Saturday, September 26, 2009

Part 3: Churches Abbey's Cathedral's

Cleeve Abby was my favorite church site to visit. 
It was founded in the late twelfth century,although the church it self was destroyed in 1536, the cloister is very much intact.I wonder... if Anne of Cleeves(one of King Henry the 8th's wives)has anything to do with this Abbey or the area???





These tiles under glass: Cleeve Abbey in Washford, Somerset, England.........

Remember the movie "Kingdom of Heaven"with Liam Neeson and Orlando Bloom........... 

Click link below to review movie
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320661/
The movie is based around the time of King Richard 1, during the 3rd Crusade... 
These tiles below are from that period, showing King Richard fighting Saladian. 
You can see the whole story from that period if you watch the movie "Kingdom of Heaven"
...this Abby below is from that time!

The gate house.
the wall

This room had angel's made of wood, all away around it off the ceiling, that date back to the period(1200)
in very good condition.
See Les. in a secret stairway.


I am in a narrow hall way,that has art work on the walls, drawn by a monk named Thomas from that time.




We drove a long way to visit J.'s home town of Witchurch,Alkmunds Church, this is the church were J.was baptized.
The pipes to the organ,that J.used to sing in the Choir as a boy.


The baptism vessel that was used to baptize J.when he was a baby.

Not far from the church was this bit of old road/wall, goes back to the time of Christ.

This very old church was in Somerset as well,it had the oldest gravestone that we could make out the
  year of 1051
note the year on the tomb 1051
High Minehead Church On top of the hill in Minehead we came across this church.
Were a nice preacher lady,and her daughter showed us around.
This is Minehead Hill can you see the church steeple half way up?It took us almost 2 hours to get to this point,we made it about 3/4's of the way up!
Way up over looking High Minehead,and all the thatched cottages.
Cobble stone walk
Ste. Bridget,Dyserth

this is Ste.Bridget's Church in Dyserth Wales..
it had some pretty old grave stones here,
 some dating back to 1400's.
Have you ever gone to grave yards just to look at the dates and name...
interesting. the round stone had a knights helmet on it,the writing on it has gone.

Some of the trees and vines looked just as old.

The Church of John the Baptist,in Chester England.
There was a skit being put on,about the Medieval days.

This wall was built only 74 years after Christ's death...wow!
L. is standing beside an Amphitheater in Chester were once Christians were thrown to the lions or forced to fight gladiators.It was much deeper and wider at one time.
Remember the goddess Nemesis???
That's her.... jumping on her alters...

This is Chester Cathedral,the dark parts of these old buildings is the soot from the coal burning chimneys of long ago.Today most do not use coal to heat there homes and buildings...but we have seen some coal trucks delivering coal.
This cathedral had scary gargoyles all around it.Stained glass was on every church we saw...big or small.
This is a mosaic of the mourning of Sarah,Abraham's wife...

Another mosaic,that bears my grandsons name
In Chester Church there was a group of singers they sounded like Gothic singers...
you can make them out behind the ornate wooden choir area.
There singing was so amazing we just sat in awe of them, to hear them gave us goose bumps!
Thats it for the tour of churches in Wales/England

9 comments:

  1. We so enjoyed, as you obviously did, all these old places & structures on our visits there. History is so rich & plentiful ... Have a great weekend. TTFN ~Marydon

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  2. Oh Gracie what a wonderful post, it looked amazing there. Cleeve Abby oh my goodness, the church gate entrance was so wonderful, how great it must have been to walk under it's arches, and inside the church the huge angel perched up behind the benches oh what a site. The stained glass windows, for you to see these images of the church with your own eyes how wonderful a site for you. Wow girl its gorgeous. Thank you so much for sharing these images, I will probably never be able to see them first hand and I am so blessed that you shared them today. Have a great Sunday.

    Blessings,
    Heidi

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gracie, thanks for stopping over today, I am so glad you did. Yes please do tell anyone who would like to stop over, I enjoy a good visit and they are welcome to come by. Have yourself a great Sunday.

    Blessings,
    Heidi

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  4. Your pictures are simply wonderful! The churches are amazing; especially all the stained glass windows. Such history! So glad you are sharing these with us. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful week.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  5. G'morn, Gracie ~ We have been to been a few times & love each visit.

    TY for your sweet wishes on my birthday. That Sherry is something else again.

    Have a beautiful week. TTFN ~ Marydon

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh!!! I loved all your castle photos....but wow! these of the churches and cathedral are gorgeous too!

    I love the stained glass! And I am always in awe at the architecture of these beautiful structures!!! How in the world did they build these huge, amazing buildings!!!

    and what a wonderful little path overlooking High Minehead! Love the thatched homes!

    Love the captions with each photo...haha especially "nemesis" jumping around!

    The decorative details of Chester cathedral looks so lacy! and love the mosiacs and even the dark soot from the coal dust looks amazing!

    and I can imagine the choir! Wow the woodwork is fantastic!

    Thanks for sharing!

    Blessings & aloha!
    (I think I have maxed out on my usage of exclamation points!)

    also thank you for stopping by and commenting... :o)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just a quick note to let you know...
    I finally put an updated post up at my place... and I have a blog hug (aka award) for you there...
    even if you dont pick it up...just know that I was thinking of ya :o)

    Blessings & Aloha!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hiya Gracie thanks for stopping over and visiting me, and your wonderful comments about my sketching, I think it is so relaxing to draw a place to go and get away. Have a great day.

    Blessings,
    Heidi

    ReplyDelete
  9. Such a great and beautiful place. Thanks for sharing.
    Cheers.
    Regina

    ReplyDelete

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