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<\/p>\nPictures by Tom Dolby and Simon Bradford. Commentary by A. Turnip.<\/p>\n
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Manton<\/b> is a village south-west of Rutland Water. of which it has oft been said.\u00a0 The population of the village at the 2001 census was 364.\u00a0 But then something very curious happened, because the census data was changed to include Gunthorpe along with Manton and the number of people living in the environs then decreased.\u00a0 The only explanation offered thus far is that a big hole appeared.\u00a0 Archaeologists are looking into it.<\/p>\n
Naturally, the affair caused![\"\"](\"https:\/\/peterboroughramblers.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/16feb2-300x209.jpg\")
considerable upset and dismay, and further experimentation was carried out to see if adding other hamlets to established census entries could also reduce the population, and it was found that no, only in Manton could this ever happen.\u00a0 Thus each year a gathering takes place in Manton of the Dispossessed – those members of the population who feel they are, but…..![\"\"](\"https:\/\/peterboroughramblers.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/16feb3-300x182.jpg\")
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Indeed if one walks on a wild and windswept night one can see packs of people of olden times (you can tell they are from olden times from their flat caps which died out as a fashion item sometime around 1923), and their dogs.\u00a0 They appear… they pass by, they vanish to be seen no more until another census is called.<\/p>\n
It is of course because of this strange and rather disturbing background to the location that Ramblers are required to keep particularly close together for anyone drifing more than a few feet behind the group is liable to vanish into the censusorium as it is known… the black hole of Rutland which eats up passers by, proposes a new one way system for Oakham, and turns visitors into ichthyosaurs, which then roam the district, before taking a nap, at which moment archaeologists turn up and with no thought of human kindness cart the marine reptile and passers by, out of the county and off to places unknown where it can be\u00a0 looked at (Rutlanders being considered by the historical community not very good at looking at things themselves.)<\/p>\n
Of course, the problem with the ichthyosaur is that at 12 metres long it is actually bigger than Rutland, and so causes a logical conundrum.\u00a0 But it has allowed a lot of overpaid editors to write the phrase “The largest and most complete ichthyosaur ever found in the UK has been unearthed in the nation’s smallest county.”\u00a0 I mean, really.\u00a0 They surely ought to be able to do better than that.<\/p>\n
But as you can see from these fine and varied pictures from the walk, the walkers walked on, put off by neither path or railway, nor 180 million year old beasts and thus the walk was deemed a success.<\/p>\n