#ely Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

January 28, 2026January 28, 2026

England’s small towns

England’s small towns are really interesting to walk around and enjoy the old buildings and see how they have been repurposed for shops and for other purposes.

Ely

Ely is an important town for England. This is where Oliver Cromwell looped for 10 years when he became the Lord protector after executing King Charles the first. This was the first attempt to create a republic which ultimately failed when Charles II became king evidently because Oliver‘s son failed to effectively carry on his father‘s leadership abilities.

Cromwell’s home England’s small towns — Oliver Cromwell‘s home

Visitor center England’s small towns — This is a visitor center as well as the house itself

Jewish history England’s small towns — A little different history here. Actually during the 1500s England was not kind to the Jewish population.

Dining room Bill Smale — The dining room

Kitchen entrance Bill Smale — Entrance to the kitchen

Moss on the building Bill Smale — Moss growing on the side of the building

Boots pharmacy — Schizophrenic Shop. It’s an optician selling boots which have hearing problems. Just joking

St. Mary’s Church — Saint Mary’s Church where Cromwell attended

Old building — A cute old building

Winchester

Graffiti wall — This was a very complete graffiti wall

Winchester Cathedral — Inside Winchester Cathedral

Cathedral map — The map of the inside of the cathedral

Silver collection — There is an interesting collection of silver upstairs. This is from the 1700s

A view — A view from the silver collection area

Broken stained glass windows — During the Civil War these windows were destroyed. After things settled down they took the glass shards and created what you see now

First bishop — The first bishop is buried here

Original door — This is the original door from the 1100s

Clergy area — The place where the clergy sat during official ceremonies

Original altar — One of the original alters from the 1100s

Jane Austen‘s grave — Yes, Jane Austen was buried here

England Sushi — The spicy chicken above was a little bit sweet and not spicy. The salmon sushi was England style so the rice was very poorly made.

William Walker memorialization — William Walker spent weeks underneath the foundation during a flood and helped shore up the pilings so the cathedral would not collapse. He is memorialized here

Portsmouth

HMS warrior — The HMS warrior

My cousin passes by — As I was looking at the ship my cousin was on this Viking cruise ship passing by just as I was in Portsmouth. We later met up in London. I waved to her but she didn’t get my message

Perfect EV — This is the perfect EV

Quintessential fish and chips — Very quintessential British fish and chips

Map of the harbor — The map of the dockyard. You have to pay 51 pounds to see everything. I didn’t pay so I got to just walk around the pier since it was already a little late in the afternoon and there was not enough time to see everything

Nice photo — I just like this photo of the HMS warrior

Ship museum — One of the ships inside the boat museum which is included in the free pier walk around

Figurehead — The figurehead for the Benbow

Royalcrest — The Royalcrest with the national flag

Navy ship — A navy ship docked maybe for repairs

Tardis — This is a strange version of the tardis

HMS victory — Nelson’s ship. This is a very extensive museum inside and probably very interesting.

Henry the eighth — So Henry the eighth was walking on this pier

Spinnaker tower — The Spinnaker tower