I was debating how to use my last full day prior to heading into London. Well, I asked spirit to lead me, and I heard "go and stay by the fens and find a yew tree to sit with" Well, I headed south to St Ives which I figured by the map was far enough away from Cambridge not to be so "dear" financially...I happened on the square here, and a pub hotel, the Golden Lion with this statue in front of it. Cromwell is a controversial character in British history, having led to the beheading of King Charles I and war about which church is best and all that. A familiar cycle in Europe it seems, what with my French Huguenot Arnaud and Chapelier ancestor who had to flee when the Catholics thought their way to God was the only one, and it was OK to kill others..Sounds like a familiar fundementalist thing. Anyway, I was led to travel to Ely, where he lived for several years next to the parish church not far from the Cathedral when he served as a MP in the British Parliament. He was involved in support locals in the conflict over whether the fens should be drained around Ely, that then was an island. He lived here in St Ives about the time my ancestors in 1635-38 left England for the colonies, at least the Bixby, Riddlesdale and Cole/Cowles lines.
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