15
Sep
2009
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge (informally Cambridge University) is the second oldest university in the English speaking world. It was established in 1209 and consists of 31 colleges dotted around the landscape of modern Cambridge.
Kings From The Cam
The Backs is the view of the colleges from the River Cam. The chapel on the right is quintessential Cambridge. This Chapel is both the symbol of Kings and the logo of the city council of Cambridge. Although locally the college is simply referred to as Kings, this is King’s College of Our Lady and St. Nicholas in Cambridge. Established in 1441 by Henry VI, the gothic styled chapel took a hundred years to complete.
Kings
This is the street side view of Kings – you can really feel that gorgeous gothic style in this black and white print. The exterior height of the chapel is 94 feet tall and the interior ceiling contains the largest fan vaulting in the world.
Emma
This college is known as “Emma” locally – it is Emmanuel College. It was established in 1584 and intended to be a place of religious training for puritans. It’s scope has broadened over the years, but it had strong ties to the Puritans of New England. In fact, Harvard University was named for an alumni of Emma, John Harvard. The baroque building in the center is the chapel and was designed by the renowned English architect, Sir Christopher Wren in 1677. The care of the lawn here is apparent down to the little green garden tractor you’ll see waiting parked in front of the chapel!
This is only a taste of Cambridge. It would easily take days to document all the colleges never mind the rest of the architecture in this city. I hope I get the opportunity to some day. To see more of England and the UK, please check out my Britain Prints Gallery.
13
Sep
2009
Around Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is well known as the home of the University of Cambridge. The heritage of the area is ancient, having been the site of habitation since well into pre-history. It was occupied in Roman times as Duroliponte. In Saxon times, it was Grantebrycge. The name of the place continued to mutate through the ages, becoming Grentabrige or Cantebrigge with the river at the heart of it becoming known as the Granta. Eventually, the name became Cambridge, and just the part of the River in Cambridge became the River Cam. Even today, north of Cambridge, it’s still the River Granta.
Punting On The Cam
This photo was taken while punting on the River Cam. Punting is simply gliding on the River in a flat wooden boat while someone propels it with a long stick pushed against the river bottom. I say simply because it can be very amusing to watch an amateur try it and since boats can be rented without pilot, you can do this yourself. My London Walks group gladly allowed someone else to do the piloting. The views on the river are pretty gorgeous. As pretty as Cambridge is, there’s no doubt some of the best of the architecture is reserved for what they call The Backs. This view is most likely one of the many colleges that form Cambridge but I’m not sure which one. Loved the lone duck in this one. He had been attempting to solicit food from us.
Streets of Cambridge
This is another little slice of Cambridge, a fairly typical street view of this storied city. Gorgeous architecture from across the centuries. And a ubiquitous bicycle! Cambridge has the highest level of bicycle use in the UK, with over 25% of residents using a bicycle to commute. This photo for me really reflects what you’d gather of Cambridge from your average day trip.
Fields Of The Lost
Now, my fellow Americans can feel free to tell me if this was my personal ignorance or not, but I had never heard of the American Cemetery near Cambridge. One of our early stops, this is the place of burial for over 3,000 members of the American forces who died during WWII. There’s also a memorial wall with the names of the missing and a chapel. As most war memorials tend to be, it’s both a sobering and beautiful place with row upon row of white crosses in a park like setting.
For more prints from England and the rest of the UK, please visit my Britain Gallery.
10
Sep
2009
City of St Albans
St Albans has a long history connected to London. It was once a day’s ride from London, so became a major stop for the coach trade. Today at about a half hour by train, it’s become a charming bedroom community. But the history here is longer still, being the site of an ancient Roman town and the first Christian martyr from Britain.
St Albans Clock Tower
St Albans is home to the only remaining 15th century clock towers in England. This tower was apparently something of a snub to the nearby monastery clock tower also visible from the town. The locals were basically saying we run our own lives here. It was nearly demolished in the 18th century but was saved and restored and stands today as a museum in the center of town.
St Albans Abbey
This is known as the Abbey to the locals, although it’s actually in current times a cathedral of the Anglican church. There have been a succession of buildings in this general area dedicated to St Alban. The original roman town was in fact relocated to be nearer this place because of its heritage as the site of the death of St Alban. He was martyred in this area sometime before 324 AD and became the first Christian martyr in Briain. For years this was a site of pilgrimage, hence the relocation of the village to be nearer the visitors (and their trade). The tower at the rear of this picture is what remains of the original Norman structure from 1077. The rest is romanticized Gothic from a 19th century restoration. The wealthy benefactor fancied himself an architect and chose the style of the restoration, apparently not in keeping with what had been there. This shot includes an interesting atmospheric anomaly. As you can tell by the light on the church, the sun was behind me, but there was some sort of reflection/diffraction of light in the cloudy sky, so truly a unique photo of this old church!
For more photo prints of Britain, please check out my British prints gallery.
8
Sep
2009
Villages and Towns of Southern England
There’s a special charm to the small villages I’ve seen in southern England, centuries of history, often with one or two grand old building but otherwise fairly simple places.
Church of St Cyriac
More often than not, the village’s church is one of the grander buildings. In the small village of Lacock in Wiltshire, their Church of St. Cyriac was very picturesque. Granted the whole village is lovely – and because of its vintage charm often used in period movies/serials like Pride and Prejudice. Although there has been a church here at least since Norman times, the present one was built in the 15th century when times were prosperous due to the wool and cloth trade.
St Johns Church Glastonbury
Another grand church also from the 15th century is St Johns Church in Glastonbury. Glastonbury is a bit bigger and is well known because of the annual Glastonbury music festival. The towns shops reflect a lot of this free spirit but like any old English town, it has a long history. Archaeology shows that there’s been a church on this site since at least the 9th century. The current church, though, is most impressive and imposing!
Dark Tor
I hinted a bit at the history of this place, not unlike many places in this part of the country, there are many legends about this place, chiefly of Arthur. Some believe that this Tor, which once rose out of a marshy land long since drained, is fabled Avalon. The gorgeous old tower in this shot, however, is much more modern. It’s all that remains of a 14th century church that once stood here. It was destroyed during the dissolution of the monastic system in 1539 and the tower was restored in modern times. It’s a bit of a climb through pastures, but on a paved path and affords a wonderful view of the town. The darkness of this shot definitely feels like something from a legend or tale.
For more prints of Britain, please check out my Britain Gallery.
3
Sep
2009
City of Bath
Among many stops on my Haggis Tour wander to and from Cornwall was the City of Bath. I was quite looking forward to seeing the old Roman Baths that give the modern city its name, but I knew very little else about the city. What I learned was that the night and half day we were there was not nearly enough and I intend to return one day.
Sulis Minerva
First of course, I have to get in a little detail about the history of Bath. Back in the days when the ancient Romans occupied Britannia, Bath was the site of one of their outposts, Aquae Sulis (the waters of Sul). But the history of the site reaches back in time further than the Romans, it was a holy site to the Britons. They felt the healing waters of the natural springs here were the work of their goddess, Sul. Sul represented the boundary between the worlds. The Romans liked to incorporate the local deities into their pantheon and they felt that Sul was the equivalent of their Minerva. Thus, they dedicated the site to Sulis Minerva. This head is the remnants of a beautiful Roman statue that would have once stood in the temple dedicated to Sulis Minerva at what we now know as Bath. The baths themselves are still present and if you are even an armchair archaeologist/historian, you’ll enjoy getting to see the inner workings of the Roman baths (which still hold water), but everything pretty much above ground level at the baths is a Victorian re-imagining of what would have been there so I was only mildly interested in photographing it. Still, an amazing site to visit for a few hours, but not all there is to Bath!
Shopping on Pulteney Bridge
Bath is known for it’s Georgian Architecture. It’s the time period when Bath became the place to be among the affluent and the city really boomed. And I have to say again, that I really didn’t have sufficient time to really capture it all, but this is one shot I really liked from Pulteney Bridge. This bridge over the River Avon is one of four like it in the world where shops fully line both sides of the bridge. Built in 1773, there have been alterations over the years, but restoration of the facades was completed in 1951 and this is a grade 1 listed building with English Heritage.
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul
Another must see if you only have a little bit of time in Bath is Bath Abbey. Although the site started life as a Benedictine Monastery, today it is an Anglican parish church – quite a grand one though! It’s style is perpendicular Gothic, owing to the last major constructions done on the building in the 16th century. It’s been restored since but the style from that period remains. Ths church is widely known for its elaborate fan vaulting in the ceilings in the nave (although it’s a Victorian restoration of what was originally there in the 1600’s). This photo was shot in the particularly dreary early morning hours on the day we left Bath. Still, it gives a lot to the drama in this photo that you would never have gotten on a beautiful clear day.
Bath Abbey
One more photo of that gorgeous old Abbey. This one was taken at dusk as darkness was descending and they had turned on the lights on the outside of the Abbey. There’s obvious distortion because this was taken with what’s known as a Fish eye lens – it’s ultra wide angle but also due to its shape produces a very exaggerated field of view. I try to use it sparingly, but sometime you can produce some really beautiful images like this one with it.
For more photos of England and the rest of the United Kingdom, be sure to check out my Britain Prints!
