Silver Roots Travel

On the north side of the Thames, at low tide, an extraordinary relic of Anglo Saxon London reveals itself; where my current hotel, the Westin London City, exists.

Go back to the 9th century, and London was coming under increasing attack from Viking raids all along the Thames. King Alfred (my 31 st. great-grandfather) decided to move the Saxon settlements from Lundenwic (roughly the area of today’s Covent Garden) inside the old Roman walled city of Londinium for their own safety. He renamed the town Lundenburgh – burgh, being an Anglos Saxon word for fortified town. After the Viking threat died down, it was decided to stay in Lundenburgh and several ‘hithes’ were established along the Thames – a Saxon word for small dock or harbour.

In the 12th century this particular hithe became known as Queenhithe. In 1973, Queenhithe was granted the status of Ancient Monument, thankfully protecting it as the only surviving inlet on the modern city waterfront.

So, during my recent wanderings in London, I stumbled upon the ruins of Wi******er Palace. Wi******er Palace was built in the 12th century to house the bishops in comfort when staying in London on royal or administrative business. A few walls are all that remain of the palace of the powerful Bishops of Wi******er, one of the largest and most important buildings in medieval London.

Upon a quick search in Geni.com on the builder, Bishop Henry of Blois, brother of King Stephen (my 25th great-grandfather), I discovered that the Bishop is my 25th great-uncle; born circa 1101 in Blois, La Charente, France.

Until the credit card bills arrive 🤣

The past two days have been spent in Rhode Island; visiting my great-grandparents burial place and the house in Providence that my great-grandfather built.

Cross-country travels have led me back to my childhood happy place, Norwich, Connecticut; an historically-significant town in the eastern part of the state. It is the town where my father grew up and my grandparents lived for 40 years.

Anyone who truly knows me, knows I love to traipse through old cemeteries. The Old Norwichtown Burying Ground is the resting place of some of America’s early colonial residents and some of my distant cousins.

My most distinguished cousin here is Samuel Huntington; a signer of the Declaration of Independence, President of the Continental Congress and later Governor of Connecticut. Samuel was my 12th cousin, 6x removed.