A recent win on eBay of the photo-postcard, shown above, dated 1904 has been added to the Parlington history site, and contrasts this former Gascoigne property with the location today. It was sold in 1964 in the major auction in October that year; details of the auction were added in an earlier post: the-biggest-sell-off-of-aberford-that-ever-was.
On the 2nd of October 1964, The Parlington Estate and much of Aberford, along with a few properties in Saxton were put under the auctioneers hammer! This is a list of the property on offer.
This coming October, 4th-11th each day from 10:00am- 4:30pm, is an exhibition at Aberford Interiors featuring the paintings by the internationally acknowledged artist Anthony Christian. He and his wife Marian, enjoy a quiet and thoughtful existence in the grand old Gardens House, just up the hill from the site of the old hall. However, today’s produce is oil on canvas whereas in days gone by the Gardens house was renowned for the production of fresh produce for the Gascoigne table. Residing in such surroundings is a great nutrient to the creative juices and we are pleased to see his work on local landscapes being presented at an exhibition in the village. Of course Aberford has often been the subject of artistic endeavours the Almshouses once being used by local artist, Heather Walker. The windmill long since demolished on the hill above the road to Lotherton, was often the subject of artists, and the main street with the bridge over the Cock Beck has drawn the eye of amateur painters over the decades.
A recent business trip to Norwich took me past a number of Windmills, although not in use their presence in the landscape is an attractive addition, being as they are on a human scale, whereas their modern equivalents have no such attraction for me. Here is one of the mills I snapped as I went by, I did stop the car first I might add.
The picture shown here was discovered today [6th November], that is a device with an SD Memory card in it with the picture on the card. It was found poking out of the mud on Parlington Lane, at the rear of the Dark Arch, so if you know who these people are, I may be able to restore to them the device they lost, and yes despite lying in the mud it still works! Sadly my reason for wading through the mud to find Matilda [see earlier post] brought no results.
Update 9th November Remembrance Sunday, Matilda returned at just after 11:00am following a two minute silence! Thank you.
Sadly our cat disappeared yesterday, she is called Matilda and is tortoiseshell colour, with white on her tummy. She is pictured here a couple of summers back in the garden. Normally she is in and out of the house throughout the day, but yesterday [5th November 2008] she was not seen after about 10.00am. She is a very loving and easygoing animal and is greatly missed by my wife and I. I pray she returns and has not met with some awful fate. It is very sad to loose a family pet, Matilda is not our first pet to have gone missing, but here at least we felt she was in ideal surroundings, virtually no traffic, plenty of space and always a warm spot near the fire in the winter, unlike the previous home. So if any readers are local and do spot her please get in touch,
Thanks
The sudden arrival of three or four inches of snow prompted many people to get out their cameras this Easter, here are a few taken locally and a couple by a friend, who sent them by email.
Additional photos are available here: my dotmac account
The Triumphal Arch on the Parlington Estate
The former Almshouses
The gatehouse to the Almshouses.
During the Second World War the inhabitants of Aberford, contributed towards the cost of a Supermarine Spitfire and in June of 1941 an aircraft, a Mark Vb serial number: P8640 was delivered to RAF Brize Norton. A recent enquirer, Johnny Lyttle of Aberford asked if I knew anything about the aircraft.
Being off topic I had not pursued the history of the plane, however I recalled a picture of the plane in a book produced some years ago, titled “Aberford in Times Past” by A.G.Bennett, T. Hayton, K.Hewitt. The entry gave a serial number for the aircraft, so I passed this to Johnny with the suggestion that the MOD might be able to provide more information on the life of the plane. He took up the baton and has been successful in discovering some of the history of the aircraft.
One of the eeriest things in Aberford is the stone coffin which is leaning against the perimeter wall of the graveyard. It is clearly very old, but think of all the work required to hew the stone into that complicated shape. It is as if it’s standing there waiting to be used…
Of course if it fell over on anyone, they would most certainly be confined forthwith!
