Curiosity Corner
Discover the flipside of the East - a land full of unusual curiosities.
From a chalk lion and pingos, to the House in the Clouds. Visit a
shell grotto, turf mazes and an underground nuclear bunker
The Eccentric Year
Discover the East of England's weird and wacky
events - get dirty in mud races, roll a cheese and join
in the dance with the straw bear.
Click here to read our guide to The Eccentric Year
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Bedfordshire
Start at the picturesque village of Old Warden
(nr. Biggleswade), which was recreated in the
Swiss-style (thatched roofs and latticed porches)
by the 3rd Lord Ongley. Visit the adjacent Swiss
Garden with its grotto and parading peacocks.
Just down the road is the Stondon Transport
Museum at Lower Stondon - home to an amazing
life-size replica of Captain Cook's ship ‘Endeavour'.
The 16th C. Willington Dovecote (nr. Bedford) has
room for 1,500 nesting pigeons. From 1916, a site
at Cardington (nr. Bedford) was developed for the
purpose of airship research and production - with the
two gigantic sheds still dominating the area today.
Set on the Dunstable Downs, the famous chalk lion was dug out over 18 months
with pick and shovel. Completed in 1933, it measures 480 feet from nose to tail.
Nearby is the Whipsnade Tree Cathedral, a collection of trees and shrubs planted
(1931-1939) in the form of a medieval cathedral. Probably the oldest road in
Britain - take a walk on the ancient trading route of the Icknield Way
Inside St. Andrew's Church at Ampthill is the tomb of Richard Nicolls (first
governor of Long Island USA), together with the cannonball that killed him at
the Battle of Sole Bay in 1672. End your tour amongst the remarkable sculpted
and effigied family monuments of the De Grey Mausoleum at Flitton.
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Cambridgeshire
Pay your respects first at Wandlebury Country Park (nr. Cambridge) - burial site of the legendary Godolphin Arabian, which is said to be the ancestor of many today's
thoroughbred racehorses. Walk the labyrinth at Ely Cathedral - and you will have
travelled the same distance as the height of the ceiling. Be amazed too at
Hilton (nr. St. Ives), home to one of only eight surviving turf mazes in England.
The University city of Cambridge is full of curiosities. The sundial at Queens'
College also tells the time at night so long as there is a moon. At Corpus Christi
College, admire one of the world's strangest clocks - gold-plated and featuring a
giant grasshopper. On the gate at St. John's College are mythical creatures known
as ‘Yales', with horned goat heads, antelope bodies and elephant's tails. The clock
at Great St. Mary's Church has chimes later copied for Big Ben in London.
Head north-west now to walk across one of only four surviving bridge chapels in the
country at St. Ives Continue to Holme Fen - the lowest point in Britain (2.7m/9 feet
below sea level). In 1852, a cast-iron pillar was sunk here so that its top was level
with the ground's surface. It now rises some 4m high, and shows how the land has
shrunk. End at Peterborough Cathedral which has a memorial to gravedigger
Robert Scarlett who buried both Katherine of Aragon and Mary Queen of Scots.
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Essex
Britain's oldest recorded town - Colchester is
dominated by 'Jumbo' the water tower. Built
1882-83, it consists of 1.2 million bricks and is
named after an elephant from London Zoo. Look out
for The Siege House on East Street which was in
the firing line of the 17th C. English Civil War. Today
red metal rings mark the musket ball holes. Just
outside the town is the Chappel Viaduct, the second
largest brick built structure in England - with seven
million bricks used in its construction.
At riverside Mistley two porticoed classical towers
are all that remains of Robert Adam's 18th C.
church - the nave pulled down in 1870. Heading
south, see if you can spot Felix the tortoise in the
stained glass at St. Mary's Church in Kelvedon.
Go underground at the Kelvedon Hatch Secret
Nuclear Bunker (nr. Brentwood) - one of the
biggest and deepest cold war bunkers.
For some heavenly inspiration, visit England's oldest
Saxon church at Bradwell-on-Sea (nr. Maldon), or
Greensted (nr. Epping) - the world's oldest wooden
one. Ride the little trains to the end of the world's longest (1.33 miles) seaside
pleasure pier at Southend 11th C. Thomas Hickathrift won fame by killing the
fearsome Wisbech Giant. His battle is depicted on the Old Sun Inn at Saffron
Walden. End your tour here - and get lost in Europe's largest surviving turf maze.
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Hertfordshire
Start your journey amongst the animals and birds of the Natural History Museum at
Tring - look out for the extinct moa and quagga. It was once the private collection of
Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild. At nearby Abbots Langley, a tablet inside
St. Lawrence's Church notes that this parish was the birthplace of England's first
and only Pope - Nicholas Breakspear. Set by the Grand Union Canal at
Berkhamsted, the Canadian totem pole was carved by the Kwakiutl tribe.
Go underground at Royston Cave, a man-made cavern in the shape of a beehive.
Dating from the 13th C. it contains a range of wall carvings. Whilst Scott's Grotto
at Ware is one of the country's finest - dating from the 18th C. It extends some
67ft into the hillside, and is decorated with flints, shells and coloured glass. In the
churchyard at Tewin (nr. Welwyn Garden City) is the tomb of Lady Anne Grimston.
As she lay dying she said 'if indeed there is life after death, trees will render
asunder my tomb'. Today several (ash and sycamore) grow through her tomb.
Enjoy a pint or two at Britain's smallest
pub 'The Nutshell' in Bury St. Edmunds.
It's bar measures just over 5 by 2 metres.
Look out for the mummified cat
Hertfordshire (continued)
Erected by King Edward I in 1291, the Eleanor Cross
in Waltham Cross marks the overnight resting place
of his wife Queen Eleanor's coffin on its journey from
Lincolnshire to London. One of the first brick built
buildings in the country - Rye House Gatehouse at
Hoddesdon was the scene of an unsuccessful
attempt to assassinate King Charles II in 1683. End
your tour at Brent Pelham (nr. Bishop's Stortford) - in
the church is the tomb of Piers Shonk who is famous
for his long and bloody battle with a terrible dragon.
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Norfolk
Seek out buried treasure in Swaffham - where
15th C. John Chapman was known as the ‘Pedlar of
Swaffham'. He had a dream which told him to stand
on London Bridge to find his fortune. John did this,
and whilst there met a man who told him he had also
had a dream that he would find his fortune in the
garden of a certain Pedlar in Swaffham. Without
saying a word, John went home and found a pot of
gold in his garden. He is depicted on the town sign.
'Go Egyptian' in the grounds of Blickling Hall (nr. Aylsham), where John Hobart,
2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire is buried in a pyramid-shaped mausoleum. See the
'other' Nelson's Monument in Great Yarmouth - built 1819 in honour of Norfolk's
most famous son. On its top is a statue of Britannia facing inland, reputedly in
the direction of Burnham Thorpe, the village where Nelson was born.
Norfolk's churches provide some intriguing sights. At West Somerton (nr. Great
Yarmouth), the churchyard contains the tomb of Robert Hales 'The Norfolk Giant'.
He stood at seven feet, six inches tall, and weighed over 30 stones. Take a peek
in the church at Stow Bartolph (nr. Downham Market) to see the wax effigy of
Sarah Hare. She died in 1744, reputedly after pricking her finger whilst sewing on
a Sunday. The tower of Burgh St. Peter's church (nr. Great Yarmouth) is like a
set of four children's building blocks, each one slighter bigger than the other.
Wayland Wood at Watton was the scene of the 16th C. tale of The Babes in the
Wood - when after the death of their parents, a young girl and boy were left in the
care of their uncle. In order to steal their inheritance he hired two ruffians to kill
them in the wood. But one of them could not carry out the deed, so killed the
other, and left the children to starve instead. They feature on the town sign.
Seek out a pingo or two at nearby Thompson Common - these damp shallow
craters left by retreating glaciers during the last Ice Age. End with a curiosity hunt
in Norwich. At the cathedral - see if you can spot eight green men and Noah's
Ark in the medieval roof bosses and carvings. Then say hello to 'Snap' the
snapdragon at the castle museum - once used in the city's historic pageantry.
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Suffolk
Begin your exploration at Southwold Pier Admire
the mechanical water clock and have-a-go on the
wacky machines in the 'Under the Pier Show'. Head
south to Dunwich, the former 12th C. capital of
East Anglia. It's downfall was the constant erosion
by the sea of the sandy cliffs on which it had been
built. Over the centuries, parts of the city toppled
over the edge. Today on stormy nights you can
reputedly hear the bells of the drowned churches.
In Aldeburgh, seek out the bronze statue of 'Snooks'
the dog. He was the pet of two much-loved doctors.
Neighbouring Thorpeness is most
unusual - featuring mock Tudor buildings, the 'House
in the Clouds' (a former water tower) and a meare,
with fairytale islands to explore by rowing boat. In
the 13th C. a strange man was caught in the
fishermen's nets at Orford. This 'wild man' with his
bald head and beard was held at the castle. He is
depicted on the Butley Orford Oysterage sign.
Enjoy a pint or two at Britain's smallest pub 'The
Nutshell' in Bury St. Edmunds. It's bar measures just
over 5 by 2 metres. Look out for the mummified cat. Then investigate the gruesome
relics of the 19th C. Suffolk 'Red Barn Murder' of Maria Martin at Moyse's Hall
Museum - including William Corder's death mask, a section of his scalp and
a book about his trial bound in his own skin.
Ipswich is noted for the Ancient House, which has pargetted depictions of
the four then-known continents of Africa, America, Asia and Europe (Australia
had not been discovered yet). To the south is the village of East Bergholt - pay
a visit on Sunday to see the heaviest bells in England rung by hand. They are
housed in a wooden cage erected in 1531 as the church tower was not
completed. End with a 'Close Encounter of the Suffolk Kind' at Rendlesham
Forest (nr. Woodbridge). Probably the most significent UFO incident in
Britain - when in December 1980 mysterious lights and flying objects were seen.
