[Music] greetings and welcome to the channel today we're on our way to a place called down ampney in cluster Shire the reason I'm going there is of course because there's a church there but also the church relates to the British composer ra for Williams who was born born in the vicarage in down Anthony in I think 1873 from memory I'll check it out when we get there so we are about a mile from it I thought I'd film The the route in I've got the camera mounted on a hat so I'm hoping we'll actually see more of the scenery and less of um the roof of the car we shall see it was 27° when I started off so I've just got a um basically a vest on and um we've had lightning and some rain and I think the temperature is going to plummet to a chilly 22° Centigrade I mean it's still meant quite hot but it's really muggy today so I might have made a mistake with my attire but never mind quite excited to go to the church I actually uh went to the church before I started the channel um but I took photographs at that time but no videos so I'm going back to video it and I didn't get to see the vicarage last time although I have seen it in the past so so I shall show you the vicarage it may even be on screen now I don't know depends how I edit [Music] it right so the church will be on our right there I think I think I don't know actually it's been a while I just have to park over and let someone P me [Music] [Music] moment I think I've actually gone too far so I'll turn around clunking his skars beautiful driving beautiful [Music] now I think yeah we're at the old vicarage this is where vau Williams was actually born I'll get out the car and we can have a proper look I'll just park up properly oh Smokey out here right so this is the old vicarage where ra form Williams was born in as I say 1873 I think and ra for Williams father was actually the Vicor at the church we're about to visit and apparently he died um I think it's 1877 I'll check my details he was actually visiting a sick villager and I believe he became sick himself and died so what happened is Ra's mother moved to leth house which is now a National Trust property I'll put a picture on so you can see it I've been there actually and I've touched his piano that I think he wrote possibly the lck ascending on I'm not sure anyhow this is the vickerage and I'll drive to the church I was going to walk from here but uh given the weather I shall drive it's a little bit of a walk [Music] [Music] so it's a bit of a dead giveaway where the church is because we have to turn down Church Lane it's in quite a nice setting I think there's a large house behind it as you'll [Music] see sorry about the noise of my wiper blades [Music] they work all right they just rather [Music] [Music] noisy R are being naked [Music] as you see I'm still filming on my head camera it's a rather large house next to the church we can park here done it before we're here right I shall switch over to my smartphone in a moment see you in a minute well it's raining out here so I won't linger too long but the just to clarify the correct date of the the birth of wraith the composer it was October the 12th 1872 so I was the year out so ra for Williams composed the lck as sending and the music for the hym come down o Divine down ampney to honor the village of his birth and his father was the parish vicer what I forgot to say is he's actually buried in the church yard his father that is not Rafe so we'll have a look at that if we can apparently it's near the East transcept right I think we'll head inside first it should be open I think just go through the Lynch gate very low gate to bend down almost grubel to open it it's a bit strange had noticed that before I know there's quite a large display of information to do with for Williams actually in the church I think he was actually christened at the font in this church and the Vicor I think it was a different Vicor dropped him but his mother managed to stop him from hit in the ground by grabbing onto his christening cloth I think or christening robe something like that that's what I read it must be true if I read it not raining too bad give it a quick look here but I'll probably be using the pictures actually the pictures I took were probably inside the church so I'll have to take some pictures here of the exterior just to be sure I've got them and I'll show you what I can excuse me I'm talking to the Dead I said I'd go inside didn't I but there's bit of a lull in the raining so I I'll film this while I can I was just about to say that as the weather's improved we go around the outside and then it seemed like it started to rain again but maybe not just a smattering so we'll carry on around but if I dive inside very suddenly you realize it started chucking it down you'll see it anyhow what am I saying so these are quite quite old and worn details here and it's clearly been improved no doubt by the victorians here nice crisp stonework and back to the weathered stonework below but I wasn't going inside yet right let's head around look at the tower looks like it had a steeple added as a later Edition it's lovely and sunny now weather doesn't know what it wants to do not masses here couple of garles I think it's difficult to photograph the garles from this angle the light is against me and I intend to visit another two churches today so I'm not hanging about any longer than I need to or I desire to yep a silhouette by the looks of things looks like a memorial garden here I haven't been around here so I definitely didn't do the exterior when I last came I don't recognize this it's clearly been here a wow RF Garden of Remembrance down ampney the path was laid in memory of Ena Faber NE Logan WF which is woman's auxiliary air force who was stationed here in 1944 to5 and who love this Village it's interesting looking at some of the remembrance plaques here that you've got uh some of the descriptions of what they did air ambulance nurse I'm not sure what CA e c means looks like a flight something I can't read it uh there air ambulance another air ambulance nurse and there's some of the remembrance stuff over here A dispatch roll of Honor operation Market Garden September 194 before some of you may have seen the wonderful film that they've made to do with operation Market Garden just head into the corner of the great yard to have another look at the exterior from this side now I'm wondering where race father's grave is meant to be on the East transcept we should be over here shouldn't it but whether it's readable now there may be some identifying features inside that we can look at so I'll look inside see if I can find out from the information and we can always niit back out here ah I found it Arthur Charles vau Williams the father of rafe for Williams who was the Vicor of down anony he died on February the 9th 1875 age 40 years right so let us go inside well St church is usually open between 10:00 a. m. and 400 p.
m. each day it should be unlocked during these hours the door sometimes sticks please do give it a good push oh that's fine oh it's nice and cool in here rather a relief from the the Muggin outside unless there's another font this would have been the font that vau Williams was christened at and indeed it seems to be a pan on here yeah this is the font where the composer Ray F Williams was baptized on the 1st of December 1872 his father the Reverend Arthur vau Williams invited Reverend Hyde beedon Vicor of the neighboring Village of Latin to perform the ceremony he dropped baby Ralph and it was only the quick action of his mother who grabbed the long skirts of his christening dress that prevented the poor little CH from crashing to the stone floor there are no further records of Reverend Hyde beeden taking any more baptisms in down ampy can understand why look at the light in the window there that's beautiful isn't it and whether the baby more Williams would have been aware of that color or those colors and put those colors into his orchestral compositions later on who knows as an un trained composer myself who knows where inspiration comes from I've often amazed myself and what I've been able to do having written orchestral Works myself without any musical guidance really just my own blunderings it seemed to work quite well still that's what the Beatles did didn't they blundered around with cords liked what they heard and the world enjoyed them too unless I haven't had the same fate with my music never mind perhaps I've been saved for better things or protected from the nonsense that goes with that sort of stuff I quite like the poppy sort of um almost prance on the archways they're quite delightful whether that was a tribute to those that died in the first World War I don't know here's Rafe as a young man looking quite handsome there I think and L life he was quite obese but apparently he was quite a magnet to women they they love being around him so this is the information panel relating to V Williams as you can see there's quite a lot of information there I think I'll have a go at taking pictures again just to be sure I've got everything I don't want to get home and think I missed that of course Ray for Williams was a great friend of gustaff host they'd actually met at the Royal College of Music host was actually brought up in clusterer I've been to his house there it's under private ownership of the whole society and touched the piano that he composed the planets on and they used to do walks together in the Melvin Hills and also he was the organist at a place called L rington which is near by Brie in gler I intend to visit there sometime in the future I can't visit there sometime in the past V Williams was a friend of George Butterworth whose music I much admire Butterworth was killed in the first world war and butth left all his schores that survived to V Williams because they were both Keen at Gathering folk songs Rafe was related to arasmith Darwin and also Joshua Wedgewood for William's first White adelene looked very similar to her cousin Virginia wolf of course was an author race studied with Morris Ral in Paris in 1907 198 I think the most famous piece probably by VOR Williams is the Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Talis which was actually first heard on the 6th of September at the three choirs Festival actually in cluster cathedral which Harry Potter fans will be aware of some of the Interior probably my favorite piece by V Williams is the L ascending which evokes the lck I think at dawn it's beautiful this is a picture of for Williams and his second wife Ura wood in 1938 it's actually a lovely picture of her and probably the best picture I've seen of her she went on to write a book about him and has taken part in various films to do with his life this is the last photo of Gustaf Hol now vs was very reliant on Hol for feedback on his compositions because he had a deep respect for him also shown here is a picture of Arnold B and Harriet Co who was a Pianist that he spent a long time having an affair with Arnold Ba's music I know very well and what is interesting about Arnold B is his brother Clifford B was the person who suggested to host that he do some music relating to the planets in 1934 before the first performance of the symphony his close friend gust of Hol had died R said my only thought is now that whichever way I turn what are we to do without him everything seems to have turned back to him what would gustaff think or advise to do so we head to the ch where the Reverend fors would have been but before we get there we'll go into the pulpit he would have stood in so it seems there are steps here to the road Loft which we not allowed to go up of course so we shall descend and look in the chance now I keep saying that then I see other things I'm sure I didn't take a photo that when I was last here so I should do that but whether that's because I'm getting a bit old I don't know bit SE now H don't remember that either I've been to a lot of churches so now Arthur vau Williams was vicer of down ampney from 1868 to 1875 his memorial window depicts the resurrection as well as being a devoted and hardworking Parish priest took an interest in the Village School teaching scripture and gardening he died at 41 leaving a wife Margaret a daughter megie and sons Harvey and Rafe the latter would be become of England's greatest composers the school Master's log book gives the only account of Arthur's death February the9th 1975 today at 3:35 p. m.
