Despite having had 200 years notice of the anniversary, I only just thought it might be worth cobbling together a piece on Dickens’ Salisbury connections.

The most significant thing to point out about Dickens and Salisbury is the . . . → Read More: Dickens and Salisbury]]> A quick post to celebrate the anniversary of the writer’s birth.

Despite having had 200 years notice of the anniversary, I only just thought it might be worth cobbling together a piece on Dickens’ Salisbury connections.

Salisbury in Martin Chuzzlewit

The most significant thing to point out about Dickens and Salisbury is the long piece on the city in Martin Chuzzlewit.

I’m lucky enough to have read quite a lot of Dickens’ work. I don’t remember any other town, outside of Dickens ‘homeground’ of London and Kent, being favoured with such a vivid description as the passage on Salisbury in ‘Martin Chuzzlewit’

Mr Pinch had a shrewd notion that Salisbury was a very desperate sort of place; an exceeding wild and dissipated city; and when he had put up the horse, and given the hostler to understand that he would look in again in the course of an hour or two to see him take his corn, he set forth on a stroll about the streets with a vague and not unpleasant idea that they teemed with all kinds of mystery and bedevilment.

To one of his quiet habits this little delusion was greatly assisted by the circumstance of its being market-day, and the thoroughfares about the market-place being filled with carts, horses, donkeys, baskets, waggons, garden-stuff, meat, tripe, pies, poultry and huckster’s wares of every opposite description and possible variety of character.

Then there were young farmers and old farmers with smock-frocks, brown great-coats, drab great-coats, red worsted comforters, leather-leggings, wonderful shaped hats, hunting-whips, and rough sticks, standing about in groups, or talking noisily together on the tavern steps, or paying and receiving huge amounts of greasy wealth, with the assistance of such bulky pocket-books that when they were in their pockets it was apoplexy to get them out, and when they were out it was spasms to get them in again.

Also there were farmers’ wives in beaver bonnets and red cloaks, riding shaggy horses purged of all earthly passions, who went soberly into all manner of places without desiring to know why, and who, if required, would have stood stock still in a china shop, with a complete dinner-service at each hoof.

Also a great many dogs, who were strongly interested in the state of the market and the bargains of their masters; and a great confusion of tongues, both brute and human.

There are another 4 or 5 paragraphs on the city – it’s well worth a read if you’re interested. The text is available on line at Project Gutenberg. The passage about Salisbury is Chapter Five.

Dickens Inns

The following have claimed some connection with the writer:

• White Hart Inn, Salisbury – Dickens wrote a letter to his wife from the White Hart¹ and it’s sometimes identified as the ‘famous old Inn’ in Martin Chuzzlewit
• Green Dragon, Alderbury – possibly the model for the ‘Blue Dragon’ in Chapter Two of Martin Chuzzlewit
• The George, Amesbury – also possibly the model for the Blue Dragon
• The New Inn, Salisbury – unsure. The New Inn used to have a sign saying that it was a ‘Dickens Inn’
• The Boston Tea Rooms, Salisbury – Dickens ‘made mention’ of what had been the Old George Inn²

Dickens’ Public Reading in Salisbury

I don’t know whether or not Dickens ever gave a public reading in Salisbury.

It would be surprizing if he didn’t read in Salisbury, but I’ve found no record of it. Dickens performed in many towns and cities through the country. His first tour included readings at both Clifton and Southampton.

whether they were given in great manufacturing towns, like Manchester or Birmingham; in fashionable watering-places, like Leamington or Scarborough; in busy outports, like Liverpool or Southampton; in ancient cathedral towns, like York or Durham, or in seaports as removed from each other, as Plymouth and Portsmouth. Localities as widely separated as Exeter from Harrogate, as Oxford from Halifax, or as Worcester from Sunderland, were visited, turn by turn, at the particular time appointed. In a comprehensive round, embracing within it Wakefield and Shrewsbury, Nottingham and Leicester, Derby and Ruddersfield, the principal great towns were taken one after another. At Hull and Leeds, no less than at Chester and Bradford, as large and enthusiastic audiences were gathered together as, in their appointed times also were attracted to the Readings, in places as entirely dissimilar as Newcastle and Darlington, or as Sheffield and Wolverhampton.
³

The Spire Chronicle

Finally, I just started reading a book called ‘Spire Chronicle’ which is somewhat in the style of Charles Dickens. It’s set in Salisbury during the Victorian era, and, so far I’m enjoying it very much.

The Spire Chronicle is available from Amazon here:

• The Spire Chronicle – paperback
• The Spire Chronicle – Kindle

Footnotes

1. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… – Mercure White Hart Salisbury, Salisbury Traveller Reviews – TripAdvisor
2. Salisbury | Boston Tea Party
3. reading_tour_1858_large.jpg (JPEG Image, 370×450 pixels)

The core of the website is about trying to work out the meanings of Salisbury’s road names. I still find this fascinating. Over the course of 2011, . . . → Read More: salisburyandstonehenge.net in 2011]]> As much for my own benefit as anything else, this is a review of what I’ve done with Salisbury and Stonehenge over the last year

Salisburys road names

The core of the website is about trying to work out the meanings of Salisbury’s road names. I still find this fascinating. Over the course of 2011, I’ve covered some good ones.

Some of the streetnames touch on Salisbury’s history – Harnwood Road, Harvard Close, Herbert Road, High Street, Hill Road, Hoadley Garden, Hudson Road and Hulse Road.

Others have nothing really to do with Salisbury but I’ve found them interesting anyway, especially: Hazel Close, Hathaway Close, Highbury Avenue and Hamilton Road

Art in Salisbury

In my opinion¹ 2011 has been a wonderful year for visual art in Salisbury. I enjoyed the various artworks at the Cathedral including Bruce Munro, Sean Henry’s sculptues and Anthony Gormley’s ‘Flare II’.

I really enjoyed the ‘Constable in Salisbury’ exhibition – especially for the lesser known drawings of the lesser known views. I was particularly pleased to solve a puzzle that had been niggling me for some time relating to his Salisbury Cathedral from the Water Meadows

My friend Fred Fieber was the lead artist on the Milford Street Mural and he gave me a great picture for the website. If you haven’t done so already click here to have a look. Fred also allowed me to reproduce his dramatic Stonehenge. I should say again that Fred can be commissioned for a variety of work, including getting a ‘Portrait’ painted of your house. His own website is here. Go and buy something immediately!

London to Salisbury by train

My plan to write about the journey from London to Salisbury by train has inched forwards this year. In the course of the whole year I’ve only managed one more post on the section from Woking to Basingstoke. There’s a lot of stuff in it I found interesting – especially the necropolis and Weller and Wells, but those posts have taken some time to write. I hope to get at least as far as Andover in 2012!

I’ve created a web page for the railway trip from Bath to Salisbury, just because I’m travelling that way more often. That, too is currently stalled.

Image from Amazon

Salisbury pages

I’ve also started to cobble together a few more or less static ‘pages’ which give general information. Some of these are very much ‘works-in-progress’. They include:

• A list of the Bishops of Salisbury, England
• A list of the Mayors of Salisbury
• Local websites in and around Salisbury

I also created some pages listing the major employers in Salisbury and local towns:

• Employment in Basingstoke
• Employment in Andover
• Employment in Southampton

I hope these will be useful.

Other stuff

Back in the summer I did a hugely un-scientific survey of comments made by bloggers who had visited Stonehenge. People were a lot more positive about visiting the Stones than I was expecting.

I reproduced a series of old postcards of Salisbury over the last few weeks. These vary in quality – I particulary like the tinted view of the High Street Gate

I’ve started to do ‘Salisbury and Stonehenge news’ again. I’ve found a relatively efficient way of doing this, and I’d like to continue with these if time allows. They’re quite fun to do, and are probably quite good from an SEO point of view.

Salisbury and Stonehenge Social Media

All of the Salisbury and Stonehenge news stuff that I collect goes onto the Facebook page first. Facebook is quite a nice medium for this for several reasons – not least because it creates a nice ‘thumbnail’ picture of any images on the page you link to.

I’m continuing to tweet as @salisbury_matt. I enjoy using Twitter for all sorts of things – if you follow me on Twitter you’ll ne subjected to my ill-conceived ramblings on football, databases, kids films and other stuff as well as Salisbury and Stonehenge related matters.

Hits, thanks, and wishes

The number of visitors to the website seems to have grown throughout the year, which is nice. Thank you!

Thanks especially to all those I’ve intereacted with either on the website, on social media or in ‘real life’.

Finally best wishes for 2012 – may the road rise up to meet you and may the sun be always on your back!.

Footnotes

1. My opinion is probably not worth very much in this context (as in many others)

The viewpoint of the painting is next to the ‘Long Bridge’, at the western end of what . . . → Read More: Salisbury Cathedral from the Water Meadows – A Puzzle]]> John Constable’s ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’ is a lovely painting. I like it very much, but I’ve always been puzzled by the river that flows left to right.

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows – the Puzzle

The viewpoint of the painting is next to the ‘Long Bridge’, at the western end of what is now Elizabeth Gardens. The bridge is in the bottom right of the painting, looking a bit ramshackle.

The river flowing ‘up’ the painting towards the Cathedral is therefore the Nadder. The Nadder joins the Avon at the far eastern end of ‘Lizzie Gardens’, opposite Ted Heath’s old house.

I’ve never been sure what the ‘other’ river is – the one with the horse and cart.

It flows across the painting, joining the Nadder close to the bridge. However, there is no river in that location. There’s a small ‘inlet’ in the river bank where the horse and cart would be, but that’s all.

I’ve always thought it was either the Avon re-located by artistic license, or an enlarged version of the little ‘inlet’.

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows – a solution

I think the ‘river’ is actually ‘Summerlock Stream’¹.

I stumbled across a couple of spammy websites ² which said the following³

Before the war the stream [the name of the stream isn't given] ran along Harcourt Bridge Road to meet the Nadder at the Long Bridge. When Queen Elizabeth Gardens were constructed it was diverted to run through the middle – it now looks more like a canal than a stream

The ‘stream’ mentioned here must be the Summerlock. The Summerlock Stream⁴ now flow right through the middle of Queen Elizabeth Gardens.

The key thing is that the Summerlock used to join the Nadder at the Long Bridge, so Constable’s horse and cart is in the Summerlock stream at the point where it joins the Nadder. Constable painted the place where the Summerlock met the Nadder.

The map of Salisbury below is from the 18th Century. You need to look fairly closely, but you can trace the route of the Summerlock.

It starts at just to the right of centre at the top of the map, and zig-zags down to join the ‘River Wye’⁵.

It bisects Fisherton Street and runs alongside a row of buildings in what is now Water Lane. At the end of Water Lane the stream meets Mill Road. Instead of carrying on in a straight line as it does now, it turns south west alongside Mill Road to meet the Nadder/Wylye at the Long Bridge.

You can just about make out the Long Bridge on the map as a thin pair of lines crossing the river. The island shown on the map near this point seems to have gone before Constable painted ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’

The picture below shows the possible original route of the Summerlock.

Footnotes

1. It’s very likely that this is documented elsewhere. It doesn’t seem to have reached the internet though. If I ever find something confirming this I’ll provide a reference
2. I use ‘spam’, in the context of a website, to mean a website which either has very little content or has seemingly random text.

   The text is intended to bulk out the site’s content so that it’s comes higher up in Google’s results. In this case the content has turned out to be useful, to me at least.

3. Because I found the text on slightly dubious websites, I’m paraphrasing here
4. ‘Summerlock Stream’ isn’t a widely used name – it’s the stream that comes out of the River Avon at the Water Meadows near Ashley Road and Butts Road (near Waitrose) amd flows down past the Central Car Park and Water Lane to Queen Elizabeth Gardens. It’s got the artificial island that you can jump onto.
5. The Nadder and the Wylye meet near Wilton. I’ve always tended to call the river the Nadder as it flows further downstream, but the map has it labelled as the ‘River Wye’

Fred is planning to create a series of cards from the drawing. As soon as they’re available I’ll include a link here.

In the meantime, Fred has two wesbsites:

I’ve never been a very active personal user of Facebook, but the Facebook page functionality provides a quick way to share and store interesting links. Recently, I’ve posted links about:

I tweet as salisbury_matt, sometimes about Salisbury and Stonehenge, sometimes about what I’m slowly reading at the time, sometimes about other stuff. Anyhow, these are . . . → Read More: Recent tweets]]> I thought it might be worth occasionally collecting together some of my Twitter updates and re-publishing them here. Some of the stuff might be interesting to readers of the website.

I tweet as salisbury_matt, sometimes about Salisbury and Stonehenge, sometimes about what I’m slowly reading at the time, sometimes about other stuff. Anyhow, these are my twitterings over the last few weeks:

• Yesterday was 95 years since a Mr Chubb paid £6600 for Stonehenge at auction. Was the last private owner. about 10 hours ago via web




• Did enjoy this podcast about Lemmy, the man and the movie linkxx Mon 20 Sep 2010 08:15:51 GMT via web




• Not really a fan, but the Dr Who podcast on The Sound of Young America was interesting enough link Mon 20 Sep 2010 08:14:28 GMT via web




• Trying to write a guide for the railway journey from London to Salisbury. Once travelled from Memphis to New Orleans, and Amtrak had a guide Sun 19 Sep 2010 09:15:03 GMT via web




• Just started Paul du Noyer’s In the City: A Celebration of London Music. Good so far. Great chapter title – More in Soho Than In Ongar. Sun 19 Sep 2010 09:11:46 GMT via web




• I’ve heard a rumour Phil Collins’ house has more than one chimney. Makes sense – he’s got two hearths. Sat 18 Sep 2010 20:53:12 GMT via Twitter for iPhone Retweeted by you and 12 others




• #whatIlearnttoday Waterloo Sunset was originally going to be about Liverpool, and the Abba song was originally called Honey Pie Fri 17 Sep 2010 20:48:51 GMT via web




• link Mon 13 Sep 2010 13:39:23 GMT via web Retweeted by you




• #whatIlearnedtoday The main guy in ‘The Cove’ (the documentary about dolphin trapping) trained Flipper. Harrowing i/view on the BBC Thu 16 Sep 2010 17:51:07 GMT via web




• Finished reading Rosemary Hill’s Stonehenge. Really good book about the henge through the ages rather than who built it and why. Thu 16 Sep 2010 08:10:08 GMT via web




• Jogged past @salisburycath last night. The ‘sleeping man’ sculpture looks great backlit by the floodlights. Wed 15 Sep 2010 17:53:38 GMT via web




• Enjoyed nosing round Marsh Chequer at the w/e as part of the Hidden Salisbury thing Wed 15 Sep 2010 08:13:05 GMT via web




• IMHO Uefa need to make the Champions League more competitive from the start. Perhaps a knockout competition from the start Wed 15 Sep 2010 08:12:13 GMT via web




• @ajit8uk Will do – thanks. I enjoyed all the different U.S. music in the FLC show, (one song sounded like the Cramps to me) so v interested Thu 09 Sep 2010 06:17:39 GMT via web in reply to ajit8uk




• Enjoyed the Fun Lovin Criminals last night. I was a bit iffy about going but glad i did. A proper show. Wed 08 Sep 2010 22:29:45 GMT via web




• @davidhepworth The striking thing about the Churchill doc was how collegiate, if thats the right word, the wartime cabinet was Wed 08 Sep 2010 22:23:33 GMT via web in reply to davidhepworth




• @davidhepworth re: war cabinet, did you ever listen to: link Mon 06 Sep 2010 22:21:20 GMT via web in reply to davidhepworth




• @ajit8uk Thanks for the RT. ‘Promenade’ looks quite fun. Food&drink fest on the Sunday too Mon 06 Sep 2010 20:42:16 GMT via web in reply to ajit8uk




• Promenade art trail thing starts in Salisbury next w/e: link Mon 06 Sep 2010 20:34:43 GMT via web




• Much as I love Iggy Pop I’m really not enjoying dealing with @swiftcover… Mon 06 Sep 2010 20:32:52 GMT via web




• Saw Toy Story 3, again. The 3D glasses seem to make my eyes water…. Mon 06 Sep 2010 08:10:49 GMT via web




• Did you know, of the 840 million people suffering from hunger in 2005, 800 million were farmers. Buy fair trade! Sun 05 Sep 2010 16:58:48 GMT via txt Retweeted by you




• A Voyage Round My Father @salisburyplay is lovely. Funny, and touching. Sat 04 Sep 2010 00:17:27 GMT via web




• Put together a page on the new show at Salisbury Playhouse link Thu 02 Sep 2010 21:02:57 GMT via web




• Read in @UncutMagazine that the Clash’s Bankrobber is like Bowie backwards (presumably Ashes To Ashes?). Can’t get either out of my head now Wed 01 Sep 2010 08:14:06 GMT via web




• Podcast on the political context of St Paul . How radical it was to proclaim the divinity of someone other than Caesar http://bit.ly/cgW33i Tue 31 Aug 2010 21:45:46 GMT via web




• Short article about Salisbury City FC on WSC: link Tue 31 Aug 2010 17:53:54 GMT via web




• #whatIlearnedtoday The USA has no official language, although there have been moves to make it English. Tue 31 Aug 2010 08:16:46 GMT via web




• RT @SalisburyFestUK Only 2 weeks till the Food and Drink Festival – look out for our colourful brochures on the streets! Mon 30 Aug 2010 20:35:02 GMT via web




• New series starting Sept 1st on BBC 4: Prof. Richard Taylor on “How to Read a Church”: link KS Sat 28 Aug 2010 22:31:01 GMT via web Retweeted by you




• Couldnt work out why WordPress would only show me a preview page…then remembered the title began with ‘Preview:’. Losing brain cells fast Mon 30 Aug 2010 07:15:57 GMT via web




• @voiceovergirl Yeah P-Park is good for younger kids. Went last week. Weather was a bit iffy, so not so much queuing Sun 29 Aug 2010 23:43:20 GMT via web in reply to voiceovergirl




• Looked a bit ‘after the lord mayors show’ at Three Point Lane…pleased for Wigan though Sat 28 Aug 2010 22:40:44 GMT via web




• Many thanks to the 2029 who’ve already signed the #savenhsdirect petition. Please pass it on to friends link Sat 28 Aug 2010 13:22:11 GMT via Twitter for BlackBerry® Retweeted by you and 98 others




• @cliffsull Should have said…reading Rosemary Hill’s Stonehenge. V good. About responses to & influences of the Henge more than archeology Sat 28 Aug 2010 12:46:15 GMT via web in reply to cliffsull




• RT @ajit8uk Thanks for those who have.If you haven’t,please sign and pass it on link << Done - thanks! #savenhsdirect Sat 28 Aug 2010 12:43:45 GMT via web




• #whatIlearnedtoday One of Stonehenge’s stones fell on New Years Eve 1900. Sat 28 Aug 2010 12:30:20 GMT via web




• I’m a bit worried that only some of NHSDirect ‘may be subsumed’ into the 111 service. NHSDirect has been fantastically useful Sat 28 Aug 2010 12:25:41 GMT via web




• Pratchett on reading books about farm animals to city kids. The only noise a pig makes in the city is ‘Sizzle’! Fri 27 Aug 2010 18:20:00 GMT via web




• I find “Everything, Everywhere” a bit scary-sounding as a name for a phone company. Nice echo of ‘for every day, for every one’ though Fri 27 Aug 2010 08:25:04 GMT via web




• @rob_enotions Got the DLM cd a couple of weeks ago. Not really listened yet, but I love Jiggery Pokery. So to speak… Fri 27 Aug 2010 08:19:01 GMT via web




• Listening to local author Terry Pratchett in a talk in Philadelphia. link Fri 27 Aug 2010 08:08:43 GMT via web




• @voiceovergirl I think the train ticket covers you to get the train over the River to Charing X (from W’loo East). Handy if it’s raining… Wed 25 Aug 2010 21:52:40 GMT via web in reply to voiceovergirl




• Lovely lecture podcast covering childhood in Brooklyn, baseball, first confession, LBJ, Churchill, mortality etc link Wed 25 Aug 2010 17:58:19 GMT via web




• Disappointed Sky Sports News has left Freeview. They’ll be dancing in the streets of ESPN tonight! Wed 25 Aug 2010 17:57:38 GMT via web




• Found you can use FLASHBACK_TRANSACTION_QUERY to automatically produce an undo script for whatever you’re doing in Oracle Fri 20 Aug 2010 17:56:57 GMT via web




• Much as I like Andover as a place, it’s been *very* smelly all week Fri 20 Aug 2010 17:54:50 GMT via web




• Had a lovely afternoon out in Shaftesbury yesterday. Hadn’t been in the Abbey gardens before Mon 16 Aug 2010 08:13:47 GMT via web




• @ROCKINGVICAR No – it was a good point , well made. Apologies for mangling it in editing for the re-tweet. Damn that 140-character lim Fri 13 Aug 2010 08:05:20 GMT via web in reply to ROCKINGVICAR




• RT @ROCKINGVICAR Oxford council surprised speeding up when cameras turned off. Also amazed by Popes religious beliefs & bear poo in woods Thu 12 Aug 2010 22:36:02 GMT via web




• #whatIlearnedtoday St Pauls in Covent Garden was (one of) the 1st English Protestant churches – presumably why its so different to others Thu 12 Aug 2010 22:32:22 GMT via web




• #whatIlearnedtoday On Linux, if you put stuff in your .bashrc if can stop ftp working and make you look v stupid :) Thu 12 Aug 2010 22:31:14 GMT via web




• #whatIlearnedtoday King Athelstan enacted a bit of constitutional/monetary law at Grateley (between S’bury&Andover) called the Grateley code Wed 11 Aug 2010 18:10:53 GMT via web




• Googled MS equiv of unix ‘type’.Found a post I wrote in ’08.Pleased its a useful post but worried abt oncoming senility link Wed 11 Aug 2010 18:08:47 GMT via web




• Is it just me, or has the word ‘whatnot’ suddenly become very popular? Wed 11 Aug 2010 08:11:11 GMT via web




• Had a good week off at Butlins Minehead last week. Black Eyed Peas ‘Ive got a feeling’ is my new favourite song. Mon 09 Aug 2010 08:10:30 GMT via web




• My footballing friend Fred Fieber has a new site promoting his ‘House Portrait’ service link Sun 08 Aug 2010 21:10:09 GMT via web




• RT @ Clonehenge New post: Glasshenge link What the ancients would have used if they could see their way clear Fri 06 Aug 2010 22:30:27 GMT via web




• Congratulations to Chelsea Clinton on her marriage, her dad is a Blues fan don’t you know… Sun 01 Aug 2010 11:02:10 GMT via web Retweeted by you and 66 others




• Saw Toy Story 3 yesterday. I seemed to have something in my eye towards the end… Sun 01 Aug 2010 12:50:43 GMT via web




• Tomorrow is the feast of Vincula-Petri, from which Petersfinger gets its name link. It’s also known as Lammas Sat 31 Jul 2010 09:20:54 GMT via web




• #whatIlearnedtoday In WordPress, if you put your existing pages into a new hierarchy, the URLs change, breaking all your links. D’oh! Fri 30 Jul 2010 08:23:03 GMT via web




• #whatIlearnttoday Spoonies does beans on toast for£1.99 Fri 30 Jul 2010 08:20:04 GMT via web




• RT @Pinotnoirgirl I don’t like this tool! – convert your alcohol to calories at http://bbc.co.uk/radio1/surgery/alcohol2calories Fri 30 Jul 2010 08:19:16 GMT via web




• Jeffersonian trivia from link – Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language Wed 28 Jul 2010 21:50:03 GMT via web




• Need for more lanes for cyclists and pedestrians link #salisbury Wed 28 Jul 2010 20:14:26 GMT via twitterfeed Retweeted by you




• @theoelliott Brazilian name generator link ! Wed 28 Jul 2010 21:29:27 GMT via web in reply to theoelliott




• Thomas Jefferson invented the word ‘belittle’. Jebediah Springfield, *I think* invented ‘embiggen’ Wed 28 Jul 2010 21:28:07 GMT via web




• #whatIlearnedtoday Thomas Jefferson invented the words belittle, antagonize, and seaboard Wed 28 Jul 2010 21:27:42 GMT via web




• #ilearnedtodaythat in 1384 Parliament sat at the Bishops Palace, now the Cathedral School, in the Close in Salisbury

I tweet as salisbury_matt, often about local things. Since this is the first time I’ve copied the tweets onto the website, I’m going to . . . → Read More: Twitter updates]]> I thought it might be worth occasionally collecting together some of my Twitter updates and re-publishing them here. Some of the stuff might be interesting to readers of this website.

I tweet as salisbury_matt, often about local things. Since this is the first time I’ve copied the tweets onto the website, I’m going to go back a few months.

• Salisbury Bonsai Society’s great display is on the rather wonderful Clonehenge website Link about 7 hours ago via web
• The path alongside the Avon is flooded at the bit where it goes under the Ring Road (near Waitrose) this morning (23 Jul 2010 08:21:11 )
• New Stephen Fry series sounds interesting – Link (21 Jul 2010 21:04:03 )
• Currently reading an old book about S’bury by RLP Jowitt. V good. Contains some fine words: gnomon, piscator, fenestration, halberdiers (21 Jul 2010 17:55:45 )
• Enjoyed a couple of hours at Breamore (never sure how to spell it) at the weekend. Interesting Saxon church, if you like churches… (20 Jul 2010 21:20:39 )
• #ilearnedtodaythat Lt-Gen Shrapnell, who invented explosive shells, lived in The Close in Salisbury (20 Jul 2010 21:17:35 )
• I managed to crow-bar Coleridge, Nick Cave and O-zone into one post Link (20 Jul 2010 06:42:12 )
• @Clonehenge btw just started reading Stonehenge by Rosemary Hill. About responses rather than archeology etc. Seems good. Have you seen it? (17 Jul 2010 08:02:42 ) in reply to Clonehenge
• Great phrase on the news this morning: Plan B is to make Plan A work (07 Jul 2010 08:08:40 )
• Discovered why my recently-upgraded-to-3.0 WordPress install wasn’t letting me schedule posts Link (04 Jul 2010 19:49:11 )
• I finally completed ‘Little London’ post. Still not happy with it….Clarissa Eden/Churchill fascinating Link (01 Jul 2010 21:35:07 )
• This FLP podcast-lecture-thing is good too – Starbucks and Harveys (pre-war restaurant/hotel chain/bookshop) Link (01 Jul 2010 21:31:51 )
• Had a great evening at ‘Maletstock’ last night. Lovely pub at Newton Tony Link (27 Jun 2010 21:53:14 )
• Great comment on the website linking the Moberly story to Picnic at hanging Rock Link (21 Jun 2010 08:17:12 )
• Solstice morning, Salisbury station. Always makes me feel fairly chipper, in comparison to all the people looking very, very tired, (21 Jun 2010 08:14:16 )
• I’ve actually managed to upgrade Link to WP 3.0 *by mistake*. Consummate IT professional…. (19 Jun 2010 22:03:36 )
• Disappointed about the Stonehenge Visitors Centre. Given the numbers of currently unimpressed visitors it *seems* like a false economy (19 Jun 2010 18:12:55 )
• Reading about Clarissa Churchill. Niece of Winston, wife of PM Eden, friend of Waugh, Beaton, Orson Welles, Fleming. Neighbour of my granny (19 Jun 2010 18:10:44 )
• Thinking about a post on nicknames and pseudonyms for Salisbury – Sarum, Lighthouse City, Melchester, Starbridge…any more? (11 Jun 2010 23:24:18 )
• My footballing friend Fred Fieber’s website: Link (09 Jun 2010 20:36:36 )
• The Smoke, LDN, the Great Wen, Londonistan, The Land of Sugar Cake, Troynovant…. any other nicknames for London? (04 Jun 2010 23:42:56 )
• RT @VisitWiltshire Countryside walks for children in Wiltshire released in book Link (04 Jun 2010 23:10:57 )
• Listening to an interesting enough podcast about Harveys, a 19th century restaurant/hotel chain and Starbucks Link (01 Jun 2010 21:00:59 )
• Went to Burley yesterday in the Forest. Odd place. Gift shops themed around a witch/TV presenter who lived there in the ’50s (01 Jun 2010 20:54:12 )
• Typed up the schedule for May and June at the Odeon Kids Club: Link (30 May 2010 22:12:21 )
• I’ve been researching the derivation of the road name Love Lane. No certain conclusion really (21 May 2010 21:35:33 )
• Spent a proportion of my last day of unemployment at the Anokkaa buffet in Fisherton St. Very nice, but can now barely move. (14 May 2010 13:51:06 )
• Went to see the singing of the Vly be on the Turmut for the first time today. Quite fun. Where’s Si(Cowell when you need him? :) (07 May 2010 14:41:28 )
• Would this be the first time 3 Champions League team have come from one city? Can’t think of another (05 May 2010 21:58:01 )
• Enjoyed Les Liaisons Dangereuses @salisburyplay very much. Liked the line: ‘its always the best swimmers that drown’ (04 May 2010 12:29:07 )
• RT @ SpireFM Link – It’ll be good to see the Woolworths building in use again (30 Apr 2010 14:39:45 )
• Short item about the photo used in the Toro Toro posters @salisburyplay Link (23 Apr 2010 22:13:03 )
• Had a lovely day at @HawkConservancy near Andover yesterday. I’m not a great one for ‘nature’ but those birds are fascinating. (19 Apr 2010 09:48:32 )
• A bit of trivia I didn’t know ’til today – the greatest midfielder of his generation, Frank Lampard, was born in Salisbury (29 Mar 2010 17:13:52 )
• This is very good – RT @Londonist Is this the most beautiful hand-drawn map of London yet? Link (26 Mar 2010 14:18:15 )
• Saw @Out_of_Joint Andersen’s English @salisburyplay last night. Really good show, v interesting. Difficult to square Dickens with his work (26 Mar 2010 08:45:06 )
• Useful bit of sed to remove html tags: sed -e ’s/<[^>]*>//g’ ……from Link Dunno how it works, to be honest! (25 Mar 2010 16:43:58 )
• Bath University (@UniofBath) public lecture podcast about Avebury here: Link (2nd one down) (24 Mar 2010 14:36:34 )
• Added an @OrdnanceSurvey map to one of my fave posts – on the meaning of the name Petersfinger (to do with Saint Peter in chains, Lammas..) (23 Mar 2010 17:13:41 )
• Enjoyed a double decker bus ride out of Salisbury today – you do get a different perspective on stuff. (18 Mar 2010 16:17:00 )
• @SalisburyCath Have you found any good views on Google StreetView yet? My best so far: Link (11 Mar 2010 15:33:24 ) in reply to SalisburyCath
• Made me laugh: Matthew Parris: “What were the circumstances of Picasso’s birth?” Brian Sewell “The same as everyone else’s, I imagine” (09 Mar 2010 15:54:17 )
• Created another @OSOpenSpace_Svc (@OrdnanceSurvey) map. An annotated map of East Harnham – Link (07 Mar 2010 22:33:53 )
• Saw Glass Menagerie @salisburyplay. None too cheerful, but very intense, dramatic stuff. Might go again… (07 Mar 2010 19:35:26 )
• As ex-Forest Hill billy, this is brilliant – RT @leebryant if the London tube’s northern bias was reversed: Link (02 Mar 2010 14:58:51 )
• Worth a visit before it closes – RT @TimMontgomerie Ted Heath’s house [in Salisbury] is to be closed to public and sold Link (26 Feb 2010 15:27:45 )
• Tried to jog around outer rim of the ‘Accursed Hill’. Old Sarum. Chickened out. Too slippy and too far to fall. (23 Feb 2010 13:27:20 )
• Went to the British Music Experience at the Dome at the w/e. Good for before a show. Saw John Lennons copy of Lonnie D’s Rock Island Line (23 Feb 2010 11:43:57 )
• Nice picture of the stones – RT @Clonehenge Doctor Who–doing some filming at Stonehenge. Link (09 Feb 2010 12:09:22 )
• Footnotes seemed to have gone wonky on my wordpress site, but I managed to hack a fix in the PHP. Inordinately proud of myself! (09 Feb 2010 10:27:20 )
• @SalisburyDPhoto Did you see this ? – a postcard of a lion attacking a horse at the Pheasant near Pitton Link (05 Feb 2010 21:12:13 )
• One of my faves either in S’bury or elsewhere : RT @salisburyplay Private Lives Theatre Day today. You still have until the 20 Feb to book (04 Feb 2010 14:27:49 )
• The insipirations for Gulliver, Robinson Crusoe and the Ancient Mariner were once all on the same boat acc. to Link (04 Feb 2010 13:27:15 )
• Just used the ‘sticky post’ feature in WordPress. Very useful – exactly what I wanted. And I like the name ‘sticky post’ (28 Jan 2010 23:27:51 )
• My post on Winston Churchill’s great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather (I think) has gone up. Needs editing tho Link (27 Jan 2010 23:13:59 )
• Saw Noel Coward’s Private Lives @salisburyplay on Friday. Very good. And a London Pride at half time, appropriately Link (24 Jan 2010 21:55:37 )
• Listened to a brilliant but yucky podcast on parasites – Link (13 Jan 2010 16:43:42 BST )
• The Beeb has started podcasting Desert Island Discs – hooray! Link (05 Jan 2010 23:10:54 BST )
• Typed in the listings for future Salisbury Odeon Kid’s Club films. Don’t know why its not on the cinema’s website Link 2:54 PM Jan 2nd )
• By popular (well…one!) request the entry for Maundrel Hall, (Slug and Lettuce, Salisbury) is now live Link 2:46 PM Jan 2nd )
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