Much Wenlock

Much Wenlock Priory

After Wroxeter (scroll down for my post on Wroexeter), we arrived at Much Wenlock. We visited the ruins of the priory there, and also had free time in the town itself. Like all of the other ruined abbeys we’ve seen so far, this one was ruined during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in 1536-8. Although ruins are beautiful in their own way, I always wonder what these sites would have looked like if they hadn’t been so vengefully destroyed.

During our free time in the town, I visited the local church. It was gorgeous and I found the burial place of a possible relative! We had arrived during a big festival in the town focused on the Olympics, which created a fun atmosphere to just explore the town in. Since everyone was swarming around the outdoor markets stalls and stages outside, the church, in the centre of the hubbub, was actually deserted. A nice change of pace!

Much Wenlock church

another Smyth!

I'm writing this post from London! For current posts about what my mom and I are up to in London, click here: http://www.thistleshamrockrose2011.blogspot.co.uk/. Meanwhile, I'll be doing double posts on this blog (Hanna at Herstmonceux) for the next few days until I'm caught up. Scroll down to see today's first post, about Wroxeter Roman City.

Canterbury

Canterbury Cathedral

Last weekend, we had a full-day field study to Canterbury. It was a great day and we got to see several amazing sites! Below are captioned photos. Sorry for the lack of background information- I'm a bit pressed for time today. Today consisted of: breakfast, morning lecture, digging 10-5, meeting, dinner, homework, and then a double packing job. We are leaving for our end-of-term trip on Saturday at 4:45 am, so I needed to pack as much as possible tonight so that I can get to bed early on Friday! At the same time, I'm packing up everything else for when I leave on Thursday the 19th (we get back to the castle at 10pm on the 18th, so again won't have much time). All's going well and tomorrow's post will have lots of photos from this week's dig. :)

Also, I posted about Canterbury Cathedral and St. Augustine's Abbey last fall, so if you want more detail or more photos, check those posts!

St. Augustine's Abbey

The abbey's infirmary, containing burials, is now
a soccer field for the abbey school!

Westgate Museum and Tower in Canterbury

View of Canterbury and the cathedral from Westgate Tower

Canterbury Castle (Norman). Unusually, it was free to enter and explore.

View of the cathedral from nearby hill in park

cathedral entrance

Canterbury Pilgrim's Hospital

Battle Abbey

Last week we went on a field study to Battle Abbey. We got to have a lecture there as well as a seminar discussion, which was great. It was amazing to be learning about the Battle of Hastings (1066) on the actual field where it took place. I also visited the abbey independently last fall, so please see my post from then if you want more information! The photos below are unedited and not amazing, but hopefully will give you the idea.

We're partway through our medieval excavation this week and all is going well. Long days and work to do in the evenings but all going well so far. I'll do a proper post about it later! :)

Bath Abbey

Bath Abbey is right next to the Roman Baths in the heart of Bath. This was the first time I had the opportunity to go inside, and I was very excited! We spent over an hour wandering through the abbey, admiring the architecture and reading all the memorial plaques set into the walls and floors. We talked with one of the volunteer abbey guides, who was telling us that some of the plaques had typos- his favourite was a lawyer's marker, which was supposed to read "... live forever in blessed immortality", but was written as "... live forever in blessed immorality" instead!

the organ

possible relatives buried in Bath Abbey?!