Tall Stories

I have had some online training on techniques for counting birds, as I am thinking of having a go at joining the BTO’s WEBs survey. A bit daunting, but nothing ventured ……

So this afternoon I headed to a nearby part of the Mersey estuary. I identified a likely spot with parking on a map and headed in that direction. As I had never visited and I don’t know Widnes, I relied on the phone’s sat nav. And of course it took me into a vehicular cul-de sac, as the route ended up at the beginning of a cycle track.

Which is how I came across a very large sculpted figure by the side of the road, dressed in Jacobean garb. And then a church with an information board by the side of the road, which led me to a very large inscribed grave in the churchyard.

So welcome to John Middleton, the “childe of Hale”, who was the servant and bodyguard of Sir Gilbert Ireland. He was said to be nine feet and three inches tall. James I heard of the giant, which led to him being presented to court. The story goes on (he became a bit of a legend for Brazenose College, Oxford, his colours featuring in the college cost of arms).

His statue stands in front of the Manor House, now a private residence but built as a vicarage in the mid 17th century (that vicar was clearly a man of means).

Eventually I found my intended destination, which had a name - Pilkington Meadows. Some wonderful views of the river, which is very wide at this point (extra).

But the moral is - sometimes you take wrong turnings and learn things you would never have known otherwise