What a sight!

[leefer]

While dragging my lorry towards Salisbury yesterday i glimpsed the Cathedral Spire and then as i drove through the town i wandered into yesteryear(i often do)..centuries ago when travellers on foot or horse first saw that cathedral as they approached they must have been aghast and amazed...Canterbury is an amazing buildind,and Winchester is built on a river...divers have to check the foundations yearly,The inside of Ely cathedral is mindblowingly brilliant,paintings on the ceilings etc...us modern day people take our cathedrals for granted as we see them often and live around them...but imagine what these great buildings must have looked like to a traveller who probably hadnt even left his village or hamlet before.

 

[p.risboy]

While dragging my lorry towards Salisbury yesterday i glimpsed the Cathedral Spire and then as i drove through the town i wandered into yesteryear(i often do)..centuries ago when travellers on foot or horse first saw that cathedral as they approached they must have been aghast and amazed...Canterbury is an amazing buildind,and Winchester is built on a river...divers have to check the foundations yearly,The inside of Ely cathedral is mindblowingly brilliant,paintings on the ceilings etc...us modern day people take our cathedrals for granted as we see them often and live around them...but imagine what these great buildings must have looked like to a traveller who probably hadnt even left his village or hamlet before.

We take all these buildings for granted Leefer, and I am a culprit.
As wonderful as pyramids etc. are. They are just tombs, albeit big ones. The buildings you mentioned, have a continuous function.
I think most of us are guilty of ignoring whats on our doorstep.

Steve.

 

[benny1982]

Hi

I have been inside Norwich Cathedral a few times. One of the highest spires in England.

Ben

 

[JMR]

Hi Leefer,

What you say is so true! Since living in Australia, which lacks the cultural richness of the UK, I've become so much more appreciative of these amazing buildings when I come home. I wonder if it's because you get dragged to so many old buidlings, castles etc when you're a kid that you get bored and cynical or indifferent about them.

I know that was my problem! Looking at them with the fresh eyes of a family history researcher is very different. You can feel the people who have trod there before and it makes the history more tangible to know that your ancestor may have been baptised, married and buried there.

I didn't know that Winchester was built on a river and I'm ashamed to say that I've never heard of Ely Cathedral, but I've put it on my list of places to visit next time I'm home!

Cheers,
Jill

 

[benny1982]

Hi

Ely is the smallest city in England.

Ben

 

[p.risboy]

Hi

Ely is the smallest city in England.

Ben

I think?? you'll find that the City of London is the smallest, followed by Wells, Somerset. And Ely at No.3

Steve.

 

[JMR]

London the smallest! No! Really? It always looks pretty big to me!

 

[p.risboy]

London the smallest! No! Really? It always looks pretty big to me!

Hi jill, Greater London is huge, but London City is about one mile square. About 9000 people live in it. They must all be 'miwionairs'.

Steve.

 

[JMR]

Thanks for clarifying Steve!

I just googled Ely and WOW it's one beautiful place and on the top of my list for the next time I'm home!

And another thing that you didn't mention Leefer - Gary Lineker lives there :2fun:

Cheers,
Jill

 

[leefer]

Hi..the most amazing thing in a cathedral ive seen is the slab in Canterbury cathedral ware Thomas a Beckett was murdered centuries ago...though not so muh now it was a spot visited and preyed on by pilgrims for hundreds of years...the slab is worn out ware people have knelt...thats alot of knees,went there one Xmas Eve on my own..the choir was practising and i sneaked in on my own...not really religous but it took my breath away.