Shere Delight

Dear reader, you may recall from yesterday's travails that our High Edser accommodation fell through. This was disappointing, but at least I got to see it. In reading up on it, I learned that Christabel Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline famous suffragette, lived there for some time, herself a famous suffragette, and her mother would visit her there. That's something I did not know before I came to the UK. The Pankhursts at High Edser.

Today was really divided into two halves. The first half is the subject of this footprint. Our visit to Shere. Almost all of you reading this will not know that my forebears came from this part of Surrey, in fact the village and area of Shere. If you go back far enough, there is some linguistic speculation that the 'ser' in 'Edser' comes from the letters making up the location of 'Shere'.

Certainly my great grandfather James Edser, who was tranpsorted to Australia grew up here in the village and region and was convicted in the local courts here, I know not the reason. He was only 28 and was sent to Australia for seven years in around 1848 and landed at Circular Quay on my birthday 9 June to be pardoned immediately. He was my grandfather's grandfather.

Shere is very old. It goes back centuries. Chris and I searched the churchyard of St James for an Edser gravesite in vain. The church is surrounded by 19th century graves, and graves even older. It was raining lightly, so we split up and with umbrellas unfurled, we searched high and low for an Edser, any Edser. After a while with our feet getting wet in the long grass, we decided to cease out quest. I feel sure there is more than a good chance of an Edser buried in the graveyard, but I will have to follow that up when I get back to Australia.

After St James, we headed for the equally old White Horse for a coffee. The Inn was built in 1425 and has some history attached about running illegal liquor. I wonder whether Great Grandfather James had anything to do with that.

A walk around the village and into the woods and along the River Tillingbourne that runs right through the middle of the town followed, which was a delight.

I may not have found the Edsers, but I felt their presence and feel I have a connection now to this tiny ancient village. I doubt whether I'll ever see it again, but I am glad that I came.Read more