Advertisement
Published: January 3rd 2008
Today was a break during the competition, so we decided to make a jaunt to Burton Overy and Carlton Curlieu, small towns in Leicestershire, which are my (Vicki's) ancestral homes on my father's side. It took a little over an hour to get there from Burton-upon-Trent. We drove through Leicester city on our way, and were greeted by Harry Potter and Dumbledore waving from the top of the Borders Bookstore as we passed through (the 6th Harry Potter book had just been released). We made our way to a quiet, pastoral area and then we saw the Burton Overy sign and knew we were at the place! I am a bit of a hobby genealogist and I had been dreaming about making this trip for over 20 years. Burton Overy is a quaint small village -- very walkable, with a small main street with a pub and lovely brick homes and shops. We drove around the town for a bit and found various pastures with sheep and cows. We stopped into the church to see if there were any of my ancestors in the graveyard. We unfortunately weren't able to find any, but found several of the gravestones so interesting for
their artwork, script, and their stories. Lucky for us, two of the church parishioners were there that day cleaning the church so we were able to go in. The ladies were more than welcoming, and were able to give us a bit of history on the church. It has been there (in various stages of development) since the 13th century. There is one vicar who conducts services at each of the churches in the small villages in the area. I couldn't believe I was in the place where my great-great-great-grandfather had been christened!
We later stopped at the Bell, which is the local pub and gathering place. There were people there of all ages. When we went in, we ordered two pints and a bite to eat. While we were waiting, Seth thought he would make a trip to the restroom. He went to the bartender who was engaged in conversation with a local gentleman. Seth asked the bartender "Excuse me, but where is your restroom?" She pointed him in the right direction and the man at the bar said "You can say 'toilet,' you know. You're not going in to have a rest, are you?" It was really
funny, and put us at ease - no need to be overly formal, these were down-to earth, friendly people. Our food order came up and we took it and our pints out to the garden, which was of course so nicely planted and attractive. Inside we met several very nice people who were very proud to tell us about the region, answer questions for us, and give us directions on how to get to our next destination, Carlton Curlieu.
Carlton Curlieu also had a church, which was adjacent to a sheep pasture. Again we weren't able to find any ancestors in the graveyard there, either, but it was fun to have a look around. There wasn't a commercial area in the village but there was a farm which sold several goods.
After having a look around it was getting a bit late so we headed back to Burton-upon-Trent to rest up for the next day of competition. I was so excited to have been able to trace a few ancestral footsteps!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.075s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0339s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
