Day 22, Tuesday, October 6 "Bath Abby and Stonehenge"

Good morning, everyone. The weather has been nice since Cathy has been here, but we woke to rain this morning.  Not the typical, misty British rain but rain that came down heavily for a few minutes.  But by the time we went down to breakfast (another Full English Breakfast which consist of 2 fried eggs, 4 pieces of bacon, 1 sausage, half a tomato-grilled, sauteed mushrooms and toast) the rain had stopped. We took a short walk into the city center, did some shopping and then began our visit to Bath Abbey.

After strolling around on our own and viewing many of its features, we signed up for the Tower Tour. As you can see from the photo below, the tower is quite high, 212 steps to be exact. These are not normal steps, but  a spiral staircase with treads that sometimes were not even big enough to place your full foot on. The rise was not uniform so you had to watch each step carefully. There was no handrail but just the stone wall to brace yourself and a rope down the center.  But the rope was so tight because people below were pulling on it that you couldn't get your hand around it. First, we climbed 120 steps to arrive at the bell ringing room. This is the room where the bell-ringers grab the ropes and ring the tower bells. There are several other methods, mechanical methods, to ring the bells when people aren't available. On that level we also crawled into a tiny space at the back side of the tower clock so that we could see how the clock fit into the tower. We also went into another chamber where we were standing on the top side of the arched ceiling. There was a tiny hole that you could peer down and see all the way to the floor (70 feet below) of the Abbey. It was so far down and a bit scary! Next we went up another set of stairs into the room where the bells were housed and got an explanation of their history. Someone carved graffiti into one of the beams with the date 1654.

Finally, we made the last climb and came out onto the roof at the very top of the tower. The wind was very strong here but the view was amazing. Of course, we were at the highest spot in the city of Bath and could see in all directions and the whole area. Bath is built in the Avon valley and there are hills in all directions.  Houses have been built up the hillsides. I imagine the look from their windows or front porches is terrific. I am not much for heights (this is Cathy writing this part, David, writing some of the other bits, loved it)  so I would have to say that this was a fascinating, scary opportunity.

After we came down the 212 steps, we toured a small museum containing artifacts discovered as they studied all the different layers of habitation through the centuries around the abbey.  The current abbey is built on top of an ancient monastery.  Around mid-day we got back on the road and headed to one of the places I wanted to see most...Stonehenge.

I am happy to say, that even though this is a very famous location and there were many people visiting, they have managed to leave it in a very natural state with little commercialization or touristy-hype.
It sits in the middle of farm land (the Salisbury Plain) with sheep and cattle all around.  Beautiful rolling hills and farms are its setting. We had an audio guide, but at first I was just too awe struck to listen...I just had to stand and look for a while. People were helping each other by taking photos for them so the whole group could get in.  All around Stonehenge are slight mounds of earth called barrows.  These are spaced at irregular intervals around the monument.  These were burial sites, perhaps for individuals or groups of people or for the ashes from cremation.  Although no one knows exactly what Stonehenge was used for, many people think these barrows had something to do with its purpose.  A new find called Bluehenge has just recently been announced.  This is a similar stone circle--or the remnants of it--found several miles away near the Avon river near where they think the stones may have been brought ashore for the long climb up to Stonehenge.

In this shot you can see some of the construction methods. Like woodworkers, they used a mortise and tenon system to connect the stones. The large sarsen stones (the upright ones) had a pointed bump carved in and the lintel (the horizontal piece) had a corresponding hole that fit over the bump.  These techniques and others were used to help hold them together.

In the center of this photo you can see some smaller stones that formed two rings, one outer and one inner. These were made of a different stone than the larger sarsen stones. The smaller are made of blue stone. If it were cut, it would appear greyish-blue with white specs. Apparently they were mined from mountians in Wales, hundreds of miles away. Archaeologists think they were hauled and floated to this location down the Avon river.  Yep, the same river than runs through Shakespeare's town, Stratford. We circled the henge (an ancient word meaning "hanging," so Stonehenge means "hanging rocks") twice just because we didn't want to leave but finally we had to head back.  (by the way, Daniel called us while were were taking the 2nd walk around. Isn't technology amazing,...he was driving back from the vet in Houston and we were standing on an isolated hill in England viewing Stonehenge, and had a great connection!)

On the drive back to the flat in Sherborne, we came across many thatched-roofed houses. This is a dying art and very expensive, so there are less and less of them. I think you can see from this photo that the roof is made entirely of plant material, a type of straw. And you can see that they are covered with a chicken-wire. We assume this helps to keep the material on the roof and not become dislodged from wind or critters.

 

We took this photo from the underside of the roof so you can see how thick the thatch is. I guess it  has to be really thick to keep rain and animals out! It appears to be a minimum of 21-24 inches thick.

Tomorrow, we will drive to Oxford, which is just about 30 miles from Sherborne. We hope to visit the pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien hung out with their friends and tried out their stories. Did they find their inspiration for "Lord of the Rings" and "The Narnia Chronicles" there? We also learned that the dining hall scenes in Harry Potter where filmed at Christ Church College which is part of Oxford University. We don't know if its open to the public since school has started back here, but we will see. Have a wonderful day.