On Friday, when I saw this clock. It's complete, by the way.

In search of the UK's oldest pint of ale? If not, it may have been an opportunity missed ...

I have tuns of opportunites to taste a pint or three - many of the girl Siduri's family are buried there.

Three tuns to be exact ... enough to immerse yourself in beer or in saloop, or should that be in Salop.

T'would fortify a bishop, that stuff!

"malt does more than Milton can
to justify god's ways to man.
Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink."
(to quote a Worcestershire lad).

There are lots of nice places in Shropshire though without a car some of them can be difficult to get to by public transport (there was a branch line from Stafford to, I think, Shrewsbury many, many years ago but Dr Beeching axed it).  There are buses from Stafford to Telford but they're not that frequent.  I think I might have a notion where this is - they say and Englishman's (should that be person's nowadays) home is his castle so I guess one can drink one's ale at the castle.

Gil, I think we worked out where this was but you never did give us the definitive answer.

It's in Bishop's Castle, Shropshire.

May have another one for you all at the weekend - we are off somewhere in Houseman's native county to celebrate my mother's 90th birthday.

Green George wrote:

It's in Bishop's Castle, Shropshire.

May have another one for you all at the weekend - we are off somewhere in Houseman's native county to celebrate my mother's 90th birth

What is unusual about this one?

I got Bishop's Castle by following the clues like nordmann's about fortifying a bishop.  No idea about what is strange about the pub (yet at least). There used to be Banks's and also Bass breweries in Wolverhampton if memory serves me correctly but the Bass one burned down circa 1997.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I got Bishop's Castle by following the clues like nordmann's about fortifying a bishop.  No idea about what is strange about the pub (yet at least). There used to be Banks's and also Bass breweries in Wolverhampton if memory serves me correctly but the Bass one burned down circa 1997.

Lady, found it...

Was first looking to the style of building then to the name, but thought first that it was "the milk house" then with 400% and the magnifying glass and the comparison with the letters of the U of house I came to "mug" but then a "mug" is in my continental view not exactly a "pot of beer" (een bierpot) (yes and why do Belgian people Always thnink about jars of beer?).
But then I came immediately with the mighty google with ""the mug house" banks's to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mug_House
And
"The Mug House has featured in the local news several times over the last few years due to stories that the pub is in some way haunted.^{[citation needed]} The past few landlords have all claimed that there are regularly strange occurrences at the pub such as glasses smashing or dull knocking noises coming from the beer cellar at night. This has only increased the popularity of the pub"




And it can be a clever merchandising stunt or English people believe in haunted houses...after all you see a graveyard on the foreground ...but I read also about "Poltergeists" and I thought, because of the German name, that it was typical German but according to wiki: international:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist
but also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenheim_Poltergeist


Kind regards from Paul.

The graveyard is crucial to its unique (or so it is locally, erroneously, proclaimed) status. There is one other like it.
You could, plausibly, claim this should be called the "Drabat", I suppose.
And what was the natal county of A E Houseman? (beware - it isn't what most suppose).

Green George wrote:

The graveyard is crucial to its unique (or so it is locally, erroneously, proclaimed) status. There is one other like it.
You could, plausibly, claim this should be called the "Drabat", I suppose.
And what was the natal county of A E Houseman? (beware - it isn't what most suppose).

GG,

A.E. Housman (huisman) it had to be:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire


But that other like it and to be called the "Drabat"...for God's sake...
Even the mighty google find nothing or it is a fashion branch...


PS: I asked fro your expertise Gil:
https://reshistorica.forumotion.com/t635-cathedrals-and-lesser-places

Subject: Re: Cathedrals and lesser places   Sun 3 Feb 2019 - 23:47 Vizzer, for me the link still works, but it is a Russian one, perhaps the UK is more strict for Russian links ? It gives some 100 mp3 or something like that from a lot of "Te Deum"s, also the Charpentier one. "so it’s not clear whether you’re querying the relationship of the Eurovision Anthem to the history of the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio or whether you’re questioning if the anthem of the European Broadcasting Union is indeed taken from the Prelude of Charpentier’s Te Deum in D Major" Of course the Prelude of Charpentier's Te Deum is the Eurovision Anthem My question was if the Gregorian music was the same of the Te Deum of Charpentier. And after a painstaking research I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Deum Tonus Solemnis - Gregorian Chant Menu 0:00 Te Deum Charpentier Menu 0:00 It don't work but in the link you can let play them together and then I think you can hear that it is the same music. Hmm with a different sound? We definitely need here the expert Gil (Green George) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqwV9l-U8ds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r88_lyCwoM8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD6trAPFM6M

Kind regards from Paul.

Paul :
You could regard "drabaT" as being "recte et retro" part of a canon, I suppose, though the Chaucerian link is unlikely to be familiar.

I'm still looking into the Charpentier link - but reusing existing tunes in new settings for mass or te deum isn't unusual - there are numerous masses "L'homme arme", for one.

Hint.
Is the pub simply being viewed from the churchyard, or is the connection a little more than that?

Gil, I had a look on the Wikipedia entry about the Mug House which says the pub is in Claines and that it is one of only two pubs in this country to be on consecrated ground and that it is behind the church - so people have to walk round the churchyard to access the church.  Do the local people claim the pub is the ONLY pub in the land to be on consecrated ground?

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Gil, I had a look on the Wikipedia entry about the Mug House which says the pub is in Claines and that it is one of only two pubs in this country to be on consecrated ground and that it is behind the church - so people have to walk round the churchyard to access the church.  Do the local people claim the pub is the ONLY pub in the land to be on consecrated ground?

Lady,

as I did already the search, perhaps in a hurry this:
there seem to be more pubs on consecrated ground:
https://www.contrarylife.com/2013/06/ring-o-bells-a-pub-on-sacred-ground-18791/
http://ukfamilyhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/mug-house-claines-one-of-only-two-pubs.html
https://whatpub.com/pubs/WOO/148/savile-arms-thornhill


And the only comment I can make is that you have pitoresque pubs in Britain...Not the dull cafés from overhere with the billiards in the middle ...

But what Gil means with:
"You could regard "drabaT" as being "recte et retro" part of a canon, I suppose, though the Chaucerian link is unlikely to be familiar."

You as a real English(wo)man, has perhaps a clue about it?

Kind regards from Paul.

OK, Paul. Have a look for "Tabard" and "Harry Bailey". What started there? How could the Mug House (and yes, the locals all claim that it is unique in being actually in the churchyard, not just "on consecrated ground") be the last, not the first stop? Does that connect to King John's flankers?

Gil, I got your clues about Harry Bailey being "mine host" at the Tabard Inn where Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims assembled for their journey - was the Mug House the last stop on a pilgrimage somewhere?  I'll have to have a think about pilgrimages.  The pub is in the wrong part of the country to be the last place John's entourage stopped at before said king lost some of his treasure in The Wash.

Allegedly, John decreed he should be buried between the graves of St Oswald & St Wulfstan. The latter was one of the few pre-Conquest bishops to retain his See under William the Bastard. Indeed, by 1075 he was the only English-born bishop.

Well G, you have kind of spelled it out.  King John was buried at Worcester Cathedral so I'm guessing the good people of Claines say that the Mug House was the last place the funeral cortege (King John's) stopped before John's remains were interred.

Close, but not quite there. How would that relate to the Canterbury Tales link? Wouldn't that be more of a Charing T one?

Gil, I NEVER do the cryptic crosswords, just the straightforward ones.  I'm trying to think if Charing T is anything to do with Charringtons' breweries (do they still exist?).  I'll try and put my thinking cap back on.

I doubt it is the solution to the puzzle, but I did a google search on "Mug House" and there is another  pub called "The Mug House" (or is it a wine bar?) in Tooley Street, Southwark, London which isn't all that far from where the Canterbury pilgrims are supposed to have started their journey in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Gil, I NEVER do the cryptic crosswords, just the straightforward ones.  I'm trying to think if Charing T is anything to do with Charringtons' breweries (do they still exist?).  I'll try and put my thinking cap back on.

Lady,

apart from my Hitler-Stalin pact thread fro Historum I did more the two hours search for Gil's enigmas.
But I have handicaps: although I studied the Eleonore of Aquitaine novel in depth, I thought that King John was burried in London, hece mixing the two and only lately seeing the link of King John with Eleonore...
But opnce I knew on the map where King John , Wulfstan and  Oswald was burried...Liverpool, Worcester and the last before Worcester (I write always Worchester and Google...)...
And then Charing Cross:
Aldous Huxley Brave new world
https://sites.google.com/site/btfzfe/technology-master/chapters-4-6

And I think we mix the second Tabard Inn with the Chaucher tale with the first Mug House?
About part of a canon, the Tabard (achterstevoren as we say (backwards they say in my dictionary)) I found this:
https://goo.gl/K9bP5V
Has Chaucher's The Canon's Yeoman to do with the Tabard Inn and the Innkeeper?
https://goo.gl/eigDKT
Has Chaucher's Pardoner of Rouncival to do with Charing Cross?

And about tabard, tabarde, tabbaard, tabberd...
Our "tabbaard" goes in concept from medieval tabard for rich and for poor to a night tabard for men as a for woman, but I have diffiulties with tabards in comparaison with pyjama's. For me today's pyjamas were the former nightgowns (slaapkleed)  for women and "calleçons" (spelling?) for men...but that will be for tomorrow...

Kind regards from Paul.

Lady,

after all the effort we have done to seek for some explanation I find that Gil (GG) owes us at least "something"! for all that work...

Kind regards to both from Paul.

About "tabards"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabard
The same  as I read about our medieval cities Bruges and Ghent worn by the common people


And I see now that you can move to the other pictures too described in the wiki...


But in the Dutch language "tabbaard" I see it only in its "toga" like definition as for dignitaries. I am not sure if that minimal defintion is the right one in Dutch. Will seek further...
http://anw.inl.nl/article/tabbaard


And the French Larousse see it also in the minimal concept of "tabard" worn above the armory in medieval times
https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/tabard/76287

About the night wear of my mother and father and the salon wear of the well to do citizens of the thirties in Belgium I will have it in another message

Kind regards from Paul.

Yes indeed. The Mug House at Claines stands in the churchyard,and is reputedly the descendant of the last "hospice" on the pilgrimage route to the cathedral at Worcester, which housed the remains of the two saints and was a common destination for pilgrims. The Tabard Inn, in Southwark, whose host, Harry Bailey accompanied Chaucer's pilgrims thus stood at the opposite end of the trail, being a jumping-off point. John was originally buried in the choir, at his request, according to the guide when we went round, he believed their sanctity would rub off and gain him entry to heaven. When his tomb was moved (and a thumb bone, later mounted in a silver ring, was removed - I did toy with introducing a phalanx into the query but resisted) the miniature effigies of St Oswald & St Wulfstan were added to his. A common form of canon was the canon cancrizans, where two voices or instruments parts play the same notes but, in the words of Mr Bartholomew "all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order" in that one is played backwards. More complex canons might use inversions and other manipulations as well - "recte et retro" - right way up but back to front being common.

On the subject of tabards - I don't think I saw one in real life till I was about 20, and one fellow student wore one. Now they are common items of clothing for cleaners hospital auxiliaries, dental nurses etc. I actually possess 3 - hi-vis yellow (worn when on volunteer litter-picking etc), hi-vis orange for wear around the railway and semi hi-vis green (reflective stripes but not fluorescent material) as a first aider.

Gil, I sought it all on the wrong place . Is that Charing T one also wrong, with Huxley? And I have never heard about the Chaucher's pelgrimage trail, but I could have searched for it?
And I come later back on "night gowns" and "caleçons"

Thanks in any case for solving the questions and kind regards from Paul.

No, Paul "Charing T" is indeed the Huxley variant of "Charing Cross", one of the crosses which marked the resting places of Eleanor's funeral procession. As the last one, it is perhaps an appropriate companion to the Mug House.

.... and tomorrow, I shall be in sight of the Three Ladies of the Vale, though I shall actually be at St Chad's church for a relative's funeral. I spent most weekends of my childhood in sight of these three graceful Ladies.

Now this one is REALLY easy.
But - who gave the wood for its restoration, and why could that be seen as the antithesis of this :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwcYPCpIIkY

Gil,

busy with the 40 hours Belgian documentary about the "collaborators" that I mentioned in the Holocaust thread of Priscilla and today for the same thread about Heydrich from a French book and how ordinary men can become monsters...

Made already a start  about your enigma...

Never heard about Phil Harris and I am already glad that i heard that your youtube was American English...
I put first I don't know why Willy Harris in Google
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Harris
https://www.monologues.co.uk/Parodies/Woodman-Parody.htm

Before I start with the "Three Ladies of the Vale" I let first our British  Ladie in retirement have a trial...

Back to the Holocaust, Heydrich and the Belgian collaboartion of WWII...

Kind regards from Paul.

Here's a link to the original version Harris was parodying. https://www.bartleby.com/248/131.html
This used to be played occasionally on Saturday mornings, on "Children's Favourites" on the Light programme, in the days before Saturday morning children's TV featured in the broadcast schedules.

Oh, the three spires of Lichfield Cathedral (the ladies of the vale).  A few years I met up with a lady I knew of through the shorthand society but hadn't actually then met and her friend.  They were going to the Arboretum and then had the chance to go to Lichfield and they suggested we could meet at the cathedral.  I'd been there before but it's (i.e. the cathedral) always worth a visit. Funny thing is I had been waiting and couldn't see them and asked a couple of other ladies "Are you XXXX?"  Those ladies weren't the ones I was supposed to meet.  Those with whom I had the rendez-vous gone to another smaller church (I don't think it was St Chad's, I think it was named for a female saint).  Anyway, they had realised they were at the wrong church and had started walking up the Cathedral Close and I popped my head round the corner and started walking down and they said my name.  Apparently the other ladies (the ones I questioned first) had seen them and said "Are you XXXX?  YYYY (my real name) is round the corner.  Anyway, all was well that ended well.  I'll have to do some sleuthing to find out about the relevance of the Woodsman's song (I suppose a tree or some trees would have had to be felled to provide the wood for the restoration of the cathedral).

This is only tangentially related but looking at Wikipedia I saw that Lichfield had been the birthplace of other (reasonably) well-known people besides Samuel Johnson of dictionary fame.  Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) came from there also.  ED achieved much in his own right - when I first cursorily looked at the Wikipedia entry I thought it looked as if he was a bit of a ladies' man - he had 14 children - but he was married twice and it looked as though there were only two illegitimate children, and I suppose by 18th century standards a family of 14 is not so very large.  I hope I was not being superficial but my first thought was that he was "no oil painting", but then intelligence can be attractive also.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_Darwin

Lady,

"Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) came from there also.  ED achieved much in his own right - when I first cursorily looked at the Wikipedia entry I thought it looked as if he was a bit of a ladies' man - he had 14 children - but he was married twice and it looked as though there were only two illegitimate children, and I suppose by 18th century standards a family of 14 is not so very large.  I hope I was not being superficial but my first thought was that he was "no oil painting", but then intelligence can be attractive also.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_Darwin"


I like your colourful language, but it was only by the further context that I started to guess what a "ladies' man" was  ...
For a Dutch language continental some of your words are as enigmatic as Gil's riddles...
For instance: he was "no oil painting" , but combined with your word "intelligence" I understood it when reading the wiki...I guess...
And even in the wiki I had some trouble with the word "sibling" as the German, from whom I learned a lot of German (each fortnight in our factory) used the German word "sibling" or "sipling"? as member of the family...and now after looking in the dictionary in English it is brother or sister...and after verifying that word don't exist in German...
But our German visitor of every fortnight spoke perhaps a kind of dialect...
While "sippe"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sippe
and "sibling" in English:
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/sibling
The word sibling once meant anyone who is related to you, but now it's reserved for children of the same parent or parents.

PS: I like that man, independent of his physiognomy. He wanted to give a "manly" education to the girls also in science. And thoughts about the evolution...is it a surprise that Charles...

Kind regards from Paul.

Probably your XXXX had gone to St Marys, in the market square, across the road from Johnson's birthplace. Most of it is now a community centre. I always used to take my French students (used to tutor groups of 4 each summer) past that and up Dam Street so that the first view of the cathedral was the East End, rather than the West End with its sculpture gallery of Mercian and English Kings (though since there are no authentic portraits of most, any likeness is purely coincidental.

Hint : What if the tree/man protection were reversed?

Paul : Do you remember my posting re the Herkenrode windows?

One can get creationists thoroughly confused over "Darwin's Theory of Evolution" by citing Erasmus's version (rather different from Charles Darwin's theory of "Natural selection") which he apparently propounded to his fellow members of the Lunarian Society. The famous actor-manager David Garrick was also from the Lichfield area. He was Johnson's pupil, and the pair, unable to pay the stage fare, walked from Lichfield to London.

A bit late in the day to sleuth about the wood for renovating the cathedral tonight.  A link to the Urban Dictionary re: ladies' man [url=https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ladies Man]https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ladies Man[/url] and "no oil painting" from thefreedictionary.com https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/be+no+oil+painting

That's an interesting fact, G, about Garrick and Johnson walking to London.

Lady,

I nearly dare to use the term "lady" anymore after all what I read, both in positive and negative sense..perhaps better to use LiR in the future...and my term was always used in the positive sense...as I think, as you know me, you expect from me...
"No oil painting"...I see I was right in my deduction from the context...
Thank you in any case for the effort of the research and the posting LiR.

Kind regards from Paul.

Green George wrote:

Probably your XXXX had gone to St Marys, in the market square, across the road from Johnson's birthplace. Most of it is now a community centre. I always used to take my French students (used to tutor groups of 4 each summer) past that and up Dam Street so that the first view of the cathedral was the East End, rather than the West End with its sculpture gallery of Mercian and English Kings (though since there are no authentic portraits of most, any likeness is purely coincidental.

Hint : What if the tree/man protection were reversed?

Paul : Do you remember my posting re the Herkenrode windows?

Gil, I was first confused with the "wood". Wood of the spires? But then you said: "What if the tree/man protection were reversed?"
Did you know that there was a Bishop Wood of Lichfield?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wood_(bishop_of_Lichfield_and_Coventry)


But then by your: "What if the tree/man protection were reversed?" I remembered the antithesis that you mentioned in the first message...
And even more I think you provided the key with the Herkenrode windows
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdij_van_Herkenrode
"Enkele restanten van de glasramen die in Herkenrode bleven na de verkoop van de glasramen aan de anglicaanse kathedraal van Lichfield stellen wapenschilden voor en bevinden zich in het stadsmuseum in Hasselt."
Some restants of the purchase of the glasswindows to the Cathedral of Lichfield remain in the museum of Hasselt
Some entries say that the abbey of Herkenrode lays in Flemish region, but in the time the abbey of nuns was  part of the Prince Bishopry of Liège. All to say that the Southern Netherlands (the later Belgium) existed before the Flemish region...
And then in an entry of the Birmingham Post: Shedding some light on stained glass I read for the first time the story of Sir Brooke Bootby.
I don't know what happens, but I could put the article in my favourites but I can't enter it anymore and even difficulties to enter it again in google...anywhy, once I had the name...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Brooke_Boothby,_6th_Baronet
The man who was ruined by his gifts of the stained windows (and the wood?) to the Lichfield cathedral and ended poorly in Boulogne France...
An easy one you said Gil, an easy one...
But if you see the cathedral of your childhood...
http://bitaboutbritain.com/ladies-of-the-vale/



Even in Bruges, we have no more and as I read in the entry we have not that many cafés and all along the roads to it...

I hope at least I found the answer to your easy riddle, Gil?

Kind regards from Paul.

Sorry, Paul - the Herkenrode bit was an aside, not a clue.

What did the singer intend to do to get the money to bribe the woodsman?
What did he do to escape his wife's wrath?
Who else did that a few miles from Lichfield?

Aside - in your picture you can make out the "slewing" of the chancel of the cathedral - that allows the structure to follow the spine of the hill.

Gil, the whole evening...
Now this one is REALLY easy.
But - who gave the wood for its restoration, and why could that be seen as the antithesis of this :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwcYPCpIIkY
https://www.monologues.co.uk/Parodies/Woodman-Parody.htm
What if the tree/man protection were reversed
What did the singer intend to do to get the money to bribe the woodsman?
What did he do to escape his wife's wrath?
Who else did that a few miles from Lichfield?


I analysed even the song and had trouble with the word "roost" sit as a bird on a perch?
Anyway with all my combinations not getting any clue

Kind regards from Paul.

The picture of the donor is actually in the link you posted!
http://bitaboutbritain.com/ladies-of-the-vale/

Hint : A battleship sunk at anchor in an RN fleet base in 1939, known in the service as the "Tiddley Quid". Why were the two parts of her name put together?

To roost - to sit like a bird on a perch, yes, but what would you need to do to get to thst perch?

Gil, I think I am a hopeless case ('n hopeloos geval)

What I learned! today
[url=http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-01BB-Royal Soveriegn.htm]http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-01BB-Royal%20Soveriegn.htm[/url]

"tiddly" from Priscilla
https://reshistorica.forumotion.com/t333-things-we-don-t-really-need-to-know
"fancy"
And I learned that Vizzer was a blood donor with AB a bit allover the world.
And from google "quid" a British pound a "sovereign"
"a fancy sovereign" Charles II?

And the only donor I found in the mentioned article was "John Hackett"
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/STS/Lichfield/Cathedral/Pitt1817
"
As this was the first Cathedral that was seized by the republicans, from the circumstance of its being situated in a fortified place, it was damaged more than any other, by the cannon of the besiegers and the fanaticism of the soldiers. According to the most moderate computation, the damage done to the Cathedral alone was estimated at £14,000. It continued in a ruinous and neglected state till the Restoration, when Bishop Hackett was appointed to this See. This magnanimous and pious prelate came to Lichfield in the beginning of the year 1662, and found his Cathedral in an indescribable state of ruin; 2000 cannon-shot and 1500 hand-grenadoes having been discharged against it. He resolved to restore this venerable edifice to its former magnificence; and the very morning after his arrival he roused his servants by break of day, and set his own coach- horses with teams, and hired labourers, to remove the rubbish. By his own contributions, the benefactions of the Dean and Chapter, and the money which he collected by a personal application to every gentleman in the diocese, this excellent and public-spirited man in eight years completely restored the magnificence of the Cathedral to the admiration of the country.
When the Cathedral was finished, the Bishop consecrated it with great pomp and solemnity, and composed a service for the occasion. The following account of this memorable ceremony is truly interesting:
His Lordship being arrayed in his episcopal vestments, attended by the Dean, Dignitaries, Prebendaries, and other members of the church, accompanied by many of the nobility and gentry, the bailiffs, citizens, and civil officers of the city and county of Lichfield, with an immense concourse of people, entered at the great west doors of the Cathedral. The Vicars, Choristers, etc. first walked up the south aisle of the church, when the Bishop, with a loud voice, repeated the first verse of the 144th psalm. Afterward, the whole choir alternately sang the psalm to the organ. In the same order they proceeded to the north aisle. The Bishop sang the first verse of the 100th psalm, which was repeated by the whole company. Then the train passed to the body of the church, where the Bishop began the 102d psalm, which, when the Vicar's choral had concluded, he com- manded the doors of the choir to be opened, and, in the same form, first encompassed the south side. The Bishop began the first verse of the 122d psalm; the company finished it, and, with the like ceremony, proceeded to the north side, and sang the 131st psalm. At the conclusion of the procession, Bishop Hackett went to the faldisdroy, in the centre of the choir, and, after praying privately, he with a loud voice called upon the people to join him in the Lord's Prayer, and other devotions, suitable to the awful occasion. He pronounced a solemn blessing upon the act in which they were engaged, and upon all that were present. Then followed the usual service of Morning prayer, two especial anthems being added, contributions made for the poor, etc The expences of the repairs of the Cathedral amounted to £9092. 1s. 71/2d. of which Bishop Hackett contributed out of his own purse the sum of £1,683. 12s. "

Had a lot of trouble to compose the message. when moving very quickly the windows, the site or my computer going berserk...

Kind regards from Paul.

I'm probably inaccurate in this wild guess but is the bit about the woodsman a play on words "hack it" for "Hackett" - presumably trees would have had to be hacked down or at least pollarded to get the wood for the restoration?

Well, since Paul has actually named him, here you are :-



Looks like he needs a second Restoration to me!

btw - Paul, "Tiddley" is Jackspeak (Naval slang) hence "Tiddley Quid" for Royal Sovereign, her sister ship, Royal Oak, was sunk in Scapa Flow. Army slang is somewhat similar, "Plug Street" for "Ploegsteert", - see https://languagesandthefirstworldwar.wordpress.com/2017/07/07/how-did-gertie-come-to-wear-velvet/

Well Charlie 2 did hide up an oak at Boscobel House (though that was when he was on the run in the Roundhead v Cavaliers war) and he hadn't become king yet.

GG, yes now I understand that it was the fancy sovereign, Charles II, as pragmatic as his grandfather Henry IV in France (Paris vaut bien une messe), who received all the honour and not our John Hackett, who did the work and spent the money.
And on the memory placate, it was Charles II, who
"gave money and timber"
In that I am a bit socialist...it are Always the big shots, who escape with the glory...and the "common" bishop...

"tidly" and "tidley"
Yesterday, in the mighty google, one of the first entries was:
Priscilla's
https://reshistorica.forumotion.com/t333-things-we-don-t-really-need-to-know

And thanks for the link about the WWI army slang
When I was soldier in Bruges, a French speaking one asked me the way to Syselle and I didn't know what he meant, until at the end with a lot of explanations from him I understood that it was the way to "Sijsele" (but how to pronouce that in English?) Saisaile? first "ai" as in Australian, second "ai" as in Oxford English?
And ask MM to pronounce "admirable" in English and in French, although it is the same word and meaning in both languages...

Kind regards from Paul.