Miriam's Moments: July 2024

Part 2: Gorgeous Yorkshire to Shrewsbury

Anne drove a rental car for 5 hours with an almost burned out clutch which she exchanged the next day, to York, a lovely ancient Roman city. The Shambles, once the butchers' quarter is composed of narrow, winding streets and shops.

The York Minster, built 1220-1427, is the largest medieval church in Europe. The medieval streets were called "Gates"

Today York has almost complete 2 1/2 miles of sturdy wall, 15-20 feet high in most places. The Roman walls, earth banks and ditches had almost disappeared by the Norman Conquest in 1066. We walked around part of it, with lovely views into gardens

York Castle is a fortified complex in the city of York, England. It consists of a sequence of castles, prisons, law courts and other buildings, which were built over the last nine centuries on the south side of the River Foss. The now ruined keep of the medieval Norman castle is commonly referred to as Clifford's Tower. Built originally on the orders of William I to dominate the former Viking city of Jórvík, the castle suffered a tumultuous early history before developing into a major fortification with extensive water defenses. After a major explosion in 1684 rendered the remaining military defenses uninhabitable, York Castle continued to be used as a jail and prison until 1929. In 1190, 150 local Jews were murdered in a pogrom in the timber castle keep; most of them died by suicide in order not to fall into the hands of the mob.

Rebecca arrived by train that evening in Ilkley, a beautiful spa town of the Victorian era, where Anne and Neil have an apartment. After Anne traded in the broken-clutch car, we planned to sightsee, but got stuck for an hour in the apartment elevator. Getting support and humor from Neil on the phone from the US and encouragement from other residents outside the elevator, we survived!

We drove through the beautiful Yorkshire countryside to Bolton Abbey, destroyed by Henry VIII in his program to wipe out Catholicism in the 16th century. Rebecca walked across the stones in the River.

The "new" church

Behind/above the altar in the church

Sunday morning I attended All Saints Parish church in Ilkley, with 8th -9th century Anglo Saxon crosses. There were interesting reports from missionaries serving in Myanmar, Brazil, Nepal, and the Parker family in Uganda. Marriage bans were read, though there were no objections!

We had brunch at Betty's in Ilkley, a famous and lovely tea room, founded in 1919 by an ambitious young orphaned man, and walked in the Sunday market.

That afternoon we took a fabulous hike on the moors above Ilkley, at "Cow and Calf" (shape of the rocks, which are home to many sheep)

After Bolton Abbey we drove to Grasslington where "All Creatures Great and Small" is filmed.

July 8 we left Ilkley, driving south through the Peak District in Derbyshire, for the incredible Chatsworth House, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. It is a country palace, a baroque mansion with a Palladian facade, built from 1687-1707, for the immensely rich 1st Duke of Devonshire. It was built on the foundation of the early Elizabethan mansion of his egocentric great-great grandmother Bess of Hardwick. The tragic and lonely Mary Queen of Scots stayed here several times under "house arrest" on the order of her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Suspecting that Mary and her 4th husband were getting along too well, Bess walked out on him!

The Devonshire family! Fred Astaire's sister and Kathleen (Kick) Kennedy married into the family, but most interesting was

Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, (born Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford and latterly Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire; 31 March 1920 – 24 September 2014), an English aristocrat, writer, memoirist, and socialite. She was the youngest and last-surviving of the six Mitford sisters, who were prominent members of British society in the 1930s and 1940s. Cavendish was the main public face of Chatsworth for many decades. She wrote several books about Chatsworth, and played a key role in the restoration of the house, the enhancement of the garden and the development of commercial activities such as Chatsworth Food (later Chatsworth Estate Trading), which sold luxury foodstuffs carrying her signature; and Chatsworth Design, which sells image rights to items and beautiful clothing designs

After lunch in the former stables, we continued on to nearby Hadden Hall, 13th century medieval fortress of 110 rooms, though it feels intimate. (Some are currently occupied). We especially loved the old kitchen, chapel and rose/flower gardens.

We drove on to the charming town of Bakewell on the Wye River, in Peak District still. And I had a delicious shepherds pie for dinner.

In the morning we continued to Shrewsbury with an ancient Abbey built by the brother of William the Conqueror, in about 1068, the part around the big arch still original, but all very old and a highlight for me, as I know many of my ancestors came to England with them.

Rebecca and I walked to the Shrewsbury castle (not much left, now a military museum), but was a defense against the Welsh at the turn of 13th century. Fun to see Redcoats who fought the American colonists, since we just celebrated, and other uniforms, medals, weapons, etc.