Salisbury Cathedral

It's been way too long since I've written about our last day spent in England celebrating our Golden Anniversary.  Maybe I've secretly not wanted our anniversary trip to end. Some of you may remember me writing about this trip.  If you wish to read all about it, I have been posting in order under the tab above labeled Great Britain.  This month we will be celebrating our 54th anniversary.  Though that gives me pause, I feel the strong desire to finally put this last day we spent for our 50th together and end this trip--well kind of.  Thank goodness my travel journal and photos keep this trip alive in our minds and certainly it is alive in our hearts.

Visiting cathedrals are so special to Grayden and I when we travel.  So we ended our time on our Golden Celebration in Salisbury Cathedral.  We had just a short walk in the early morning to visit this wonderful house of worship.  In a few hours we need to be traveling down to Southampton to board the Queen Mary II for our transatlantic trip back home.

Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a magnificent living house of worship.  Its spire is the tallest in the UK at 404 feet tall.  The early English Gothic architecture was completed in 1258.  The spire was built in 1320.  Spires on churches add enormous weight to the structures.  The spire here added 6397 tons to the cathedral and created problems as you can imagine.  Anchor irons and buttresses had to be added or the spire would have certainly fallen under the weight!  Additional beams were added in 1668 when Christopher Wren had tie beams added above the crossing.  Then a false ceiling was added to hide those beams below the lantern stage of the tower.

Salisbury Cathedral also houses one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta!  So much to learn and see in this beautiful place!  My journal tells me that upon entering a morning service was being held.  The children's orchestra was playing along with the magnificent organ.

Lift up your hearts!

We felt priviledged to be visiting at such a time.  Listening to the sermon of the parable of the Good Samaritan being delivered along with the music brought tears. 

 The cathedral is quite large and so lovely.  There truly is a sacred feeling of reverence as we walked around.

The narrow Nave has the lovely Chilmark stone for the walls and Purbeck marble for the columns.

"The windows of a building are its eyes, within those eyes is a character gained over many years.  Take them away and replace them with new and a lifetime of history is lost."  The Salisbury Cathedral stained glass workshop.

It's wonderful to learn that these lovely windows are being taken care of so intently.

In the north Nave aisle the world's oldest working clock stands.  While we were in Cotehele we were told about the clock there is like the one here at Salisbury Cathedral.  If you would like to see this one you can visit my link Here .

You may want to read about it here.

An unusual Baptismal font was installed in 2008.  The work of William Pye is quite modern and unique in its cruciform shape brimming with water overflowing into the cathedral stone floor.

Stepping outside into the Cloister garden we make our way to the Chapter House that houses one of the copies of the Magna Carta which is Latin for "Great Charter."  This great document clearly was a great influence on the United States Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and other countries constitutions.  The Magna Carta though written in 1215 is quite  extraordinary!

Inside the octagonal Chapter House we await the privilege of viewing the Magna Carta!  Since the sun and lights would damage this incredible document, it is housed in a small white enclosure.  No photos of the document were permitted on our visit.

On the stone seats there is a copy (not one of the originals) that I did photograph.

I can hardly believe the things we have done during this incredible four week visit to Great Britain.  It's so emotional to reflect on our amazing time there!  Our Golden Celebration meant the world to both of us.  Walking hand in hand back to our hotel to retrieve our car we feel incredibly blessed to experience all of this with each other.

This afternoon we will be onboard the Queen Mary II for our journey back home.  I've said it before, she certainly takes the sting out of leaving a place that feels like home. 

Stonehenge

 

Today I'd like to share one the most unique places, if there is one, that we visited on our Golden Anniversary trip to Great Britain.  

We have booked a room in Salisbury at the Legacy Rose & Crown Hotel.  It is located in a beautiful spot overlooking the river and has a gorgeous view of the Salisbury Cathedral. 

The Legacy Rose and Crown Hotel is housed in a 13th century building!  The old coaching inn is close to the sights that surround this unique area of Salisbury, Wiltshire. 

Our room has the original oak beams and paneling that has been restored.  

Grayden and I were fascinated by the original construction.  To think this building was constructed in the 13th century is mind boggling.  Along the wall there were windows showing what is under the old plaster.

After having a lovely lunch by the river we decided since the weather was so nice we would travel to see Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain.  I must admit I didn't expect to be so surprised at what we viewed!  A site much older than the hotel we were staying awaited our discovery.

Stonehenge is taken care of by English Heritage and owned by the Crown.  As I've mentioned here before, we joined the English Heritage before traveling to Great Britain.  I recommend doing so if you are interested in visiting more than two of their sites.  It will benefit your wallet if you do so.  The same is true of the National Trust as well.  In the United States you can join the Royal Oak Foundation and visit all of the National Trust sites you wish.  The National Trust takes care of the fields surrounding Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is a very popular site for tourists.  This afternoon, the traffic is quite light as we check in with our English Heritage passes.

 According to the English Heritage pamphlet --Stonehenge is an ancient temple aligned on the movements of the sun.  The stones were raised 4500 years ago by sophisticated prehistoric people.

English Heritage's project to transform the setting of Stonehenge returns a sense of context and dignity to this marvel of human endeavor, leaving Stonehenge surrounded by grass and reunited with its ancient approach, the Avenue.

After receiving headphones we boarded a trolley that took us to the path to the giant stones.

It is quite obvious this area is full of ancient history that is far older than Stonehenge!

No one is allowed to walk among the stones for fear of vandalism.  We are allowed to walk around the stones and ponder their purpose and how they came to be here!

The use of headphones keeps this spot more peaceful and informative to the visitor.

The large Sarsen Stones of the outer ring with the horizontal lentils on top are enormous!  Each one is approximately 13 feet high and 7 feet wide.  They each weigh about 25 tons! 

 There is a ring of smaller bluestones inside the larger ring.  Inside of them are free standing trilithons.  Stonehenge is oriented to the sunrise on the summer solstice.  The stones sit on earthworks in the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England.  The area also includes several hundred burial grounds.

 

We are in awe as we view this ancient monument.  The smaller Bluestones were quarried from Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire, Wales, nearly 180 miles away!

There are many thoughts as to how these stones found their way to Salisbury Plain.  No matter how, these megaliths certainly presented an enormous issue for their move no matter how far!

Sometimes when you take a photo a surprise greets you.  Here was mine as we looked back at Stonehenge!

There is a large museum that we visited after walking around Stonehenge.  It is full of interesting facts about the area's role in the life of the ancient monument and its people.

A Neolithic village portrays what life must have been for the ancient people.  

As we were leaving the museum, we both pondered its meaning of this sacred ground and I still do!  I must say we were both glad to have visited this ancient site.  I'm so full of admiration for those that came before us!

Stonehenge is certainly a feat of engineering for folks that lived so long ago with only simple tools!  

 

Max Gate in Dorset, England

Today is the day we said goodbye to our lovely home away from home and ventured into Dorset.  It's hard to believe we've spent the last two weeks venturing around Cornwall and Devon.  The two weeks previous, was spent in the Lake District.  Our Golden Celebration is coming to a close, but on our travels to Southampton, we can't pass up an opportunity to visit Max Gate, the home of Thomas Hardy, the English novelist and poet and his first wife, Emma.  

 Upon parking our car we see these Guinea hens (I think) searching for food among the hedges. If you know them to be another fowl please let me know.

Max Gate was the final home of Thomas Hardy.  He lived in Max Gate from 1885 to 1928 when he passed away.  He designed and built this home in Dorchester, Dorset, England. 

The property was given to the National Trust in 1940 by Hardy's sister.  The home was named for a nearby tollgate keeper, Henry Mack.

Thomas Hardy was a trained as an architect at King's College, London.  He won prizes from The Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association.  Living in London did not suit him because he was well aware of social class divisions.  He became very interested in social reform and the works of John Stuart Mill.

Moving to Max Gate, Hardy concentrated on his writing.  It was here that he wrote his most famous novels and poems. 

Inside, Max Gate is recreated by the National Trust to be as similar to Hardy's home as possible using period furnishings from his era. 

Originally the home had two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs.  In 1895 the home was expanded and then even more additions added later. 

 The poem above was written by Hardy for his wife.  When he built Max Gate he planted a thousand pine trees for privacy and a windbreak.  The trees made the house dark and gloomy and his second wife, Florence, had them removed after his death.

A fine collection of old volumes of Thomas Hardy fill this bookcase.

It was nice seeing this old typewriter.  No easy way of editing with this old machine.  

The bedroom upstairs served Hardy as a study as well.

"Thomas Hardy wrote some of his finest poetry sitting at his desk in front of this window."

The view from the window is lovely this morning.

Hardy wished that upon his death to be buried at Stinsford in the same grave of his first wife, Emma.  His executor, Sir Cockerell, insisted he be interred in Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey.   His heart is buried with his wife and his ashes are buried in Poet's Corner. 

We enjoyed learning more about Thomas Hardy and his home at Max Gate.  Upon leaving we continued our journey to Salisbury.  I hope to share what we discovered there.