Dear all, we are home, enjoying a daylight flight yesterday with sunny skies allowing us to say goodbye to Lancashire, a far away view of the Furness and Millom peninsulas and a wee bit of a look along the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man and the west Scotland coast.  Landing in Newark to the heat, humidity and congestion, such a shock to the system after our north England respite!

I'll keep adding pictures as we get them downloaded from the camera; what's here now is from my phone - the good ones are yet to come.  Please keep checking the original posts as I'll try to put them with the correct day.  We've written enough that you should check with the "older posts" as these will include the added Hutton John photos.  Perhaps I can even coax a little something from Bets to post for you.  We still have to share our thots about Lancaster Castle and its current legal endeavors, Southport in Merseyside, our day trip to Wales and more.  I guess we were pretty busy!  I also need to post a little something about my walks up the fell (Hevelyn) behind our pub/b&b in Thirlspot and my lovely pasture and farmland walks in Lathom (our stay outside of Burcough Bridge).  Not to mention some kind of discussion of what we learned and experienced of all the Lancaster canals.

And cheese?!  Well....  as you can imagine, Ploughman's for lunch each day, sauces at dinner and always wine and a local cheese (or two) in the room late afternoon.  We did not succumb to "tea" in the late afternoon and staunchly maintained our usual cocktail hour.  No one would expect less of us!  Meat and fish pies in abundance, and omg the toffee puddings and cakes were to die for.

Thanks for going on this journey with us.  We return possessing more questions than we left with, but more determined than ever to discover the missing pieces to these two stories.  Keep checking in; I hope to piece together timelines for each of the families in England as best we have at this point; and no doubt their intersection.  One thing is certain:  These two families were determined to survive and survive with their beliefs in tact.  While the catholicism may have changed over the years, the survival instinct remains strong.  We were certainly proud to be called intrepid and indeed to be intrepid on our trip - just chips off the old blocks!  Let us know your questions.  It is a delightful journey to walk where our ancestors have been and to know we carry so much of them with us still.

Cath

Photos to go along with our journey:

Welcome to Millom Castle and Holy Trinity!

Remaining livable portion of destroyed Millom Castle - still a working farm.

Millom countryside - with some Huddlestuns in attendance.

Mary at the new Jubilee church gate

 

 

The Vicars of Millom - please note "1464 - Miles Huddlestun" - how fun!

In Ulverston (on the Furness peninsula), an old market town settled by the Vikings, now a lovely market centre.  Blackledges Butchers - but we took along 3 cheeses which kept us company for our stay in Lancashire.

Blythe Hall Gate

Blythe Hall - the lane leading into the estate.  We were disappointed not to be granted access for a look at the grounds; however, there are pictures on the web of this glorious property.  Perhaps on another visit...

A Blackledge at the gates of Blackledge Hall (now called Blythe after its original owners)

In the city of Halifax, the Blackledge family held a quarter of the surrounding land, which included the annual marketplace for the selling of handwoven fabrics of wool, cotton, linen and eventually silk.  At this marketplace our ancestors were known for their wholesaling of linen from Halifax to London.  Blackledge Street, next to the current Piece Hall, still acknowledges the Blackledge presence in all this business action.

The Piece Hall was built in the early 18th c. to more formally provide a marketplace for woven goods.  Three stories tall and a football field long in both directions, it's a massive testimony to the number of merchants participating in this location.  Historically, fabric, wool, yarn, dye and other related merchants gathered from around the entire north of England in Halifax to showcase and peddle their goods.  Before the building of the Piece Hall, this same acreage had been used as an open marketplace with tents, wagons and movable stalls since at least the 12th c.  The cobbles are extraordinary and have a long story to tell.  The day we visited, a carnival was on going in the huge open central area.  I recall we bought chocolate!

Our Halifax luncheon pub stop - The Old Cock.  Couldn't resist!

Mary's Sunday Post

It's been a busy two days -- one rainy and today sunny and windy.  Yesterday we found, we even saw, the two large farmhomes that the Blackledges lived in. The first, Blackledge Hall (also Charnock Hall and Leyland Hall) had Blackledges living in it 1345-1698 or so; it is a large farm house on a really nice farm.  The land here is black soil and so fertile.  It is now a truck farming center for the urban areas of Manchester and Liverpool.  After 100 or so years on that farm, a Blackledge lad married a Blythe woman and moved up in the world to Blythe Hall (ca 1425-1700).  Blythe Hall continues to be a home to aristocrats. The current occupants are great friends of Prince Charles, so they were busy with the Queen's Jubilee and couldn't find time to let us visit the place. We drove past both places and we saw enough to know what sorts of places they are.  The original Blythe Hall lands included several thousand acres.  However, land has been gradually sold off so that the current folks have just 65 acres.  It's good to know that our forebears had enough land to live on!

We spent time in the church at Ormskirk, where we understand the Blackledges attended.  Indeed, they did and several were buried in the church, though they were not as great benefactors of the church as the Huddlestons up north.  We found that the current Blackledges include at least one butcher.  We went to the Blackledge butcher shop and found it full of fine meats.  However, the last Blackledge sold it a few years ago.  When we talked with townspeople and church wardens, we learned again that Blackledge and Huddlestun are common names here.  We will be working with the Ormskirk church secretary to get information from the Marriage Registry there about more exact dates for Blackledges in the area.

When we visited the church this morning, in between services, I was impressed with the aged beauty of the church.  It has a Norman origin, though there may have been a church there before 1066.  A large priory nearby was the controlling factor in the church's origins.  When the priory was closed and destroyed ca. 1536 (by Henry VIII), many of the building blocks were taken to the church and used to build a new bell tower.  The current church is trying to remain relevant in the 21st century and shows some signs of having trouble doing that.  The church became Church of England in 1535, as did most of the Catholic churches in England.

We spent this afternoon at Southport on the Irish Sea.  It must have been a great place to go to the shore in days gone by.  In its Victorian heyday, I suspect it was a happening place.  Right now, it is quite old and some of it run down.  Maybe the result of the general economic situation here in the west of England.  We have gone by many towns full of empty mill buildings -- probably textile mills -- and the towns are themselves having difficulty remaining alive.  I would compare Southport in its prime to Cape May or other Jersey Shore towns.

We'll go out for our final pub dinner in Briscough Bridge tonight.  We've had 3 good ones.  Certainly better food than we had on our first trip across 8 years ago.  We drive through north Wales tomorrow, ending up in Manchester, to take the plane home early Tuesday morning.  It's been a grand tour of some of the lesser known parts of England.  All full of Huddlestuns and Blackledges!

More later!

Mary 

Betsy and I walked back on the private road to this property, very much still a working farm.  The lane comes in at the left of the house in the above picture; below what I was able to take from the lane.  The land is excellent pasture land and a herd of cattle were out in the large fields.  The Blacklache family lived here until approx 1550 when they married into the family owning Blythe Hall near Ormskirk.  They had been farmers on this land since at least 1345.  We tried, unsuccessfully, today to find the old church in Leyland where Ralph Blackleache was vicar in 1488 for 6 years.  We now know that we are looking for St. Andrew's CofE (now Church of England - catholic but reformed!) and perhaps can get there tomorrow or Sunday for service. 

Cath

HALL Listed grade II; Old Hall, Lld (aka Blacklache Ho, Leyland Old Hall, Charnock Hall) 1463

Mary’s blog for Thursday

Today we did a lot, but my blog will focus on our visit to the Holy Trinity Church at Millom, next to the castle that the Huddlestons owned and ran for several centuries.  We saw the church on our first trip, but we couldn’t get inside.  Today we were ushered inside by a church warden, and we saw the impact the Huddlestons have had on this church community.  The right side of the church is known as the Huddleston aisle.  The family seems to have contributed to the stained glass windows, which are beautiful – at least those which Cromwell’s  guns did not destroy.  The church bore a lot of damage from the invasion, which also destroyed much of the castle.  We found the graves of several generations of Huddlestons inside the church, mostly from the 13^th to the 15^th century.  Of course, no Huddleston was there after the attacks.  In the recent past, at least one Huddleston is mentioned – on a plaque with the names of those who died in World War I.  Overall, the visit to the church was a moving experience.  The Huddlestun coat of arms is visible in our “corner” and the church history gives great kudos to the family for their service to the church.  It is still a practicing church, with services weekly and lots of other activities as well.  This is all quite different from our experience 8 years ago, something we attribute to the new vicar.  Pictures will show many of these items for your consideration.  

We are now in Lancashire, in the little town of Burscough, on the trail of the Blackledges.  Tomorrow we’ll see the church in Ormskirk where many are buried.  We’ll let you know what we find there!

Mary

This was a fascinating travel day.  We went through Keswick and down the valley to Buttermere.  Just another trip through the incredible fells and valleys, but this one was over a pass that was quite high.  Really, the issue was the steepness of the ascent and descent.  Complicated by the constant rambling sheep on the road.  Lambs were everywhere and their mothers were simply not as attentive as the lambs preferred.  You’ll be seeing lots of pictures of sheep and us, as we ramble through their pastures.  Makes it look like a good thing to do, but it is fraught with difficulty.  Every night now we’re cleaning our shoes! 

The small towns are still our favorites.  Had lunch at a pub near Coniston, after an ice cream stop in an even smaller spot – we saw the sign that the Ayrshire farm made its own ice cream.  We are now in Torver, up another vale rather close to Millom, the home of our Huddlestuns until our ancestor left for the colonies.  We will travel there tomorrow to meet the vicar of the church and see some gravestones inside the old church next to the castle.  We have just had another great pub meal, well cooked and imaginative food. We now feel we’ve had more good food than we had the last time we were here, and all the good food is out in the country pubs.  We will all go on diets when we return – maybe.

All this happened while we drove on very narrow roads, on which passing another car meant one had to pull off into a “passing space”.  When a truck appeared, and usually at a high rate of speed, things got dicey.  Roads are winding and each side is a stone wall or a thick hedge – no berms. Today’s driver, Betsy, managed to do very well.  Yesterday Cathy has some equally challenging drives.  We have now learned that the sheep we’ve been seeing, mostly black lambs and ewes either brown or gray and white, are a heritage breed, kept from extinction by Beatrix Potter (of Peter Rabbit fame).  She used much of her accumulated millions to buy farms in this part of England and had these sheep raised on all of them.  They have become the regional breed, something like Hertfyrd, but I’m not sure of the name.  They are unable to be concerned about people or cars, so we had a few close encounters with gamboling lambs and irate ewes. 

The girls are out walking as I write, so I need to be sure I can get back to the pub to order dessert before the kitchen closes.  We’ll have a final visit there before we retire to our lovely cottage for the night.  On to Millom tomorrow!

Mary

Our drive from Beckermet to Borough on Furness - across the fells with the sheep in a common pasture.  We drove over cattle guards at either end.  Our second "common grazing land" of the day.

Today was another crazy day.  We started off for Maryport a small town on the Irish Sea.  It has an archeological site of a large Roman fort and beacon tower at the end of the Solway Firth – which separates England from Scotland – and where many Roman artifacts have been located.  The museum is a small local one, but interesting.  We also walked down the Sea Brows, which is a lovely walk atop the cliff next to the sea.  Cathy and Betsy walked down to the sea, since it was low tide.  Lots of walkers and lots of dogs.  A nice, quiet town with friendly folks and friendly dogs!

We moved on to Caldbeck, an unusual very small hamlet with a great pub (has an international reputation) where we had lunch.  The little towns here are different from ours.  They have a real local sense of identity and they are mildly surprised by tourists from beyond the UK, but they put up with us.  One couple stopped by our table to wish us well and indicated that they had heard our accent and knew we were from the US.  At that time, a large tractor was moving through town with a load of haylege.  It was quite a moment. 

From there we went to Hutton in the Forest, the family seat of the Hutton Family.  Very rich, large landowners, whose ancestor married our Huddlestun and gave us the Hutton John property we visited yesterday.  The rest of the family resided at this large manor house with incredible gardens.  We walked the gardens and saw practices I identify with Thomas Jefferson’s gardens at Monticello.  Very 18^th century.  The Huttons imported trees and plants from all over the world, including many from North America (which I identify as Canada but could have been the US).  Some incredibly large Sitka spruces, planted there 1740 or so.  The care of the gardens continues, an incredibly labor-intensive activity but it provides us with a great experience.

We followed with a visit to the Anglican church in Greystoke, about half way between Hutton in the Forest and Hutton John.  We found several Huddlestun graves and a corner of the church which was dedicated to the Huddlestun family.  Even though this church has moved from Catholic to Anglican, and the Huddlestun family has made a similar journey, it is clear that this church was very close to our Huddlestun family in Cumbria.  There is a memorial to one set of Huddlestuns who went to India to seek their fortunes, and seem to have found it, but also died there.  So the church corner is a memorial to them by those who remained in UK. 

Stone in the Greystoke cemetery bearing a heart between two fleur de lis.  Kate had shared with us that the heart is a sign of staunch Roman Catholic faith and following.  Hutton John has heart-shaped windows that remain to this day.  No name remains ledgable on this stone, but surely whoever this stone speaks for had an abiding faith and a strong heart for England.

We ended today in pubs in Keswick and then back to our friendly and comfortable inn, Sweeney’s Kings Head on Thirlmere.  Another busy but fascinating day.  It is something to see your family in the leadership position within the community, even though the community is small and widely separated.  Our entire visit so far has been within the incomparably beautiful Lake District of northwest England, full of fells (their term for small mountains) and valleys, rushing streams and thousands of sheep.  In fact, walking through sheep pastures is one of the joys of the area, as many people come here just to walk and enjoy the countryside.  Public walkways are provided through various sheep and other pastures, so that anyone can do it.  Cathy and Betsy celebrated our last night in this area by walking across several pastures to a glorious stream falling through many waterfalls down the steep fell behind the inn.  So far, no sheep injuries are reported.   Mary

Pub food at its best:  Keswick's Dog & Gun!  (note the disclaimer)

What a hoot it is to be here!  Somehow it’s as if we never left, though we see plenty that is different.  The visit today to the Huddlestun house, where a Huddlestun still lives and the family history is on display, was simply more than I can describe.  First, the house is now in the hands of the daughter of the woman who showed us around last time.  Kate Fraser and her 4 year old son are now living there, with her husband home on weekends.  He has a business in Reading, near London.  She is quite together about the house, which she loves, and is planning and renovating the house to make it more as it was in earlier years.  We spent two hours touring it with her, then had lunch in her now quite modern kitchen. 

The house is now being rewired, and thus safer from fire.  It’s hard to describe it, so consider these observati ons and then look at the pictures.  The house is basically built of a hard sandstone which is local.  The earliest part, the pele tower, dates to the 14^th century, but there are places that probably predate that.  The house has been added to and gradually revamped as the years have passed.  We saw the earliest bedroom, with a very tall four-poster bed and with a crewl bedskirt and the cover you draw around the bed, under the canopy, whose crewl was done by one of our ancestors.  It’s simply overwhelming.  Kate is using that bedroom as a guest bedroom, and well it should be.  The crewl is lovely,, but one piece of the bedskirt is unfinished.  Such a real issue!  We were treated to a trip up the Pele tower.  The pele tower was built as a means of defense of the house.  It has a spiral staircase up two stories plus, all built of sandstone.  No windows, and only an arrow slit at the very top, just before you exit on the roof.  Around the crenelated top of the tower, there are arrow slits and other places to shoot at the attackers.  When the Scots were ravaging this particular part of England, a number of these towers were built, and the owners lit beacon fires on top of them when the attacks began.  That alerted others in the area that the attack was happening.  In addition, the pele towers were where priests hid when the Cromwell/English reformation attacks were occurring.  The Huddlestun House at Hutton John had a priest hole (the small opening to a space where the priest hid), but it has been lost to renovation.  What is left is a small opening in the wall that is the confession space.  The priest, hidden behind the wall, heard the confession of someone in a bedroom.  It brings home all the difficulties of people who tried to maintain their beliefs, during a time when the state refused to allow that set of beliefs to be professed publicly.

I have been reflecting on the people who left here to come to America, including our progenitor William Huddlestun.  His whole life was spent hiding his beliefs from the government, and then he watched as the government attacked his family’s home, in the English Civil War, and then imprisoned his father for being a “recusant”, (refusing to leave Catholicism) after confiscating all his property.  It is no wonder that those who left the country here were looking for a place where they could worship freely, except that they had no experience with allowing others to worship freely in a religion of which they were not a part.  It helps to understand the complex nature of the population who settled our country. 

Just to finish the discussion today, we also walked some of the land of the Hutton John property.  It included walking through a sheep pasture full of sheep and lambs and lots of sheep droppings.  We walked far enough to be able to see the house from that distance.  It is a most impressive manor house and beautifully landscaped.  Kate will be upgrading some of the landscaping in the next few years, but it is so striking that if you look for Hutton John on Google Maps, you will see the large yews in the front of the house – they are striking! 

More on things tomorrow.  We need lots of rest after a very full day!

Mary

Welcome to Hutton John gate to the old stables with the Hudleston crest.

Hutton John, South Garden

Huddlestun on a stile!  Upper sheep pasture, north of the manse.

With Kate atop the Pele Tower - What an amazing tour and history she provided to us.

A view of the remainder of the surround wall which originally protected the Pele Tower.

View from atop the Pele Tower toward the upper pasture where we walked and climbed the stiles!

View of Hutton John from the upper pasture - the manse is being the evergreens in the centre of the shot.  Note, too, the far fell which is the original west boundary of the property.

The view south from the upper pasture.  Isn't it simply exquisite countryside?  The Ulswater is beyond that first ridge but before the far fell.

Our walk in the upper pasture, with the gamboling lambs.  We won't soon forget our incredible visit to Hutton John, and will remain forever indebted to Kate for her gracious hospitality, allowing us to take up her entire day, grateful for the wealth of history, information, family lore and just fantastic stories she shared with us during our tour of the life of Hutton John.  How lucky the place is to have her energy and industry; how lucky we were to spend the day with her.  Thank you Kate!

Saturday June 9 - Delayed flight (took off 8:30pm - EWR, who is surprised?) but a great day.  Diesel rental car drives well with quirks:  Peugot - we are French in Briton - perhaps we are pushing our luck?  Nevertheless, we are learning this car's language - leave it to Bets for reading the manual - ha!!  Great visit in Lancaster with a lovely pub lunch.  Tour of the Lancaster Castle included being shut in a dark basement 16c prison cell similar to the one our Huddlestun ancestor William died in (it must have been completely horrible (horrid) and way beyond tragic) during the scourge of Cromwell.  We are surrounded by Catholics who lost everything for what they believed while fighting as hard as they could to maintain the life and beliefs they held near and dear.  Civil wars are always the same.  Still, Bets got a feel for the English county court system :  it's still a working civil and criminal court.  We'd hoped to see the Blackledge coat of arms on the civil court wall (going back to 12c) but most likely it was never allowed on the wall since they were known to be ardent Catholic once they became property owners at peerage level (17c).

June 2012 - One day to go, last minute preparations are underway, we are so looking forward to getting on that plane and landing in England!  Make way for ducklings, or something - the weather will challenge our little American feet, but we remain undaunted!  More from across the pond where the enchantment, magic and mystery will all begin...  and unfold....