Here’s the first post sharing our adventures in the British Isles and Ireland from September 29 to October 17, 2025, for genealogy, business, and sightseeing. Hope you enjoy it!
September 29-30, 2025
The first day of our three-week adventure started as we pulled out of our driveway at around 11:30 a.m. on Monday, September 29, 2025, to drive to the airport in Buffalo, NY. I snapped this photo of Jim in long-term parking, so we’d know where we left our car. It actually came in handy!
We like the Buffalo airport because it’s just off I-90, easy to get to, and not too big. We had plenty of time to kill after going through security, so we were able to have a nice, leisurely lunch. That’s a nice feeling, vs. traveling for work and getting to the airport at the last moment, so as not to give my employer any more of my life than they had already sucked out of me. (Retiree here!)
Our United Airlines flight to Newark, NJ, was on time and uneventful. The only complication at Newark was that the gate changed a couple of times. I had been concerned about the news stories of their controllers still using floppy disks . . .
With a three-hour layover, we sat around and ate some snacks, still full of lunch to go to a restaurant. People watching and seeing other flights to London leaving before us, we started to think maybe we should have booked one of them, but that would have put us into London earlier than we wanted.
The flight to London was not bad, even though we were sitting in the center section without much room. For both our March 2025 Australia trip and this one, we settled on coach, and honestly, it wasn’t awful. The six-and-a-half-hour flight felt fast compared to our 17-hour flight from Houston to Sydney. On this flight, a baby cried much of the time, which made sleeping difficult, but it wasn’t the baby’s fault, and I’m sure the poor parents didn’t get much rest either.
I must say the food was pretty good, and our dinner came with complimentary wine or beer. In the morning, they also gave us breakfast.
On the ground at Heathrow the following morning, we found the rental car shuttle without much trouble. At the Enterprise facility on the outskirts of the airport, we picked up some sort of Volvo SUV, which was nice, but we never found the radio! It was much more important to us to be safe and figure out driving on the opposite side of the road. By “we,” I mean Jim. I should note that our Waze often had trouble navigating England, especially getting out of the airport complex.
Jim did great with England driving. I never got behind the wheel and only had to remind him a few times that he might want to shift to the other side of the road. And they have so many roundabouts, one after another, so he got plenty of practice right away.
We were headed to Steeple Ashton, about 90 minutes west of London. This is where my Silverthorn/Silverthorne ancestors lived before they came to America in the 1700s. In fact, I can trace my line all the way back to 1399. My relatives lived in five different villages in the area, Steeple Ashton, West Ashton, North Stoke, Netheravon, and Amesbury, where Stonehenge is located. All villages are located in Wiltshire County, except for North Stoke, which is located in Somerset. Our plan was to visit each village, mainly the churches where my people might be buried.
On the way to Steeple Ashton, we stopped at a grocery/department store called b&m. I figured I should use the restroom, but I didn’t see one, so when we were checking our bottled water out, I asked the cashier if one was available. Pleasantly, she picked up a microphone and called across the loudspeaker for someone to help me get to the toilet. Soon, a nice girl with multi-colored hair escorted me to the back of the store and the “disabled” bathroom. A couple of minutes later, as I emerged, she was waiting for me. This was all very polite, but also way more attentive than I am used to when using a restroom.
On our trek from Heathrow to Steeple Ashton, I noted that high hedges line the motorway, so you don’t really see too much in the way of landscape and farms, etc., Even when you get to towns, you’re going around towns and circle many roundabouts. Once in the towns, there are yet more roundabouts.
We were early getting into Steeple Ashton, so we decided to go straight to the church to start looking for the Silverthorn gravestones. A man was doing some gardening, so Jim asked him if we could go into the church and he replied in the affirmative.
St. Mary the Virgin Church in Steeple Ashton was built around 1500. It once featured a 93-foot steeple above the church’s tower, which was struck by lightning in the 1670. As it was being repaired, it was hit again, and as it fell, it killed the two men working on it. Repairs were again made, but the steeple itself was not replaced.
The interior of the church was very chilly. We found a couple of plaques on the walls, but not the one with all my great grandfathers that was presented a while ago by our distant cousins. We did find a couple of plaques that have the Silverthorn name on them, but not the special plaque.
In the graveyard, we saw many gravestones but none with the Silverthorn(e) name. The veneer has broken off a lot of the stones. Very disappointing because at least 70 Silverthorn(e)s are buried here according to Find-a-Grave. I had pictured myself taking lots of photos and uploading them to the site.
My direct ancestors, who should be buried there, include John Silverthorne (1450-1538), my 14th great grandfather; William Silverthorne (1485-1538), my 13th great grandfather; another John Silverthorne (1520-1572), my 12th great grandfather; another William Silverthorne (1549-1612); my 11th great grandfather; and Anthony Silverthorne (1585-1665), my 10th great grandfather
One reason we didn’t find any of the Silverthorn(e)s in the graveyard is because 500 years ago, people were not buried in coffins. They were simply wrapped in shrouds and placed in the ground. The second reason we didn’t find what we were looking for is that, with limited space, bodies were stacked on top of other bodies. That might seem awful, but it’s not as bad as Italy where they exhume them after 25 years and mix the bones together. The same goes for Germany unless you pay rent to keep them in the ground. The third reason is that the stones are crude and a veneer of finer stone was placed on them. You could see that many of these veneers had chipped off. In fact, on our entire survey of the five villages, we never found one Silverthorn(e) grave. . .
It was now time to check into our accommodations, so we headed there. When we arrived at our B&B, there was no one waiting for us. We knocked at the door of the big house, (plaque Jacobus House), but no one answered.
We found the cottage door open, so we just went inside, like Goldilocks and her husband. We thought we’d find some sort of welcome materials, but there were none, other than the key and a fob for the gate.
The place is so cute and well-maintained. Here are some photos. When you book the place, they ask you what kind of breakfast you’d like. You choose items from the list and they stock the fridge. What they don’t tell you is that a delicious chocolate cake is also going to be waiting on the counter! Well, it was there for us, at least. Maybe we’re just special!
We started making ourselves comfortable and I emailed the owner to let her know we were there and to question how to operate the heat. Soon, she was at the door. She was surprised that we wanted the heat on. Europeans are much hardier than we Americans.
Through email, Jo had offered to connect us with the town historian, Brian, and asked if he had been in touch with us. I hadn’t heard from him, so she said she would call him. How nice of her!
We decided to drive to Trowbridge, the nearby town, for some small items and to find an ATM. On the way, Brian called and said he’d like to meet with us. When we returned from town, he came over right away. Steeple Ashton has only about 1,000 residents and Brian knows most of them.
Brian’s family traces its roots in Steeple Ashton to the 1400s. He has intensely researched his family history, and he gave me a page of his family tree that contains a Michael Silverthorn. I haven’t been able to make a connection yet. He also gave us a soft-covered book called Notes on the Silverthorn Family of West Ashton and Trowbridge by K.H. Rogers, published by the Friends of the Trowbridge Museum. It takes information from the Silverthorn volumes written by Frank Reed and expands on it.
We chatted a bit in the cottage and then he offered to take us on a walking tour of the village. We learned so much about the buildings still there and those that are gone. He had a large binder with photos and drawings of the buildings in the area.
Along the way, Brian introduced us to several people, including Rosemary who is involved with the church and agreed to meet us the next day at 3:30 p.m. to look for the missing Silverthorn(e) plaque.
Here are some of the highlights of the walking tour:
After the tour, we went to the Longs at Steeple Ashton, a traditional English pub. We bought Brian a non-alcoholic Guinness, but he couldn’t stay because his wife had dinner waiting. Our beers provided a nice, relaxing ending to the day. After a lovely dinner, we walked back to our B&B, enjoyed a piece of the cake that Jo had left, and went to bed!
MJK
That tidy home looks so cozy!
designadmin
Very cozy, once we learned how to use the heat! 😛