Cathedrals and Castles

Well, no surprise to anyone reading these, today was another cathedral, Gloucester, and another Castle, Goodrich.  What else would one do in England?  Gloucester had some of the more intricate ceilings, almost like lace.

Plus a very interesting clock.

One of the nice things about this cathedral was that it had a second floor aisle that allowed us to get much closer to the stained glass window than would normally be possible.

 

This window is 72 feet by 38 feet, but during WWII they took it down and hid it away (many of the stained glass windows that were left in place were destroyed by bombing).  When they went to put it back up, all the little stickers with number on them that told how to reassemble the window had come off!  The only thing they had to work with was a picture postcard of the window, but they managed to put it all back together (but how would we know if it was right?  They could have moved them all around and we wouldn't have known any better).

We also found one of the carved tomb that we found kind of whimsical.  It looks like he's got a happy face on!

Plus he looks like a character out of the Three Musketeers!

We always find some new architectural oddity in every new cathedral.  What exactly is this flying buttress doing in the middle of an arch?

So after another cathedral visit it was time for lunch.  And after a cathedral, what better place than The Comfy Pew? 

 

Then it was off to Goodrich Castle.  As you can see it's seen better days.

Like many of the castles we've seen, it's been "renovated" over the ages.  The main keep was built in the 12th century, then the barbican and more living space was added in the 14th century.

But it was interesting in that it described all the defensive features of the castle from the Barbican, complete with drawbridge

To the two portcullis (the gates that were dropped from slots to bar the way) to the "murder holes" where defenders could drop boiling water or oil, to the slots where arrows could be rained down on the attackers.

Of course they also showed the mortar that were used by Oliver Cromwell's men to shell the castle and finally break down one of the towers, after which the Royalists inside wisely gave up (new technology wins the day again!).

Then it was back down one of England's expressways

to finish our day in Worcester and plan for tomorrow.