The Road Goes Ever On

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Silbury Hill And Environs

At length we found a nice lay by, a cul-de-sac really, used mostly by dog-walkers, just outside the nano-hamlet of Beckhampton, perhaps a mile from Silbury Hill and two from Avebury. Vicki felt in need of a day off, and I am always happy to do nothing and then rest. So she rested and read, I blogged, and then later I went for a long walk.

At the lay by; we are becoming experts at finding such lay bys: just follow any
car containing a dog or dogs, and you will be led to a nice dog walk area and
carpark; just be careful where you step

View out the windshield: Marlborough Downs; note the conspicuous mounds
near the center top: megalithic sites, neolithic burials sites; this is the axis mundi
of such things

My walk took me along a low ridge and through a couple of beautiful woods

Some exposed chalk substrate, what this area is famous for, among other things;
what they make White Horses out of...

At last, near the end of the trail, I look up and see a mound; my inner Indiana Jones
comes to life

But the view from the top is not so promising; foiled again!

The highway, I discover, has a nice little footpath leading back to the village

Along the way, a nice prospect of Silbury Hill; a completely artificial hill, about
400 feet high, 5 acres in coverage; millions of man-hours would have been
required to build it; despite many excavations, nothing significant has ever been
found in it; dated reliably to 4750 BC, with numerous renovations; the largest of
pre-historic earthen works

The footpath gave out in Beckhampton, at the Waggon and
Horses pub

In whose carpark I found not two

But four Lotus 7s--a favorite car--not a surprise, really, since one sees them often
on the weekends in the countryside, and six had passed me on the highway

Turns out they were part of a 31-car tour from the Netherlands

Another, much closer view of Silbury Hill

Later, the weather cleared a bit, and we were blessed with a beautiful Wiltshire scene

Stonehenge 2013

Our return to the north took us right by Stonehenge, so we had to stop. I have seen it perhaps half a dozen times, Vicki more, but still, always, get that visceral feeling. It never fails to impress.

It was a Saturday afternoon in late June, and of course we
had the place pretty much to ourselves

One of the caretakers was kind enough to snap this photo
of us at the great monument

OK, I lied; there were a couple dozen tour buses and 100s of
cars and thousands of people there; as always; two nights
before was the solstice and 20,000 people were on the grounds
(which English Heritage opens on such special occasions);
some of the, um, pilgrims and worshippers were still there;
here, a group calling itself "The Spirits of the Oak"

Their Green Man; hey, I am into the spirits of
the oak (fine wines, cognac, whiskies aging in oak
barrels) as much as the next guy, so in an amazing
video coming soon, as soon as I upload it to
YouTube, you'll see me falling in with them

Our journey continued north, past this pretty White Horse,
to a lay by near Avebury and Silbury Hill where we spent the
next couple of days

St. Thomas Becket Church In Salisbury

Vicki had read that the St. Thomas church in Salisbury had an interesting Judgment fresco, indeed England's largest, and so we had to go there. It contains quite a number of other marvels as well.

St. Thomas in Salisbury; not much younger than the cathedral, I'd guess

Interior

The Judgment

Relevant detail

An early Elizabeth I coat of arms; note the Welsh dragon

In the little Lady Hall, three Mary frescoes, here the Visitation

Now things get really interesting; I roll up the rug in the pew
to reveal: the tomb of Jane Eyre! Well, a Jane Eyre...

Hand-me-down organ

Thus; some very famous benefactors...

And finally, this tomb, right up front in the church, a man
getting his last shillings' worth...

Salisbury Cathedral

I have never liked Salisbury Cathedral. I don't know why. We returned to it in part because I wanted see whether my improved knowledge and experience of cathedrals might improve its rating. It didn't. Part of the cathedral experience is simply visceral. I simply don't get that experience at Salisbury. Perhaps it's too much light, uninteresting light. Perhaps the odd colors. Perhaps harmony and perfection are just not all that interesting. Perhaps it's being charged an $8 "donation" to get through the door. (What would Jesus think?) Perhaps it's all the hype that surrounds Salisbury.

View from the northwest on a cloudy, rainy, cold, blustery
day

Knave view

Elevation: the usual for an English Gothic

The Salisbury "clock"--no face, does not do minutes, causes a
noise to be made somewhere else every hour; a clock precursor,
not a clock

One of the few things I do like about Salisbury is the very large and very detailed
model of the cathedral under construction

Salisbury Cathedral was built in a very short time--short relative to other cathedrals--
more or less within one generation

The cathedral originally was at Old Sarum, 3 miles up the road, but the bishops and
the city fathers didn't get along and the bishop moved out; interestingly, everything
else followed, and Old Sarum is now an English Heritage Site and the title of a novel

Most graffiti I've ever seen on a tomb

Let's see, henchman and bodyguard to Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry VII;
must have been quite a stud; but then unhorsed (but unhurt..."only a flesh wound")
by rascally Richard III; maybe it's in the name

North transept

Chancel view; the other thing (and there are only two) that I like about this cathedral
is strictly contemporary, namely the blue windows there dedicated to "prisoners of
conscience everywhere"

View abaft from the bridge

The Quire; quire is to choir as lorry is to truck, we think; anyhow, nothing remarkable
here

Other transept

Vicki ponders the Grey tomb, which includes Lady Catherine
Grey, who testified against her sister, Lady Jane Grey, at her trial;
Lady Jane was Queen for nine days, you'll recall; this according
to the historical novels Vicki reads (as reported to me)

Salisbury

We spent the night at Stourhead. They have a small Caravan Club site and provisions for transients like us. Next morning we drove down the road the few miles to Salisbury, mostly to see the Cathedral, but for other things as well. We parked at the Britford P&R and took the bus into town.