Tuesday 15 July 2014

Helen's Visit: St Albans Cathedral with friends.

After a nice morning and lunch at the Rose Gardens, we then set off to see St Albans Cathedral.



This was on Fanny's list of places to visit and we were more than happy to take her there.  It was also very lovely to have our friend Jocelyn with us as well.  The more the merrier!  Nothing is better than sharing things with friends.


Helen & I pose in front of the Cathedral.



It is a magnificent building.


Lots of photos of the architecture





What a fantastic place to visit and so close to us.


Helen and I discuss what we want to see inside.



This looks interesting...steps leading somewhere...


....they were very narrow and the doorway was very low...they must have been small people as well.



Helen & I stop and chat...that is something she does like to do as I have discovered.



Oh look Henry...


It says you can get Pilgrim Badges. Helen says.

Mum will get you one of those as a souvenir if you would like one.  I tell Helen.


Really Henry?  She won't mind buying me one?  Helen asks me.

Of course not Helen.  I reply.


We look at some of the relics inside these old cupboards.





We walk round the rest of the Cathedral look at all the various altars and things.








We stop briefly on our walk round, not realising we are standing in front of a treble clef...seems Mum always finds some 'music' symbol somewhere to make her smile.


So where shall we go next?  Helen asks.

We we could go and look at the strange blue statues.... I suggest.


These strange blue statues were made by a local children's group. 

In the 1500s the original Nave Screen statues were removed by Henry VIII's knights as part of the dissolution of the monasteries.  The plinths remained empty until 2006



We are not really sure quite what we thought of them....


They are a little odd...



These wall paintings scattered around the Cathedral date from the early 13th Century and were used as altar-pieces.  Sadly they were hidden under whitewash after the Reformation in the 16th Century and were not rediscovered until 1862.  Unfortunately removing the lime-based white wash destroyed a lot of the colour and detail.  



One of the magnificent lead light windows.


A rather nice stature in comparison to the blue ones!

Helen thinks it was all very interesting and can't wait to tell her Mum about the Blue Statues!  Strange as they were, they were rather fascinating...  The history of the Cathedral dating back to the time of the Normans was of course something she could barely comprehend.  Such history!



4 comments:

  1. Hi Lorraine a lovely post. I love St Albans Abbey and it looks like Henry and Helen were enjoying being there too!!

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    1. Hi Theresa, so glad you came to visit and thanks for the lovely comment, it is always good to know when someone has enjoyed my posts and pictures. It is certainly a wonderful Abbey and so beautiful to visit. My Mum performed in there once...before my time, but she said the acoustics were amazing...I just nodded as I am not sure what acoustics mean...something about the sound I think. Shame I haven't heard my Mum play except on CD as it must have been pretty awesome playing in the Cathedral.

      Henry :-)

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  2. Hi Henry. Where is this cathedral? I liked the paintings and the blue statues. They look like ancient and modern people. Angelo

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    1. This Cathedral is in Hertfordshire Angelo. Just kind of north of London I guess you could say. St Albans is a place in Hertfordshire - Verulamium is its ancient name from when the Romans lived here. There are also Roman ruins, a theatre and a mosaic floor that have been preserved.

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