Touring Appleby Magna

Before leaving for England, I contacted historical societies in each village I was planning to visit to arrange a local, knowledgeable tour guide. Only Appleby Magna responded to my request so that is where we headed first.

Joan Noble, a local historian and author, kindly agreed to be our tour guide when we visited Appleby Magna. She invited us to meet her at her home, and even had tea and biscuits waiting for us when we arrived.What a lovely surprise!

We began our walking tour of the village on Top street, one of the main village streets. Stopping in front of a quintessential English thatched cottage, the only one left in the village, Joan began a spirited discussion of the age and history of this building. I was quickly overwhelmed with both the visual delight of the cottage and garden, and the burst of historical information. I struggled to ready my camera and fumbled for a notebook to take some notes. After snapping a few hurried pictures, I managed to scribble "1). Thatch cottage" before running up the street to the next house, trying to keep pace with Joan, my wife and our friend, Donna who was touring with us.

1693 Thatched Cottage, Appleby Magna

Luckily, there is a TON of information about the buildings in Appleby Magna on the Village's history web site (see general resource tab for link). When I returned home I was able to look up whatever information I missed writing down to help me recall what Joan had shared with us. For example, the thatched cottage is also called Jordon's farmhouse and the date 1693 is spelled out in the end gable. It is one of the oldest building in the village and still lived in by a local family.  Joan also gave me a copy of her book, "Appleby Peelings" which contained many of the stories she told us about the village.

This blog post will describe my tour with Joan and include some of the pictures I took. Please go to my Picasa Photo page to see all the pictures from Appleby by clicking here (after you finish reading this entire blog entry, of course!)

I can never hope to match the scholarship and depth of knowledge shown by the experts on the Appleby Magna's History web site. I will not attempt to go into depth in my descriptions, but direct you instead to this link, if you wish to know more about the village history. 

1720 Eastgate House

Just up Top Street from the Thatched Cottage is a dignified, three story, 1720 Georgian house known as the Eastgate house. Next to this is a block of connected 17th century buildings known as Walker's hall. (ironically, our friend Donna has Walker ancestors and we seemed to find more Walker's and Wright's on this trip than Walton's!)

17th Century Walker Hall

Walkers Hall stretches up the street and connects to an imposing medieval looking structure that anchors the block at the corner of Mawby's Lane and Top Street. This is the Black Horse Inn and actually dates to the 17th century. It is a large Post and Beam building, it's black wooden framework infilled with white painted bricks. I imagined my forefathers stepping into the cool, dark taproom to enjoy a frothy mug of ale, an experience I had hoped to share with them, but we had just begun our tour and I decided to circle back for a pint once we had worked up a respectable thirst. Unfortunately by then the pub was closed for the afternoon!

Black Horse Inn, Appleby Magna

We turned the corner and walked down Mawby's Lane, the village's central road. The Black Horse Inn is at one end and the Church at the other. In the middle is the village Post office and shop and the Moat House, our next destination. The history web site describes the former cow path that crosses the village stream. "Sunken over the centuries by the tread of men and cattle, Mawby's Lane still has the feel of an ancient track with its largely unpaved verges and the long hedges marking the boundary of the Moat House land."

15th Century Moat House, Appleby Magna

The Moat house in located in the center of the village and was, at one time, the manor house. It is the site of an ancient structure dating back to the 12th century. The stone gate house dates to the 15th century with a "new" timber framed addition added in the 1560's. This Grade II listed historic structure is obviously the pride of the village and boasts a number of ghost stories and legends. Joan recalled hearing stories as a child of sounds and footsteps around the front door. She told us about a knight who fell off his horse when crossing a little bridge and was drowned in the stream. Maybe he had made it to the Black Horse Inn before closing time!

Joan told us about the Lord of the manor, Sir Edmund de Appleby, whose family the village is named after. He was a friend of Edward, the "Black Prince", and accompanied him to France to fight at the battle of Crecy.

A later resident of the Moat house was Joyce deAppleby who was martyred because of her Catholic faith. She is memorialized in the church with a plaque placed by our guide, Joan Noble.

side view of 15th Century Moat House, Appleby Magna

To learn more about the Moat House and its residents, I urge you to visit the Appleby Magna's history web site.

Across a meadow from the front of the Moat house lies the imposing 14th century, St Michael & All Angels Church, our next destination. We headed back to Mawby's lane and continued to Church Street, passing the 1839 Alms house. These were built by the Sisters Moore, the aunts of the local lord so their servants would have a decent place to live in their elderly years instead of being forced to live in the workhouse. Today they are lovely private homes.

1839 Alms House

Turning down Church street, we entered the remarkable Gothic church, which was open, luckily for us, because some of the village woman were decorating for a wedding.

14th Century St Michael & All Angels Church

Entering the Church is a breathtaking sight. The bright sunlight streaming in the exquisite stained glass lining the walls created a shimmering rainbow of colors giving the interior an ethereal glow.

St Michael & All Angels Church

I was apparently so taken, that all I managed to scribble in my notebook was "church"

Between the Appleby Magna's history site, "Appleby Peelings" and a pamplet about the history of the church I picked up, I was able to gather a lot of information to supplement what Joan told us. A detailed history can be found on the history site. I found it difficult to concentrate on Joan's narrative while trying to absorb the 14th century architecture surrounding me. On top of that...this is where my ancestors were married, baptized, worshiped and eventually buried! 

The "walk around guide" I picked up said that the baptismal font was donated in 1863, which could mean that it was used for some of my ancestors. The box pews and restyled gallery were installed in 1837. Joan mentioned that students would sit in the balcony. It is highly likely that the Walton family at one time sat in one of the pews or gallery, but I was unable to find any specific record of this during my visit.

Box pews in St Michael & All Angels Church

I was sure I had questions, but I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the church that I wanted to capture it all with my camera, something no photographer can ever do, but If you go to the album site, you will see many more pictures of the interior of this beautiful church.

Appleby Magna village Cemetery

Heading across the street we entered the Church cemetery, which I discovered later, dates to 1877. The Walton's buried in Appleby are all prior to this date. Not knowing this at the time, we spent a lovely spring afternoon searching nearly EVERY gravestone for the Walton name. We didn't find any. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to look around the church yard, where the older graves are located, although I understand that the grave markers have been removed. There does not appear to be any headstones directly around the church in the photos I took. It will have to be investigated further to see if there is any evidence of where the Walton's of Appleby are buried, besides the entry in the Parish register.

Appleby Magna village School

Leaving the cemetery, Joan pointed out the village school, located directly across from the church, and today used as a church hall. The building was opened in the 1840's. It is likely that the young Walton children attended school here. 

Butt Yard cottage, 1841 home of John and Jane Walton and their Children. (photo courtesy of Appleby Magna's History website)

We headed down church street past the 19th century Crown Inn. Just beyond, Bowley's Lane intersects Church street. John and Jane Walton resided near here according to the 1841 & 1861 census.  In 1841 They lived in Butts Cottage, which is no longer standing. In 1861 they resided on Bowley's lane, but it is not clear exactly where. Since there was no real place to visit here we headed back, walking down a narrow track behind the Crown Inn know locally as Hall yard footpath. Behind the inn was a grassy yard with picnic tables and a playground, an ideal place for parents to enjoy the long spring evening with a refreshing pint, visiting like minded neighbors, while their children played on the swingset.

Halls Yard footpath parallels Mawby's lane through fields and forest eventually coming out on Top street next to the Eastgate house. From there it was a short walk back to Joan's house and our car.

Our Tour guide Joan and her husband Albert in their garden

As an ambassador for Appleby, Joan brought the village to life for us with her vivid recollection of history and legends. She made our visit very memorable. I can't thank her enough for her hospitality and generosity.

By this time it was getting late in the day and I still had a couple more "Walton" places to visit nearby.

Next Stop: Packington

Copyright (C) 2011 Rick Walton