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Continue reading →: For want of a ha’penny- The Widcombe Bridge Disaster
In January 1863, a new bridge was opened connecting Bath Spa railway station with the districts of Widcombe and Lyncombe. Situated just behind the station it was a 100ft wide ‘bowstring trussed’ bridge in timber, designed by Hicks & Isaacs of Bath. It offered a much quicker way into the…
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Continue reading →: Sir Thomas Norton, Alchemist
“With due proofe and with discreet assaye,Wise men may learn new things every day.” Thomas Norton, (b. <1436 – d. c.1513 ), was a native of Bristol, a son of Walter Norton, merchant of Bristol and Worcester and probably born in the family mansion close by the Church of St…
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Continue reading →: Anyone for Sphairistike?
In the foyer of the Lawn Tennis Association there is a statue to Welshman Major Walter Clopton Wingfield with the simple statement: “Inventor of Lawn Tennis”. Born at Rhysnant Hall, Montgomeryshire on 16 October 1833, he was the eldest son of Clopton Lewis Wingfield. He had a successful military career…
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Continue reading →: A Bristol Sorcerer
From an early stage of its history, one of the functions of the Tower of London has been to act as a prison, though it was not designed as one. The Salt Tower is part of the curtain wall built by Henry III in the late 1230s. It is situated…
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Continue reading →: Mother Pugsley’s Well
Mother Pugsley! who does not remember thy well,With its waters so cool and so clear;But how few can the tale of thy constancy tell,Unto few do thy sorrows appear? “The local reader is so well acquainted with the history of this spring, which is situate on the north slope of…
“An unsystematic and untidy search through stuff…”
As the name suggests, this is a random wander though bits and pieces, often odd and unusual, that spark my interest. I haven’t turned comments on for now; if a post sparks something in you then share it with others.
Serendipity… You will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called ‘The Three Princes of Serendip’: as their Highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of.
Horace Walpole
“One of the great joys of life, to one who is properly constituted, is to rummage around in a bookstore.”
Publishers Weekly, 1873
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