It's older than America

Apparently, a few years back, American research teams had peppered the BBC with requests to find out about the source of baseball, which is a hugely popular sport in the US, but is a poor cousin to rounders and softball in the UK. So it goes.

The researchers knew that Jane Austen had made the previously oldest reference to baseball. So they were here in Britain seeking an earlier indication of their sport’s historic validity. They put out their appeal and waited for responses.

Meanwhile, in a village near Lodsworth, an amateur historian named Trisha had stopped a friend of hers from burning a box of old books. They had sat in an attic unread for many years, and Trisha thought it a shame to see Fahrenheit 451 be reached with these particular scripts.

The Historian at work...

So she rescued them, read them, and transcribed them. Amongst the various tomes, was a slim volume of diaries by a fellow named William Bray. In this book were detailed all his daily doings, his food purchases and acquaintances, his leisure and work.

William Bray, it turned out,  was a famous diarist, who kept meticulous detailed records of his daily life, from which much British history is reconstructed.

This particular diary was unknown before its attic rescue. Another 7 volumes existed in a local museum, but this one was thought long lost.

Amongst Bray’s daily jottings was a reference to going to play baseball:

“After dinner, went to Miss Jeale’s to play at Base Ball with her the three Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst, Miss Molly Flutter, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Ford and H. Parsons. Drank tea and stayed ’til eight.”

So Trisha rung up the Americans, and said: “Oh, i’ve got a reference to your baseball game from 35 years before Jane Austen.”

And almost before she had hung up the phone, the baseballers were knocking at her door with their TV vans and interviewers.

So the story goes. From a small cottage in Sussex was discovered the old roots of those fanatical ball-hitting people across the Atlantic.

Something new every day…

Coll and Trish, by the mighty oak

and some nice willows from their lane...

]]> http://www.awalkaroundbritain.com/knowledge/local-histories/the-baseball-diaries/feed/ 0 http://www.awalkaroundbritain.com/knowledge/local-histories/beeching-and-the-railways http://www.awalkaroundbritain.com/knowledge/local-histories/beeching-and-the-railways#comments Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:27:30 +0000 Branching Arts http://www.awalkaroundbritain.com/ When British railways were cut back, like a roadside hedgerow…

In the 1960s the government decided that the railway system was to take a secondary role to the Road network. The imagery of romantic steam rail aside, roads were promoting industry, were more in touch with the modern image of self-driven Britain, each family in its own chosen vehicle.

So the small lines, the village connections, the interconnected Britain that had been the envy of the world, were axed. In its place were left roads, and more roads, great big motorways and petrol stations.

This was, according to some, the saving grace of the British Railway network. Costs were too high, and change was necessary. Buses were seen to be the modern equivalent of public transport, although they were slower, and of course petrol was cheap in those days.

Today, our railways are slightly shambolic, and horrendously expensive.

Many of the dismantled railway lines still remain in the landscape, and perhaps due to the history of super-fast travel, they make wonderul walkways, connecting towns and villages in gentler ways than previously imaginable. From rail to feet. It is a good downgrade, we feel.

Another Station Home

The two above photos show how some of the old stations have been developped into modern homesteads. The lower one is the better, by our books.

Near Will’s local village, in Lyminge, the railway station has been converted into the village Library. This is well. But the lines themseleves remain as rubbish dumps, and although they are good fun for kids a-growing, they are probably dangerous on some modern level. Will remembers seeing a big black cat there when he was a kid – like a black leather jacket, slinking along the ground, he says…

The Abbey was a popular pilgrimage destination in the Middle Ages, as it held the relic of a nail, taken from the Cross. Today almost all that can be seen is a twentieth century replica of the ruins.

Abingdon does have a spectacular town-hall, built by Christopher Wren’s mason in 1680.

Next we stepped to Dorchester Abbey, which is a short walk along the Thames. This was the site of one of our strangest busks, an hour of singing in empty silent streets, for the practise and joy of it. Then suddenly 8 door s opened, and our hat was in a flash full of money. We warmed up by the local inn’s fire.

Dorchester has an amazing Abbey, with a beautiful Lych-gate built by an American family.

We found this inscription, the expression of which we liked an awful lot. The tiles alongside are Roman, nicely representing the patched-up nature of many churches in Oxfordshire. As well as being in the heartlands of the Civil Wars, local mobs have always been willing to tell the church when it had become too political or avaricious.