Bonjour!
I've just been sifting through the photos from our big UK round trip, so many of them, so many great memories. I've picked a few favourites from along the way....
We stayed in Salisbury in the south of England, an area I've heard referred to as the garden of England, makes sense to me. We stayed there because I knew the Wyndham name ( Jane's maiden name) was prominent there. The name appears in many places in Salisbury, here are a couple of examples...
A pub just up the road from this street which we stopped in for a refreshment..
Here is a photo of one of those plaques, that of the well known at the time, Wadham Wyndham........
Below, also in the cathedral is the tomb of Thomas Lord Wyndham, who was Baron Wyndham of Finglafs in the Kingdom of Ireland in the first half of the 18th century.
Interestingly the lady in the statue above Thomas's tomb has her ring figure cut off. This, as we confirmed with one of the guides at the cathedral, is a symbolic referral to the famous Wyndham family "buried alive" story about Florence Wyndham. I found the following on Wikipedia..........
"Florence Wyndham (died 1596) was the daughter of Sir John Wadham of Merifield and sister of Nicholas Wadham founder of Wadham College, Oxford."......
Her fame rests on a remarkable escape from a horrific death and her singular importance to the survival of the Wyndham family.
In 1556 she married Sir John Wyndham of Orchard Wyndham and a year later was taken ill and thought to have died. She was buried in the Wyndham family vault in St Decuman’s church at Watchet, Somerset and that same night a covetous sexton opened her coffin in order to remove her rings and cut one of her fingers in the process. She had in fact fallen into some sort of cataleptic trance, and was now awakened by the pain and rose from her coffin. The sexton fled leaving his lantern behind him; and with its aid she made her way home across the fields to her astounded family.
Soon afterwards she gave birth to her only son, Sir John Wyndham, from whom every member of the Wyndham family is descended (apart from a branch of the family in the United States whose progenitor is Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Wyndham, Henry VIII's distinguished naval commander).
Her remarkable survival and importance is celebrated in the family by successive generations naming the eldest son Wadham Wyndham, most especially by the Salisbury branch of St Edmund's College founded by Sir Wadham Wyndham."
Jane's father, Philip's, middle name was Wadham, so the tradition continues,.. Philip was the oldest out of three boys.
With the help of Jane's brother, Ben, we were able to find Philipps House, formerly Dinton House, in Dinton, about 20kms outside of Salisbury. This place was impressive, your classic country manor house. Four generations of Wyndhams (a different line to Jane's family) lived at this spot, the last of which included George Wyndham who went out to Australia and set up the well known Wyndham Wine Estate. The house is now owned by the National Trust and we just happened to be there on one of two days of the week it was open to the public. I took this photo from along the very long drive way....
A closer shot with Sophie and Connor enjoying the lawns..
Went into the library room of this grand house and a lovely guy called Ivor gave as some great colour on the history of the family there. Here he is keeping the two kids amused with an old collapsible ladder.
In the local town of Dinton, there was ofcourse another Wyndham hotel, you can see the family coat of arms at the top....
We had a great time in Salisbury. I'm sure the kids will come back here one day to delve into all this Wyndham family history. Connor certainly enjoyed himself this time around, see below....a photo taken at the gates to the "The Close" or the old part of town around the cathedral.
Next we headed to Brighton, "London by the sea", I'll save that for the next blog.
I've just been sifting through the photos from our big UK round trip, so many of them, so many great memories. I've picked a few favourites from along the way....
We stayed in Salisbury in the south of England, an area I've heard referred to as the garden of England, makes sense to me. We stayed there because I knew the Wyndham name ( Jane's maiden name) was prominent there. The name appears in many places in Salisbury, here are a couple of examples...
A pub just up the road from this street which we stopped in for a refreshment..
The famous 13th century Salisbury Cathedral has Britain's tallest spire at 123 metres. You can see it here in the middle of the following photo which I took one evening from a few kms away, just near the B&B we stayed at for two nights ....
Almost in the centre of the Salisbury Cathedral there are a row of plaques, showing where the bodies of a number of Wyndhams's lie ...
Here is a photo of one of those plaques, that of the well known at the time, Wadham Wyndham........
Below, also in the cathedral is the tomb of Thomas Lord Wyndham, who was Baron Wyndham of Finglafs in the Kingdom of Ireland in the first half of the 18th century.
Interestingly the lady in the statue above Thomas's tomb has her ring figure cut off. This, as we confirmed with one of the guides at the cathedral, is a symbolic referral to the famous Wyndham family "buried alive" story about Florence Wyndham. I found the following on Wikipedia..........
"Florence Wyndham (died 1596) was the daughter of Sir John Wadham of Merifield and sister of Nicholas Wadham founder of Wadham College, Oxford."......
Buried alive
In 1556 she married Sir John Wyndham of Orchard Wyndham and a year later was taken ill and thought to have died. She was buried in the Wyndham family vault in St Decuman’s church at Watchet, Somerset and that same night a covetous sexton opened her coffin in order to remove her rings and cut one of her fingers in the process. She had in fact fallen into some sort of cataleptic trance, and was now awakened by the pain and rose from her coffin. The sexton fled leaving his lantern behind him; and with its aid she made her way home across the fields to her astounded family.
Soon afterwards she gave birth to her only son, Sir John Wyndham, from whom every member of the Wyndham family is descended (apart from a branch of the family in the United States whose progenitor is Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Wyndham, Henry VIII's distinguished naval commander).
Her remarkable survival and importance is celebrated in the family by successive generations naming the eldest son Wadham Wyndham, most especially by the Salisbury branch of St Edmund's College founded by Sir Wadham Wyndham."
Jane's father, Philip's, middle name was Wadham, so the tradition continues,.. Philip was the oldest out of three boys.
With the help of Jane's brother, Ben, we were able to find Philipps House, formerly Dinton House, in Dinton, about 20kms outside of Salisbury. This place was impressive, your classic country manor house. Four generations of Wyndhams (a different line to Jane's family) lived at this spot, the last of which included George Wyndham who went out to Australia and set up the well known Wyndham Wine Estate. The house is now owned by the National Trust and we just happened to be there on one of two days of the week it was open to the public. I took this photo from along the very long drive way....
A closer shot with Sophie and Connor enjoying the lawns..
Went into the library room of this grand house and a lovely guy called Ivor gave as some great colour on the history of the family there. Here he is keeping the two kids amused with an old collapsible ladder.
In the local town of Dinton, there was ofcourse another Wyndham hotel, you can see the family coat of arms at the top....
We had a great time in Salisbury. I'm sure the kids will come back here one day to delve into all this Wyndham family history. Connor certainly enjoyed himself this time around, see below....a photo taken at the gates to the "The Close" or the old part of town around the cathedral.
Next we headed to Brighton, "London by the sea", I'll save that for the next blog.
A bientôt
Jane, Sophie, Connor et moi.
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