A Roman Town Today

The current city of Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex (and actually the only city in West Sussex). Chichester's history is sprawled across the city in its Norman, Tudor, Georgian, and Victorian architecture. Though the majority of Chichester appears to be of the Georgian period, with its Norman cathedral, Chichester is a Roman town. It has a long history as a settlement from Roman times and was important in Anglo-Saxon times.

The suffix of -chester or -cester to English towns are common indications that the place is the site of a Roman castrum, meaning a military camp or fort. The area around Chichester is believed to have played significant part during the Roman Invasion of A.D 43, as confirmed by evidence of military storage structures.

The city centre stands on the foundations of the Romano-British city of Noviomagus Reginorum, capital of the Civitas Reginorum. The Roman Road of Stane Street, connecting the city with London, started at the east gate, while the Chichester to Silchester road started from the north gate. The current plan of the city is inherited from the Romans: the North, South, East and West shopping streets radiate from the central market cross dating from medieval times.

Many typical aspects of Roman cities (walls, baths, amphitheaters) are found in Chichester. Thick Roman walls were discovered, lasting for one and half thousand years, but were then replaced by a thinner Georgian wall.

Roman baths were also found and are on display in a museum, The Novium, which preserves and showcases the remnants of the baths, as well as presentes a history of the area from pre-Roman to the twentieth century.

An amphitheatre was built outside the city walls, close to the East Gate, in around 80 AD. The area is now a park, but the site of the amphitheatre is discernible as a gentle bank approximately oval in shape.

Like many great English cities, I've visited that began as Roman towns (York, Chester, London), it never ceases to amaze me how far back English history goes. Though towns may look only a few hundred years old, they are in fact thousands of years old.

A House Through Time

The history of Audley End closely aligns with key events in English history. 

Audley End was not always a grand manor house, but started existence as an Benedictine Abbey, until the Reformation when Henry VIII was confiscating the Church's lands and assets for the Crown. The Abbey was granted to Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, who converted the Abbey into a house. He married Elizabeth Grey, sister to Lady Jane Grey (of famed Nine Day Queen), and their daughter married Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who owned Audley end until he was executed by Elizabeth I in 1572 for high treason for conspiring with Mary Queen of Scots. The Howard family lost the estate of Audley End and their titles...until another stroke of history changed the family's fate. 

Audley's grandson, also named Thomas Howard, redeemed the family's reputation and gained Elizabeth I's confidence by his successful command of a ship during England's defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1566. Under James I, Howard was made 1st Earl of Suffolk and appointed Lord Chamberlain. With his newfound wealth and associations to the crown, Howard demolished Audley's original house to build a grander estate fit for a king. James I visited twice and, for the Jacobean period, Audley End was the largest privately owned house in England. 

It may have looked like this at one time:

Only the front section, a quarter of the original building remains today. To build this monstrosity of a house, Howard, as Lord Treasurer embezzled funds and was convicted of corruption, extortion, and bribery. The debt of building the house was the family's downfall and was inherited by later generations with the house for the next 120 years. King Charles II eased the family's debt by buying the house because of it's proximity to Newmarket races. The family remained on the property as keepers of the new palace. Charles II didn't use the house and his successor, William III, returned the house to family in 1701. 

By this time, the house had deteriorated and the architecture was out of fashion. The family, unable to afford repairing the house, began reducing it to the north and south wings. The 10th Earl of Suffolk solved the family's debts by marrying a wealthy brewery heiress, but because the had no children, the long association of this house with the historic Howard family ended. After the Earl's death in 1745, his wife sells off the contents of the house and a nephew inherits Audley End. The nephew, the first Earl of Braybrooke, restores the house by adding galleries, rooms,and storeys. He also hired "Capability Brown" to remodel the grounds with rolling green hills and Palladian bridges. The interior as it is displayed today were the efforts of the 3rd Earl of Braybrooke whose aim was to recover the Jacobean character of the house in the 19th century. Surviving Jacobean elements were repaired and new work in the same style was added. 

Grand Tudor Estates

As mentioned in an earlier post, Kent has many large houses and gardens and excellent examples of Tudor architecture as illustrated by Hever Castle and Knole. 

(Kent also has an exceptional history that may be explored in a later post.)

Hever Castle is best known today as the birthplace of Anne Boleyn. It has had quite a history aside from this famous person. The gatehouse, outer walls, and moat were built around 1270. The castle was converted into a Tudor-style manor by the younger brother of Thomas Boleyn (father of Anne) in 1462. Anne was born in a small room on the second floor in 1501. I took a moment standing in what could have been the room that Anne was born into appreciate that I have seen the start and end of this remarkable woman's life. 

And of course the most famous man in her life stayed at the castle several times during his courtship of Anne. Henry VIII owned the house after the death of Thomas Boleyn in 1539, and then passed on to various other owners until subsequently passing to the Waldegrave family in 1557 until 1715. As Catholics, the family had a private oratory built on the second floor in 1584 to allow them to worship privately. (1584 was in the middle of Elizabeth I's reign and it wasn't completely safe for Catholics to be open about their faith. I enjoy the irony of the Catholic family building a private space to worship as a result of the effects caused by Anne Boleyn's impact on England.)

The next era in this house's history came in 1903 when none other than the American millionaire William Waldorf Astor bought Hever's castle and estates and restored it for his family's residence. Imagine living in a Tudor manor house, with the heavy dark wood wall and ceiling carvings, yet decorated in 20th century pastel and floral patterned furniture and the modern conveniences of telephones and bells. 

Astor's mark extended to the park and gardens. The Italian Garden was built and designed to showcase the statuary and sculptures Astor collected from Italy, some of which dates to over 2,000 years old. 

Knole was not a planned excursion, but well worth it! Built in the 15th century by Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, Knole one of the largest private houses in England and a fine example of Tudor-style architecture. The house at one point it may well have been a calendar house which had 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards. The estate passed from the See of Canterbury, which received it upon Bourchier's death, to Henry VIII in 1537 and then went on to Elizabeth I. She gave it to her cousin Thomas Sackville in 1566, whose descendants the Earls and Dukes of Dorset and Barons Sackville have lived there since 1603.

As for the grounds and gardens, Knole has a large 26 acre walled garden 1,000 acre deer park. 

Walking with Churchill

This year's English adventures started off in Kent, which has plenty of country houses, castles, and gardens...as it should with a name like the "Garden of England." And I will be seeing as many of them as possible over the next few days. 

Chartwell was Winston Churchill's home from 1922 until his death in 1965. I didn't see the inside of the house, though the outside is gorgeous red brick. Churchill's artworks are on display in the garden studio.

I wanted to take advantage of a sunny and crisp autumnal day by walking around the hillside gardens. Churchill's love of nature is evident in the landscape he created with lakes, which affords views over the Weald of Kent. Beyond the gardens is woodland with sub-dabbled trails.

And since I've just used the term, "weald" is an area of Southeast England between the North and the South Downs that crosses Sussex and Kent counties. This year's English adventures will have lots of opportunities for explorations of the Wealds. The Weald was once covered with a large forest and signifies "woodland" in Old English.

Seeing Britain Through Art

The only way to end my two week holiday in Britain is with a truly British institution. I started the London portion of the holiday with the British Museum and am ending it with Tate Britain.

The Tate Britain sits on the Thames in the Pimlico neighborhood and looks like a smaller British Museum, with a ground round dome under which is a rotunda court in gleaming white marble. It however is nowhere near as overwhelming in terms of its collection and can easily be done Ina few hours. It's also the perfect pairing to go with the National Portrait Gallery.

The Tate is named after Sir Henry Tate, an industrialist who had made his fortune as a sugar refiner, offered his collection of British art to the National Gallery in 1889. However, the  National Gallery did not have space for Tate's collection. So to remedy this problem, Tate created a new gallery dedicated to British art, opening to the public in 1897. This gallery grew to hold more than just Tate's collection but the works for British artists from various other collections. The original name of the gallery was the National Gallery of British Art.

The result is a fine collection dating from the 16th century to the present with most of Britain's leading artists represented, such as Gainsborough, Reynolds, Constable, Hogarth, Blake, and of course JMW Turner. The Tate has the largest collection of Turner's works spread over seven rooms. Turner willed most of his paintings and watercolors to the British nation, and he intended that a special gallery would be built to house them.

It also has an impressive number of the Pre-Raphaelites, which is a wholly British movement in 19th century art. Founded in 1848 by by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, critics. The groups purpose was to reform art and return it to the colorful and complex compositions of Italian art before the adoption of Classical ideals of Raphael  and Michelangelo.  The Pre-Raphaelites' paintings on display correspond with the Romantic period of poetry. One of the most stunning pieces is John Williams Waterhouse's "The Lady of Shalott,"which colorfully and mournfully illustrates lines from Tennyson's poem.

There couldn't have been a better way to end a truly British holiday, excursions that spanned time and country, then to walk through 500 years of British art.  To see the scope and depth of the change in British art across time was the perfect compliment to bookend the heritage contributions to British history.

Artful Surprises

Sir John Soane's Museum is small but full of curiosities and surprises. The Museum is in the house and library of Soane, who was an architecture and therefore knowledgable and skilled to combine three houses (Numbers 12, 13, and 14) in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Beginning in 1792 and proceeding in phases that ended in 1824, Soane created his ideal gallery for the display of his collection of curios. 

And what a collection it is! An avid collector, Soane amassed items ranging from Greek marbles and bronzes, Roman jewelry, medieval sculptures, and Renaissance paintings. On display (but I won't say where so as not to ruin the surprise for those who haven't visited) are two series by William Hogarth - "The Rake's Progress" and "The Election." There is even the sarcophagi of Seti I. Soane hosted a party that lasted three days just to showcase this acquisition. Soane had an entire room devoted to architectural models, even his own, which include the Bank of England and models of ancient Roman and Greek buildings. And as any bibliophile will appreciate, there are walls of bookshelves. Soane even turned the pillars of the drawing room into bookshelves. 

Upon his appointment at the Royal Academy as Professor of Architecture in 1806, Soane arranged his books, casts, drawings, and models for the students. He proposed that he open his house for the use of the students before and after his lectures, starting Soane down the path of converting his home into a museum for others to view and learn. 

In 1833, Soane negotiated an Act of Parliament to settle and preserve the house and collection for the benefit of ‘amateurs and students’ in architecture, painting and sculpture. The Act went in to effect on his death in 1837, vesting the Museum in a board of Trustees who were to continue to uphold Soane’s own aims and objectives. A crucial part of their brief was to maintain the fabric of the Museum, keeping it ‘as nearly as circumstances will admit in the state’ in which it was left at the time of Soane’s death in 1837 and to allow free access for students and the public to ‘consult, inspect and benefit’ from the collections. Since 1837, each successive Curator has sought to preserve and maintain Soane’s arrangements as he wished. 

Soane clearly believed that there wasn't any point in acquiring anything that he couldn't display, so every surface, wall, and ceiling is adorned with artifacts and artworks. The wonderfully stylish clutter takes you through centuries and cultures, each turn revealing a new surprise. 

To Collect and To Remember

Although I've been fortunate to visit London many times, I've somehow never found the opportunity to go to the British Museum (much to the chagrin of a few friends.) But today I've remedied that great slight with a visit to one of the most remarkable museums.  The British Museum, founded in 1753, is the epitome of the Age of Enlightenment and Empire and the first national public museum in the world. The Museum's early collection was mainly books, manuscripts, and natural specimens with some coins, medals, prints, and drawings collected by the physician, naturalist, and collector, Sir Hans Sloane.

Sloane collected more than 71,000 objects throughout  his life. He wanted his collection to be preserved intact after his death so he bequeathed the entire collection to King George II. Accepting the gift, an Act of Parliament established the British Museum on June 7,1753. Opening to the public on January 15,1759, the British Museum was first in Montagu House in Bloomsbury on the site of today's building.

The British Museum's collection grew as the British upper classes traveled the globe in the 18th and 19th centuries, uncovering antiquities and artifacts of distant civilizations and shipping them back to Britain for investigation and display. These acquisitions formed the basis of the museum's collection and has been built to be one of the largest and finest. A number of high profile pieces were discovered in the 19th century - the Rosetta Stone in 1802, the Townley collection of classical sculpture in 1805, and the Parthenon sculptures (Elgin Marbles) in 1816. And the 7th century Saxon burial ship and treasures was discovered in 1938 in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk.

It is a testament to the breadth of the Empire at one time to have been able to collect artifacts from such different civilizations around the world. And in some way, the British Museum is a remembrance to all  of these past cultures and societies.

Remembrances to the past are all over London, from Christopher Wren's Monument  that commemorates the Great Fire of 1666 to the current installation at the Tower of London. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. To remember the British citizens lost in the war, 888,246 ceramic poppies will progressively fill the Tower's moat.  Each poppy is created by hand and installed by hand, creating an undulating wave of red across the greenery of the grassy moat. Singular poppies rise from the tide reminding you that each poppy represents an individual person. The installation is equally breathtaking and heart-wrenching to realize the destruction of the war, truly an event to pause and a remember and a collection I will be hard-pressed to forget.

Walking Another Wall

Westward we traveled to our first stop in Chester, the county town of mainly rural Chesire. Chester has bits of different ages splattered around; full Roman remnants, half-timbered Tudor houses and shops, medieval churches, Georgian circles and rows of houses, and Victorian architecture of the Town Hall. 

Chester was founded by a Roman legion on the River Dee in 1st century C.E. as it was a good  position to see both northward and westward. The city reached its pinnacle as a port in the 13th and 14th centuries. The River Dee was deep enough at one-time that seafaring ships were able to sail from the sea up the river to dock in the city. Though its purpose as a main port declined as the river gradually silted up, the railways brought activity back to the area. 

Due to its Roman founding as a fortified city, Chester is almost entirely encircled by Roman walls, which are walkable (like York's.) One of the entries to the wall is under the Eastgate Clock, which stands on the site of the original entrance to the Roman fortress Deva Victrix. The Clock was erected and dedicated to Queen Victoria for her Diamond Jubilee in 1896.  At the wall's southwestern corner is a fragment of the Norman Castle William the Conqueror built to launch his campaigns on Wales.

Walking the walls affords spectacular views of 18th century buildings, the Welsh mountains, medieval fragments of Chester Castle, various Roman ruins, and the Cathedral. Chester Cathedral was founded in 1092 a a Benedictine abbey and made an Anglican cathedral church in 1541, Chester's cathedral has a range of monastic buildings - cloisters, refectory, chapterhouse, and medieval woodcarving in the choir stall. The sweetest part of the entire Cathedral was the small Chapel of St. Anselm, the abbott's private chapel, a floor about the nave and a peaceful retreat from the bustle below. A plaster ceiling and stonework from the 17th century accentuates the 12th century chapel. 

An especially medieval aspect of Chester are the Rows, which are tiered shops, one level at street level and the others stacked on top along galleried balconies, a multi-level out-door mall  along cobblestone streets. Modern stores have now taken up residence in the Rows, continuing the shopping tradition. Many of the buildings are half-timbered, some dating to the 13th century up to the 17th century. The first reference to these shops as "The Rows" in writing was in 1357. One of the shops in the Rows called "Three Old Arches" is probably the earliest identified shop front in England. 

One of the most unique things about Chester, besides the practically intact Roman walls is that it also has Britain's largest Roman amphitheater. The 20th Legion used it for military training and entertainment like classical boxing, gladiatorial combat, and bull-baiting. It was discovered in 1929 and further excavated 2007 to 2009.

Chester has integrated the identities of its history into its modern day. It doesn't take much to find the charm of Chester. After all, it is still a destination after it was settled 2,000 years ago. 

Journey Northward

York was a priority on this year's trip because I had been told how amazing a city it is. However, I didn't realize until I got there why I would find York so amazing: there's a cathedral (and I have it in my head for some reason to try and visit as many English Cathedrals as possible. Last year's tally - three; this year's tally - two, plus Westminster, not a Cathedral, I know.); a train ride is required; and there are both Roman and Viking and medieval sites to see. 

York is such an old and complex city with many different identities:

• Roman - called Eboracum and founded by the Romans in 71 CE, Hadrian visited, Constantine was emperor of Rome while in Eboraum, reorganized Britain into four provinces, and then died here. capital of Kingdom of Northumbria.
• Saxon and Danish - after the Roman army had withdrawn, Eboracum became Eoforwic under the Saxons. Eoforwic was a Viking center from 867 and one of Europe's chief trading bases. 
• Norman - William the conqueror "visited" and quelled a rebellion. The Normans also built the first minster
• Medieval - The building of York Minster as it is and the 2.5 miles of walls and four gates that still circle the city. Between 1100 and 1500, it was England's second largest city. 
• Victorian - Because of its strategic location, York became the center of a flourishing rail empire, resulting in wealth and a building boom in the grand Victorian style. 

Past identities are evident all over, from the foundations of St. Mary's Abbey in the York Museum Gardens to the most obvious remanent of the Romans - the Wall, which is intact in three long sections. The Norman to medieval period is evident in the Minster and the cobble-lined streets. The Shambles is lined by wooden-framed buildings that lean so far across the narrow alley that some of their roofs almost touch, truly medieval experience, thankfully without the slop, smell, and muck that would have been more appropriate for the area. The Danish heritage is evident in the street names that end in "gate,"like Stonegate, Coppergate, Castlegate, Petergate. "Gate" comes from the Danish word 'gata' meaning street or way. 

York Minster itself has a complex identity. It was built on Roman foundations, where Emperor Constantine lived. There have been 5 minsters built on this site, the first likely a wooden chapel where King Edwin of Northumbria was baptized in 627. Eventually the Normans built a structure in the 11th century, onto which the foundation for the current York Minster was built beginning in 1220 and finished 252 years later in 1472. The current York minster is the largest Gothic church north of the Alps. It also has the largest collection of medieval stained glass in Britain, some dating from  the late 12th century, which  means that the stained glass windows have sustained weather, the Reformation, Civil War, and World War II. The Great East Window is the largest area of medieval painted glass in the world, the size of a tennis court. 

The best way to see all the identities of York is by walking the Walls - Roman intersects with Victorian, medieval with Georgian. All of these identities have coalesced to make York, and England, so unique. Why not take the time to walk around and appreciate it when there are three hours before a train on the Great Railway?

A Visit with the Royals and their Country Estate

When I realized how close Cambridge is to the Queens' Norfolk country retreat, Sandringham, I knew I had to make time to see it. Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh regularly visit Sandringham for the holidays. I got to chatting with one of the very friendly and knowledgable docents who informed me that they close the house around the end of October to make it ready to receive the Royal family and it stays closed to the public until around February. The staff in the house also work in the house with the Royal Family. He in fact services the boilers to the house. (A good man to have around in the English winters and a large drafty house.) The house was first opened to the public in 1977. The main ground-floor rooms, regularly used by the Royal Family, are decorated in the Edwardian style of the house's original Royal occupants. 

The site has been occupied since the Elizabethan Era. Sandringham Hall was built in 1771, the hall was rebuilt in the 19th century after it was purchased by Queen Victoria for her eldest son and his new bride, the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, and Queen Alexandra. It has been passed down as a private home through four generations of British monarchs.

The lineage of the British monarchy since Queen Victoria can be traced by the inhabitants of Sandringham. Edward VII and Queen Alexandra had two sons, Albert Victor and George Frederick. Albert, the heir apparent, was engaged to marry Princess Mary of Teck. Mary would be Queen but not due to her marriage to Albert Victor. Unfortunately, he would die of pneumonia, January 14, 1982 at Sandringham. A year after Albert's death, George and Mary were engaged and married in 1893 and they would become King George V and Queen Mary in 1910. They would also have two sons, Albert Edward (Edward VIII who abdicated) and Albert Frederick, who would become King George VI. George VI married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and their eldest daughter is the current reigning Queen Elizabeth II. There you have it - the four generations of royal lineage who have occupied Sandringham.

The resulting red-brick house, completed in 1870, is a mixture of styles. The galleried entrance hall is still used by the Royal Family for entertaining and family occasions, also the entrance for the publicly accessible rooms, which include a small drawing room, a larger parlor room, the dining room, and a hallway leading to the ball room, which was attached later. The decor and contents remain as they were in the Edwardian times. Both Queen Alexandra and later Queen Mary were collectors of objects d'art. Members of the Russian and European Royal Families (also relatives of the British Royal Family) were frequent guests to Sandringham and brought gifts, which are on also on display. 

Also on the estate is St. Mary Magdalene Church, where the Royal Family attends Christmas services. A medieval church that dates to the 16th century and restored in 1857, it is a small church in the Perpendicular style. The Chancel is quiet incredible (and here's what it looks like because sadly, I wasn't allowed to take pictures.) There are memorials to many members and relations of the Royal Family in the church (Victoria, Edward VII, Alexandra, George V, George VI and Queen Elizabeth) and churchyard. 

In addition to touring the first floor of the house, there are also about 600 acres of country park and garden. The formal planting of the Edwardian age is incorporated with rolling hills, grass paths, and gravel walkways in wooded glens. Peaceful and quiet, it is easy to understand the draw of these gardens for the Royal Family seeking solemnity and serenity. 

Stumbling into History

Taking advantage of a perfectly clear and sunny day, we decided to walk the almost 5 miles to Waterbeach along the Cam. A dusty trail with foliage along the side, fields to the left, the Cam with water fowl aplenty to our right. We journeyed on foot encountering the occasional runner and cyclist, but mostly had the English countryside and nature to ourselves.

Along the way we stumbled upon a cement structure. Curious as to what it was, we "off-roaded" to explore. On our quiet Sunday walk we discovered an actual piece of history. The cement structure  was a pillbox, a British hardened field defence for World War II. These were small fortified structures constructed to prepare for invasions and were known as "pillboxes" because of their shape. Two pillboxes are strategically located along the River Cam and near the railway. These were Type 24 pillboxes (there are many different types), which is an irregular hexagon with a rear wall of about 14 feet and other walls vary from 7 to 8 feet. The entrance has an embrasure on either side, suitable for rifles or light machines guns, and embrasures in each of the walls. The walls were built to shell proof standard with walls at least 12 inches thick. Internally there is a Y-shaped anti-ricochet wall with the top of the Y nearest the entrance. See diagram: 

Waterbeach itself is a quiet little village with a town green in the center, some shops, a few pubs, and of course the local parish church. What is remarkable, in my opinion, about this small local village church is that it dates to the 12th century. We stood in a church that is over a thousand years old while a young man was practicing on the organ, for what I presumed was the next week's service. The facade of the church is studded with flint, creating a polka dot aesthetic. As explored in yesterday's post, the use of flint in buildings is common for this area. 

Before reaching Waterbeach, we also came on a few wild gardens, one called Cow Hollow Wood that we explored by ourselves. Built by volunteers, they returned fallow land to the wild with native plants and put in trails and benches to enjoy the serenity of their creation. While wandering around the wooded area, I couldn't help imagine what all the fields around would have looked like before cultivation and what we would have seen before the cultivation of the land into farms and the building of railways and roadways. 

On a Sunday afternoon to go from pre-cultured land, to a 12th century church, to a World War II defense structure was truly an adventure through history.

From a Great Journey to a Small Church

After a day at work, a flight across the ocean, clearing customs, the tube to London's King's Cross, a train to Royston, a bus from Royston to Cambridge (because of course this weekend of all the weekends possible there's track work which results in shuttle service), and a hackney, I finally arrive at my destination in a quaint flat at the end of a quaint Walk (literally the name of the road) in Cambridge.  And because I'm in England, the weather must be mentioned - it was gorgeously sunny and warm with a slight breeze all day, perfect for walking. 

The first stop (there's no time to plan, follow the itinerary) was St. Peter's Church, the smallest church in Cambridge. It rests on Castle Hill with an overgrown and wild church yard. Though originally built in the 11th century, traces of the Roman history of the area are visible in the church's exterior. Terracotta Roman roofing tiles became building materials. In fact, the exterior walls of the church display such a variety of stone, you can't help but wonder how it was all scavenged. Because Cambridge has no natural supply of stone for building, most buildings had to import the stone or use local flint rock, which is not ideal since it only comes in small nodules and can't be faced like building stone. 

Cambridge Castle was built shortly after the Norman conquest on the highest point in Cambridge overlooking the River Cam, and overshadowed the Church. At first a keep and mote infrastructure, stone was eventually brought in to build the castle. Once the castle fell out of general use, the stone was scavenged and used to build the rest of Cambridge. Examples of the castle's stone can be found in the Colleges' buildings. 

Traces of St. Peter's Saxony history are present in the carved doorways and stone font, decorated with four mermen grasping their split tails. It is posited that the font was perhaps a Saxon mortar for grinding grains. It's likely that the Christians repurposed the mortar as a baptismal font, incorporating the pagan iconography of the mermen into Christianity. 

The church was eventually rebuilt during the Georgian period, and then cut in half to its present size in the 18th century. 

Next to St. Peter's is Kettle's Yard, the former home of Jim and Helen Ede, which is now a museum. Harold Stanley "Jim" Ede was curator at the Tate Gallery in the 1920s and 30s. His home showcases his friendship with many artists and their worldly travels. The Ede's transformed four dilapidated cottages into a single home, resulting in a variety of differently shaped rooms, art work and collectables throughout the home. Not only is this a truly unique museum because of the Edes, but also because you can actually sit in all the chairs in the house, even a rattan-backed chair ergonomically designed to hug the sitter. 

The first of many English afternoons too come ended as all English afternoon's should...with tea, scones, jam, and cream. 

The Itinerary

I am as ambitious about this year's trip as I was with last year's list of things to do and places to go. This year's trip was slightly easier to plan because I included things I didn't have a chance to get to see last year - here's looking at you Wellcomme Collection that was under construction and the V&A that's so big that I spent most of my afternoon just in the jewelry room.

So the villages, towns and cities to visit this year includes:

Cambridge

Grantchester

York

Chester

Llandudno (Venturing into Wales for the first time!)

Conwy

and last but not least, London (of course!) 

The sites and activities for London are:

Tower of London to see the poppies

British Museum (because somehow I've never really done it)

Hunteriarn Museum

National Portrait Gallery (my all time favorite museum)

Sir John Soames Museum

Wellcomme Collection

Westmintser Abbey

Tate Britain

V&A Museum

Westminster Cathedral

The Monument

Regents Park

Hyde Park

Kensington Gardens

In York, the plan is to see the Cathedral, Castle Shambles, and Viking Center. 

My most favorite "surprise find" is Sandringham Estate in the north part of East Anglia. I can't go to England and not visit a grand estate of some kind! I saw both Chatswoth House and Burghley Estate last year, plus Hampton Court. This year, it's the HM The Queen's Norfolk retreat. 

As a good friend asked, "are you planning on sleeping?" Most likely yes but only from exhaustion at seeing and doing all of this! 

At it again...

On the eve of a journey, there's excitement and nervousness. In about 20 hours or so I'll be in the great land of England for the second of what is now becoming an annual pilgrimage to my second home away from home across the Atlantic. This year's visit takes me from Cambridge, to York, to Chester, to Northern Wales, to London.

As with last year's trip, each day's historical activities will be logged and described herein through following posts. Stay tuned...more to read shortly!

History of Medicine: Smallpox

In a rare moment when my professional life intersects with this hobby while reading for my book club, I was introduce to Lady Marty Wortley Montagu. 

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu with her son, Edward Wortley Montagu, and attendants
National Portrait Gallery

Montagu is known as an poet and prolific letter-writer. She was also the wife of the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and played an important role in the promotion of the smallpox inoculation in the eighteenth century. 

Smallpox has affected humanity so profoundly that inoculating against smallpox, i.e. vaccinating, is called variolation after the the Latin for smallox Variola vera for "spotted pimple."Variolation is the deliberate infection of the smallpox virus to bring on a mild case of smallpox to create an immunity against the disease. 

While in Turkey in 1717, Montagu was exposed to variolation against smallpox through the practice of ingrafting, which involved a process by which pus from an individual with a mild case of smallpox was spread into an open wound of an uninfected person. Montague had lost a brother to smallpox and considered the risk of becoming sick from inoculation worth taking. 

There is no example of any one that has died in it, and you may believe I am well satisfied of the safety of this experiment, since I intend to try it on my dear little son. I am patriot enough to take the pains to bring this useful invention into fashion in England, and I should not fail to write to some of our doctors very particularly about it, if I knew any one of them that I thought had virtue enough to destroy such a considerable branch of their revenue, for the good of mankind. (Source)

Montagu inocluated her five-year old son while in Turkey and upon her return to England, she indeed contract doctors to spread the word about variolation. In 1721 when a smallpox epidemic broke out in England, she had her four-year old daughter inoculated by a physician who had been at the Turkish embassy, Charles Maitland. She publicized the event to spread the practice and even persuaded the Prince and Princess of Wales, to inoculate their own children, all of who recovered. 

With the procedure deemed safe after a series of experiments on orphans, prisoners, and the royal family, the procedure became more common as a method for preventing smallpox. 

The Sound of England

Everyone knows the sounds of the Westminster Quarters. (I experienced the 2 p.m. ringing of Big Tom, the bell at Lincoln Cathedral, which is where I first learned of the music's origin.) The number of chime sets correspond to the quarter hours that have passed. The permutations are always played in order, with the count of the hour struck at the top. But, there's an interesting story to this omnipresent melody, with an English connection, of course.

The Westminster Quarters are also called the Cambridge Chimes. The chimes originated at the church of St. Mary the Great in Cambridge, which has a long association to bells. The Society of Cambridge Youths was founded in 1724 to formalize the responsibility to ring St. Mary's bells.

The chimes were adopted in the mid-19th century by the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster, which houses the very famous bell, Big Ben, that sings out these tunes. The adoption of the Cambridge Chimes for Big Ben spread the use of the tune and thus the name from Cambridge Chimes to Westminster Quarters.

A little bit of Cambridge is experienced every time a clock or church bell rings out on the quarter of the hour.

History as Reality

I've been home long enough to reacclimate to life, and to a life that is not in England. I've maintained some English behaviors to retain the feeling of vacation as well as the Englishness I adopted, such as simply drinking tea instead of coffee.  With all fantastic vacations, I can't help but reflect on the past two weeks of living an English life.

What struck me most profoundly was how much of  history is literally everywhere and a part of every day. Churches that are many hundreds of years old are a part of people's modern lives. The daily bustle across a market square is carried out in similar fashion today as it was over a century ago.

Existing within these spaces brought history from the page to life. Simply being present heightened the experiences of the history that was built by the giants of English architecture or inhabited by royalty. It is one thing to know what happened and where and when, but to stand in the room where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert slept (at Burghley House) or where King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn dined (at Hampton Court) incorporates the senses and allows the imagination to take over to truly be, turning history into reality. Being surrounded by the artifacts and evidence of the longevity of this island nation's history and it's people was truly unique and awe-inspiring.

Thank you all for reading the blog and accompanying me on this journey!

Fit for Kings

Today I accomplished another goal on this trip...I went to Hampton Court Palace, a place of great history. Check that palace off of the Anglophile's To Do List.

Begun in 1515, Cardinal Wolsey, Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, transition Hampton Court from a medieval manor into a palace for himself. After visiting in 1514 with his first Queen, Katherine of Aragon visited for the first time. Henry liked it so much that he claimed it for himself. After Wolsey lost his fortune, power, and prestige, he gave up Hampton Court to Henry. Henry made vast improvements to the Palace, building the Great Hall with its richly ornamented ceiling and the Chapel Royal with a fan-vaulted wooden ceiling. The 16th century kitchens provide a glimpse into what it would have been like to prepare food for hundreds of people on a regular basis.

Hampton Court is also the location for many of the joyous and tragic moments in Henry's life. Jane Seymour gave birth to Prince Edward in 1537, who was baptized in the Chapel Royal. Jane then died shortly after the birth. Henry's 5th wife, the silly Catherine Howard, was interrogated and kept under house arrest at the palace in 1541 after Henry learned of her supposed dalliances and possible adulterous behaviors. And Henry married his final wife Katheryn Parr in the Chapel Royal in 1543.

The Palace found a new life under William III and Mary II, who transformed large portions of the buildings into what its present form. In 1689, Sir Christopher Wren demolished large parts of the Tudor palaces and built new Grand Halls and a series of State Rooms. These apartments today are filled with porcelain, furniture, paintings, and tapestries. These privy rooms weren't actually used as private bedchambers, but were as viewing rooms for visiting with the royals. These series of State Rooms would slowly decrease the crowd of courtiers from who wanted to see the king and queen down to who actually was able to meet and converse with the king and queen.  For William III,  he kept a series of private apartments on the ground floor below his State Rooms.

And behind the scenes were true people who helped and served the royals with the very private of private activities. Exhibits also were devoted to the servants and people who served the royalty, such as the Pages of the Bedchamber, the Laundress of the Body, and the Seamstress and Starcher.

Hampton Court also has a lovely series of gardens. The 59-acres of gardens are made up of Tudor and Knot Gardens, rose gardens, a Maze (a Wren-work), and fountains, and Orangery and Exotics Garden.

I enjoyed tea and cake after walking through all of the gardens and palace, and my favorite aspect was being in the place that hosted so much history that I have learned about. Walking through the hallways with the rounded domed ceilings by the kitchens, I couldn't help imagine what it would have been like to be in those very cold and cavernous hallways when unprecedented events were happening above in Henry's Great Hall. It was truly awe-inspiring to be on site.

Photos from the day can be found here.

Afternoon of Art

For my last day in London, I spent it viewing the most amazing works of European art at both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery.

On a gorgeously warm and sunny day (the weather truly has been magnificent and yes, everyone here really does talk about the weather all the time), I walked from Lincoln's Inn Fields to Trafalgar Square to first go to the National to see their collection of more than 2,300 paintings. The National is the perfect art museum for me because it covers my favorite periods of Western art - mid-1200s to 1900. The layout is chronological, though the galleries are not organized sequentially. Starting with the Renaissance greats, I saw works by Lippi, Leonardo's The Virgin on the Rocks, and one of my all-time favorite Dutch Renaissance paintings, Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait. Moving into the 16th century, the typical European Old Masters are represented by Titan, El Greco, and my favorite, Hans Holbein, which is represented by The Ambassadors. I spent more in the 18th and 19th centuries than in the 17th century with the Gainsborough's, Turner's, Constable's, Hogarth's, Renior's, and Manet's.

After two hours of art-viewing, I needed to rejuvenate. On a recommendation, I ventured across the street to St. Martin-in-the-Field's for lunch in it's cafe. Ironic that the church's name includes "in the Fields" considering it sits off of Trafalgar Square. However, St. Martin's used to truly be surrounded by fields when it was founded in the 13th century. The current 18th-century building was constructed by James Gibbs, a follower of Christopher Wren. The interior is adorned with Italian plasterwork and a huge mahogany and silver organ. The cafe is in the church's crypt with gravestones for Charles II's mistress, Nell Gwynne, among many others underfoot of the cafe's patrons. (By the way, the food truly was excellent.)

On to what is now my favorite museum in London, the National Portrait Gallery. The Portrait Gallery's collection is based on identity of the subject and not necessarily on who the artist is or the artist's talent. The works vary hugely in quality and have been organized by the subject and the time in which the subject lived rather than the time in which the piece was painted, like the National. Beginning chronologically with the Plantagenets and Tudors and ending with the current period, the portraits of royalty, artists, writers, politicians, scientists, musicians, and philosophers are presented. I spent two hours and still ran out of time (because they were closing and I spent too much time in the Tudor and Stuart rooms) so I wasn't able to see the modern portraits, such as this one of the Duchess of Cambridge. But I got to see my favorite portrait of Elizabeth I.

I love this museum not only because of the subject matter but because taken on a whole, the Portrait Gallery presents a visual map of the Britain's history. The historical actors depicted in these works of art have each influenced the creation of this unique nation.

Photos from the day can be found here.

The Ship of the Fens

Another Cathedral to check off the list, my third in a week. (The first being St. Paul's and the second being Lincoln's.) Today I ventured up from Cambridge to Ely to see the town and the Cathedral.

Ely's Cathedral can be seen for miles before you reach England's second smallest city (Fun fact! Wells is England's smallest city.) The cathedral is known as "the ship of the Fens" because Ely used to be an island surrounded by freshwater marshes, which are Fens. Ely is named as such because of the eels that were found in the marshes and thus the land became known as Eel Isle, which then became Ely.

The cathedral's history dates back to the 7th century when the original cathedral was built by a monastic community. Pilgrims came to Ely for centuries to visit the shrine of Saint Etheldreda (referred to locally as Audrey), who was the daughter of the king of East Anglia and died in 680.

Like most cathedrals, Ely is a conglomeration of many centuries of architectural styles. After the Normans invaded Ely, which took them five years to finally do, they enhanced the current building. The 11th century Norman nave's series of columns leads to the Gothic-styled Octagon Tower, which supports a distinctive wooden roof. The original tower crashed in the 14th century due to instability in the foundation. The Octagon was built from 1320 to 1340 by William Hurley, who later became Master Carpenter to the King at Westminster. I went on a tour to the top of the Octagon and saw for myself the many massively large oak trees that are used to support the lantern atop the tower. At the time the oak trees were cut down in the middle of the 14th century, they would have already been many hundreds of years old. This wood then is well over a thousand year's old.

The Octagon incorporates medieval carvings that tell the story of Etheldreda. Unfortunately, Saint Etheldreda's shrine and many of the Cathedral's statues were destroyed in the Reformation. Most of the stained glass windows were created and installed in the Victorian period of the late 19th-century as was a painted wooden ceiling.

Ely also has a historic connection to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth after the English Civil Wars ended in 1651. Cromwell lived in Ely for 10 years from 1636 to 1646 when he inherited the property and the position as the local tax collector from his uncle. The house still stands and is a museum of Cromwell and 17th-century domestic life.

To end my pilgrimage to Ely and to sample a bit of English domesticity, I ended my day with a true English tea - an egg and watercress sandwich, scones with jam and cream, and a pot of tea. One thing I've enjoyed most this week is the copious amounts of tea I've had - at least three small pots a day. How will I incorporate my afternoon treat of tea and cake into my normal life?

Photos from the day can be found here.