Watching the trains go by

The West Coast Main Rail Line runs through Staffordshire, with frequent services up and down.  There are lots of bridges in the county where one can stand around idly and ... just watch trains.

This is the view from Fosse Bridge at Creswell.  This little bridge is almost exclusively used only by the local farmers' cattle - and occasional walkers.

It's not what it seems

Local maps simply indicate that this building in fields near Creswell is an 'abandoned chapel'.  To my untrained eye, it looked like an old brick barn which had collapsed.  It just seems to be sleeping, somehow.

In fact, it is the remains of an ancient, twelfth-century chapel.  But there is no sign to indicate such; it is just standing on its own, away from any passing contact.  Its history seems largely lost.
I find that lack of recognition very odd.

Warned off swimming

The River Sow, at Creswell, slows down here at this point, becoming a wide & shallow pool, and just quiet enough for this bit to be regarded as a swimming hole.
Yet... even in these hot holiday days, there was a not a child to be seen here.

I'm guessing that - nowadays - parents might be horrified at the thought of their children playing in 'wild' water, and so have warned them strongly not to come here.

Memorial to a selfless pilot

It's no wonder that the people of Creswell and nearby Stafford put up a memorial to Captain John Perrin of the US Air Force.
It goes back to the last days of the Second World War:  by managing to pilot his out-of-control aircraft away from habitation and crashing it into empty fields, the captain must have saved the lives of a good number of families. It probably cost him his life to do it though.


Each year, the local folk gather to remember him on July 4th, the date of the crash.  This year was the 70th anniversary.