Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

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. Towcester


Q2. Weedon Lois


The initial clues seem to place us in the town of T[o]wcester, which looks to be in the county of Northamptonshire. Pott and Slurk are characters from Charles Dickens' 'Pickwick Papers', who were involved in a donnybrook which took place in the Saracen's Head Inn, in that burg. Poor old Mr Pickwick, appears to have been caught in the crossfire, when he stopped there for some refreshment.

The Romans called Towcester, Lactodorum and the Latin phrase in the clues 'Hora e Sempra', which means 'Now and Always', is the family motto of the Fermor-Hesketh family and it was Baron H[e]sketh, who founded the Towcester race course c 1876, after a visit from her imperial majesty, Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, who stayed with the Baron at his house, Easton Neston. Easton Neston, was designed by an architect called Nicholas Hawksm[o]or (born c 1661/1662).

A Roman road, near Towcester, is probably the A5, this used to be known as [W]atli[n]g Street and this is also the name of a Battle fought between the Iceni (commanded by Boudica), the Trinivantes, elements of the People's Front of Judea (PFJ) and the Roman army c 60 AD. The Roman's had two legions with them, the Legio XIV Gemina and the XX Valeria Victrix, around ten thousand men, under the command of Gaius Suetonious Paulinus. Paulinus was outnumbered, as Boudica had a much larger army with her but Paulinus, used the topography to his advantage, with a forest behind him and hills either side, so that Boudica's troops had to mount a frontal attack against a better armed, better trained and more disciplined enemy, who had cavalry ready to attack on each flank. The Romans killed about eighty thousand of Boudica's troops and camp followers, with the loss of around four hundred legionaires and the British leader opting to commit suicide, rather than be taken prisoner.

The actual location of the battle is a bit hazy, with some historians claiming that it was fought anywhere from the Midlands, Wroxeter, Mancetter to the Kennet Valley but the nearest alleged battlefield site, which fits with the clues, is probably Cuttle Mill, which lies beside the A5, a short way south east of Towcester.

Another sporting venue, which is south west of Towcester, is the Silverstone racetrack and it was here, c 1967, that a driver called Jim C[l]ark (born c 1936), won the British grand prix for the fifth time. The 'Palatial' and disused arm clue, seems to refer to the Buck[i]ngham arm (disused), of the Grand Union Canal, which lies south east of Silverstone and a sixteenth century building, which is situated north west of the disused canal arm, is likely to be [S]ulgrave Manor, which was at one time, split into three estates, which may be what the 'hatchet job' clue refers to.

The Eastender loves potty eccentric avant garde artists and the writer in question, one [E][d]ith Sitwell (born c 1887), according to some of her biographies, was undoubtedly of this ilk. She published a work called Facade, which was a series of poems, c 1918.

Now collating and rearranging the letters gleaned from the clues :

1. T[O]WCESTER                         O
2. H[E]SKETH                               E
3  NICHOLAS HAWKSM[O]OR        O
4. [W]ATLI[N]G STREET                 W  N
5. JIM C[L]ARK                              L
6. GRAND UNION CANAL
    BUCK[I]NGHAM ARM (disused)     I
7. [S]ULGRAVE MANOR                   S
8. [ED]ITH SITWELL                         E D


Gives us the name of the village, which lies about two miles north east of Sulgrave Manor, where Edith Sitwell visited her brother and where they are both buried. The hamlet is called Weedon Lois.

N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.

Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

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. Whitley Bay


Q2. St Mary's Island


внимание друзья! For Question 2, St Mary's Island, is also called 'Bait Island', on some maps.

Scroll past the pictures for the breakdown and solutions to the puzzle clues:


The Eastender's blogg has been a bit delayed this weekend, due to him being asked by the joint American-Thai contingent, to lead a Munro bagging expedition into the fierce icy and rocky wilderness east of Glen Falloch, with the aim of reaching the summit of a lofty eminence, called Beinn Chabhair. The American-Thai contingent were initially a little concerned at the conditions but after the Eastender had assured them that a temperature of 12 degrees centigrade is regarded as T-shirt weather in this part of the world and that this was the best time to go, as the bracken was only sprouting, thus no jungle, ticks or midges to negotiate, dodge and otherwise hinder our enjoyment of the trip, things soon got underway and we entered the temperate rain forest at the base of the mountain, where we encountered a giant waterfall, which is not visible from the road, before sumitting the Beinn around three hours later. We were passed on the way by a Royal Marine in shorts and T-shirt, travelling at a fair old clip, who cheerily informed us that he was 'just out for my afternoon jog'. We lunched at the summit, where it was two degrees cooler and blowing a hooley and then on the descent, nearly lost one of the team over the aforementioned giant waterfall, when fatigue and loss of concentration caused them to trip and pitch forward at an alarming rate, fortunately they were grabbed before they went over and then admonished with the phrase 'don't do that again! '.

                                          Picture of the Giant Waterfall, which is not visible from the road.

                                                            The fierce icy and rocky wilderness:

                               View from the summit of Beinn Chabhair (933 metres or 3061 feet)

Nice view taken on the steep ascent

Some of the other waterfalls encountered on the trip:

I digress, the initial clues seem to place us in the town of Whitley Bay, in one of the most beautiful counties on the big British island, namely Northumberland. One of the inventors of the windscreen wiper, who was born c 1880, at 4 St Ann's row, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, according to some of his biographies, was a chap called Gladstone Adams. He allegedly came up with the idea after travelling from Newcastle to London to watch a football match, in a primitive car called a Darracq and because it was raining and snowing, had to lower the windshield in order to get a clear view of the road. Adams appears to have been in the RFC and helped arrange the funeral of Baron Von Richthofen. Some of the biographical reference sources, claim that he spent the rest of his life living in Whitley Bay, running a photographic business.

A disaster which occurred c Jan 16 1862, is probably the Hartley Colliery or Hester Pit disaster, in which two hundred and four men lost their lives, when the beam of a pumping engine broke and sent parts tumbling down the only shaft into the mine, blocking it and trapping the workers.

The 'splendid home', in an estate which lies north of Hartley village, is likely to be Seaton Delaval Hall, which was designed by an architect (born c 1664), called Sir John Vandbrugh. The owners of Seaton Delaval hall seem to have been notorious pranksters and it is said that guests could awaken to the sight of a room turned upside down, with the furniture on the ceiling. The place seems to have burned down c 1822, with the fire being reported by sailors off the coast of Northumberland.

A nature reserve two and a half miles south east of the 'splendid home' and which was founded c 1992, is probably St Mary's Island Local Nature Reserve. It was originally designated St Mary's and Curry's Point Local Nature Reserve but is now usually just called St Mary's Island (L.N..R). The island does have a decommissioned lighthouse on it, was constructed c 1897/98 and has 137 steps to the top.

An aircraft which crashed in the area c 1940 was a Hadley Page Hampden bomber Mk 1, L4054, returning from a patrol with a full bomb load , which got into difficulties and circled the lighthouse for ninety minutes signalling SOS, before crashing inland and blowing up, with no survivors. St Mary's is reachable by a concrete causeway, which gets covered by the tide.

N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.

Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

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. Harrow-on-the-Hill


Q2. John Lyon



The initial clues seem to place us in the London borough of Harrow, which used to be served by the Metropolitan Railway c 1863 to 1933, reaching Harrow c 1880. At one time, from the pictures I've seen of them, the door handles of the trains had 'Live in Metroland', engraved on them

Picture of Engraved Doorhandle

The poet, seems to be Mr 'Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!' himself, Sir John Betjeman, who published a book c 1954 called "A Few Late Chrysanthemums", which contains poems about some of the boroughs served by the Metropolitan Railway, and one which is titled 'Harrow-on-the-Hill', which contains the lines:

"Then Harrow-on-the-Hill’s a rocky island
And Harrow churchyard full of sailors’ graves
And the constant click and kissing of the trolley buses hissing"

The second poet appears to be George Gordon, Lord Byron, who published a work called "Lines Written Beneath an Elm in the Churchyard of Harrow", c 1807. The church is called St Mary's and Byron's daughter, Allegra, may be buried there. Lord Byron attended Harrow school and some of the references I checked, claim that this was founded by a farmer called John Lyon, c 1572. The school was originally named 'The Free Grammar School of John Lyon' and subsequently morphed into Harrow School. Harrow school moved away from the founder's original intention of educating local boys and became full of students from outwith the parish. To resolve this problem, the 'Lower School of John Lyon', was opened for business c 1876.  A playwright (born c 1751), who attended Harrow school, is probably 'Richard Brinsley Sheridan'.

One of the songs sung at Harrow school, which is titled 'Forty Years On', contains the lines:

"Forty years on, when afar and asunder

Parted are those who are singing today,

When you look back, and forgetfully wonder

What you were like in your work and your play,

Then, it may be, there will often come o’er you,

Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song –

Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,

Echoes of dreamland shall bear them along,"

N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.

Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

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. Perranporth


Q2. In the Roar of the Sea

The initial clues seem to place us in the village of Perranporth, in a beautiful area known as Cornwall.From looking at the OS map, there seems to be a large beach and an expanse of dunes called the 'Penhale Sands', which lie to the north of the settlement.  A motor designer who was born there, at Woodbine cottage c 1898, was Donald Mitchell Healey. He seems to have been a total petrol head and not only did he design cars, he also raced them and became the technical director at Triumph, designing all of their cars, until c 1945 when the factory went bust. At that point, Healey founded the Donald Healey Motor Company Ltd, where his first model, the Healey Elliot went on to win some alpine rally events c 1947/48.

Penhale sands, from some of the sources I checked, seems to have been the site of St Piran's church and St Piran's Oratory. The Eastender had to look up what an oratory was but it appears to have been a smaller chapel intended for an individual's private worship. Building a church on sand dunes, as we shall later see, is not usually a good idea. St Piran is thought by some to have been Irish and born c 6th century ad. He is also the patron saint of tin miners and his colours, white cross on a black background, are said to represent tin being smelted from a stone, which he allegedly floated across the sea from Eire on, after being escorted from the club by angry heathens. His first disciples upon coming ashore are said to have been a fox, a badger and a bear, though how this enabled him to recruit more followers, remains somewhat unclear.

Fourteen miles north north east of Perranporth, would likely bring us to the Trevose Head lighthouse which some of the references I looked at claim is twenty seven metres high or eighty eight point five eight feet in old money. Appears to have been constructed c 1847. Taking the circuitous route to find the church mentioned in the clues, would take us past the village of Trevone and it was here that an author called Dorothy Richardson lived for a time. Richardson pioneered the stream of consciousness style of writing in her series of thirteen novels known as 'Pilgrimage'.

Driving past Trevone, brings us to the town of Padstow and this is where a great old British actor called Edward Woodward (born c 1930) lived, at Mariner's Friend, Hawker's Cove. Woodward according to some of his bios, made his first debut at the Castle Theatre, Farnham c 1946, in a play called 'A kiss for Cinderella', though subsequently came to a bad end, after upsetting some local pagans on a Scottish island.

A much loved poet, called John Betjeman (and who did not like his line 'Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough? ) lies in the graveyard of St Enodoc's church, which is situated about five miles as the drone flies, east of Trevose Head lighthouse. This church is also built on sand dunes, allegedly over the cave where St Enodoc lived as a hermit, on the east bank of the river Camel and for much of its history was almost engulfed by sand. It is said that at times, the parishioners had to climb through a hole in the roof to gain entry and that this had to be done once a year, in order for the rector to be able to collect tithes from the locals. No church service, no taxes, hence the reluctance to dig the edifice out.

The story of the battle to keep St Enodoc's church sand free, is described in a novel called 'In the Roar of the Sea' (published c 1892), by a writer and erudite polymath called Sabine Baring Gould. Baring Gould seems to have been some sort of literary dynamo, writing over forty novels, twenty four travel guide books, general interest books and a collection of folk songs, reputedly a total of twelve hundred and forty publications and all while holding down his day job as a clergyman. From the excerpts of the novel I read in the various archives I trawled through, one of the main protagonists in the novel, is called the Reverend Peter Trevisa,who was for twenty five years, rector of St Enodoc's and it was the problem of the church being swallowed by the sand, which finished him off, as he worked in vain to dig it out, without help from the tithe avoiding locals....

N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.

Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

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. Wigtown


Q2. Cardoness Castle



When you read the phrase "book town", you may possibly think of Hay on Wye but that is probably not the one the author is referring to in the initial clues, which more likely place us in the Dumfries and Galloway region, specifically in the settlement of Wigtown, which some of the sources I checked, claim was designated Scotland's national book town, c 1998. Wigtown was once the county town of the four hundred and eight seven square mile county of Wigtownshire, which existed until c 1975.

A writer called John Kincaid McNeillie (born c 1916),once lived in North Clutag, which is around three miles south west of Wigtown and penned a famous novel about a fierce ploughman called 'Andy Walker'. Some of McNeillie's bios say that the book was called "Wigtown Ploughman: Part of his Life" and was published c 1939. McNeillie seems to have been a bit like Thomas Hardy, in that some of his works reflect the very harsh environment and poverty that country people lived in, even in the twentieth century. He wrote so many books and articles for journals, that they named the library in Wigtown after him. When he died, it is said that his ashes were transported to North Clutag and washed into the earth there, with whisky from the local Bladnoch distillery.

A town eight miles north or so from Wigtown, is most likely Newton Stewart and it was here that the exciseman and antiquary, Joseph Train was based for a time. Train published his work 'Poetical Reveries' c 1806 and carried out research for the writer Sir Walter Scott (born c 1771), sending him many pages of his antiquarian material, some of which Scott based his novels on. 

Motoring down the opposite shore from the book town, south east along the A75, would probably take us past  Creetown and Carsluith Castle. This does not seem to be the castle mentioned in the hints, as the blurb on the Historic Scotland web site says that it is of circa sixteenth century origin. From looking at the pictures of it, it does not appear to be six storeys high, either. Just before the road turns east further on, lies Barholm castle, once owned by the McCullochs, who feuded with the Browns of Carsluith Castle. Barholm Castle is around three storeys high and of 15th/16th century origin. It seems to be for sale for more the half a million pounds but you could possibly get hit for a lot of council tax if you buy it.

The road turns east toward the town of Gatehouse of Fleet, and it was here c 1793, that the lines 'By oppression’s woes and pains! ' were written by Robert Burns, for his poem 'Scots Wha Hae' or in English 'Scots Who Have With Wallace Bled'. Burns used to hang out with a good ol' Jacobite bampot called Wullie Nicol and it was said that Nicol had to be taken everywhere twice, the purpose of the second visit being to apologize to the hosts, for the first visit. The bard himself also met Sir Walter Scott, at the house of the philosopher, professor Adam Ferguson, in Edinburgh. To complicate things further, there seem to be three castles at Gatehouse of fleet (which fits in with the 'fleeting shower' clue), one is a ruin called 'Cally Castle', which was built c 16th century and attained a height of four storeys, a second is called Green Tower Motte (aka Boreland of Anwoth motte), which is little more than earthworks now and the third, is 'Cardoness Castle', which Historic Scotland describe as 'a well preserved six storey tower house of the McCullochs, dating back to the 15th century'. It is this tower which lies just outside of the town on the road that the puzzle author was probably travelling on and is the one which seems to be a good fit for the clues given.

N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.