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. Rugby


Q2. The Battle of Cropredy Bridge


The initial clues appear to place us at Coombe Abbey, Brinklow Road, Binley, Warwickshire CV3 2AB. The Abbey, which was founded c 1150 AD according to some of the sources I checked, now seems to be a very luxurious hotel and indeed has a room which was once occupied by princess Elizabeth Stuart (born c 1596), who was the daughter of James VI of Scotland. The princess lived at the abbey for a time under the care of Lord Harrington and his wife, later marrying Frederick V, 'count Palatine of the Rhine and elector of the Holy Roman Empire'. Princess Elizabeth was promoted to 'Queen of Bohemia' upon the wedding and was known as the 'Winter Queen', due to an insurgency cutting short her husband's tenure of employment in that region. The Eastender had to look up where Bohemia was, seems to have been east of Bavaria, in what is now the Czech republic, though still has no idea why beatniks and hippies are sometimes called 'Bohemians'....

Travelling south from Coombe Abbey would bring us to the twenty two acre organic gardens at Ryton, which seem to have been opened c 1980s . They also practice biodynamic organic gardening there, which is organic horticulture with a bit of Theosophic/Anthroposophic hocus pocus a la Rudolf Steiner, thrown in for good measure.

The village near the two hundred and fifty yard long canal tunnel which has two towpaths, is probably Newbold on Avon and the canal, the Oxford Canal. The first poet is most likely "Rupert Brooke". He wrote a poem called 'Heaven', which features some lines about unfading moths and immortal flies:

"Fat caterpillars drift around,

And Paradisal grubs are found;

Unfading moths, immortal flies,

And the worm that never dies.

And in that Heaven of all their wish,

There shall be no more land, say fish"

According to some of his biographies, Rupert Brooke attended the school at Rugby, as did the second poet 'Walter Savage Landor', who published some stanzas called 'Maid's Lament'. The eleven arch railway viaduct is probably the 'Leicester Road Viaduct' in Rugby.

Eighteen miles south of Rugby. lies the site of the 'Battle of Cropredy Bridge'. This was a Donnybrook involving a Royalist army led by king Charles and the Parliamentarian army under the command of Sir William Waller. Both sides seemed to be fairly evenly matched, with about five thousand horse soldiers and four thousand infantry apiece and the encounter ended in a draw c 29th June 1644.

The second battle is most likely 'The Battle of Edgehill', again an encounter between Royalists and Parliamentarians c 23rd October 1642. There does appear to be an obelisk near the village of Edgehill but the reason that you would probably be lifted for visiting the actual battlefield site, is that there seems to be some sort of military installation there.

N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment or quip relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to 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. Wolverhampton


Q2. Pennocrucium

The initial clues seem to place us in the West Midlands, at the Wyrl[e]y and Essington Canal, this appears to be known locally, as 'The Curly Wyrley' due to its somewhat meandering course. A firebrand religious fundamentalist, who according to some of her biographies taught in the town of Wednesfield, through which the aforementioned canal passes, was most likely 'Mary Whitehouse' (born c 1910). Mrs Whitehouse published a book called 'Who Does She Think She Is?' c 1971 and appears to have become radicalised in the nineteen thirties when she started a popular front called the M.R.A. (Moral Re-Armament group) in an attempt to suppress ideas that her followers and supporters didn't like being broadcast on TV, radio and printed media.

She may of course have been correct to rail against what was for the period a quite subtle method of mass psychological control, whereby the citizenry are allowed to think that they are free because they can indulge their base desires and fantasies by watching them play out on TV or cinema (which of course very effectively distracts them from taking on the incumbent regime over things they are not happy about, a fact not lost on the Maya and the Romans, who let their people watch some very violent entertainment) but like Cnut trying to turn back the tides, was on a hiding to nothing with this approach, because the bread and circuses thing has worked since Roman times and probably before that. The good lady herself could of course have been controlled opposition employed to reinforce support by the masses for the broadcasting authorities or as is perhaps more likely, an unwitting victim of another just as ancient psychological control system and may well have failed to recognise that ego dystopic rage is how the people who run some of these religious sects manipulate their followers and motivate them to do some really terrible stuff .

I digress, the next hint takes us to [M]osley Old Hall, which was at one point an Elizabethan house, where Charles II holed up while on the run from the Bizzies after the Battle of Worcester c 1651. The Eastender thought that the house didn't look very Elizabethan but it turns out from reading the blurb on the National Trust web site, that it was covered over with more modern bricks in the nineteenth century.

The city where a lady W[u]lfr[u]n (or Wulfruna as she was also known) founded a 'religious community'  c ad 994 is most likely Wolverhampto[n]. Wolverhampton Wanderers football club appear to have won the League [C]u[p] c 1974.

A forty six mile long canal which passes through the city of Wolverhampton is most likely the Staff[o]rdshire and Worcester canal, which was opened c 1771/72 depending on which reference you check and a house which was noted for arts and crafts in the vicinity of Wolverhampton could be Wight W[i][c]k Manor (constructed c 1887/88).



Assembling our clues and extracting the letters gives:

1. Wyrl[e]y and Essington Canal                         E
2. Ma[r]y Whitehouse / Wed[n]esfield                R     N
3. [M]oseley Old Hall                                          M
4. Wolverhampto[n]                                            N
5. W[u]lfr[u]n                                                     U   U
6. League [c]u[p]                                               C   P
7. Staff[o]rdshire and Worcester Canal             O
8. Wight W[i][c]k Manor                                     I C

Travelling twelve miles of so North North West of the Wight Wick Manor, brings us to a dorp called Water Eaton, which sounds like a wet version of the public school Eton. Next to that hamlet lies the Romano-British settlement of PENNOCRUCIUM, the name of which contains the same letters as those extracted from the clue answers above.

N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment or quip relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to 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. Kidderminster


Q2. Stanley Baldwin

N.B. for question 2, Stanley Baldwin was also known as 'First Earl Baldwin of Bewdley'

The initial clues seem to place us in the town of Kidderminster, in the county of Worcestershire, probably on the Severn Valley Railway, which according to some of the reference sources I checked, does appear to be sixteen miles long (originally forty) and was opened for business c 1862. A civil servant who invented the lickable adhesive postage stamp was according to some of his biographies, Rowland Hill. Rowland Hill was born on the 3rd of December c 1795, at 96 Blackwell Street, in Kidderminster. The Servern Valley Railway crosses the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal, which some sources claim, is forty six miles long.

A prime minister who observed that "a lot of hard-faced men appeared to have done well out of the war", is probably Stanley Baldwin. Some of his biographies claim that he was born at Lower Park House, Bewdley, on the 3rd of August c 1867. The heritage railway does pass this town but the Eastender questions why it would take fifteen minutes to get there from Kidderminster.

The Severn Valley Railway is carried across the river Severn by the Victoria Bridge, a cast iron structure which seems to have been built by Sir John Fowler (born c1817). The railway terminates in the town of Bridgnorth. I couldn't find any references to a house with an art collection east of there but did find a house about three miles north east, called Davenport Hall and this appears to have been designed by Francis Smith of Warwick (born c 1672). There is also a house called Farmcote Hall about the right distance to the east of Bridgnorth but again couldn't find anything about it having an art collection.The railway line passes close to a sewage work as it approaches Bridgnorth.

N.B. Due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink posting on his page, the Eastender has moved to moderated comments but rest assured, if you have a non abusive comment or quip relating to the puzzle and its solution, he will endeavour to publish it.