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| The River Wye; Hereford has been on both sides of the border, but since the Conquest has always been English, one of "Marches" towns, in the effort to beat back the Welsh |
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| Hereford Cathedral, 2016 |
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| Helpful model |
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| Nave view; giant old Norman piers, the rest remodeled in later styles; Romanesque on the bottom, Gothic higher up...figures |
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| We were impressed this time not so much by the architecture and glass as the funerary furnishings...some of the best preserved we have seen...usually they get pretty badly beaten up or even destroyed during wars of religion, revolutions, schoolboys, etc... this is Sir Richard Pembridge. a Herefordshire knight who fought at both Crecy and Poitiers (glory!) and was made a member of the Order of the Garter by Edward III |
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| We saw and blogged about the famous Mappa Mundi, a 13th century "map" of the world, in 2009 |
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| The cloisters are rather plain but have been replanted with medieval plants in medieval style |
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| Crossing |
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| More colorful burials |
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| A really old one |
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| Really old graffiti too |
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| Nice folds |
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| The Lady Hall |
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| More color |
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| Contemporary windows in an adjoining chantry |
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| Lady Hall altar |
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| Old south windows in the Lady Hall |
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| Main altar |
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| The famous Willis organ, renovated thanks to the Bulmer family (cider); their emblem below (Strongbow is also from Herefordshire) |
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| King Stephen's throne...read Pillars of Heaven...QEII sat in it on a visit and remarked that it was jolly uncomfortable |
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| The cathedral does regular tours for the kiddies, especially younger kiddies, and leaves a variety of props around for the various story-times |
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| Thus; we had a long conversation with this man about Trump; I think he might have been the dean or some other official (but then, approaching my 2nd decade of retirement, I am impressed by anyone wearing a suit) |
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| Kiddie education center |
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| Us, taken by a nice couple from Norfolk; the high was 54 degrees that day |
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| But wait, there's more...outside, in the cloisters, looking around at the gargoyles and corbals, and this setting, all of a sudden my interest in Kilpeck and its funnies was re-kindled; looking around the bookstore, I found The Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculpture, by one Malcolm Thurlby; we had initially decided to forego Kilpeck--it's a small, obscure site-- but the book changed our minds, and, another hour later, we were at Kilpeck again, looking at some of the more remarkable 12th century sculpture to be found... |
