New video
My latest video, now published on YouTube
Buckden on the old Great North Road, the old A1
I ride along Buckden's high street, down which used to pass the Great North Road, the A1, until bypassed in 1962.
Buckden in Huntingdonshire (now a district of Cambridgeshire), prospered in the 18th and 19th centuries as a key stop on the Great North Road for mail coaches, stagecoaches, and private travellers between London and Edinburgh.
I note the many coaching inns which vied for the business of stage coach operators and the cash of the passengers.
This traffic, and the employment that went with it, were lost with the coming of the railways, but it returned with motor traffic - at first a trickle of pioneering motorists and motor-bicyclists. The trickle became a torrent, revitalising the village with travellers seeking fuel and refreshment, until Buckden was choked with traffic, to be eventually bypassed in 1962.
I linger awhile at Buckden’s most prominent landmark, Buckden Palace, which was frequented by kings, queens and bishops over the centuries.
I take a look inside another ancient landmark, the church of St Mary, and wonder at a medieval band of instrumentalists and singers.
All in all. a short stretch of road with a long road-related history.
Motorcycle: Honda CB500F
Pictured: The George and Lion in the early days of motoring.
© John Dunn.
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From the archive:
This worldly life
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Just a thought:
Usura has always portrayed its enemies as acting out of an irrational caprice or vaguely defined evil, whereas the real motive has invariably been a secular war of peasants against the usurers, producers against exploiters in a struggle against international finance and loan capital. John Dunn (Renaissance: Counter-Renaissance)
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