Fulmer and beyond

Having done Black Park at reference 1, we moved onto Fulmer and Gerrards Cross. Heading north from the Park, we thought to take in the church - without steeple or tower - marked by the orange spot bottom centre in the snap above. It turned out to be the not very old church attached to a not very old Brigettine convent.

Snapped above from Street View. With hindsight, it might have been interesting to pull in and ask if visiting the chapel was permitted, which my reading today of references 2 and 3 suggests might well have been, but we did not think of that at the time.

There is also the question of the missing Black Park Wellingtonia, which might have been just across the road, but we did not think of that either.

From there we worked our way back to Fulmer, the centre of which looked as if it might be in the grip of Team Heritage. The church was shut, but there was a very imposing tomb outside and I dare say, given a bit of time and effort, one could have deciphered some of the inscription. 

We failed that test too. The village hall, being mostly a play group, was open, which meant we could take a welcome comfort break. There were two public houses, one of which appeared to be a crime scene and the other of which was simply shut.

From the village hall we were able to see three good looking Wellingtonia, but we failed to get near enough to score them, the story seeming to be that they were in the grounds of Fulmer Place, a 19th country house, now flats. Apartments according to the estate agents. Gated, naturally. Orange spot just below the motorway left.

With Fulmer House to the east and Fulmer Hall to the west. The latter looks to have been  the big house of the village, then something to do with Bomber Command during the Second War, then offices and laboratories, then derelict. I dare say it is flats too now. Some good snaps at reference 4: how the mighty are fallen. Although it is also possible that there is some Internet confusion between the Place, the House and the Hall.

Next stop Gerrards Cross, starting with what appeared to be a hill fort south of the town. Orange spot upper left in the opening snap. We passed what appeared to be a couple of Wellingtonia on the way, but they were at places where it would have been awkward to stop, so not scored, and we pushed on into the very select housing estate to the east of the fort. A lot of very large houses, some of them a bit vulgar looking, but no access to the fort that we could find.

Investigation today tells me that the fort is called Bulstrode Camp and that there is access from the Camp Road of the very large houses.

On the day however, we pushed on into the town, to find an old style High Street, probably flourishing fifty years ago, but now rather run down. Lots of charity shops and other fringe undertakings.

A once grand, possibly old or oldish, building at the western end of the main drag. Appears to be something to do the the Effective Business Events and Travel to be found at reference 6. No idea what they actually do.

The local Wetherspoon's, possibly once a car showroom? But, unlike Epsom, they have still go their Majestic, which I miss. A useful place with a car park that was never full, now being rather slowly demolished. A demolition where, when it comes to brickwork, the men work off a platform. In my day, the topmen - as I think they were called - just stood on the wall coming down gently swinging their mattocks at the bricks below - the same model that I use for taking out the roots of shrubs and small trees. Plenty of mentions of same in this volume, but there is a decent snap at reference 7.

Investigation today says that it is not a Wetherspoon's at all, rather a member of the Oakman family, for which see reference 8 and 9. I have not dug further to see whether the Oakman family is itself part of some larger pubco. Nor have I found out what the building used to be. 

All in all, an outing with lots of loose ends.

And so back to Denham Grove, a few miles north of the orange spot top right, where our room was rather smaller than on the last occasion and where the Indian menu was off on Monday's as the chefs concerned had that day off. 

But they could manage an Indian take on the spring rolls we used to buy for a shilling or so from a Chinese restaurant in our students days. The Chinese version, as I recall, was a lot bigger and mainly full of bean sprouts. This version was full of some kind of veggie paste. Quite good.

But we then did pretty well with a regular beefburger and a veggies beefburger. I might say that the establishment is very good on presentation of their food - and the food itself is pretty good too. Plus Coronas for him - not the smoking sort which used to be widely available in the public houses of my youth and dispensed from brown tins a little bigger than a tin of beans. From Wills.

Something very like this tin turned up by Bing. The cigars used to come sealed in a clear plastic tube and were, as I recall, bit on the dry side. And while the cigars may well have approximated to the size called coronas in the trade, I suspect my brain had rather conflated Corona with Castella.

Denham Grove also ran to what appeared to be a wooden door key, despite it being electrical. Very ecological of them.

PS: a few hours later. Bing tells me that the 'Journeyman' was indeed a car showroom, but before becoming a bar-restaurant, did time as a Marks & Spencer 'Simply Food' store. The press release at reference 10 is more than ten years old, but I think that brand still exists. And the song of the same name contains the line 'No time for tea at Gerrards Cross'. Maybe twice.

To be found at reference 11. But despite the group being popular in those far off days when I had a nodding acquaintance with such things, the song rings no bells now, although the general tenor of it does. Perhaps some member of the group had some connection with Gerrards Cross. Maybe owned one of the big houses? Maybe went to school there?

Ironic that such a bucolic image should get attached to a building which was an Art Deco garage from the 1930's, a time when horses on farms were fast disappearing. In the middle of a fancy housing estate where some of the inhabitants might well have played farm at some point, but who were unlikely to have ever had to make their living at it. The same applying to all those mostly middle class students - myself included - who beat time to the music of the band concerned.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/11/black-park.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgettines.

Reference 3: http://www.bridgettineguesthouse.co.uk/site/index.html.

Reference 4: https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/abandoned-fulmer-hall-buckinghamshire.128675/.

Reference 5: https://www.gerrardscross.gov.uk/our-community/heritage-locations/. '... The most notable archaeological monument is the Iron Age hillfort of Bulstrode Camp, a scheduled monument located 400 metres west of Gerrards Cross Common. The hillfort is the largest of its type in Buckinghamshire. It was formerly situated in the Bulstrode estate, however in the twentieth century its ramparts were surrounded by the building of Camp Road...'.

Reference 6: https://effectivebusiness.com/. 'FROM THE SHARD TO THE HIMALAYAS, WE HELP YOUR BRAND CONNECT AND COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEAMS AND YOUR CUSTOMERS'.

Reference 7: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/09/compost-bin-first-day.html.

Reference 8: https://www.thejourneymangx.co.uk/.

Reference 9: https://www.oakmaninns.co.uk/.

Reference 10: https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases/ms-simply-food-store-uk-international-expansion-plans-unveiled.

Reference 11: https://youtu.be/yif0jxUwn5U.