Medieval palace uncovered in OAP’s garden
Bungalow builders’ amazing discovery
I’m pleased they found it but not pleased it’s holding up the build
CHARLES POLE ON PALACE RUINS IN GARDEN
A MYSTERY dating back to the Middle Ages has been solved after a palace’s ruins were unearthed in a pensioner’s garden.
Retired banker Charles Pole, 81, had hoped to move into a newlybuilt bungalow in his garden and sell his house.
But that is on hold since builders found the remains of a longlost 800-year-old bishop’s palace under his lawn.
Now, under planning conditions, he must pay for the archaeological dig.
The ruins of wall foundations and floor deposits in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, are believed part of a bishop’s palace complex from the 13th century.
For 300 years historians have been baffled as to its whereabouts, believing it was at another site nearby. Charles, who lives in aptly-named Palace Gardens, said: “When the builder saw the remains, he was ordered to stop work.
“It came as a big surprise. It was exciting to hear the site contains something of real significance.
“I’m pleased they found it, but I’m also not pleased because they’ve held up the build.”
He estimates the dig, redesigning foundation plans, building costs and extra materials will come to roughly £15,000.
A South West Heritage Trust spokesman said: “The remains are a significant find and the landowner, archaeologists, builder and architect are working to protect and record the site.”
It will be protected then covered over, allowing building work on the bungalow to go ahead.
JOHN Lewis has paved the way for another wave of shop closures, leaving staff worried about their jobs.
The department store chain admitted not all of its 42 branches will reopen when Covid curbs ease next month.
A surge in online shopping in the pandemic has prompted the business into the rethink.
Dame Sharon White, who chairs the John Lewis Partnership, said closures would be “painful” but that there has been “a decade of change in shopping habits in one year”.
She added: “Some areas can no longer profitably sustain a John Lewis store.” It is rumoured up to eight shops may shut incl» uding in Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Southampton, Norwich and Cambridge.
The employee-owned group declined to comment on which branches will close and the number of job losses.
A spokeswoman said negotiations with store landlords are ongoing.
John Lewis added redeploying staff elsewhere in the business is always looked at, with redundancies a “last resort”. The closures are on top of eight announced last year, which impacted 1,300 workers.
While John Lewis will have fewer big stores, it aims to open more smaller “service stores” and outlets in branches of sister chain Waitrose. It also pledged to launch cheaper ranges when
its department stores – along with other non-essential shops – can reopen from April 12.
The shake-up comes as the group plunged to a £517million loss for the 12 months to January 30, from profits of £146m the previous year. It is the first loss in its 157-year history. The business previously confirmed it was scrapping its staff bonus for the first time since 1953.
John Lewis’ online sales are up by 73%.
Dame Sharon said the pandemic triggered an “economic earthquake”.
But she added the group is emerging from the crisis “stronger and in good nick”.
Sales at John Lewis, including online, fell 2% to £4.72billion last year but takings at Waitrose increased 10% to nearly £7.6bn.
Dr Paul Simmonds, of Warwick Business School, said: “John Lewis is not immune from the pressures facing all high street retailers, which have seen highprofile companies such as Debenhams and Arcadia Group cease trading.”
Shadow Business Minister Lucy Powell said: “This news is really worrying for John Lewis employees and another blow for our struggling high streets.
“The pandemic has accelerated changes... but the Government continuing to disadvantage bricks and mortar shops over online companies is cranking up pressure and leading to businesses collapsing that may have had a bright future.”
This news is really worrying for the employees
LUCY POWELL SHADOW BUSINESS MINISTER
A right-wing Brexiteer, he once co-authored a book that labelled British workers as “among the worst idlers in the world”.
But he bids fair to be the worst idler in a lazybones Cabinet.
In the wake of last week’s Budget, he abandoned the Government’s industrial strategy
– such as it was.
The move was greeted with dismay, even by employers in the key manufacturing sector.
Now, Britain’s newfound independence from EU rules about state intervention is being put to the test in a key basic industry: steel.
The collapse into administration of a financial backer has put a question mark over Liberty Steel, part of the GFG Alliance metals group owned by Indian tycoon Sanjeev Gupta.
5,000 jobs are at stake in 11 plants, including Rotherham steelworks, Stocksbridge near Sheffield, Newport, Coventry, Hartlepool and an aluminium smelter in Scotland.
They’re at the cutting edge of technology, making “greensteel” from scrap, components for aerospace and hi-tech aluminium supplies for Jaguar Land Rover.
Closure would be a calamity for UK plc. GFG says that “as a whole” it has “sufficient funding for current needs”, though some capacity is loss-making because of the pandemic.
Workers fearing for their future are entitled to ask what is the Government doing? Not enough, is the simple answer.
Normally, Kwarteng has a mouth as big as a drop forge. He loves being on the telly.
But he’s silent during this industrial crisis, despite “emergency talks” with GFG. He has the profile of a harvest mouse.
Perhaps he’s too busy faffing about with likely changes to his Whitehall empire in Boris Johnson’s long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle.
This is a poor reward for working-class people in the industrial heartlands who voted Tory to “get Brexit done” and allow our Government to support our country’s key industries.
But what do you expect?
Minister has the profile of a harvest mouse during this industrial crisis
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