A tale of two churches

This year Gwyndaf and Janet John took us to The Lee for our Spring Walk.

We met at 10:00 at the Cock and Rabbit Inn by the village green and placed our orders for lunch.

There were about 26 walkers, with the welcome addition of 5 of our newest members joining us.

Gwyndaf explained that the recent history of The Lee has been associated with the Liberty family (of Regent Street fame) and that the original pub had been on the green itself, but was demolished and a new one built across the road, as the original pub had spoilt the view from Liberty’s manor house!

Janet had secured the help of a local guide and old friend – Trish Swain to help us as she was able to grant us access to the old church. Trish breeds hearing dogs, and brought a spaniel called Tammy along with her. We had a whip round for ‘Hearing Dogs for the Blind’ and were able to raise £118 for the cause.

First we visited the new church which was built in Victorian times (1867), to house the growing population of the village. Unusually for a Victorian church, it was built in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ style rather than gothic. The church bell was taken from the old church and is said to date from about 1290.

It was very light and airy inside. We were told that when the first world war was declared the local men were engaged in a cricket match and they all stopped playing and went to sign up. Many of them never returned. In 2014 a service was held to remember their bravery.

Trish then took us on a path leading behind the new church to a much smaller building. This dated back to about 1220, built by the Cistercian  monks at Missenden Abbey  on a site of an older wooden church. One of the first things that we noticed were the old sun dials on the exterior wall. These were Mass Clocks, for telling the time for mass.

Inside there were traces of the medieval wall Doom painting showing the weighing of souls and another depicting St Christopher.

Above the entrance, was the coat of arms of the Plaistowe family, Lords of the Manor from the 17^th century.

The stained glass windows are also of interest. At the very top is one of the original windows dating back to the 13^th century and showing the crucifixion, and the figures of St Mary and St John. Below that, the main window depicts three puritans including John Hampden in the centre and Oliver Cromwell to his left. This window was originally meant to be for the church in Little Hampden,  but was rejected as it contained the figure of Cromwell.

Gwyndaf then led us off on our walk through the countryside around The Lee. Outside the pub stands a curious stone structure which looked a bit like a modern art installation, but in fact is a natural feature called a puddingstone.

We then walked through the woods, which were carpeted with wild garlic and their aroma filled the air. Some of our walkers took the opportunity to gather leaves as they can make a very good pesto. Luckily, it had not been raining recently so the path was not very muddy.

Where there was more light in the woods, there were banks of beautiful bluebells.

Gwyndaf then took us through the village where we saw an old school, now used as private houses. This used to be known as the plaiting school, as the young girls there used to plait straw which was then transported to Luton to be made into straw hats! I’m not sure how much schooling the girls received.

As The Lee is quite high up, there are no streams and the village used to rely on a pond for its water. In 1897, in the year of Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, a well was dug to provide clean water. This was quite a task, as the well is 365 feet deep, 4 foot six inches wide, and the workers had to rely on candles for their light and a blacksmith’s bellows to provide ventilation. It was commissioned by Sir Arthur Liberty and built by Liberty’s craftsmen.

The well has two enormous buckets, which were used to counter-balance each other. The well was still in use until the 1950’s.

From the well we continued through the village, with houses commissioned by Liberty for his workers, both labourers and management.

We went past the new manor house that Liberty had built – and in front of it stood a most incongruous figurehead from an old fashioned sailing ship. It is the figurehead of the ’Lord Howe’, one of the last wooden sailing battleships, purchased as salvage by Liberty for the timbers which were used in the construction of the Liberty store.

We were running late, so we  made a hasty retreat back to the Cock and Rabbit in time for lunch where the food was very good.

Rob Britton stood and proposed a vote of thanks to Gwyndaf, Janet and Trish.

Thanks to all three (and Tammy) for a lovely walk.

On Thursday 29^th April Gwyndaf and Janet John organized a Spring Walk around the woods at Hedgerley.

Due to the fact that we hadn’t been able to meet in person for so long, there was a great deal of interest and 24 people signed up for the walk. The Johns organized us into 4 groups of 6 so that we could be properly socially distanced, and recruited Colin Thomas and David Powell to lead the other two groups.

The plan was to meet at the pond in Hedgerley at 10:30, book our meals at the pub and then set off covering very similar walks but at different times and in different directions. However, when parking the cars, people were so pleased to see each other again, that in true CDWS fashion, they stopped to chat and soon it was 11:00.

Nevertheless, we were able to give our orders at the pub and set off, aided by handouts from Janet showing us the difference between Spanish and English bluebells and pictures of other wild flowers to look for on the walk.

Both Gwyndaf’s and Janet’s groups had the advantage of expert wild flower knowledge, but the two other groups were supplied with pictures of plants to look out for – a bit like the old I-Spy books we had as children. The early purple orchids were not out yet, but the cowslips made a great display in the Glebe Meadow by the church.

Three of the groups went for a slightly longer walk covering the trip to Hedgerley Green as well, but David’s group just covered the woods and then headed straight back for the pub.

The food was good and so was the beer, and the bluebells were almost at their best (a cold dry spring had delayed them a bit).

Thanks to Gwyndaf, Janet, Colin and Di Thomas and David for leading the groups.

There are some more photographs on the 2021 Gallery page.