Not true!

This granite column stands on Swanage front and, if it hadn’t been so windy today, there would inevitably have been at least one person sitting on the base – there usually is. It says it was erected by John Mowlem in A.D. 1862. On the other side it says it is in ‘commemoration of a great naval battle fought with the Danes in Swanage Bay by Alfred the Great, A.D 877’. A fine story, except that it is almost certainly not true! Crazier still, Mowlem acquired cannon balls dug out of ships back from the Crimean War and proudly topped his memorial to the Saxon king with four of the Russian balls.

One of the reasons I love Swanage is that it is a place that does not take itself too seriously. How can it be prim and proper, when the men who built it placed all sorts of quirky things around? George Burt and his uncle John Mowlem were the men responsible for the development of the stone trade and of the town itself, they built the railway and the pier among other things. But what they also did was to bring bits of London back to Swanage. Shiploads of Portland stone were transported to London to be used in some of the major buildings that still exist today and as the new buildings replaced old, pieces were brought back in the ships as ballast. So, there are statues, a clock tower that was originally on London Bridge, the façade of the Mercers’ Hall in London grafted onto the front of Swanage Town Hall and much else All quite bizarre and all quite wonderful. No one bats an eye at Ionic columns in the park – they came from London also.
 
But it is also a place that cherishes its history. The Heritage Centre is a wonderful place and is run by enthusiastic volunteers.
   
We went our separate ways today. I remained here, whilst High Pike went on a bit of an adventure. He may possibly explain – but then again he might not!