Off To Dorchester Town Via London Liverpool St and London Waterloo Stations

We're off to Dorchester via London Liverpool St and London Waterloo stations so we have quite the train ride. The challenge will be to get from Liverpool St station to Waterloo station via the Underground in time to catch a train to Dorchester.  This will involve taking the Circle Line from Liverpool St over to Embankment, then getting over to the Northern line but taking it south to Waterloo train station. 

I was down to the Sheringham train station with lots of time to catch the 8:25 to Norwich.  Stepping off the train at 925, it was a short trip across the platform to catch the 9:30 train to London Liverpool St train station.  Off the train, down the platform, through the gates, down to the Underground, onto the eastbound platform for the Circle Line, and I was on my way to London Waterloo train station. 

Off the Underground at Embankment, down the stairs and the elevators to the southbound Northern Line platform and onto the Underground train.  Off at the next stop, Waterloo, waayyy up the escalators and into the Waterloo train station hall for 12:15.  Which train to Dorchester?  Have I missed it? (The next train is in 2 hours?).  Get into the ticket line up, ask the attendant.  Next train stopping at Dorchester is the 12:35 to Weymouth.  Which platform?  Hasn’t yet been assigned. 

Back out into the station hall looking at the electronic departure boards trying to find “Weymouth”.  Aha, there it is.  Platform 8.  It’s now 12:27.  Walk over to platform 8, through the gate (didn’t work!), and onto the train.  Made it!!  Fifteen minutes after we leave the tea trolley comes along.  Time for a cup of tea!

It seemed to be a quick train ride down to Dorchester, arriving at 3:30.  I remembered my way down the back lane alongside the train tracks, up to the top of the street and over to Dawn’s house.  Some warm welcomes as it was in August of 2008 that Sharon, Sira and I had last seen Dawn.

A cup of tea, deciding on our itinerary for the next few days, introductions to Anna, a student from Spain, catching up on the news from both sides of the pond, and to sit back and relax after a 6 hour train journey.  

Here's my opportunity to share with you my recent find in Letheringsett a week ago - a little story on my great-uncle, Robert Moore the Coachman.

Robert Moore - The Coachman

In 1957, Basil Cozens-Hardy published a book on "The History of Letheringsett In The County of Norfolk (with extracts from the Diary of Mary Hardy (1773 to 1809))".  There are several extracts in the book including a diary note on the death of Stephen Moore (01 November 1804), the residences of the farm workers (including some of the Moores) and a reference to Robert Moore, the coachman.  Robert Moore, baptized March 19, 1826, was the 4th child born to Matthew Moore and Elizabeth Barber Gidney. From a very early age he was the coachman to the Cozens-Hardy family.  Page 136 of the book recounts a cricket match played in 1905 that Robert Moore played in. Basil Cozens-Hardy recounts....

"Early this century, I used to run a side in August which we called the Holiday Hittites with headquarters on the Old School House ground at Holt. In the merriness of our batting we tried to be true to our name and the ground was small and an easy one to score upon. In 1905 I arranged a match against Letheringsett and the scores are worth recording:

Letheringsett		Holiday Hittites
R. Moore b B.Cozens-Hardy	36	C.P. Evers b G.A. Scott	34
A. Simpson b Chadwick	20	R.M. Chadwich b G.A. Scott	28
C.T. Scott b Chadwick	55	Dr j.B. Gillam b G.A. Scott	0
G.A.Scott c C.P. Evers b B. Cozens-Hardy	1	R.W. Evers b Smith	60
A. High st Wrigley b Chadwick	10	H.L. Evers b C.T. Scott	1
E.. Boyce c H.L. KEvers b. Cozens-Hardy	6	B. Cozens-Hardy not out	93
G. Beeston b Chadwich	0	C.J. Gardner b Smith	0
F. Smith not out	0	P.T. Wrigley b Smith	0
W. Loynes c Gardner b Chadwick	2	G.T. Shaw b Smith	0
J. Reynolds run out	1	S. Cozens-Hardy not out	1
H. Chapman b B. Cozens-Hardy	0	S.N. Cozens-Hardy b Loynes	3
Extras	15	Extras	40
	146		260

But perhaps the most interesting feature of the game was what appeared in the following paragraph in the Eastern Daily Press:

An Aged Cricketer's Advice

Robert Moore, the coachman at Letheringsett Hall, who is now in his 79th year, has played cricket at Letheringsett for more than 60 years.   Last Saturday while playing for Letheringsett against the Holiday Hittites at Holt, he went in first and kept up his wicket for over an hour and a half making 36, which consisted of seven 4s and four 2s.  His motto, he says, is "Keep your wicket up, the runs are sure to come".

There was no better figure in the parish half a century ago than Robert Moore.  I can see him sitting erect, reins and whip in Hand on the box of the Hall victoria.  Punctual, exact and obliging he was all that a coachman should be. He lived in Glaven Cottage, south of the bridge both before and after it was rebuilt in 1870.  He was a devotee of the national game.  He used almost every morning to drive to Holt in a dog-cart for the groceries, etc.  If there was any cricket bieng played on the Old Schoolhouse ground there was generally pressing business to be done in Holt that afternoon as well.

Quite an interesting story about my great-uncle, Robert Moore, eh!?  But it gets even better.  I always wondered what Robert Moore looked like.  A week ago Sunday, May 31st, I knocked on the door of a David Maynes to get some information on the residences where the Moores resided.  David used to be the gardener on the Hardy estate before he retired a few years ago.  It just happened that David had a photo of Robert Moore.  Here's what he looked like around 1890 (or earlier).

Kind of neat, eh!?

We're off to visit with my 1st cousin-once-removed tomorrow in Ringwood in the middle of the New Forest (which is quite old as it was established in 1066 AD.