A King and a quiz

A dry start today, always a good thing.  It was quiet on board sans les filles,  it's always horrid when beloveds leave you.  David had come up with something to make me smile.  

An outing, but first to the car.

We moved off 8am-ish, off to Gailey.  About half way along on the bends we caught sight of a boat in front, no great shakes but he didn't appear to be moving, was he winding (Turning around) or gone aground...?

Well we found out quite soon as we caught him up quickly.

David's humour took a dip, nothing wrong with going slow, or really really slow, but flipping heck, let the other boats past on that long straight section please!

Here we stayed for over an hour, crawling along on about 800 revs

So slow and so quietly this heron stood still as we past.

Here was NB Willow whom had passed us last evening, we exchanged pleasantries, they weren't moving as work beckoned for them.

The slow boat finally pulled in for water and rubbish.  I was dreading having to follow the elderly couple down the locks to Penkridge, I would have done the locks for them of course.

They were an nice couple and cute dog, but why not just pull over and allow others to pass?

We wanted water and rubbish (Of course) but just did to the lock.     

I love this shot, I always take one, I wonder how many times this is photographed a year?  

So an uneventful drop down the seven I think locks to arrive in Penkridge, the place was empty!  Well it would be at 12:30 wouldn't it.  
We were the only boat moored up.
So off we went to The Bridge to have lunch, we wanted to try this place since it was taken over a couple of years ago, the sign said food served all day, but no, they had been so rushed on the wet Bank Holiday Monday that the kitchen was closed until that evening. 

We'll be back.
So off to Old Moseley Hall we went HERE   and what a little overlooked treasure it is.

So who likes history?  Anyone?  Well scroll down if not.  

Charles the First had an unfortunate encounter with a sharp object, he had had the foresight to send his family to France a year before, but his son Charles 2nd was still recognised as the lawful King of Scotland and was invited back as such.

 He got a bit carried away and Oliver Cromwell with his New Model Army called his bluff at The Battle of Worcester  HERE  it all ended in tears for the surviving Royalists, mostly made up of Scottish farmers with an axe or pitchfork not much competition against trained soldiers.  

So Charles 2nd fled the battlefield along with a retinue of about 50 men north heading for the safety of Scotland.  He was sheltered by Catholic families and several were in this district, one of which was Old Moseley Hall, Charles arrived at 3am and was met at the door by the owner who's name I have forgotten... 

The Front, in the late 19th Century a brick skin was put on to save the building from falling down, but its all tudor underneath.

But Charles was ushered quickly in through the back door.  Fast forward nine years and after the death of Cromwell and the fall from power of his religious ideology extremists followers  (Some things never change eh?) and Charles 2nd was invited back to be King by Parliament, when he was settled and happy he dictated his memoirs to Samuel Pepys  HERE  and he evidently said he entered the house via an oak door with three panels......

Lots of near misses, including hiding in the Priest Hole in the house but he was not discovered by the Parliamentarian Forces searching the Catholic houses in the area and then searching them again.  It was after one of these searches that he fled and with the only a pollarded oak tree to hide in.  Troops were at the foot of the trunk but didn't see him.   There he stayed for three days and two nights without food or a pillow  (Hence pubs are called The Royal Oak).

'The Kings Door'

Tudor chimneys.

The owners portrait.

Two things odd about this clock.... see below for the answer!!!!! 

Single track lane the property was built alongside in 1600, but then it was a main route north.

The other end of the lane, today the M54 is about 300 metres away!

So the King survived and decided against Scotland but turned south and some weeks later escaped by boat from Shoreham by sea in Sussex.
When finally the Restoration took place Charles was a very popular King, he granted a pension to the family of the house here of £200 per annum, this pension is still paid to the family's descendants by the Treasury today!
He also tried to have religious freedom reintroduced, but Parliament were having none of it.  
From about that time to this Catholics are not allowed to have the Crown, and the permission of the Monarch is required for a Royal to marry a catholic, I believe that last happened when Prince Michael of Kent married    HERE  
Phew.

Now then that clock, its French, Louis the something liked symmetry, got it now?????

No? Well go look again, the figure 4 in Roman numerals is 4x1 as opposed to IV.  It also has only one one hand.

Supper in The Boat was a shared platter of Nachos with cheese, chilli and salsa, then two burgers, we shared a House beef one and also a falafel one which we both liked best. 

Later in the evening, NB Willow came past.