Journey Through Centuries of ‘Liquid History’ – England

Writing, to me,

is simply thinking through my fingers. 

Isaac Asimov

Dolphin Sundial

In commemoration of the Silver Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The gnomon, or pointer, of the sundial is cleverly and artistically formed by

 the tips of the two dolphins’ tails, which almost meet.

Designed by Christopher Daniel, bronze sculpture by Edwin Russell

As a sailor, I had to see Greenwich, home of the Prime Meridian, even if in England for only a few days.  While sailing, one lives and breathes by longitudes and latitudes.  Seeing the home of 00°00’00” seemed to complete a small part of my navigational education.

As a Shellback, I have crossed the other 00°00’00’’ on April 5^th, 2014 at 03:25am, while sailing from Mexico to French Polynesia.  To be exact at 00°00’000-S and 130°34’400-W.  While that was 00° latitude, or the Equator, I am now seeing 00° longitude, or the Prime Meridian. 

This place is also home of the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), previously called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

But let’s back up a bit and share from the beginning.

Warwick Square, Pimlico, Arrival:

View from Airbnb room in a large flat on Warwick Square, Pimlico

Comes with membership-only private green lush garden,

 great for picnics and relaxation

On National Heritage List, built circa 1843

Stayed with an artist from Chicago, married to a career diplomat

Leading to very interesting and enlightening conversations

I have difficulty remembering the difference between UK,

England, Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Isles.

This Venn diagram has helped me

The Neighborhood – All Walking Distance:

Westminster Cathedral

Largest Catholic church in England and Wales

Plaques of Archbishops of Canterbury, Primates of all England

Principal leaders of the Church of England

St. Augustine starting in 597 was the first, then St. Laurentius, 604,

St. Mellitus, 619, St. Justus, 624, S.t Honorius 627… 

Current Archbishop is the 105^th, going back more than 1,420 years!

The Blewcoat, school for the poor founded in 1688

A bluecoat school = type of charity school, named after distinctive blue uniform

This one, built in 1709 was used as a school until 1926

Today, exclusive boutique of renowned British fashion designer Ian Stuart

By appointment only, for a guaranteed personal experience

Old meets new = The Albert Pub, built 1862

Victorian features among modernism.  Undamaged during WWII

Hand etched frosted windows and wrought iron balconies all original

Named in tribute to Albert, Prince Consort, Queen Victoria’s husband

On the site of previous Bluecoat school

Only remaining building of that era on Victoria Street

Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace

Of marble and gilt bronze (now gold-leafed), same architect for both
Designed 1901, completed 1924
Always surrounded by throngs of people

Victoria Memorial with Buckingham Palace in background (Wikipedia)

Heavy presence of horseback riding guards in front of Buckingham palace

Keeping entrance free for when Changing of the Guard comes out

Many people disregard them, frustrating for the respectful spectator

Changing of the Guard
When Royal Standard flag is up, it means the Queen is on the premises
She left a little while later for her birthday party (she turned 92 that day)
The Royal Standard was lowered and replaced by the Union Jack
Unless directly against the palace’s fence, impossible to see inside courtyard
where the Changing of the Guard begins.  Can only see this street part.

Walked by famous Harrods store

In 1916, Harrods sold a kit described as

‘A Welcome Present for Friends at the Front’

It contained cocaine, morphine, syringes, and needles…

First non-medical use was military

‘Could make a coward brave, the silent eloquent,

and render the sufferer insensitive to pain’

Shrine to Lady Di and Dodi Al Fayed

Inside Harrods since Dodi’s father owned it at the time

Wine glass with last lipstick smudge and an engagement ring

A few Harrods’ facts:

• In 1898, Harrods debuted England's first "moving staircase" (escalator); the device was a woven leather conveyor belt-like unit with a mahogany and "silver plate-glass" balustrade. Nervous customers were offered brandy at the top to revive them after their 'ordeal'.
• They once hired a live Egyptian cobra to guard a pair of sandals worth £62,000 with diamonds and sapphires embedded in them. 
• In 1967, a baby elephant was bought at Harrods and given to Ronald Reagan. 
• Author A.A. Milne bought a teddy bear there for his son Christopher Robin, a bear that became famous as Winnie the Pooh.
• At night, Harrods is lit up by 12,000 light bulbs on the store’s façade and 300 bulbs must be changed every day.  Hopefully they’ve changed to LED by now…
  

Buxton Memorial Fountain in Victoria Tower Gardens

In commemoration to the emancipation of slaves in 1834

Specially the role of British parliament in abolition campaign

A bit of a dig at the USA which was dragging its feet on the issue

Victoria Tower Gardens

Super clean public park along the Thames River

Albert Memorial in Kensington Garden

Commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband

Took 10 years to build and cost $15M (2019 US equivalent)

The gilt bronze (now gold-leafed) statue of Albert was ceremonially seated 

three years after the memorial opened.

Very ornate, intricate, and attractive

Duck Island Cottage Orné in Saint James Park

Named after a leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less

Resident pelicans live here since donated by Russian Ambassador in 1664

Wellington Arch with Angel of Peace on Chariot of War

Original entrance to Buckingham Palace

Now victory arch proclaiming Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon

Largest bronze sculpture in Europe

Tate Britain Museum, Free for All:

Two women looking at Woman, 1951 by Reg Butler

Mother/daughter duo dressed in black

go well with this sculpture

The Squash, 2018, by Anthea Hamilton

Solo performer in squash costume inhabits galleries every day for six months.

Attracted by Native American philosophies

Form of this costume came from the squash Kachina of the Hopi culture.

Interested in the complexity of ways we read and respond to images.

I had never seen ‘live’ art at a museum before - interesting

Come, Helga, 2006 by Rebecca Warren

Unfired clay women, challenging accepted norms of the ideal figure. 

‘Gouged and kneaded, lumpy and messy, this work is both playful and expressive. 

The exaggerated proportions of their bodies invoke clichés

of the sexualized representation of women. 

However, the confrontational pose of the women is aggressive and confident,

complicating the way in which the work is understood.’

(We Are) Pro Choice, 2008 by Cathy Wilkes

Although the work is identified through its title with the right to abortion,

the installation enigmatically suggests other life choices faced by women. 

Two possible and contrasting life choices seem to be offered:

climbing up a career ladder vs.

staying at home passing time on a toilet or in the kitchen.

Reclining Figure, 1951 by Henry Moore

“My first sculpture where the space and the form are completely

dependent on and inseparable from each other.”

 Pelagos (Sea in Greek), 1946 by Barbara Hepworth 
Inspired by a view of a bay in Cornwall where
 two arms of land enfold the sea on either side.

The hollowed-out wood has a spiral formation resembling a shell,

a wave or the roll of a hill.  Hepworth wanted the taut strings to

express the tension she felt between herself and the sea, the wind or the hills.

Sun God, 1910 by Sir Jacob Epstein (side 1)

Celebration of uninhibited sexual expression in art

Seven feet tall (213cm) – massive carving

Primeval Gods, 1931-33 by Sir Jacob Epstein (side 2, verso)

Drawing on African influence, added 21 years later

Shows evolution of Sir Epstein

No entry – working studio at the Tate Museum - only seen through window

On the way to Greenwich:

Near Westminster Pier on the way to Greenwich

Big Ben (R), Houses of Parliament (House of Commons, House of Lords),

Westminster Palace – hidden by scaffolding on the backside

Working barge in foreground

Famous London Eye across from Westminster Pier

Westminster Pier coming back later that day

Outside the Neighborhood

Greenwich, Where East Meets West:

Cutty Sark, Launched 1869

Only 1 of 3 remaining composite construction wooden hull on iron frame.

Fastest speed 17.7 knots.  Fastest 24 hours: 363 nautical miles   

The Cutty Sark is the last and fastest British tea clippers. At 212 feet (65 meters) long by 36 feet (11 meters) wide, and weighing 963 tons, you find her as you disembark the Thames clipper river bus (more on that below), on your way to the Greenwich Royal Observatory.  Her first voyage (2/16/1870 to 10/13/1870) was via Cape of Good Hope, from London, bound for Shanghai with 1,305,812 pounds (592,300 kg) of tea or the equivalent of 47 double-decker busses! 

During her time at sea, she carried castor oil, coal, jute, mail, tallow, tea, and wool.  She eventually couldn’t stay competitive after steamers took up the trade and the opening of the Suez Canal.  

As a tea clipper, she completed eight trips (last one in 1877) to China but was never the fastest then.  When she was 14 years old and carrying wool, she made a trip from Australia to London in 83 days, the fastest by 25 days for that year!  Eventually she made that trip in a record 73 days!  

Beautifully refurbished after 2007 fire, reopened 2012

Thus far, fifteen million people have visited the Cutty Sark!

Nicknamed Nannie the Witch from

1791 poem Tam O’Shanter by Robert Burns. 

Flamsteed House (1676) red time ball – still dropped daily

At Greenwich you find the Flamsteed House where you can marvel at anything to do with time keeping, navigating, astronomy, etc. Named after John Flamsteed, the first Royal astronomer and resident.  The bright red Time Ball on top of Flamsteed House is one of the world's earliest public time signals, dispensing time to ships on the Thames and many Londoners.  

The Time Ball was first used in 1833 and still operates today. Normally each day, at 12:55, the time ball rises halfway up its mast. At 12:58 it rises all the way to the top. At 13:00 exactly, the ball falls, providing a specific time signal.  Today, the time ball does not operate if the weather is too windy.

The ball dropping enabled navigators aboard ships offshore to verify the setting of their marine chronometers.  Accurate timekeeping being essential to the determination of longitude at sea.

Although the majority are no longer operational, there are approximately sixty time balls left around the world.

A present-day version of this concept has been used since 1907 at New York City's Times Square as part of its New Year's Eve celebrations; at 11:59 pm, a lit ball is lowered down a pole atop the One Times Square tower over the course of 60 seconds, concluding at midnight, announcing the new year. 

I, along with many others put one foot on either side of the Prime Meridian, a well-marked line.  One foot in the East, the other in the West, symbolically.  At night, a bright green laser shines North across the London’s skies, following the same direction.  Via my travels, I have been lucky enough to put my feet on East and West (Greenwich), North and South (Pacific Ocean, Kenya and Uganda) as well as in two oceans, Indian and Pacific (Cape Agulhas, South Africa), at the same time…  

On the other side of the earth, at the perfect opposite of the Prime Meridian is 180° longitude or the International Date Line.

The Prime Meridian was chosen in 1884 by 41 delegates representing 25 nations.  France, however, reneged and kept their own Prime Meridian until 1914 (30 years later…), Brazil abstained, and the Dominican Republic voted against it.  Today, everywhere East-West on Earth is measured from here, everywhere North-South is measured from the Equator.  Greenwich was largely victorious because many ships, including US navigators, were already using charts with Greenwich-based measurements.

As well as the UK, the Greenwich Meridian goes through France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Ghana.  It doesn’t go through ANY southern hemisphere countries except for Antarctica.

Greenwich Park with view of Queen’s House and

Canary Warf, London’s commercial district

Look how evenly spaced folks are!

I just like the look of this corner pub – Greenwich Tavern

Greenwich Palace (or Palace of Placentia) used to be in this area and was the birthplace of Henry VIII and his daughters Mary I and Elizabeth I.  Henry VIII housed many mistresses here.  The large 183-acre park started as hunting grounds in the 1400’s.  It was one of the most important palaces in Tudor England.  Henry VIII was popular and would often throw huge parties and banquets.  In 1516, his Christmas party went down in legend, as the first ever masquerade party in England.

This is where Anne Boleyn was arrested on charges of adultery and taken to the Tower of London (jail at that time).  It was here that Sir Walter Raleigh was said to have thrown his cloak over a puddle so that Queen Elizabeth would not get her feet wet.

Around 1642-51, Cromwell (Lord Protector of England) tried to sell the palace without luck.  As an alternative, he converted the entire building into a biscuit factory and then briefly a prisoner of war camp.

Very little of this palace exists today, nothing above ground.  Greenwich Park is the oldest of the Royal Parks.  It now houses the University of Greenwich and the Royal Naval Museum.

Thames River and its Many Canals:

One of the many canals now used for recreation

The Thames River Clippers, part of the local Bus Service, are a great way to get around the London area.  You can beat the traffic and enjoy fantastic views along the water, in a calmer way than the hectic London land circulation.  To go to Greenwich for example, I started at the Westminster Pier, across from the famed London Eye and next to the legendary Big Bend.

These clippers have names such as Aurora, Cyclone, Galaxy, Hurricane, Jupiter, Mercury, Meteor, Monsoon, Moon, Neptune, Star, Storm, Sun, Tornado, Twin Star, Typhoon, and Venus.  Showing just how much influence water, weather and astronomy have in England.  The various clippers seat 62-222 people, making them a bit more of a personable experience.  Sometimes the pilots are very talkative and instructive, at other times, you don’t even know they are there.  

The Thames River is 215 miles (345 km) long, flowing in the south east part of England.  It is indisputably tied to the history of England.  It has supplied water for drinking and agriculture, fish for food, transportation of goods, and power for industries.  Control of the river therefore was very important hence why the Tower of London, Oxford University and the castles of Hampton Court, Windsor and Placentia were built along its shores.

• Julius Caesar crossed it in 54 BCE, then called The Tamesis for dark.
• In 1215, the Magna Carta (Charter of Rights or Great Charter of the Liberties or first constitution in Europe) was signed near it by King John.
• On its banks, conspirators gathered to plot the glorious revolution of 1688.
• Olympic 2012 torch floated down its water

However, until a sewage system was complete (taking 16 years and 13,000+ miles of sewer lines to complete) it was a cesspool and the House of Parliament (next to the river pictured above) adjourned proceedings the summer of the Great Stink of 1858 for the stench was so unbearable.  As an open sewer, it had disastrous consequences for the health of Londoners, including many epidemics of typhoid and cholera.  The project was so large, it was called one of the Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, along projects like the Panama Canal, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Hoover Dam.

An extensive network of canals linked The Thames to London, beginning in 1790 – it helped carry goods to/from London: cement, cheese, coal, malt, meal (cereals), timber, wool, etc.  In time, railroads rendered the canals obsolete – the river was reborn as a playground for the upper class.  Looking at the mostly pleasure crafts that navigate the river today, it is hard to picture how busy and crowded the river was with ships, barges, ferries, etc. 

Not long in terms of miles but mile for mile The Thames has witnessed more than its share of epochal events.  It is a river full of history that continues to make history.

The first lock appeared in the 17^th century, based, some say, on a design by Leonardo da Vinci.  It has 47 locks and they function as they have for centuries with manually operated gates and lock keepers who live beside the river.

Beachcombers or Mud Men aka Mudlarks: person who scavenges in the foreshore of a river for objects that could be sold – first considered an activity of ill repute in 18-19^th century London – involving alongside children, river pirates and smugglers.  

First stemming from need and desperation, now archaeologists / history enthusiasts with permits in hand, dig the mud of The Thames River for ancient treasures.  Back then poor urchins foraged for coal, rags, rope, pieces of boat to sell, now it’s about history and preservation.  Its thick dark mud is anaerobic, a great protector of history.  Today mudlarkers find peace, solitude, and fragments from 2,000 years of human history at low tide on The Thames foreshore.  Searching for history flotsam and jetsam emerging from the Thames mud daily.  The river’s mud is a tangible link to the past and an oasis of calm in a chaotic city.

Example of found items: anchors, bombs, bones, buckles, buttons, clay pipes (single use), coins, combs, crockery, dice, dress hooks, fragments of Roman heating systems, keys, lacework, leather shoes, locks, love tokens, pewter soldiers, pilgrims’ badges, pins, shells, stone tools, thimbles, trader’s tokens, trumpet, Tudor bricks, etc.

Post sewage dump, the river has been cleaned up and revitalized and now boasts 125 species of fish, with salmon, otter, and trout returning.  England won the coveted Thiess International River Prize - a stunning river restoration achievement.  It has its best water in 150 years thanks to 400 natural habitats created to allow wildlife to return and water to be purified naturally.  With exponential population growth however, it is facing an uphill battle to contain the next disaster.

‘Mississippi is 2,320 miles of muddy water, but the Thames is 215 miles of liquid history.’  How a riverbed became the world’s longest most varied archaeological site in the world. 

Windsor Castle, Principal Residence of Queen Elizabeth II:

'Round' Tower of Windsor Castle

Longest and largest occupied palace in Europe

Built in 11^th century after the Norman Invasion

St George’s Chapel, 1475-1528 (part of Windsor Castle)

Considered supreme achievement of Perpendicular Gothic

Location of the marriage between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Closer in size to a cathedral

Queen’s beasts at top of each column

The Queen’s beasts were taken down in 1682, restored and reinstalled in 1925.  They represent fourteen real, imaginary, or mythological creatures.  They are heraldic statues representing the genealogy of Queen Elizabeth II, the Royal Supporters of England:

The Black Bull of Clarence, The Black Dragon of Ulster, The Collared Silver Antelope of Bohun, The Falcon of York, The Golden Hind of Kent, The Greyhound of Richmond, The Lion of England, The Panther of Jane Seymour, The Red Dragon of Wales, The Unicorn of Edward II, The White Hart of Richard II, The White Lion of Mortimer, The White Swan of Hereford, The Yale of Beaufort.

Famous for its intricate fan-vaulted ceiling

Described as a strong fortress, an immense citadel, or a splendid castle; forty monarchs, including the current one, have called it home.  With 300 fireplaces, 450 clocks and 1,000 rooms, over 500 people live/work at the castle today, maintaining it as both a tourist attraction and a functioning royal home. 

Just how did the castle become a tourist attraction?  In 1992, a fire started during renovation and more than 100 rooms burnt.  To save money, the castle wasn’t insured, and headlines ran in British newspapers calling for the Queen to pay the $102M US (2019 value) from her private income.  In the end, a deal was struck whereby the government paid for the repairs in exchange for the opening of Windsor Castle to the public after five long years of restoring.

Interesting facts:

• Those 450 clocks take 16 hours to move ahead one hour in the spring and 18 hours to move back 11 hours in the fall.
• At state dinners, each pat of butter is individually hand rolled and stamped with the Royal Crown.
• The Royal Library has its own librarian taking care of a priceless collection of over 300,000 books, prints, and drawings.  Anything from Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael, Rubens, Rembrandt, to Van Dyck and more.
• Built in 1066, the first monarch to move there in 1110 was Henry I.  More than 900 years of continued occupation by the Royal family of England makes it the longest (and largest) occupied palace in the world.  
• When Prince Albert passed away, Queen Victoria was so distraught that she kept the castle in a state of mourning for many years, endearing her the nickname of the Widow of Windsor.
• During WWII, the royalty made the general public believe that they were in Buckingham Palace, but they were hiding in Windsor Castle.  
• The Long Walk is a double-lined avenue of elm trees that is 2.65 miles (4.3 km) long and 240 feet (73 meters) wide – a grandiose entrance to the palace.
• Queen Mary’s doll house shows what castle’s life was like in the 1920’s.  It is a 1:12 (one inch to one foot) replica so perfect it contains operative light fittings (electricity), running water, a functioning lift, engines that work (vehicles and lawnmower) and the miniature bottles in the cellar are filled with real wine or spirit.  Well-known writers (A. Huxley and A.A. Milne for example) wrote special short stories for the house’s library, they too, were bound in scale size…
• King George IV used tremendous amount of wealth (thought to be $1.2B US in 2019 value) to redecorate the entire castle in extravagant Baroque, imitating or competing with Louis XIV of France.  Most of what we see in the castle today, comes from that era.
• St George’s Chapel is the spiritual home of the Order of the Knights of the Garter (all the way from 1348), the highest order of chivalry or highest British civil and military honor obtainable.  Members are chosen personally by current monarch for services rendered.
• Ten monarchs are buried in St George’s Chapel

Stonehenge, Perfect Geometry?

On our way to Stonehenge

Green springtime (here third week of April)

No need to even name this famous archeological site

What is hard to is take a picture without people…  But patience paid off

A bit of a closer look from different vantage point

Some 180 generations have come and gone since Stonehenge appeared, what a long history!  To put that in perspective, Stonehenge popped up 400 years before the Egyptian pyramids (often thought as older), but at that time, the Egyptians, unlike the ancient Britons, could write and India already had a sewage system.  Stonehenge was not the first monument of this landscape.  The area had been important to Neolithic people for hundreds of years before building work started.  

Neither Merlin nor Druids nor Romans built it as is sometimes mistakenly said.  Celtic relatives (Indo-Europeans) built this amazing structure.  Even if today one can only see about half of the original creation, it is a sight to behold.  As great as it is, however, it was just one of 4,000 such circles around the British Isles.  Stonehenge was not the largest, that title went to Avebury, but it was the most architecturally sophisticated.  

Construction of Megalithic Stonehenge is perfectly geometric

Its timeline is difficult to assess.  Depending on who you read, it seems to be a moving target.  Suffice it to say that it took more than 1,500 years to complete.  The very first cursus (monument) was built around 31^st BCE, the last around 16^th BCE.  

It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World (along with the Great Wall of China and the Leaning Tower of Pisa).

Interesting facts:

• When visiting, one only sees a small portion of Stonehenge where the circle of stones is located.  The whole site is 7.5 times the size of Central Park in NY or 2,600 hectares.  
• Charles Darwin concluded, in 1880, that earthworms were largely to blame for Stonehenge’s stones sinking.  Some of the stones are buried more than 7 feet (2.1 meters) in the ground.
• More Roman artifacts (upwards of 1,500) were found at the site than Medieval artifacts, leading archaeologists to believe it was more often used during the Roman period.
• Made with two types of stones:  Large sarsens that come from 20 miles (32 km) away and smaller blue stones that come from 140 miles (225 km) away.  The average sarsen weighs 25 tons, the heaviest 40 tons!  It is estimated that it would’ve taken 500 men to pull one of these stones and an additional 100 to stand it up.
• There are 300 communal burial mounds within short distance of Stonehenge.  Their locations indicate it was important to be within sight of Stonehenge.
• It is said that Stonehenge might have marked the unification of Britain.  It would explain the size of the project and the distance from where the stones that were used to build it came from.
• The giant 3-stone arches are called trilithons
• Runner Michael Johnson ran around it with the Olympic torch in 2012.
• Climbing the rocks was allowed until 1977!
• Chiseling a piece of the rocks as a souvenir (chisel provided) was allowed until early 20^th century!  Gasp!
• There are numerous replicas of Stonehenge around the world.  I personally visited one in Washington State, USA.  
• Few theories as to what Stonehenge was:
• Healing center, sanctified for purification
• Religious rituals
• Astronomical observatory
• Burial site                                                                                        

Definition of Henge: Prehistoric monument consisting of a circle of stone (Stonehenge) or wooden uprights (woodhenge)

Lacock, Going Back in Time:

No satellite dishes, phone lines, electric cables

One of the oldest villages in England and almost entirely

owned by the National Trust

As if time stood still

On way to The George Inn, Public House from 14^th century

Where we had lunch

View from the church

Such interesting architecture

So well kept

Ancient vine

Harry Potter’s fans, this is the place for you!

His parents’ house – Lily and James Potter

Sign of the Angel aka Budleigh Babberton

Where Horace Slughorn hides from the Death Eaters

Cantax Home

Better known as Horace Slughorn’s house

If you are a die-hard Harry Potter fan, this place will mean much more to you than it did me, but it was still very beautiful and worth seeing.  It would be so nice if some of our own cities lacked satellite dishes, phone and electric lines, as well as large advertising billboards and signs everywhere. 

Bath, Somerset, Recreation Grounds of the Rural Elite:

Avon River fronted by nice weir

Palladian style Pulteney Bridge, 1774

One of only four bridges in the world to have shops

 across its full span on both sides

Others are Bridge of Gold in Florence, Ponte Rialto in Venice

and Krӓmerbücke (Merchants’ Bridge) in Erfurt, Germany

Based on unused design for the Ponte Rialto in Venice

Avon River looking towards the modern curved weir, built 1968-72

Bizarre Bath – I died laughing

Theater advertising

King’s Circus (ring) of 30 homes – 3 sets of 10 around circular garden

Roundabout covering ancient water cistern

with magnificent 160-year-old plane trees at center

Not far from the Royal Crescent (1/2 a circle)

Thought to represent the Sun and the Moon

The Circus is an amazing architecture, full of details.  Built from 1754 to 1766, it is adorned with 528 art and science themed Doric friezes of anything from acorns, to serpents or nautical themes.  No two alike.  The building’s designer admired druids and thought of them as creators of prehistoric stone circles.  Tall narrow houses around a circular space whose diameter, at 318 feet, deliberately matches that of Stonehenge.

Some of the 528 Doric friezes at the King’s Circus

Thought to be the best address in Bath, many famous people claimed the Circus as their place of residence.  Today, Nicolas Cage has home #9, Arthur Phillips who found Sydney in #17.

Interestingly, the fronts of the houses all match but the backsides are very different from one another.  No unity, all question of style and money take over at that point.  

Bath Abbey, present abbey built 1499-1615

Founded in the 7^th century, reorganized and rebuilt many times after that.

Windows occupy 80% of the wall space!

Like the Saint George Chapel at Windsor Castle, it has fan vaulted ceilings

Bath Abbey close-up

Angels ascending or descending Jacob’s Ladder to Heaven

First King of England, King Edgar the Peaceful, was crowned here in 973.

Jane Austen spent some time in Bath (1801-1806) with her family.  Bath is where two of her books are set (Northanger Abbey and Persuasion).  Most of the people visiting the same day I did were Jane Austen’s fans, all wanting to see the places where she lived or the places she mentions in her novels.

Settled in a river valley, our bus approached over beautiful rolling meadows filled with grazing animals or crops.  Even on a gloomy rainy day, the fields are very luxuriant.  

It was the Las Vegas of its days.  Streetlights, hard liquor, actors, musicians, painters, and of course the hot baths.  By mid-late 1700’s, Bath’s combination of busy social halls, gleaming new buildings, and ancient thermal springs made the city the most fashionable vacation spot in England.  Bath was a sterling example of what we now call urban renewal.  It was also the marriage market mecca for rural damsels.  Balls were held twice/week with 800-1200 guests (with today’s fire code, only 500 people would be allowed in the same space) all vying for attention.

The city remained society’s favorite for fifty years during the long winter season.  Anything less than a six-week visit branded the visitor a person of no significance whatsoever.  Jane’s family spent that amount of time when they visited.

Unlike today, with walk-in closet full of countless garments, the most affluent women of the day only owned six dresses and changed their look with ribbons.  They were obsessed with appearances and most everything was bought on credit.  

Dresses were so large and cumbersome that the ladies had to stand up to pee over a pot hidden under their dresses.

Tubercular or Consumptive Chic was in vogue when 25% of people’s death were due to tuberculosis in Europe.  ‘Between 1780 and 1850 there is an increasing aestheticization of tuberculosis that becomes entwined with feminine beauty.’  Carolyn Day

Tuberculosis enhanced the things that were already established as beautiful in women: thinness, pale skin, lack of appetite, fine silky hair, dilated pupils, rosy cheeks, red lips and a slump posture, even though these were mainly characteristics of low-grade fevers.  People in Bath didn’t escape these strange beliefs.  

‘Consumption, I am aware, is a flattering malady.’ 

Charlotte Brontë, 1849

Although tuberculosis was an epidemic across classes, and genders, it became associated with respectable women.  Part of this was a belief in being born with an inclination to the disease, which could be triggered by too much dancing (in women) or mental exertion (in men).  

When it finally fell out of fashion (mostly because science finally figured out what truly causes tuberculosis), it quickly became associated with lower and poorer classes.  Go figure!

Interesting fact:

Bath was where, for the first time, a sender paid for stamp at this post office – prior to that the recipient paid for it.  

Between, the Thames River, meandering canals, duck-filled ponds, and Bath’s rain and healing hot springs, it was nice to glide through a 'journey of liquid history'.

Next - ALASKA