Toward the end of my vacation, I took a day trip to Salisbury. I went to see Stonehenge. It was almost comically underwhelming. In fairness, it probably would have been very awe inspiring and intriguing if I was able to see it with just a few others around. Instead, I took a tour bus out of the city with about 50 other people, and we joined at least a thousand people at the Stonehenge site. The lines to get ticket at the welcome center and take the shuttles from the welcome center to the monument were so long that I missed my hourly bus back into town and had to wait another hour. It reminded me a little bit of my Niagara Falls experience. The site is impressive, but with so many people around, it is hard to enjoy it and hard to get good pictures, etc.
However, going to Salisbury was worth it just to see the Salisbury Cathedral! It was absolutely stunning. It is the tallest cathedral in Britain. Salisbury was not bombed during WWII so much of the city survived when other old cities suffered heavy losses. After the war, it was discovered that the reason Salisbury wasn't bombed was so that the tall cathedral spire could be a landmark for the German bombers to help them navigate to their destinations in other parts of England.
I love this passage inscribed on the baptismal font so that you can see your reflection while reading the truth!
One of the things I found interesting about all the churches I went into was how they were all functionally one room. There might be different sections so in theory different groups could gather, but because everything was open, it would be challenging to have different groups gather at the same time without distracting one another. For example, an adult Sunday School model or small group time would be very challenging to pull off. Yet, there is something beautiful in requiring the whole church to be together, unified.
Crusader tombs were so interesting!
Adjoining the cathedral is a beautiful, stained glass, octagonal chapter house. It houses one of the four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta (dated 1215 AD). This was one of the most exciting moments of the trip for me! This document is on par with the significance of the Declaration of Independence, if not more so. The Declaration was built off its groundwork.
The document is quite detailed and many of the specific points are now irrelevant, but several points still remain in English law or were the groundwork for current English law and therefore were also the groundwork for law in many former English colonies, including the United States. I couldn't take pictures of the document, but there may be pictures on the website if you're curious.
This structure (a market cross) authorized a market on location.
Temporary WWI grave markers displayed at the cathedral
After seeing the cathedral, I had a little time before my train to walk through the city. I found a small public park with a footpath which led over a marsh by boardwalk with a wonderful view of the cathedral spire...and more sheep.
I was glad I stopped in Salisbury to see some of this history!
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