White Horse and Salisbury Cathedral

We were fortunate on our trip to England to only have one rainy day. And boy, did it rain. By the end of the day we were chilled and damp through, but we had plans and we stuck to them.

Our first stop was Avebury. Once again the GPS took us on a long roudabout trip that could have been much shorter. But on the plus side, we got a wonderful surprise. The Westbury White Horse:

We had heard of these white horses, made from local chalk stone, but coming upon this one was unexpected and delightful. The origin and age of this horse is not clear; some believe it commemorates a battle at the site in which King Alfred was victorious, in 878, but historians disagree about this legend. No matter its origin, it's still a stunning site. The horse has been restored and repaired numerous times, recently to remove graffiti by vandals protesting the Iraq War.

The place we stopped to photograph it was interesting in itself.

At this point the rain had not yet begun, but by the time we reached Avebury it was raining in earnest. Our visit to the stones was not as enjoyable as it could have been, and we didn't linger long in looking at them. I know I was most happy to sit down to some hot tea after walking about the stones!

I took no photos at Avebury this time, but you can see photos and read this historic site from my 2016 trip to the stones on this blog post. I was cold, holding an umbrella, and getting wet, not conducive to taking pictures.

We left Avebury for Salisbury, but not before being talked into buying memberships in The National Trust. It looked from the brochure we were given as if we might actually save money on our visits to various historic places, but learned later than many of those places were "English Heritage" sites, and required a different membership. In the end, I think we at least broke even, and if not, then we donated to a good cause.

The rain was lighter but steady when we reached Salisbury.

My sisters were interested in seeing this cathedral, and I was interested in seeing the original copy of the Magna Carta kept at the cathedral.

Salisbury Cathedral

The entrat gate to the cathedral grounds

The Magna Carta at Salisbury is one of four of the original copies of the document still in existence. (Alas, no photos allowed!) The Magna Carta was the "charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.[b] First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood behind their commitments, and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III, leading to the First Barons' War," according to Wikipedia. It is still valued for its declaration of freedoms and rights that we still value to this day. So while it was not implemented as promised at the time of signing, eventually these ideals became part of accepted human rights in many countries across the globe.

The original church on this site was built originally in 1025, with the current cathedral begun in 1220. It boasts of the tallest spire in the United Kingdom, and the church and cloister cover over 80 acres! There is a tour one can take of the spire itself, which we did not know about or we certainly would have taken. Still, the cathedral itself was full of wondrous beauty, and along with all the other things to see, there is a clock which is one of the oldest working clocks in the world.

Someone tried to break into the glass covering of the Magna Carta with a hammer. The vandal was speedily caught. What a shame that people want to destroy history like this.

Some cathedral views:

Britain has not forgotten the two World Wars. We saw poppy wreaths in many places, including here at the cathedral. These were honoring American airmen who died in the second world war.

Choir practice in progress:

Wedding photos were also in progress while we were there:

One of the tombs. I did not note who these people were, sadly. But what a way to be comemmorated.

Back outside on the rainy streets, we went in search of hot tea and food.

A busy town, for sure.

We found it just up the street in a nice little pub. Then we found our way to Glastonbury, where we would spend the night in preparation for our next day's adventure: Glastonbury Tor and the Glastonbury Abbey.


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