Welcome to this month’s round-up of local
history and heritage in and around Blackmore, Essex.
Diamond
Jubilee
“The County of Essex” celebrated “the
Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II” with a Choral Evensong at
Chelmsford Cathedral on Sunday 27 May.
The Bishop of Chelmsford in his address referred to the Queen’s life of
devotion and of her service to our nation.
2012 is a defining year in our history – Diamond Jubilee, Olympics and
Paralympic Games in London and Essex.
It’s a time to celebrate and give thanks.
Golden
Jubilee
Was it over that Golden Jubilee weekend
ten years’ ago that Concorde flew low over The Green at Blackmore on its way to
Buckingham Palace? 2002 – seems very
recent.
Silver
Jubilee
I am old enough to remember Queen
Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee 35 years ago.
Monday 6 June 1977 was a drizzly day in Ingatestone. There was a great family picnic at Seymour Field
and the distribution of Silver Jubilee Crowns (coins) to all children. The following day there was an
interdenominational service, but our family stayed at home to watch the
national Thanksgiving Service on television.
Anniversaries
Hylands
Park
Hylands Park, Chelmsford, is really worth
a visit over this summer – synonymous with the V Festivals of course. The house began restoration 25 years ago in
1987.
One hundred years ago, on 26 June 1912,
the park made national news when there was a society wedding at Widford
Church. The bridegroom was Mr Claude
Grahame-White, an early aviator. His
bride was Miss Dorothy Taylor from New York.
It was a lavish affair with a fete held in the grounds of the house,
with the groom giving demonstration flights in his aeroplane. These were the early days of aviation, with
‘planes looking no more than motorised prams with wings. Many of his friends flew in for the
event. (For more read Stephen Foreman’s
book, ‘Hylands’.)
(More on Hylands: http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/Trudie-shocked-mistress-mansion-naked-bath/story-16106180-detail/story.html)
Anniversaries
Epping
and Ongar Railway
A steam-powered locomotive returned for
the first time in 45 years (1957) to the stretch of railway line previously
occupied by London Transport. The
‘Epping and Ongar Railway’, a preservation line, had a grand opening last
weekend (24 – 27 May 2012) creating much media interest. (See report http://thelocaltalk.net/eppingforest/2012/05/22/surprise-guest-at-epping-ongar-railway/
and follow link to Railway’s website http://eorailway.co.uk/).
Anniversaries
Ongar
United Reformed Church
Founded 350 years ago as an Independent
Chapel when Church of England clergy became obliged to use the new 1662 Book of
Common Prayer of be deprived of their living (i.e. sacked). The church building is Victorian.
Anniversaries
Ingatestone
United Reformed Church
The church celebrates its bi-centenary of
foundation with a special service at the end of June and two history days over
the weekend of 14 and 15 July. Congregationalists
have met in Ingatestone before 1812 but it was the building of the first chapel
on the present site which is the focus of thanks and celebration.
Book
The
Diamond Queen
Andrew Marr’s book ‘The
Diamond Queen’ (Macmillan, 2011), a more detailed account than the recent
television series, is subtitled ‘Elizabeth II and her people’. It charts the history of the monarchy from
George V to the present, and includes, inevitably, a parallel political history
of the nation; Churchill, an Essex MP being the Queen’s first of twelve Prime
Ministers. During the First World War
the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family restyled themselves as the Windsors, a rather
English, if invented, name. The book
refers to: “The Bishop of Chelmsford [Rt Rev John Edwin Watts-Ditchfield], an
influential figure, had told [Lord] Stamfordham [the King’s private secretary]
that ‘the stability of the throne would be strengthened if the Prince of Wales
married an English lady … she must be intelligent and above all full of
sympathy’.” The constant evolving of
monarchy is a thread which Andrew Marr follows, drawing comparison with the
Duke of York’s marriage to Elizabeth Bowes Lyon and Prince William to Catherine
Middleton.
Links
For an extensive list of links to other
sites go to: http://www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/externallinks.html
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