Avon – Musings of a curious individual

Not floodey likely

On: 16/06/201912/01/2020 By: JA

This has been an odd week weatherwise. One of those nasty storms has hit the UK bringing widespread rain and floods. Unfortunately Tewkesbury has a reputation for floods and frankly I was concerned. On Thursday a flood warning was issued for the town:

I live right on top of the Carrant Brook and it tends to rise and fall dependent on a number of factors, and when I moved into my current flat in 2015 the brook flooded and consequently flooded the field outside.

The flood warnings were pretty grim, especially for what is known as “the Severn Ham” aka “Tewkesbury Ham” aka “The Ham”, and the area between the Mill Avon and the Severn. You can see that area in the image below between the two rivers on the left.

However, if the Avon floods it tends to back up the Carrant Brook which then floods the area where I stay and in 2007 my flat was under a metre of water. Consequently I was concerned because the rain that was falling in Wales would eventually make its way downstream and that would affect the Avon/Severn and possibly me. The long and the short of it is that I stayed at home on Friday, my bag packed and my eye on the field outside. Fortunately it never came to an evacuation situation, although next week more rain is forecast.

This morning has been cold and overcast/sunny/windy and everything in-between and I decided to head down to the Ham and have a look at the levels in this area.

I took the following image on Friday morning looking towards the Avon lock. Normally it looks like this:

But on Friday it looked like this:

The cream building on the right hand side of the image is interesting because it has a high water mark on it from the floods in 2007.

The sign is also quite interesting:

This morning I crossed the bridge over the Mill Avon and took the following two images:

Upstream towards the locks. The derelict Healings Mill is on the left

Healings Mill in 2018 when the rivers were flooding

I then walked along the pathway towards the Ham. There was standing water in a large portion of it and the lower bridge at the Abbey Mill was impassable.

The Ham looking towards the waterworks (1500 x 679)

There are two mills on this stretch of water. Healings Mill is derelict and abandoned but cannot be demolished because it is a listed building. That closed in 2006 and is now home to thousands of pigeons and other birds. I suspect they are hoping it will fall down on its own although I believe there are plans to convert it into yuppie pads.

Downstream from Healings is the old Abbey Mill which closed in 1921, it is now apartments and that was where I was heading. I have explored around this area when the water level was lower.

Just next to the building is the Victoria Gardens and it too is under water:

I was not able to photograph the other side of the mill as I left my wellies at home but these images below were taken in April 2016 from the Victoria Gardens.

Actually the area around the mill is very pretty and I should really go explore around there when the water subsides and we get some summer again. Hopefully normality will creep into our weather and the levels will drop so that I can rest easy again. Unfortunately I get antsy when it rains and when you consider how quickly a town can be inundated you can see why. Things at the moment are not as bad as they were in 2007 and I have seen the field behind where I live much deeper under water than it is now, but it doesn’t take much to tip that balance. Maybe its time to invest in that boat I have always wanted.

Random images.

Spring has sprung

On: 21/04/201904/12/2019 By: JA

Yep, it’s true, Spring has arrived, or should I say sunny days arrived for this Easter weekend; which made a nice change from the often overcast and gloomy weather that we seemed to have had since I got back from South Africa. My weather app says it is 22 degrees outside and will it remain like that till Tuesday. However, it better not turn ugly again because I have plans for Saturday! Anyway, I digress because this post is just one of those springy thingys that came about because I went for a walk this morning. I have not been very active this past month because I was battling sinus, but finally feel much better. Enjoy the pics, they were taken with my celery phone so quality could be variable.

Miss Emily also made a rare appearance in her all new ice cream dress, hat and sandals. She does look snazzy too. Although I did remind her that soon it will be Back to School….

And that was/is Spring for now. Unfortunately my 4 day holiday turned out to be only 2 days long because of work. The extra money will come in handy but it wont be used to buy ice cream with.

Ancient lights and ancient alleys

On: 27/01/201914/07/2019 By: JA

Tewkesbury is a very old and somewhat quirky place, and I have spotted quite a few things that have left me rooting around for answers. This post is really about a sign that I saw on the back of a building over an alley…..

My first thoughts were “What a cool name for a building.” However, there is more to this than meets the eye, and I discovered that by accident while reading a post on Atlasobscura.

In short the “Right to light“ is a form of easement in English law that gives a long-standing owner of a building with windows a right to maintain the level of illumination. It is based on the Ancient Lights law.^.

In effect, the owner of a building with windows that have received natural daylight for 20 years or more is entitled to forbid any construction or other obstruction that would deprive him or her of that illumination. Neighbours cannot build anything that would block the light without permission. The owner may build more or larger windows but cannot enlarge their new windows before the new period of 20 years has expired.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_light)

The area above straddles what is known as Eagle’s Alley; one of the many alleys and courts that exist in the town. From the front the entrance may be seen between Parsons and The Card Rack but whether the two buildings are connected by that short length of brickwork and a passage I cannot say.

Now that I have shed some light on Ancient Lights and alleys I may as well cover a few other places while I am about it. Unfortunately there is not a lot to see in the alleys and courts and they do not make for interesting photography.

The High Street entrance to Warder’s Alley has a large map on it that shows the many courts and alleys that are in the town, but it is awkward to photograph. It was created by E. Guilding in 2017.

Wall’s Court

Lilley’s Alley

Clark’s Alley

Old Baptist Chapel Court

This is where the old Baptist Chapel Graveyard is.

Wall’s Court

Ancilles Court

Fletcher’s Alley

New additions (July 2019):

Chandler’s Court

Turner’s Court

Machine Court

Wilkes Alley

I found this one by accident, having never considered looking at the alleys from the other side of the buildings. It is quite interesting because the lane on Back of the Avon side does not co-inside with the exit on the Hight Street.

I will probably add more to this post as I find more of the pics I have taken of these passages, some are really fascinating, but cataloguing them is a different kettle of fish. In fact, I think I will leave this notice for now because who knows what else I will uncover as I start hunting them down.