We didn’t have to go far last night; as the crow flies it’s only a little over 100 miles between Dover and Portsmouth, our first port. One of the tour choices was a trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. I went to Stonehenge about 15 years ago, before the visitor center was opened, so I decided it was worth visiting again. In addition Salisbury Cathedral is quite beautiful and should be seen.
Unfortunately it was raining when I got off the ship, but this is England so it’s not unexpected. We boarded our bus and were off on the hour-long drive to Stonehenge. Our journey took us through the New Forest, a misnomer really. The forest is not really a forest; it’s a national park that includes forest, pastureland and heaths. It was proclaimed a royal forest in 1079 by William the Conqueror because he liked to hunt and it was described in the Domesday Book in 1086. So much for being new! Now the area is home to a lot of fauna, especially ponies, cows, pigs, deer, sheep and donkeys who just wander around pretty freely.
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury plain in southwest England. Archaeologists in this century have found evidence around the site of human presence since around 10,000 BC. Today Stonehenge consists of an outer ring of fifteen stones, each about 7 meters tall and weighing 25 tons topped with horizontal lintel stones (not all of them still in place) and an inner ring of smaller stones weighing about 3 tons each. When it was built there were more than double the number of stones that are still in place. Tests have been done to determine where the stones came from and it has been determined that the outer ring came from near Marlborough, about 15 miles away, whereas the inner stones appear to have come from Wales about 140 miles away. Considering that Stonehenge was built between 2600 and 2200 BC I find it amazing that these monoliths were moved here. The rings are arranged so that they would align with the sunrise on the summer solstice. The purpose of the site is subject to some debate but most theories involve some kind of religious or healing rituals. I just find the place to be fascinating and intriguing, but then I’m always in awe of things built so very long ago without the benefit of modern technology. Now visitors have to stay outside a cordoned off area. On four days each year, the summer and winter solstices and the two equinoxes, people can approach the ring. The small visitor’s center offers an interesting display of tools that were used to carve the stones and artifacts found in archaeological digs around the site.
A few photos of Stonehenge
Naturally as we finished our walkabout the rain stopped and the sky cleared. The afternoon was gorgeous. Our second stop was in Salisbury to visit the Cathedral. This cathedral has a number of firsts and superlatives. It has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom and the largest cloister and cathedral close in the country. It has one of the oldest working clocks in the world dating to 1386. And it has one of only four remaining original copies of the Magna Carta and by all accounts the best preserved one. The main body of the cathedral was built in just 38 years from 1220 to 1258. Rather than being built from the bottom up it was built from east to west; so the main altar area was completed in about three years and sealed off so it could be used while construction continued. The roughly 400 foot spire has presented problems. Including its tower, it adds about 6,400 tons atop the building. In order to help support it buttresses, anchor irons and bracing arches were added over the years. In the mid 17th century Sir Christopher Wren devised a system of tie beams over the central nave and transept and these were installed and a fake ceiling was added to hide them from view. Our guide had us stand next to one of the tall pillars at that point and look straight up the pillar. It was amazing the curvature that occurred of these huge marble columns because of the weight pressing down on them. Our guide was very good and very informative, but honestly I felt like my head was going to explode with all the information it was trying to absorb. The cathedral organist was playing and I would have been happy to just sit and listen to the glorious music for a little while.
Salisbury Cathedral Facade
After our visit we all had lunch in the town. My friends and I opted for an Italian restaurant (not very British, I know!) and then it was time to head back to Portsmouth. It was a tiring day but very enjoyable nonetheless. By the time I got back to my cabin I had walked not quite 12,000 steps and my feet were telling me about it.
Dinner was at a table with the Guest Services Manager, the future Cruise Sales person, and a very nice couple from the UK. The gentleman is retired but evidently volunteers with a choir group and plays the organ with them. A few weeks ago he played in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, so I’m pretty sure he must not be a novice. It was a good day. Unfortunately when I got back to my cabin there was a notice that we had to move our clocks forward an hour (we’ll be 6 hours ahead of home) and I have to get up for an 8:30 pickup for tomorrow’s excursion. This vacationing is tiring!
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