Exploring England #10
Like many Australians who can trace their ancestry back to the towns and villages of England, a friend of mine has researched her family history. On her mother’s side, her knowledge of the Thomas family goes back to 1572 and centres around the Cornish village of Breage and the Parish Church of St Breaca. On our way to Land’s End, we passed through Breage and, knowing my friend may never visit there herself, we stopped at the church to look for evidence of her ancestors.
In the dull light of a foggy morning there was an air of mystery in the churchyard. Old headstones, some tilting haphazardly, were half hidden by the long, thick grass.
The stone bell tower, complete with four carved pinnacles, loomed over us. We knew from my friend that the pinnacle on the back right, destroyed by a lightning strike in the late 1700s, was repaired by Richard Thomas 100 years later.
Inside, the layout of the church hasn’t changed much in 500 years. The side walls are decorated with rare medieval paintings of local saints. Armed with my friend’s copy of the church’s booklet, we were able to find the pew where another ancestor, Mary Thomas, sat each Sunday.
Back outside, we made an exciting discovery. Tucked away in a corner of the churchyard was the grave of William Thomas, who died in 1881. Could he have been my friend’s 3 x great uncle? She’ll need to do some more research!
Great photos in the fog. Interesting place and you are a good friend to get information and photos for you friend. Thanks for sharing.
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She did tell us beforehand so we were intending to visit if we were close by. As it turned out, the main road went right past the village.
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How intriguing to search out and find the Cornish village and Parish Church of your friend’s ancestors. I bet she would have loved to have come along, but at least she gets to visit along with you vicariously! I love those atmospheric photos of the church and cemetery. 🙂
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We took lots of photos and gave her a copy of everything.
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It reminds me of a friend in Lincolnshire who found the grave of his ancestor. The grave was a raised stone ‘box’ like a sarcophagus just the size of a grave and he had a photo taken of himself lying on the grave like a knight of old.
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That’s pretty cool.
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Fascinating! Stunning photographs. Actually I have been to Lands End…many years ago. Beautiful place.
Peta
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Thanks, Peta. My parents went to Land’s End years ago too, before all this new development. I wish we’d seen it then.
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These are beautiful pictures, but right now I’m on a mission to look for thongs. 🙂
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Ha ha, no thongs in church. Anyway, it was too chilly and wet for bare feet in thongs. 🙂
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Wonderful shots and a nice journey. Hope your friend gets her ancestry all figured out. That figuring out part is still on my bucket list. 🙂
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She’s traced it back as far as records would allow. 500 years isn’t bad!
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Just followed you through the journey in Cornwall , how lovely, places i have seen too and it is nice to see them again form other people. Have a great new year !
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Isn’t it nice to revisit favourite places! Thank you. Happy New Year to you.
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Same to you, have a great one.
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How exciting for your friend to read this and see the evidence, Carol. It was a lovely thing of you to do. Wishing you much happiness in 2017 🙂
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She is a special friend and I was happy to get these photos for her. I sent her a message with a couple of photos and “Greetings from Breage” and she was so excited. Best wishes to you too.
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Your pictures and phrases were perfect…enjoyed your tales
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Thank you. The mist gave the photos a very soft look.
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great post! and I love that first photo of the church in the fog…very cool. Hey, tell me, did you research whether or not we can post a map from Google? I got confused trying to read their blurb on doing it. I see people do it, but still I’m confused…did you read (and understand) their rules?
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Thanks. I like that photo too.
I post maps. I did some reading and research about how to go about it and I ever found a blurb. But there is a facility to share or embed maps via your Gmail account. Go to the menu next to the search bar and it’s there. I always embed using the link provided and it works like a charm.
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so then…it’s OK, I mean, legal, like no worries about copyrights?
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I haven’t ever thought about it. I figured if they have the facility to allow you to share or embed a map on your site is must be okay. Sorry, I can’t help you with that question.
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I know, seems like it should be OK. But they have this long diatribe about using their maps, and I don’t have the will power or desire to read it all.
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Me neither!
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I’d love to know my family history! And I wonder if it was your friend’s ancestor? Happy New Year Carol!!
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It’s a fascinating topic. She seems to think he would be connected to the family because while some came to Australia, others stayed in England. Happy New Year to you too Lorraine.
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A great find Carol! Looking forward to the next installation of your friend’s research into Mr William Thomas
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If she finds out any more I will be sure to let you know, Denzil.
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I do love the foggy photos! You’ve certainly captured an eeerieness to it! Happy new year!
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We were disappointed to see the fog roll in during the early morning, but it certainly added an air of mystery to the churchyard. It cleared away soon after.
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Foggy photos are cool. I loved especially the second photo from the top. Inside photos were very interesting to see. I have photographed in Finland about 440 churches, mainly on countryside and everywhere there are similarities but also differences. Thank You.
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Churches are very interesting to visit.
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Gorgeous photos! The fog ads a mysterious dimension to them. How cool that you visited this churcg for a friend! I bet she loved seing the pics and hearing all about it!
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She really did enjoy seeing it all. Thank you.
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The churchyard in the fog looks like the setting for a murder/mystery story – very atmospheric. How exciting to think that William Thomas might be your friend’s ancestor.
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I was disappointed that it was foggy at first but the photos look lovely.
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A similar thing happened with me and the Golden Gate bridge – I was disappointed that it was foggy/misty but the resulting photos have much more atmosphere than if it had been a cloudless blue sky.
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