Day 8 - An Introduction to Exeter

Today was one of those sad I must do work days, however due to the fact that the hostel is closed between midday and 3.30pm I did manage to get in a visit to inside the Exeter Cathedral and managed to catch most of the guided tour. Quite an impressive building - the most interesting part that it was built relatively quickly for a cathedral.

After this I checked out the tourist office and figured I had time to go on one of Red Coat Free guided tours which turned out to be a very good way to spend an hour and I was very impressed that the tours are genuinely free. Nice one Exeter.

I finished up my journey out with heading back to the Tapas place and having their dessert platter before getting stuck into more work. Tomorrow I will be heading out to Halberton to meet with some of the Historical Society there.

Day 7 - Exeter

Woke up early to get the obligatory full English breakfast - I'm starting to feel the effects of too much bacon and eggs and sausage and hash browns and toast and beans and coffee and yogurt and muesli ... as I rolled myself out of the B&B I was presented with some chocolates which was a lovely touch.

Headed to the train station to wait for the first of two trains for the day. Portsmouth to Westbury. Sat down and then realised the seats were reserved and then learnt to read and saw that I had a reservation a few carriages down. Hauled camp to my reserved seat. Changed at Westbury for Exeter - watching Tiverton go past at which we will be visiting later in the week.

Arrived at the Globe Backpackers and hour before the approved check in time of 3.30pm but luckily the guy was out the front and agreed to mind my bags before I could check in.

I went for a wander around town and decided to grab some tapas at El Bocado which proved to be a good call as the food was delicious and service was outstanding (helps having the owner running the floor). May well be back again to try out their desserts.

Checked in - standard hostel though the fact that there are no lockers in the room and the ones downstairs are tiny will get marked down on Hostelworld. I think staying at B&Bs is starting to spoil me a bit in the accommodation stakes. One of my dorm mates was very surprised to see a girl in the room as he'd stayed here many times and never realised it was a mixed dorm. Here is Kazuo's reaction! He's 63 years old and busking in England for his holiday.

Not much more to report - having a quiet one in tonight.

Day 6 - Southampton

Today I hopped on the train early to visit Southampton an apparently "vibrant modern city" that would offer me a warm welcome. Well it was a cold grey day and the main station was closed for track work so had to wait for 20 minutes in the cold for a replacement bus to take me into the city. Perhaps I should have taken this notice on the main bridge leading into the city as a sign.



Arriving at the main railway station I hopped on a free bus into the city with the view of finding the Maritime Museum. The driver complained loudly that no one had said hello to him and no one seemed to care. I jumped off in town when I saw a market in the town - hoping for some nice farm products for breakfast I was greeted with cheap clothes and buckets of sweets. So abandoned the market and walked down the street reading the highlights of the city in the pavement.


I arrived at the Maritime Museum and found it to be a bit lack lustre. One floor covered Cunard and the Titanic and the bottom floor had a bit of information about the hey day of the cruise liners and a model of the harbour and wharves at the time. This was mildly interesting but I was hoping to find more information on earlier vessels.

Heading out of the Museum I wandered the streets in search of Shirley. That's Shirley the place not the person. I headed for the High Street and noted the drinking fountain which was constructed in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The reason for my search for Shirley was that it was the place where Keith Morris's father, Henry Frederick Morris was born in 1884. Unfortunately they would have missed the great unveiling as they left Southampton for Australia in 1886.

I jumped on a bus heading towards Millbrook - it being the birthplace Henry's father Frederick William Morris in 1858.

The bus winded through street after street of council houses and past the cemetery where the great Benny Hill is buried. I toyed with the idea of going to find it and doing a comedy run around the cemetery in a nurse's outfit in fast forward but decided to stay on the bus - which never really gave me an outstanding place to alight. So I stayed and realised after a while we were heading back towards Shirley High Street. No great loss - Millbrook's biggest claim to fame is the Hospital.

And so another bus back to the Central Train Station another bus to Woolston another wait for half an hour in the cold and a train back to Portsmouth. I am sure Southampton was a more vibrant city back in the day but if it was anything like it is now I can see why they were keen to emigrate to Australia. Last night in Portsmouth - off to Exeter tomorrow.

Day 5 - With This Ring I Thee Wed

Today marks the auspicious occasion 50 years ago when Mother and Father were married. Of course they weren't a Mother and a Father then just two crazy kids with wild ideas, a gorgeous frock and a fancy suit. But we're all glad they did cause this blog and blogger would cease to exist if it was not so.

Also glad to get the news from home also that 2's surgery had gone well - get well soon sis.


This morning I headed down to the Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth. A bit too early as it didn't open til 10am so I grabbed a coffee and listened to the owner complaining to the Cadbury rep how business had declined since the Co-Op opened down the road.

Entry to the Dockyards was almost 20 squids but you can use it for a year - handy if you live local but I would imagine most people are tourists visiting. There were many exhibitions but I was most interested in the HMS Victory and HMS Warrior.

First up was a guided tour of HMS Victory. Launched in 1759 it was Lord Nelson's Flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar and indeed the ship that he died on during that battle. It was interesting to walk around and get a feeling to be on a ship of that era and the space that 800 men had to work and live in. Imagining that John Small would have been serving in the Navy during a similar time (though earlier than that particular battle).


After checking out some of the other exhibitions I wandered onto the HMS Warrior. A massive ship that was the largest of its time when launched in 1860 - within 10 years however it was almost obsolete due to changes from might to speed being more important. It was refitted for various purposes many times and then at the end of its Navy life could not even be sold for scrap. In the 1980's the ship had been an abandoned wreck for more than 50 years but was then fully restored to become the museum ship it is today.

After this I went back to the Portsmouth Museum and made a visit to the Search Room. I was looking for information on the marriage of Keith Morris' Grandparents (on his mother's side) Alexander Thompson and Emma Elizabeth Cox who were married in Portsmouth 1858.

I managed to discover where they were married and the street that the lived in on the day. They were married in St Mary's Church - pictured here today - the 21st of January. They were married on the 23rd of January in 1958. The church was built in medieval times - and then rebuilt by Thomas Ellis Owen in 1843 retaining some of the medieval features. In 1887 it was rebuilt to the church that now stands there today to give more room for its growing congregation.

At the time Alexsander and Emma lived in Wiltshire Street. Well I presume after the wedding they both lived there. I wandered down to check out the street hoping to find some lovely period houses but unfortunately now its a parking lot and a lot of council tower blocks.

This information and visiting these places seemed like a nice thing to do on our parents anniversary and knowing that theirs was only two days away was also a nice feeling. I'm sure though that Emma's dress was a tad nicer than this one I snapped in a bridal shop along the way. I guess taste is changing all the time...

Day 4 - The Birth of Australia

Well Australia was born so we could work - which is what I did pretty much for today. I did manage to sneak out for a bit and take some pictures of the monument marking the first fleet and the 'bonds of friendship' between Australia and the UK.

Day 3 - Portsmouth

Strictly speaking we're up to Day 6 or 7 but after a few days stopover in London we're back on the adventure trail today. An early morning start got me to Warterloo station at 11am - an hour early for my midday train to Portsmouth. I'd booked my trip through Megabus at a bargain 6 squids - 24 squids less than what it would have cost me if I bought it on the day. No ticket required all I needed was my booking number which I was a bit dubious about until I saw the lady with the clipboard and the queue of other people with booking numbers in hand.

Only an hour and a half from London, Portsmouth is a bustling harbour town where from many of the ships to Australia departed. I'm hoping to check out some of the maritime museums while here and their historic dockyards.

I arrived and checked into the Victoria Court B&B - nice little B&B who only give me til 8.30am for the breakfast. I was glad to see that they had captured some nasty things in the bathroom and locked them away in a glass jar.


I decided to head off for a walk down to the Gun Wharf and get the lie of the land. On the way I pass by the Portsmouth City Museum and figured I had time to drop in and take a look.


There were several exhibitions on - one on Arthur Conan Doyle, Portsmouth living through the ages and their main exhibition was Alien Invasion which had original costumes and masks from Dr Who, Star Wars, Aliens and even Mars Attacks plus other Sci Fi classics.

From there I checked out Gun Wharf Quays which is an outlet centre, restaurants and entertainment redevelopment on the water. I figured it would be best to leave the Historic Dockyards to another day so walked along the seafront watching various ships, hovercraft and tugs go past, imagining how it would have felt to be departing these shores for the final time on the way to Australia.

Sun was setting as I walked by the Portsmouth Castle so took the photo opportunity before heading back to my room for a nice cup of tea.

Day 2 - Wickhambreaux

This morning I awoke early to be sure to get down for breakfast at the requisite 8am - 9am timeslot. Bacon, yoghurt, cereal and toast with vegemite (provided by myself). Chatted a bit with two ladies from Germany and headed back to my room to find all my belongings moved to another room. Now it's nice of them to move my stuff but really - tell me or DON'T TOUCH MY STUFF. A quick scrab with the Quopmaster Belinda to calm down in my new pale pink room (same floral lowlights).

Today's mission was Wickhambreaux . Whilst not a definite origin of Keith Morris's mother, Jessie Theresa Thomas' Father Percy Thomas (that's your Great, great, great Grandfather Kate, Daniel and William) - it was in the vicinity so worth checking out. It is a small village around 5 miles from Canterbury.


There's a bus service there - three a day there and two back. The three there are in the afternoon and the two back in the morning. I presume this is so the villagers can make it into Canterbury to shop and return home after they have done so. So I took the 1pm bus with a view to perhaps walking the 5 miles back or catching a cab. On the bus you got the first sense of village life - there was lots of lively chatter on the short journey.

I jumped off the bus and as soon as a did a kindly gent asked me what I was looking for "Just taking a look generally" I answered. I headed for the most obvious landmark the church - built in the 14th Century.

The whole town is full or remarkably beautiful old houses lovingly restored. It was first mentioned in the Doomsday book so there are buildings from many different centuries.

The village green stands in the middle of the town - adjacent to it the church and the old mill. It has been declared an historic village so that no further development of the area can ruin its charm.

Fields stretch around the area which is a rich farming area. In the late 1800s cherries, apples, wheat would be among the items farmed in the area.

The pub, The Rose Inn, is the main social meeting place - as I walked in the room got quiet and everyone looked. I sat at the bar and next to me was the man who first asked me what I was after when I got off the bus - he said hello and we got talking and I told him about my journey. He introduced me to Terence who knew a fair bit about the history of the place. They suggested I take a look at the headstones in the graveyard and if I was to come back they could arrange to view the records book in the church which stretches back hundreds of years. There was no obvious gravestones there with either name of Thomas or Atkinson, unfortunately.

I went back to the pub and chatted to the lads for a while longer and Terence grabbed me a copy of his book Blinky The Frog - which uses the town as the setting for his children's book. It's nice to meet people who are so genuine about their passions for the village, writing, beer and life in general. And I stayed there for a while longer chatting before catching a cab back to Canterbury as the roads were narrow and not safe to walk along.

Good day - but not terribly productive in the quest for knowledge on the ancestor front.