SOME ENGLISH TRIVIA

                                           Fun Facts

        Since the  English drive on the left side of the road, they enter a round-about to the left, which seemed strange indeed!

               Birmingham is known as the city of 1000 trades, as there were no trade guilds in the city. The trade guilds always have been, and still are, very strictly controlled.

          
  One evening we went to the local church and climbed up into the bell tower for the weekly bell ringing. It is a very involved and precise activity. The six men and women were playing tunes on the bells, and being pretty much tone deaf, I have to admit I didn’t hear much difference in the sounds. It is quite a knack to get the bells upright, where they stay until finished, and then they are lowered over a period of time. Once upright they swing and their weight turns them around in a 360-degree range. The whole process is much more complicated than I ever thought.

          
  Mr. Fortnum of the Fortnum and Mason department store was the butler to Queen Anne in the 1700s. As such, he was given the used candles. A candle was only lit once, even if it burned only for seconds. He collected these used candles, sold them, and made enough money to leave the Queen’s service and to go into business with Mr. Mason.

            A yeoman farmer is one who owns his farm vs. a tenant farmer who rents his plot of land.

            All bus and truck drivers in England, by law, are required to stop for a 45-minute rest every 4-½ hours. They are limited to driving NO more than 9 hours a day.

            I’ve previously explained ceiling bosses. Well, a carble head is the decorative part at the end of a column or curved piece in a structure. They often are concrete and appear carved with a figure of a head or a floral motif.

            It was light a little after 4:00AM each day, and stayed light until nearly 10:00PM.

          
  I had to put up with duvets at two of the hotels. I still dislike them, and am much happier with blankets.

            China clay is quarried, but only a small amount of it is sent to the china industry. It is the paper industry that has a big demand for it, as it is the substance that makes paper shiny for all those colored ads.

            A Lemon Shanty is a drink that is half beer and half lemonade.

FUN ENGLISH FACTS

                              Some English Trivia

            Stadle stones, not  saddle, are mushroom shaped stones placed under a barn. They provide a sort of air circulation/ conditioning for the barn and  also keeps out water as well as any varmints that might want to get into the barn. Although the barn sits on them they are not the total support for the barn.

           

            In the 1700s windows were open wooden framed spaces in the walls that tended to be small and few in number. Being open left the home exposed in bad weather. When it rained a cloth covered the wooden frame over the window opening. The cloth was smeared with cooking fat, and perhaps this was the original storm window.

            The canal locks on the River Avon are only seven feet wide. All of the locks are manual, no mechanized ones. All  locks are operated by the same winch which is given to you when you rent the boat. It is rather strenuous work to open and close the locks.

   We boarded a manual winch ferry to cross the river. The ferry was different than any I’ve ever seen. A fellow stood and turned a wheel, which moved a chain, and somehow that propelled us the short distance across the river.

Not all churches had sanctuary knockers, but if they did and you reached it, you were automatically granted 37 days of sanctuary. After that you were on your own

          The Saxons were farmers, who developed fleece, laying the groundwork for the prosperity of medieval merchants, who in turn built the churches and alms houses, many of which are still occupied even though centuries old!

          A ceiling boss is an ornament, often of carved wood, but can be plaster, that overlays the joints of wood or plaster beams on decorative ceilings. They are most unique.

            Slaughter, in England refers to nothing bloody, but is a Saxon word meaning place of many pools.

      Ploughman’s lunch: traditionally the ploughman (plow) took his lunch to the field with him in the morning. It consisted of cheese and hard bread or roll. I’m not sure what the drink of the day was, probably ale. Ploughman sandwiches are still popular in many areas of England.

No place is Cornwall, England is more than 20 miles from the coast and the ocean.

Cornwall, England is the land of legendary shipwrecks, with over 3000 recorded along the rugged coastline.