Wells Cathedral Interior (i)

Normally when there isn’t a charge for churches, museums and the like we will give a suitable amount, as we did at Lichfield Cathedral.

Wells Cathedral doesn’t insist on a charge to enter but the way the approach is constructed makes it difficult or embarrassing to avoid. It leaves a small amount of resentment towards the institution and spoils the experience a bit.

Wells Cathedral is quite impressive inside though.

Ceiling:-

Ceiling, Wells Cathedral

Ceiling and altar:-

Ceiling and Altar, Wells Cathedral

Perhaps the most striking feature is a set of internal buttresses. These were inserted when the addition to the cathedral of a heightened tower and spire meant the walls started to bend, necessitating internal strengthening and bracing. Three are known as St Andrew’s Cross arches. The fourth side is braced by a choir screen:-

Wells Cathedral Internal Buttresses

Internal Buttresses, Wells Cathedral

I must have moved my camera on this shot though:-

Buttresses, Wells Cathedral

The Chantry Chapel:-

Chantry Chapel, Wells Cathedral

Inside the Chantry Chapel:-

Interior, Chantry Chapel, Wells Cathedral

 

Another ceiling, by the Chapter House I think:-

Wells Cathedral Ceiling

Low Altar and St Andrew’s arch:-

Low Altar + Buttresses, Wells Cathedral

 

Dumbarton 0-3 Cove Rangers

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 2/11/24.

Well, after the last two results this is disappointing.

Apparently we were all over them in the first half but their keeper made some great saves.

A different story in the second half where it sounds as if we were dismal.

Being a Sons fan is never easy.

Next week we’re at Kelty Hearts for the first ever time.

 

Wells Cathedral Exterior

Our second full day in Somerset was spent further south than Bath.

Our first stop was Wells mainly to have a look at the Cathedral, of which our first glimpse was from the town behind a pair of archways :-

Wells, Gateway + Cathedral

Cathedral frontage:-

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral Frontage

Wells Cathedral

Not Friday on my Mind 86: Hold Tight and Live It Up 121: Miss Marple TV Theme. RIP Ken Howard

Another of the most successful songwriters of the 60s, Ken Howard, has died. Together with his songwriting partner Alan Blaikley (whose death I noted here) he wrote hits for The Honeycombs, The Herd and, most notably, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. Their songwriting list is impressive.

This was a no 4 for the latter band in 1965.

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: Hold Tight!

Later in their career Howard and Blaikley went into writing TV Themes and musicals.

This is perhaps the most familiar of those tunes.

Vejle Symfoniorkester: Miss Marple TV Theme

Kenneth Charles (Ken) Howard: 26/12/1939 – 24/12/2024. So it goes.

Bath War Memorial

Bath’s War Memorial lies just down from the Royal Crescent at the junction of Royal Avenue and Queen’s Parade Place. It takes the form of a memorial wall with a Cross of Sacrifice before it:-

Bath War Memorial

The inscription on the cross reads:-

Bath War Memorial Inscription

To the left of the memorial is a plaque in memory of those who died in air raids on the city:-

Bath War Memorial Civilian Deaths

The first plaques on the left of the memorial wall are a Great War addendum plus a dedication to Forces, Civil Defence and Special PCs:-

Bath War Memorial

Continuing from left to right are the Great War Names:-

War Memorial, Bath Great War Names

The Great War Dedication, “They died for us, men of Bath who fell in the Great War 1914-1918” lies above the name plaques:-

Bath War Memorial Great War Dedication/

Middle Great War plaque (World War 2 dedication below):-

War Memorial, Bath

Final Great War plaque:-

War Memorial, Bath, Great War Names

Second World War Names:-

War Memorial Bath, Second World War Names

World War 2 Names, Bath War Memorial

War Memorial, Bath, World War 2 Names

Plaque to civilians and Service personnel:-

Bath War Memorial, World War 2 Dedication to Civilians and Service Personnel

Post 1945 dedication and names:-

Bath War Memorial, Post 1945 Dedication and Names

A Small Surprise in Bath

Since Bath is known for its Georgian architecture I had not expected to find any Art Deco buildings.

And I didn’t.

But what I did find was that some shops had Art Deco glass, in the door:-

Art Deco Style Door, Bath

and/or in the upper windows:-

Art Deco Glass, Bath

Bath, Art Deco Glass

Again here in both:-

Art Deco Style on Shop in Bath

The cross motif was repeated above the bakery’s door:

Art Deco Styled Window, Bath

 

 

Scottish Cup Time Again

In the Third Round of this year’s Scottish Cup Sons have been drawn at home to Alloa Athletic. To be played on the weekend of 30/11/24.

This is a bit meh as they’re a reasonably familiar opponent and we’ll be playing them three more times in the league too. In fact we’ll meet them twice in a week as we have an away game against them the previous Saturday.

Exhibits at Roman Baths, Bath

As well as the old Roman pools and archaeology the Roman Baths in Bath act as a museum with various exhibits to see.

Head of Sulis Minerva. The Roman name for the baths (and Bath itself I think) was Aquae Sulis – the waters of Sulis. Sulis was a local goddess and was merged by the Romans, as was their habit with foreign gods, with one of their own, in this case Minerva:-

Minerva, Roman Baths, Bath

A late Roman brooch probably Celtic in origin:-

Celtic Brooch, Bath, Roman Baths

Roman coins of various denominations:-

Coins from Roman Baths, Bath

I forgot to post this picture among the archaeological ones. This is the Frigidarium, the cold plunge pool bathers went into after the main baths:-

Roman Bath Pool, Bath

There were various illustrations around the walls of how certain things might have looked in Roman times. For some reason the humans depicted mainly seemed to consist of scantily clad women.

This is a video of the water inflow into the baths. (It needs tilting by 90 degrees. My video editing skills are non-existent):-

Limbo Lodge by Joan Aiken

Red Fox Books, 2000, 222 p.

After her adventures in The Stolen Lake, Dido Twite is trying to make her way home to England on the Royal Navy ship HMS Thrush. She gets diverted on to a smaller ship going to the island of Aratu to help look for Lord Herodsfoot, an envoy searching out games for the ailing King James III back in Britain. On board she meets the ship’s Doctor, Talisman van Linde, whom we later find is actually a woman, Jane Talisman Kirlingshaw, born on the island but miraculously preserved from a fall from a precipice by landing on a Dutch trading ship being swept past in a tsunami following an earthquake. Talisman was subsequently brought to Europe where she trained as a doctor. Her presence is essential to the plot as she is the daughter of its Sovran King John (once known as John Kirlingshaw) and his long dead island wife Erato.

On their way to Limbo Lodge, the palace where King John has lived kept almost in seclusion since Erato died, obstacles are put in the way of Dido and Talisman both, as the King’s brother Manoel Roy seeks to prevent Talisman succeeding as titular ruler since he desires the position for himself. The islanders they meet, who by and large are helpful, are presented sympathetically by Aiken, as are their beliefs.

This is the longest book so far of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase sequence but never drags. Aiken draws her characters sparingly but effectively.

 

Pedant’s corner:- “feel even dryer” (drier,) “where she had gown up” (grown up,) “Mr Ruiz’ residence” (Ruiz’s; plus other instances of Ruiz’,) “a trading schooner who will receive her cargo” (schooner which will receive.) “None of the group were aware of” (None … was aware…,) “to take anything with them Plates, bowls, baskets of fruit” (needs a full stop after ‘them’.)

Dumbarton 3-1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 26/10/24.

Two wins in a row! Great.

And against a barrage of media interest in our opposition, all but egging them on.

Their story could have gone two ways today after their administration on Monday and subsequent fifteen point deduction. Either it could have galvanised them or else they could have continued stumbling along as they have been this season.

Two from Jinky Hilton and a single from Ryan Blair did for them, though.

So we’re now second bottom (I note we would still have gone above ICT even without their fifteen point penalty) but we’re only five points off top spot. It’s a crazy division.

We’re at home to the league leaders next week. It doesn’t get easy.

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