In a Monastery Garden

Anyone expecting something about Albert Ketelbey’s very well known music will be disappointed. Mr ketelbey wrote his light classical piece in 1915 after a visit to a monastery garden in Bridlington, Yorkshire. There are other stories about the origin of the music.

Had Albert, the composer, visited the monastery garden at Edington on July 29^th, 1912, he might have written a more raucous piece of music, for he’d have found the garden thick with folk from Market Lavington. These gardens were the chosen venue for the Congregational Church outing on that day. More than 100 church members made the journey to Edington and, at some point, they all lined up for Mr Burgess, the Market Lavington photographer to record the happy throng.

Market Lavington Congregational Church members at Edington Monastery Garden in 1912

These days, we’d hardly think of Edington as a destination for a day out, although we might still enjoy the peace of the village and its grand church for a shorter visit. We might even enjoy a concert in the church.

Edington is but 6 miles from Market Lavington. It would, normally, be no more than a quarter of an hour away in a car. But 100 plus people, back in 1912, would have occupied many a cart or carriage and still most would have walked. So even a short journey was a whole day out – and a very special day to enjoy.

Close up of some of the church members, including George Pike, butcher of Market Lavington

From this enlargement we can see that the party was mixed in age and gender. We can name one of the people in this enlargement. The man half way up on the left was George Pike – a village butcher and a lifelong stalwart of the Congregational movement. We’d love to hear from you if you can identify any others.

The Monastery Gardens advertised themselves with their own postcard

Edington Monastery Gardens advertising post card can be found at Market Lavington Museum

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Tags: church, Easterton, Fiddington, garden, Market Lavington, Museum, outing