Your Oldton

Chapelfields Farm, Olton

Chapelfields Farm, Olton (drawn 1934)

The original of this drawing is missing.

The farmhouse was pulled down in 1956 so even you won't remember it Tim but perhaps
you can recall snippits of conversation about the old place and who used to live
there before the occurences that eventually led to its demolition.

I understand that children did play in the what was left of the ruins but not as
much as one might have expected - there was something eerie about the place - a
coldness about the place that wouldn't lift on even the sunniest of days. Did you
play there?

There are some more drawings of the old place done by W.A.Green who sadly died in
1983 you can find them here:
Chapelfields(1)
Chapelfields(2)
Chapelfields(3)
Chapelfields(4)
Chapelfields(5)

Sometimes the only thing to do with a place is to pull it down like 25 Cromwell
Street in Gloucester - the former home of Fred and Rose West - but perhaps things
are left behind in the old foundations the rocks the very geography of a place -
traces of what happened there still sometimes felt sometimes seen by certain
individuals.

Paul

Tending the reindeer

Rob Bevan has taken to heart the text written alongside one particular section of the Oldton map and sent me a mock-up of how he would like me to dress:

"I have promised Rob that if he ever becomes rich and famous, I will live on a cottage on his estate and manage his herd of reindeer, dressed in traditional Lapp costume (that's me, not the reindeer). "

Time for a drink...

Time for a drink.... a pint of warm Oldton Bitter... I remember that when I first started drinking all bitter was warm - the only cold bitter on sale was Double Diamond - I remember the jingle:

" A Double Diamond works wonders works wonders works wonders
A Double Diamond works wonders so have one today!"

Or something like that...

paul conneally

revised story for oldton

tim: glad you were moved by the story--that was why i did it...a response to your moving story.

a few revisions and additions to the story.... http://timwright.typepad.com/photos/sandra_semchuk/

it is fictional, a dialogue with you....the last number 9 the text is done by james nicholas, a Cree writer/actor. we both were thinking of the deaths of our own parents.

it would be good if the images could be seen each on their own page, background black in the size sent. if this is a problem let me know and i will make a website you can link to.

Sandra Semchuk

what I remember about oldton

Tim: perhaps we share a common history in some small details

here is a piece of the puzzle i have been staring at for years

ssemchuk

nice website tim!

Yes, i enjoyed my brief visit to oldton very much. Here is a photo of somewhere that could be oldton or
newton?

all the best, michael leigh

Norfolk Oldton

How spooky that for years my mother has had a map of olde Norfolke on her landing wall - and on it is marked... Oldton.

Have I perhaps always known this in the back of my mind?

Tattooed man

A couple of weeks ago I was travelling to Devon when just outside Bristol I broke down - a middle-aged man with a mohawk haircut and despite the freezing conditions wearing a black cap-sleeved T-shirt stopped his car and got me on the road again.

He had an interesting tatoo on his left bicep and he explained that it read 'leo lang go' which in English means 'PYE-DOG'.

I have since found the calligraphy for this and reproduce it above exactly as it looked on his arm.

A pye-dog of course is a stray or wandering dog and to be helped out by this stray dog has helped me overcome my phobia of middle-aged men with mohican hairstyles and tatoos - as he approached I did have visions of some of the more brutal scenes from Mad Max...

Oulton, Suffolk

Tim,

I now have a feeling Oldton is the old name for Oulton which is in Suffolk - not far from Lowestoft - in fact now part of it.

Are you aware of any Suffolk connections - maybe you feel a twang when by the sea - many Oulton men were sailors - sailing out of Lowestoft - perhaps some of the Wrights of Oulton were not only farmers but sailors.

They would sit on the bench on that little green in your picture and tell tales of the sea - later sing songs, sea shanties in the pub.

Do you know any sea shanties Tim? Anyone else?

The Lamberte Shield

Dear Tim,

Here is the shield of Lamberte of Oldton. Perhaps you are related to him. His shield has sheep on it - so a connection with farming.

Alongside the coat of arms was written this: "This coate sometimes borne by Lambarte of Oldton." - so sometimes it must have been borne by someone else - I wonder who?

The only coat of arms I ever wore was on my school blazer and it read 'Non Nobis' - I was taunted by boys from other schools about this and quickly learned all the quiet but longer ways home.

The sign on the green is very similar to a sign I've seen - it might even read:

'Lambertes Of Oldton - Antiques & Pine Furniture'

The kind of place one finds oneself going into on a Sunday afternoon after lunch in the country.

I believe Oldton to be one of those villages that only actually exist for most of us at the weekend.

-------------------------
Paul T Conneally
Education & Regional Director World Haiku Club

Director Haikumania Project
http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/haikumania/