A RAILWAY ROMANCE: BRIEF ENCOUNTER/CARNFORTH

 

Brief Encounter, a 1945 film directed by David Lean about two married strangers who meet by chance on a railway station, is highly evocative of a time when everyone travelling by train seemed to be dressed up to the nines and speak with cut-glass accents.  Just as evocative is the location of much of the film’s action, a train station full of period touches such as those which can be found on heritage railways up and down the land.

The opening scene takes place on a station platform with a steam train rushing past and a vintage round clock with Roman numerals hanging from the platform roof.  We are then shown a sign with a hand pointing to the ‘Refreshment Room’.  This was before the days of Costa and Starbucks, when everyone drank cups of tea served from giant tea urns.  Here we get our first glimpse of the star-crossed lovers of the ‘brief encounter’ in question, Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) and Dr Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard).  Later, the film backtracks to the moment the pair first met, and during this scene a sign comes into view saying ‘Milford Junction’.  This is the name of the station in the film, but in real life it is Carnforth station. 

When watching the film for the first time recently, I heard Laura saying she had popped into Boots for a book, and then there is a scene with her getting her book and moving to another section of the premises where there are toothbrushes and so forth.  I thought I was hearing things, but on doing some research I discovered that up to 1966 Boots the Chemist did indeed have a library service.  The street scenes in the film were shot a long way from Carnforth, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.  According to an online discussion about the location, the Boots of the film is now a Chinese restaurant.  A later scene involving a boating lake was filmed in Regent’s Park.  Another scene in the film whisks us off to the Lake District, where the little bridge seen in the film was filmed at Middle Fell Bridge. Langdale Beck. 

2018 at Carnforth station - the heritage centre. Photo by Geof Sheppard, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Film enthusiasts will be pleased to know that Carnforth Station has preserved the famous tea room as the Brief Encounter Refreshment Room, looked after by the Carnforth Station Heritage Centre.

Map of Carnforth.

LITERARY PUBS: THE ACORN INN, EVERSHOT, DORSET

Thomas Hardy’s novels featured many fictional towns, villages and cities which often had clearly identifiable real-life equivalents.  One such example was Evershead, which in real life is Evershot.  The Sow and Acorn inn in Evershead, which featured in a number of Hardy's stories, was inspired by the Acorn Inn, a 16^th century Grade II-listed pub in the village which was frequented by Hardy himself.

In Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, there is a scene in which Tess stops for breakfast in the village at a cottage near the Sow and Acorn inn; she avoids the inn itself, not being the pub-going type.  The inn is also mentioned in Interlopers at the Knap, in which Philip Hall collects Sally’s dress from the Sow and Acorn, and in The First Countess of Wessex, with Tupcombe indulging in a spot of eavesdropping from the inglenook.

Evershot, The Acorn Inn - geograph.org.uk - 3107193. Photo by Mr Eugene Birchall, via  Wikimedia Commons.

The present-day inn offers accommodation in rooms named after places and characters from Hardy’s novels.  The interior has changed somewhat since his time, being more open-plan now.  The village of Evershot is located just off the A37 midway between Yeovil and Dorchester, and around 30 minutes’ drive from the Jurassic Coast.  It is the second highest village in the county of Dorset. 

Map of the village.

LOVEJOY'S BIT OF POSH: BELCHAMP HALL, SUFFOLK

 The 1980s/1990s series Lovejoy somehow passed me by at the time, but, having since developed an interest in antiques, I decided to catch up on the series thanks to the wonders of modern streaming technology.  Most of the filming of the series takes place in Essex and Suffolk, with one property in Suffolk making a regular appearance.

The roguish antiques dealer Lovejoy (Ian McShane) keeps varied company, often straying on the wrong side of the law, while his line of work also brings him into contact with the upper echelons of society.  One particularly aristocratic friend of his is Lady Jane Felsham (Phyllis Logan), who lives at Felsham Hall.  Although she is married, Lovejoy is an attractive man who has a way with the ladies, and one gets the impression that Lady Jane is a little bit infatuated with him.

The real-life property used as Felsham Hall in the series is Belchamp Hall, a couple of miles west of Sudbury in Suffolk.  Located in the hamlet of Belchamp Walter, the building is a handsome red brick pile of the Queen Anne period, home to the Raymond family since 1611, which forms part of a historic country estate.  Lovejoy fans who are feeling a bit flush can book a variety of accommodation options.  The Hall is also available for corporate functions. 

Belchamp Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1000673. Photo by Keith Evans, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Although the series finished many moons ago, there are still relics of it on view at Belchamp Hall and surrounding area.  Lovejoy’s workshop from the last two seasons remains in the grounds, the Church of St Mary featured in an episode in which Lovejoy was due to get married, and the original ‘Lovejoy Antiques’ sign is also visible.  Lovejoy was a dedicated pub-goer, and the Half Moon Inn in the nearby village of Belchamp St Paul made quite a few appearances in the series. 

'The Half Moon' inn, Belchamp St. Paul, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 225903. Photo by Robert Edwards, via Wikimedia Commons.

Belchamp Hall’s more recent claim to fame is that the grounds of the estate were used in the filming of the ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ film.

The nearby town of Sudbury is a delightful market town on the River Stour near the border with Essex.

Map of the area.

LAUREATE OF THE LAKES: ROBERT SOUTHEY/KESWICK

 There is a painting in Keswick Museum of a rather attractive young man with rosy cheeks and lips, dark curly hair and brown eyes.  The young man in question is Robert Southey, one of a trio of 18^th/19^th century poets associated with the Lake District.   The other two are William Wordsworth and Southey’s brother-in-law Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who we previously met in this blog living in Somerset.  Southey was born in Bristol, but he moved to Keswick in 1803 and died there 40 years later, spending 30 of those years as Poet Laureate. 

Robert Southey (1774-1843), Aged 31 John Opie (1761-1807) Keswick Museum. Via Wikimedia Commons.

During his time in the Lake District, Southey lived at Greta Hall, initially sharing it with the Coleridge family.  Occupying a position near the river in Keswick, Greta Hall was built around 1800.  The Hall was visited by a number of famous literary types including the Wordsworths, Charles Lamb, Shelly and Sir Walter Scott.  The Hall subsequently became a girls’ school and then girls’ boarding house, before becoming a private property when for a time it offered self-catering accommodation.  It was put up for sale in 2021 for £1.2 million and remains in private hands.

 

Greta Hall and Keswick Bridge by William Westall (1781-1850), via Wikimedia Commons.

I have struggled to find any poetry by Southey inspired by the Lake District.  His work covers a wide range of topics including various battles and wars, and the time he spent in Spain and Portugal, as well as the original version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  However, I found a poem by him titled “The Cataract of Lodore” (a Lake District beauty spot better known today as the Lodore Falls).  The poem was written in response to a query by Southey’s son, “How does the water come down at Lodore?”  The resulting poem comes across as an increasingly demented  but highly descriptive account of the descent of the falls, “smoking and frothing”...”striking and raging”...”swelling and sweeping”...”flying and flinging”...”heaving and cleaving”...”quivering and shivering”...”bubbling and troubling and doubling” – you get the picture. 

Lodore Falls 3. Photo by Antiquary, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

For those who want to check out this elaborate description for themselves, the Lodore Falls are near the southern edge of Derwentwater, just inland from the Lodore Falls Hotel and Spa. 

Map of the area.

WINGS OVER THE SOUTH-EAST: BATTLE OF BRITAIN

 As I write this, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend, and predictably for such times there is a classic British war film on the TV: Battle of Britain (1969).  With a cast that reads like a Who’s Who of famous actors of the 60s – Sir Michael Caine, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Kenneth More, Ian McShane, Suzannah York, the list goes on – the film does what it says on the tin, telling the story of the struggle for air superiority over the Germans during the Second World War, culminating in the battle of the title.  Not surprisingly, the filming locations which feature in the film are mostly former RAF air bases – and with a pub thrown in.  There are also aerial shots of the south coast, with the white cliffs putting in an appearance.

First up we have Duxford, a former RAF/RAAF airfield in Cambridgeshire.  Filming took place there in 1968, seven years after it ceased operations as a military airfield.  Construction of the buildings on the airfield started in 1918, carried out by German prisoners-of-war.  During the Second World War the airfield played a crucial role in repelling air attacks by the Germans in the real-life Battle of Britain.  During the filming of Battle of Britain, one of the original World War I hangars was blown up, apparently without the agreement of the Ministry of Defence.  Nowadays Duxford acts as an outpost of the Imperial War Museum, housing The Fighter Collection and the Historic Aircraft Collection.  It is also the location of the American Air Museum.

Duxford, Cambridgeshire - geograph.org.uk - 2603257. Photo by Brendan and Ruth McCartney, via Wikimedia Commons.

Moving across to Essex, we come to RAF Debden near Saffron Walden, opened in 1937, which housed an Operations Block for No. 11 Group during the Battle of Britain, when it came under attack several times.  Peter Townsend, one time beau of Princess Margaret, was commander of 85 Squadron during the Battle, and he wrote a book about it called “Duel of Eagles”.  Also in Essex is RAF North Weald, established in 1916 and an important fighter station during the Battle of Britain.  More recently, the airfield has been used as a base for the Air Ambulance and the National Police Air Service.  Like Duxford, the airfield has its own museum, telling the story of the people who worked there during the two world wars.

Leaving Essex, we head to Kent and RAF Hawkinge, another with its own museum, run by the Kent Battle of Britain Musem Trust.  The base had already been in existence for 20 years when the Battle of Britain began.  Hawkinge’s significance in the Battle lay in the fact that it was the nearest RAF station to occupied France, located just inland from Folkestone, just 6 minutes’ flying time from the French coast.  Another  base which put in an appearance in the film was Bovingdon, a former bomber airfield to the south-west of Hemel Hempstead.

Finally, we come to the pub.  There is a scene in the film involving Squadron Leader Colin Harvey (Christopher Plummer) and his wife Section Officer Maggie (Susannah York), in which they argue about Maggie’s relocating closer to Colin’s posting.  The scene takes place in The Jackdaw Inn in Denton, a few miles north of Folkestone, Kent.  The pub makes the most of its connection to the film with wartime RAF memorabilia and vintage posters such as the one declaring “Don’t Help the Enemy!  Careless Talk May Give Away Vital Secrets”, a poster which can be seen in the background in the film sequence.

Denton, The Jackdaw Inn (geograph 3228308). Photo by Helmut Zozmann, via Wikimedia Commons.

COPPERS OF CALDERDALE: HAPPY VALLEY

 

I was late to the party on this one.  Everyone seemed to be talking about Happy Valley, and I normally have a reaction against what I consider to be overhyped TV series or films.  However, I finally relented and watched the first episode to see what I had been missing, and it turned out to be rather good, so I am ploughing my way through the series via BBC iplayer.  The filming of the series mostly took place around Calderdale, West Yorkshire, most notably Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Sowerby Bridge and surrounding areas. 

The world of the main character, Catherine (Sarah Lancashire) revolves around her place of work and her home.  The exterior of the police station where she is stationed was filmed at the now closed Halifax Swimming Pool, while the interior shots were filmed at Dean Clough, a mill complex in Halifax.  Meanwhile, Catherine’s home was filmed in Hangingroyd Lane in the riverside and canalside town of Hebden Bridge.  Towards the end of series one Catherine reluctantly agrees to a birthday party.  The party scenes were filmed at Organic House, Market Street in Hebden Bridge.

Hebden Bridge (8714312985). Photo by Tim Green, via Wikimedia Commons.

One of the most notable features of Calderdale is its waterways, chiefly the River Calder and the Rochdale Canal.  The Canal, part of the Calder and Hebble Navigation, was the scene of the explosive ending to series 1 of Happy Valley, in which Catherine's nemesis Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) holes up in a canal boat and tries to kill himself and take his son Ryan, Catherine’s grandson, with him.  The scene was filmed in the section between Sowerby Bridge and Luddenden Foot.  On higher ground, meanwhile, it’s all about the windswept moors, which also put in a regular appearance.  In the last episode of the series, Tommy makes an escape on a cycle, and is seen cycling over Ovenden Moor to Warley Moor Reservoir in Halifax.

Barge on the Rochdale Canal, Sowerby Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 1169800.  Photo by Humphrey Bolton, via Wikimedia Commons.

A number of businesses in the area played roles in the filming.  When Catherine first spots Tommy in series 1, he is peering through the window of a takeaway – this is the Happy Eating Chinese Takeaway in Tuel Lane, Sowerby Bridge, in real life (called the Curry House in the series).  The Nisa Local store in Crown Street, Hebden Bridge is where Neil Ackroyd from series 2 and 3 works.  In series 3, Catherine and her sister are seen in heated conversation in the Amico Cafe in Bolton, which lies a bit further to the south-west in Greater Manchester.  The local press reported Happy Valley fans queuing round the block to visit the cafe after its appearance in the series.  Sadly, the cafe has since closed. The intriguingly named Will o’Nats pub near Blackmoorfoot Reservoir near Meltham, to the south-west of Huddersfield, featured in series 2.

Will o'Nats, Meltham - geograph.org.uk - 493996. Photo by Humphrey Bolton, via Wikimedia Commons.

These are just some of the locations featured in the series.  For more information on the area and the series locations, see the Visit Calderdale website, which also lists the many other productions filmed in the area.  

Map of the area.

A VICTIM OF BEECHING REMEMBERED: ADLESTROP, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

 

1966 was a happening year for Britain.  England won the World Cup, The Beatles topped the charts with We Can Work It Out, and Carnaby Street was leading the way for the fashionistas of the Swinging Sixties.  Unfortunately, it was far from a happening year for the tiny village of Adlestrop in Gloucestershire, which lost its railway station as part of the brutal Beeching Cuts, part of a massive overhaul of the country’s railways.  However, this charming country station has been immortalised in the poem Adlestrop by Edward Thomas, written during a journey undertaken by the poet in June 1914.

If the wording of the poem is anything to go by, underuse of the station was a likely reason for the closure:

 

                                                 No one left and no one came

                                                On the bare platform.  What I saw

                                                Was Adlestrop – only the name

 

The poem goes on to describe the flora and fauna around the station, consisting of willows, willow-herb, grass and meadowsweet, and a singing blackbird, with the poet imagining it being joined by all the birds of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

Adlestrop village - geograph.org.uk - 2499726. Photo by Michael Dibb, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Adlestrop lies at the eastern extreme of the Cotswolds, near the border with Oxfordshire.  The famous Daylesford Organic farm shop is just to the south, and Moreton-in-Marsh is a couple of miles north-north-west.  The station was opened in 1853 on what is now called the Cotswold Line (Moreton-in-Marsh is on the same line, and still retains its station) but was originally part of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway.  The parish church of St Mary Magdalene dates from the 13^th century, but was rebuilt around the mid-18^th century. 

The other notable building in the village is Adlestrop Park, a Grade II listed building built by the Leigh family in the 18^th century.  The house was used as a school for a time, but this closed in 1989.  Jane Austen was a regular guest at the Rectory in Adlestrop, and it is believed that Adlestrop Park was the inspiration for Mansfield Park.  The house is now privately owned.

Adlestrop House - geograph.org.uk - 2485976. Photo by Michael Dibb, via Wikimedia Commons.

Map of the area.