Tuesday, March 25, 2008

While the Egyptians were building the pyramid, look what was happening in the UK...

Finally got out of London for a day (and paid through the teeth to do so) - we went to Sailsbury Cathedral and Stonehenge.

The Cathedral is gorgeous and, of course, has a great story attached. It was originally built ontop of a hill called Old Sarum but unfortunatly, the army had already baggsied the best bit with water and shelter and a view so the clergy had to constantly negotiate with the army. This didn't go down well, particularly when the army archers used the cathedral windows for archery practice.

So, the Bishop wrote to the Pope and asked to move it. They picked a plum spot by the River Avon in Sailsbury and all was smashingly good fun until, surprise surprise, they started to have disagreements with the wicked townspeople. So they dismantled their old cathedral and used the bricks to build a big wall around their cathedral so no-one could come in.... seems a little un-christian but hey, it's their call.

It's beautiful as you can see (well, beyond the trees anyway):
After wandering around Sailsbury, we caught a bus out to the plains, where the gorgeous stonehenge still stands. Actually, the whole area is full of archeological intrigue, with multiple barrows and stone circles. The whole area is basically chalk (it used to be ocean) and so the stones used for both stonehenge and general building tend to come for other areas. For example, Wales.

Stonehenge began life as a ditch (or hedge) - they can date it to around 950BCE because they dug it using antlers and they were left in the ditch. Basically this means that while the Egyptians were building pyramids, the native Brits were digging a ditch. Kind of puts a different perspective on the whole thing...

OOOh and the best bit... it snowed in London! Finally!!! I caught this momentous occasion on camera. It is a little bit long so apologies... but i must admit I was a little bit excited.