Charlgrove Monument

John Hampden's Charlgrove Monument

Visiting Charlgrove Monument
in December 2019

30.12.19 The account below was originally published in December 2018. Following our vacation visit late last year, we have decided to repost but this time with photographic evidence. The small structure to the right foreground of the sketch remains unidentified.

December 2018: While gathering material for what was then an intended second volume of April’s adventures in 2017, several individuals and locations (all from the UK, and unknown to me and absolutely to April), were introduced to her. On one occasion, a visit to one particularly impressive house led to a chance meeting with a soldier called John Hampden, who over the course of several evenings showed April several landmarks related to his lifetime. Some elementary research later revealed his historic role in the creation of modern parliament, about which I was completely ignorant. To April, though, he was simply a friend who shared some details of his life. During the second or third time they met, he showed her a monument dedicated to him at a place called Charlgrove, Oxfordshire where he suffered a battle-related injury.  She was able to recall many of the details of the conversation they had and sat down to sketch the structure at our dining room table. Coincidentally, I found out that the place was quite close to where my brother and sister-in-law live, and so we resolved to visit the monument in person when we next had the chance, and perhaps take a photo for the blog.