Britain's First Bicameral Parliament

Built of red sandstone, and framed by a magnificent cedar of Lebanon, Acton Burnell Castle, really a fortified manor house, was built between 1284 and 1293 by Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Lord Chancellor to Edward I. It's rectangular in plan, with towers at each corner. Over three storeys were the usual offices of kitchen, buttery and pantry; hall, solar, cabinets, and chapel.

Acton Burnell is famous for being the location for Britain's first legislating parliament consisting of both Lords and Commons, in 1283. This is believed to have been held in the nearby barn, of which remains only one gable end, in the grounds of Concord College.

The college incorporates Acton Burnell Hall, built in 1814. The castle had been in ruins for a century or so by this point, and was adopted as a folly in the grounds of the hall. Two shallow-arched coach gateways in the castle walls date from this period, the driveway to the hall passing through the castle.

Robert Burnell also founded the nearby church of St Mary, still largely as built in 1282. A small square window in the north wall of the chancel gave lepers, kept outside, sight of the altar - a heartwarming instance of a charitable Church. In the north transept is a fine sixteenth-century monument to Richard Lee and his wife.

Loton Park Hillclimb

Loton Park, Alberbury, is one of only two private deer parks in Shropshire, and has been in the hands of the Leightons since 1391. The eleventh baronet, Sir Michael Leighton, has planted over 200,000 trees, and it is through these that the hillclimb rises and, unusually, for part of the run, dips.

The climb was laid out in the mid-1950s by the Severn Valley Motor Club. Since 1970 the course, 1,475 yards long, has been included in the British Hillclimb Championship, organisation being in the hands of the Hagley & District Light Car Club.

No fewer than ten championships are contended for this weekend, the climb tackled by road-going production, modified production, sports libre, racing, and classic cars (Hillman Imp, second from top); motorcycles, and motorcycle side cars. Particularly stylish are the cars of Club Alpine Renault - Renault 8 Gordini, and Alpine Renault A110, above.

It's a relaxed venue, with full access to the paddock, and no over-zealous security. Many of the spectators' cars are as interesting as those competing - TVR Vixen (top), and Lancia Flavia coupé (above). The Dolomite 1500 SE didn't look at all out of place.

Easter Hare

Deep in the Berwyns, at the head of Cwm Pennant, Pennant Melangell is home to Britain's only extant shrine of the Romanesque period. There's no through road, and just three houses about the church. The oldest part of this is of the twelfth century, but the almost round churchyard suggests pre-Christian use - there are Bronze Age burials here. Four of the five massive yews are adjudged to be over two thousand years old.

Just inside the porch of 1737 are animal-excluding gates, of 1763. The window to the far right (top) is fifteenth-century, the others in the south wall Victorian. Remarkably, the apse at the east end is of 1989, built upon the twelfth-century foundations of the original apse, replaced six centuries later by a square schoolroom, and replaced in its turn a further two centuries on.

The rood screen is of the fifteenth century, with a new oak loft above - the rood itself would have been destroyed as a result of the Reformation. Behind the tympanum is preserved a huge plaster panel, originally a reredos upon the east wall, featuring the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer, in Welsh.

The chancel is dominated by the shrine of St Melangell. The story goes that in 604 a Welsh prince chased a hare into a briar patch, wherein was in saintly contemplation Melangell, a traditional beautiful virgin. The hare hid under her garment and the hunting dogs fled. The prince gave Melangell the valley as a sanctuary.

Originally constructed circa 1160-70, the shrine was likely broken up early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth as part of the drive to control devotion to relics. Re-erected in 1958, some parts recovered from where they had been built into the nave walls and the lych gate, it was moved into the chancel in 1989.

Shropshire's Stonehenge

Shown on Ordnance Survey Explorer maps as a temple, the 36 stones of the circle at Bron-y-Garth are, in fact, an attenuated take on Stonehenge. Erected circa 1850-1860, in the grounds of a house (The Quinta) of the same date, the circle was apparently put up by one Major West.

The folly, Grade II listed, is known as the Quinta Circle. The outer circle, about ten yards across, consists of 20 limestone uprights, of which six pairs are capped with lintels. In the centre of the inner U-shape array of trilithons is a large flat stone. But, this being Shropshire, albeit only just, one can't imagine Beltane being celebrated here on the first of May.



A number of the stones are marked by the signs of stitch drilling. In Follies: a National Trust Guide, it is speculated that construction of the circle may have been a squire's project to alleviate unemployment.

Double Cream

Familiar yet different are the cream (and crown-less) K6 telephone boxes of Kingston Communications, the only 'municipal' telephone company left in the UK. Granted a licence in 1902, the operation of Hull Corporation (later Hull City Council) was the only municipal service not ultimately absorbed into the Post Office's telephones division.



The Hull area is, thus, the sole part of the UK not served by British Telecom. KC beat BT to the punch with its Golden Pages, launched in 1954, ahead of Yellow Pages; and again in 1989 by becoming the first all-digital network in the UK. Right up to 1999 the company was wholly-owned by the council, which retains a 44.9% stake.

Church & State, God & the Bomb

Atop Beacon Hill, overlooking Holme upon Spalding Moor, five miles from Market Weighton, stands All Saints church. "Holme" refers to the hill, about which the land is otherwise flat, as the word is Danish for an island. The church is of the thirteenth century, with walls of both stone and brick.

A couple of hundred yards away is an ROC post (YMGW passim), complete with an Orlit-made, pre-cast reinforced concrete, aircraft spotting post of the 1950s. This one is a type B, on stilts. The steel door is still present, although detached from its hinges.

Absolute Bee-ginner

Newly installed are four stands, bedded into the ground in order to avoid any mishaps, to support, ultimately, eight beehives. These have to be no less than half a yard apart, so that the bees from each hive don't get confused and seek to enter the wrong one.



For the moment there are four hives, of the National variety - the traditional 'stepped' hive is known as the WBC (William Broughton Carr). They face broadly east and southeast, to catch the morning sun. At this point the hives consist of a brood chamber only, although one has two such. Above these will ultimately be the supers, from which the queen is excluded and in which the workers will store honey.

BBC3 - Countryfile

A burtone was a fortified farmhouse, and it is from this that comes the name Bishop Burton. The former estate village could be described as delightful archetypal English - parish church, pub, geese on the tree-shaded green, and two ponds (the larger known as the Mere).

The houses predominantly feature whitewashed walls, red pantiles, dormers, and rustic porches supported by black-painted logs that retain the stumps of removed branches. The church houses a bust of Wesley, carved from the wood of a wych elm under which he is said to have preached. The carpenter who treated it for woodworm in 1898 completed his timesheet thus: "To rebaptizing John Wesley and curing him of worms, 25/-."

Flamborough Head

Flamborough Head appears to boast two lighthouses. In fact, one of these is actually a beacon tower, built in 1673, on top of which brushwood would have been burned to warn of invasion. The lighthouse proper, designed by Samuel Wyatt, was built in 1806. It originally burnt oil, but was electrified in 1940. At 92 feet high, its 3.5 million candela sequence of four white flashes is visible 21 miles out to sea.

Bridlington

Bridlington's origins likely extend as far back as the Bronze Age. An Augustinian priory was founded here in 1133, and what is now known as the Old Town grew around this after it was given prominence by Henry V, who in 1415 gave thanks at the priory for his Agincourt victory.

But it is for the New Town that most visitors now come. The fishing port expanded and developed into a small spa town during the nineteenth century, subsequent to discovery of a chalybeate spring. Although past its heyday, Bridlington is lively, bright and interesting, with a very pleasant promenade.

The light here is luminous in the way that only coastal light can be. It wasn't though enough for Bridlington to hold on to its most famous son, David Hockney. One doesn't tend to hear in California the line heard in a café here: "A cheese and onion sandwich? Sorry, we don't start those for another week yet. Only bacon sandwiches until then."

Funicular Bridgnorth

The Bridgnorth Cliff Railway, opened in 1892, operates between Stoneway Steps in Low Town and Castle Walk in High Town. There are two cars on parallel tracks, 201 feet long, and raising the passengers 111 feet. The incline of 33° makes this the steepest funicular railway in England. The cars are connected by a steel safety rope, looped around a large pulley at the top of the track, and counterbalance each other.

Originally, each car had beneath it, within the triangular steel frame on which the passenger compartment sits, a 2,000 gallon water tank. From a 30,000 gallon reservoir on the roof of the upper station, the top car's tank was filled with water. At the same time the bottom car's tank was emptied. The heavier descending car thus lifted the lighter ascending car.

This hydraulic motive system was replaced in 1943 with an electric motor. Two steel ropes operate so that one winds onto one drum of four feet diameter, as the other winds off another drum of the same size. The cars no longer needed on-board attendants to operate the brakes, as air brakes, operating on the drums, were introduced. In 1955 the original wooden cars were replaced with the current ones, of aluminium.

Mold, Flintshire

Mold, on the River Alyn, is the administrative centre of Flintshire. It's an honest town, not pretending to be anything beyond that which it is. Intriguingly, it's home to a good number of auction sites and houses, for both livestock (including J. Bradburne Price & Co., above) and deadstock. There's also a lovely long-closed garage, Harley's, complete with Beckmeter pumps.

Swinging Polaroids

The Polaroid Swinger, the first cheap instant camera, was produced between 1965 and 1970. The Model 20, so designated for its price, was advertised using a truly awful jingle written and sung by Barry Manilow: "Hey, meet the swinger / Polaroid Swinger / Meet the swinger / Polaroid Swinger / It's more than a camera, it's almost alive / It's only nineteen dollars and ninety-five / Swing it up (yeah yeah) / It says, Yes (yeah yeah) / Take the shot (yeah yeah) / Count it down (yeah yeah) / Zip it off." Such subtle suggestiveness.



The Swinger had a non-focusable 100mm lens, fixed 1/200th second shutter, and built-in flash; and used roll film developed outside the camera in about 15 seconds. An exposure meter set in a window below the viewfinder displayed "YES" when the correct aperture, altered by squeezing and turning the red knob, was set. The featured Model 15, 40 pence from a Mold charity shop, was known in the States as the Swinger II and elsewhere as the Swinger Sentinel. It was a still cheaper version, without the integral flash, but is otherwise similarly specified.

BBC2 - And The New

Bishop Burton College has made happen a £25m development of its campus. Harmonised with the attractive older buildings (YMGW passim) are new resource centres and learning facilities (above), student accommodation, sports facilities, horticulture suite, and a full-size equine indoor arena. This last is complete with spa (below), water treadmill, and solarium - all for horses. A number of older buildings are also currently being replaced.

Conisbrough

The original castle at Conisbrough was built around 1070 by the first Earl Warenne, son-in-law of William the Conqueror. The fifth earl was Hamelin Plantagenet, bastard half-brother to Henry II. The stone castle was built during his earldom, between 1163 and 1202. The cylindrical keep, unique to Conisbrough, was erected circa 1180. Only that at Mortemer, near Dieppe, is similar, and this too is thought to be the work of Hamelin.

Conisbrough was later held by Edward II, was returned to the de Warennes in 1326, but reverted again to the Crown under Edward III. By the time the castle was settled to the Crown in perpetuity, in 1495, it was already over 300 years old, and showing its age. When Henry VIII had it surveyed in 1537 the gates, bridge and one floor of the keep were found ruined. Ironically, because it was no longer secure it avoided Civil War bombardment and slieghting.

The castle, which features in Scott's Ivanhoe, is now in the care of English Heritage. It's very worthy of a visit, but telephone first, as EH appear unable to ensure it's open on all the dates stated their handbook. The town of Conisbrough itself though could be closed entirely and one not notice. On the road to/from the motorway however is a rather nice water tower, built 1951.

BBC1 - The Old

Bishop Burton College, the UK's only Centre of Vocational Excellence in Agriculture, and lead college in a CoVE in Equine, has its origins in the 1950s, when the Bishop Burton Farm Institute was formed to meet the needs of the local farming industry. The fine and extensive grounds include a walled garden of one-and-a-half acres, once part of the estate of the eighteenth-century Bishop Burton High Hall, long gone.

The conservatories are magnificent, as is the Victorian propagation house (above). The erstwhile stables have been converted into a higher education institute (top). The sympathetically-updated and well-maintained older facilities are complemented by a suite of new builds, in an emergent house style - to be featured as BBC2 in the near future.

Howden Minster

Howden is an interesting market town, renowned for its Georgian horse fair; once home to the north-west contingent of the Admiralty's airships; and, oddly, the headquarters of the Press Association. Between the wars and during WWII Nevil Shute, aeronautical engineer (he worked on the R100 airship), pilot, novelist (A Town Like Alice), and racing driver, lived here.

There are numerous fine Georgian and Victorian buildings. Looking kindly over these is Howden Minster. William the Conqueror gave Howden and its church to the Bishop of Durham in 1080. Rebuilding of the Norman church in Early English style commenced in 1228, and it became collegiate (a minster) in 1267. The rebuild was completed in the Decorated style circa 1340, although an octagonal chapter house was added about fifty years later.

In 1548 came the Dissolution of collegiate churches and chantries. The chancel was abandoned for lack of funds, and the roof of this collapsed in 1696. The roof of the chapter house went the same way in 1750. The ruins, abutting the operational minster, are now in the care of English Heritage. Nearby are the remains of the Bishop's Manor, Howden being a stop on the way from Durham to London.

Derelict Brighouse

Just off the M62, and on the River Calder, is Brighouse - the "h" is silent. The town has clearly seen better days. Curiously, the public mortuary (closed and derelict) is neighbour to the public baths and swimming pool (closed and derelict). Some of the old mills alongside the Calder and Hebble Navigation, which runs through the town, have been converted into apartments, but these look out on wasteland and more dereliction.

Hack Green, Nuclear War Bunker

Hack Green started life in 1941 as a fixed radar station. It was one of only a dozen provided with both searchlights and the communications facilities to control fighter aircraft. After WWII, radar technology needed to be updated to cope with jet aircraft, and to be protected against nuclear strikes. Accordingly, Hack Green was refitted as a Rotor radar station. Fully staffed, the site was home to over 260 personnel.



In 1958 the site was one of four that provided joint civil and military air traffic control. As an RAF station, Hack Green closed in 1966, yet a decade later the Home Office acquired the site from the MoD, for conversion into one of the regional seats of government proposed to operate in the event of nuclear war.



A massive bunker was constructed, partly underground, to provide for self-contained power generation and air filtration; decontamination facilities; and communication, control and broadcasting functionality. Were the Emergency Powers Act to be invoked, the 135 civil servants and military staff bunkered in the RGHQ at Hack Green would have sought to govern the area from Cheshire to Cumbria, or at least what was left of this.



Hack Green RGHQ operated from 1984. Like its counterparts in other parts of the UK, it was sold in the early 1990s. It is now home to a splendid collection of radar, civil defence, and cold war exhibits, drawn together by Rodney Siebert, the site's curator. Some of the communications equipment, all valves and flashing lights, came from Criggion (YMGW passim).

Crunk Cruckton

Crunk: slang for exciting. After explaining where it is, the Wikipedia entry for Cruckton gives as the first of its three descriptive lines: "The village has a crescent of council houses." Wild. It does though have a wonderfully derelict pub, the erstwhile Hare and Hounds.