Has anyone got any photos of any Sealed Knot Events on Elstow green, please? Particularly this one in 2009, when the County Councillor Lynne Faulkner handed over the Moot Hall key to Borough Councillor Barry Huckle. I have only this one picture, having lost my entire collection during a computer disaster!
I am looking for photos of May Festivals during the 2000s and of Terry Waite's visit in 1992. Also, somebody must have a picture of the old timber-framed village hall that stood on the High Street? Clive Arnold, curator of Moot Hall.
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Work this week, to reinstate the render on the front of no. 2 Bunyan's Mead, gave us all a rare glimpse into how wattle and daub infill actually is constructed - willow is interwoven over and between upright timbers, tightly fitted between the beams of the timber frame. Sadly, this work also uncovered major structural damage - the long horizontal beam, supporting the western ends of the floor joists, is rotten. This rot has occurred because, during the Council's 1974 restoration, instead of filling in gaps with timber, they used an epoxy filler. The problem with that is that timber moves, expands and contracts, but epoxy resins do not. Consequently,cracks open up between the resin and the timber, allowing water ingress, which leads to rot. (By the way, the recent repairs to the timber frame of Moot Hall have been done properly, with new oak having been spliced in. How many villagers have even noticed that this work gas been carried out?) For the time being, to make the front wall of no. 2 weatherproof again, the contractor has replaced the lime render. But at some point soon, he reckons that the whole of the front of the upstairs will need to be removed and replaced. The cost could be as much as £100k! Nos 1, 3, 5 and 6 were all owned by a different landlord but are in a similar condition, having rotten beams, caused by the use of epoxy filler. That landlord died last year and a bank is currently evicting all the tenants. No. 1 has been up for sale for a few months but it seems unlikely that any private buyer will be willing to take on a building in such poor condition, or that any bank would grant a mortgage on it. Any local builder fancy the challenge of buying and restoring all four cottages properly? Today, the Bunyan Round Table group (BRT initiative - to 'brand' Bedford as the home of John Bunyan - took a small(ish) step and an unexpected huge leap forward..
The 'smallish' step was the unveiling of Elstow's first village 'gateway' (which is actually anything but small!). This has been, very appropriately, sited at the beginning of Progress Way, Elstow and is just the first of several such gates that Elstow Parisish Council will be constructing beside the roads leading into the village that was John Bunyan's birthplace and home. The beautiful graphic is by BRT member Bedford artist Alasdair Bright. The second step forward came as a big surprise - when Mayor Dave Hodgson announced today, to a visiting group of tour guides at Elstow Moot Hall, that Bedford Borough Council will be following Elstow's lead, by putting the name of Bunyan on all the signs on roads leading into the Borough. Please, REPOST this on twitter, facebook etc. Please use the hashtag; #bunyansbedfordand include the webpage address; https://bunyansbedford.weebly.com/news/bunyansbedford |
AuthorClive Arnold Archives
January 2024
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