Exeter Cathedral

Saturday 26 August 2023. We decided to go into the cathedral at Exeter and have a look around.

Cathedral Close usually, I imagine, is a haven of peace and tranquility but a drumming troupe were being very successful at destroying all of that very loudly and with a great deal of repetition of rhythm, something akin to rhythm, and sometimes (most of the time) just general noisome row.

A craft market was taking place before the door of the cathedral with all sorts of home-made articles from jewellery, to soap, artwork, and beer.

Quite a large number of statues still stand in their niches on the West front of the cathedral. The cathedral was founded in 1050 CE and rebuilt by the Normans whose twin towers still exist. Apart from these and most of the external walls the cathedral was rebuilt again during the late 13th and 14th centuries.

We paid to go inside, but the chancel area and most of the south aisle were roped off due to restoration work. The price was modest but whether that was because of the works restricting access or their usual price I'm not sure. There were no signs to say one way or the other. Consequently you were left feeling a little aggrieved as the chancel with its choirstalls and (especially here in Exeter) the misericords are usually the place to find the best carvings and woodwork. From the back of the nave, though, you get a spectacular view.

Exeter has the longest uninterrupted medieval vaulted ceiling in the world. It is stunning. Moreover, it is well lit by the windows the absence of which can leave many cathedral roofs in shadowy darkness. Henrietta Anne of England, the youngest daughter of King Charles I, was baptised here in 1644.

The Martyrs' Pulpit towards the chancel end of the nave. Carved in the 1870s in sandstone, it has six panels depicting martryrs who have died for their faith. It is dedicated to Bishop John Coleridge Patteson, who only a few years prior to this pulpit being made had been killed in 1871 by the islanders of Nukapu in the Soloman Isles.

Without being judgemental, I'll just point out that being a missionary requires one to persuade a population that the god or gods they have worshipped for centuries if not longer are either worthless or are the same as yours anyway and that your way of worshipping is better than theirs. You won't be able to provide any actual proof of this. Hardly surprising that they might take a bit of umbrage really. And indeed the panel depicting him shows his body being placed into a canoe by three natives, to be returned to his ship. Not the act of a people who killed for fun...

The screen separates the nave from the chancel, where the crossing would be if the cathedral had a central tower. Above it is the organ. The keyboards are on the other side to that which we see here and there is a minstrel's gallery with carved angels playing musical instruments.

The Astronomical Clock has a bottom dial dating from 1484 whilst the upper dial showing the minutes was added in 1760.

At the bottom of the door below the clock is a small round hole dating from the early 1600s. It allowed the Bishop's cat to get behind to chase out (let's be optimistic) the rodents that were attracted to the animal fat with which the clock was lubricated!

The monument to Valentine Carey who, following a spell as Dean of St Pauls in London, was Bishop of Exeter from 1621 to his death in 1626. He had returned to London to die and was buried in St Pauls. Any monument he had there did not survive the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Coach Trip to Sidmouth, August 2023, Index
English Churches and Cathedrals Index

Lancaster Priory

I've been scanning a random collection of colour slides recently. Dates all over the place, yesterday I scanned some from 1970 all the way up to 1990 - this because of the haphazard storage not because I scanned every photo I'd taken...

Anyway amongst them were a few from 1985 and a visit to Lancaster when I went into the priory church to take a few photos. I went to see the carvings above the choir stalls and whilst there I found a few others, not great in size, but testaments to the carvers' skills and softened and darkened by age.

It is thought that the present church was built on the site of an earlier 6th century Saxon church and that this predecessor itself had been built on the foundations of a Roman building, a wall of which still exists under the chancel.

All manner of creatures, human, animal and demonic are to be found in old churches. Some are intended to warn of the consequences of straying from the path and others designed to tell a little moral story and here and there you might even spot touches of humour.

I am a big fan of the King's England series of county guides, written by Arthur Mee in the 1930s and 40s and updated a couple of times since. There is one for every one of England's pre-1974 counties, with Rutland lumped in with Leicestershire and Yorkshire given a book for each of the three Ridings. I have a handful of these books, which include descriptions of the most noteworthy carvings and tombs in churches but, whatever I set off to see, it invariably flies out of my mind once I'm there and I would love an e-book that would be more easily carried about on visits!

Anyway in this case I was able to remember it was the tracery over the choir stalls that I had come to see!

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The Mysteries of Zennor

Wednesday 9 August 1989. Zennor is a small village down towards the southern tip of Cornwall and it was my starting place on this particular day during which I meant to search out some of Cornwall's more legendary and mysterious places.

The water wheel, standing incongruously on its own by the side of the road is the first thing you notice in Zennor. It has water pumped up to the feed trough so it can pour over the wheel from above and turn the wheel by the weight of the water. For centuries mills ground flour by this method. Where there was no handy stream or river mills were powered by wind.

During the Industrial Revolution this method provided the power for the huge factories - and so they became known as "mills". The wheel stands outside the Wayside Museum.

By the side of the road is a slab of stone with a hole or depression in its centre. It was the village plague stone. During times of outbreak, any money coming into or out of the village was dipped in vinegar in the hole to discinfect coins to try to stop the spread of the disease.

We're not just talking about the Black Death and bubonic plagues of the distant past - the sign tells of cholera outbreaks in 1832 and 1849.

The church is lovely. It is dedicated to St Senara, a rather mysterious character who was supposed to have been a mermaid before her conversion to Christianity, North Sea Gas and legs...

There is a well known legend here of a chorister called Matthew Trewella, 600 years ago, whose voice was so pure that he sang the closing hymn to services as a solo. A mermaid heard his singing and came to the church (presumably somewhat in the manner of a sea lion but without the ball balanced on her nose) to entice him back into the sea as her husband. "Crikey! You'll do for me!" he said with relish, looking at her vital statistics of 36, 24, 50p per pound... He vanished with her beneath the waves and it is said that on a still night after seventeen pints you can still hear him drowning singing from beneath the waves. Not bad for a chap over 600 years old!

The mermaid is remembered in this bench end carving from 600 years ago. She holds a mirror and comb in her hands but her features have been lost, it is said, to the hammers of the Puritans. A good start to the day! More to come...

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Ancient Korčula

Monday, 4 May 2009. We continue our look around Korčula.

The maze of streets and alleyways is not really a maze at all. The crown of the city up on the hill is very straightforward to navigate. The gateway that we walked away from earlier turns out to be far more spectacular on the other side, with this fabulous staircase, sweeping down to a lower level. The winged lion of Venice is carved onto the front of the gate's tower and in fact the Venetian influence can be seen throughout the town. There are other influences though.

Before we venture into the newer part of Korčula, we go back through the gateway again to the little square to the rear.

I loved this elegant row of what look like shelf supports without a shelf! Perhaps a balcony was planned? Some of the carvings under the supports are a bit bizarre - the end one is a female figure squatting over a hole in the ground... Very educational for small boys I'm sure but, what the heck?!? I'm all for quirkiness though!

And another - blimey! The local carver must have had a fetish...!

Another small square fronting a church. Next to the church people are climbing to what looks to be a watch tower. Whether for spotting shoals of fish or pirate ships I'm not sure. The Mediterranean and Adriatic were plagued by pirates from North Africa for centuries.

This restaurant had a sign claiming that "Marco Polo found great food and love in this house. The tradition continues." Huh? He still comes in? There was definitely a family named Polo living here at the appropriate time, but no actual records to suggest it was Marco Polo's family, so I gather. But hey - it could have been! Or they could have been experimenting with mint and holes... There are plenty of accounts that assert he was born here in 1251, but this is disputed by Venice which also claims to be his birthplace.

So... great food and love... That does sort of leave you wondering whether the place was a knocking shop and he barged in shouting "Is the slim one in room six free? Oh bugger, well bring me a plate of stew whilst I wait...!" And then the tradition continues? Hmmm, well I didn't get the chance to discover, but I doubt it somehow! More likely either the Polo family ran an inn, or perhaps it was just their home and the great food was of the sort "You say it's great, husband, or you no have great love tonight!!!"

Oh and here's an example of those other influences I mentioned. This carving on a wall end shows a more Mongol influence than Venetian, don't you think? The Polos, including Marco himself spent much time in the company of the great Kublai Khan and he came back laden with riches and having somewhat gone native as it were.

So Korčula is a fascinating place to visit and I can thoroughly recommend it. We'll stay here for one more blog entry before we up sticks and leave as there's a bit more to see yet!

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Down To The Depths

Friday 23 September 1996

After leaving Corfe Castle on the previous day we decided to head northwards a little so as to have a more leisurely journey home.

We broke our journey on Friday to visit Wookey Hole Caves, sharing our visit with a crowd of children who were on a school trip. One little girl decided as soon as we were inside that she didn't like it and a teacher, sounding quite relieved herself, immediately offered to take her back out and wait for the others!

Wookey is one of England's great show caves. They make a big thing about the witch, but I've never been able to see that to any satisfaction - perhaps it's more wishful thinking, I'm not sure!

The floodlit pool - really the River Axe - is splendidly atmospheric, with its tethered boat or coracle. The river flows through the cavern, flooding several other caves that can only be reached by divers. Yet more caves in the system wait to be discovered.

I've never understood why caves have the fascination for me - as my one phobia would be about getting stuck and unable to move. You wouldn't find me doing any so-called "adventure caving". I'll stick to the easy lit pathways thanks!

Once out of the caves, Wookey has much more to offer. A paper mill still making quality paper is the first thing you come to followed by a display of fairground memorabilia and carvings.

Then there is an Edwardian Penny Slots arcade, with the vast majority of exhibits in working order and just waiting for you to swap your modern money for some old big heavy copper pennies so you can have a go!

Many of the coin slot entries to be found on this blog have photos that were taken at Wookey.

Large Versions of the Photos: the cave, carousel lion