Off To Oxted - Looking At The Bicknell Side Of The Family

I was up for 7am getting my suitcase packed for storage and my carry-bag ready for my trip to Oxted via London Town.  I got side-tracked with my e-mail and, as a result was late in arriving at the Sheringham train station.  I caught the 10:46 train to Norwich arriving at 11:30 with only 30 minutes to spare to catch the train to London Liverpool St station.  The 2 hour trip went extremely fast, mainly because I was updating and transcribing the notes I had made on Friday at the Norfolk Archives on the Moore family in Letheringsett and checking this information with other pieces of information I had acquired.  The day was very sunny and warm.  Summer has arrived in merry olde England. 

The train arrived at London’s Liverpool St Station promptly at 14:00.  I made my way down to the Underground’s Liverpool Street station and topped up my Oyster Card (best piece of plastic for travelling around London!).  I had to now get from Liverpool St station to London’s Victoria St station.  The best way to do this was by Underground on the Circle (yellow) Line.  I quickly made my way to the Eastbound Platform #1 - too quickly. 

I hopped onto the underground train that was pulling into the station just as I was coming down the stairs.  Two stops later, I discovered I was on the wrong train!  So, I had to turn around and take the Underground back to Liverpool St station, resulting in a slight delay of 30 minutes.  I arrived at London Victoria for 15:00 in time to buy my train tickets and catch the 15:27 train to Oxted. 

It was nice sitting in the air-conditioned coach watching the other trains go by.  It is always quite amazing to see the track work at Clapham Junction - the busiest junction in the world with over 1,500 trains going by each day.  This is only a small photo of some of the track work.  That red train in the photo is about 18 tracks and 3 platforms away.  You don’t want to be walking on the tracks!!

Arriving in Oxted, I walked to the only waiting taxi to go up to The Croft B&B almost at the top of Quarry Road. 

In spite of some of the small hills we may have back home, there isn’t a single piece of flat land in Oxted.  It’s all up-and-down.  And it’s not just all up-and-down, it’s all up-and-down-and-up-and-down and.........  Which makes for some good walking exercise. 

After checking into the B&B and meeting my hosts, I walked over to St Mary’s Church to locate the graves of my great-great grandparents, Rowe and Mary Ann Bicknell (nee Creasy).  The grave stone is relatively easy to locate.  Just walk down the row of trees until you come across the water stand that is almost hidden behind one of the cedar trees.  Look straight ahead into the next graveyard.  The grave stone is in a straight line from the water stand right next to the fence line. 

The graveyard was in better condition than when I last visited in August of 2008 but it was obvious that the ferns would soon be towering over the gravestones.  A couple of bushes had started to grow up from when I last cut them down.  I’ll have to take a trip to the iron monger's (hardware store for you folks back across the pond) to see if I can get something to fix it all up. 

I then went next door to the Oxted Parish Council graveyard to find the grave of Alice Hetty Edwards (nee Bicknell) who was the youngest of 9 living children of Rowe and Mary Ann Bicknell.  The nicely manicured lawns were in stark contrast to the graveyard of St Mary’s.

After taking some photos, I then walked down the road and then uuupppp the road to Old Oxted and the George The Third Inn where I had a brew and some good old English pork ribs.  After that, it was time to trek down the hill and UUUPPPPP to the B&B.  If my leg and thigh muscles weren’t screaming going up the hill, my knee caps were about ready to pop off as I was going down the hill.  However, I made it up to the B&B without hardly panting or stopping for breath. 
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