Week 7 in London

Our last full week in London was mostly not in London: We did our second road trip, this time to the north. I took myself to St. Martin's-in-the-Fields the night before for a concert--an abridged version of Handel's Messiah. The choir had only ten singers, all current or former "scholars" of St. Martin's--students selected to study and perform at the church for a year. They took turns singing the solos. The program was absolutely stunning, particularly the soprano solo, "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth." The soloist's name was Laurel Neighbour. Watch for her.

We boarded a bus at 7 AM the next morning and drove for three hours to Blist's Hill, a living history village of 19th century English industrial life. It is very big, with buildings imported from throughout England (like This is the Place), and people were costumed inside and outside the buildings. 

Blist's Hill bobby and dog

The town also had a pottery factory, a large forge, and one of the first functioning steam engines in England, still running.

Blist's Hill steam engine

Kristine and I spent quite a while chatting with the engineer, a local volunteer who told us about his time living in Canada and helping out with an LDS scout troop. Around noon, the bake shop opened and began selling its fresh-baked wares--bread, scones, and biscuits. A huge crowd--probably a fourth of the people visiting the village and nearly all of our students--followed their noses and lined up to get some for themselves.

I liked this sign, just across the road from the bakery at Blist's Hill.

And this is the first time I've seen a church named for this particular saint.  Been moonlighting, Chad?

The whole village was very well done, not too commercial, and not too crowded. I'd love to have spent more time there.

Our next stop was Longton, to see the Gladstone Pottery Museum, a working historical pottery, complete with coal-fired bottle ovens (although they now use electric ovens because of air quality regulations):

Gladstone Pottery Museum, Longton

Inside the kiln, Gladstone Pottery Museum

Our guide gave us a fascinating overview of the history of the place and took us to see artisans at work. Here is the flower maker. She rolls out each petal of a ceramic flower by hand, pinches them together, and sets them to dry before firing. She worked for fifteen years in a commercial pottery doing "piece work," where she was paid per flower. She could do one in just a couple of minutes--while narrating the process!

Flower maker at Gladstone Pottery Museum

Flowers before painting

Once the flowers (and pots and other items) are fired, they are glazed and fired again.  

Painter at Gladstone Pottery Museum

Painter with gilded teacup, Gladstone Pottery Museum

The painter gilds the cups by putting them on a spinning disk, centering them, and then oh-so-carefully holding the brush to the rotating cup. The container of powder used to create the gold paint costs about 300 pounds. In the factory, it had to be locked up after use, and painters had to turn out their pockets to prove that they weren't trying to carry any of the powder away with them.

This was another place I wish I could have spent much more time at. They had an entire exhibit on the history of ceramic toilets that I went through at a run. It looked really interesting (I think)!

Our final stop was Chorley, the actual town where the Preston Temple is located. We had tickets to see the first ever English LDS Church History pageant on the temple grounds. I was surprised to see that it was indoors. The organizers asked for the church to fund an enormous tent because of frequent rain. We heard that the Salt Lake visitor responding to the funding request was inclined to turn it down, but the day he visited he got caught in a torrential downpour and changed his mind.

No rain the night we were there. We walked the mile from our hotel to the temple grounds at sunset, with some lovely views on the way:

Chorley, site of Preston Temple, at dusk

I admit that pageants are not my favorite art form, but this one was very well done--and short to boot! (just one and a half hours). I had given a fireside on LDS British Church History, so much of this was familiar to students. 

LDS British History Pageant, Chorley, summer 2013. This is a crossing-the-ocean scene. All the action took place on the lower level.  Above, but still in costume, was the choir, which was excellent.

The following morning we went to the temple where most of our students did baptisms; Kristine and I and our older student, Teresa, did a regular session (and got to see the new film, which I thought was beautifully done).

Preston Temple

We had quite a long drive from Chorley to the Lake District, along narrow, twisting roads that required us to go slowly. We showed "North and South" along the way. Some students slept through it, and others (the ones with good taste, obviously) became devoted fans.

We planned our route to pass through Downham, on the urging of Mike Malmborg, Herman, and Wendy. Downham is one of the places where Heber C. Kimball and Joseph Fielding had remarkable success on their first mission to England in 1837. Here's what Heber wrote about the experience:

"I went through the streets of that town feeling as I never before felt in my life. My hair would rise on my head as I walked through the streets, and I did not then know what was the matter with me. I pulled off my hat, and felt that I wanted to pull off my shoes, and I did not know what to think of it. When I returned [to America], I mentioned the circumstance to Brother Joseph, who said, 'some of the old Prophets travelled and dedicated that land, and their blessing fell upon you.'"

The town certainly is lovely. It is owned by the Asshton family, which has held the land since the 1500s. The current Asshton owner has decided to keep the town in an unchanged nineteenth-century-like appearance: no overhead power lines, no TV antennas. As a result, the town has been used for filming a number of TV series and movies.

Downham, England

Pendle Hill (translation: Hill hill) is famous for the Pendle Witch trials of 1612 and for the visit of George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, in 1652. Fox recalled in his autobiography:

"As we travelled, we came near a very great hill, called Pendle Hill, and I was moved of the Lord to go up to the top of it; which I did with difficulty, it was so very steep and high. When I was come to the top, I saw the sea bordering upon Lancashire. From the top of this hill the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered."

Our group, with Pendle Hill in the background

Here's a very pretty tree in Downham, next to the churchyard.

It was a quick stop, but refreshing. From there it was nearly three more hours to Grasmere in the Lake District, home of Wordsworth's Dove Cottage, which I'll tell about in the next post.