In memoriam

You may have noticed something blue in the bottom left of my recent photo of the pillbox remains. I checked it out this morning and it looks to be a painted stone, left by someone in memory of a much loved canine companion named Gilbert. I feel for them. 

Pilot Officer Allen

Walking through Field Grove woods I was lost in an immersive dappled worldof dancing light and shadow, when I was stopped in my tracks by a pair of incongruous curved and manicured hedges. Very puzzling. I wasn't on a main path or anything, more an overgrown back water of a path, making the sight even more surprising. It turned out to be a memorial to Pilot Officer John Frederick Allen situated on the spot where his Spitfire crashed into a tree/the ground on the 29th November 1940. Even though it was wartime this wasn't a combat death, the spitfire flight he was with had been scrambled from nearby RAF Warmwell in the late morning and rapidly ascended to 25000 ft, out of the blue Pilot Officer Allen sent a garbled message before his planed dived vertically at speed into the ground. Because the plane was completely destroyed on impact, no mechanical fault could be ascertained, and it is suspected that he could have passed out from lack of oxygen, which was common. Sad stuff, man, war's a waste at the best of times, though somehow events like this seem even more of a waste, he was only 19. The memorial also has plaques to Pilot Officer Allen's parents, whose ashes were interred here too.

John Ironmonger

You come across as manner of oddity whilst out wandering. There's a cutting through Ackling Dyke, the Roman road, at Harley Gap, and on one side, set into the Roman road's Agger, is a memorial stone to 'John Ironmonger 1919-1986'. I wonder why John has a memorial here? It's a rather cool spot. I don't know who John was, I don't know whether he was an ironmonger or not, but I know someone cared a lot about him, it's in beautiful spot for a memorial stone. Well placed on the top of Harley Down, a hill with good views across swathes of the chase, across it's history, and close to many of the areas most important prehistoric sites. There's continuity in it too, when you think about it, it's little different to the Chase's barrows in motivation, the permanent memorialising of a person at a significant place in a landscape significant to that person. It's well old school, really. 

I've done an internet search on John Ironmonger 1919-1986 and turned up absolutely nought, he shall remain a mystery, like Townley Shenton.

Bench

Set on the exposed chalk grassland hillside of Martin Down is this memorial bench to a Dawn V Beedle on which are carved some fine words. 'Tread softly now the downland paths and let your spirit soar', Dawn V Beedle must have loved these downs. And why wouldn't you. Fine words indeed. It would surely be rude or disrespectful not to heed them.  So, I walked the downland paths, and indeed my spirit soared.  Autumn is turning to winter and with it the weather, chill winds raked the down over which the carrion birds hovered and crowed their songs, grey clouds threatened rain and even dropped a drip or two, and there was ever present that treat of worse weather lurking, that said, occasionally the Sun did brake through illuminating the landscape like a benevolently roaming Eye of Sauron, momentarily turning back time to late summer. Which was nice.  The land looks so bare, the woodlands skeletal. At this time of year every thing's opened up, you can see into those places, across and through those vistas which were shielded and shrouded at springs verdant growth. The last leaves are falling, as are any remaining fruits and you can feel that the land is taking a well deserved rest. There's beauty in all the seasons if you look.

Memorial

As I've previously mentioned the decent and ascent from the under-cliff of St Aldhelm's Head is somewhat sketchy, though someone has undertaken it to create this quite striking memorial to 'TMKB 1942 -2014'. Simple, but effective. A nice gesture from someone for someone, in a nice place too. I wonder who they were?