Britain's Mighty Magna Carta at Salisbury Cathedral.

 Some people remark that they are all Cathedraled out after a trip to Britain or Europe.   Personally I love the peaceful ambiance and the architecture of ancient cathedrals.  I'm always in awe of the fact that these intricate, soaring and highly decorative buildings were constructed without the benefit of modern methods and machinery.  However, if you are in the "all cathedraled out" camp there are still some worthy of a visit and one of them is Salisbury Cathedral in the beautiful county of Wiltshire, England.

Built between the years of 1310 and 1330 this cathedral has many claims to fame.  Firstly it has the tallest spire in Britain at 123 metres and weighing 6500 tons.  It also has the largest cloisters and close of any cathedral in Britain. (A close is the area surrounding the cathedral which is the property of the cathedral) In Salisbury the close covers 80 acres and contains museums, colleges and stately homes together with vast lawns and gardens ideal for relaxing in, strolling and picnicking.

The mechanical clock

     (Apologies for poor quality of the above photo taken into the sun)

Interestingly the cathedral is home to the worlds oldest mechanical clock.  Built in 1386 in Delft, Netherlands, by order of the then bishop to ensure the priests knew when to pray and when church services would start, it is a large contraption with no clock face. This fascinating 650 year old clock  is operated by a system of weights and pullies and needs daily winding to ensure it strikes the time on the hour. 

The cathedral itself is light and airy with  glorious stained glass windows and stone work. As a lover of cloisters I really enjoyed strolling them and visiting the exquisite chapter house with its ornate carvings but the absolute drawcard and 'must see' is the original copy of the Magna Carta (Great Charter). At Salisbury it is one of only four remaining originals and is the best preserved.   Visitors file past this precious document housed in an enclosed, dark, curtained area, just long enough to have a reasonable look but can spend longer viewing a facsimile of it near by. 

The Magna Carta

Although it is now 800 years old the Magna Carta is still one of the world's most important documents as a powerful symbol of justice.

Drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury in an effort to make peace between the tyrannical King John and a group of rebel barons, the Magna Carta limited the powers of the monarchy and gave individual citizens defined personal and property rights. King John agreed to the charter and signed it in 1215 at Runnymede. Most of the clauses in the Magna Carta have been superseded by new laws but two very important and fundamental clauses remain part of English law.  These clauses affirm the rights and freedoms of citizens and is the foundation of democratic society.

Clause 40 of the Magna Carta states: "To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice"

The cathedral houses a large, light cafe and, of course, the ubiquitous gift shop.  Salisbury itself is a pretty town with a medieval centre and an ancient market square. The cathedral is approached along traditional streets housing cafes and gift shops making it worthy of a stroll. The town is only 12 kilometres from Stonehenge which I have written about in a previous post. It can be found in the search box.

The Spectacular Minack Theatre, Cornwall

 I enjoy live theatre and have been to many theatres over my life time from local playhouses to grand theatres in London and the USA, even to vast, awe inspiring  ampitheatres in Turkey but the Minack Theatre in Cornwall is like nothing I have ever seen before. 

Located only a few kilometres from  Lands End on the stunning coast of Porthcurno Bay, the 750 seat theatre was the brain child of Rowena Cade.  Rowena had bought the headland for 100 pounds in the 1920s and built her home there. As a great lover of  theatre she quickly became involved in local productions offering her garden for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  She then decided that since there was no theatre in the area she would build one herself on her rugged coastal property.

Rowena began work on the Minack in 1930 and although having able assistance from her loyal gardener, Billy Rawlings, and some local workmen, did much of the work herself carrying buckets of sand and wooden beams up and down the very steep site. By 1932 she had the bare bones of the theatre in time for it to host a production of The Tempest. Facilities at that time were sketchy so stage lighting was provided by battery and car headlights, however, her work continued and the theatre expanded and improved over time.

Seats engraved with the names of productions performed at the Minack

 Rowena mastered a technique of making the concrete and sand seats look like stone and she painstakingly engraved Celtic patterns and the names of the plays performed there into the backs of the seats. In the whole theatre there is only one granite seat which Rowena dedicated to Billy Rawlings who died in 1966.

The perfect location for a war time look out post

During the second World War the theatre was requisitioned for use as a look out post. After the war major restoration and improvements were undertaken and in 2014 it was named as one of the most spectacular theatres in the world, a truly wonderful legacy for Rowena who continued working on the theatre up into her mid eighties.  She died in 1983 just short of her 90th birthday.

The steep seating ensures good views of the stage below and the sea beyond

Today, to cater for modern audiences, improvements continue but are made strictly in keeping with the style and vision of Rowena.  There are now professional lighting and sound systems, toilets and a coffee shop and a small exhibition area where you can see historic photos of Rowena at work. Nevertheless seating is still on grass or concrete terraces and patrons are advised to bring cushions to sit on.  Productions are held here rain or shine so umbrellas and raincoats are also advised depending on the weather.  I can only imagine how thrilling, albeit rather uncomfortable, it would be to see a production of The Tempest in an actual tempest with waves crashing on the rocks right behind the stage.  It was my good fortune to visit on a glorious sunny day and it was, without doubt, a major highlight of my trip to Cornwall.

Loving the ambiance- on the stage

www.minack.com

Dartmoor, Devon, England - Wild, Wonderful and Mysterious

Taking in the view 

In my imagination Dartmoor was a hostile, unwelcoming and, at times, spooky place. I had read Arthur Conan Doyle's chilling Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and various other accounts of how bleak and inhospitable it was, so naturally that was what I expected. As luck would have it it was a glorious, hot, summer's day when I travelled through Dartmoor recently and the sweeping, vast landscapes looked anything but inhospitable.  

Located in county Devon, England and  covering 368 sq miles (954 sq kms) Dartmoor is a treasure trove of history and nature. There is everything for the nature lover from forest, farmland and heather clad open moors to wild flower meadows. For the history buff there are stone cists, burial cairns and hut circles. Also industrial ruins of tin mines, quarries and even the remains of a 19th century gunpowder factory.

Sheep up on the gorse and heather clad moors

The spectacular landscape was formed 300 million years ago by movement within the earth which forced granite up to the earth's surface creating granite tors, the tallest being over 2039 feet (621 metres) above sea level.  Human beings settled in the area around 4000 years ago and built villages, farmed cattle and sheep and mined tin. Today Dartmoor is a National Park, with a few tiny villages, farms and walking and cycling tracks popular with trampers and cyclists.  

Above and below:  Highland cattle and wild Dartmoor ponies

High up on the moors we stopped for a while to admire the expansive views out over the countryside and spend a bit of time with the wild life.  I was particularly delighted to get up close to Highland cattle (aka hairy coos), and the tame sheep.  The wild ponies were a bit more circumspect but were close enough for us to get photos, albeit not very good ones.

    

We drove past the infamous Dartmoor prison built originally to house French captives from the Napoleonic wars and known to have a harsh regimen for most of its 200 years.  Today the prison houses medium level offenders and proudly focuses on rehabilitation and counselling, however, if you want to learn about grim prison life here in times gone by there is now a very popular Dartmoor Prison Museum.

Post Office and General Store, Postbridge

 In the heart of Dartmoor is the tiny village of Postbridge where we stopped to admire the adjoining two bridges. The ancient Clapper Bridge was built around the 13th century in order to get horses and carts across the river.  It is a simple construction of granite pillars topped by huge granite slabs.  The word clapper comes from an Anglo Saxon word meaning stepping stones. 

The Clapper Bridge, Postbridge

Close to the Clapper Bridge is the Road Bridge (c1792) which carries modern traffic. There are many myths and legends around the Road Bridge the most famous being the ghost story called 'Hairy Hands'.  The story goes that numerous accidents have occurred caused by mysterious hairy hands coming from nowhere, grabbing steering wheels and causing cars to veer off the road.   They are colourful stories but investigations found that the accidents were most likely caused by motorists driving too quickly on the unfamiliar road and that the camber of the road was dangerous.  The camber has since been corrected. 

The Road Bridge

Our final stop on Dartmoor was at the serene and beautiful Burrator Reservoir (1898), its lush vegetation and expanse of water a contrast to the high moorland.  Water level in the reservoir was low due to a long hot summer.

Dartmoor was in some ways what I had imagined but due to perfect weather not the forbidding place I had expected it to be.  I am certain that a long, cold, wet winter on the moors would be an entirely different matter. It's a wonderful place and I can see why it is so popular with trampers and cyclists having a bit of everything - history, nature, interesting geography, tiny villages and wild life.

 www.dartmoor-prison.co.uk

You will get a good feel for Dartmoor by watching this short video by National Parks