The memorials of All Saints Oakham

All Saints church in Oakham is not particularly well endowed with memorials to individuals and events, and there are no spectacular carvings. However some of those that do exist enable interesting stories to be told. In this post I present a number of these, with links to more information, and highlight those memorials that require further investigation. The post is very much a work in progress, and I will edit it as more information becomes available.

Note – to read some of the inscriptions below readers may well need to magnify them. Even then, some will take a little patience to read, particularly the brasses where it is difficult to take photographs without reflections obscuring the text.

Vestry

I have discussed the wooden memorial of the Lady Harrington bequest – money for the relief of the poor and a donation of a Parish Library – in two blog posts here and here. The memorial is in the vestry on the south side of the church and is not usually publicly accessible.

Chancel

A transcript of this plaque in the Chancel is given in the post From Oakham to Mandalay and a little more information is given on the career of Henry Jerwood.

Lady Chapel

A transcript of this plaque in the Lady Chapel is given in the post Kinetic Water Power, and information is given there about Richard Tryon and (at some length) the Kinematic Water Power apparatus.

The life and times of long term organist of All Saints church and the founder of the Oakham Choral Society are well described in a blog from the Rutland County Museum.

Pulpit

The pulpit has a dedicatory plaque, very low down near the foot of the steps. It reads as follows
To the Glory of god and in remembrance of Charles Knowlton Morris, who was born in Oakham March 18 1841 and died there April 4 1905. This pulpit was erected by his widow Judith Emily in accordance with his wish expressed during his lifetime.
Charles Morris was a brewer and a coal merchant. A window in the church has a similar dedication from his wife and is described in the following way
Depicting Endurance, Humility, Innocence, Love, Principle, Sympathy, Fortitude, Charity and Justice, as mostly portrayed by scenes from Jesus’ life. The badge of the Vale of Catmose lodge of the Independent Order of Oddfellows is at the bottom.

South Transept

This difficult to read memorial is to Benjamin Adam (1808-1890?), his wife Sara (1816-1895?) and their son Reginald Brookes Adam (1846-1871?). We are told that Benjamin and Sara were worshippers at All Saints for over 50 years, and that Benjamin was Clerk of the Peace for the County (a legal officer) for over 40, and that he also held other important positions.

The Church of England Clergy database reveals that Bartin Burton was born in Oakham and served as Curate in the parish of Rockingham, Rector at Oxendon (both in Peterborough diocese) from 1728 to 1729 and Vicar of Ravenstone in Buckinghamshire (Lincoln diocese) from 1747 to 1764.

North Transept

These four memorials in the north transept are placed one above the other in the order shown to the left. The top one commemorates William Keal, a surgeon (d1824?) and his wife Sara (d1825). The one below it commemorates the lives of Thomas Stimson (1756-1810), his wife (relict) Jane (1760-1835) and their daughter Elizabeth (1788-1832).

The third is in Latin and commemorates John Abraham Wright (d1690) aged 79, vicar for 30 years, during and after the Commonwealth period. In the first instance he served only one year (1644-5) before he was and replaced by the parliamentary favourite Benjamin King. He took up his post again after the Restoration in 1660.

The lower memorial is to three generations of Vicars of the parish – John Williams (d1781), Richard Williams (d1805) and Richard Williams (d1815). More details of their appointments at Oakham and elsewhere can be found in the Church of England Clergy Database.

South Aisle

This Boer War monument is now above the choir vestry in the South aisle and not easily accessible – or indeed to photograph. A full description of the dedication service is given in Rutland County Magazine and Historical Record Volume 2, which includes brief biographises of some of those named.

The monument above was both difficult to photograph (to avoid reflections) and difficult to read. It is shown in two forms – as originally taken, and with an attempt made to remove the effect of perspective. It commemorates the 100th anniversary celebration of the Sunday School movement, which around 1000 people attended, and commemorates its founder, Robert Raikes of Gloucester.

North aisle

These three monuments are placed above each other in the north aisle in the order shown. The top one is too small to read easily from ground level. They all refer to the Freer family from the early 19th century. The bottom memorial is to Thomas Freer, a doctor, who died in 1835, his wife Martha who died in 1827, and his third son, Edward Gardner who fell in action in the Pyrennees in 1813 aged 20. The second memorial commemorates Thomas and Matha’s youngest daughter Ann (d 1844), their fourth son Thomas (d 1834) and buried in Leicester, and their eldest daughter Martha (d 1835). Finally the upper memorial describes in very small text, Lt. Colonel William Garner Freer who died in Corfu in 1836, whilst commanding the 10th Infantry Regiment. His long military career is outlined, including the loss of his right arm at the storming of Badajos. He is buried in Corfu.

The Freer’s are also commemorated in two tiles in the nave aisle – much faded as they are on the main thoroughfare through church. They are dedicated to Ann and John who, as far as I can make out, died in the early 1800s.

West End

More details of the Vicars of Oakham can be found in the church guide. The Church of England Clergy Database also includes records for both vicars and curates of the parish, and of the surrounding chapels from the mid-sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries.

Traws Cymru – a trip around North Wales

Introduction

In mid-May 2025, I made a journey that I have had in mind for a number of years – a circular trip around North Wales mainly by inter-urban bus. I had a number of reasons for wanting to make this trip. Firstly it involves travel through some of the loveliest countryside anywhere in Britain. Secondly, it allowed me to indulge my obsession with looking at heritage railway stations, three of which are shown below – I will leave it to the reader to identify them. And thirdly, and for the purpose of this post most importantly, it allowed me to travel on the Traws Cymru bus network. I have watched this network develop from afar over the years, and have often thought I would like to look at it more closely.

In what follows I firstly describe the route that I took and comment on some general aspects. I then consider the vehicles that I travelled on, and then the infrastructure – bus stops and interchanges. Finally I make a number of comments on the good and bad points of the trip.

The route

The first step of my journey was to travel from my home in Oakham in Rutland to Ruabon on the Welsh border by train. This involved changes ta Birmingham New St and Shrewsbury. There were no problems either on the way there or the way out, with all journeys running close to time. At the start of the journey there was the perennial feeling of relief when it became clear my Cross Country train was really running and had not been cancelled, that turned into a feeling of surprise when it actually arrived at Oakham on time. But, as I say, the journey worked well and I arrived at Ruabon around noon as planned.

Traws Cymru network (from the Traws Cymru web site)

The Traws Cymru inter-urban bus network in North Wales is shown in the figure above. My first bus was not however part of the Trwas Cymru network, but rather the Arriva 5 from Wrexham to Llangollen that I boarded at Ruabon. I took this rather than wait an hour and a half for the first Traws Cymru T3 bus, and it gave me time for a brief look around Llangollen and a look at the railway station. On boarding this bus I asked for a concessionary 1bws ticket (£4.70 for all day travel on buses in North Wales for English bus pass holders – excellent value). The driver looked a bit mystified but eventually gave me the correct ticket. The bus was quite full – over 50% loaded – but fairly comfortable and made up some of the time after a 10 minute late departure from Ruabon. From then on my journeys were all (bar one) on the Traws Cymru network as follows (approximate loading given in brackets).

Llandudno 13.39 to Corwen 14.04 – T3 (60%)
Corwen 14.15 to Betws-y-Coed 15.03 – T10 (5%)
Betws-y-Coed 15.05 to Caernarfon 16.23 – S1 (30 to 50%)
Caernarfon 17.05 to Porthmadog 18.05 – T2 (100%+)

And the following day.

Porthmadog 8.05 to Dolgellau 9.02 – T2 (30%)
Dolgellau 9.03 to Bala 9.33 – T3 (5%)
Bala 11.33 to Ruabon 12.39 – T3 (25%)

All the journeys kept time very well, and none was more than 3 or 4 minutes late at the point where I disembarked. Throughout the trip, the drivers were helpful and friendly, which makes a hige difference to the passenger experience. The journey not on the Traws Cymru network was the Sherpa S1. I chose to change onto this, rather than continue on the T10 to Bangor and catch the T2 to Caernarfon and Porthmadog there, simply because the ride up to Pen-y-Pass at the foot of Snowdon must be one of the most spectacular and exhilarating in the country.

The vehicles

I am by no means a bus expert, but from what I could gather from various websites, I travelled on the following vehicles.

5 – ADL Enviro400 City, operated by Arriva
Traws Cymru T2 and T3 – Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora operated by Lloyds Coaches.
Traws Cymru T10 – ADL Enviro200 MMC operated by K and P coaches.
Sherpa S1 – ADL Enviro400 operated by Gwynfor coaches.

Photographs of all but the first of these are shown below

From my point of view as a passenger, the Traws Cymru and Sherpa vehicles were all basically buses – comfortable enough, with nice seats, but not of express coach standards. All vehicles had working USB charging points (something that many rail franchises don’t seem to be able to provide), and two of the Traws Cymru vehicles had WiFi, although this tended to drop out in the more rural areas. Most had screens that could potentially be passenger information screens, although they were not in use. As someone who isn’t terribly well acquainted with the area, the use of such screens to tell me which stop was coming next would have been really useful, and would have meant that I did not have to rely upon Google maps. In general though, I found the buses a pleasant and efficient way to travel, although I doubt I would have found them terribly comfortable for journeys of much more than an hour.

Bus stops and interchanges

Bus stops and interchanges are an integral part of any public transport journey, but in my experience receive far less attention and allocation of resources than they should. These feelings were reinforced on the journey described in this post

At Ruabon the Traws Cymru stop was just outside the station building. It contained basic information about timetables, but no real time information. The shelter was functional but nothing more. I actually only used this stop on my return journey – the Arriva 5 left from a stop at the end of the Station Drive. Here the same information (about northbound buses to Wrexham only) was being displayed in the shelters on either side of the road, which was confusing to say the least. If one didn’t have a basic grasp of the geography of the area, it would be easy to have got on the wrong bus.

At Llangollen I got off and on the bus at the Bridge Hotel stop. This can be seen to be a roadside stop of the most basic sort. Fortunately it wasn’t raining. There was a timetable displayed, but no real time running information.

Llangollen Bridge Hotel stop (from Google Street View)

Corwen was very different. Here there are proper interchange facilities with good, real time information, a solid shelter and space to wonder in the bus stop area. I think I could make out a toilet block too, but didn’t investigate it. This is a nice facility. It would probably benefit from not being branded as “Corwen Car Park” – although it is indeed in the centre of a car park. It is much better than such a name would suggest. My only worry would be that the shelter would not be large enough for all those changing vehicles on a wet day. But this is how it should be done.

Corwen bus stop, waiting area and information panel

Corwen station on the Llangollen railway

Betws-y-Coed interchange (from Google Street View)

Betws-y-Coed is a strange place. It seems to be drowning in an ever expanding sea of car parks that have obliterated whatever it was that attracted folk there in the first place. The interchange is close to the station, and whilst there is shelter and some timetable information, I found the interchange, with four buses parking in an area that simply wasn’t large enough, very confusing and unsettling. Indeed I boarded the wrong bus at my first attempt. I think that there is scope for producing something like Corwen here, but it will cost I guess. Sadly the adjacent railway line, with its not-quite three hour interval service simply isn’t part of the interchange game here, which is based on a regular two hourly frequency.

Caernarfon bus station is simply a row of three of four bus stop and bays along a narrow street. However there is good passenger information and the provision of shelters is adequate. No problems here from my perspective.

Porthmadog Australia (from Google Street View)

I began my second day at the bus stop outside the Australia in Porthmadog. It is simply a roadside stop. Passenger information and creature comforts are minimal. Porthmadog deserves better.

With my trip almost over, it reached its low point – Eldon Square in Dolgellau. This was perhaps the most chaotic bus interchange I have ever experienced with four buses double parked in wholly inadequate, highly trafficked space. There may have been public information systems, but such was the chaos I couldn’t find anything. The place is simply not fit for purpose. It is clear from a web search that its inadequacy is well appreciated and there have been long term discussions about how to overcome the issues. Maybe something will be sorted out in future, but of all my memories of the trip, Eldon Square is the one that remains with me. I will do my utmost to avoid ever having to use it again.

My final change of buses was at Bala – simply alighting at the stop in the centre and getting on the next bus in two hours time. again, it was a simple roadside bus stop. with only a paper timetable provided, amongst a sea of notices pasted to the stop itself. Very oddly, one of these was advertising a vacancy for a clergyman in East Sussex!

Some closing thoughts

On balance I was quite impressed by the Traws Cymru network. The regularity and timekeeping were impressive (although I suspect the latter might suffer when the traffic is busier in the high season) and the tickets were excellent value. The buses were comfortable, at least for journeys up to an hour or a little longer. It would be good if more use could be made of the on board information screens, particularly for passengers who don’t know the area well. The bus stops and interchanges were not so impressive however, with only just tolerable information provision (and hardly any in real time) and shelter provision in most places. I suspect if the weather had been wet, I would have been less impressed by the experience. The contrast between my experience at the well thought out interchange at Corwen and the chaos of Eldon Square in Dolgellau was quite stark. Something really does need to be done about the latter.

A recent news item indicates that an express North / South Wales coach service is under consideration, over the route of the current T2 to Aberystwyth and the T1 from there to Carmarthen, which would only have a relatively small number of stops in the larger towns. From my perspective this is to be welcomed, but I would urge anyone involved in implementing such a scheme not to forget the passenger infrastructure where the coach calls. If a premium service is to be provided by high quality coaches, then this must be matched by higher quality passenger facilities at its calling points, with good quality shelter and information systems – and ideally toilets and access to refreshments. Good interchange with the rail network should also be provided, with something better than a bus stop in the station carpark, Without such provision I fear any such experiment will fail.

Kinetic Water Power

Recently, whilst waiting for a service to begin at All Saints church in Oakham, I stood in the Lady Chapel idly reading the memorials attached to the wall (as one does). I came across the one above. The inscription reads

To the Glory of GOD and in Memory of
Richard Tryon J.P. of this County.
late Captain Rifle Brigade.
son of Thomas Tryon Esq, of Bulwick Park
Northamptonshire,
Born August 31^st 1837, Died December 12^th 1905.
The Kinetic Water Power was given by his
widow Jane Anna Lucy Tryon.

Ricard Tryon was one of the great and the good of Rutland society in the late 19th century, and even has his own Wikipedia page. There we read the following.

Richard Tryon DL JP (31 August 1837 — 12 December 1905) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. The son of Thomas Tryon and Anne Trollope, he was born in August 1837 at Bulwick Park in the Northamptonshire village of Bulwick. He was commissioned into the British Army as an ensign in the Rifle Brigade in November 1854. Shortly after he was promoted to lieutenant in February 1855. Tryon purchased the rank of captain in July 1858, later retiring from active service nearly a decade later in May 1867. Tryon made a single appearance in first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), captained by W. G. Grace, against Kent at Lord’s in 1871.Batting once in the match, he was dismissed by Bob Lipscomb for 7 runs in the MCC first innings. A resident of The Lodge, Oakham in the County of Rutland, Tryon was nominated to be Sheriff of Rutland in November 1880. He was unsuccessful, with Francis Pierremont Cecil being made Sheriff; however, Cecil went on active naval service and was replaced by Tryon in April 1881. He was made a deputy lieutenant of Rutland in December 1901. He additionally served as a justice of the peace for Rutland. Tryon died at Marylebone in December 1905, following a short illness. He married Jane Anna Lucy Johnson, daughter of General William Augustus Johnson, in 1867. Two sons, Henry and Richard, were killed in the First World War. A brother was the Royal Navy Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon.

So he was an interesting character in his own right. However it was the words The Kinetic Water Power was given by his widow Jane Anna Lucy Tryon that caught my eye. What on earth was this about? Kinetic Water Power are words I would associate more with my first year fluid mechanics lectures to engineering undergraduates than to tthe interior of churches. However, when I did a quick search of the British Newspaper Archive things became a little clearer.

Grantham Journal 23/11/1907 … o. The Parish Church Organ. Through the munificence ot Mrs. Rd. Tryon, the Lodge, Oakham, and the Earl Lonsdale, Kinetic water-power apparatus and pneumatic pedal-action have been added to the organ of All Saints* Church, in addition to which the instrument …

Stamford Mercury 22/11/1907 … just undergone complete renovation, the work being carried out by Messrs. Brindley and Foster, of Sheffield. hydraulic kinetic water-power has also been added. Near the instrument brass plate hears the following inscription : To the glory of God, and in memory …

It seems the words Kinetic Water Power refer to the method for powering the church organ, which at that period was housed at the East end of the Lady Chapel, close to the location of the memorial to Richard Tryon. But what was the memorial referring to? Basically, water power was used to operate the bellows of organs when a mains water supply become available, and date back to the 1870s. This was used to fill two pistons sequentially that drove the rod that pumped the bellows. One such hydraulic engine has recently been restored at Moccas church in Herefordshire – see the photo below, the Facebook page and the church website here. More information on hydraulic engines can also be found here.

The Moccas Water Engine

But there is still something of a puzzle. The Stamford Mercury extract above indicates that the apparatus was installed by Brindley and Foster of Sheffield, who installed the original organ in 1872. However the word Kinetic suggest some sort of association with the Kinetic Organ Blower Company, an offshoot of Cousans of Lincoln (1), However by 1907, this company was busy building Kinetic Blowers – fan blowers operated by electricity. It may be that the Kinetic company also produced hydraulic apparatus, or it may be that there was a somewhat loose usage of the word kinetic on the memorial, particularly as it refers to water power rather than air blowers. But interestingly it would seem that hydraulic engines were old and somewhat out of date technology by 1907.

Elvin L. (1995) Pipes and Actions. Some Organ Builders in the Midlands and beyond, Published by Laurence Elvin, Lincoln.

Stephen Glynne’s church notes – Oakham All Saints

Preamble

The Glynne Baronetcy dates back to 1661, with its main estate at Hawarden in Flintshire. The 8th Baronet, Sir Stephen Glynne (1780 to 1815) married Mary Griffin, daughter of Lord Braybrooke. After his early death, he was succeeded by his son Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, the 9th Baronet (1807-1874). I first came across him as the owner of the Oak Farm Iron Works in the Black Country, which was the subject of a spectacular financial crash. Glyne was saved from financial ruin by the efforts of his brother-in-law, the future Prime Minister William Gladstone, at very considerable expense to the latter.

Sir Stephen Glynne

More widely, Stephen Glynne is best known as a church antiquarian. Over the course of his adult lifetime he visited over 5000 churches in England and Wales, making notes, and in some cases sketches of their architecture, plans and furnishings. These notes can be found in 106 volumes now housed in the Gladstone Library at Hawarden. A small minority of these have been transcribed and published, but unfortunately this does not include the volumes containing the Rutland churches. This blog post goes some way towards remedying this, by presenting a transcription of the entry for All Saints Oakham. It is intended as the first fruits of a project to do the same for all the churches in the Oakham Team Ministry that were visited by Glynne. However, this may simply result in the creation of paving slabs for the road to hell.

Stephen Glynne’s description of All Saints Oakham

The text of Glynne’s entry for All Saints Oakham is given below, from Volume 33 of his Church Notes, one of three covering Leicestershire and Rutland. It is not dated, but other entries in the same volume indicate the year 1849, and it is likely this applies to the Oakham entry too. Certainly it was written before the restoration of 1858 – see earlier blogs here, here, here and here that deal with that. As written, it was all in one long paragraph, with somewhat dubious punctuation – almost a stream of consciousness approach. I have divided it up into sections with my own headings, and added consistent punctuation, which hopefully makes it a little easier to understand. The letters in brackets refer to the captions on the photographs, which illustrate the text. Numbers in brackets refer to the explanatory notes given at the end of the transcript.

The transcript

General
This is a very large and fine church with large portions of Curvilinear work (1) and some of the later style. It consists of a large and lofty Nave with wide aisles, Clerestory, North and South Transepts, each with one aisle, and a chancel with side aisles.

The tower and the spire

The tower and spire
The steeple is at the west end of the nave. Included within the aisles, it is a remarkably fine composition consisting of a tower with pinnacles at the angles, surmounted by a beautiful spire connecting to the pinnacles by flying buttresses, the work of the Curvilinear period. On the west side of the tower is the door (A) and over it a two light windows included within one pointed arch (B). In the next stage are three small trefoiled niches on the west side (C) (2). The belfry storey has, on each side, two long windows each of two lights divided by a transom and having deep architrave moulding and shafts (D). Just above the nave a rich band filled with heads and foliage (E) (3). The parapet of the tower is pierced at rectangular intervals with small ogee openings (F). At each angle is a small octagonal turret covered by a large pinnacle from there being flying buttresses to the spire (G) (4), which is well proportioned and has several lights of small canopied windows (H).

The body of the church
The whole of the body of the Chancel is embattled (I), there being beneath the parapet at some positions a cornice of heads etc (J) (5). The apex of the gable of Chancel, Transepts and Clerestory is in each crowned with an ogee canopy (K) (6). That of the Clerestory has a fine ornamental cross (L). The Transept ends are enriched with large crocketed pinnacles (M). The northern one is plainer externally than the corresponding one and has much blank wall. The windows of the Nave, Clerestory and Transepts are all Rectilinear (N) (1) but the walls are earlier. Some of the buttresses on the south have crocketed triangular canopies (O).

Transept, Nave and Clerestory

The South Porch
The South Porch has an embattled gable (P) with pinnacles (Q) and cornices of heads (R) (7). The doorway is large and has deep mouldings and shafts of early English character having the nail head in the capital (S). Within the porch are niches on each side.

South Porch

Nave and aisles
The tower opens to the Nave and each aisle has a pointed arch springing from chamfered shafts (S), but much concealed by clumsy boarded partitions and lumber (8). Some of the windows are of three, others of four lights. The Nave and aisles are of considerable width and the divisions are formed by a double row of lofty pointed arches, four on each side (T). The pillars consists of four clustered shafts in lozenge form with the capitals sculptured with heads (U) (9).

The nave and ailses looking towards west end

Transepts
The Transepts are each divided into two aisles by two pointed arches with octagonal pillars (V). The ends of the transept have each two windows under one gable. In the South Transept is the niche with a contracted arch and shafts of early English character, with the piscina (W). On the east side of the same Transept, between the arch opening to the South Aisle and chancel is a window in an arch in the wall of early English work with toothed ornaments in the mouldings (X) (10). In the north transept is a Rectilinear corniced niche in the east wall (Y) and beneath it a trefoiled niche with drain of Curvilinear work (Z).

The South (left) and North (right) transepts

Chancel and chapels
The Chancel with its Aisles has a great portion of Rectilinear work (11). The three east windows are large fine ones of four or five lights but only one retains its tracery. The side windows are of three lights. There are three pointed arches on each side of the Chancel (AA). Those in the south are rectilinear, the piers having fine mouldings carried down the ?? with shafts attached. On the sides on the north the piers resemble those of the nave but have the Tudor flower in the capitals (AB). The north aisle (12) has had a good panelled wood ceiling but now somewhat mutilated. On the north side (13) of the chancel is a rectilinear vestry which has no battlement but the gable is finished by a rich canopied niche and cross. The windows east of the chancel and south arch are under one gable and between their heads is a quatrefoiled circle. There is a niche and stoop near the South door of the chancel externally.

The chancel

The font
The font is Norman of circular form with intersecting arches and shafts (14). The base is square but with corners chamfered off, and moulded with small trefoil arches. There are traces of some fine ??.

Closing remarks
Altogether the interior is not so well kept as it deserves to be. The pews and galleries are shabby and the whole dirty and untidy but the exterior is in good preservation and the stone of excellent quality (15).

Notes

1. The architectural periods referred to in the transcript are Early English (1190 to 1250); Curvilinear (or Decorated (1250 to 1350) and Rectilinear or Perpendicular (1330 to 1530).
2. No mention is made of the statues now in these niches, so it is most likely these were added during the 1858 restoration.
3. This band is above the belfry rather than the nave, so Glynne probably made a mistake here. It is possible however that the carvings were moved during the restoration, but the order of the text suggest that the first explanation is most likely.
4. These might be better described a low flying buttresses – it is difficult to observe them from ground level.
5. The heads cannot be seen on the large scale photograph. However there are some wonderful close up pictures of them on the Great English Churches website.
6. Shown here on the South Transept gable.
7. Again, detailed pictures can be found on the Great English Churches website.
8. This is very much inline with the description given by Gilbert Scott in his survey before the 1858 restoration. However his language was somewhat more robust. The aisles referred to are behind the west wall of the nave in the photo.
9. The capitals are perhaps the most significant heritage aspect of All Saints. I have discussed them at length here.
10. The wording is unclear here, but probably refers to the blind window which now houses the ten commandments.
11. The Chancel and side chapels were the most altered part of the church in the 1858 restoration, and much of what is described by Glynne no longer exists.
12. The current Holy Trinity Chapel. The southern aisle (the current Lady Chapel) is not mentioned.
13. This is a mistake – the vestry is on the south side.
14. The order of text here suggest the font was in the chancel area. However, it now stands close to the west door. Whether that has always been the case, or whether it was moved during the restoration to a more ecclesiastically acceptable position is not clear. I am inclined to think it was moved, as it would have been very awkwardly placed under the gallery if it were at the west end before the restoration.
15. Again, this finds and echo in the condition report of Gilbert Scott before the restoration.

From Oakham to Mandalay

All Saints Church in Oakham is a long term supporter of the Church Mission Society (CMS). It has recently been allocated two new mission partners, both working in Myanmar (formerly Burma). CMS have requested that the church does not publicise these links, as the partners work in a dangerous and sensitive situation. Nonetheless we pray for them and support them as best we can.

Very recently, after a service of Morning Prayer in which the mission partners were remembered, I happened to look at a plaque on the wall of the chancel just behind the pulpit, over one of the clergy stalls. The plaque’s location, and the plaque itself are shown in the photographs below.

The typography of the plaque makes it quite difficult to read, which is presumably the reason I have never done so in the past, despite the fact that I have sat in front of it on numerous occassions. But on reading it, I noted that the church in 1906 already had a link with Burma. The plaque reads as follows.

To the glory of God and in memory of Henry Arthur Jerwood, scholar and prefect of Oakham School; a faithful and beloved curate of this parish and a zealous missionary. The lamps in the chancel and sanctuary are erected by his schoolfellows, friends and parishioners. He died serving in obedience to his Master’s call at Mandalay on March 26th 1906.

Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar, 600km north of the capital Yangon (formerly Rangoon) and is the centre of a largely Buddhist area. Our current mission partners are thus not the first links that the church has had in that area.

Henry Arthur Jerwood

Can we say any more about Henry Jerwood? His basic biographical details can easily be traced on Ancestry. He was born in 1878, the eldest child of Rev. Thomas Frederick Jerwood (1846-1926), Rector of Little Bowden and Dorothea Elizabeth Longsdon (1853-1942) who were married in Yorkshire in 1877. The couple had a number of other children, amongst them Helen Dorothea Jerwood (1880-1965), who will be mentioned below, Rev. Frederick Harold Jerwood (1885-1971) who was to become Chaplain at Oakham School, amd Major Hugh John Jerwood MC (1890-1918) who was killed in action. The latter had a son, born in 1918 after his death – John Michael Jerwood (1918-1991), a businessman and philanthropist, who was to become a significant benefactor of Oakham School, and a number of the school facilities bear his name.

Henry Arthur attended Oakham School, as his father had done before him, and his brothers were later to follow him there. He matriculated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1897, taking his BA in 1902 and his MA in 1905. He took some time out just before he graduated to fight in the South African (i.e. Boer) War from 1900 to 1902 with the Suffolk Regiment.

Clergyman and Missionary

After graduation, Henry Jerwood attended the Clergy Training School in Cambridge (the early name of Wescott House) and was ordained deacon in 1902 and took up the curacy at All Saints church in Oakham, a town with which he would have been very familar from his schooldays. The chronology of his training and ordination as deacon and priest is not wholly clear from the sources. In 1905 he applied to become a missionary to Burma. We can trace his short career there through the pages of the Quarterly Paper of the Rangoon Diocesan Association (RQP), a nationwide organisation that supported the work of missionaries in Burma, and was affiliated to the Society for the Promulgation of the Gospel (SPG). These are all available as pdfs in the SOAS missionary archive. As an aside, those who, like myself, dabble in historical matters, are hugely indebted to the patience and the perseverance of the archivisits who made such material available. In RQP 34, June 1905 we read the following under the heading Reinforcements, which says something of the military mindset of the organisation.

…….The Rev. Henry Arthur Jerwood, B.A., of Sidney Sussex ‘College, Cambridge, and the Clergy Training School, was ordained in 1902, to the Curacy at All Saints, Oakham, in the Diocese of Peterborough……

The Rev. A. Jerwood, at present an assistant Curate at Oakham, will join Mr. Fyffe at Mandalay~ a man stout and , vigorous in body and stout of heart, who went to South Africa when the war broke out, and did his part there man fully, and will carry to his work in Burma the same vigour he gave to South Africa and Oakham.

In the next edition (RQP 35, September 1905) we read that, as a consequence of Jerwood’s departure, Rev H J C Knight, the Commissary of the Rangoon Diocesan Association (who recruited for the Association and was living in Jesus Lane in Cambridge), preached at All Saints on Sunday July 30th. The collection of £3 4s was given to the R.D.A.

Then in RQP 36 from December 1905 Jerwood’s arrival in Burma is noted, under the heading News from the Front, again another military metaphor.

The newcomers have arrived, and are settling down to work, the Rev. H. A. Jerwood and Mr. Hart with Mr. Fyffe at Mandalay, the Rev. R. J. Stone at Bishop’s Court as Chaplain, the Rev. R. G. Fairhurst at S. Luke’s, Toungoo, and the Rev. W. H. C. Pope at Rangoon .

We also have the following description of the work in Mandalay,

The Buddhist Field – The Winchester Brotherhood has been founded at Mandalay, on the general lines of the Indian Community Missions, for systematic study of Buddhism and work in the field. The Head, Rev. R. S. Fyffe, has at present only one Brother (Rev. H. A. Jerwood). These two men are the only English Clergy for Missionary work in the chief town of Upper Burma, a city of 180,000 souls. They need at once two men of (if possible) a studious type, of patience, hope, and brotherliness. There is work to do while learning Burmese. The Brothers have passage and outfit paid, maintenance, lodging together, and £40 a year.

The mention of Jerwood in RQP 37 for March 1906 is very brief and simply says that he had taken over the role of Principal at the School run by the Winchester Brotherhood from Mr. Hart, who arrived in Burma at the same time as he did. Jerwood died on March 28th 1906. We read his obituary in RGA 38 June 2006, written by the Commissary Rev H. J. C. Knight.

Though most of our readers will have read the Bishop’s notice of Mr. Jerwood in the Mission Field for June, our R. Q. P. ought to have some notice of him. He was born on February 25th, 1878, the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Frederick Jerwood, Rector of Little Bowden. He must have owed much to his home. On hearing from Bishop Montgomery that he had fallen asleep, his father was able to write “we hope to send another son.” and assuredly in homes that can speak thus:

“The father’s passion arms the son, And the great work goes on, goes on.”

All his school days were spent at Oakham School; thence he entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. While yet an undergraduate he served in the S. A. war. On his return he graduated, entered the Clergy Training School, and was ordained to Oakham in 1902. Last autumn he went to Burma, calling at Delhi {where his sister was working under S. P. G. in the Cambridge Mission), and other Brotherhoods, and joined Mr. Fyffe at Mandalay in December. On the 28th March last he passed from us. The cause of his death was a rare type of paralysis – nothing climatic. The Bishop and the Rev. R. J. Stone, who was with him at the C. T. S., were in Mandalay at the time.
His body rests near the graves of the Colbecks.

We had looked for great things from his ministry in Burma. His qualities of simple manliness, unaffected and robust piety, a very-single-hearted devotion, unselfishness, courage and affection, drew men to him. These, and his unfailing cheerfulness, promised much for our Winchester Brotherhood. He went out “for life,” and so his home gave him. His letters from Mandalay were always touched with humour, and were full of hope and determination. It is easy to pray “Thy will be done,” while we have no disappointments or reversing of our purposes; but it is hard really to bow to the surrender of such a man. When Bishop Maples was drowned on Lake Nyassa. on the very day of his arrival as Bishop of Likoma, Augustine Ambati wrote, “God liked to take him, to make white (i.e., consecrate) so the waters of the lake.” Even so may Mr. Jerwood’s death in Mandalay be one more consecration of the city. To his friends – there and here – it will be one more tie binding us to the missionary spirit, and the forward march of the Church. It is good to know that Mr. Garrad, whom God has moved to carry on his torch, will be, we believe, in every way a brother to Mr. Fyffe. Those who loved H. A. J. will pray “The Lord bless his going out and coming in. ”

H. J. C. K.

The sister in Dehli that is referred to is Helen Dorothea. At the time she worked for the Cambridge Mission of SPG, but was later to work for the East India Company in Dehli. She remained in India all her life, dying in 1965.

Some final thoughts

Interesting as it is to find that All Saints had a link with Myanmar one hundred and twenty years before our current one, and to read Arthur Jerwood’s interesting and ultimately tragic story the aspect that has struck me most in the preparation of this post, is how very different our current Christian culture is to that of 1906. As noted above, military metaphors are often used in the RQP, and indeed the whole publication shows an extremely ordered and extensive organisation that itself has a military flavour. The form of Christianity that one finds in its pages is a very muscular and forceful one and whilst one can admire the earnestness and zeal of those determined to bring the gospel to those who had never heard it, the tone of the publication reflects the colonial era of its time, and the implicit superiority of European (and particularly British) civilisation and culture to that of the “natives”. Howerver, whilst I find this aspect more than a little repellent, I do wonder if we have lost something over the last century, in terms of our zeal and enthusiasm for the mission of the church, both at home and overseas. The words of Revelation 3.15-16 come uncomfortably to mind.

The Harrington bequest – Part 2. The Oakham Parish Library

ANNE Barroness HARRINGTON, by Indenture bearing date 20^th June 1616 assign’d a Rent Charge upon he Manor of Cottesmore in perpetuity for the annual payment of THIRTY-TWO pounds to the Vicar of the Parish Church of OAKHAM, and the Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish being Tenants or under Tenants of any of the Lands parcel of the Manor of the said LADT HARRINGTON in Oakham Lords-hold payable at the four usual quarterly days, in the south porch of the said Parish Church of OAKHAM. – The said LADY HARRINGTON gave a small Library for the use of the Vicar.

The inscribed board in the vestry of All Saints church in Oakham (photograph by Richard Adams)

Anne, Lady Harrington

Anne Keilway was a daughter of Robert Keilway of Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire. She married John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton, in 1573. After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, she was appointed as a Lady of the Bedchamber and was made Governess to Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of James 1, travelling with Elizabeth in 1613 to Heidelberg for her wedding to Frederick V of the Palatinate. Anne died in May 1620. The younger Anne is depicted on a memorial to her Father in Exton parish church (right).

The Harrington bequest

In 1616 Lady Anne Harringtom made a two part bequest, which is recorded on a an inscribed wooden board in the vestry of All Saints Parish church in Oakham shown above. This involved an annual bequest of £32 to support the poor of the township of Oakham Lordshold, and the bequest of a small library for the use of the vicar of All Saints church. This post describes the second part of the bequest – what was to become known as the Oakham Parish library. The support for the poor of Oakham is addressed in a related post.

The Oakham Parish Library

In 1616 Anne bequeathed a collection of books to All Saints Oakham, and these formed the core of the parish library. a number of volumes were added to the library over the years, mainly service books and bibles, This collection, numbering 115 volumes was transferred in October 1980 on indefinite loan into the custody of the Department of Special Collections of Nottingham University Library. The Oakham Parish Library is well described in the paper “Oakham Parish Library” by Anne Herbert. This paper is however not easily available (unless one has a University Library access or is prepared to pay £35 for a copy), so I quote below the most relevant passages.

……Until their removal to Nottingham the books were housed in two oak presses 176 cm. in height, 183 cm. in width and 39 cm. in depth, with three shelves apiece and a central vertical divide of a later date. The craftsman ship is rather crude and lacking in decoration with the exception of a single strip of carving along the top of each press……

…..Oakham parish library …… comprises almost exclusively works of theology with a sprinkling of history, mainly ecclesiastical, and canon law…… It is strongest in the Greek and Latin fathers-Athanasius, Chrysostom, Epiphanius, John of Damascus, Origen; Augustine, Gregory, Hilary, Jerome, Tertullian……. But the medieval schoolmen, the Protestant reformers and pre-Reformation theology and law are also represented….

…..The books were originally shelved with the spines innermost but there is no evidence to suggest they were ever chained. All but the late additions to the library have fore-edge numbers and some also have author and title information on the fore-edge…..

…..A printed book label, which survives in 46 of the volumes, pasted at the base of the title-page, commemorates Lady Harington’s bequest and bears the inscription ‘Ex dono Dominae ANNAE HARINGTONAE Baronissae….

…..The books are for the most part fairly uniformly bound in calf decorated only with fillets round the edges of the covers. The incunables and early sixteenth century volumes, however, have blind-stamped leather bindings over wooden boards…..

….Oakham parish library seems to have been rather neglected durng the subsequent centuries. There is very little documentation relating to its establishment or history-no extant loan records and little evidence that it was ever used by the incumbents of Oakham for whose benefit the books were originally given…..

In an appendix to her paper, Herbert lists 67 books that belong to or were contemporary with the Harrington bequest, the remaining items being later additions to the library. The library is also discussed by Aaron T Pratt “A Baroness and her books” which contains a photograph of the printed book label shown to the left, and also some examples from elsewhere that show how the books might have looked on their shelves.

The library at the University of Nottingham

81 items from the Oakham Parish Library are listed in the Nottingham University Catalogue. As Herbert states that 115 volumes were transferred in 1980, it is likely that some catalogue entries relate to multiple documents – most likely those referring to bibles or prayer books.

The Harrington bequest – Part 1, The Charity

The inscribed board in the vestry of All Saints church in Oakham (photograph by Richard Adams)

Anne, Lady Harrington

The Harrington bequest

In 1616 Lady Anne made a two part bequest, which is recorded on an inscribed wooden board in the vestry of All Saints Parish church in Oakham shown above. This involved an annual bequest of £32 to support the poor of the township of Oakham Lordshold, and the bequest of a small library for the use of the vicar of All Saints church. This post describes the first part of the bequest. The library bequest is addressed in a related post.

The Harrington Charity

As set out on the board in the vestry of All Saints church shown above, the original bequest was for £32 per annum to the vicar of All Saints and to the Overseers of the Poor, to be distributed to the poor in the township of Oakham Lords-hold. The distinction between Oakham Lords-hold and Oakham Deans-hold is an ancient one and in well described by T H McK Clough in “Oakham Lordshold in 1787”. The distribution was to be made on the quarter days from the south porch of the church. In 1915 the administration of the bequest was formalised by the Charity Commission. The Trustees of the Charity were to be the Vicar of All Saints, and four others appointed by the (then) Urban District Council. Procedures for meetings of the Trustees and for their appointment are also set out. The income is specified as £32 per year from the Earl of Gainsborough, which shall be spent as follows

I. Grants or contributions for or towards the the provision of Nurses, and of medical and surgical assistance for the Sick and Infirm, including medical and surgical appliances, medicines, and comforts or necessaries :
II The supply of
(a) Clothes. Linen. Bedding, Fuel, or Food or other articles in kind
(b) Temporary assistance in money by way of loan or otherwise.
III Weekly allowances. being in no case, except with the approval of the Charity Commissioners, less in value than 1s 6d a week or more than 3s a week, during the pleasure of the Trustees, to or for the benefit or persons qualified, as aforesaid, and not in receipt of Poor-law relief other than medical relief, who have attained the age of 60 years, and become wholly or part unable to maintain themselves by their own exertions, in augmentation of any means of support possessed by the beneficiaries – which shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Trustees to be reasonably assured. and to be sufficient, when so augmented, to enable the beneficiaries to live in reasonable comfort.

The Minute Book 1925 to 2000

A minute book for the Harrington charity has recently come to light, during a clear out of old financial documents. this runs from 1925 to 2000, and contains some interesting information on the development, and the running down of the charity over that period. In this section we will look at the general trends over that period. In the following section we will look in more detail at the entries for 1925.

The annual entries in the minute book are largely routine, reporting the appointment of trustees, and giving a list of those to whom payments were made. Each year from 1925 to 2001 the total payments were close to the income of £32. There were a few other points of interest however. In 1933, it was decided to make payments directly to individuals rather than requiring them to congregate in the Church School – which had replaced the south Porch of the church as the distribution centre at some point. In 1935 grocery vouchers worth 2s 6d and redeemable at G. W. Peesgood, were also distributed alongside the cash dole. In 1954 enquiries were made as to whether it was possible to support those outside the Lordshold area, which seem to have been inconclusive. No meetings were held in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and the final meeting in 2001 discussed the possibility of amalgamation with the Morren charity. It also resolved to request the last three years payment from the Exton Estate (still of £32 / year). How these two issues were, or were not resolved is not recorded. Note however that the distribution in this form is not a good match with that specified in the 1915 document – and indeed there are no indications that regaulr weekly payments were made over the period.

The minute book also enables us to look in more detail at some aspects of the dole. The figure to the right shows the number of recipients of the dole over the years. It can be seen that this falls from just under 90 in 1925 to around 60 by 1930, and remains at that number until 1960, when a gradual decline sets in. Up until 1930, different amounts were given to different people – either 2s 6d, 5s, 7s 6d or 10s. From 1933 a standard amount was paid. this was 10s to each recipient to 1960, and then increasing gradually as the number of recipients fell from then on. In the mid 1990s £8 was paid to each four recipients.

The number of recipients of the Harrington dole from 1925 to 1997

Value of the average dole between 1925 and 1997 in today’s prices, using three different inflation measures.

But how much were such payments worth in todays prices? There are various ways of calculating this as set out by the Measuring Worth website. The right hand figure shows the value of the average dole payment from 1925 onwards at today’s prices, as calculated using price inflation, labour cost inflation and income inflation. The last two are probably the most relevant to this study. These show that the average dole payment in the 1920s and 1930 was worth somewhere between £100 and £200 in today’s terms – not a massive amount, but perhaps something like the Winter Fuel allowance.

Using the same method, the value of £32 in 1603 when the charity was set up was £127,000 based on labour cost inflation and £228,000 based on income inflation. On the assumption that there were around 100 recipients of the dole, this gives the worth of an average payment of between £1000 and £2000 in today’s terms, which would be quite substantial.

The 1925 Dole

We now look at the information for the 1925 payments in more detail. This year is on the limit of the 100 year period usually applied to the release of individual names, and the entries in the minute book may be of interest to Family Historians.

The 1925 pages have been scanned and transcribed, and both the scan and the transcriptions are shown below in pdf viewers. The original writing is not easy to read, so I can’t be certain about the accuracy of the transcripts – but I have done my best! In general terms, the large majority of the recipients were women, usually identified as Widows.

1925 scans Download

Allett Widow Download

Oakahm 1910

Brooke Rd
Cold Overton Rd
Cross St
Crown St
Gaol St
Gas St
John St
Johns court
Jubilee Buildings
Mill St
Mount Pleasant
New St
Northgate St
Park Lane
Pullins Yard
Simper St
South St
Westgate

1
7
3
5
4
7
10
7
3
3
2
2
5
1
1
10
5
10

A breakdown of the streets where those who recieved the 1925 lived is given to the left. Most of these are shown on the map from 1910above. Some of these streets no longer exist, specifically those streets in the area between New St., Melton Rd. and the railway line – Cross St., Gas St., and Simper St., with John St. being much curtailed. Others cannot be precisely located – Pullins Yard and Johns Court, although they are likley to be in the same area. Bedehouse Row on the map is referred to as Westgate in the minute book. In total 58 of the dole recipients (around two thirds of the total) lived in the area bounded by South St, Gaol St., High St., Melton Rd. and the railway.

The Oakham Parish Chest

In the north transept at All Saints church in Oakham, there is a large wooden chest, shown in the photograph above. This is the Oakham Parish chest, which is encompassed by iron bands, with three locks. It is well described by a framed description close by, written by an unknown author, and dated 2007.

The earliest Parish Chests are of Norman or even Saxon date. In the early 16th century the Vicar General, Thomas Cromwell issued a mandate to the effect that every parson, vicar or curate had to enter in a book every christening, marriage and burial in his parish, with the names of the parties. In addition to these records documents relating to the day to day running of the parish would have been stored in the Chest, including the Churchwarden’s accounts, Removal and Settlement Certificates Poor Rate and Poor Law records.

The parish was to provide a `sure coffer’ with two locks, the incumbent having the custody of one key and the Churchwarden having the other. _ The safety of the documents was assured by there being two locks and therefore the opening of the Chest had to be approved by the incumbent and the Churchwarden together. The chests were usually made of oak, early ones having been `dug out’ of a substantial log. Later chests became more refined being made of boards secured with iron nails. Some were decorated with iron banding. These were common from the early part of the fourteenth century. Some had slots pierced in their lids possibly to receive monetary offerings.

An injunction in the thirteenth century was that in every church a chest should be provided fastened with THREE keys, to be kept by the Bishop, the Priest and a religious layman. It will be noted that the Parish Chest here at All Saints, Oakham has three such fastenings. Whilst an exact date cannot be made as to its origin it would appear that this Parish Chest may date from the early years of the Church.

There is little more that can be added, with perhaps one exception. In a blog post by Nick Thorne entitled “Parish Chest – A Sure Coffer for the parish records” he writes

By the mid-1500’s the parishioners in every parish of the land were instructed by law to provide a strong chest with a hole in the upper part thereof, and having three keys, for holding the alms for the poor. Another chest may have been used to keep safe the church’s plate and this or the first chest would also double up as a place where the parish registers and other parish documents could be kept safe. In some places only one chest would have sufficed for both purposes, while in other parishes two or more may have been used.

So there is a possibility that the three locks might indicate a 16th century rather than a thirteenth century date.

Of course, confronted by an old oak chest, the immediate question that comes to mind, is what mysteries does it still contain. The Oakham chest opens without much effort, although the lid is a bit weighty, so that question can easily be answered. And the mystery turns out to be quite mundane as can be seen from the photograph below – a crown of thorns, presumably for the Holy Week liturgy and an assortment of large and votive candles. Pretty much the sort of stuff that would be found in a cupboard in any parish church! The mysteries are long gone (and probably deposited in Leicester Archives).

Rail through Porthmadog from the 1960s to the present day

Prologue

Readers of two earlier blogs will know that I have been a collector (or perhaps better described as a hoarder) of train and bus timetables for many decades. In the two posts, I used this collection to look at public transport developments in Oakham and the development of the cross city rail line in Birmingham, both over the last 50 or 60 years. In this post, I do something similar, and look at how the rail journeys through the Gwynedd town of Porthmadog have changed from the 1960s to the present day. Specifically I look at how services on the Cambrian Coast railway have changed over that period. I visited the area many times from the 1980s onwards, and particular from the mid 1990s through to the mid 2000s for family holidays. These holidays were often focussed on travelling on the Ffestiniog Railway and were thoroughly enjoyed by all. I do not however consider the services on the FR in this blog, except in passing.

In what follows, I basically consider the southbound services through Porthmadog in terms of frequency, connectivity, journey times and reliability, with my considerations based on timetables I have in my collection or are easily accessible over the web. The services heading east to Pwllheli exhibit much the same trends. But first we need to set out the basic facts about the Cambrian Coat line itself.

Cambrian Coast line

The Cambrian Coast line is shown on the map if Figure 1 (from Wikipedia). It extends from Pwllheli in the north to Dovey Junction in the south, where it meets with the Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury line. In between it passes through a number of small towns (Criccieth, Porthmadog, Harlech, Barmouth and Tywyn) and a larger number of villages. It is a single track route with a number of passing places – at Porthmadog, Harlech, Barmouth and Tywyn.

Figure 1. The Cambrian Coast Line

In the pre-Beeching area, there were two other connections with the national rail network – at Afon Wen between Pwllheli and Criccieth where the line was met by the Caernarfon and Bangor line; and at Morfa Mawddach, south of Barmouth, where there was a junction with the line to Dolgellau, Llangollen and Wrexham. At Porthmadog the line was crossed by the narrow gauge Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways.

From the 1960s onwards the main service on the line has been between Pwllheli and Machynlleth, the latter being the first main station on the Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury line after Dovey Junction. Some of these services continued to Shrewsbury and beyond, often having attached to a service from Aberystwyth. These services have been provided by a number of operators – British Rail up to privatisation in 1996, then Regional Railways Central, which morphed into Central Trains from 1996 to 2001, then within the Wales and Border franchise operated by Arriva Trains Wales up to 2018. The franchise was then awarded to Keolis Amey Wales by Transport. Following the financial collapse of the franchise in 2021, services have been provided directly by Transport for Wales, through Transport for Wales Rail.

The traffic on the line is mostly passenger – some local traffic for work / school / leisure purposes, but mainly tourists and holidaymaker traffic that, inevitably, is much higher in the summer than in the winter. The major destinations are Barmouth, Porthmadog and Pwllheli, and up to the 1980s, there was a sizeable flow to Butlins near Pwllheli.

Post-Beeching the traction on the line was mainly coaches hauled by diesel locomotives – class 25s and then class 31s. But by the 1980s, the dominant forms of traction were DMUs of various types. Services are now provided by two coach Class 158s.

More details of the line can be found at its Wikipedia page, although this is somewhat unbalanced in subject matter and not terribly consistent in format and style.

Frequency Analysis

Figure 2 shows the number of trains on the line from 1960 to the present day, for weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays. These are southbound trains through Porthmadog during the summer period (there often being a slight reduction in the winter). In the early 1960s (pre-Beeching) there were nine or ten services on the line. including through trains to Wrexham (and beyond) from the junction at Morfa Mawddach. Many of the services terminated at Barmouth. There were also trains from Pwllehil to Bangor via Afon Wen that did not pass through Porthmadog. After the Beeching cuts however, the service number settled down somewhat to seven or eight per day on weekdays and Saturdays. Sunday services were introduced in the 1980s and the number of these have steadily increased to around five per day.

Figure 2. Southbound services

Figure 3 shows the interval between services on weekdays only – the graphs for Saturdays and Sundays tell the same story. Broadly, up to 2007, the services were irregular, with intervals between services from one hour to three hours are more. Around that time, a regular interval timetable was imposed, with trains at broadly two hourly intervals. This will be reflected in much of the discussion that follows.

Figure 3. Intervals between southbound services

Connectivity Analysis

Figure 4 shows the number of through trains that ran south from Porthmadog and went beyond Machynlleth, again for weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays. From the 1960s to the 1980s these were very occasional, with most through trains running on Saturday for the holiday market. These included the Cambrian Coast Express to Euston. From the 1990s onwards the number of through services increased, mainly through the Cambrian Coast DMU coupling to the service from Aberystwyth and running to Birmingham New Street. In the late 1990s and early 2000s the turnaround time at New Street was very tight, which led to unreliability and late running, the effect of which was magnified by the single track nature of the line westwards from Shrewsbury, with delays caused by the need to wait for passing trains. This was to some extent alleviated from 2008 when most services ran through to Birmingham International. Most services on the line are now through services, although, oddly, the current timetable doesn’t acknowledge this and suggests a change at Machynlleth is necessary. There seems no obvious reason for such reticence, unless the operators are simply keeping their options open to terminate the Cambrian Coast services at Machynlleth.

Figure 4. Southbound services beyond Machynlleth

Figure 5 shows the number of connecting services from the Cambrian Coast line onto the Aberystwyth – Shrewsbury – Birmingham services, with a connection time of less than 30 mins. These peak in the 1980s and 1990s and then fall off as through trains become the norm.

Figure 5. Connections at Machynlleth

Figure 6 show the average connection times at either Machynlleth or Dovey Junction. In the 1990s and early 2000s the average connection time was over 20 minutes, with some connections (if they can be called that) having times of 40 minutes or more. Machynlleth is a very pleasant station on a dry summers day, and it is a pleasure to wait there. However, it is in mid-Wales and such days are few and far between. In general waiting there for 30 or 40 minutes for a connecting train was usually rather unpleasant. Some services required a change at Dovey Junction, a station with road access, minimal facilities and in the middle of a bog. Again on a dry summer’s day it has a certain bleak charm. But one suspects scheduling connections there was simply an act of sadism by the franchise timetabling teams.

Figure 6. Connections times at Machynlleth

Journey Time Analysis

Figure 7 shows the journey times between Porthmadog and Machynlleth on weekdays – again the Saturday and Sunday times are similar. From the 1960s to the mid 1990s these decrease from around two hours on average to around one hour forty minutes on average, with a wide spread. In 2007, coinciding with the introduction of a regular interval service, there is a sharp increase in average journey times to around one hour and 55 minutes – roughly the same as in the 1960s.

Figure 7. Journey times

Reliability Analysis

The rail industry measure reliability through the use of a Public Performance Measure (PPM). Essentially it produced a figure between 0 and 100% that is a measure of lateness / cancellation etc. All franchises are given targets for the measure that they have to meet. A value of 90 to 95% is regarded as adequate or good whilst one of 80% is regarded as poor. The historical figures for the whole of the Wales and Borders franchise are given in Figure 8. (The figures for individual routes are not easily available – at least I can’t find them on the web.) The graph shows a significant increase in PPM between 2006 and 2007, which coincides with the frequency and journey time savings on the Cambrian Coast. Now the Wikipedia page indicates that the Cambrian line was by far the worst performing line in the franchise, so it is not unreasonable to conclude that the changes made there in 2007 had a significant effect on the overall franchise PPM.

Figure 8. Public Performance Measure

Discussion

The major point to arise from the analysis presented above, is that in 2007 there was a positive decision to adopt a regular interval timetable, which enabled an increase in through journeys beyond Machynlleth through coupling with the Aberystwyth trains and resulted in a significant increase in reliability. However, this also resulted in a significant increase in journey times. The question arises as to whether a regular timetable and better connections and reliability was worth the extended journey times. I am inclined to think it was, but others may well disagree.

But could journey times be improved? I think perhaps they could be. simply having a longer layover at Pwllheli, with trains arriving there earlier and leaving later, should keep similar times for all the trains in the passing places. However I say this without having done any sort of timing analysis, which would require detailed route information and train performance characteristics. But perhaps a few minutes could be taken off the journey without loss of reliability.

Similarly, could journey frequency be improved to an hourly service? Leaving aside the issues of whether passenger numbers warrant this, or of stock availability, the answer is probably yes, if the two currently unused passing places at Barmouth and Porthmadog are brought into use. However this would effectively mean that the line was running at capacity – which would almost certainly lead to loss of reliability. A better way to improve service frequency would be, in my view, a closer integration with the Traws Cymru T2 bus service from Aberystwyth to Bangor via Machynlleth and Porthmadog. Indeed that service already offers a 1 hour 28 minute journey time between Machynlleth and Porthmadog – considerably better than the rail journey time, although it does take a much shorter route through Dolgellau.

The Brettells of Kingswinford

Brettell confusion

In the writing of Kingswinford Manor and Parish (KMAP), one of the loose ends was the Brettell family, who were clearly important in the area and married into other major families, but who were very difficult to trace through the historical record, not least because they seemed to have used a very small set of Christian names, with all the confusion that implies. This issue was particularly acute when I considered the Fowler Maps of Kingswinford of 1822 and 1840. In the former we have at least one Thomas Brettell and at least one Benjamin Brettell, and in the latter we have Anna Maria Brettell and Penelope Brettell – all holding quite significant portions of land.

A reader of KMAP, Keith Evans, seeing my confusion, has come to my help. In his family tree studies he has identified the following Brettells in late 18^th and early 19^th century Kingswinford that are of relevance.

Benjamin Brettell (1720-1793) who married Elizabeth Jeavons in 1763, where he was identified as a Malster. He is later referred to as a Coal Master.
Benjamin Brettell (1764-1822), the eldest son of Benjamin and Elizabeth, who was apprenticed to Richard Mee of Himley in 1780 and became an attorney. Two children are mentioned in his will – Benjamin and Anna Maria.
Thomas Brettell (1769-1835), another son of Benjamin and Elizabeth, who married Penelope Antrobus Cartwright, and was recorded as a Coalmaster. Two children are again identified, Benjamin and Elizabeth.

Using the above as background information, we can consider the Brettells identified in the Directories for the Fowler maps of 1822 and 1840 in a little more detail.

Brettells on the Fowler Maps

Figure 1. The Brettells on the 1822 Fowler Map – Brown circles – Thomas (Brettell Lane); Dark blue circles – Benjamin; Green circles – Thomas (Summerhill); Light blue circles – Thomas (Tiled House)

In 1822, there were four clusters of land that were either owned or occupied by a Brettell (Figure 1, which shows those plots of land owned or occupied by Brettells, superimposed on a modern map).

Those lands owned by Benjamin Brettell at the upper end of Brettell Lane and in Brierley Hill and Brockmoor. These were, as far as can be judged, in the area that was enclosed by the Pensnett Chase Enclosure Act of 1784 and allocated to Benjamin Brettell Senior.
Those lands owned by Thomas Brettell along Brettell Lane. These adjoin those of Benjamin, but are on land that was not enclosed in 1784 i.e. land that was either an old enclosure or a more formal old estate.
Those lands owned by Thomas Brettell in Summerhill, including Summerhill house where he resided. These were in the area where the 1776 Ashwood Hey Enclosure Act formalised informal enclosures of 1684, so this block of land probably originates in this period.
The Tiled House Estate occupied and inhabited by Thomas Brettell, but owned by Richard Mee (the son of the Richard Mee to whom Benjamin junior was apprenticed).

The blocks of land in the Brettell Lane area were not continuous, and werei nterspersed with lands owned by others.

The immediate question is whether or not all these lands were owned by the same Thomas Brettell. The Thomas Brettell at Summerhill is sometimes styled in the Directory of the 1822 Fowler Map as “Esq.” which may differentiate him from the other Thomas’s. Against that is the fact that some of the land was occupied by Benjamin Brettell, either Thomas’s brother or his son. It is of course possible there might have been another Benjamin, but this does tend to suggest that the same Thomas owned lands in Brettell Lane and in Summerhill. If that is the case, then this Thomas would have no need of the Tiled House as a place to live in and one must conclude that the Thomas who lived there was not the same Thomas who held lands in Brettell Lane and Summerhill. All very confusing.

The other point that can be made is that the fact that Thomas and Benjamin’s lands along Brettell Lane adjoin each other suggest that in the previous generation (i.e. Benjamin Senior) they were one land unit.

Figure 2. The Brettells on the 1840 Fowler Map – Brown circles – Penelope; Dark blue circles – Anna Maria

In 1840, it is clear from Figure 2 that all Benjamin’s lands went to Anna Maria and all of Thomas’s Brettell Lane lands went to Penelope. Thus one must conclude (along with Keith Evans) that Anna Maria was Benjamin’s daughter and Penelope was Thomas’ widow. At that time the Summerhill estate was in the hands of Revd. Henry Hill, a cleric from Worcestershire. He rented these out to be farmed, mainly by the large farming firm of John Parrish and Co.

A ghost from the past

The name Brettell seems to originate from Bredhull, or broad hill, in the early middle ages. This seems to have been centred on Hawbush along Brettell Lane, a little to the south west of the land holdings of Thomas were in 1822 (Figure 1). Is it too fanciful to speculate that what we have here is a ghost of an old estate, with much of the land sold to others? We know that such estates existied in the north of Kingswinford parish – Oak Farm, Shut End, Corbyn’s Hall, Tiled House and Bromley House) and perhaps here we have a southern counterpart. It would be unwise to take this speculation much further, ut it is, perhaps, and intriging possibility.