WALTON MEMORIAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 26, 31 July 1939, Page 5

WALTON MEMORIAL

COTTAGE REOPENED

RESTORATION AFTER FIRE

j Empire Day was celebrated at Shal- ' lowford, near here, by reopening the i Izaak Walton Cottage, which is main- ' taincd by trustees as a permanent memorial, said a message from Staf- , ford to the "Manchester Guardian" on ' May 24. It is not merely a memorial, ; however, but also a museum where j relics of Walton are preserved and exhibited. Shallowford is a few minutes' walk from Norton Bridge station, and the cottage lies not far from Shawiord j Brook, where the retired Walton, nine years before the publ.cation of "The I Compieat Angler" and four years after his "Life of Donne," pursued his gentle art. At that time it must have been a quiet retreat, and it is quiet enough now, though it is beside one of the busiest railway lines in the country on k vhich expresses pass every few minutes, and near enough to a miliary aerodrome at Ternhiil for the sky ~o be almost incessantly loud with the .oar of aeroplanes. The cottage has had its misfortunes since it was restored in 1924, for it was damaged by fire in 1925 and again last year. The last fire destroyed the upper part of the building, which has now been rebuilt with a tiled roof in place of the more inflammable thatch. In spite of its losses the museum is i still full c.f interest for lovers of Walton. It contains personal relics, portraits, angling trophies, and examples of angling equipment from all over the world. Its fireplace, with an enormous open chimney, has survived almost unchanged, and the visitor may see the revolving spit, the blower, the fire-irons, and other furnishings of the hearth almost in their original state. A DISPLAY OF BOOKS. For the opening ceremony one room of the caretaker's quarters was devoted to a display of books about Walton and of various editions of "The Compieat Angler" and other works. This fine show is the property of Mr. P. T. Dale, who is curator of the museum, a collector of Walton relics, and, according to his own description, "a hereditary angler." As the company began to gather for the opening ceremony. Walton's namewas frequently heard, and little knots of men gathered to discuss his virtues and extol the joys of angling. Naturally there were various points of view expressed on Izaak's ciualities both as a sportsman and as a man of letters, but. in his own words—"More observations of this nature, and inferences from them, might be made to gain the relation of a firmer belief; bu* I forbear: lest I, that intended to be but j I a relator, may be thought to be an ! engaged person for the proving what ! was related to me. . . ." [ The opening ceremony had to" be modified owing to the absence of Lord Stafford. Izaak Walton, who lived in very troubled times —he saw four reigns and a Commonwealth —would, no doubt, have understood that the responsibility of voting on a Military Training Bill, even though not in a 'Parliament of Saints," was a valid reason for not attending the opening of a cottage museum. PART OF WALTON'S FARM. Mr. S. H. Pickering, chairman of the Izaak Walton Cottage Trust, apologised for the absence ot Lord Stafford and explained the objects of the trust and the origin of the cottage. Walton bought a farm, of which the cottage was a part. Through his son it became a property of the Burghers of Stafford, from whom itj was purchased, at a cost of £25, by i a trust pledged to propagate the art j of angling and the appreciation of Eng- j lish prose-writers, particularly thosej I who lived during the lifetime of Izaak! Walton. i ! Mr. G. Sandy explained the difficui- j [ ties of rebuilding the cottage after the! second fire, and pointed out that tiles,! if less picturesque, had been thought safer for a site so close to a railway j line. Mr. H. Eymer explained the \ finances, or rather lack of finances, of the trust, and it was then left to the Mayor of Stafford (Councillor H. j Joynes) to perform the opening ceremany by driving nails into a horseshoe over the door. He was followed by other members of the committee and by Dr. C. B. Marson, who was specially applauded and described by a spectator as "the finest fisherman in Stafford." If the attendance at the ceremony was not large, that was possibly due, as one of the speakers suggested, to the fact that anglers in Stafford and district may have oeen taking advantage of the mayfly's habits to indulge a little in the pastime of "brothers of the angle." On the other hand, the weather, so brilliantly suitable for such an occasion, was not good for fishing, for the sun shone as brightly as at midsummer. At lunch in the local inn the racket of express trains —including.the Royal and the Coronation Scots —was not sufficiently loud to drown the sound of a music-box somewhere in the back of the house.