England's Fair and Pleasant Land
Day Five: From the Ancient to the Ridiculous to the Sublime
We came to Withypool to see the Tarr Steps, and we got up early to hike there before breakfast.
The Tarr Steps are an ancient Exmoor landmark; a primitive footbridge across the River Barle, more than 1,000 years old, purportedly dating back as far the 900's.
We hiked upstream along the forested bank of the river. Dead silence except the sound of the water, which is apparently a serious trout stream in season.
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| This is a seriously green forest; everything is covered in this moss .... |
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It's kind of cool to walk across something this old .... |
Every hundred years or so the structure is disturbed, or even swept away by floods, but the locals rebuild it using the same rudimentary techniques and the same ancient stones.
It was an energetic hike that earned a hearty breakfast back at the Royal Oak.
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| Maybe the largest (and tastiest) kipper I've ever eaten ... |
I'm not sure why we needed to drag all this stuff up into our room for only one night.
As we were leaving the Royal Oak, this pheasant crossed the road, chasing after a plump female who had just disappeared into the brush.
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| He won't be so bold in the Autumn, which is prime hunting season in Exmoor .... |
A few miles down the road, we came upon this irresistible sign.
We weren't expecting the Westminster Kennel Club, but even so, what we came upon was pretty ridiculous -- a bunch of small campers and station wagons and various motley lurchers and other nondescript hounds. Maybe we got there too early ....
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| Best in show? |
We also hoped to see some of the wild (and endangered breed) Exmoor ponies that roam the moor, but the closest we came was the Exmoor Pony Center, which is run by a trust named after Moorland Mousie, a well-known (in 1929) children's book about an Exmoor pony of that name.
They run a pony orphanage and adoption center, taking in stray ponies and matching them with families who will take care of them.
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| They are indeed cute little horses, but we had no room in the car to take one home with us .... |
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| And besides, Exmoor is a pretty beautiful place for a horse to hang out .... |
The region also has the usual collection of really narrow, limited visibility roads ...
some of which seem more like tunnels ....
The old bridges these roads took us over were really marvelous.
By mid-afternoon, we left the countryside and arrived at Wells, England's smallest city, and home to the celebrated cathedral.
Built between the 12th and 14th centuries, and said to be the first Gothic Cathedral built in England, it's a magnificent piece of work -- there are more than three hundred statues on this front facade.
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| Not one of the 300 statues .... |
The interior is a phenomenal piece of 14th century engineering. When they added this large central tower, its massive weight quickly threatened to collapse the entire structure.
William Joy, an engineering genius, figured out how to save the building by designing and installing the unique Wells Cathedral "scissors arches" -- structures that are to be found nowhere else in the world.
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| They may look like the work of a modern architect, but these scissors arches are almost 700 years old! |
The stained glass windows are particularly impressive.
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| This "Jesse Window" depicts the entire line of Jesus's descent from Jesse, father of King David. |
Wells Cathedral also boasts two of the oldest working clocks in the world, both dating back to the mid-1300's. They're both fascinating to watch.
The Outside Clock is a bit simpler.
Here's a link to a YouTube of the Outside Clock in action.
The Inside Clock is a really complex object. The hours are struck by a character named Jack Blandifers (no one one knows why that's his name ...) who sits high above and to one side of the Inside Clock.
The Inside Clock itself reflects the cosmology of its times, depicting the earth at the center of the universe.
The action of this clock is quite exciting, with knights jousting on the hour and half-hour. As you'll see in this YouTube, one of the knights has been having his head knocked off continuously for more than 600 years, and you'll also see Jack Blandifers striking his bell.
For all its architectural richness, Wells Cathedral remains a church, and since it was time for Evensong, we decided to stay for the service.
Photography is not permitted during the service, but here are photos I snapped of the quire (archaic church lingo for choir -- the area where the service took place) and the organ.
These are some of choristers hurrying to their appointed places.
Everyone wears different colored robes depending on their status and function. We chatted with the black-robed Canon -- an Anglican priest -- and a maroon-robed verger (non-clergy) who told us he was a NY Jets fan!
The Cathedral boys choir has been singing since the Tarr Steps were first built -- documented since 909 -- and the Cathedral Vicar's Choir dates back to the 1100's. In 1348, Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury established on-campus housing for the members of the Vicar's Choir -- still in use today -- so as to remove the men from the worldly temptations of urban life in medieval Wells.
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| This is a stock photo; the girls did not sing during the service we attended. Only boys and men. |
The service itself was the usual High Church Anglican -- we're not converting -- but the Choir was magnificent. Truly sublime. It's regarded as perhaps the best choir in England, and one of the finest in the entire world.
Take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF41IycOmFQ
As we left the Cathedral, it was fun to watch these angelic choirboys being just boys again on the Cathedral lawn after the service.
Speaking of Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury, he was no slouch when it came to making sure that the Bishop's Palace was a fit match for his dignity.
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The moat apparently had no security function; it was strictly to demonstrate the Bishop's power and prestige. |
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Good to be the Bishop ....
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Once again, we were serenaded by a local band as we left town.
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| Pretty good sounds! |
And then we were off to Bath, our destination for the evening, where as it turned out, our lodgings were located right at a felicitously named corner!
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