Frodsham

Thursday is market day in Frodsham, we enjoyed a wander round and stocked up with fruit from the colourful stall, strawberries, grapes, cherries, bananas and tomatoes. All for £5.

We stopped for a coffee in the 'Iron Church',

which was built as a Chapel of Ease in the 1870's and was used as the parish church for a few years during the restoration of St Laurence's at Overton. The chapel was very popular, saving the elderly villagers an uphill climb on a Sunday morning. It is still in use today, as an Evangelical church. Somewhere packed away Ian has a book about these 'Tin Tabernacles' as they were sometimes known. These churches and chapels were quick and cheap to build at a time of revival when more meeting places were urgently needed.

We made a special visit along Church Street to see one of these,

Do you know what it is?  Look carefully, it says Post Office where you might expect to see Telephone.

And around this side,

there is a letterbox and two stamp machines.

And on the other side,

maybe you were not so wrong, there is a telephone too.

It is a Grade II listed, K4 style, telephone kiosk, aka 'The Vermillion Giant', from around 1927.  It was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott and only 50 were made, with just 4 still in use today.

On our way back to Tacet, we suddenly realised the cars were queueing for the Sutton Swing Bridge across the Weaver navigation.

So we ran up to see what was passing through.  "A submarine" says the man from BW, as there was nothing to see!  It was just a routine maintenance check after all.
Of all the bridges along the Weaver this is probably the most scruffy looking one, so it was good to see that it does actually swing!

And we got to look into the control room too. All done by electric controls now of course.

I think these two raised and lowered the wedges, holding the bridge in its closed position.

Moored here below the bridge was Hadar,

Keith and Jo's boat, known to us through the blogging world, and now in the real world or at least the boaty world, as we met them arriving back from the market too, while we were taking photos.

Tonight we are back at the the Anderton lift waiting for a slot tomorrow to return the the Trent and Mersey Canal.  

Some of those strawberries from the market have become 3 pots of jam, with a splash of elderflower cordial and flowers infused to give add a seasonal twist.

Think I'll make some scones tomorrow, but just now I think strawberrry jam on toast would be good.