Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Crediton
Q2. William Richard Lethaby
The initial clues seem to place us in the town of Crediton, in Devon. According to some of his bios, a politician and home secretary appointed c 1945, one Ernest Bevin (born c 1881) was schooled in Winsford, Somerset (which is listed as a village, not a town) and Crediton (listed as a town), in Devon. St Boniface (feast day 5th June), is said by some sources to have been born in Crediton, c 672 or thereabouts.
The railway which passes through Crediton is known as the Tarka line (this reminds the Eastender of a very old gag: "A guy goes into a curry house and asks the waiter for a chicken Tarka. The waiter scratches his head and says 'What's a chicken Tarka?'. Yer man replies 'Well sir, It's like a chicken Tikka, but 'otter'). The Tarka line passes through the village of Copplestone, where Ernest Bevin once lived.
Couldn't locate a halt on the OS map but a town which lies ten miles or so west of the Tarka line, where one of the last battles of the English civil war was fought on February 16th, c 1646, is Great Torrington. On the southern approaches to Great Torrington, lie the RHS gardens at Rosemoor, gifted to the society by Lady Palmer, c 1988. The RHS is said by some sources, to have been founded c 1804.
The Tarka line follows the river Taw, until the penultimate station, at Chapelton and it is four miles or so to the east, that St Hieritha (feast day 8th July) was chopped up with a scythe, by slack jawed rednecks from the village of Chittlehampton. The church in that dorp, is called St Hieritha's. A spring is said to have appeared later, at the spot where the poor women was murdered.
Barnstaple is said to be the birthplace of an architect called William Richard Lethaby (Grosvenor street, c 1857). One of Lethaby's biographies says that he only built six edifices and these were:Avon Tyrrell, near Christchurch, (1893), The Hurst at Four Oaks, near Birmingham (1893), Melsetter House in the Orkneys (1898), High Coxlease at Lyndhurst, Hampshire (1900–01), the village church at Brockhampton and the Eagle insurance office in Birmingham. The last stop on the Tarka line, seems to be in Barnstaple.
Some sources suggest that the Tarka Line from Crediton to Barnstaple passes through a number of stations where the train is scheduled to stop "on request." It is possible that the "halt" referred to may be Umberleigh, since this appears to be located at a point which is approx 45 minutes into the journey and lies 8 miles or so east of Great Torrington.
ReplyDeleteHi, I think the rail station may be Portsmouth Arms (some trains take 44 minutes from Crediton), as the line twists and turns after the Portsmouth halt but is very straight after Umberleigh. Its also exactly ten miles west from the halt to the battle site at Great Torrington.
DeleteAccording to one source relating to the Tarka Line timetable, most trains from Crediton appear to take 39 mins approx to reach Portsmouth Arms and 45 mins to reach Umberleigh. Given that each station is a "request" stop and the commentary of our intrepid traveller . . . "Still, the countryside is glorious, the stations are radiant — although we trundle through them all, save one where the train is hailed by a passenger. I follow our progress on my map. Forty-five minutes after starting, we pass through a halt. Ten miles to its west is a small town, where, one February 16, a battle was fought."
DeleteI would therefore not seek to disagree with the suggestion that the "halt" referred to may be Portsmouth Arms and not Umberleigh since that location appears to be approx 10 miles west of Great Torrington and that on this occasion the timetable may have been affected by the "stop request" made by a passenger en route at an earlier station.
oops . . .correction - that should read 10 miles "east" of Great Torrington!
DeleteHi Flonska,
DeleteThe other reason why I am now convinced the halt is Portsmouth Arms is because the author describes the line after passing through the station as Twisting and Turning. If you check the OS map via the Bing site, the line is relatively straight after Umberleigh, as I said in my first reply. Yes I agree most trains take between 39 and 41 minutes from Crediton to Portsmouth Arms with the early 6-59 taking 44 minutes. As you say the passenger who hailed the train at the halt may of delayed the service by 3 or 4 minutes!
That appears to me to be most persuasive. I am happy to concur with your analysis and conclusion drawn . . . Portsmouth Arms, it is then!
Deleteregards
Thanks Flonska, will check it out
ReplyDelete