But then, out of the murk that I laughingly call my conscious mind, came a "suppose".
One of the happiest things about traveling (if you're me) involves post cards. Face it - they're generally beautifully done and present everything about an object or a place in a professional manner (well, I'll exclude those with jackalopes and big mouthed bass on 'em, just for this entry).
And there are places (Durham Cathedral for one) where general picture taking is verboten. So Postcards have to do. AND, if you're like me (heaven help you), there are certain things (old stained glass is one) that need to be photographed by a camera that weighs almost as much as the person toting it.
Soo, in no paraticujlar order (random is fun! Remember that - it will be your mantra going forward) here are a few of the postcards that I collected whilst roving through England. I have a herd more (postcards come in herds or decks, especially the postcards that are all connected together). but I'm not going to inflict them on you unless I relocate that mean streak I lost yesterday morning whilst doing the laundry. (No, mean streaks don't turn laundry pink. They turn it dapple.)
The picture of Salisbury Cathderal (the first one I'll post up here) is a small print sized photograph by Mr. Peter Brown of Amesbury, Wilts.
This looks like a detailed painting, but, indeed, isn't. It's entitled Salisbuy Cathedral - Summer Flowers.
The remainder of the pictures are postcards - I will jot the company that produced the card when I can find it somewhere on the back.
The windows in Durham Cathedral suffered major damage during the reformation and at the hands of "restorers" in the 19th century. Adoration of saints was considered abominable by the Protestors (Protestants) of the reformation - so many windows were damaged or destroyed.
During the 19th century, techniques used to retorn glass weren't well developed, so such beautiful creations as the rose window were destroyed instead of renovated. Much of the glass is 19t century, therrfore, rather than early, period glass.
This window has three sections:
The Lord is my shepherd, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and, at the bottom, Feed my sheep, feed my lambs.
This is the Prisoners of Conscience window. Although we were able to take pictures in Salisbury, the idea of attempting to capture all the detail of this window was overwhelming. To see the window in place is to be struck by the blues of every shade that make it up.
This window represents people who stand up for truth, no matter what persecution they may endure. Its theme is as old as man himself.
The Dean of the Cathedral (he would be known as the Very Reverend such and so)is the second highest dignitary of the people who look after the Cathedral and its doings: he directs the life and work of the cathedral. The Canon (who serves as Sub-Dean and Precentor and who is known as The Reverend Canon Dr. Such and so) is in charge of the liturgy.
There is an entire staff that administers the church, its libraries, etc. etc. Interestingly, the most ancient role on the staff belongs not to the Bishop or the Canon or the Preceentor. The Sacrist and Seccentor, who is a Minor Canon, is the oldest of duties, the office dating back to the very earliest years of Durham Cathedral.
This is an exterior shot of Durham in the autumn. It was done by Heritage House Media. I have other pictures of the exterior of Durham, some done by me (for which I hope you will forgive me) and some done by my gentle friend Karen. They'll be in another post.
This is The Daily Bread window in Durham Cathedral. It was commissioned by Marks and Spencer and installed in 1984 on the centenary of the company's founding. It represents the last supper. The post card is a knock out, but the window? Stunning! And, even though it's relatively modern, it fits right in with everything else just fine.
This is the Millenium Window from Durham. The picture was taken and published by Jarrold Publishing.
The window itself depicts some of the happenings of the 1000 years between the establishment of Durham and 1995 when the window was installed. Yup - that would be your basic millennium, folks. I still can't get my mind around the actual age of the Cathedrawl any more than I could at York or Salisbury. One thousand years. It boggles the mind (well, it boggles my mind...)
This is the oldest of the chalk down carvings in England, and also the biggest. This is the White Horse of Uffington in Oxfordshire. The image's trenches were first scraped through to the chalk underlayment and filled with white chalk rubble between 1200 and 700 BCE (Before the Common Era). It's been maintained by the residents of the area ever since.
There are a lot of theories as to why the horse and others like it were created since the only way to clearly see that it's a horse is from the air. Border between tribes? Some sort of altar to Belinos, a Celtic Sun God?
A representation of Epona, the horse god of the Celts? It's impossible to know, so feel free to speculate all you'd like.
There are other horses carved in other parts of England, although most of them date within the last two or three hundred years. Still, they brighten the landscape and make people pause and think, hopefully about whomever made them and why...
What the h-e-double hockey sticks, you ask, startled. This is a world Heritage Site. For dinosaur enthusiasts and lovers of the history of dinosaur collecting, this is one of the most fascinating places on the planet - Burgess Shale, eat your heart out!!!! (Not seriously - the Burgess Shale in Canada is totally excellent as well).
Anyway, it was here that, during her lifetime, Mary Anning (1799-1847) daughter of a fossil enthusiast, made a very small name for herself (she being (a) a woman and (b) lower class in a time when gentlemen with money made up the larger number of naturalists, as they were generally known) by oh...hmmm...let me see -finding and assembling the first specimen in Britain of an Icthyosaurus, the first nearly complete skeleton of a Plesisausaur, the first British skeleton of a pteradactyl, and on and on. This was long before the days of paleological safaris - she walked along the sea at Broadbench, among other places, at low tide and searched for bones, hauled them back to her family home and preserved them as well as she could. The bones were sold to institutions by a broker, but at least Ms. Anning received compensation for what was literally a life threatening pursuuit of knowledge. By the decade before the end of her life, she was recognized for her contributions to the still very young science of paleontology.
The Post Card, which is from a series called Britain from the Air published by the Royal Geographical Society and the Ordnance Survey, shows the famous, Jurassic (watch out for the Allosaurs! well, not now, of course) Coast, which includes Mary Anning's home town of Lyme Regis. The unique appearance is a result of the presence of Kimmeridge Clay, which cracks and shatters along the planes of the cracks. When one walks here, one is walking back over millions upon millions of years. I am SO going to go there!
This, of course, is Stonehenge. Stonehenge is well known to millions of people, so I'm not going to belabor the point and drive you nuts with discussions of the latest and greatest archaeological work on the site. I think it's most excellent, but I'm a bit stodgy...or something. This photograh was taken by Nigel Ware and turned into a post card by J. Salmon Ltd.
There are other henges in England. Indeed, there are other henges within a short drive of Stonehenge. One such is Avebury. And that will be the topic of the next post. Which will be, I have a feeling, later tonight, since I have a short term run to get the granddaughter and play with her for awhile!!!!!
I can now send postcards that I have photographed (the scanner didn't work with them for some reason. The jpeg that resulted had properties that gave my computer heartburn) and still have the images to remember! How most exccellently cool is THAT?
More later!!!!
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