A day where I go looking for a new tv and find a lovely church.... After the sunshine of the previous day the second morning arrived cloudy and grey though still very warm. Activities around the farm had started just after 8am and when I took Snowy and Poppie for their morning walk I found a large agricultural wood chipper making short work of a gigantic pile of tree trunks with a couple of tractors and trailers running in relay, taking the chippings up to the big barn at the top of the farm track.   
The grey sky and low cloud seemed to be fairly widespread with no sign of clearing so I decided to stay on site, read a few chapters of my book and maybe indulge in a bit of daytime tv, something which I rarely do at home, however the tv itself had other ideas. As I moved it round to avoid the light reflection from the tent window the aerial connector came out of the back of the set and when I looked the connection port itself had broken off inside the set and there was no way of fixing it myself. Later information from the site owner told me that there was a tv repair shop in Wigton, about 12 miles away; I'd been intending to visit the town at some point during the holiday anyway as I wanted to check out the heritage trail so it seemed like this day was as good as any even if the weather was still dull. I found the tv repair shop with no problem and while the tv could probably have been fixed it couldn't be done for a week or so and the cost of the repair would probably be more than the small 24" set was worth. It looked like I would have to search out a new one from somewhere but not before I'd had a walk round the heritage trail. Starting from where I left the van the first building I came to was St. Mary's Church. It dates from the late 1700s and was modelled on St. Michael's in Workington, though I'm saving any other details for another time as it really deserves a post of its own. In front of the church, between the building and the road, was the old cobbled Corn Market, while on the south side was a row of traditional Georgian cottages built in the 1700s. On the north side was a row of cottages known as the Widows' Hospital, built in 1723 by a bequest from the Rev John Thomlinson, Rector of Rothbury, for the widows of six Protestant clergymen from across the county of Cumberland.     
Along the road and on the other side was Wigton Methodist Church, built in 1883 and modernised inside in 2005, then back past St. Mary's I came to Market Place and the George Moore Memorial. Built in 1872 and dedicated to Moore's first wife Eliza Ray each of the four sides features a sculpture by the pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner, showing scenes of the Acts of Mercy, with Eliza's face above each one.   
Across from the memorial was the former Kings Arms Hotel, originally a coaching inn where authors Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins stayed while on their Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices during the wet winter of 1857. They didn't enjoy the town very much as Collins had previously fallen on Carrock Fell and twisted his ankle. The hotel was renovated in 1987 and when the wallpaper was stripped off it was found that Dickens had put his autograph on one of the walls. 
Along the road to the left of Market Place was the Hare & Hounds, a pub and former shop which is now just one property. Built in the late 17th/early 18th century it's one of the oldest pubs in Wigton and has been Grade ll listed since November 1984. Back past the George Moore memorial and down Station Road I came to the John Peel Theatre, built in 1884/85 as a barracks for the town's Salvation Army corps. Wigton Theatre Club was formed in September 1952 by the head of Wigton Secondary School and the members spent the first ten years putting on plays, usually four each year, in the Secondary School hall, then the Parish Rooms. In 1964 Redmayne's Bespoke Tailors bought the barracks from the Salvation Army and rented the building to the theatre club, giving them substantial help in converting it to a theatre, then when the land around the theatre was to be redeveloped in 1988 the club purchased the building in order to ensure its continued use as a theatre.   
Round the corner from the theatre and on the way to the next building on the trail I came to a short alley leading to a couple of houses with unexpectedly pretty gardens. They weren't connected in any way to the Heritage Trail but they looked so bright on such a dull day that I couldn't resist taking a couple of photos.   
The next building on the trail was the premises of Wilkinson Joinery on the site of the Old Corn Mill. Part of a 1775 rebuild of a much older building the current building served as a water-powered mill until the late 1920s; on the side wall are three original mill stones and a bronze plaque detailing the building's history. Across from the joinery place was a cottage with a large mural painted along its gable end wall. Steps at the side led up to an open alleyway and part of the cottage's boundary wall had been replaced by glass panels giving a view of the mural. It obviously depicts life in the past but so far I've been unable to find out what it signifies and why it's there; it isn't even mentioned in the heritage trail brochure.     
At the end of the alleyway, which was quaintly named Birdcage Walk, I came to two more buildings with murals on their walls. Now home to the Free 4 All environmental charity they had once been part of the Old Cotton Mill which originally housed workers from the town's thriving cotton industry in the 18th century.  
At one corner of the car park where I'd left the van I came across The Pump and The Lamp. Originally situated in Market Place they replaced a cross with a bell which was rung on each market day but which had burned down during a bonfire to celebrate Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in 1805. The Pump and Lamp stayed in Market Place until 1872 when they were taken down to make way for the George Moore Memorial; they were re-erected in their current spot in 1998. Heading back to the van my final shot, which had nothing to do with the heritage trail, was of a brightly coloured mural in an alleyway between the car park and one of the main streets.  
There were actually 22 points of interest on the heritage trail but I didn't photograph all of them as many of them now bear no resemblance to what they once were - while they may each have a bit of interesting information attached to them I don't think shop fronts and takeaway places look particularly exciting. Having spent quite some time walking round the heritage trail, and with no sign of the cloudy grey sky giving way to any sunshine, I decided to abandon my quest to find a new tv and return to the camp site. I could still watch a dvd if I wanted to and I had a couple of books to read so my tv search could continue another day. |
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