Beccles, Ringsfield, Shipmeadow, & Ellingham

We really did some walking today! Mom's already gone to bed and I'm pretty sure the rest of us are headed to bed as soon as we can. We've walked up and down streets and walked through so many church graveyards that we're all exhausted. But it's fun!

We started out the day by driving about an hour and 1/2 to Beccles. Beccles is the birthplace of my Great, Great, Great Grandfather John Barber, and both his parents, James Barber and Louisa Edwards were born there too. Most of the places we went to today were in Suffolk, England, which is like the county to us. We walked up and down the old part of the town, with buildings that were standing when my ancestors lived there. We visited St. Michael's church, which has a separate tower rising far above the town. In the graveyard that always surrounds these old churches, we stumbled on a gravestone for an Ann Barber who died Aug 27, 1792 at the age of 78. We don't know if she belongs to our Barbers, but we're going to find out when we get home. Inside the church, we saw an old baptistry font from the 12th century. There's a good chance some of our ancestors were baptized as babies at that font. It's so much fun to just walk along the streets of a city and see things that my ancestors might have seen. We've got a couple of booklets with older pictures of some of the things we've seen that give us an even better sense of it all.

In our walk down to the river we found these buildings with doors to go into the houses or shops or whatever was in them that were so short it was hard to believe you could go in and out without braining yourself. Along the street they would have little oval signs saying what used to be there and when, or who stayed there. It was great to get a sense of the history in relation to when our ancestors would have been there. When we got down by the river we stopped and had lunch at a little shop, and Mom had a cheese scone, (baking soda biscuit with little pieces of cheese in it) and I had a Cornish Pastie, which was a pastry with chopped up beef and potatoes and onions tucked inside. Pam explained to me that these started way back a long time ago in Cornwall where the workmen would have a big pastie with meat and potatoes on one end and then sweet stuff on the other end - it was a main dish and dessert all in one! They would fold the pastry over and make a crust to join the opening together, and this would form a ridge that the men could hold on to while they went to work. Then, because their hands were dirty from working, they would just throw the folded edge away. Very fascinating. The lady taking my order wanted to know if I wanted brown sauce or red sauce, and I looked at her blankly and said, "I don't know - what do I want?" Everybody in the shop laughed. I chose the brown sauce, which was kind of like A-1 sauce, actually, and was very good.

Then we took off for the outer little areas where we knew other ancestors had come from. Mostly we would look for the church in the area and wander around the graveyard looking for family names. We found lots of Barbers, but no Kirbys or Wrights or Bencleys. Some of these places are just areas, but there was a very old church there, so we knew our ancestor had seen it, and that it was likely that someone we're related to was buried/christened/married there. The picture I'm putting in here is of the Ringsfield church. I don't know if you'll be able to see it, but the roof is a thatch roof, which is rare for a church. This is the church where we figured Charlotte Kirby might have been christened, because she was born in Ringsfield. We even found a little area called Ellingham, which was actually in Norfolk, but we hadn't looked for it because we didn't realize Suffolk turned into Norfolk right in that area. There, we REALLY wanted to find Edward Kirby, because we know he was buried in Ellingham, but it turns out there are 4 churches in that little area, so he could be anywhere. We went to one, but he wasn't there, and by that time we were all tired. I could have kept looking, but Doug and Barbara and Pam and Roger have been so absolutely wonderful to us to haul us all over and wade through graveyards with us and wait while I take a huge amount of pictures, no to mention all the gas - sorry - petrol, they're using up, that I didn't want to prolong things. We were seeing countryside our ancestors have walked and worked and been born in, and that was pretty cool.

Our relatives here in England are a lot of fun. They joke and laugh with us and tease me about calling it a trunk of a car instead of the boot, or walking on a sidewalk instead of a pavement. Mom says she has a little bit of a hard time understanding them when they all get to talking really fast, so she watches and listens for my reaction so she knows what's going on sometimes. They're having a good time helping me figure out the money. You wouldn't think it would be that hard, because they've changed things now so they just have pounds, like our dollar, and pence, or cents. The problem is that the coins can be a 1 pound, 2 pounds, 1 pence, 2 pence, 10 pence, 20 pence, 50 pence, and I'm not sure what all, and I'm still trying to recognize what they are when I have them in my hand.

I'm not sure what's up for tomorrow. I think we might be travelling to Sue's house in Sussex, which is where the Hopes and Clays come from. Sue is the other cousin, who is actually the one who called Mom and made contact the first time. So we're looking forward to meeting her.

Thanks for your comments! It's nice to know somebody is sharing the trip with us. I've taken 122 pictures already, and this is the 3rd day of taking pictures. Already had to buy more batteries for the camera, but haven't filled up my first card yet. Getting there. Ok, going to bed. Talk to you all tomorrow.