When is Tea Time in England ?
I’m flying eastbound over the great pond tomorrow to visit some interesting and idyllic English countryside. Plus, meet with folks that I haven’t yet had the pleasure to meet and reunite with one that I have. This trip is a birthday gift from my wife, Laurie, and sanctioned by my children (now grown) to go walk in the steps of a relatively obscure historian that I am researching, Henry Adams.
Included in this excursion is researching information about some of Henry’s associates such as; Elizabeth Cameron, Martha Cameron Lindsay, and Sir Ronald Lindsay. I will also be looking up a few graves and hopefully connecting with a couple local genealogy societies.
My focus is on two unique places. Much Wenlock, Shropshire Northern England and Iwerne Stepleton (Steepleton) Dorset, Southern England. In the former, it’s the ruins of Wenlock Abbey, a 11th Cunalic Monastery, owned by his friend, Charles Milnes Gaskell, that Henry Adams considered one of the most peaceful places on the face of the earth.
I hope to discover some of this peace over a couple days as well as enjoy a nice meal in an ancient inn (Raven Hotel) when I head south to visit with the owners of Stepleton (pictured below). There, at their invitation, I am to sit and have some tea and talk with them about the history of thier remarkable House and its equally remarkable past owners. Stepleton House is a 17th Century Manor house located in the Cranborne Chase in Irwerne Stepleton near Blandford Forum.
The Manor house was purchased in the early 1900s by Elizabeth Cameron and given to her son-in-law and daughter, Sir Ronald and Martha Lindsay, as a gift. It’s their graves I will be visiting buried at St. Mary’s Chapel which is on the property along with visiting some of Sir Ronald’s living family and acquaintances.
My flight leaves Friday morning (the 16th of May). I’ll get back to this once I get into England (or before, if I see something that needs telling.)
~Joe
