It’s a times like this you realise, even in a residential area, just how humans pollute the peace just by their very presence.
Looking out of the window not a soul stirred, even the cats and local urban foxes took the night off.
But, it wouldn’t be long before the milkman arrived to deliver to the last two houses in the street who don’t buy their milk from supermarkets, a little later the poor paperboy, already freezing in his school uniform, will deflower the carpet of snow on the pavements as he delivers newspapers to the last 2 houses in the street who no longer read them for free on the internet.

Then the street will really become alive to the sound of car engines, the scraping of windows and the hiss of de-icer spray as children who once were paperboys and girls now have to be driven to the local school and cars that have to be shuffled in drives as every house now has at least two cars despite being unable to afford milk from the milkman . . .

As the world seemed likely to spin for another day without my input I left them to it, had breakfast, took a long lovely bath, wrote the blog article that appears before this, had another breakfast and then decided if anybody was going to disfigure the newly arrived white world it would be me - so off I went in search of a sunrise . . .

The Early Boy Gets the Light

It was glorious, a beautiful time of day, all seemed as it should be, the only blot on the landscape was me, quiet but exhaling mist and fog in the still frozen air.
I stood looking through the trees as the sun began to rise over Cun Hu Hill and reflected on the fact that it’s still possible to stand in a spot and see things as ancient Kings and Druids once saw them.

They never had paperboys, milkmen and two vehicles in the Dark Ages of course - but then . . . neither will we soon !

Reflectively yours,
Rod

The Birdman of Grimsby

Digging for What ?
The photograph below was an unusual sight. I was alerted to something by the unusual calling of a bird, it sounded as though I was on the banks of the Humber.
Little wonder when I saw the birds - shore birds, Oystercatchers to be precise, but a flock of them in Grimsby Cemetery !
Never seen that anywhere else before, very unusual.
They all had muddy beaks as well from thrusting them deep into the ground looking for food, normally they can only do this on soft sand etc - but in a graveyard . . . macabre thoughts really !

The Birds !

The Monk’s Dinner
This motley collection of bones forms perhaps some the remnants of what I believe was once a monks meal. They were taken from a pit on an ancient abbey site in Lincolnshire.
Quite a thing to see when you think about it, the disjecta membra of a medieval monk’s supper . . .

For what we are about to receive . . .

The Vikings Are Coming !
Living in The Danelaw and being a proud descendent of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons I could do no other than celebrate this heritage by buying a Dragon Hammer pendent. It is an exact replica of a 10th century Thor’s Hammer pendent found by archaeologists on a Viking dig in Iceland !
Add to that I also plumped for the Dragon Chain over the leather thong and it’s a fine piece of work, shown below only just a bit bigger than life size !
I should add that another name for the Viking God Thor was Grim, and various derivatives such as Grimnir and we know why that’s important

How cool is that ?

An Italian Abroad
Below you’ll see another war grave, I do hope you’re not sick of them. This one is a little different, it is for an Italian !
What I’d love to know is . . .
Who was Giuseppe Tedesco, what did he do and what happened to him ?
I know that he was a soldier and in the Italian army but what was he doing here and when he died on Christmas Eve of 1944 was he at a POW camp here in Lincolnshire ?

Giuseppe Tedesco

Me, Myself, I
A photographer who commissions self-portraits has a fool for a client
I’m rather pleased with the photograph below though, for a few reasons:
Firstly, it marks the first portrait to come out of my new permanent studio.
Secondly, I’m very pleased with how crisp and clean the background is and the lighting, exposure etc.
Thirdly, the shot has not been cropped in any way. I framed the shot as seen, which isn’t easy when the camera is on a tripod a few metres away and you have to keep getting up moving it etc, firing another test shot by infra-red remote - check again - adjust etc etc
Anyhoo, it showed the potential for some nice shots I felt.

First Official Portrait of . .. The King of Wybers Wood

There was another reason for the shot, regular readers will no doubt notice the super-awesome hat, which we all know is now a craze countrywide some 3 years after I started wearing them
Also, the Sabaton Panzer Battalion hoodie - it’s such a powerful combination I’m forbidden by local bylaw from wearing them together outside lest I be . . .
Too awesome in a built up area
A photo is the only safe way to view such an ensemble - and even then the infirm may tremble

Hope you’ve enjoyed this ramble through the bizarre and nonsensical - comments, insults, brickbats and general abuse more than welcome !
Best,
Rod

Situated half way up Steep Hill, near Danes Terrace, it was, as it is today, in a prime place in the very important City of Lincoln.
It is built of Limestone Rubble and Ashlar and the main arched doorway you can see in the picture is original 12th century !

Jews House on Steep Hill in Lincoln

In 1287 we know for sure, due to deeds, that the house was in the possession of a wealthy ‘Jewess’ Belaset of Wallington, she was the daughter rab Berechiah and clearly part of a very important family.
I’ve been doing some research on her on Jewish History websites and it seems there’s a possible tie in with the legend of Little Hugh.

If you remember this article on The Jews’ Court you’ll remember the story of little Hugh and the consequences of his death.
That happened in 1255 and resulted in many of the Lincoln Jews being sent to London for complicity in a so-called ‘ritual murder’.

There were quite a number and not just from Lincoln, the suggestion is that there were so many Jews in Lincoln at the time because they’d gathered to celebrate the marriage of Belaset, owner of Jews House, and to pay respect to her father Berechiah.
Berechiah himself was one of those rounded up and taken prisoner although it seems he was released from London, in January 1256, before many of the other Jews.

On 17 November 1278, which was a chilling portent of things to come in our more recent history, Jews all over England were rounded up and arrested, houses were searched for any in hiding. One of those recorded as having been arrested was a rich female financier called . . . Belaset of Lincoln !
The house on Steep Hill was confiscated - somebody made a fortune out of this persecution and you wonder how much was greed and envy and how much religious hatred !

At the time of the Expulsion of the Jews, and I’m indebted to Sir Francis Hill’s wonderful book Medieval Lincoln for these figures, Belaset of Wallingford was recorded to have owned £4 13s 4d and this house which was said to be worth 19s 6d per annum.
On 20 March 1291 the King, Edward I, gave the houses that had belonged to Belaset of Wallingford to Walter le Foure of Fulletby.

Belaset of Wallingford was surely a woman before her time, more of today’s world than the past - described as a Wealthy Financier in Medieval Lincolnshire !
Because of her religion her ultimate fate was to have all she owned confiscated, imprisoned on a trumped up charge and then finally . . .
Hanged ! for allegedly ‘Clipping the King’s Coinage’

A beautiful building with a very sad history . . .

As always, comments, opinions and additional information always very much welcomed and I hope you’ve enjoyed this tale of Medieval Lincoln.
All the best,
Rod

In that spirit and also that of historical interest I should like to find out as much as possible about all the German servicemen buried in Grimsby.
I should be interested in any more information not included below and also any information on any more graves not included here.

Walter Kosling †

Walter Kosling is a man who has appeared on the site more than once before, in fact quite incredibly we even have a photograph of site stalwart Amiguru holding part of his parachute - seen here in the comments section of the article on Wartime Bombing in Grimsby

Kosling above and Danzenberg below were both in the same aeroplane on a daytime mission to bomb RAF Leeming. Oberleutnant Fritz Danzenberg was in Heinkel He111 of KG4 Eindhoven but they lost their route and over the Humber were hit by Anti-Aircraft fire , they dumped their bombs near Immingham, Fw Observer Walter Kosling bailed out, but his parachute got caught in the tail plane and the plane crashed near the Immingham-Habrough Road. Fritz Danzenberg lost his life too - 2 others survived and became Prisoners of War.
Credit to Martin Bridge for the details.

Fritz Danzenberg †

Hubert Toeltsch †

Hubert Toeltsch was a crew member in one of three planes shot down whilst attacking Hull on the 13-14 July. His Dornier 217 crashed into the sea just off Spurn Head at shot down by a 604 Squadron Beaufighter. All the Luftwaffe crew were missing only Hubert Toeltsch’s body was found, in sea nearly 2 weeks later on 26 July

Franz Schmidt †

Franz Schmidt passed away aged 46 and is buried in a military grave in the military section at Grimsby’s Scartho Road Cemetery. I’ve been unable to find out anything about Franz, other than he served in the German Army. The date of 1946 suggest a P.O.W.

Franz Kapron †

Franz Kapron served in the German Navy (Deutsche Marine) and once again I’ve, sadly, been able to find nothing more about Franz, his time in the war and his time here in the UK. As before a date of 1946 strongly suggests a Prisoner of War, as with everybody here we’d very much welcome more information.

Ludwik Blaszczok †

Ludwik Blaszczok is listed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as having been a serving soldier in the German Army but as we’ll see elsewhere on this page that doesn’t necessarily mean he was German. Ludwik’s surname suggests Polish origins so it’s entirely possible, though I cannot say for sure, that Ludwik was one of the Poles who were conscripted into the German Army when the Nazis occupied Poland.
Once again we desperately seek more information.

Viktor Koczy †

Viktor Koczy died in 1947 and is, as above, listed as having served in the German Army. The date once again suggests a POW and the name, unusual when specifically searched for, looks as though it may originate in the Ukraine, so was Viktor a Ukrainian man drafted into the Third Reich ?

Heinrich Krebs †

Heinrich Krebs, listed as German Army by the CWGC, died in 1947 suggesting he was a Prisoner of War kept here in a POW camp in Lincolnshire.
We should very much like to find out more history about Heinrich, as we would everybody on this page, so if you can help at all please do leave a comment.

Bruno Kluck †

Bruno Kluck is listed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as of German nationality and a German Soldier. The date of his death being 1947 is suggestive of him being a Prisoner of War though I’ve found no evidence to back this up.

Karl Ernst Thiede †

Karl Ernst Thiede was in a Heinkell taking part in a bombing raid when his plane was shot down by a Hurricane fighter.
3 of the crew members were rescued at sea by a fishing trawler and later transferred onto a Grimsby-based ARP vessel. 2 lost their lives though only the body of Karl Ernst Thiede was recovered and subsequently buried at Scartho Road Cemetery, Grimsby.
Thank you to Martin Bridge for those details

Erich Schoppa †

Erich Schoppa was a German Soldier and the obvious point of interest is the date of his death - 1947
Sadly, I cannot find out anything about Erich although there is mention of somebody with the same name who was Polish and became ‘nationalised’ by the Germans when they occupied Poland, he became a Category III German Prisoner. The reference then goes on to say he lost his life fighting in the German Army in the Czech Republic on January 22, 1945 - if that’s absolutely correct then he’s obviously not our Erich Schoppa, that said it’s an uncommon name, perhaps there’s some connection - if nothing else it certainly suggests that Erich, although listed as being in the German army, may well have been Polish !?

Waldemar Bronny †

Waldemar Bronny also died in 1947, as Erich Scoppa above, and his name also suggests he was a Polish National, and later conscripted into the German Army.
I can find on other official records or concrete information on Waldemar or what happened to him far from Poland here in Lincolnshire.

August Schmitz †

August Schmitz 6th November 1940 aged only 22, he was an Airman in the Luftwaffe ( The German Air Force ) and his grave, shown above, is at Grimsby (Scartho Road) Cemetery.
Edward Zahn, headstone seen below, was only 21 years old when he lost his life on the same day as August Schmitz. As they were both airmen in the German Luftwaffe it seems reasonable to assume their deaths were connected - the question is how . . .

Edward Zahn †

Georg Werder, seen below, is buried at Scartho Road Cemetery Grimsby in the military section. Other than serving in the German Luftwaffe and losing his life at the terribly young age of 22 I’ve been unable to find any other information except for the obvious fact that the date matches that of August Schmitz and Edward Zahn seen above

Georg Werder †

With regard to our last three German servicemen, Werder, Zahn and Schmitz, I’ve rooting round and found some official information of a plane crash which matches that date, it’s the only one listed for that date as well. . .
On 16 November 1940 a Dornier Do 26 V5 was lost along with all the crew, after being launched at night from the catapult ship Friesenland in Brest, France.
Could this be the the plane in which our three servicemen flew ?

If you can add anything not included above or have any general comments to make then please do leave a comment and I hope you’ve found the both respectful and of interest.
Respectfully yours,
Rod

I’m mindful, as mentioned before, of content balancing. The large and varied number of visitors will surely be seeing things some day which are of no interest.
My idea would be that to break up the Lincolnshire and historical stuff (not only for readers but also for myself as well) some days there may well be a couple of articles.

Today for example we’ve got the off-topic Winners & Losers which gives everybody a chance to comment and participate, later we’ll have something on WWII graves (hopefully)
I hope this meets with approval as I’m trying to make the site as interesting as possible for everybody, every time they visit - I’ll not succeed of course but hopefully the site will be the better for my best efforts in that direction.

Regards to all,
Rod

The recent debacle of bankers bonuses at RBS and the resultant press pressure has resulted in a guy saying he won’t take his bonus - victory for the common man !
Er no, the treasury just lost £500,000 in tax . . oh and er another £900 million which was subsequently wiped of the value of the shares the treasury holds in the bank.
The politics of envy !

Seeing the Bigger Picture

My Studio
UP and running - all done and dusted. A few more minor bits of kit are awaiting delivery but it’s really rather satisfactory

Still on the Wagon
Yet another week drink and smoke free

Macdonalds
Profits are up this year for the fast food giants - reason . . .
The global economy, as money gets tighter families cut back
If money’s tight why are you eating out ?

George Soros
“There will be riots on the street”
I’ve been saying this for a couple of years, social decay is sure to follow the unrealistic bubble many have been living in.
Hardship and perceived depravation is going to come hard to many who have known nothing other than an easy trouble free life.
A lot of people out there feel they are ‘owed’ and when they don’t get it . . .

Living in the South of England
Freezing weather and snow on its way the weather people say - thank goodness I live ‘darn sarf’
It’s grim up norf !

My Postman
A lot of people complaining about the postie nowadays in connection with parcels etc.
Mine’s fantastic, he’s been taking mine to a young lady in the street for me when I’m not in, I left a note last week to that effect and now he’s done it unbidden.
It’s obviously very helpful to me personally but strangely it feels like something form a bygone age . . .

Looking through the Narrow Window

American 911 Emergency Calls
I wonder if anybody can tell me why 911 calls to emergency services in America seem to be made public ?
Surely that’s a hugely private issue and secondly . . .
If a call is made for somebody well known will the caller hesitate to state the truth knowing it could be released ?

Dead-Beat Parents
Lincolnshire has much to boast about, sadly having one of the highest child obesity rates in England isn’t one of them.
33% of children in Lincolnshire are clinically obese so the NHS sent in some inspectors to check what children were bringing into schools for lunch.
One parent had ‘packed a child up’ with sandwiches . . . the filling was made from Smarties (like M&M sweets)
It’s simply beyond belief !

The Lowest of Base Actions
A 73 year old disabled woman was mugged whilst on the street on her wheelchair.
I simply cannot think of anything to say . . .

Alex Salmond
“England will be better off without Scotland”
At last he speaks some sense and says something that’s actually true !

Harry Redknapp
Claims he cannot spell and writes like a two-year old at his trial !
Clever enough to set up offshore accounts under the name ‘Rosie 47′ in Monaco though
Some people are better with numbers than letters it seems

As always, this is a free for all - comments on anything above, rants in general - anything at all - this is the place to get off topic and talk about or discuss absolutely anything.
All the best
Rod

Can Books Compete ?

I still remember books I read decades ago with fondness, they were great reads and they stuck with me. Reading about Huckleberry Finn, Long John Silver and Sherlock Holmes was quite fabulous and I’m sure they did me a great deal of good in many ways.
To say they’ve stuck with me is easy to say I suppose but in my case easily demonstrated as many years later I own these lovely books

A 1902 first edition of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes classic The Hound of the Baskervilles, an 1884 first edition of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and an 1886 first edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped

On the Endangered List ?

I re-read the books when I acquired the first editions and what a fabulous experience it was, reading first editions as opposed to ‘just books’ is worthy of an article in itself.
Look at the edition of Kidnapped you can see, folded up, it still has the original fold-out map - imagine opening that map up as a boy in the 1800s - it must have been magical - it wasn’t far off for me over a century later !

This all sounds very evocative, nostalgic but is it really worth a hill of beans, does what I’ve written above mean anything to anybody but those who already feel that way anyway ?
Are they just the schmaltzy ramblings of somebody living largely in the past ?
I’d like to think a boy today could still find excitement in reading Treasure Island, in fact I believe, given a decent upbringing and encouragement, that they could indeed - but how many will bother . . .
How many parents would go to a secondhand bookshop and buy a copy of Kidnapped for £1 rather than ‘Call of Duty 46′ for about 40 quid ?!

I note this week that Ivanhoe has been rewritten in order to ‘make it an easier read’ - make of that what you will !
I can understand that playing an online game in which you’re a real crusading medieval knight is easier to fall for than Sir Walter Scott’s prose and perhaps that’s only right - perhaps the old should make way for the new.

I’d like to think I’m even handed on this issue, I love books and think everybody can benefit from reading good quality literature but I also accept that there are many more diversions nowadays than once there were - the competition is tough.

Are many of the classic books dead ?
If so which will, or do, stand the test of time ?

Please do feel free to share your ideas, opinions and experiences on this . . .
Literally yours,
Rod

Lost Fishermen remembered

It took 6 years of lobbying and fundraising to get the tribute to lost trawlermen in place. The statue was created by sculptor Trevor Harries and unveiled in 2005, it depicts a fisherman hauling in a net over the side of a trawler - it’s absolutely superb and the setting couldn’t be better - overlooked by Grimsby Minster or St James’ Church as I prefer.

A Fitting Tribute to Gallant Men

Grimsby Docks was once the largest fishing port in the world ( nowadays of course Grimsby Docks are in terrible decline ) and the job of Deep Sea Fisherman one of the most dangerous in the world so the losses were dreadful.
I imagine at the height of the fishing industry just about every family in Grimsby would be touched either directly or indirectly by the loss of somebody at sea.
I’d hoped to find out the total extent of these losses over the years but was unable to find reliable statistics.
To give you some idea though:
Just between 1881 and 1882 - 169 men who set sail from Grimsby were lost at sea †
This included 44 Fishing Apprentices who were boys under the age of 18 years †

Grimsby Fishermen’s Memorial

I should like to pay tribute not only to all those brave men who endured the most dreadful conditions at sea just to make a living and support their families but also to all those involved in the commissioning of this tremendous memorial statue and of course to Trevor Harries for his fabulous sculpture.
As always, we welcome any and all comments related to this memorial and more importantly, those fishermen who were lost at sea.
Humbly yours,
Rod

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself
That’s from a fine piece of writing by D.H. Lawrence - in a torturous twist of modern irony I checked the wording was correct on Google only to find the number one spot was taken by the Internet Movie Database who labelled it as a ‘memorable quote’ from G.I. Jane - Jesus Wept ! And so nearly did I
Spot what’s missing from the photograph below . . .

Whaddya you lookin’ at ?!

“A hot dog and a shake that’s what you’re hungry for “
That’s from a fine piece of writing by Diamond Dave Lee Roth . . .
I suspect the hot dog stand he sang about was in a slightly different setting to this one . . .

Dogging in Cleethorpes !

“Debt of Honour”
Note shadow from the small Remembrance Sunday Cross

Private George Ernest Page 58623
Royal Army Medical Corps
Died 14.7.1918 - Age Unknown !

“Stand still, yet we will make him run”
That’s from a fine piece of writing by a 17th Englishman Andrew Marvell . . . it’s metaphysical dude !
This chap can, inexplicably, remain absolutely motionless whilst painted silver.
He does this in return for silver
Though some mean buggers don’t play proper
And only tender only copper ! (last 4 lines © Rod Collins 2012)

Stand and Deliver !

“My old friend Charlie Peace was a violin virtuoso”
That’s a fine piece of writing by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and taken from the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Illustrious Client.
A wonderful old violin which remains a joy to own

There’s many a good tune played on an old fiddle

So that’s it folks, enough to be worthwhile but not too much to bore you - hopefully.
Hope you’ve enjoyed these photographs I’ve taken, they reflect the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen and done in the last week or so.
As always, comments and opinions on anything mentioned or indeed any of the pictures warmly welcomed.
All the best
Rod

There is evidence of the Medieval Period still remaining in the form of crofts, tofts and ridge and furrow earthworks.
English Heritage also have information on a Roman coin dating to the 4th century which was found in the 1950s I think, as no other Roman activity is reported it’s simply a passing drop one imagines.
And before metal detectorists get overly excited the whole area is now occupied by a housing estate - I wonder how much history sits under houses now ?

If any detectorists have found any artefacts of interest at Manby we’d love to hear from you, please save the information here, anonymously should you wish of course.

Pevsner makes mention of Manby Hall which was once a Tudor House belonging to the Welfitt family though very little of the original build remains.
Other than the church most of the other historic interest seems to be of the modern variety and centred around the airfield - which we’ll tackle in another article.

St Mark’s church is of Greenstone construction and notable for the commanding tower which is some 500 years old.
1889 saw some rebuilding by Sir A. Bloomfield which included a new chancel with some fragments of the old one retained.

Interestingly the east window is from the Missionary Chapel at Burgh-le-Marsh was was demolished.

The most interesting feature for me, which I was unable to photograph as the church was, understandably, closed at the time of my visit a year or so ago is an Anglo-Saxon slab, it’s late Saxon with rope moulding carved along the edges - Pevsner notes: its remarkably well preserved.

As to the origins of the name Manby, Streatfeild suggest it would be foolish to be definitive about the origins of villages in Lincolnshire occupied by the Danes which had the prefix ‘Man’ though he suggests it may well come from the name of an individual settler called Mani which was a popular man’s name at the time.
Another, and perhaps more likely, possibility is that it comes from Old-Norse and Mannabær which meant ‘dwelling houses’

This is obviously just a brief overview of the history of Manby in a bite size chunk.
As always on this site we’ll go into much greater detail in comment form below.

As mentioned we’ll have a separate article for RAF Manby and the history of the aerodrome.

If you know of anything, from any period in time, which is connected to the village of Manby, St Marks church then please do feel free to leave a comment below.

Many thanks in advance.
Rod