At the heart of Croxden

After his death in 1216, King John's body was carried cross-country for burial from Notingham (where else?!) to Worcester Cathedral via Staffordshire, where his heart was supposedly left, en route, with the monks at Croxden Abbey in the moorlands here. 

(The bits and pieces of royals were regularly extracted from their corpses before burial and distributed. I am not sure why this practice ocurred...)

However, Croxton Abbey (you can see how the confusion arises...) in Leicestershire also claims to be the burial place of the heart.  The various commentators get in quite a spat about it.

Unfortunately Croxden was largely dismantled following Henry VIII's destruction of the monsteries, and is now a ruin as you can see.  So if there was a marker giving proof that this is where John's heart was interred, it was no doubt expropriated or broken up about that time.

But we know for sure that John did not leave his heart in San Francisco.

Gothic abbey scene

These wintry days create some (literally) Gothic looks. The ruins of the medieval Croxden Abbey in east Staffordshire near Hollington are ideal for a good 'horror' photo, especially as light is falling (which it does around now at 4.00pm).

Croxden is a great set of ruins incidentally.
In the middle of a large tract of open country, one can just walk on to the site easily, as, even though it's owned by English Heritage, it is open for members of the public to access freely.

Link: Croxden Abbey

Buddha temple

A Buddha temple in deepest Staffordshire? Yes indeed. As you walk a public path near Croxden, you can just see the back of it through the undergrowth. It may be in a field, or very large private park.

I wonder who put it there? Someone who wanted a memory of a time in South Asia? A devotee who meditates there now and again?  A lover of mystery?