Return to Europe (in style)

[RooFlyer]

There is a great exhibition 'Kings and Scribes' in one of the chapels and floors above. No pictures allowed, but it houses the illuminated (but sometimes incomplete) 'Winchester Bible' (in 4 parts) dating from 1150-1175. Its the largest surviving 12th century Bible.

A page from the Bible (Wikipedia)



Then there is the Morley Library, donated by George Morley, Bishop of Winchester in the late 1600s; original shelves from 1600s too. Again, Wikipedia pic; pretty yummy, eh, @Drakecula ?



The Tournai font is in the body of the Cathedral, but I didn't get a pic as there were church-people around it at the time. Made during the 1100-1200s from limestone from Belgium.



A few last shots to round things off. The Great West Window - restored with mostly clear glass after being smashed during the English Civil War.





The entire church - old Norman tower to the rear.

 

[VPS]

Jane Austin has a memorial here

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Roof of one of the chapels

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These are neat. 'Mortuary chests' , with the remains, amongst others of King Canute, King Egbert and Alfred the Great. They were thought to have been moved from the original Anglo-Saxon cathedrals to the new Norman one in the 1000s and put into chests. However action during the English Civil war severely disturbed the chests, and the bones were put back haphazardly into the various chests.

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Many memorials and tombs of various worthies

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This shows the surviving Norman tower and the North Transept to the left

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@Flashback can you tell Mrs FB that Jane Austen is buried at Winchester

@RooFlyer I think she's buried there below a marble stone not just a plaque.

 

[TheRealTMA]

@Flashback can you tell Mrs FB that Jane Austen is buried at Winchester

@RooFlyer I think she's buried there below a marble stone not just a plaque.

“ I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can be surpassed,-She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow, I had not a thought concealed from her, & it is if I had lost a part of myself.”

You could have just come to QLD and gone to

A Picnic at Pemberley - Abbey Museum

abbeymuseum.com.au

 

[RooFlyer]

Avebury isn't far from Great Bedwyn, and on the way to Wells, so I dropped by. Haven't been here in 20 years.

There is a Neolithic henge (ditch and embankment) at Avebury and the largest stone circle in GB (abt 100), with 2 smaller circles within it.

West Kennett Avenue was originally a row of 100 pairs of stones





And the circles and henge at Avebury village. Constructed between 2850 BC to about 2200 BC

 

[RooFlyer]

Moving onto Wells, and the Ancient Gatehouse Hotel, next to the Cathedral. Parking was a nightmare. Told to park free along an avenue beside the Cathedral green, there were no spots, so back to the hotel for plan B. That all took 15 mins once the circuit of 1 way streets was completed. Then to the Waitrose car park. That didn't look very secure, but I parked for the time being and walked back to the hotel.

As the name implies - an ancient gate-house - the pub to the right with the car in front



Check-in OK, wi-fi available. Place is a bit snug, as you might expect!



First impressions - view - are good







Horrible hold-the-wand shower



Back of the hotel - my room the mid level window pair in the yellow building. The cathedral behind me.



Dinner that night at their restaurant 'Rugatinos', a long established Italian job.



Cornwall lobster risotto.



Back in my room, the evening view out my window.

 

[Quickstatus]

What can surpass a Cathedral view in a Trip Report.

If I could rank order:

NB Carpark view
SG train tracks view
WP cathedral view

@RooFlyer
Did the cathedral have a copy of the Magna Carta? Can't remember if it's that one or another. Somewhere in that part of the Isles

 

[RooFlyer]

Did the cathedral have a copy of the Magna Carta? Can't remember if it's that one or another. Somewhere in that part of the Isles

No, but I've just seen one of the 4 surviving copies of the 1215 version at Lincoln Castle (belongs to Lincoln Cathedral). Another at Salisbury (the one you are thinking of), 2 others in British Library.

 

[RooFlyer]

Some more of Avebury







Shows the henge very well - the ditch was originally much deeper and steeper.



My family tree?



Nearby Silbury Hill . From English Heritage:

The largest artificial mound in Europe, mysterious Silbury Hill compares in height and volume to the roughly contemporary Egyptian pyramids. Probably completed in around 2400 BC, it apparently contains no burial. Though clearly important in itself, its purpose and significance remain unknown.

 

[Quickstatus]

others in British Library.

Ah good info, saves trudging all the way the Salisbury. British museum it is.

 

[RooFlyer]

Wells cathedral

Built in the late 1100s to replace an earlier vesion from the 700s and is regarded as Europe's earliest 'gothic' cathedral. Extended in the 1300s.

The web site said open at 7am, which suited me, and an early start. But at 7:30 it seemed all locked up until I saw a guy at a side door, and he allowed me in. There was a service on in a chapel down one end, but other than that, I had the place to myself.



Quite breathtaking - it goes on and on beyond the middle



The 'scissor arch' you can see is one of three installed in the mid-1300s to strengthen and support the tower.









The Chapter House, early 1300s. Steps up to it

 

[RooFlyer]

Figures within the Chapter House





and then this guy ...



Astronomical clock abt 1325 - second oldest in England, behind Salisbury. Original mechanism now in Science Museum in London, still operating



Stained glass - some of the most extensive in Britain. Just a small sample







Cloisters

 

[RooFlyer]

The west front is 30 m high and 45 m wide and a magnificent sight



Christ has 12 apostles beneath him and 9 archangels





and then there is Spot and his master



Gargoyles and grotesques

 

[RooFlyer]

In the immediate vicinity of the cathedral. Vicars Close, a 1400s street







Leading to this avenue by the cathedral green

 

[RooFlyer]

Quite a long drive after seeing Wells cathedral. Today its up to Lichfield cathedral, then onto a mate's place at Manchester to watch the Coronation the next day.



Lichfield cathedral

As with other cathedrals, the original church on the site was a wooden one built around 700, this time to house the bones of St Chad, who died in 672. This was replaced in Norman times and that in turn was replaced by the present gothic structure, constructed from the early 1200s to the mid 1300s. The cathedral suffered extensive damage during the 1600s English civil war when it was sieged and bombarded (the clergy were for the King; the townspeople mostly for Parliament); most of its stained glass was destroyed.

 

[RooFlyer]

Chapter-house, with a number of treasures including illuminated manuscripts from the 17th century library of the Seymour family.



The Angel of Lichfield, from the 8th century, found in excavations







Gargoyles and grotesques









Not sure who this chap is - Charles II?) but seen better days

 

[RooFlyer]

Lichfield has a few notables. Memorial not seen - Anna Seward the 'Swan of Litchfield' , late 18th century romantic poet.

Dr Samuel Johnson's (he of the dictionary, amongst other things) birthplace:





And Boswell, Johnson's biographer



And doctor and scientist, Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles. His birthplace

 

[kookaburra75]

There is a great exhibition 'Kings and Scribes' in one of the chapels and floors above. No pictures allowed, but it houses the illuminated (but sometimes incomplete) 'Winchester Bible' (in 4 parts) dating from 1150-1175. Its the largest surviving 12th century Bible.

A page from the Bible (Wikipedia)

View attachment 327853

Then there is the Morley Library, donated by George Morley, Bishop of Winchester in the late 1600s; original shelves from 1600s too. Again, Wikipedia pic; pretty yummy, eh, @Drakecula ?

View attachment 327854

The Tournai font is in the body of the Cathedral, but I didn't get a pic as there were church-people around it at the time. Made during the 1100-1200s from limestone from Belgium.

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A few last shots to round things off. The Great West Window - restored with mostly clear glass after being smashed during the English Civil War.

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The entire church - old Norman tower to the rear.

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Thanks for the trip report - I too love a good cathedral (MrsK not so much). I'm glad to see you have Lincoln and York on your list of places. Have you been to Chichester?

I like lying on the floor and looking up at the vaults and ceilings. I marvel at the workmanship that went into creating them. At Chichester, the deacon came over and lay down on the floor too and we had a good chat about the best way to view cathedrals, and the details - while other tourists stepped around us.

And, Avebury is a great place to visit, much better than Stonehenge. You can sit outside the Red Lion pub with a beer, and try and work out how they dug the ditches so deep with nothing more than deer antlers.

 

[bPeteb]

Thanks for the trip report - I too love a good cathedral (MrsK not so much).

We're with MrsK. We know that we miss some amazing architecture but everything else about them meh. In our early days of cruising we went on too many tours that went to way too many churches.

 

[kookaburra75]

We're with MrsK. We know that we miss some amazing architecture but everything else about them meh. In our early days of cruising we went on too many tours that went to way too many churches.

I do balance it out with one cathedral, one old pub, and so on for her sake. Although she did take a shine to Notre Dame in Montreal.

 

[bPeteb]

I do balance it out with one cathedral, one old pub, and so on for her sake. Although she did take a shine to Notre Dame in Montreal.

we don't not ever go in. The cathedral in Brasilia just a stunning piece of architecture. An old, or new, pub much more our thing, as both you and RF would know
Back to normal service RF Enjoying the trip report although I know that darn coronation must be approaching soon