Thornton Abbey

Long time since I have been there, does it still have that burnt door - can't remember if that was down to the stinker Henery VIII or Cromwell.

I remember cycling to Thornton Abbey years ago - it seemed like a very long way!

Liz: Yes, it would seem a long way, but at least it's flat - I did try taking to the hills once or twice. However Shelly, Tina and Penny didn't own bikes, so it was just Helen and me with bikes, which limited us to the Boating Lake and the Fitties. There was this mad passion for cycling when we were about fourteen. I still remember the hats you and Carol knitted (turquoise and orange) as your 'cycle club' colours. Why did you do it? It wasn't as if you had ever liked cycling and your bike wasn't exactly state of the art - did it have gears? Carol's bike was pretty crap too - I sold it to her having found just how hard my 11+ Moulton was to ride (despite having gears) compared with a conventional big-wheeled bike, which is another reason why my forrays into the Wolds were so few.

My mother used to take her bike on the train when she was nursery governess at Thornton Hall just after the war.

Angelkirstin: 'orrible 'enery definitely - and not long after he and Jane Seymour had been lavishly entertained there. Not the sort of guest I would want to invite. Nice people give flowers, wine, chocolate or a nice book as 'thank you for having me' presents - not sword, fire, homelessness and unemployment.

It still has the ruined door. I had always been given to understand that this was a result of centuries of worm and weather, but my nephew Joe had heard a story of its being the result of fire. I can't find any authoritative answer either way, but will keep asking until I do.

I have checked: Dr. Kevin Leahy, our eminent resident archaeologist, (who knows everything and then some) says that the door of Thornton Abbey didn't burn but decayed.