The Poultry Cross is the only one remaining of four market crosses that once existed in Salisbury. The others were the Cheese Cross in the present Cheesemarket area, Barnard’s Cross (livestock) at the junction of Barnard Street and Culver Street and another which designated a market for wool and yarn at the east end of the present Market Place near the War Memorial.[1]
The presence of a market cross on the Poultry Cross site dates to 1307 and the name to about a century later. The present stone structure was built in the late 15th century. The original flying buttresses were removed in 1711, as can be seen in the painting of 1800 by JMW Turner;[3] the present buttresses date from 1852-4,[1] when the upper parts of the cross were rebuilt to the designs of the architect Owen Browne Carter.[4]
It is the mind that creates the world around us, and even though we stand side by side in the same meadow, my eyes will never see what is beheld by yours, my heart will never stir to the emotions with which yours is touched.
Tonight we will experience the first of three supermoons. The other two will occur on August 10th and September 9th.
The scientific term for the phenomenon is “perigee moon.” Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon’s orbit. The Moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side (“perigee”) about 50,000 km closer than the other (“apogee”). Full Moons that occur on the perigee side of the Moon’s orbit seem extra big and bright.
This coincidence happens three times in 2014. On July 12th and Sept 9th the Moon becomes full on the same day as perigee. On August 10th it becomes full during the same hour as perigee—arguably making it an extra-super Moon.
The illusion occurs when the Moon is near the horizon. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. When the Moon illusion amplifies a perigee Moon, the swollen orb rising in the east at sunset can seem super indeed.
Arundells, in Salisbury’s Cathedral Close, reflects Sir Edward’s time in public office and contains his collections of: paintings, (including Wyllie, Singer Sargent, Piper, Churchill, Sickert, Augustus and Gwen John, John Nash, Lowry and many more), sailing and musical memorabilia, Oriental and European ceramics, cartoons, bronzes, Chinese and Japanese artworks, photographs and much more, just as they were when he lived there, along with access to the beautiful two acre garden. We have also opened Sir Edward’s study for the first time to the public this year, in addition to a picture filled corridor, which is on the first floor.
Salisbury Cathedral has the largest cloisters of any British Cathedral.
The cloisters were started as a purely decorative feature only five years after the cathedral building was completed, with shapes, patterns, and materials that copy those of the cathedral interior.
It was an ideal opportunity in the development of Early English Gothic architecture, and Salisbury Cathedral made full use of the new techniques of this emerging style. Pointed arches and lancet shapes are everywhere, from the prominent west windows to the painted arches of the east end. The narrow piers of the cathedral were made of cut stone rather than rubble-filled drums, as in earlier buildings, which changed the method of distributing the structure’s weight and allowed for more light in the interior. The piers are decorated with slender columns of dark gray Purbeck marble, which reappear in clusters and as stand-alone supports in the arches of the triforium, clerestory, and cloisters. The triforium and cloisters repeat the same patterns of plate tracery – basically stone cut-out shapes – of quatrefoils, cinquefoils, even hexafoils and octofoils. Proportions are uniform throughout.
In January 2010 I was inspired by a new blog project of pairing of words and photographs/art (Vision & Verb). I followed the blog from day one and in 2011 I was honored to be invited to contribute to the project alongside the ladies who had inspired me with their thoughts.
The project is coming to an end soon (today was my last post) and I am feeling a little sad that our combined contributions will no longer be collectively visible.
My contributions to the group have been recorded on Cherry Elsewhere.
Shalom xx
The three images in this post are my latest contributions to the Vision & Verb initiative to sell greeting cards in order to generate money to be given as loans to men and women around the world who are starting their own businesses.
