Chedworth Roman Villa

Our first visit after leaving Tewkesbury was to have been a major long barrow--a neolithic burial site--out in the countryside. Alas, as the one-lane road narrowed, we came upon some road work and were told the road was impassable. A local person volunteered the site had been there for 6,000 years and probably would still be there when we get back this way. We've seen long barrows before (e.g., West Kennet), and so weren't particularly disappointed. We turned around and headed for Chedworth Roman Villa, another National Trust site, more or less in the Cotswolds.

We have pulled over into the "passing bay"; a moment before
we had been joking that, well, we certainly won't see any
tour buses on this little lane 

Chedworth is one of some thirty Roman villas in the
Cotswolds region; above is an artist's conception; it was
discovered and crudely excavated in Victorian times;
research and preservation continue under the National
Trust

Most of the better mosaics, etc., are in this building, built
to protect them; one mostly thinks of Britain as an outpost
of Roman civilization; but they were here for nearly 500
years, plenty long enough to build a substantial economy
and society, and to have country villas like this one

Thus; reception area

And thus

And thus; note under-floor heating

Family areas

Octagonal water feature, water from a spring up the hill

More of the villa ruins

Another large room with under-floor heating

In the little museum

The guide called this a "Roman snail," telling us that the
Romans brought these snails to Britain as a food delicacy;
protected species now; looks like good eatin' to me

Not Roman but nonetheless interesting: a
yellow Buckeye tree has been grafted onto
a regular Horse Chestnut tree (same, pretty
much, as the Ohio state tree)

Poppies in a field along the road

Tewkesbury Abbey; Or, How To Save Your Local Abbey

Tewkesbury Abbey is pretty much intact. Only the Lady Hall was removed from the abbey church. The townspeople bought the abbey from Henry VIII to be their parish church, for the price of the bell and the roof lead. And so they have what must be one of the largest and most beautiful parish churches on the island, virtually a model Norman cathedral. Which prompts us to wonder why this sort of thing wasn't done more often. Part of the answer must be that abbeys mostly were located in very remote places. No townspeople. Another part may be that the monastical system was on its last legs and deteriorating already. The plagues had thinned out the population sufficiently for there to be ample employment and opportunity elsewhere. Tintern Abbey, we read, was down to its last six monks, there were no lay brothers to work the fields or repair the buildings, and they were selling off their gold and silver just to eat. Based on aggrandizement, cheap labor, etc., they were not particularly well-liked, particularly as the Reformation was now gathering steam. So Henry VIII and his government merely administered the coup de grace; with a tidy profit, no doubt. The abbots and abbesses and their colleagues, we have been told, were pensioned off. Fortunately for us, Tewkesbury Abbey survived.

The Keep Calm thing, BTW, has gone way too far

The abbey church, from the campground car park

Aerial view, with town and mighty Avon in the background

Nave view; a bit of work going on...but you still can admire
the giant Norman piers, thevaulting, the triforium, the teeniny
windows in the clerestory, and so on

Thus; and the vaulting has bosses that relate events in the life
of Jesus

A Gurney stove, how large buildings were heated in the 19th
century; Tewkesbury has two

The Pelican myth (look it up)

Vicki observed: if you're going to do graffiti, do it well...

Chancel, altar, etc.

East window

Organ

In the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, the Chantry of Lord Hugh Despenser (one of
the Black Prince's lieutenants at Poitiers), the first example of true fan vaulting,
so the sign said; I'll be looking for the sign that announces the first example of
false fan vaulting

View from the northwest

The abbey sits on a beautiful park campus, Tewkesbury
center, studded with what must be champion trees (so
many there is a separate pamphlet on them); here, one
of a couple of big redwoods

Tewkesbury

It was time to wash and thus time to find a campground with washing machines and a drier. We are members of the Caravan Club (the unfriendly club; formed from a group of retired drill sergeants), the largest of such UK organizations, and were pleased to find one of its better known sites in nearby Tewkesbury, maybe 20 miles from Gloucester, a place we wanted to visit and which had an abbey, to boot. FWIW, Tewkesbury is not in any of our guidebooks, yet is a beautiful and interesting place, evidently well-accustomed to tourism, though, I suspect, pretty strictly British tourism.

The Tewkesbury Abbey Caravan Club Park claims to be the best-sited in Britain:
the abbey is across the road and the town just beyond the trees on the right

After touring the abbey, we spent the rest of the day walking the beautiful little
town, filled with mostly 16th and 17th century houses and other buildings

Flowers everywhere, particularly roses; which reminds me that Tewkesbury was a
major battle in the War of the Roses

New variety to me, yellow surrounded by pink...

It's a beautiful little walking town, right on the mighty Avon

With an unusual number of antiques and collectables [sic] shoppes; is this the
proper British spelling, I wonder?

Every other building looking like it's going to fall over into
the street; but doing just fine, thank you, after 400 years;
someone at the TI told Vicki that even the ones that look
modern actually have false fronts and are just as old...

Every few buildings there's a covered alley
like this

Oh well, time to get back

After one more alley

Gloucester Cathedral: Extras

Family burial: note children at lower left and right

Window depicting the coronation of Edward II

Tomb of Edward II; a long story...he was
murdered, perhaps gruesomely, after abdicating,
by henchmen of his wife, the Queen, and Roger
Mortimer (who paid for his crime, gruesomely);
Gloucester was the only cathedral that would
accept Edward's body; later it became a major
pilgrimage site: the power of revisionist
historiography?

Baptismal font, 1190, in the Lady Hall

Interesting burial of Robert, Duke of Normandy, a major
benefactor of Gloucester, and eldest son of William the
Conqueror; William had interesting ideas about his sons
and succession, preferring his youngest, who became
Henry I; Henry had the middle brother mysteriously die in
New Forest and incarcerated Robert for 34 years in Cardiff
Castle; the pose, we were told, was that of a crusader,
always ready to spring into action to save Jerusalem or
plunder Constantinople or whatever

We seldom like contemporary sculpture, but did like this
Holy Family

Some of the better stained light on the floor we have seen

In the apse, some beautiful non-perpendicular
buttressing as well as a glimpse of the
Decorated vaulting there

And finally, that which is irresistible at
Gloucester, the fan vaulting in the cloister,
said to be its earliest example

More; it is largely decorative and not
structural, I understand

Closer up

While the organ was filling the cathedral
with glorious music inside, the great tower
bells peeled outside for more than an hour;
we sat and listened for quite a while

Last look at one of the great sights