Reminiscing already...

I had such a lovely time in Yorkshire! So many new cousins, so little time. I love Richmond - it must be one of the prettiest towns in England and I gather it's a very desirable place to live.

The last few days oop north were spent very comfortably with Brian and Trish in Birstall. Like many of the people I've been meeting up with, B & T were strangers to me except for e-mail contact, but we didn't stay strangers for long. They very kindly drove all the way up to Richmond to pick me up and then we went to visit the lovely village of Kilburn, where our ancestors of that name lived while they were working on the building of Byland Abbey. Job completed, they moved on to Reviaux (gee, have I spelt that right?) and then on down to Leeds to work on still another abbey. Our mutual ancestor Roger KILBURN probably moved from there to Dewsbury, although we can't prove that because we haven't found a baptism for Roger. However, Roger was a common name among the Leeds KILBURN tribe, so that's our lad's most likely town of origin.

The village of Kilburn is a delight. The old church and a pub nearly as old lend real character to the place, but probably best of all is the workshop of one Robert Thompson, known as the Mouse Man because he carved a mouse somewhere on every piece he crafted. The tradition continues today, with the workshop turning out small masterpieces for those lucky enough to be able to buy such fine works. I just bought a postcard:-)

Brian and Trish also took me to Dewsbury Minster, one of the most meaningful places for me because so many of my ancestors were hatched, matched and dispatched there. It is a beautiful building - marred, some might say, by modern innovations such as putting the altar in the west and removing the old pews to replace them with what look like kitchen chairs - but nothing can alter the fact that it is a superb old church with some Saxon stonework still visible. There has been a church on the site for well over a thousand years, and it is obviously still a vibrant place of worship. Volunteers run a refectory with an excellent menu and others were eager to show us around the church and make us welcome.

Have to go now as time on the rented computer is running out. Scuse mistakes, no time to check!