Friday June 28th - . Slightly overcast, cool 10°C to 19ºC
Sewing repairs to Ian's pannier
Posting home 750g of used maps
Car free walk through Hereford
Hereford Shire Hall built 1817
No photos inside Court Room 1
Inside Court Room 1 - via FaceBook
Inside Court Room 1 - via FaceBook
Inside Court Room 1 - via FaceBook
Cells in Basement of Shire Hall
Checking 1831 map of Herefordshire
John Morgan conviction for sheep stealing in 1834
John Morgan Sentence to Transportation beyond the seas
Hereford Cathedral Mappa Mundi
Hereford Cathedral Chained Library
Hereford Cathedral Magna Carta
Rosie and Bill share an Australian Shiraz with us
A lazy day playing tourist in Hereford. A bit of repair work to Ian's panniers, packing up as we have to shift rooms again, then a casual walk down town to check out the Hereford Shire Hall where my Great Great Grandfather was convicted of sheep stealing. Also a trip to the Hereford Cathedral to see the Mappa Mundi, the Chained Library and a copy of the Magna Carta, before a restful afternoon watching Ferrer play Agout and Janqwitz play Almagro.
Breakfast in the dining room of bacon and eggs. I'm sure the bacon tastes better here and the Twinings English Breakfast Tea is definitely better than in Oz. But we're on the move again to a room downstairs. My fault. I really should have booked a house for the week instead of a last minute decision to stay extra nights at the B and B. Strange thing is they are full and had to ring around all the other B and B's last night and couldn't find a room for another Aussie couple who turned up on the spot.
I do a bit of running repairs to Ian's pannier and rain cover for the front bag before re-packing and heading out to walk into Hereford, about 1k. First stop is the Post Office to send home my maps from so far which weigh 750 grams. My, how the British Post Office has changed. When we were here posting stuff in 1980, there was a queue of 50 people out the door and two attendants, with only one serving at any point in time. Today I was greeted at the door by an attendant, directed to the right envelope, and then helped to press all the buttons on the automatic machine to create the personalised stamp. I'm impressed, but at £10 for 7 maps, I think I could have bought them all again for less than that from Book Depository in the UK, including the postage to Australia.
A walk down the car-free streets to the Shire Hall which was built in 1817 and where my Great Great Grandfather John Morgan was convicted of sheep stealing and transported beyond the seas to Australia. There's no tourists here. I thought there's be hundreds. Someone comes out from a room and asks why we are here and after explaining about my relative etc etc, he took us to Court Room 1, unlocked the door, and asked us not to take photographs as it is still a working court and, by the way, one of the oldest in the country.
It's dark and gloomy with all the dark wood panelling, and the seats are set out in a semi circle around the judges area, where there is a hook for his black hat which he wears if he is to sentence anyone to death. He knows nothing about the history of the place, I know more than he does, and it's not in any of the tourist brochures. And considering it was the site of so many convictions in the early 19th Century resulting in transportation, it's a chunk of history that should be available to the public. Perhaps they don't want to brag about it.
Well, no matter about the photographs. I'll just go back to our B and B and google. You can find anything you want on google and I do. See later.
We mosey on to the Hereford Cathedral to see the Mappa Mundi, chained library and a copy of the Magna Carta. Time for a coffee in the Cathedral coffee shop but it's awful. The English only know how to make good tea. Should have known better. On to the Museum area.
The Mappa Mundi is a large calf skin inscribed with drawings and information. it records how thirteenth-century scholars interpreted the world in spiritual as well as geographical terms.
The Chained Library is what it says it is. Chaining books was the most widespread and effective security system in European libraries from the middle ages to the eighteenth century, and Hereford Cathedral's seventeenth-century Chained Library is the largest to survive with all its chains, rods and locks intact.
The Great Charter of Liberties or Magna Carta agreed between King John and his barons at Runnymede in 1215 is one of the most famous documents in history. The most significant revision of the Magna Carta was issued by Henry III in 1217. Hereford Cathedral is fortunate to possess one of these 1217 charters only four of which survive.
A quick visit to the local Tesco's to pick up enough for a picnic lunch and dinner tonight, plus a Hardy's Shiraz Cabernet, same as before. Lunch in the street feeding the pigeons, before wandering back to our new room at Somerville House, where I grab my computer and immediately google Court Room 1, Hereford Shire Hall. Not much comes up instantly. But I do find a website from a bunch of ghost hunters who have visited the Shire Hall after many ghost sounds and sightings were noticed and found some photos. There's also photos of the cells in the basement which we weren't allowed to visit. Yeh!!
Previously, my brother John Morgan, had obtained copies of the court records relating to the conviction and sentence. I've posted copies of these in the photos.
A bit more Wimbledon then time for a picnic dinner in the breakfast room where we are joined by our hosts Bill and Rosie for an Australian Hardy's Shiraz. It's been a very relaxing day. Time for bed. An early start to catch the Hereford to London train.