The Reading Whirlwind and the fate of Henry West, by Leslie Wilson

They were building the new Reading Railway Station, which was to carry businessmen to London, to transact their business in a day and get home in time for dinner, connect Reading to the West Country, so that its citizens could go on holiday, and so on, when what the Reading Mercury called 'an unfortunate accident' took place. A shed about 200 feet long had been put up at the back of the Station-House, for 'the reception of the trains and the convenience of passengers.'

 This shed featured a lantern to allow light in, and at about half past three on Tuesday, March the 24th, a young man called Henry West (the paper, however, couldn't be bothered to get his name right, and called him William, was working up on this lantern, as yet unglazed, when a loud noise, like thunder, shocked the people in the area around the station.

There had been a high wind, which had turned into a whirlwind and blown poor Henry right off the roof; his body was discovered about 200 feet away. Several other men were 'more or less injured' including Mr Grissel,  belonging to the 'extensive' firm of Grissel and Peto, contractors for the building of this section of the line, was wounded on the head by bricks falling from the chimney. He was taken to the George Inn (a long-established coaching inn) and attended to, and the newspaper was glad to report that he was out of danger.

The George nowadays

They picked the remains of Henry West up and took him to the Boar's Head pub in Friar Street (definitely a more humble establishment than the George, presumably because Henry was a corpse, as well as being of lower social class than Mr Grissel) Later, an inquest was held, and a respectable jury gave a verdict of accidental death.

Henry was a single man of about 25 years old, a journeyman carpenter, born in Wilton, in Wiltshire.
I haven't been able to find out anything else about him. There used to be a rail in his memory at the far end of Platform 4, which was the busiest platform in the old station (now Platform 7), but when they revamped Reading Station they took the rail away. Perhaps they didn't want passengers to be unnerved by the realisation that they were standing in an area subject to miniature tornadoes?

The monument pictured stands in the churchyard of St Lawrence in Reading, on land that once was part of Reading Abbey, close to the old hospitium, or guesthouse of the Abbey, which was to become the first premises of University College Reading. It's a peaceful spot for a memorial to one whose life ended in such sudden violence.

The wooden board reads:
Sudden the change, in a moment fell, and had not time to bid my friends farewell,
Yet hushed be all complaint, 'tis sweet, 'tis best, to change life's story scenes for Endless rest
Dear friends, prepare, take warning by my fall, so shall you hear with joy your Saviour's call.

The board was put up by his fellow workmen, about 40 of whom attended his funeral at St Laurence's. It was renewed by his brother George in 1862, and by his niece F G Rixon in 1924. Reading Corporation renewed it in 1921.

I'm sorry that the rail was taken away from Reading station, but glad the monument is still there in the churchyard. It stands, in a way, for all the  men and women whose lives have for the most part been completely forgotten, yet whose labour was crucial in constructing our railways, our public buildings, our canals, our roads, and the many old houses which we still value.

you can see a picture of the Boar's Head, where Henry's body was taken, here

A VISIT TO CASTLE RISING by Adèle Geras

 On a perfect April day, when the trees were "coming into leaf/like something almost being said," (Philip Larkin)

 I visited Castle Rising with Stephanie Nettell. The older readers of this blog will remember Stephanie as the Guardian's children's book reviews editor in the days when we had four foolscap pages of children's book reviews a year....those, as they say, were the days.

We'd had a lovely lunch and set off to this castle, which is very close to where Stephanie lives. I had, to my shame, never heard of it before, but I'm always up for visiting a castle - I like them  almost as much as I like  cathedrals and this one, as you will see from the picture below, is the most castle-y of castles...it looks like the kind of thing a child might draw.

It was built in the twelfth century by William d'Albini, to show how much he'd risen in the world on his marriage to the widow of Henry I, Alice of Louvain. I wonder whether that was the reason for the name RISING but I think that's a frivolous idea....in any case it's most beautiful.

 The walls are intact, although the roof no longer exists. Stephanie and I were each given a wonderful hand- held audio device which took us in order through all the rooms in the palace, pointing out fine details and letting us admire everything in  our own time. As a contributor to "DAUGHTERS OF TIME" the History Girls anthology of stories, I was impressed that they'd adopted a 'history girls' approach to the commentary and some of the information was given to us in the voice of a fictitious lady-in-waiting to Queen Isabella. She was the wife of Edward II. As  we  know  he was murdered in a most brutal way.   After his death, Isabella was imprisoned here for more than thirty years and was visited in her captivity by her son Edward III.

 After her death, it became a hunting lodge for the Black Prince and in 1544 passed to the Howard family, who still own it today. 

You can see much of the original fabric of the building and Stephanie and I wondered how the 12th Century folk got up and down those spiral stairs in a hurry and especially at night. They were vertiginous, even with a  rope to hang on to....how did ladies  manage it in long skirts?  Or at night? 

After we left the Castle, we went to see the lovely church of St Lawrence in the village of Castle Rising. It's an idyllic looking  place and the church stands surrounded by lovely houses and a most beautiful set of almshouses.

I liked particularly the font decorated with three cat faces .....

...and this kneeler, which shows the coat of arms of Castle Rising. I've only photographed one lion but the kneeler runs  all along the bottom of the altar rail....there is a long line  of little yellow lions, looking very friendly. 

I do urge anyone near King's Lynn to go and visit this delightful place.  It's quite close to where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be bringing up Prince George and his forthcoming sibling and the shop attached to the Castle is full of wooden swords and small t shirts printed in a  chain mail pattern: they'd like those, as would any child. 

  

Many thanks to Stephanie Nettell for taking me there.