Cotswolds – Journeys of Heart and Mind

Helping a charity with lights

Image of the day – 181

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

People love Christmas lights and decorations, and people hate illness particularly if there’s no cure. So can Christmas lights help people with incurable illness? Yes they can! But…how?

Well, one way is to use the Christmas decorations to raise money for charity, and that’s what one street in Cirencester has been doing every year for some time now.

At Vale Road in Stratton on the northern edge of the Cotswold town of Cirencester, residents (and one in particular) put a lot of effort each year into decorating their homes and gardens with all sorts of coloured and illuminated decorations. And they invite the people who come to look to make a contribution to Macmillan Cancer Support. This charity provides care, help, nursing and support for cancer patients and their families right at the time when they need help most. They will help families care for a mum, a dad, or a grandparent at home.

If you live in Cirencester or the local area, why not drive out to Vale Road and park in a nearby street like Vaisey Road, Tinglesfield or Park View? (But please don’t block any driveways or park near junctions.) Then walk the short distance to Vale Road. You can pay for a tour of the best of the lights, delight your children (or grandchildren), and help support a great cause all at the same time. What could be better than that?

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Fallen tree

Season’s Greetings 2025

Crystalline inclusions in Cotswold stone

It seems that quartz geodes are not unusual in Oolitic limestone deposits.

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Image of the day – 171

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

There’s a long stretch of dry stone Cotswold wall along the western edge of the Gloucester Road between Cirencester and Stratton. Walking along the footpath one day I was surprised to see the crystalline inclusions featured in this photo. The crystals look to me like a form of quartz (six-sided columns with six-faced prisms at both ends).

This might be part of a geode fractured open while quarrying the stone. There’s a small chance that the other side of the geode exists elsewhere in the same wall or in some other structure built around the same time. It seems that quartz geodes are not unusual in Oolitic limestone deposits. When they are stained purple purple the crystals are known as amethyst. The formation in the photo shows no hint of colour at all. The deposit must have formed from a particularly pure solution of quartz.

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A canal walk through Chalford

Lichens

A Cotswold scene

A grand old house in Cirencester

Mullings engaged the architect William Jay to design the house, and Watermoor House was accordingly built around 1827 in the Greek Revival style

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Image of the day – 170

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

The land now occupied by Watermoor House and St Michael’s Park may once have been common land. But early large scale Ordnance Survey maps mark a much larger area, including that now occupied by the house and park, as a large nursery. It might have been owned at one time by Richard Gregory who was a Cirencester nurseryman in the 1790s.

The business (and probably the land) passed into the hands of John Jefferies at least by the early 1800s, and it seems that Randolph Mullings, a local solicitor, bought a substantial piece of it in order to build a large house in its own grounds. The details remain unknown, but Gregory, Jefferies and Mullings were known to one another, and Jefferies worked as a manager for Gregory on the nurseries. Gregory lost much of his money by providing surety for a friend’s loan, and Mullings advised Jefferies to continue managing the business and wait to see how things would work out.

Having acquired part of the land, Mullings engaged the architect William Jay to design the building; Watermoor House was constructed to Jay’s plan around 1827 in the Greek Revival style; and the garden and park were added to complete the property. The house is now grade II listed.

At some point Watermoor House became a private school until it closed in the 1950s or 60s. It may have had some other function following this, but today it is a residential care home.

I’ve cobbled this tale together from limited sources that may or may not be reliable. There are also many gaps. It would be good if the story could be properly researched by someone with the time and skills to undertake it.

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Resources for Cirencester history

What do we see here?

The water flows in the town are complex, this section is often known as Gumstool Brook, but it might also be regarded as a diverted part of the Churn.

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Image of the day – 169

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

At the top of the image you can see the rears of buildings on Cecily Hill in Cirencester. Their gardens contain the trunks and foliage of mature trees just beyond the wall. The wall separates those gardens from the water channel and may have been built specifically for that purpose. Some of the tree branches have grown across the top of the wall.

Near the base of the wall is a distinct line, brown below and much paler above. I think the brown part of the wall is often underwater. The water flow is strongly seasonal, high in wintertime and much, much lower in the summer. The River Churn divides at the Gloucester Road bridge, only a kilometre from this point. The major branch follows the outside of the Roman city wall and usually continues to flow all year round. But the branch in the photo is fed from the outflow of the long, narrow, supply pound for Barton Mill and this in turn is fed from the main flow of the River Churn. The water flows in the town are complex, this section is often known as Gumstool Brook, but it might also be regarded as a diverted part of the Churn.

The pipework at the bottom of this wall was there in the 1950s and 60s when I was a child. Most of it was hidden then by a low wall topped with flagstones, but today much of the structure has fallen away exposing the glazed pipes. Out of the photo a little further to the left, the water disappears underground, running south of Coxwell Street and reappearing at the surface further west in the Abbey Grounds.

It’s good to know that the Town Council and the Friends of Gumstool Brook are looking into ways of improving the flow of this watercourse by adjusting the sluice management rules. We might see the water flowing properly all summer in 2026.

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Image of the day – 72

Churn flood plain

Churn flooding

Mist arising

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Image of the day – 141

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

This photo was taken from the Gloucester Road, between Cirencester and the village of Stratton a mile to the north. It was the 15th of January 2025, at nearly five in the evening. The sun had already set so the air was cooling after a mild day with good sunshine and the moist air above the grass in the fields was condensing as mist.

The faded warm colour of the sky, the stark blackness of the skeletal trees, and rising mist make a scene I just had to capture. I had only my phone with me, but for wide-field, distant views that’s good enough. There’s a hint of mystery here too, we can only guess what might be hidden in the most misty areas.

And I couldn’t help thinking about the parallels with people. Before birth we are hidden, like the darkness before the dawn (you need to imagine a country dawn, not a city dawn, no streetlights, no artificial light). After birth we are visible to all and we change, growing in size, growing in knowledge, growing too in wisdom – hopefully. Most of our life is lived in the full light of day. We have a job, we raise a family, we interact with others as friends, or family, or perhaps sometimes even as enemies.

Lives, like days, begin, run their course, and then become evening. In the evening of life, the pace slows, there are memories that may be well-defined, or sometimes, like the mist, our memories hide things from us. The light fades, and when we die we enter darkness like the night.

Or do we? People have discussed what happens after death, every generation that has lived has wondered about this. Some people are certain that the darkness of death is the end of all sensation. And they are right, of course. But might there be other possibilities? Every generation has also held untestable ideas. Is there a God? If so, what is he/she like? Answers to untestable questions are not wrong, they are just not capable of being tested.

It has always seemed quite sensible to me to live my life as if what I do matters during the night of my life as well as during its day. But also, the teaching of Jesus is very logically sound, not testable but also, as far as I can see, internally coherent and free of self contradiction. That quality amazes me, I believe his claims to be true, testable or not. He has convinced me. Maybe he has convinced you too, or maybe not. We have that freedom, and we cannot persuade one another using the scientific approach, good as that is for studying more measurable and therefore testable matters.

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Sheep, a street, and a home

The rest of the week we might have left-over meat from Sunday, often minced and made into cottage pie or shepherd’s pie. And we had non-meat days in the week as well, perhaps macaroni cheese, or kippers. or baked beans on toast, or cod.

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Image of the day – 140

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

As a child I remember that we had a joint of meat on Sunday. And we usually had a fried breakfast on Sunday too, bacon, egg, fried bread, and perhaps a sausage as well. Sunday was a good day, a day to look forward to! The Sunday joint was sometimes mutton, sometimes pork, and just now and again, beef. But hardly ever chicken because chicken was too expensive. I also recall whale meat on at least one occasion. The rest of the week we might have left-over meat from Sunday, often minced and made into cottage pie or shepherd’s pie. And we had non-meat days in the week as well, perhaps macaroni cheese, or kippers. or baked beans on toast, or cod.

Today’s photo is from a house entrance in Cirencester’s Sheep Street. The house is not really a cottage at all. Hand sawn stone (known as ashlar) was an expensive material, so a genuine cottage would have probably have been built of undressed Cotswold stone straight from the quarry. Mutton (sometimes on a Sunday) is the meat of a mature sheep, tougher than lamb and needing more cooking time.

Why these references to sheep?

That’s easy to answer if you know something about the history of the Cotswolds! The land in this region is very good for farming sheep and in Medieval times wool was much in demand throughout Europe. Woollen cloth was still a major industry in early Victorian times, and the wealth created from the sale of unprocessed wool and woollen fabrics paid for many fine churches and merchant’s houses in towns across the region. Cirencester was no different, the famous Parish Church of St John the Baptist was built on wool money, and the many merchants’ houses in the centre of the town were funded in the same way. One of them, in Coxwell Street, still has its counting house attached.

That explains the references to sheep. You’ll find others, there’s the ‘Wool Market’, the ‘Fleece Hotel and Restaurant’, and Shepherd’s Way to name just three.

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Fine weather if you have fine kit!

We had the right gear for staying dry in rain, mud and heavily dripping vegetation, so we were warm and comfortable amid the fragrance of wet grass and decaying leaves.

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Image 121 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

There is a saying amongst the walking fraternity, that ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad kit’. Here are two of my friends, the three of us were out for a lovely walk in wet weather in the Cotswolds. We had the right gear for staying dry in rain, mud and heavily dripping vegetation, so we were warm and comfortable amid the fragrance of wet grass and decaying leaves.

Perhaps this not not everyone’s favourite activity, but we loved it! Damp October days like this one are good for spotting early autumn colour on the trees as well as mushrooms and toadstools amongst the fallen leaves and blades of grass. There is so much to see everywhere you look.

When: 19th October 2023
Where: Near Edgeworth, Cotswolds

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A Cotswold scene

Travelling north and west from Cirencester takes you through steadily rising hills peaking at 330 metres or so, and dissected by water-cut valleys until you reach the Cotswold scarp.

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Image 116 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

This farmland just on the edge of Cirencester is a classic Cotswold scene. There is higher land in the background with scattered trees, and in the foreground you can see rich pasture good for cattle or horses.

The flat, pasture land is part of the River Churn flood plain, while the low hills beyond are outcrops of oolitic limestone, the rock that forms the backbone of the Cotswold hills. Travelling north and west from Cirencester takes you through steadily rising hills peaking at 330 metres or so, and dissected by water-cut valleys until you reach the Cotswold scarp that drops back almost to sea-level within a short distance. Beyond that is the wide, flat vale of the River Severn, and beyond that again, Wales with its hills and mountains. In medieval times Cirencester was known in Welsh as Caer Ceri. If the Saxons had not settled quite so far west, Cirencester might have signs saying ‘Croeso y Gaerceri’, and the Severn would have been Hafren.

When: 26th October 2023
Where: Gloucester Road, leaving Cirencester

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Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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Chastleton window

The panes of old glass are held in place with lead, reinforced by a horizontal iron bar for additional strength and rigidity.

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Image 108 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

I wonder what past events might have been witnessed by this lovely, old window at Chastleton House in Oxfordshire? Windows are not made like this any longer, the window frame is stone-built as part of the structure of the house. The panes of old glass are held in place with lead, reinforced by a horizontal iron bar for additional strength and rigidity.

Chastleton is on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds, between Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Norton. It’s famous for its amazing plaster ceilings but it would still be an architectural gem without those. It’s managed by the National Trust these days.

The house was built in the Jacobean period between 1607 and 1612; it was owned by the same family for almost 400 years until the National Trust took over in 1991.

When: 15th December 2023
Where: Chastleton House, Oxfordshire

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Churn flood plain

You can see the Churn’s flood plain very clearly in this image. The treeline on the horizon marks the border of Cirencester Park and is on much higher ground.

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Image 106 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

This is a view of the River Churn overflowing into fields, the village in the background is Stratton, where Donna and I live. As you can see, Stratton is on higher ground and is not at risk of flooding, though some parts of nearby Cirencester are at risk during the winter.

You can see the Churn’s flood plain very clearly in this image. The treeline on the horizon marks the border of Cirencester Park and is on much higher ground, and beyond those trees the beech woodland is criss-crossed with rides at different angles, very different from farmland and home to roe deer and many kinds of wild woodland plants and animals.

When: 23rd December 2023
Where: North of Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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Image of the day – 181

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Image of the day – 171

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Image of the day – 170

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Image of the day – 169

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Image of the day – 141

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Image of the day – 140

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Cirencester

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Cirencester

Themed image collections

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