Romsey

The last of my South West Trains special offer tickets!

I checked the trains on the internet late yesterday evening,but there was a tremendous storm last night, and when i got to Waterloo, the train to Southampton wasn't showing on the board, although it was almost due to leave.   When I asked I was told that they hadn't a clue - everything was so chaotic after the storm that they had no idea when trains would be running, and there were notices up saying that tickets for today would be valid on Sunday and Monday, and on any other reasonable route on the buses, underground or other train company services.   Virtually every service was delayed, with no indication of when they would be running.

When a notice appeared showing a train stopping at Southamption, I got on it, only to discover that it wasn't going to Southampton after all, but was going via Salisbury to Exeter.   So I got off at Woking, to await one which actually was going to Southampton.   The board there said there would be one at 9.00 a.m. - it was then not even half seven - but on asking I was told that in reality they hadn't a clue when the next train would be, as they were waiting to see which lines were clear.   In fact, a train arrived at ten past eight, but there was no straight run through then to Southampton, as the line was blocked by a tree, and after several stops and starts, I eventually got to Southampton just before 11.a.m., instead of just after eight.

When I got out of the station, I wasn't surprised there were trees on the line; it was windy when I left London, but in Southampton the wind was gale force and squally.  But at least it was dry.

I got a bus out to Romsey, as I wanted to go and see Romsey Abbey.   It's only about seven miles, but it take three quarters of an hour, as the bus goes all round the houses,  The general impression I got was that that part of Southampton was suffering from a depression; in Shirley there were about a dozen charity shops with a hundred yards.

I had lunch in Romsey at a very nice little cafe near the bus station called Lineker's Cafe; the food was excellent and I was even tempted to try one of their coffee and walnut cakes.   Delicious!

After that, on to Romsey Abbe.    It's only only a few minutes' walk, and rather dominates the town; it is also reputed to be one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Europe.  Originally a Benedictine Abbey founded in AD 907, the present church was built in the 12th and 13th centuries.   When Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries, the townspeople bought the abbey back for £100 - the original document for the sale can be seen in the church - but did not get the endowments that formerly went with it, so today it has no income of its own, but is just a normal parish church.   But for a parish church, it is enormous, reflecting it's former use.    Most churches in small country towns are quite small; some, in fact, are very small, with little to show of their long history.

But Romsey Abbey is different.   There is the list of all the abbesses - yes, they had a woman in charge from the very first, starting in AD 907 - some of whom reigned for over thirty years.   A lot of them seemed to have lived to a ripe old age, unless they became the abbess very young.    There's Chapel of St. Nicholas with the tomb of Earl Mountbatten, the Romsey Cope, dating from the 15th century and hidden behind a curtain which you have to pull back to see it, the Saxon roods (crosses) dating from about AD 960, the tomb of the 10th century abbess, St. Ethelflaeda in the chapel named after her, the 12th century wall painting in St. Mary's Chapel, the Italian-style painted reredos dating from about AD 1525 behind the altar in St. Lawrence's Chapel - in fact, everywhere you look in Romsey Abbey there are reminders of its lonvg history.

After that a quick visit to the museum to the Moody family at the Tourist Information Centre, which is now housed in the gunshop which they formerly owned.   I would have liked to have gone to King John's House also, but unfortunately it was closed.

I left just after four o'clock, as I wanted to get back to Southampton before the Post office closed - I just made it, as it wasn't the easiest place to find.    The centre of Southampton has been re-developed, so that the main shopping centre is now West Quay - a large shopping mall, just like all the other large shopping malls scattered round the country.    I had been told the Post office was there, but in fact it is in the High Street, in WH Smiths.

I planned to get something to eat in Southampton before leaving, but it definitely isn't the place to eat unless you want to go to one of the big chains like Cafe Rouge or Nandos, which I don't.    So I settled for a large cup of tea and a slice of lemon and coconut cake from the cafe at the station, and ate them on the train coming home.