Stonehenge, Old Sarum, Salisbury

This is the first of three blog entries about our most recent excursion. On this trip, we rented a car and drove into the west of England! We visited Stonehenge, the ruins of Old Sarum, and Salisbury Cathedral on the first day. Below are a few of the 71 pictures we took on Day One.

Stonehenge was amazing. You are driving along the road, go over a hill and there it is. Danny actually took 14 pictures of these...rocks (after making a little fun of going there). The most ancient part of Stonehenge is about 5,000 years old.

You can see the Cursus Barrow (one of a number of burial mounds on the site) in the far distance here.













Here is the first close-up view you get after emerging from the tunnel that crosses under the road from the car park.













These Sarsen stones are part of the outer circle of Stonehenge and are among the oldest.

















These stones are a part of what is called the Sarsen horseshoe. On the right you can see the tallest stone. It has a small triangular shaped stone set in a slot on the top of the Sarsen. This is believed to be the sighting stone along which the position of the sun and other stars were found when the site was used as an astronomical "observatory" in ancient times.













Here is a beautiful picture of Stonehenge from the far end of the pathway that runs through the site. Of course, no one is allowed to get any closer to the stones than we got.













Look at the stone in the ground in front. Originally there were four of these, placed around the stones so that they not only formed a perfect rectangle if connected by lines, but the central point of that rectangle lies in the exact center of Stonehenge. It is believed they were used to mark the position of the rising sun on the summer and winter solstices, and used as survey markers by the original builders.










We then drove to the ancient fort of Old Sarum (as in Edward Rutherford's novel Sarum). This fort, like Stonehenge, dates from as much as 5,000 years ago. It is also reported that in the 11th century, William the Conqueror paid off his troops here. Old Sarum lies atop a hill overlooking the city of Salisbury.


This picture is of the moat, taken from the bridge that connects to the topmost part of Old Sarum hill. The bridge we were standing on would have actually been a drawbridge over this (very large) moat.






This is the gatehouse that led to the Inner Bailey, the open expanse at the very top of the hill. The next few photos were taken from this site.












Here is a picture of part of the Royal Palace ruins (the lower level of the palace).












These are the ruins of St. Margaret's Chapel which was used for public worship. Notice the arch above the altar. The royals would have used the chapel on the floor above this one (now gone), called St. Nicholas's Chapel.












This beautiful view, of the Cathedral ruins, was taken from the steps of the Great Tower (or castle keep) at the top of the hill. The Great Tower was the first stone building in the inner bailey and was where the king stayed while the Royal Palace was being built. After the Palace was built, the Tower housed the garrison.












This is another beautiful picture of the foundation of the Cathedral. The cloister would have been on the right side in this picture, where three pillar bases are seen.












Believe it or not, this was one of two 'toilets' (or sewers) in the Castle. One was for the King, the other for public use.












This is on the lower level of the palace and was probably part of the kitchen.












Here is a nice wide view of the ruins of the castle and the inner bailey.











If you walk along the ledge of the fort at the top of the hill, you see beautiful countryside as well as the city of Salisbury. Notice the cathedral spire in the distance. That's our next stop.












Here is the main gate to Salisbury Cathedral. It hides the treasures behind it.
















As you can see here, the north side of the Cathedral is undergoing major renovations. It is a 13th century cathedral that includes Britain's tallest Church spire (404 ft.).












Isn't the western facade of this cathedral beautiful?












Salisbury Cathedral also contains Britain's largest Cathedral cloisters. This is a picture of the spire from within the cloister.

















The cloisters, pictured here again, were really quite large. They will be gorgeous when the plants are in full bloom.














This medieval clock, located inside the cathedral, is Britain's oldest working clock. It was made in 1386 and is still running today. It was designed to strike only on the hour. Notice that it has no face. It is powered by two large cylindrical stone weights, visible at the left edge of the photo.

















Here is the nave of the cathedral.

















The choir stalls contain some lovely woodwork; here is one of a number of beautiful angels that adorn them. This cathedral also has the earliest surviving complete set of choir stalls in Britain.
















We loved this tomb, which belongs to Sir Thomas and Lady Gorges, because of the dodecahedron, icosahedron, and octahedron that he had carved on top of it. Apparently, Sir Thomas was something of a mathematician who had this tomb built before either he or his wife died.
















This beautiful picture is looking west from the cloisters.














Of course, no ancient cathedral is complete without gargoyles. This is an example of a gargoyle mounted outside one of the doors of the cathedral.









We were unable to take photographs inside the Chapter House with its treasure: the finest one of only four surviving original manuscript copies of Magna Carta (1215). It was truly amazing to see it, still in pristine form, too, protected from our eyes (and hands) only by a single heavy piece of glass. (Here is a link to an image of the document.) Compare this to the copy of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights (1789), which traces its development to Magna Carta. The American cousins to Magna Carta are housed at the National Archives in Washington in a buiding impervious to military assault and employs sophisticated security to thwart vandals!

Well, our first day was over. Time to find our hotel room in the city of Bath.

University of Cambridge Science Festival

The University of Cambridge sponsored a Science Festival from March 15-26th. The festival included all branches of science (and mathematics, or maths as they call it here) and had events and lectures for all ages. It was wonderful to see so many families partake of this event. Our experience began on Tuesday, March 21, with a lecture by a very popular author and BBC personality (and Cambridge physicist) named Simon Singh. His topic was "The Mathematics of Luck, Risk and Gambling." Deb will be able to use several of his activities in her classes. On Saturday, we went to a lecture on mathematics and sports. The lecture hall was almost full and included school students on a field trip (on a Saturday!). Can you imagine doing that in the US?



Earlier on Saturday, March 25,we attended another event at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Rob Hunt gave a lecture titled "Maths at Work in the Real World." Again, we were surprised to find the lecture hall standing room only, with most of the crowd made up of school children (and their parents).








The Centre for Mathematical Sciences, pictured here, was our next stop on Saturday. Here (after lunch and playing with some problem-solving games) we heard John Barrow's lecture on "Maths and Sport." Again, it was very heartwarming to see how students of all ages were kept interested, by MATHS!









This is what the Centre for Mathematical Sciences looked like during lunchtime. These kids were having a blast playing games, figuring out puzzles, building shapes, etc. It was wonderful to see.










After our Maths and Sports lecture, we rode our bikes up to the Cavendish Laboratory (on J. J. Thomson Avenue!), home of the University of Cambridge Physics Department. The campus was FILLED with families doing hands-on physics experiments.














This car, called a Twike, was a big hit. It is powered partly by an electric motor and partly by pedaling. And there's no steering wheel, only a joystick. This model only costs £15,000 (about $27,000)!














Does this crude example of a bridge look familiar to Cincinnatians? Yep. It's a suspension bridge.










After Cavendish Laboratory, we biked across Madingley Road to the Institute of Astronomy (founded by Sir Fred Hoyle in the early '70s). Of course, it started to rain, so the telescopes were not in operation. However, we were able to see several of them. We also attended two lectures here.

The Northumberland telescope (ca. 1830) is housed here in this building.












Here is a close-up of the telescope. It reminded us of a smaller version of the Lowell Observatory telescope.












This is the observatory. During the fall/winter, it is open to the public every Wednesday. Unfortunately for us, it is closed for spring and summer (since it's light for so long in the day, night viewing can't start unitl very late).









This building houses the 36-inch telescope.













Here's one part of the telescope. What a contraption! Danny had to read how it works while I tried to understand by looking at the different parts. This is the base of the telescope tube, and the motor for turning it to follow the stars.













This is another part, including one of the many mirrors that reflect the starlight through the telescope.













And yet another part. The final imaging takes place at the base of this orange column.

















This tiny building holds what is called the Three-Mirror telescope. Pictures taken from this machine, although black and white, were very high quality wide-field images of the heavens.












Here is what the Three-Mirror telescope actually looks like -- not pretty at all. There is a mirror housed in each of the three levels of the frame you see here, with the focal point of the image in the very center of the contraption.










The end of the day for us consisted of attending two astronomy talks, one on recent research on whether the fine-structure constant (that controls electromagnetic forces) has actually varied over time, and another which was a slideshow of Hubble Space Telescope images of galaxies. A great day for science!

Saffron Walden

Deb, Beth and Aviva went on their second 'outing' today, Thursday, March 23rd. The town of Saffron Walden is about a 40-minute drive south of Cambridge and is filled with rich history and beautiful medieval houses.


The Cross Keys Hotel is a 16th century inn. It is one of only 14 inns currently open here.













As with most older towns, Saffron Walden has a Market Place. This drinking fountain lies in the center of the square (surrounded by cars, not wares). It dates from about 1862, but was restored in 1975 by John Bentley, who also designed the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster (see our London & Canterbury blog).














The Town Hall, pictured here, is a very stately building.












These cottages, on Museum Street, probably date from the 15th century.














These houses are collectively called 'The Sun Inn' and date from the 14th century. Now it houses a large antique shop.



Here is a close-up of the pargetting displayed in the gable above the main door of The Sun Inn.












Atop the hill overlooking Saffron Walden lies the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. It is one of the largest parish churches in Essex and was built between 1475 and 1525.













Here is one of the many beautiful stained glass windows in the church. All the stained glass (except for one small medallion) dates from AFTER the Reformation.













This picture only gives a hint at how big the church is. It is 183 feet long, and the spire rises 193 feet.
















The North Chapel of St. Mary's dates from 1526. The painting is a 200 year old copy of Correggio's famous 16th century painting of Madonna and Child with St. Jerome.












The rood screen, shown here, is beautiful. I especially liked the crucifix situated on top of the screen.
















This lovely cottage was on Bridge St./High St.











Here is a close-up of the pargetting on the face of the cottage. Pargetting like this is abundant throughout the town.

















This house, called 'The Close,' dates from the early 15th century. The interesting feature is the spider window (seen on the lower right where the red is).














The Youth Hostel, pictured here, is supposedly the finest unspoilt medieval building in Saffron Walden. It dates from the early 16th century and was a malting house.













Look at how beautiful (and old) these cottages are. There is pargetting on the facades of these houses as well.













The Eight Bells was where we finally stopped for lunch. It dates from the 16th century and is one of the inns still thriving.





The interior of The Eight Bells sports what appear to be the original cross beams.













Here the three of us are enjoying our lunch.













After lunch we climbed back up the hill (behind the church) and located the ruins of the Norman castle.









The castle was built in the 11th/12th century. It's amazing that so much of the exterior structure is still standing.














On the edge of town, right by the car park was this cute little pond. The three of us had another wonderful day exploring! The weather even cooperated: it was sunny (as you can tell) and not too cold.