The Diary of Nathaniel Bryceson (Part 7)

[drykid]

I can't really comment on people going to view coffins as earlier this month I visited Hythe in Kent, where the church's main attraction is the crypt which is stacked high with medieval bones. Nat would have adored  it 

Although he'd probably have helped himself to a souvenir... maybe a few ribs to go with the skull he already has.

Not only is the interior of the church fabulous I've also got to hear a beautiful rendition of 'The flocks shall leave the mountains' form Acis and Galatea which I love 

The whole 4-part series is worth seeing if it's ever on again - I missed the one on Purcell, but I saw the Handel and Haydn ones (and I still have then Mendelssohn one recorded for when I get round to seeing it.) Even if you're not that into the music, the presenter's enthusiasm for the subject really comes across (the subtitle "a personal exploration" is appropriate.) You get the impression that he'd be visiting the same places and talking to the same people even if there wasn't a camera there to record it all.  It makes a change from the usual rent-a-celebrities they get to present most docs these days.  It's also fun to watch him switch from interviewing and narrating one moment to conducting or (impressively) playing organ / piano in the next scene.

[drykid]

This shows a picture of the monument of the duke and his two wives that Nat refers to - the vault is still there and like Nat, can be visited on a Sunday (saw this mentioned on another site, cant remember link now!)

http://www.dukesofbuckingham.org.uk/places/Whitchurch/whitchurch.htm

Thanks for the link - it really is a very exquisite church.  Also it makes me wonder how much Nat actually knows in advance about these places he's visiting.  I mean, he seems to know where he's heading (unless he just visits churches he stumbles across, and then writes them up as if he'd been heading there all along.)  But in those days it wouldn't be easy to read about the history of the different churches, so maybe Nat was just expecting a normal parish church, and would've been completely surprised at what greeted him.

The letter linked to on that page is interesting; it's only written a year before Nat visited the church, and discusses the relative disarray of the coffins that Nat also commented on.  Clearly then the attempt to get something done about it didn't bear fruit immediately.

[deb usa]

Hi everyone

Thanks for the great links on the Chandos family ... very grand.

I loved your photo Mongibello ...Thanks for that! It makes me very envious... I wish I could've done the walk with you!

deb

[deb usa]

Thought I would try to figure out who this child was:

"17 September 1846
Thursday
William Vandercombe’s (alias Whack, the cart carman at Wharf) wife confined this morning early with a daughter."

Found another child
St Pancras Parish Church, Camden
Ann Vandicomb bpt:1 June 1844, Great Edward St, R.P. (not sure what RP is?)
dad = William Vandicomb, coal porter
mum= Sarah Vandicomb

still looking for the daughter

William, 30 and Sarah, 30, Vandicom (transcribed as Vandican) are living at Cumberland Market, St Pancras in 1841. They had another child Joseph bpt 1841 ...no sign of him.

deb

[Ruskie]

I can't really comment on people going to view coffins as earlier this month I visited Hythe in Kent, where the church's main attraction is the crypt which is stacked high with medieval bones. Nat would have adored  it 

Although he'd probably have helped himself to a souvenir... maybe a few ribs to go with the skull he already has.

I think that the skull Nathaniel helped himself to was later wasn't it?.

I must say that the Kent church you visited sounds fascinating Carole - just the kind of place I would like.  

I also had some thoughts about the churches that Nat visits - they all seem to be so picturesque, ancient and generally interesting. I think he planned his jaunts and made a point of visiting unique churches or those with a particular attraction.

[Ruskie]

Hi Deb! 

I only found Joseph, son of William and Sarah Vandercombe. I suspected the surname may have been misspelled which is the reason I couldn't find the new daughter. Maybe this birth is another of those that are not on Ancestry? 

I've just had a look at St Lawrence Whitchurch, I can see how this must have been such a magnet for Nathaniel. It's very impressive. I thought it was very funny that he revisited the church later in the day.

[drykid]

I think that the skull Nathaniel helped himself to was later wasn't it?.

Yeah it was in 1848, but in my hypothetical scenario Nat visited Carole's church after 1848.  Of course there's an infinite number of other possible scenarios, but I'll leave those for others to worry about

On the subject of the stolen skull, I visited St Pancras Old Church the other week.  It's an interesting place; was it mentioned here that at that time the person in charge of the relocation of the old graves due to the railway encroachment was no less than the novelist Thomas Hardy? (There's a plaque about it all underneath what's known as the Hardy tree.)  I have a mental image of Nat making his getaway chased by a furious Thomas Hardy, although doubtless in reality it happened while Nat was the only one there.

[Ruskie]

This is from "The London of Dickens":
From Coram Street we turn left along Hunter
Street, which continues into Judd Street, and at
No. 78 on the right is Cromer Street, where at
No. 116 we find the Boot Tavern on the site of the
old " Boot " of Barnaby Rudge.

As they were thirsty by this time, Dennis
proposed that they should repair together to
the Boot, where there was good company and
strong liquor.

I wonder if this is where Nathaniel had his 'bread and beef'?

[alpinecottage]

Birth; Martha Vandercomb reg St Pancras Sep Q 1842

Deaths;  Joseph Vandercow reg  St Pancras Dec 1842      
               Elizabeth Vandercombe reg Marylebone Mar Q 1847