The Houghtonian Magazine Vol 2 Issue 1 - Houghton-le-Spring

THE HOUGHTONIAN | MAR 2012 | VOL 2 ISSUE 1 | ISSN 1757-3890THE GILPIN THORNIT IS USUAL for us at this time of year to stop awhile and pay a visit to the Gilpin Thorn whenpassing through the Rectory Park and reflect onits links to the crucifixion of Christ, but asreported in a previous issue of the Houghtonian,the holy thorn was removed from the grounds inearly 2011.EARLIER IN THE MONTHHoughton Heritage Societyannounced that actressPENELOPE WILTON OBEhad become Patron of the Society.Penelope, shown above in a press packphotograph from ITV, is known to millions as MrsCrawley in the popular drama Downton Abbey,while to a younger audience she will be foreverknown as Harriet Jones M.P., defender of theEarth in the BBC’s Doctor Who.Penelope Wilton is the niece of 1940s actress, LindenTravers, who was born in Houghton-le-Spring, and is theGreat-Great Granddaughter of Houghton confectioner,George 'Sticky' Wheatley.According to Wikipedia: ‘She has twice won the Critics CircleTheatre Award – in 1981 for her performance in Much Ado AboutNothing, and in 1993 for The Deep Blue Sea. In 2001 she wasnominated for the London Evening Standard Theatre Award for herperformance in The Little Foxes at the Donmar Warehouse. In2004 she was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for herservices to drama.’The Gilpin Thorn article on the HH website hasbeen updated recently with details of the thorn’ssiblings around the world, including: Iona island;Brickendon, Hertfordshire; Herefordshire;Somerset; Buckinghamshire; Cheshire;Washington, USA; Australia; Canada; NewZealand and not forgetting Glastonbury.As many know, the Glastonbury Thorn in thegrounds of the Abbey died in 1991 and wasremoved in 1992, strangely around the sametime that the original Gilpin Thorn died. Anotherholy thorn sibling in Glastonbury, growing onWearyall Hill since 1952, was sickeningvandalised in December 2010; the severedstump has shown some recent signs of life, butsadly from the rootstock and not the grafted holythorn. Thanks to the efforts of the GlastonburyConservation Society and owners of Wearyall Hilla new seedling has been planted nearby – butthis time protected by a large metal cage!The news on the grapevine - or should that behawthorn? – is that a new Gilpin Thorn seedlingis to be planted in the old Rectory grounds. It isjust a shame that the thorn’s removal in 2011could not have waited until the replacement wasready to be planted, thus ensuring that there hasalways been a holy thorn growing in Houghtonle-Spring,uninterrupted, since Bernard Gilpinplanted the first one in the sixteenth century.PAUL LANAGAN