 at Stickney and only after a mile I passed over the East Fen Catchwater Drain on it's way south to meet the West Fen Catchwater Drain at Northlands where they become the Stonebridge Drain that eventually meets the River Witham. 

A short distance to Midville where I turned left to run alongside the main north-south Hobhole Drain where it meets the Bell Water Drain at Bell Water Bridge.

Driving alongside the Hobhole Drain northwards (note the road sign for the massively undulating single track I followed) .....

......... the northern edge of fenland as it reaches the southern slope of the Lincolnshire Wolds comes into view.

At Toynton Bridge, the road crosses again the East Fen Catchwater Drain, which travels east to west to collect run of water from the higher ground before turning south as noted before.

The roads get better as I approached Toynton All Saints and although I knew that the village was higher than the fens, I was not expecting such a steep hill up the village centre and the church. From sea level to 40 metres above in such a short distance.

I was early at the church of Toynton All Saints, but Alf Tunnicliffe, the church warden, must have seen me as he soon introduced himself. The church itself is perched on top of a hill.

Inside, there are remnants of the 14th and 15th century church; having been rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Many of my ancestors and their relatives are buried in the graveyard but no monumental inscriptions exist. The graveyard itself is overgrown.

I said goodbye to Alf who had directed me the the church of Toynton St Peter not far away. This church is now secondary to Toynton All Saints although it used to be the lead church. That is no surprise given it's situation on level ground ( only 5 metres above the low lying fen compared with Toynton All Saints at 40 metres).

A large graveyard remains where again many Ascoughs are buried, but again no gravestones. The west tower dates from 1180AD to around 1520AD. The remainder was rebuilt in 1876 keeping only some 14th century features seen on the inside.

Time was pressing as I had to be in Lincoln in the afternoon. The Lincolnshire Family History Society Research Centre only opens on Mondays (hence why I started my visit that day) and I needed a couple of hours at least and the centre closes at 4pm.

It's about an hour's drive from the Toyntons to Lincoln. I found the Outer Circle road on the outskirts of the city and stopped for a quick lunch at a Costa in a retail park. I made it to the Research Centre on Monks Way at 2 pm and Margaret Cromack had reserved a microfiche reader for me and explained the resources there. The registers on microfiche only confirmed what I already knew about the Ascough family. There was a record of a burial at Toynton All Saints of an Elinor, wife of a Roberts Ainscow (perhaps another derivation of the surname) in 1702 which is as far back as records for the family go.

However, upstairs in the library, I did find a book I knew was there called Lincolnshire and the Fens by M.W. Barley which had some useful information that I was able to copy. As a member of the Society it was also good to meet the people there and see their base. I left as they were closing and headed for my Travelodge south of the city.

Tuesday was my big day at Lincoln Archives. But as I was up early, I decided that I would, at first, go for a run. Although I headed down main A46 by mistake, the first roundabout took me towards where I wanted to go and luckily I found a residential area which seemed a good place to stop. Birchwood Avenue was perfect for a run, a wide road and verges with wide footpaths on both sides. Two miles to the end of the avenue and two miles back with some nice wooded areas as a detour.

A quick shower and I was off to the city centre. I made a wrong turn and ended up way past the cathedral and had to turn round. Back down the hill and suddenly there was St Rumbold Street on the left and the multi story car park close to Lincolnshire Archives.

I had been in correspondence with Emily Evans at the archives about my visit and when I arrived, the documents I wanted to see had been found and were waiting for me

5-ANC/4/A/14    The Surveigh of the Mannour of Toynton etc  Dated 1614

SR Journal           Lincolnshire Notes and Queries vol 20 no 160   October 1928

                            Author Brears, Charles 1928   The fen laws of common.

1-CHAT/5/11      Widmore Fen, West Fen and East Fen Drainage Acts Dated 1801 and 1803

LD/5/A                Enclosure Acts for dividing and allotting Wildmore Fen and East and West Fens                                   (1801, 1802) and Mavis Enderby (1798)     Date: 1798-1802

2-HAWLEY/2/E/8/7    Printed Act for amending Act for Draining East, West and Wildmore Fens                                            Date: 1810

Of all the above documents, by far the most interesting was the first; The Survey of the Manor of Toynton.  It was the original document from 1614 where the large pages had been bound into a new hard cover. Fortunately it was in pristine condition.

There are one hundred and thirteen pages. There are thirteen sections, each with a large scale coloured map of part of the district followed by details of the owners of the pieces of land. There is then an abstract of what each tenant holds in every furlong in every field, with descriptions of property and rents.

There are actually fourteen such maps. I need to copy each one and see if I can fit them together. Then I will see if I can compare them with T.W. Lane's The Fenland Project Number 8: Lincolnshire Survey, the Northern Fen Edge where in Appendix IX  he has used the same 1614 survey to map out the Pre-Enclosure Landscape of Toynton All Saints and Toynton St Peter. And secondly the maps  in Eleanor & Rex C Russell's Old and New Landscapes in the Horncastle Area where the Open Fields that existed in 1773 before enclosure are shown followed by the plan after the Enclosure Act of 1774. This will be a major exercise.

The original maps do show the owners of many of the houses or cottages but not all. The Ascoughs may not have been there as early as 1614 but more likely did not own their own home.

Of the other documents above, the three drainage Acts provided some answers to my questions. Finally the Fen Laws of Common listed in the book Lincolnshire Notes and Queries Volume 20 were exactly what I needed. All seventy two  laws are there, having only found examples in previous books. I photographed each page and can now rewrite them all for my publication.

I was hoping that the archives might provide some family records earlier than those in the late eighteenth century. I found a Marriage Index for the Bolingbroke Deanery. Here there were records of four Ascough's marriages from 1718 to 1746 but none in the Toynton villages. Finally, I looked at Lincoln Marriage Licences 1598-1628. These were not for Toynton villages but showed there were Aiscoughs and Askewes in Lincoln and Boston in the early seventeenth century, a hundred years before my earliest records. So nothing concrete. Unfortunately the Parish Registers for the villages only start in 1742 for Toynton St Peter.

I was over four hours at the archives and it was late afternoon before I had a late lunch. A coffee and a toastie in Cafe Nero while it poured with rain outside. When the sun came out I wandered in the direction of Brayford Waterside.

The canal was an attractive cut through with swans on the water.

Brayford Waterfront is England's oldest inland harbout where there is  a fairly new development with a marina, cinema and restaurants, all very nice in the late afternoon sun. Time for another drink and a wander before heading back to the hotel.

Wednesday was forecast to be the best of the days, Monday and Tuesday having  being mostly cloudy or wet. So I planned to do some sightseeing. I parked in town and headed for Lincoln Cathedral up the aptly named Steep Hill.

There was free entry to the cathedral as we could not access the nave where there were Graduation Ceremonies for the University all day. However there was still enough to see, particularly St Hughs Choir .....

....and the Chapter House.

Then, just as I was about to leave, the morning's graduation ceremony came to a close and the Nave was opened. I then followed out the stragglers into the sunshine to see a mass of graduates, families and friends in the cathedral grounds, an amazing sight for someone who had not seen such an event before.

I passed on a Castle Tour and instead looked around the walls before starting back downhill. However, I was up for exploring the side roads below the cathedral and came across Temple Gardens. Not only do they have the magnificent backdrop of the cathedral .....

 ....... but also have a great view across Lincoln.

My last port of call was Lincoln Central Library.

A very helpful assistant found two of the books I wanted to consult. Fenland Riots etc by Keith Lindley provided some interesting history of the seventeenth century and H.E. Hallam's Settlement and Society went back even further.

I found a cafe near the car park for a late lunch and it was time to head home. I met so many helpful people who helped make the trip well worth while. I now have lots to do to bring my researches up to date before putting them on the website.

Here are my top ten memories in chronological order:

The view of the northern fen edge as it meets the uplands of the Lincolnshire Wolds

Meeting Alf at the church of Toytnon All Saints

Birchwood Avenue for my run

Lincolnshire Archives and the 1614 Survey of the Manor of Toynton

Sitting in Cafe Nero by the window with the rain pouring down on the High Street

The surprise that was Brayford Waterside

The graduation ceremony taking place inside Lincoln Cathedral

The surprise that was Temple Gardens

The weather that was cloudy for the first two days but became sunny late Tuesday and all day Wednesday

All the people who helped me at the Family History Society Research centre, Lincolnshire Archives and Lincoln Central Library