After the snow came the flood. Okay, so I exaggerate; it wasn’t that bad. Yet walking the Wensum Valley on Tuesday all I could see of the lower meadows were the protruding hedges and the tufts of the taller grass-hummocks.
So, what was I to take photos of?
The sluice at Costessey Mill: Photo 6th March 2018 (#2018pichoftheweek ‘Motion’)
I lived in Costessey till 1983. This sluice didn’t exist way back in the day. I guess they built it to stop kids diving in off the bridge, which had become an accident black-spot. That sluice certainly pretties-up the water. I claim this as ‘Motion’ in #2018picoftheweek.
River Wensum at Costessey Mill, looking over the meadows towards Drayton. Photo 6th March 2018
The mill has long since ceased to be active. Yet there’s been a mill here since forever. Two are recorded in Domesday Book.
River Wensum taken from the bridge at Costessey Mill, looking towards Hellesdon. Photo 6th March 2018
Here began my interest in medieval history. Before the English lost to the Normans (1066), Costessey and its mills belonged to the earls of Norfolk & Suffolk, i.e. Earl Harold (Godwineson), and later his brother Earl Gyrth. After the conquest the extensive manor of Costessey landed in Breton hands, to become, post-1075, part of the Honour of Richmond held by Alan Rufus. Briefly in the C12th it landed in the hands of Alain de Rohan, (I just love that name) who granted the tithes of St Edmund’s church to the monastery of Bon Repos in Brittany.
crispina kemp 
Nice capture of that moving water. I love the leading lines in this pic 🙂
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I took 170 photos that day, around 70% were of moving water, ripples, streaming, frothing. It was tough to decide which to use. But I went for the mill for the history I could include with it.
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I like that name too and the photos have lovely light and color ! Livening up my stint here at the laundromat.. Washer on the fritz!
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I like that, washer on the fritz.
Though I have to say, this view is a much photographed view of Costessey Mill. Check it out on Google Images. One reason I included the other two views, they prove I took the shot, and I took it this week with all the meltwater flooding the river banks.
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Since you are touching on history, may I mention that not only “Rohan” but also “Meriadoc” and “Arathorn” [father of Aragorn] are Breton names?
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Indeed. One thing that disappointed me with the master linguist, was how many names he drew from his specialist period. He had the ability to create several languages, yet he created very few names. Though I was amused by his basing the Horse Lords on the Plains of Rohan, for it was the Bretons who supplied the Normans with their horses (had originally from Spain, of course).
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Now I’m encouraged to add that Alan Rufus’s brother-in-law Enisant Musard has an Occitan given name and a surname that occurs in Bordeaux, which has many Spaniards. His daughter’s name, Garsiana/Garsiena, is a further clue as to Basque/Gascon origin.
A further twist in the tale is that the Kings of Navarre, with whom the Bretons repeatedly intermarried, were of the Albret family, also known as Labrit, hinting at British origin (*). And why not? The founder of Brittany, Magnus Maximus, was Galician, and Galicia, the Basque country, Aquitaine, Armorica and Britain had been trading intensively by sea for thousands of years: Julius Caesar saw this trade, and was impressed.
(*) The core of their lordship was just south of Bordeaux.
PS: Katherine Keats-Rohan cites a scholar who surmises that (Alan Rufus’s brother) Stephen of Treguier’s wife Hawise “of Guingamp” was a half-sister of King Stephen’s father. Thus she’d be the sister of Count Hugh of Blois (who incidentally sponsored Bernard of Clairvaux and the early Knights Templar). This makes the family trees of Brittany. Normandy, Maine and Blois even more intricately entwined than I thought they were.
Considering the early medieval British military settlements in Blois and Maine, this looks a lot like “keeping it all in the (extended) family”.
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All very interesting Geoffrey, though I’m not sure it’s application to me.
BTW, did you know that the fabric known as gingham originated in Guingamp. And that the supposedly British name ‘Arthur’ is actually Basque, though it still means ‘bear’. Were it an Indo-European name, it would mean something like ‘artifactor/artisan’ i.e. craftsman.
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And let us add to the Rohans: Cardinal de Rohan (1734-1803) was an associate of Cagliostro’s (hence catching EJ’s interest) and deeply involved in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace. We visited his lodgings in Paris and Strasbourg on the same visit when we met you.
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Cardinal de Rohan,: I believe I’ve come across this name when I was researching the Bastard family history. So, an associate of Cagliostro’s, was he. Hmm.
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In the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, he gets duped into believing he’s met the queen in the gardens at Versailles at night, when it was actually a look-alike prostitute!
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This rings a bell. Did EJ tell me the story when you visited? Have you told me it? Have I read it? I just know it rings a bell.
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Probably EJ told you; it was one of the places she wanted to track down when we visited Versailles.
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I remember. And because I’d also an interest in alchemy, it was something we could talk of together.
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