Sunday, October 6, 2024

6th October 2024 - Wharram Percy

 It is Sunday, the supposedly most peaceful day of the week.  It is a time for going to church, though apparently as a country there are more atheists than Christians.  So peaceful memories.  Wharram Percy DMV (Deserted Medieval Villages).  The most famous in England.  Nestled in the Yorkshire landscape far away from today's modern roads.  It is also the most studied DMV. (Beresford and Hurst).

The day we went the sun shone and the air was quiet and tranquil.  It was a place I had always wanted to visit but too far away in East Yorkshire.  All that remains is a restored farm house - thank English Heritage for that - and a ruined church.  The village itself was up on the plateau above the farmhouse.  It was a typical medieval 'toft and croft' you can see in the picture below the houses fronting the roadway and then the long crofts behind for growing their vegetables and keeping their animals.

There are traces all over England of the great common fields that the people farmed, strips of narrow long fields, in which ploughing and harrowing was a communal activity.  The faint signs of Ridge and furrow can still be seen from the train carriage as you travel through the Midlands to the North.

As an archaeological site it was studied over many years

Warram Percy Deserted Medieval Village









South Manor

House site


The walk back along the narrow pathway and through the fields.

Apologies to those who vote for the wrong party but this made me smile.

20 Years Ago on July 6th, 2002 - the brilliant economist and thinker John Kenneth Galbraith, gave an interview in which he said this perfect bit:
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”


After 100 days of mistakes, we need to hear Labour’s underlying philosophy   Will Hutton


4 comments:

  1. I do like the quote from Galbraith.
    12th Century. That was a while ago.
    I watched a YT clip a few days ago mentioning Papa Westray, Scotland where there were the remains of a 6th century stone house. Truly amazing.

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  2. It was a funny quote but the word selfish did stick out.. The further you get away from civilisation, the more history you find. May be it is in ruins but is tangible evidence to the past Andrew.

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  3. Sadly, your quote did is true. I really cannot understand what is happening in our country. Even when the ugly root causes are laid bare, even when people see what the intentions are, they still cheer them on.

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    1. Well Debby all things come round to a different way of life. Sometimes it is forced on us, other times, the morality of what we do changes, for the better. Look around you and there are plenty of people who help others, as an optimist I think there are billions more good people in the world rather than the bad ones. Greed and selfishness are just one aspect.

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