Brent and Lynn

Monday September 3, 2012

 We left the motel about 8:00 AM.  We went to a place called East Grinstead, Sussex, England.  This town was important to Lynn and me because it is where Ann Botting (Lynn's great, great, great grandmother and my great, great grandmother) was born 28 January 1827. 

East Grinstead Catholic Church

 We had hoped that our grandmother would help us find her parents' graves.  But we only found a church and looked at the graves there.   We did find a Walker name....

but no Bottings.  
It was kind of disappointing, but what we really wanted was to be in the place where some of our ancestors were born.

Interestingly, while I was looking I had the impression, "This place holds no good memories and that is why I left with my husband and went to America."



Richard Taylor would have been the Vicar when Ann was born, but we don't know if their family belonged to any church.

We had thought about looking up Richard Taylor but concluded he was probably just as dead as Ann Botting.

I saw this pretty girl walking along and thought, "She must look a lot like Ann Botting,"
so I took a picture.  She sure is a beautiful girl.

 It was in East Grinstead at the Sackville College that the Christmas carol, "Good King Wenceslas" was composed by John Mason Neale.

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The next place was....guess.  Another Abby? Cathedral? Castle?  

Nope.  The most precious place in all of England:

The House of the Lord--the London Temple.  

(I guess I may be mistaken.  There is another temple in Preston, England.)

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After this beautiful place we went to find a motel near where we would be turning in our car. The motel was called Liongate.  Not our most fun place to stay.  They said our room was on the first floor but it was actually on the third floor.  Several places where we stayed were managed by people with ancestry from India.  Maybe they count from the top as the first floor and the ground floor is the third floor.  It was a long haul to the top with our bags. 

We had to take a picture of the key.  
A skeleton key in a world where cards and number punch have replaced the key.

We went to dinner at a place recommended by our Indian friend--an Italian restaurant.  It is interesting that we had better luck with Italian restaurants being gluten free than other place.  One comment we received at two restaurants when we asked about Gluten Free food was, 
"We don't serve free food here."

Brent wanted to sit by the open window.  Have we mentioned that they don't have screens on the windows in England because there are practically no bugs?!  Such was the case here.