Somerset – TRAVEL WORDS

#303 Connections

It’s been a while since I joined in with the Lens-Artists photo challenge, but the number 303 leapt out at me this week as I have just come back from a holiday based close to the A303 in Wiltshire so I thought it would be interesting to find connections between the sites we visited in and around that area.

Family Connections

The A303 is one of the main routes from London to the Southwest and a route I have travelled many, many times to visit my youngest son who is based in Wiltshire (military) and my daughter who lives in Surrey. It’s also famous for passing by the World Heritage site of Stonehenge, the world’s most famous prehistoric monument.

History

Stonehenge (2500 BC) is not the largest henge though, that title goes to Avebury and together they form the heart of a World Heritage Site which also includes Silbury Hill. We didn’t visit Stonehenge as we have done so not long ago, but we drove past it a few times this week so had a few sneaky glances! Instead we opted for a visit to Avebury.

Avebury (2850 – 2200 BC): the henge survives as a huge circular bank and ditch, encircling an area that includes part of Avebury village. Within the henge is the largest stone circle in Britain – originally of about 100 stones – which in turn encloses two smaller stone circles.

A double avenue of stones leads away from the southern entrance towards the Sanctuary stone circles on Overton Hill, about a mile to the south-east. Unlike Stonehenge, this site is free to visit though you will have to pay for parking unless you are a National Trust or English Heritage member.

More recent history can be found at Old Sarum, an iron age hill fort dating back to 400 BC. Later occupied by the Romans during their conquest of Britain in AD 43, where perhaps a military fort was set up. It was during William the Conqueror’s reign that the strategic advantage of this place was recognised and a motte and bailey castle built.

Later, stone buildings were erected and in 1078-99 a cathedral was built after the 1075 Council of London decreed that the see should be moved from Sherborne to Old Sarum. Dissatisfaction with the site and poor relations with the garrison in the castle caused the cathedral to be moved to its present site in Salisbury (New Sarum) in 1220 and much of the stone from the old cathedral was used to build the new one.

Site and excavation of the old cathedral

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Glastonbury Abbey

If you are in the Mendips region of Somerset you really shouldn’t miss visiting the wonderful Wells Cathedral nor the historic town of Glastonbury, possibly the quirkiest town in England. Steeped in history, myth and the smell of incense, it may not be for everybody.

However, do not let that put you off visiting the beautiful site of Glastonbury Abbey. Since Medieval times, the abbey has held legendary status as the earliest Christian foundation in Britain linked to Joseph of Arimathea and the burial place of King Arthur.

It’s a peaceful place – 36 acres of grounds to explore. Plenty of benches to sit and relax and take in the atmosphere. The remains of the abbey to walk around, which must have been enormous in its day. A medieval herb garden. Views of the Glastonbury Tor.

The abbey was built on the myth that followers of Christ settled here within the 1st century CE and built ‘The Old Church’. Abbot Dunstan remodelled and expanded the abbey and by the time of the coming of the Normans, the abbey was the wealthiest in England.

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Wells Cathedral

The West Front (around 300 of the original 400 medieval statues remain.)

Our visit to Wells last May would not have been complete without a visit to the cathedral there. One of the many that we have not visited previously and a main reason for choosing to stay in England’s smallest city. Not that either of us is remotely religious, but we can’t help admire the craftsmanship that goes into these beautiful buildings, and even I can appreciate the peacefulness that can be found inside.

Master mason William Joy proposed the Scissor Arches (below) to prevent the collapse of a tower after a lead covered wooden spire was added in 1313. This proved to be too heavy for the foundations. Put in place between 1338 and 1348, they still stand today and are one of the most magnificent architectural features of Wells Cathedral.

The Scissor Arches

The ‘new’ church which was to become the cathedral of the Bishop of Bath & Wells was the first to be built in the Early English Gothic style, during 1175 – c. 1250. It was built on a new site to the north of an old minster church. Over the following three hundred years there was extension and revision, in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles in turn, as architectural fashion dictated.

corbel of the dragon-slaying monk in the chapter house stair.

keep this way…

Bubwith Chantry

Cloisters

Clock and figure of Christ risen from the dead is carved in yew by E J Clack and placed here in 1956.

The famous Wells clock is considered to be the second oldest clock mechanism in Britain, and probably in the world, to survive in original condition and still in use. The original works were made about 1390 and the clock face is the oldest surviving original of its kind anywhere. When the clock strikes every quarter, jousting knights rush round above the clock and the Quarter Jack bangs the quarter hours with his heels.

With its intricately painted interior dial depicting the Earth surrounded by the sun, moon and stars, it’s unique in showing a geocentric worldview – when the clock was created in 1390, most people still believed that the Earth was at the centre of the Universe.

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The Blue House – Frome

The Blue House, next to the town bridge, is Grade 1 listed; it was formerly the Bluecoat School and Almshouses, named after the colour of the school uniforms. Built in 1726 at a cost of £1,401 8s 9d, it replaced an almshouse dating from 1461 and rebuilt in 1621. The Blue House provided a home for twenty widows and schooling for twenty boys.

The front of the building is adorned by two statues, of a man and a woman, indicating the building’s dual purpose. The building’s role as a school came to an end in 1921 and it now provides studio and one-bedroom flats for seventeen elderly residents. Wikipedia

Frome Museum

The Italianate building was built as a Literary and Scientific Institute in 1865 for John Sinkins. The architect was J Hine and it was built by the company Carr and Pickford. It is a Grade II listed building. It houses a collection of local history and has a particular important collection of artefacts from the bronze foundry of J.W.Singer. A Cockey lamp is on show, with its art nouveau style; more than 60 can still be seen around the town. (Edward Cockey (1781–1860) was an industrial entrepreneur in Frome, Somerset, England, descended from a local family of metalworkers.) Wikipedia