Some dolls, a dog and a car called The Fonz: All Hallows.

All Hallows. This is where I decided I wanted to go today. So basically that is what we did. The weather is still quite mucky and stormy so I thought better of my original plan to go to Ilkley and find the Millennium Park that we have not been to yet. I have another day off on Friday!

First we walked Monza. The old grave yard was not as quiet as usual as preparations for a funeral were under way.
"They are planting a person tree" said Lee. So we did not hang around. We got back into the Fonz car and headed straight off to Wetherby the long counrty route past Harwood and Collingham.

Dark and dangerous was the sky as we parked up. We first bought ourselves a snack of chocolate and crisps which we ate on the way around to the junk shops.

Lee was up since 2.30 this morning and had been watching telly....He had not thought to actually eat anything. So we had a prelunch snack. The war with the mortgage company has taken its toll on both of us. I have had a headache for a few days and Lee does not sleep. so we set off for a forage .

When I got home for lunch time yesterday we had received a text. That is the modern world.....The text stated that we had papers to view as an offer on our long suffering mortgage. The text obviously did not say " long suffering" but I do. So after all the hassle and pox hurled at us all I did was go on line and apply for a better rate of interest on our mortgage. All they did was press a computer button and it was done.
Fine!!!! good!!! so why could they not have done this WEEKS and even MONTHS ago!!!???? very relieved but still mad as hell about it. Now it is time for me to complain big time.

We went to all the usual junk shops. I found a few dolls, but none I bought because I had just given away a load just the same....then I found a Cabbage patch doll and this made my day. £1.99, with original outfit and nappy.

In reasonable condition considering she is from the 1980s!

We found a Lalaloopsy type little doll in the charity shop down by the weir and a knitted mouse from an Alan Dart pattern. Nicely knitted it was too and it was one of the ones that I have the pattern for and not knitted.

Cabbage patch kids!!! Xavier Roberts.Originally called little people which evolved in 1982 into cabbage patch kids.I remember them becoming a complete fad. in 1984 20 million were bought. by 1999 95 million sold worldwide. I just googled that. I did not know the amounts were that huge......

I only have three. That includes this one today. Must try harder.

Xavier Roberts was a ten year old boy who discovered the cabbage patch kids by following a bunnybee behind a waterfall into a magical cabbage patch.
to help them find good homes he built babyland general where cabbage patch kids could play until they were adopted.

bunnybees are bee like creatures with rabbit ears they use as wings.they pollinate cabbages with magic crystals to make cabbage patch kids.babies.

colonel casey is a large stork who oversees babyland general hospital........

Lalaloopsy ......I am not sure if this is a lala......but I bought her for 50p any way.......

Wetherby. Down by the weir or salmon leap. We walked along by the water, under the bridge and stopped to look at the angel on the war memorial.

Then quickly back to Monza who was waiting in the Fonz car. ......

We called into the final junk shop on the way past......and I found this little coat along with ,matching fur boots! She looks so cute now.

We had one more place to go today.
All Hallows Church, Bardsey.................We set off just as it began to rain. ............................

I went into the church on my own. Lee stayed with Monza dog. By now it was hammering with rain. I took photos going up the path, but they were unusable due to water splashes on the camera lens.

Bardsey is a very small village .As we approached i spotted a sign which stated. Bardey cum Rigton. It is mentioned in 1086 in the Doomsday book as Berdesei. A castle dates back to the Norman conquest. Bardsey claims the oldest Anglo Saxon church and reputedly the oldest pub in England.

This church was built in the 9th century. the tower is dated as 850 and 950 AD. Anglo Saxon west tower with Norman parts too.the north chapel of 1520 is now the vestry. the south chapel of 1724 was built for the Bayley family.

most of the church was built about a thousand years ago, the vestry from 1571 as a chantry chapel was built at the request of Edmund Mauleverer of Wothersome, and he and his son Robert are interned beneath it.
it is now difficult to see as this space is now where the organ is housed.

the organ was installed in 1868 to replace the orchestra which provided the music for this church before.

the Edmund Mauleverer that is now under the organ in this church is not the same as "old Edmund" that I have referred to in other stories. This is a different Edmund from the one that lived at Ayton castle that I went to see a few weeks ago now. Confused? I try not to be. Edmund was a family name...so there are alot. about one every generation as far as I can see........

This Edmund Mauleverer was born 1524Wothersome Yorkshire. This is where the Harwood worker houses are now on the Harwood estate and was in 1400 a tiny village, The original castle at Harwood is now a ruin situated there and this is what is referred to here.

he died in 1571 and this part of the church was built from his will request. He was the son of Thomas Mauleverer and AliceMarkenfield. He married Mary daughter of Christopher Danby and Elizabeth Neville, (daughter of Sir Richard Neville) All are descended from King Edward 111.

This connection to Bardsey is why we went there to day. This church and area are mentioned a lot in the history of the Mauleverer family that I have become involved into. I live only a few miles away and frequently get drawn back into their history, as they were related to every large estate and manor house in this area in some way.
This day I went to look for myself. I walked very quickly from the car with my hood up. The rain was really heavy and when I got to the church door there was a board on the path stating that all were welcome. So i opened the old door as quietly as a huge rattling old metal catch allowed and found a lovely dry warm church inside.

There were two other people who thought the same....the cleaner and an artist quietly sketching the alter and beautiful interior.

I quietly took these photos. Luckily I had turned off the sound of the "click" on my camera as I tiptoed around.

The atmosphere was of peace and ancient brooding until the hoover was turned on by the cleaner.

I circled the biulding twice, then quietly left closing the door behind me......It had stopped raining so I walked around the grave yard and found ancient graves....but none of them as old as 1500s.......

funeral hatchments of the decendants of Lord Bingley, the lane fox family.

part of the millenium tapestry, made by local people from the village and took five years to complete.

I took so long looking around this old church that Lee came looking for me. We had bought sandwiches and chocolate eclairs.....He was hungary again.

We passed the oldest pub in England. Lee has been here. Bardsey was one of his old stomping grounds in the days when he played rock guitar and went out to Wetherby most week ends.