The May 2019 Family Tree Trip, EDITED  Part Xxx 'Crowland Abbey and Sheila's x25 Great grandfather W
Channel: semw52
Date: 18/06/2019

A trimmed version of the visit to Crowland Abbey on the 3rd day of my family tree trip to Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. This was once a much, much larger abbey but like so many others was  ruined by King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries-----dismantled big time--but here the family tree is  present in the form of the powerful de Clare family and also  Waltheof, Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton who was beheaded by William the Conqueror, even though Waltheof was married to the Conqueror's niece Judith de Lens. Beheaded for plotting against the Conqueror, beheaded for treason---his own wife had betrayed him to the conqueror----but he was honoured  as well with his burial here at Crowland Abbey and also has a statue on the outside wall along with  several other prominent statues including William The Conqueror-----Waltheof the father of Matilda of Huntingdon--once a strong and powerful Saxon/Viking coming from an equally powerful family as well documented in history and  now placed within my family tree----Yes this was a great visit here despite the persistent rain---I kept my waterproofs on all day here but the Abbey was beautiful inside and outside--such magnificent architecture and with  good  displays and illustrations within providing nuch information as well as the wardens who took me around and explained much to me about its history----going back  many centuries  her when it was seen as an small Island amidst a swampy  bog--the Fens--with connections to saints and Hereward The Wake, the de Clares…..nore to follow of this visit....some trimming due to  private reflections....