I am not going to bother writing a trip report for Day 1, which involved a 2 hour flight to LA, an 8-hour layover, then a 10-hour flight to London, followed by about an hour and a half waiting to get through Customs. Was graciously picked up by my UK-based records researcher, Simon Neal, who took me to my hotel so I could sleep the adventure off!
The second day, we arose early and headed north about three hours to the Huntingdon Archives. On the way, we stopped for gas in Baldock, which is where Richard Warren's wife Elizabeth's parents lived. Noticing on the map that Henlow was just a few minutes away, we made a slight detour to visit the church where the Samson, Cooper, and Tilley families of the Mayflower were baptized and married. It is a beautiful church and churchyard.
At the Huntingdon Archives, Simon and I attempted to find records related to the Howland family that had not yet been noticed. To accomplish that, we searched through various records classes from the time period that were less-frequently searched, such as manorial records, churchwarden accounts, and wills of other people who lived in Fenstanton who might have mentioned the Howlands in passing. We turned up four different records. We are working on a report for the Pilgrim John Howland Society, wherein these results will be published. Here is Simon reviewing a 1614 Court Roll, which has some Latin entries that relate to Henry Howland, the father of John Howland.
Around 3PM, after six hours of records research, we headed back to London, where we jumped on a train to head to Rotherhithe, a parish in central London along the Thames, which was the home parish of the Mayflower's master, Christopher Jones. We met up with a documentary film crew working on a PBS series, "Hit and Run History." We met for dinner at the Mayflower Pub, which is traditionally said to have been the property off which Christopher Jones moored the Mayflower from 1611 through 1623. Across the street is St. Mary's, Rotherhithe, the churchyard within which Christopher Jones would have been buried (no markers from that period survive).
After dinner, we drive about two hours to Ampfield, Hampshire, where we lodged for the night in preparation for Day 3, a tour of the Stephen Hopkins' sites in Upper Clatford, Winchester, and Hursley.
