St Fabian & St Sebastian Parish Church, Woodbastwick, Seat arm.

St Fabian & St Sebastian Woodbastwick _ Pew and seat ends 3, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Ghost Story

St Helen's Ranworth - The Litter Of Ages, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

My grandmother first told me this story when I was about ten years old. It is a tale of a past vicar of Ranworth Church and his dog. She said she had been told it when she was a child before the First World War and it is, I am sorry to to report to lovers of gore, the kind of ghost story that could be quite properly told to an Edwardian child. It had stayed in her mind because it featured a faithful dog and that was the kind of story (Black Beauty, Beautiful Joe) she liked and if not exactly local to her in those pre motor car days(she lived in Fundenhall some 25 miles away!) it was at least set in the same county.

This vicar of St Helen's Church, Ranworth in the county of Norfolk had a dog who would follow him everywhere; even into church when he conducted services. If he was not allowed to follow his master the dog would sit outside and howl loud enough to drown out the service. At last the vicar gave in and allowed the dog to follow him into the Church but only after the congregation had agreed to allow him to build a gate onto the communion rail to keep the animal out of the Sanctuary and away from the altar.

The dog lived for several more years, attending every service that his master officiated at but finally he died.

"And they do say" continued my grandmother in the best tradition of these stories "that even today if you walk around the churchyard you will feel a snuffling at your heels because the ghost of this dog continues to haunt Ranworth"

There is, of course, a sub-text. This is not a ghost story but (it sounds to me) an elaborate satirical joke about Ranworth and the High Anglican Church. Whether a Church has a gate on its altar rail or not was one of the markers as to whether it is high or not. If it is a satire then one can only presume that the dog is supposed to stand as a metaphor for the Oxford Movement or Anglo-Catholicism or the suchlike. And the ghost of the dog, the story goes, lives on in Ranworth...... That is my theory anyway.

As far as I know my grandmother, and she was no fool where these matters were concerned, saw it as just a ghost story to tell her ten year old grandson. My theory is that as a young girl she was handed in the street or elsewhere one of the many anti-Catholic pamphlets that were circulating at the time; this one aimed at what was seen as the Popish leanings at Ranworth. Her eye missed all the bits about purple plots and the malign influence of Rome and just settled on the story of the Vicar and the dog because that was, as I have already explained, a story that would have attracted her.

Unless, of course, you have walked Widdershins around Ranworth Church and felt a snuffling at your heels.

Links: My photographs of Ranworth Church are here. The Norfolk Churches Site entry about Ranworth is here

St Helen's Ranworth Graveyard and Oak Tree

Smoke on the road to Ranworth

Smoke on the road again, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Another messed around photograph. The original is here

Painting The Crowds With Sunshine

Painting The Crowds With Sunshine, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

I have seen him before. His paintings always seem to turn Norwich from a East Anglian market town into a multicololoured place under a Mediterrean sky. I only wish I could love them

"When I pretend I'm gay,
I never feel that way,
I'm only painting the clouds with sunshine.
When I hold back a tear,
To make a smile appear,
I'm only painting the clouds with sunshine.
Painting the blues, beautiful hues,
Coloured with gold and old rose.
Playing the clown, trying to drown, all of my woes.
Tho' things may not look bright,
They'll turn out alright,
If I keep painting the clouds with sunshine."

Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (song)
music by Joe Burke, lyrics by Al Dubin

Man In A Suit And Tie Juggling In Gentlemen's Walk, Norwich

Juggling in Gentlemen's Walk, Norwich, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.




Is that a drug buy going on in the background?
..............and where is that woman in the glasses putting her left hand?
..............and what is she watching that makes her do it?
..............and is that man really going to buy Harry Potter & The Franchise Of Gold from H.M.V.?

Pig-a-back

Pig-a-back, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Anyone know the rules for this one. Like Ludo (and its brother called Uckers in the Royal Navy) it appears to be a variation on the Indian game of Pachisi. I only have the board of which this is the label. Ludo was introduced in Britain in 1880 or 1896 depending on which book you read. The former seems more likely since the Pig-a-back board bears the registration mark 173533 which dates it at 1891.

Other Victorian-Edwardian Pachisi variations included Royal Ludo and Monarch Ludo.

One other worthwhile (although I bet there are a lot more) link is Pachisi & Ludo - pc games, rules & history

The board measures roughly twelve and a half inches square. If you want a large copy of the board you will have to click on the picture below and join flickr (which is free) and then click the all sizes button above the photograph.

Opie Street - Devil's Alley

Opie Street - Devil's Alley, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Given that seventy five per cent of Opie Street is given over to one firm of solicitors and one firm of stockbrokers it would be fitting if the name of Opie Street were to revert to Devil's Alley - although perhaps this would be a little unfair on the Devil.