xenith | On the Road

So, leaving Orford and heading towards Sorell. (Exciting! See! I used !)

Before we left on our trip, we had some discussion about the itinerary. We ended up with:
Day 1: travel down, stopping at various places.
Day 2: Maria Island.
Day 4: come home, stopping at various places.

You might notice a slight of lack of things planned for Day 3. Well, I said, we could visit the church at Buckland. *laugh* See, when you look at a map of the area and there's always a marker at Buckland "Church" and it is the next town on from Orford, where we thought we were staying (the resort is actually closer to Triabunna but it's advertised as being at Orford).

I picked up the tourist information leaflets mother had for the Orford area and turned to the Things To Do page, and according to that page we could, um, visit the church at Buckland. That was it. Seriously. For a full page, yt had Maria Island, a nearby state forest and a couple of beaches.

We decided we'd wait and see what we felt like, and probably go to Sorell, through Buckland.

So, leaving Orford and heading towards Sorell. (Exciting remember!)

As I said before, when the highway (which is--checks map-- still the A3 Tasman Hwy) leaves Orford it runs inland along the Prosser river.

I saw this sign a lot, but I don't actually know what it means.

Two lanes in one direction, and that's towards you
Room for cars and vans to drive side beside
No room for cars and vans to drive side by side
Cars and vans can drive side by side if they really like each other
Large vehicles should drive on the high side
Beware oncoming overtaking vehicles
Campervan-car drag strip ahead

Unusual to see a stone wall along the "downside". (Yeah, these are facing the other way, from the homebound leg, but I combined them to see who is paying attention.)

The usual sort of barrier. That ones looks like it's been tested a few times.

Finally on the flat. Not that's the anything more to see. Less tree, more paddocks. I mean, exciting!

But there's Buckland.

And that's Ye Olde Buckland Inn. I'm not sure that putting "Ye Olde" on the front is really going to have much effect on visitor numbers though.

Obviously it was a coaching inn on the Hobart to East Coast road, built in the 1831 (it says, everywhere else says 1840s). At one time, probably an attractive little sandstone building.

And that's the church. It's a rather ordinary looking church. In fact, as small country stone churches go, it's one of the most ordinary looking ones about.

So why the big deal?

That's inside.

Here, actually. Church built 1846. Window probably 14th century.

How it ended up here is a mystery, and as all involved at now quite dead, it'll probably always be a mystery. There are stories, of course, involving Battle Abbey and the Civil War but, let's just say, there's nothing documented.

Many of the headstones around the church are decorative.

I photographed this because it looked odd, the three similar headstones in a row, and the same behind, but then we looked at the details

Annie Frances Turvey
Died 27 June 1876, aged 11 years

Harriette Julia Turvey
Died 17 July, 1876, aged 5 years.

Maria Amelia Turvey
Died 1 August, 1876, aged 12 years and 10 months.

How can you handle something like that?

Also the one at the back, which I didn't notice at the time:

Susan, wife of George Gelley, eldest daughter of ---n Turvey
Died 14 June, 1876 Aged 39

As well I can tell, she's the aunt of the four girls (their father's sister).