Thurs. Sept 18, 2008 The Adams Family, canal boats, bangers & mash & mushy peas

We didn’t ever make it to Chatsworth today, or Tamworth castle. We’ve had a beautiful day, with bright, warm sunshine all day, and we’ve had a lot of fun and finished off our list of things we wanted to do/see here in this area. Except for Chatsworth or Tamworth, of course, but we found that they weren’t as important to us today as they were. Mom needed a slower, easier day today. She woke up tired and down this morning, so we started out the morning by driving to find a couple more cities that our ancestors came from. And we found all of them!

We found Norton Le Moors, which is where Samuel Adams and his parents came from. We took a picture of Mom standing by the sign. We never could find the church there, but since the Adams’ were born in the 1700s we didn’t think we would find gravestones we could read anyway, even if we did find the right church. (it’s a big area now) And Mom was more interested in finding the area and looking around and taking pictures of the signs to show she had been there. We also found Bagnall. Elizabeth Mountford’s birthplace is listed as Bucknall Cum Bagnall, and we’ve found a Bucknall, although several miles from this area where these other 3 areas are, so we’re kind of guessing that someone wasn’t sure which place it really was. It’s likely to be Bagnall, because it’s the one so close to the other towns and people didn’t usually move too far away back then. The most exciting find was Baddeley Edge, the birthplace of Samuel Adams Jr. (These people are on the Clay part of the family, for those of you trying to follow.) On the map we could find mention of Baddeley Green, so we just drove there because it was very close to Bagnall and Norton Le Moors, where his parents and grandparents were from, and we just hoped we’d find out something. And, of course, we did.

When we got to the area we were discussing how to find anything with Edge in it, trying to decide if it might be a specific area, or a street, or what. We decided to pull over and wander over to this post office on the corner and see if anyone there had any information. It just turned out that the lady who was working there knew EXACTLY where Baddeley Edge was, because she lives there! It’s actually a hill – a very steep, winding hill with houses and farms on it. When she heard Mom was from America and looking for the area her family came from, she asked for the family names and started spouting off all kinds of stuff. She knows the house where the Adams’ used to live, although they weren’t there now, but the Adams family was still around, the Mountfords aren’t still around but she remembered knowing people with those names, and the Brindleys weren’t there anymore either, but she knew they had been there because there was a Brindley Lane up on Baddeley Edge which is probably where their house was. We drove up the hill, and found Brindley Lane. Mom was so excited she could hardly stand it! It’s a beautiful area, even with the steep hills. So, once again, we had a little miracle to help us see where our family came from.

We left that area and headed for Leek – not really a family history area, but just a place to see some more old buildings. We went into the middle of town and there was an Edinburgh Woolen Mills shop, which Mom had wanted to look through for several days. They’re supposed to have really nice women’s clothes for pretty good prices. They were having a buy-one-get-one-free sale, so Mom found a couple of really pretty sweaters for herself, and had fun with that. We stopped in a little pub and had tea and hot chocolate and talked about where to head next. We also called Shugborough – the place we were at yesterday, and another miracle was performed for us, they had found Mom’s sunglasses that she was so upset over losing. None of us really thought they would be found. So that decided our next trip – we headed there, which was about a ½ hr drive. From there we figured we would head to Tamworth because Chatsworth was much further away, and our day was coming to an end. One thing we’ve had to get used to over here is that you have to be on a time schedule here. If you don’t have lunch by 2 in the afternoon, forget it – they won’t serve lunch after that, all you’ll get is tea. And the parks or castles or visitor centers all close about 4:30 or so in the afternoon, so if you’re not there quite a bit before that, you don’t have time to see anything. Makes it hard to do more than 1 thing in a day, especially if you have to drive any distance between. And you HAVE to be hungry by 2, or you have to wait until dinner. So by the time we got Mom’s sunglasses, we didn’t have much time for anything. We stopped in Stone and had lunch at the Swynnerton pub. Mom had fish and I had Bangers and Mash and mushy peas. (I can hear my husband gagging over the mushy peas already!) I’ve wanted to try the Bangers and Mash – it’s just sausages and mashed potatoes – but the sausages are really good – much better than ours at home. They’re not nearly as spicy as ours, and I like them much better. Even the mushy peas were good – and they’re just what they sound like – they’re green peas, (not canned) cooked and mashed. Don’t know why, but they tasted good anyway. I just had so much food that I couldn’t finish it! Too many potatoes and peas!

We found another castle on the map in the town close by, called Stafford, and decided to check out Stafford Castle. Even though it was supposed to be open until 4, they were closing the castle itself at 3:30 they told us, and it was about 10 minutes after 3. They were leaving the visitor center open until 4 though, so we hurried up the hill to see the castle. And it was UP a hill! I started out real strong and fast, but the hill was so steep I was huffing and puffing and had to slow down. At least I was ahead of Mom! At the top of the hill was the remains of a castle that was built in the Norman period, so it’s about 900 years old. We walked around, went inside, walked through the battlements where there are just slits in the wall so they could shoot arrows out on their enemies, sat on the narrow set of stairs that no longer leads to anything, and stood carefully on the edge looking down into the area that once was the moat. I’ve got lots of pictures, even though our time was limited.

In the visitors center they have suits of armor sitting around, with lots of other stuff that you could look at and learn about, but we didn’t get to go into the display area because of the time. I bought a postcard with a really good picture of the castle, and we had a quick look around and had to leave. I would have liked more time, but we were lucky to get to see the castle, so I’m happy.

Another thing I wanted to get a picture of was a canal boat. Roger decided we would go back home through Stone, because it’s called the canal town. We stopped in a parking lot (car park) and Mom and Pam waited for us, and Roger and I took off. I thought all I wanted was a picture of a canal boat, but I got a lot more! Here in this area, England has canals that go all over the place, and you can rent (or own, I guess) a canal boat for vacation and travel around on the canals to visit different places. Along the way they have places you can stop and have food in that town, or go sightseeing, or whatever. It’s like renting or owning an RV, I guess, only on water. The boats are very long and skinny, because the canals aren’t very wide. Roger led me to a spot where we could climb across a skinny cement thing across the water, and walked back up the other side. We just happened to get there as someone was leading their boat into the lock to pass through. All along the side of the canal there were about 6 men sitting there fishing, with these really long poles, which looked like PVC really. I took a picture of the lock, and the man fishing closest to it told me he would have smiled for me. I laughed, and said thank you, but I wasn’t really taking a picture of him, and he smiled at me. Roger showed me how they went into the lock, and then the man got off the boat and went over to the place where you let water into the lock, which raises the water level to the level of the rest of the canal, so the boat can continue on. The wife was at the back of the boat, steering. Roger talked to the man while he was doing it, and the 2 of them explained to me that he had to let the water into the lock slowly, because if he did it too fast it would rock the boat against the sides. And, the man explained, his wife would be VERY unhappy at him if he did that! Then, when the water in the lock was the same level as the canal, he would open the gate and they would travel on through. They had 2 dogs onboard with them, and he said the dogs run along the canal as they travel, and jump on and off the boat. The man gave us permission to peek in the windows of the boat, and Roger showed me how they have a living room, a kitchen area, and bedrooms. I’m sure there was probably a bathroom in there too. It was a lot like an RV! I got to watch the whole process, from putting the boat in the lock to filling the lock with water to the right level to the wife leading it out, and I was fascinated.

After that, my day was complete – I got my picture of a Smart Car (little bitty car), another castle, and much more than just a canal boat. Tonight we’re all sitting around drinking coffee and Ovaltine and eating toast and/or sandwiches and fruit, and taking it easy on our last night here. Tomorrow morning we have to be out of here by 10 am. It was a beautiful day here – what a way to end our visit. But now, we’re off to Scotland!!