Dedham

[mossie]

Today I had to visit my chiropodist who lives quite close to Constable Country. For those who don't know it is an area made famous by the artist John Constable. He was born in the village of East Bergholt and many of his paintings illustrate nearby places. The region is generally known as Dedham Vale and as it was a nice day when my session was finished I carried on down to the village of Dedham which lays just in Essex.



It is a very typical large wealthy village of the area, but because of the Constable association is quite a tourist trap, coach parties come from all over to visit, so one finds twee boutique type shoppes.



The old chapel has been converted into a "Craft Centre" with all sorts of fancy goods and a little tearoom



But to get serious I always go for the church. Dedham shows that it was for a long time been a prosperous place by its large well kept church



This looms over the village however you approach it, here behind the old Vicarage



It has an unusual feature in that access to the main churchyard is via a tunnel under the tower.



This has a very ornate ceiling



The nave is large and extremely well looked after, with large side aisles, always the sign of a wealthy congregation



It also has a nice organ, which looks like a model church



A good timbered roof



The main door shows how idolatrous images were attacked at the reformation. Much after the fashion of the vandals in Iraq and Syria today



Of course a good village must have good pubs and Dedham boasts two, this The Marlborough Head was a favourite lunch spot for my wife



and there is also The Sun



More tomorrow, if you can bear it.

[Deleted]

Oh mossie, thank you. This is exactly what I needed to see today. How lucky that it was sunny. More, please!

[mich64]

Enjoying this very much Mossie, I hope you do continue tomorrow. What a beautiful tranquil area. I would love to sit down for a cup of tea in that shop.

[Deleted]

Lovely to see all of this. Whenever I see all of the religious places anywhere in Europe, I am always impressed at how big they are compared to current "needs." It makes me wonder if they were built to be full -- even perhaps overcrowded -- or if the builders always left room for expansion. Since the Wiki about just any church usually says that each place was built bigger and bigger about every century or two, I imagine that these sizes were actually needed, probably until about 1950 when television began to appear in homes.

[htmb]

Very nice pictures, Mossie. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

It looks like you had a pretty day for a stroll.

[bixaorellana]

What a lovely place, Mossie. Can't wait to see more.

That entrance to the churchyard certainly is different. Do you suppose it was originally a security measure, or simply an architectural decision. Love the ceilings.

The Marlborough Head seems to have settled quite a bit in the past centuries!

[mossie]

With regard to old buildings settling, there were a few reasons, one being that the timbers were not fully seasoned and so warped both from age and the undue stresses they had to bear. The other was insufficient foundations, the old house my parents moved to when I was 12 was of similar vintage to the Marlborough Head. About 8" down the subsoil was chalk and there were no foundations except for approx 12"x12" timbers laid direct on the chalk. The timber frame for the building was then constructed on that.

Church building in the good old days was the responsibility of the parish and built by the parishioners with hired in travelling specialists such as masons and carpenters. Religion was very important and, rather as today rich people very often have large and elaborate houses to demonstrate their wealth, so in medaeival times the house of God had to be as large and elaborately furnished as could be afforded. It is common to see churches which have been enlarged and altered in subsequent centuries to what degree the parish could afford. The side aisles were sometimes paid for by rich families to form a memorial. The nave roof could be lifted to accommodate extra windows.

I am no expert but churches can be dated by the style of building, particularly windows and doorways. English churches can be classified as Roman, Saxon, Norman, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular. Each name relating to a style and limited to certain periods. Because of the religious craze for updating churches a church very often displays examples of several types. To confuse matters further the Victorians had a craze for sorting out churches and would alter features to confirm to their idea of what should be right. Much stained glass is Victorian masquerading as ancient.

Oh dear quite a lectue, I must dig out some more photos.

[mossie]

I hope you have recovered from that lecture, because you are about to get another.

Dedham shows a number of houses which are virtually hamlets in themselves, here is an example



I suspect the left hand gable is from the original house and as the family expanded an extension to the right was added. Later still they became wealthier and the grander wing to the right appeared and finally a granny annexe.

There is also some grand houses in the neighbourhood including this one above the valley which must have a lovely view



A total contrast is the old mill reconstructed into expensive flats



This once belonged to John Constables father and stands on the River Stour, a cluster of dwellings behind line the bank.



Here is the sluice which controls the mill pond



There is also a lock on the canalised section of the river to allow passage



Once downstream the river passes under a bridge to flow through the water meadows to Flatford



there may be fish



But there is a very pleasant riverside walk along to Flatford Mill, which forms the subject of one of Constables works



The willows love the water



and it supports a wide variety of birds, my ducks in the Wildlife thread were close by



But back to the village street





There is a wide variety of house style



and some pretentious notices, my Latin is virtually non existent but



How about a huge schoolmaster



From this old house



Parked up the street was this monster



Boldly coloured houses seem to fit right in



here is another "hamlet" house



another view



and a date



Well, I am exhausted and I am sure you are

[htmb]

This is really lovely, Mossie. The house "with a view" looks enormous!

I could see living in a reconstructed flat in the old mill.

Your landscapes are especially nice and I liked seeing the fisherman out in the water.

You have lots of green grass at this time of year?

Maybe you can get back for photographs in late spring or summer. It would be nice to see the river again, but with some leaves on the willows.

[fumobici]

This is a very nicely done set of photos of a very attractive looking place on a beautiful day. I don't know about you but that's about all i can aspire to with a camera.

[Deleted]

The sunshine makes it look much warmer than I suspect that it really is.

[bixaorellana]

Thanks for the "lectures", Mossie -- most illuminating. I certainly never knew that about the side aisle in churches.

Great tour of different architectural styles. I looked at the pictures before reading the text, so had an a-ha moment when I found out the handsome brick building with the odd tall arch was formerly a mill.

Beautiful pictures throughout -- I particularly love the closeup of the fisherman.

[patricklondon]

Mar 12, 2015 20:06:31 GMT mossie said:

in medaeival times the house of God had to be as large and elaborately furnished as could be afforded.

Hence the apparently incongruously large size of so many village churches in East Anglia: in those days, the country was rich on the proceeds of the wool trade and villages that now seem like backwaters could afford near-cathedral-size churches. Today's "barley barons" put their money elsewhere.

My blog | My photos | My video clips
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[mickthecactus]

A very interesting fact Patrick. Thanks.

[mickthecactus]

And an excellent set of photos too Mossie. Thank you very much.

[bjd]

The woman in the picture just after the one of the fisherman looks as though she is dressed for one of Constable's paintings.

And thank you for showing a sluice. I never knew what it was when I read books about the Fens.

[lugg]

Just lovely, a part of England that I know so little about , Thanks Mossie

[mossie]

To respond to some of the points made. It is a great pity that the barley barons , bankers and other plutocrats do not now plough their gains back into their communities as those who paid for our public buildings in the past did. I owe my existence to the generosity of the local nobs from my home village. My grandfather was a "Hunt servant", i.e. he worked for the local fox hunt which was based in the village and owned by a rich local, who, with a band of faithful members of the Hunt, controlled the local fox population. Anyway, my grandfather was killed in a riding accident at work leaving a pregnant widow with 5 other children, including my father aged about 8. The Hunt had a collection to help the family, there was very little social security in 1905. They were housed, the children clothed and found apprenticeships or suitable employment when they became 14. I cannot see many of our nobs today looking after their employees kin in that way.

Sorry, I feel very strongly about the lack of social cohesion in our sad country today.

Our grass is always green, htmb, we live on the other side.

And Fumobici, I take snapshots for my own amusement. I find this forum spurs me on to do more, and also enables me to get an ego boost by publishing my simple snaps here.

K it was a very pleasant early spring day, but I was glad of my heavy coat.

Bjd, that woman is actually two people overlapping, I guess they had walked along from Flatford and had become rather warm and so some top clothing had been taken off and loosely hung round them.

[mossie]

Somebody had written earlier on to ask to see this place later in the year when the trees had grown leaves. I must not be encouraged, so here goes.

The river is a great attraction and messing about in boats is a common pastime which is well catered for here



Two families had set off down river under the command of this little admiral



She ordered daddy to scare the nasty swan away



In order to bypass the lock and sluice boats have to be carried past, as this notice instructs



At last I have instructions for when I go missing



I had to follow the path which meant passing through this kissing gate and climbing the steps formed by the tree roots

[mossie]

I had to brak off while I still learn how to use a Mac.

I had shown this house up on the hill above the river. This was the home of Randolph Churchill, dissolute son of the famous Winston



The river path gives a distant view of Dedham church



and passes willows which could well have been there in Constable's time



The river bank is thick with weeds, mostle nettles and thistles but also abundant rose bay willow herb



and teasels, which were cultivated in the past for use in wool combing



Soon the demand for rest and coffee made me retrace my steps, passing the fancy housing erected behind the old mill where one of our members fancied a billet



Although one could just catch a glimpse of the real thing



or perhaps she would prefer something more substantial



But passing the Marlborough Head pub, I at last got my coffee



One final detail was this graffiti on one of the houses in the main street, once upon a time it housed a school and naughty scholars embellished the wall while waiting for lessons to start



A nice way to waste a morning

[htmb]

Thanks for going back, Mossie. Lovely picture, but the first one with the boats and the leaves in the water is very special!

[mossie]

Thanks htmb.

Meant to include this shot of the path, the river is to the left behind an almost impenetrable swathe of long grass and weeds, with occasional openings where cattle have been through to drink.



One can occasionally get a glimpse back across

[Deleted]

I really like "paths to nowhere" like that.

[bixaorellana]

Oh, Mossie! I've been struggling with hotel wifi, which is not a friend to picture-rich threads, so am once again attempting to comment on this delightful revisiting of Dedham.

Your combining of intimate & long-shot views is just perfect -- peeking at the boats and the boaters through the trees, followed by Randolph Churchill's house and then the spires of Dedham church. I love the way you capture water and foliage and really, the whole atmosphere of the area.

[mossie]

I had to reopen this thread when I read the property supplement in the Times. It lists Britain's most expensive high streets.

Dedham ranks no.6, at an average price of £949,386. Afraid I won't be moving there any time soon.

[Deleted]

Ouch. Anomalies like that in France are usually caused by small towns that have perfect rail or road connections to Paris. Is that the case of Dedham?

[mossie]

Yes, there is an excellent rail connection at Manningtree a couple of miles away and about 65 minutes on the train to Liverpool Street, which is right in the City.