Childe of Hale pub :PDT_Aliboronz_24:
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Childe of Hale pub :PDT_Aliboronz_24:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ged
Gonna wait till I can drive for the north, I can get the Northern line trains from St Michael's In Aigburth but It takes too long.
I like Grassendale, 10 minutes from my house through Sefton Park and Aigburth Vale.:PDT_Aliboronz_24:
Still trying to compose a decent shot of It though.
Vine Cottage, in Hale Village does not exist anymore.
It was sited adjacent to the Childe of Hale's cottage, opposite Parsonage Green [the hub of the village]. Despite no evidence of the cottage existing today, it does however survive on record, and happily adds more flavour to the mystery of Hale, home of giants!
Writing in 1851, edward Pye, recounts a local legend, of an ancient vine tree said to be over 300 years old! That would place it, and possibly the cottage, in the 1550's. Whether you believe him or not is for you to decide? Just think for a moment. The giant of Hale's shadow would have been cast across it's walls, as he walked through the jigger. He may have even drunk the wine made from the vintage crop? Maybe, that was the secret of his great height?
"Near the house is an antique vine, said to be above three hundred years old. The stem is above a foot in diameter, and, although rugged and perforated through in several places, still spreads its branches luxuriantly over the adjoinign cottages, and produces a yearly vintage of grapes."
Extract from The Village of Hale - A Rural Sketch, by Edward M. Pye. 1851
I like the idea of a vine tree being more famous [and possibly older] than the cottage? It has something of Jack and the Beanstalk about it?
http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/a...ineCottage.jpg
Very interesting, thanks, dazza. My grandfather had a black grape vine in his greenhouse in Mossley Hill. It's a bit hard to conceive of a grape vine lasting through the frosts of a British winter but perhaps the building kept it from feeling the worst of the cold. I am assuming that rather than gain his size from eating the grapes, John Middleton had that rare pituitary disorder known as acromegaly that made him grow to such a size. This disorder is what the Forties actor Rondo Hatton suffered from. He appeared as the Creeper in a Sherlock Holmes film with Basil Rathbone. See "Rondo Hatton -- The Creeper" at http://thehumanmarvels.com/?p=850
Chris
My mother is buried in the same graveyard as John Middleton.
And has a Liverpool postcode - L24, the same as Speke.Quote:
Originally Posted by Max
I couldn't resist putting a slight Tom Slemen top-spin to the story! Hale is one of the few places of my childhood imagination that enjoyed a kind of mythical status. The place of giant's and tall story's, in a village that looks like it hasn't changed too much over the centuries. It still has some of that appeal and charm to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisGeorge
A 300 year old vine![I'm still getting used to the idea of drinking a wine made in Britain...Yuck!!! I guess it's local myth, though probably the vine is of some great age, we may never know the exact date? It adds a little to the mythos of Hale, in the same way as the Childe story does. The 1851 article [as reported] is real, as is the cottage and location. Though I think you're right, John Middleton was born 400 years too early, he could've been in the movies?
its halton i think i am sure
My Uncle's Great Grandfather's grave is across from the Childe's Grave - the only one with a skull and crossbones on!
Attachment 13017
It is Halton. I used to live there....and hated it!Quote:
Originally Posted by carmaxsam