I normally would separate this post into three but, since I have delayed so long writing it, it's one very long one. Get yourself a cup of tea or glass of wine and sit a spell while joining us on our tour. I hope you enjoy your much less frenetic version!
Months earlier Steven and I had booked a whistle-stop bus tour of Windsor Castle, Bath, Salisbury, and Stonehenge. Our first stop was a way too quick tour of just part of Windsor Castle that was consequently all but useless because we spent far longer in security lines than seeing anything. I know I had to have taken some photos but I can't seem to find them which has been driving me crazy. Oh well - a good reason to return someday on our own time!
All new buildings in Bath had to be made from the same yellow shade of limestone that came from the Cotswolds. Bath had more protected historic buildings per capita than any other town in the country.
The celebrated author Jane Austen lived at #4 Sydney Place in Bath.
We began by walking around the upper terrace that was completed in 1897 and had sculptures of important Romans.
The Sacrificial Altar was the focus for public worship where priests conducted ceremonies and animal sacrifices. Two cornerstones were still in their original position and a third was close to the altar where it was found in 1965. The altar would likely have been painted.
King Bath was built in the 12th century.
Known as the Sacred Spring Overflow, surplus water from the spring poured into a Roman drain and, from there, flowed into the River Avon. Almost a quarter of a million gallons of water emerge daily from the earth, all at a constant temperature of 115 degrees.
It was impressive knowing that the cathedral was built in just 38 years from 1220-1258 during the Middle Ages before any cranes or modern scaffolding. If you're fond of numbers, the cathedral had 52 doors, 365 windows, and 8,760 pillars but who's counting?! It was also built on just four feet of foundation on boggy marshland but there was a dam nearby to keep water away from the cathedral. Because it was built in such a short period of time, its style was uniform, instead of a mishmash of architectural styles over many centuries.
Since the cathedral had been offering inspiration for over 750 years, the centuries have inevitably taken their toll on the building. Though a major repair program began in 1986, work had only just begun on the east side, the oldest part of the cathedral, which had been almost untouched since the first stone had been laid in 1220.
The Chapel for the Healing of Memory was intended as a place to "lay before God painful memories of loss, abuse or failure and the anguish of failing memory itself and to pray to know God's healing."
The Trinity Chapel, where prayers have been said since the earliest days of the building, was the oldest part of the cathedral. Focuses of early morning devotion include the statue of the Blessed Virgin to whom the cathedral was dedicated, and to St. Osmund, the second Bishop of Salisbury who lived in the 11th century.
On October 25, 2018, a man entered the Chapter House armed with a hammer and attacked the case protecting the Magna Carta. Fortunately, no damage was done to the priceless document.
It was wonderful to look at the arches soaring overhead as if churchgoers were reaching for the amazing heavens.
Stonehenge was a prehistoric temple whose stones were raised about 4,500 years ago. A masterpiece of engineering, its stones were carefully arranged to line up with the movement of the sun. What is now visible was the result of many different stages of construction and rebuilding in pre-history.
Initially, about 5,000 years ago, a large circular enclosure was erected. About 500 years later, enormous stones were raised in a horseshoe and a circle, with smaller bluestones placed between them. Once construction activities ended at Stonehenge in the early Bronze Age, many of the stones have been removed from the site and many have fallen. During restoration beginning in 1919, some stones were re-erected and that process continued until it was completed in 1964.
We were curious why Stonehenge was built in this location. We read that Stonehenge wasn't the first monument in this landscape as the area had been important to Neolithic people for hundreds of years before Stonehenge was started.
Here was the original entrance to Stonehenge where the most regular of the sarsen stones had been carefully shaped and smoothed. What a spectacular impression they would have made as people approached along the Avenue, the processional route to the monument built about 2300 BC. Just behind me were the huge 400-pound Heel Stone which lined up with the sun and the altar in the middle of the stone circle.
Months earlier Steven and I had booked a whistle-stop bus tour of Windsor Castle, Bath, Salisbury, and Stonehenge. Our first stop was a way too quick tour of just part of Windsor Castle that was consequently all but useless because we spent far longer in security lines than seeing anything. I know I had to have taken some photos but I can't seem to find them which has been driving me crazy. Oh well - a good reason to return someday on our own time!
From Windsor, it was a two-hour ride to the city of Bath. It acquired its name during ancient Roman times when well-heeled Romans traveled so often to Aquae Sulis as the city was then known to 'take a bath' it finally came to be known as simply Bath.
We had plenty of time on the bus tour to learn some interesting tidbits about British lore from the excellent guide! He told us that, during the 18th century when English people would ride their horses across London Bridge, the mayor said English people should drive on the right-hand side of the road and swords should be worn on the left because they wanted to be the opposite of Napoleon who was left-handed! Americans, who didn't want anything to do with Britain, made sure to use the opposite side of the road.
Another nugget: The River Thames used to rhyme with James until a German king pronounced it 'Temms' and no one wanted to correct him!
The guide informed us that the only place to be named after a place in the US was Pennsylvania because of the Quaker connection.
Someday it would be grand to have some time to explore these oh, so picturesque Mendip Hills in the Cotswolds in more depth.
Its architecture was based on the Neoclassical style of the Georgian era, named for the quartet of Georges who reigned from 1714-1830.
The Royal Crescent was an imposing stretch of buildings. Look at the black wrought iron fence in the second photo - known as a "haha fence" it acted as an invisible barrier from the windows that kept out both peasants and sheep!
Look at the small doors under these homes - they were coal sheds and used by the servants to warm the homes. The chimneys were purely for decorative use as there had been such dense smog for so long that fires were no longer permitted.
We crossed over the Pulteney Bridge which spanned the River Avon and was based on the Ponte Vecchio in Rome when it was completed in 1734.
Thanks to our guide, we'd learned there'd been a window tax in 1786 so many of them were boarded up!
The oldest house in Bath was the Sally Lunn Eating House or bakery that began in 1680 as a bakery making French sweet buns - yum, yum!
The tree in the center of Bath had been planted as a sapling in 1793 in the middle of Abbey Green which meant we'd almost arrived at the famous abbey!
Another fun nugget: If you've been to Great Britain, you may recall the toilet is normally referred to as the 'loo.' That term came from centuries ago when it was the responsibility of the youngest member of the family to throw the chamber pot out the window. The child would warn those passing by saying "garden l'eau' pronounced as 'loo!'
Until 1850, there were no house numbers but rather fan shapes which somehow indicated a specific house 'number.'
Though there wasn't much to the town of Bath in the Middle Ages, an important church had still stood on this spot since Anglo-Saxon times began in the 5th century. The magnificent Roman Abbey dominated the city center and took 300 years to be built. It was the last major church built in medieval England. Unfortunately, we had only enough time to see one of Bath's most important sights and we chose the Roman Baths since we'd toured many a cathedral in our time but far fewer baths!
We did take a few minutes to admire the intricate facade which dated to about 1500.
This statue's head and hands were removed due to vandalism as a political statement.
I enjoyed hearing how, when the statue of St. Peter to the left of the door lost his head, he had such a large beard a new head could be re-carved from it!
The Roman Baths were accidentally discovered in the 18th century as the famous Roman ruins were 18 feet below the residents' dirt floors. The ruins had sat undisturbed for centuries before they were finally excavated and transformed into a museum. Ninety percent of the buildings in the bath complex were from the 18th century and were based on an Italian design to build a 'new Rome.'
The Great Bath below the terrace was just one part of the Roman site which included extensive baths and a major temple built around the hot spring.
A view of the Baths with the Abbey in the background:
We then headed inside to the museum where we saw the Temple Pediment that was at the front of the Temple of Sulis Minerva. Minerva was thought responsible for the thermal springs. Just imagine the pediment, supported by four massive columns, looking down on visitors in the Temple Courtyard from a height of about 60 feet! Its powerful imagery must have dominated the scene.
The Sacrificial Altar was the focus for public worship where priests conducted ceremonies and animal sacrifices. Two cornerstones were still in their original position and a third was close to the altar where it was found in 1965. The altar would likely have been painted.
The gilded bronze Head of Sulis Minerva once overlooked a flaming cauldron inside the temple where only priests were permitted to come. Minerva was thought of as a lifegiving mother goddess.
Seneca, the famous Roman philosopher, wrote in the 1st century that "We ... erect altars at places where great streams burst suddenly from hidden sources; we honour springs of hot water as divine." The Roman reservoir survived intact below the current water level.
If you ever thought that throwing coins into the Trevi or any other fountain was a relatively new phenomenon, think again! Here were some of the 17,500 Roman coins dating from 32 BC to 274 AD thrown in the Roman Baths! It gave us a good sense of how popular and visited the baths had to have been.
Back outside again, the water in the Great Bath was greenish because of algae.
The sign from Bizarre Bath said, "I died laughing." Not a bad way to depart this life!
We'd have to wait for another day to see more of Bath than we did from the bus windows as we left the city for Salisbury Cathedral an hour away. Originally settled during the Bronze Age and possibly as early as 600 BC, Salisbury became a Roman town known as Sarum. We, like most visitors to Salisbury, had come to marvel at England's tallest spire at 404 feet and the largest cathedral green called a "close."
The cloisters were the earliest complete set in the country.
Believed to be the oldest working clock in the world, it has been in operation since 1386! Powered by weights, it had no hands or face - the right side of the clock powered it and struck the hours. It was commissioned by Bishop Ralph Erghan and built by three clockmakers from Delft in the Netherlands.
On a wall by the clock was the bell of the decommissioned ship HMS Salisbury. Inside the bell were the names of ship members' children who were baptized in the cathedral.
The baptismal font was only installed in 2008 as part of the 750th-anniversary cathedral celebrations.
The Tomb Slab of St. Osmund belonged to the first Bishop of Salisbury who was made a saint in 1457.
The Morning Chapel housed the cathedral's oils for anointing and focused on healing.
This glass prism was a memorial to the artist Rex Whistler who lived in the Cathedral Close and was killed in Normandy leading his troop of tanks into action on D-Day.
The normally colorful Prisoners of Conscience Window reflected on the Christian response to oppression, violence, and injustice. It was heartwarming to know that the Amnesty International candle burned for those still suffering from oppression around the world.
When we entered the Chapter House (so-called because as in all English cathedrals it was where a daily Bible verse or chapter was read), we learned that just four of possibly 40 original Magna Cartas written in 1215 still survive. The ancient document or Great Charter has stood as a symbol of the country's rights and freedoms. Three of the clauses from the 1215 Magna Carta were still in effect to this day: the freedom of the English Church, the ancient liberties of the City of London, and a right to due process or equality before the law. The Salisbury version is considered the best preserved. Of the other three, one is owned by the Lincoln Cathedral and kept at that city's castle and the remaining two are kept by the British Library in London.
The document was brought to Sarum, near Salisbury, by Elias of Dereham, and then brought to the cathedral when the building began to be used almost 800 years ago. As Elias, the Archbishop of Canterbury's chief official, had played a critical role in negotiating the Magna Carta, he was responsible for distributing at least 10 of the possibly 40 original charters around the kingdom. As the charter directly affected the Church, it was logical that cathedrals were natural and secure places to keep the documents.
At the transept, there were some amazing columns where the arms of the church aligned. The posts were intended to support a modest bell tower but when a heavy tower was added 100 years later, the weight was too much and tower tilted about 2.5 feet.
The High Altar:
It was wonderful to look at the arches soaring overhead as if churchgoers were reaching for the amazing heavens.
Our last view of the Cathedral Close where homes were rented out to very lucky people who had connections to the church. Edward Heath, a former prime minister, once lived on the green, not because of his political contributions but because he had been the Cathedral organist at one time!
From Salisbury, it was just a short drive on to Stonehenge, our last stop of the day. Though I had first visited Stonehenge about 45 years ago, I confess to forgetting the site was as old as the pyramids, and even older than the Colosseum in Rome or the Acropolis in Athens. I could see why people in the Middle Ages believe the area must have been built by a race of super-sized men.
Thousands of years ago during the Bronze Age people shaped and marked their landscape by building burial mounds or barrows. The people buried here with all of their worldly possessions lived several hundred years after the stones were raised at Stonehenge. It was important for people to bury their dead within sight of Stonehenge. Many of the barrows were excavated in the early 19th century and had dated from about 2000 to 1700 BC.
In 2010, archaeologists discovered another 5,000-year-old henge which was possibly a wooden twin of the fabled circle. Stonehenge, by the way, literally means 'hanging stones.'
We were curious why Stonehenge was built in this location. We read that Stonehenge wasn't the first monument in this landscape as the area had been important to Neolithic people for hundreds of years before Stonehenge was started.
A study of 300 plus stone circles in Britain discovered they were designed to calculate the movement of the sun, moon, stars, and to predict eclipses in order to assist early societies to determine when it was best to plant, harvest, and party!
One fellow in the US, according to our guide, believed there were giants and the stones were bones! Other far-out theories include Stonehenge was built by aliens as there are more crop circles in this area than anywhere else in the world! Another funny tale came from a conspiracy theorist who thought Stonehenge was built n the 1950s to increase the tourist trade!
There were two different types of stones used by the builders: the tall, stout stones, and lintel blocks were sandstone blocks called sarsen stones. They came from Marlborough Hill located twenty miles away and, it's speculated, had to be pulled the vast distance on tree trunks and rope.
From the site, we could hear the roar of traffic rushing by Stonehenge although that may not happen in the future as apparently there are accidents from the 'looky-loos' who gaze over at Stonehenge when driving past!
At the base of one monolith, it appeared like someone had pulled the stone back in a poor repair job to fix the damage done by former souvenir hunters.
The shorter stones in the middle of the monument were known as bluestones because they turn blue when wet and when cut into. Some of the volcanic stone is known to have come from southwest Wales, a staggering 240 miles away, because geologists were able to chemically match the bluestones to specific outcrops there. The stones were brought here using a raft and boat on the Welsh Severn Estuary and up River Avon, then rolled on logs about 20 miles to this location. Impressive, to say the least, don't you think!
I am surprised looking at the pictures of us that we looked as alert as it had been a very, very long day touring four of England's most famous sights in one day that began with the delightful Windsor Castle and ended with the incomparable Stonehenge. The bus tour reminded me more than a little of the old movie, If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium but it had been the only way to see, if not in the depth we're normally accustomed to, so many great sites.
Next post: Our last day of our six-week-long trip to Ireland and the United Kingdom last fall was window-shopping along the high-end Regent Street and exploring some of the marvelous churches designed by Christopher Wren, one of Britain's foremost architects.
Here's a link to the penultimate post about our far more recent trip to Sri Lanka and the southern Indian state of Kerala in March before we finally realized we needed to return home because of the worsening virus.
Posted on July 21st, 2020, from home in Denver. I hope you stay safe as you and your loved ones enjoy the hot summer weather during these challenging times.
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