Malmesbury Abbey is situated in the centre of the town and is a very impressive building which can be seen from miles around. It was founded nearly 700 years after the birth of Jesus Christ as a place of prayer and Christian community by St. Aldhelm, who was originally a member of the Wessex royal family.
Today, the Abbey is approximately a third of its original size. During the middle ages it had a tall central spire which William of Worcester recorded as being 431ft high which made it even taller than the spire on Salisbury Cathedral, which is the tallest spire in England today. The spire was unstable and collapsed destroying part of the Abbey as it fell.
When the Monastery closed due to the Dissolution in 1539, a wealthy clothier called William Stumpe purchased the Abbey from Henry VIII for £1517. William Stumpe used the building as a factory for his weaving looms before giving it to the people of Malmesbury in 1541 for use as their parish church. It is still used as the parish church today.
The Abbey porch is of note and is wonderfully detailed. The inner porch portrays the Twelve Apostles, six on each side and Christ in Majesty is carved above the door. The carvings on the outer porch form three concentric arches depicting the Creation of Man, the Old Testament Narrative and the Life of Jesus Christ. You can probably see from the picture how worn these scenes have become over time.
The day I visited the Abbey, young people from the church community were rehearsing a service to say goodbye to the Youth Pastor who was leaving to take up a new position outside Malmesbury. The music was very lively, vibrant and uplifting; the young people’s enthusiasm and enjoyment left a smile on everyone’s faces.
Tags: Abbey, Architecture, History, Malmesbury, Monestery, Parish Church, Weekend away
We have been friends together in sunshine and in shade.
Caroline Norton
Tags: Abbey House Garden, Cherie's Place Thought, Friendship, Malmesbury, Waterfall
The final destination after my visit to Snowshill Manor was The Old Bell at Malmesbury. On arrival there was a surprise room upgrade (I wasn’t complaining) and a resident room bear. The Old Bell is reputed to be the oldest purpose built hotel in England, it dates back to 1220 and stands next to Malmesbury’s medieval Abbey.
The first photograph clearly shows a window lock and looks out towards the bell tower. It seems there only ever was a bell tower; even though there is space for a church, there is no evidence that one was ever built.
For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.
Tags: Hotel, Malmesbury, PhotoHunt, Weekend away
Yesterday I attended a PCS privatisation forum in London, which set out to inform and prepare reps for the continuing and increasing threat of privatisation to public services. There were many interesting speakers who explained how the various initiatives are flawed and do not provide better, cheaper more efficient public services. One of the speakers also pointed out that many countries who have privatised their public services are in the process of putting some of them back into public ownership.
The aim of the forum was to give ativists the opportunity to discuss the issues and help them face the challenges ahead.
Before catching the train back a few of us stayed behind for a chat to catch up with each others past and future events etc. A couple of us left to catch the train before the others, I especially didn’t want to be wandering round my local railway station too late at night when the goblins were out.
The train journey was quite smooth, apart from my ticket not opening any of the automatic barriers. I had to flash my ticket and be let through manually every time. Unfortunately due to the disconnectedness of the different rail companies, the London train arrived in Birmingham one minute after the one we needed to catch out of Birmingham. This meant an hours wait on Birmingham station! Then of course we had the usual problems with the signals that caused the train to keep stopping!!!
By some sort of strange anomly in space-time continuum the two people who left an hour after us managed to overtake us and ended up joining us on the train at the first stop after Birmingham…
Tags: PCS, Privatisation, Trade Union, Train Journey
There was a torrential downpour that lasted several hours on the morning I was due to depart for my garden lovers break. This led to a slow start to the day and the rain was much lighter when I set off. I tried to call into a cafe for lunch and ended up in a muddy field so there was a change of plan. Unfortunately there were no directions on how to get out of the field and it turned out that I had to do a bit of offroading to escape!!!
Plan B was Snowshill Manor. National Trust properties always have a nice selection for lunch and I wasn’t disappointed on this occasion. After lunch I visited the manor which was 10 minutes walk away. By this time the rain was very fine and light and it even stopped long enough for me to enjoy the gardens and take a few photographs. The manor itself was very interesting, the contents were collected by Charles Wade. The contents were sourced entirely in the United Kingdom and are a varied collection of craftmanship. He spent many hours re-arranging the collection and lived in the old cottage across the courtyard.
The garden was sadly neglected when Charles purchased the manor, so with the help of a former colleague M. H Baillie he designed a new garden. I think he did a good job, the gardens were wonderful.
Tags: Flowers, National Trust, Poppies, Snowshill Manor, Weekend away
I have just got back from my weekend away, there were plenty of gardens as promised. I visited Snowshill Manor where the rain stopped just long enough for me to enjoy the garden, Abbey House gardens in Malmesbury (home of the naked gardeners), Westonbirt Arboretum (well just the cafe and shop due to severe weather) and Bowood House (nice walks).
I bet you are wondering about Henry? Well he was waiting in the room when I arrived, he was a bit lonely and didn’t like being a ‘Room Bear’ so I campaigned for his release 
He is sitting right behind me as I type 
That’s all for now I have to go sort through the photos I took, all 278 of them!!! So watch this space for more details on the places I visited.
Tags: Bear, Gardens, Henry, Hotel room, Weekend away
