St. James Church - II

This church is filled with surprises. It is a grade I listed building that is large but not huge and stylish but not fancy.

St. James Church, Chipping Campden

Two paths diverge by a road... or some such thing. Immediately in front of you is the gate to the old Campden Manor and in the distance to the left sits St. James Church.

Moreton-in-Marsh Continued

Moreton-in-Marsh is a busy town with lots of traffic up and down the main drag. This vintage car caught my attention partly because it was unusual and clearly very well maintained. Once I had the image, however, the really curious thing is the part that hangs down well below the floorboards toward the front. It appears that the car could only operate on very flat, level roads. I don't know what this is all about.

Moreton-in-Marsh

Wandering through the Cotswolds, we find the delightful little town of Moreton-in-Marsh. On High Street, we find The Bell Inn. A curious place with a few rooms and a pub that serves no food.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Like any town, it filled with quirky people doing curious things. Here, they just do it in the street.

Stratford-upon-Avon

We finally arrived at our next house sit in Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of the renowned bard. September is a bit off the high season so while there were plenty of people, it wasn't packed.

Tintern Abbey - III

In our last installment on the Abbey, we say goodby to the interior spaces and head back outside.

Tintern Abbey - II

 

From Wikipedia,

Among subsequent visitors was Francis Grose, who included the Abbey in his Antiquities of England and Wales, begun in 1772 and supplemented with more illustrations from 1783. In his description he noted how the ruins were being tidied for the benefit of tourists: "The fragments of its once sculptured roof, and other remains of its fallen decorations, are piled up with more regularity than taste on each side of the grand aisle." ..... Grose further complained that the site was too well tended and lacked "that gloomy solemnity so essential to religious ruins".^[33]

We, among the current flood of modern-day tourists, find the "tidying-up" to be just right.

Tintern Abbey

Some may recall the name Tintern from the poem of Wordsworth, "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798". Even with the poem to move us, the Abbey is an amazing place.

Goodrich Castle - II

In the chapel, to the right side, is a niche called the sedile. This is the place where the priest sat when not engaged in his priestly duties during a service.

Goodrich Castle

Today we visit a castle near the English-Welsh border called Goodrich Castle. While it does not appear to be in such great shape compared to, for example Bodiam Castle, it is one of the better preserved medieval castles in the UK. I'm sure that part of the reason that it is in worse shape is the fact that it is about 200 years older than Bodiam. Then there is that pesky Civil War that was unkind.

Gloucester Cathedral - VI

Today, we conclude our visit to this wonderful church with more views of the stained glass and incredible stone carvings.

Gloucester Cathedral - V

Elizabeth Williams died in childbirth when she was just 17 years old. The baby probably survived for a short time as it is dressed in what is called a chrysom - a christening gown indicating baptism

The Latin inscription on the epitaph reads....

Elisabeth speaks, "Husband, you carved in marble here your wife; Thus you'd ensure her immortality. But Christ my hope and trust was, all my life; So God forbids that I should mortal be". July 4th 1622

Wife of W.J. Williams Youngest daughter of Dr. Miles Smith Bishop of Gloucester (source)

More amazing stained glass, vaults and ceiling fans.

 

Gloucester Cathedral - IV

The St. Andrews chapel is filled with wonderful paintings and frescoes.

Gloucester Cathedral - III

Everywhere you look there are magnificent stained glass windows and ceilings that are amazing.

Gloucester Cathedral - II

The ceilings have great detail in them. I could stand and look at them all day.

Before we go any further, let me just wish everyone a Happy New Year! It was a heckuva year we just had. Here's to a better year in '23. ..... Wow, it really looks odd written that way. My Dad would have been 104 this year. One day, there will be someone say such a thing about me.

All the best to all my followers. Take care and stick with me. More photos from England to come and then there are plenty to see from New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Do forget that there are still photos from Alaska to process and post. Always something. Poo tee weet.

Now back to gaping at those ceilings...  

Gloucester Cathedral

Formally known as the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, this is an huge and imposing place.

Worcester Cathedral - V

St. George's chapel is filled with old military flags to honor the country's fallen.

Worcester Cathedral - IV

Amidst the scaffolding of the repair and reconstruction is the tomb of King John. He was a strong and successful king of England and it was his efforts that shaped the country to become what it is. However, his last decade or so was not so successful and he really was gouging the barons and earls for money constantly. Hence, in 1215, he was forced to sign the Magna Carta. He died in 1216.

Worcester Cathedral - III

The cloister garden is a very pleasant place to meditate. I suppose that was the original purpose, after all. It is also a dandy place to see the tower and structure of the building.

Worcester Cathedral - II

This cathedral is certainly a big place. Looking along the ceiling, it seems to recede into the distance without end.

Worcester Cathedral

In downtown Worcester we visited the Cathedral. Like all the other Anglican churches at the time of our visit, there were memorials out front for the Queen.

Hereford Cathedral - IV

Somewhere, at some time, this lion was part of the structure of the cathedral. It either fell or was removed and placed here on the floor.

Hereford Cathedral - III

Nearly all of the burials in the cathedral are bishops. This one, setting under the stained glass, I thought made an especially nice image.

Hereford Cathedral - II

This is huge place with really enormous stained glass. The height of the ceiling over the crossing is impressive.

Hereford Cathedral

I pointed out two to the more amazing things to see in Hereford Cathedral yesterday... the Mappa Mundi and the Chained Library. Today we start our walk through the Cathedral itself.

Hereford Cathedral - Mappa Mundi and Chained Library

The cathedral in Hereford is famous for several thing. One of the wonders I've yet to see touted is the marvelous ironwork on the front door.

About the Village

The village of Stow-on-the-Wold is small and holds few things that are amazing to photograph. However, it is a place to see and just take in the village atmosphere. This nondescript building has a plaque that reads...

St. Edward's Church

Our next house sit was just outside Stratford-upon-Avon as you keen observers will remember from the few postings I made back in September of my morning runs through our small village. This gave us a jumping-off place for exploring the Cotswolds just to south.

In the Cotswolds, is a the village of Stow-on-the-Wold. In this place is the medieval church of St. Edward.

Peebles, Scotland

For those of you who are wondering what just happened...I figure you've already had a lot of time jumping around this year as I keep switching from the present to various places/times in the recent past...so another interruption in linear time is not a big deal. I missed this entry util too late to correct before you saw subsequent posting. So here is our last entry from our trip to Scotland.

St. Oswald's Church, Grasmere

In the village of Grasmere stands St. Oswald's church. A church of some description has been here since 642 (no leading "1" in front).

Levens Hall Topiary and Flowers

Just keeping the large sculpted bushes in the proper shape is a lot of work, never mind getting them into the right shape to begin with.

Levens Hall

In the village of Levens, just a few miles south of Kendal, near the entrance to the Lake District, sits Levens Hall. While the inside is pretty amazing, I did not visit the house itself. Rather, I opted to have a go at the gardens.

Kendal Castle

Just east of the town of Kendal in Cumbria (where the Lake District is located) are the ruins of the Kendal Castle. We see so many castles with lush grass growing inside, it is sometimes hard to image how the working castle actually looked.

Ambleside

Most of the photos one sees from the Lake District are taken on moody days with dramatic clouds or at sunrise or sunset to provide fog or some other scene enhancing atmospheric addition. On our visit, we did not get up early or hang around on location until after dark. And we were blessed (?) by clear blue skies.

But do love me some reflections in a completely still pond.

Into the Lake District!

 After leaving the Dunbar area, we headed south towards our next house sit and this took us through the Lake District. Naturally, we had to spend a few days to see what this as all about.

Robert Smail's Print shop - Seeing the print machines

We learned about a couple ways that printing was actually done. the first is using this hand-operated press.

Robert Smail's Printshop - II

One of the first things we learned about was typesetting by hand. Here, you see what it looks like to see the type put in the form.

Robert Smails Printshop

In the small town of Innerleithen, Scotland stand the print shop of Robert Smail. Founded in 1866.

Gladsmuir Church and Cemetery

The remains of the church sit in what is now a well-manicured cemetery.

Gladsmuir Church

Just along the A199 stand the Gladsmuir Church. Actually, there are two of them. The older one built shortly before the creation of the parish in 1695 stands to the north of the newer one which was built in 1839.

Eyemouth Harbor

Just down the road from Coldingham is the small harbor of Eyemouth. There is a small restaurant there where we had lunch. The harbor mostly looked pretty treacherous to me.

Coldingham Priory Gravestones

The priory is only a few ruins and most of them are fenced off from the public to protect them. However, there are several gravestones worth a look.

Most of the ones one which you can discern any detail are no older than Victorian era.

Coldingham Priory

Just a little ways north of Eyemouth in Berwickshire, Scotland is the village of Coldingham. Here we find the ruins of a medieval monastery. The church still stands and is a Church of Scotland, the rest of the priory is in ruins around it.

Last Look, Rosslyn Chapel

Instead of a dull, dirty grey as is usual in old stone churches, this place is vibrant and colorful. It a piece of antique eye-candy.

Around the Front of the Chapel

The detail in every portion of this place is simply amazing. The more I look at this photos, the more small carvings I see.

Rosslyn Chapel

In a small town of Roslin, Midlothian, not so very far from Dunbar, we find an amazing 15th century chapel. The Rosslyn Chapel, founded 1446 by Sir William Clair.