in this period between samhuinn and the winter solstice i have been thinking of my ancestors a great deal and finding some frustration in how far i can can trace my roots.
i have gone back a long way with some of them~
to my great x 12 grandfather john lywood who was born in compton chamberlayne in wiltshire in 1550, my great x 8 grandfather simon edsell born a few miles from compton chamberlayne in 1685 and the betteridge's, chalks and chandlers...both villages only 25 miles from where i now sit and before changes to boundaries part of the new forest.
then there are the hawkins, duke, fletcher and sparkes from portsmouth, only 30 miles away and the kimbers from small villages south of newbury
some of my hawkins ancestors
not forgetting all of my welsh and irish ancestors~williams, byrne, gaul, sullivan and flahavan.
so many ancestors coming from within a 45 mile radius of here...my forever home
whenever we have been away and drive home i always get a strong feeling of being 'home' long before we actually reach the village~its a very powerful sense of belonging to the land...not just to the land, but this very land i live on now. many were farmers and farm labourers and so had a strong connection to the land they worked~obviously following what we now call the wheel of the year.
i wonder how far back these people go, these people whose blood i carry~researching the surnames in my bloodline some originate from old-english, some from anglo-saxon, one,ormes, comes from old norse~such a mix of people.
its no wonder i feel such a connection to the land, that i feel i belong here~i wonder how i will feel when i travel to wales and ireland? will i feel a strong connection to that land i wonder?