Pip Hobday
She has come from Amberwick Passage to tell a bell the way home.
Look closer at the illustration ↗Philippa Hobday is called Pip, and will not answer to anything else. Her grandfather Obadiah is a bellfounder in Candlewick Passage, the street now called Amberwick Passage. She travelled down in the guard's van of the goods train that brought the bell, then joined Ada Brimble's boat at Brindlecombe Basin.
Whoever travels with a new bell tells it the name of each place it passes and one true thing about it. Pip has nine names written in a notebook, copied from the map, with a pencil hanging from it on a string. She ticks each one off.
Her grandfather tuned this bell a little under E flat, because a small church likes a lower bell. Pip can hum it. At the wharf, Dorothea from the Copper Dormouse is waiting to take her up to bed.
People they know
Ada Brimble · From the illustrated world of Candlebury Ada Brimble
The carrier taking her to Little Tallowmere
Pip's grandfather entrusts her and the church bell to Ada. Pip travels aboard Patience and tells the bell the names of the places they pass.
Ruth Coker holds a lantern beside her black-and-white collie at Fallow Hill Tunnel. Josiah is partly visible at the left. Ruth Coker
Her guide to the horse's route
Ruth explains to Pip that horse and boat will take different routes through and over the hill, then meet on the other side.
Josiah Coker, with a black beard and knitted cap, holds his lantern beside the tunnel. Josiah Coker
The boat's tunnel helper
Pip holds the lantern while Ada and Josiah move the boat through the tunnel. Josiah tells her where Ruth and Marigold are passing overhead.
Mr Gedge, in round spectacles, holds his striped gauging rod beside the toll office. Mr Gedge
The clerk who records the bell
Pip asks Mr Gedge to record the bell as itself, as well as entering its cargo class. He adds its destination and condition in the Remarks column.
Dorothea · From the illustrated world of Candlebury Dorothea
Her host for the night
Dorothea meets Pip at Little Tallowmere Wharf and takes her up through the orchard to the Copper Dormouse.
Places in their stories
Amberwick Passage
A London street that slopes towards the river, one lit window after another.
Coldharbour Lock
The lock on the journey to Little Tallowmere, seven feet up, with a keeper who comes out in his slippers.
Along the canal
Locks, towpaths and the quieter journey to Little Tallowmere.
Little Tallowmere
A village green, pale stone, and an inn just beyond.
St Hilda’s above the orchard.
St Hilda’s church
The square tower on Little Tallowmere’s green, waiting for its new bell.
Patience arrives at Little Tallowmere Wharf.
Little Tallowmere wharf
A stone landing below the orchard, with a crane like a heron.
Customs & details
Stories
The Narrow Boat to Little Tallowmere
Travel with Ada Brimble, Pip and a new church bell aboard Patience, along the canal to Little Tallowmere.
With Ada Brimble, Pip Hobday, Dorothea, Ruth Coker, Josiah Coker, Mr Gedge