Around Canterbury

Although I spent quite a bit of time at the cathedral while in Canterbury, I also had time to do a few other things in the town. The group I was assigned to for visiting the cathedral didn't have its time slot until noon, so during my free time in the morning I went to the ruins of St. Augustine's Abbey, about 10 minutes away from the cathedral. It was absolutely beautiful (I know I sound like a broken record by now) and I couldn't believe how deserted it was. I saw a total of 3 other people over the entire site during the hour and a half I was there. 

St. Augustine's Abbey was founded c. 600 CE! It was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII (in the 1530s). 

tower of Canterbury Cathedral as seen from
the Abbey grounds

museum/visitor centre on the Abbey grounds

I also really enjoyed getting the chance to just walk around Canterbury. It was fun looking in some of the shops and exploring!

I've noticed this in many places in England so far: many
random buildings have dates on them, demonstrating how
much more constructed heritage England has than Canada.
There are so many buildings like this that they aren't really
even 'special', just function as regular stores but have
the date stamp as a reminder of their antiquity.

Very popular store in England!

I couldn't get good pictures of this, but
there were Christmas lights strung across
the streets and lit decorations
on the lamp-posts and over some
of the streets, so it looked really
pretty in the dark!

My visit to the cathedral with my group from art history ended, and I had a few hours until the Evensong service began (we weren't obliged to attend, but most of us were very excited and made sure to go back for it!).

So, I found the Roman Museum. It's built over the excavations of part of a large Roman house under Canterbury, including several floor mosaics. The museum was right across from the cathedral but on a tiny, narrow pedestrian lane, and not very well advertised in the surrounding area, so this was another museum that I had basically to myself! There was one older couple that I saw near the beginning, but otherwise it was just me.

I feel like England just has so much more visible history- historic sites, ancient churches, museums, etc- that something that would be a major attraction in Canada, due to the lesser availability of such sites, receives much less notice in England. Think back to the number of times on this blog I've said 'I was the only one in such-and-such museum/historic site!'. There is such an abundance of fascinating historical sites here that it seems like they're almost taken for granted; there are so many amazing and well-known sites that other worthwhile ones, which are astonishing in their own right, get lost in the shuffle.

Lastly, here's a video I took while standing in the square outside the Christ Church Gate entrance to the cathedral grounds:

Bath: Bath Abbey

the Abbey at night

The weekend of Friday Nov 4th to Sunday Nov 6th, I went with 6 friends to visit Bath, a town a few hours away from Herstmonceux. It's named after the famous Roman Baths in the centre of the town, which take advantage of a natural hotspring. I'll be doing a few posts about our trip, but I wanted to begin with the incredible Bath Abbey.

We got very lucky with our hostel location- we were about a 2-minute walk from the central area of Bath, with the Abbey and the neighbouring Roman Baths as the focal point. There's been some form of worship on the Abbey site since 757 CE, when an Abbey Church was built as part of the Benedictine monastery in Bath. The Abbey has a great website if you want more photos or information; click here to see it.

We walked to the Abbey the first night we were in Bath, and then returned the next day so we could go inside. It was beautiful!

Below are two videos I took inside Bath Abbey. I didn't add the music; there happened to be someone playing the Abbey's organ at the time!

And lastly, here's a video from the square next to the Abbey. No music added here either; it's a street performer playing the fiddle (he can be seen near the end). I recognized the song immediately- it's an old British folk song called "Scarborough Fair" (famous chorus: "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme"), and I later found out it was popularized by Simon and Garfunkel.

Battle

Battle Abbey

On Friday (Oct 14) I didn't have any field studies scheduled, so I took the opportunity to use the Castle's minibus. It has trips every day, usually to local grocery stores, the village, the movie theatre, etc; but on Fridays it sometimes goes to nearby bigger historic towns, like Lewes and Alfriston (both of which I really want to go to) and Battle. Friday's trip was to Battle (about 20 min away from the castle). I spent a little while walking in the gardens adjoining Battle's Town Council and little museum, but spent most of my 2.5 hours there at Battle Abbey.

gardens at Battle

Battle Abbey was built in 1070 CE. The abbey and the town that grew up around it are called Battle because the abbey sits on the location of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 (yes, it was fought in Battle, not the nearby town of Hastings!). This battle is usually argued as the most important in British history: it was here that William the Conquerer defeated King Harold of England, thus formalizing the Norman invasion of England. The battle is famously portrayed on the Bayeux Tapestry, if that rings any bells. Supposedly, the high altar of the abbey is located on the exact spot where King Harold died.

The Abbey is actually a complex of several buildings, and its 100-acre grounds include the actual battlefield. The battle was fought on October 14th, 1066, and by chance I was visiting on October 14th! There was lots of preparation underway for a major re-enactment of the battle taking place over the following two days (see photo below):

tents going up on the battlefield

I had a great time exploring the abbey buildings and grounds by myself! It was quite quiet, and often I I couldn't see anyone else besides me in these beautiful surroundings.

note how the columns are taller and the ceiling higher
compared to the room 2 photos above this one:
they are both rooms on the ground floor of
the building, but are on a steep slope, so the ceiling
height changes to accommodate, making a flat
surface for the floor of the second story above these rooms.

here you can see the flat floor of the second story,
as mentioned in the caption a few photos above this one

There was also 2 great exhibits about the Battle of Hastings and the lives of the monks who lived here.

stairs up to one of the exhibits

view from window in the exhibit out to Rye's High Street

This is the view from outside the abbey gatehouse:

And right across the street: more cream tea! I didn't go in, but just took a picture of the sign :)

Exploring Glastonbury

After 4 hours on the bus Friday morning en route to Cornwall (beginning at 6am!) we stopped in Glastonbury to look around. I found the Glastonbury Lake Village Museum, a small and hidden museum (I was the only person there...) but with really interesting displays about the history and finds from the Glastonbury Lake Village, an Iron Age village built on swampy land in the middle of what was then a lake a few km from Glastonbury. Due to the wet conditions, lots of organic material (like wood) was preserved that would have been lost if the preservation conditions had been different- so it offers unique insights into how these people lived.

Then, I spent the rest of my time at the amazing Glastonbury Abbey.

This abbey became a ruin due to the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, after which its stones were reused to construct other buildings for several successive centuries. Today you can wander around the gorgeous ruins and also the really good interpretive centre, which explains the history of the abbey and the people who lived there.

Glastonbury Abbey interpretive centre

I also stopped by a bakery to buy a 'rock cake', a traditional English baked good. It tasted pretty much like a scone sprinkled with crystallized sugar to me; but whatever it's called, it was tasty!

[PS- scroll down for my brief intro post from yesterday about the Cornwall trip]