By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus.
Mother Teresa
Comments Off CherryPie on Sep 11th 2016
2 Comments CherryPie on Sep 10th 2016
Stoberry House & Garden is set in 26 acres of parkland, with breathtaking views over Wells and the Vale of Avalon; this 6-acre family garden planted sympathetically within its landscape provides a stunning combination of vistas accented with wildlife ponds, water features, sculpture, 1.5 acre walled garden, sunken garden, gazebo, potager, lime walk. Colour and interest in every season; spring bulbs, irises, roses and salvias.*
*From a Stoberry House leaflet
2 Comments CherryPie on Sep 9th 2016
4 Comments CherryPie on Sep 8th 2016
The Canons [Prebendaries] met here daily to discuss Cathedral business, but now meet only on informal occasions. The room is used for exhibitions and concerts etc.
Brass plates over each stall show the place of each man’s ‘prebend’ ie. the farm or estate from which his income was formerly derived.
Windows formerly of stained glass described in 1634 “scenes for the history of the Bible” were smashed by Cromwell’s soldiers.
It was said that the little carved heads over each stall represented characters alive at the time of building: but we never had 6 Popes and 10 Bishops at one time.
The roof is technically know as a tierceron vault. 32 ribs or tiercerons spring from the central shaft. This is not a central fan vault, but the fan vault developed from it. *
*from an signboard inside the Chapter House
8 Comments CherryPie on Sep 7th 2016
The Jesse window is one of the most splendid examples of 14th century stained glass in Europe. This great East Window shows the central story of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, surrounded by some earthly ancestors including Jesse, father of King David.*
*from a signboard in front of the window
10 Comments CherryPie on Sep 6th 2016
The present Cathedral was begun about 1175 on a new site to the north of an old minster church.
Bishop Reginald de Bohun brought the idea of a revolutionary architectural style from France, and Wells was the first English cathedral to be built entirely in this new Gothic style.
The first building phase took about eighty years, building from east to west, culminating in the magnificent West Front. About 300 of its original medieval statues remain: a glorious theatrical stone backdrop for feast day processions.
The scissor arches, which often visitors believe to be later, modern additions were constructed from 1338-48 as an engineering solution to a very real problem.
By 1313 a high tower topped by a lead covered wooden spire had been constructed but as the foundations were not stable large cracks began to appear in the tower structure.
In fear of a total collapse, several attempts at internal strengthening and buttressing were made, until the famous ‘scissor arches’ were put in place by master mason William Joy as a final solution.
10 Comments CherryPie on Sep 5th 2016
