Gloucester Trip

So our history group took a trip to Tewksbury Abbey, Gloucester Cathedral and Caerphilly Castle. These places are important to the reign we're studying, which is Edward II - a highly interesting reign for those of you who are geeky like me and love medieval history.

Edward reigned from 1307 to 1327 - when he was deposed by his wife, Isabella, and her lover Roger Mortimer. His reign was a particularly messy due to a number of reasons: his choice of favourites which resulted in conflict between Edward and his barons, and importantly his loss of the Scottish lands in the battle of Bannockburn. He is often styled a poor king and a failure because he failed to keep the nobility together - eventually resulting in a civil war. Essentially he was a tyrant. He was one of the first king's to hang a member of the royal family for revolting against him (poor Thomas of Lancaster) and he was also particularly brutal to the nobles who rebelled against him.

Edward was eventually deposed by his own men, but refused to step down or come to parliament to discuss his abdication. There is great controversy surrounding the deposition of Edward and whether or not it was done legally. This is due to the fact parliament was held without the king present to discuss the terms of his 'abdication'.

Tewksbury Abbey

The first place we visited was Tewksbury Abbey. The Abbey itself is an important structure in the fourteenth century. Originally built in the early twelfth century by Robert FitzHamon, it was a Benedict house and contains many Norman features. It was later added to in the fourteenth century and updated to include the Decorated style that was in fashion in the period. During the reign of Edward II, it was under the patronage of the Clare’s – a prestigious family who held the Earldom of Gloucester. Within the Abbey itself there are many memorials to the Clare’s in the stained glass windows. It also houses the tomb of Hugh Despenser, who married Elizabeth de Clare after her brother, Earl Gilbert, died in Bannockburn.

This is east end of the Abbey. The curving mark on the floor is where the Lady Chapel should have stood but it was destroyed in the reformation in the sixteenth century and the stone was used elsewhere.

Architecturally it is plain to see this is a medieval church. The windows themselves are the biggest clue. The four leaf clover design, called quatrefoils. They are prominent in many medieval buildings.
Above is the view of the windows at the East end of the Abbey close up. From this angle you can clearly see the quatrefoils in the top of the window and also on the lower part from the vertical spikes (called steeply pointed gables) you can just make out the black inner scrolling. These are ogge’s due to the fact they make an O and G shape. The windows again are depicted below.

Below is the south end of the Abbey. Again there you can see the steeply pointed gables.

This is the northern face of the abbey. On the right hand side is a buttress which supports the structure and basically stops it falling down!!


Within the Abbey is the tombs of various de Clare’s, but this tomb belongs to Hugh Despenser himself. One of the King’s favourites, Hugh Despenser was hated by the other magnates of the realm because he had the king’s ear. He was a bit of a bugger and stole a lot of lands from many of the Marcher Lords, which, as you can imagine, didn’t go down to well. When Edward was deposed Hugh the Younger fell with him. He was captured at Caerphilly Castle in south Wales, hung until nearly dead, cut down and castrated and then quartered before having his head chopped off. Not a nice way to go, but I guess it teaches you not to piss the powers of the realm off! There is no way of really knowing if the bones in the tomb are Hugh’s because tombs were often moved around during the middle ages. Even the top part of the tomb itself is not original. Notable facts about this grave site include the lack of heraldry on the sides, the removal of the twelve disciples and Christ from the decoration above the semi-circle decoration and the lack of an effigy on the marble slab. There could be a number of reasons for this. The lack of heraldry could be because when Hugh was hanged, he was striped of his coat of arms for being a traitor against the state.

This is the tomb next to Hugh Despenser the Younger. If you look carefully you can see the shields on the side of the stonework. This is probably what should have been on the side of Hugh’s tomb. The paint work has since been rubbed off over the ages.

This is the tomb of Edward Despenser. Unlike Hugh’s there is a lot of fine detail on the structure and even a casted effigy of the man on top of the coffin itself.

Gloucester Cathedral

We then went to Gloucester Cathedral. It has its roots in early twelfth century architecture and was founded as Benedictine monastery. The Norman influence is easily found throughout the structure, from the huge round columns to the vast central cross section in the middle. Two well known Kings are buried within the east end of the cathedral: one is Edward II, the other is an earlier king, William Rufus, the son of William the Conqueror who is buried opposite Edward.

Below is a view of the West end of the Cathedral as you approach from the town itself. Even despite the hedges hiding it, the building is still completely overwhelmingly huge and the main tower in the centre of the cross shaped is two hundred and twenty five foot high.

This is the south entrance to the cathedral and shows a number of statues over the doorway. Notice once again the details on the windows just off centre and the arching of the doorway. There is also a lot of very in depth surface decorations.

Below is the southern transept of the cathedral, leading down to the central part of the nave and the east end – eventually, to the lady chapel. Again note the quatrefoils on the windows and the crenelations along the top. Crenelations are generally associated with castles but they are also prominent in church buildings also. The tower itself is held up by a series of buttresses that were applied in the middle ages when the south transept began to subside and fall. One of the kings own stone masons, a man called Thomas of Canterbury, was called in to solve the problem and came up with an ingenious design to hold the structure up.

The picture above shows one of the buttresses running through the inside of the south transept to hold the cathedral up after its near collapse in the 1300s.

The picture above is the Lady Chapel at Gloucester. It is one of the few to survive the reformation. It is grander than the Lady Chapel at Lichfield Cathedral which was build by Walter Langton.

This is what is called a Mason’s block. By standing underneath it the mason can gauge if the tower is being competed straight or not. The depiction on it is a memorial to a boy who fell from the roof whilst working on the tower and died. Remember its 225ft high… ouch.

This is the stained glass window that sits almost opposite Edward’s tomb. It is not fourteenth century but rather nineteenth and is dedicated to a man called Edward Douglas – which you can just make out the Latin on the third pane at the bottom for.

This is on the north side of the cathedral and is the cloister – where the monks would have resided. Its unique in the fact that it survived the reformation largely in tact. These are the corridors they would have used to move between the nave and the dormitories (housed on the first floor) the Refectory and the lavatorium (were the monks washed their hands before dinner). Incidentally it was also used in the filming of Harry Potter!! Exciting stuff!

This picture above actually has nothing to do with Edward’s reign and in fact sits outside the Gloucester monastic borough. It is in fact the ruins of an Anglo-Saxon church from the tenth century and at one time housed the bones of both a king and a saint! (he was eventually moved to Chester).

Caerphilly Castle

The next stop was the famous Caerphilly Castle, located in the Welsh Marches. Said to be one of the greatest medieval stronghold's in Europe, it is one of the most astounding pieces of architecture ever raised in the period. Unlike most castles, Caerphilly was not raised for the King but for a powerful magnate.

A truly foreboding structure, built by Gilbert ‘Red’ de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford and Marcher Lord of Glamorgan between 1268 to 1271, it eventually passed into Hugh Despenser’s hands following his marriage to Elizabeth de Clare. This is the view from the south side. Despite being mostly ruinous, it still had an eerie as hell vibe to it.

The grass would have been filled with water during a siege, and this water flow was control by a series of dams. This is the outer curtain wall, complete with a round tower. The picture below is also a part of the outer walls and has large square buttresses.

This is the outer main gatehouse and one of the entrances into the castle. Having made it to this point, an attacking army would have had to get across a drawbridge, break through the portcullis (see below picture), and cross another drawbridge to gain access to the middle ward! All the while soldiers would have been firing arrows, rocks, throwing tar and pitch at the attacking force! The castle has only been besieged on two occasions but neither were successful attempts. I think possibly the vastness of the moat plus all those other obstacles were enough to put any invading force off! Oh and the middle ward isn’t even the end of the line. They still had to breach the inner gate house to get into the inner ward were the Lord resided! They also have really lovely things called 'murder holes' which are holes in the floor on the upper levels were they would pour rocks and hot pitch on people running through the portcullis's. Eek!

The portcullis on the outer main gatehouse. In the background you can just make out the Outer East gatehouse.


Stood in the inner moat. View of the Outer East Gatehouse – and most importantly the gift shop!!


The inner ward. Showing the inner side of the inner east gatehouse.


The great hall. Hugh Despenser’s heraldry is on the wall, third one in with the black diagonal stripe across it. The picture below is the outside of the great hall with the private apartments attached. These are both part of a renovation programme.

And just some random snaps of my group. This is me pretending to hold up the ruins of one of the towers! Yes I really am that strong!

This is my entire history group in the Great Hall. Tim in the lord's chair because he would have been an incompetent King... much like Edward himself was!

Did the earth move for you...?

Earthquakes... not really something you associate with the UK. When I think of earthquakes I tend to think of Asia and America, but following last night's tremor I did a little digging around. Yes I am that much of a geek.

Earthquakes are caused by the movement of tectonic plates beneath the earth's surface. This gives off a seismic wave that shakes or displaces the earth itself. There are twelve of these plates across the globe's surface and when the rock shifts beneath it, it causes an earthquake.

How Earthquakes happen

Apparently, Britain has at least 200 hundred tremors a year, but not all of these are felt. The last one I remember is the 2002 Dudley one. That one measured at 5.0 on the Richter scale and shook the entire house like it had been hit by a bomb.

Dudley Epicentre 2002 - Keele University Geophysics Department

The one last night was larger, at 5.2 according to the British Geological Survey, but because the epicentre was in Lincolnshire we only really got the tail end of it. That said it was scary as hell. I woke up at around 1am, my entire bed shaking.

Seismic Activity in Lincolnshire 27 Feb 2008 - Daily Telegraph

The largest earthquake the UK has ever seen was in 1931, off the coast of Great Yarmouth, and measured 6.1. It's not even a patch on the 2004 earthquake in the Indian Ocean that caused the tsunami over Indonesia. That was 9.2 and caused the deaths of thousands of people.

But, earthquakes are a strange phenomenon. Indonesia is prone to them because of an area called the Pacific Ring of Fire. This horse shoe shape is said to be an area of frequent natural plate activity. This is one of the reasons they have so many volcanic eruptions and quakes.

The most deadly earthquake ever recorded was in 1556, in Shaanix, China. over 800,000 people were allegedly killed in the quake, although the official numbers are unknown. Modern day seismologists have deciphered that Shaanix was an 8 on the Richter scale and that aftershocks plagued the country for almost six months after the initial quake.

The United States Geological Survey records lists of quakes and it's rather scary to look at how many the world has. Try at least one major earthquake every year. But it's not just the quake itself that causes problems, but the movement of the plates can cause landslides, volcanic eruptions or tsunami's.

Real Life... Blah... Who Needs It?

Ok, so I'm in my final year of university. Six months and I'll be off the party treadmill and onto something a little more serious. Joy. I had no objections to being neither rich nor famous but apparently in this day and age it is a requirement that the youth of the world make a name for themselves - or at least achieve something more than the "Most Drunk Person Last Night" award (which I am granted most weeks. Can I help it if I am an overachiever?).

It sounds ridiculous but after almost five years dossing about at Party Central I don't feel ready to leave. Surely I should be ready to be a grown up. Surely I should want to have a job, have money, have responsibility...?

Ha! No. Not a chance in hell! I do not want ANY of these things. I think I've spent so long acting like a teenager that I'm not ready to let it go yet. There is so much immaturity to be had still and the real world expects you to relinquish that playful innocence and act like an upstanding member of the community.

I think there are a number of things I will miss most about university:

1) Getting up at 3pm and then having a nap at 7pm

2) Eating dinner at 1am

3) Drinking at 11am without stigma

4) Falling through the back door after lectures wasted

5) Eating toast for every meal

6) Wasting a whole day on Facebook and thinking nothing of it

7) Listening to music so loud it reverberates nextdoors walls

8) Going to the takeaway at least three times a week

9) Only getting dressed twice a week, when you actually have to be somewhere

10) Waking up at 5am to a housefull of drunk people

I'll miss other things too. Like no one even batting an eyelid when you turn up at a club dressed as a pirate, a disney character, a baywatch babe, a moll...

Or getting so wasted you pass out at six o'clock in the evening and your friends take photographic evidence so they can laugh at you the next day.

University is often described as a stepping stone to the next part of your life. For me this is how I want the REST of my life to be. What's not to like? Ok so the money is crap and I hate writing essays but even so the rest of it is grand. I'm the original Van Wilder. I'm Peter Pan. I don't ever want to grow up. Ok, I can do without the trail of lost boy's looking for a mother figure but beggers can't be choosers, right? Hell if it keeps me in this bubble I'll take the kids, I'll fight the pirate and I'll save the day. I'll even learn how to fly and wear tights. It's a small sacrifice.

I think this is harder because most of my friends are first or second years. There are only three or four of us graduating this summer. So whilst we're off having a Stepford perfect life complete with briefcase, an office with a view and the dead husband under the patio they'll still be doing the childish running around at 3am and rearranging traffic cones.

My Green-Eyed Monster is snarling at the thought of it.

Seasonal Greetings

Christmas and New Year... Weird holidays. When you're a kid things are so much more exciting, there is a kind of magic to the whole period. I hate that age brings that loss of innocence. Whilst I enjoyed going home and spending time with my family, I felt like the whole thing just went too quickly. It's nearly time for University to start again and back into the long haul for my final year and really all I want to do is sleep all day.

But enough moaning.

Roll on 2008. Let's hope this year brings many more good memories than last.

Holiday Entitlement

As a casual worker at the museum, I was informed this morning that I am entitled to holiday pay. My initial thought was a resounding yippee! Money for doing bugger all is always good. However upon trying to decipher what the hell the conditions of this payment are I was left feeling rather bewildered. Working for the Council has both advantages and disadvantages - the main problem being that bureaucracy extends to all levels, even catering.

Seriously the letter is written like a solicitors case file. I'm sure I'm entitled to a whole load of money but how much I think will remain one of those mysteries, filed away with aliens and pixies.

I'm hoping my boss will shed some light on it. Would be lovely to get some dosh before Christmas.

Fishfinger Sandwich Anyone?

I'm not entirely sure when it got to the point were fishfinger sandwiches were considered a delicious cuisine. Maybe I missed the memo on that one. However, according to my housemate it is tres bien. I believe that remains to be seen and since it's something I will never try... well it will never be seen.

She's in a slightly more diabolical financial state than myself and was rather impressed by the fact £3.00 at Sainsburys buys five packets of fishfingers and a loaf of bread. Apparently this shopping trip will keep her going for the next few weeks. I raised a brow at this.

It wouldn't keep me going for an hour.

And I would rather eat gravel. Fishfingers are like eating boiled bones.

It got me to thinking about the weird things I have eaten as a student. Mash is a staple food. Seriously, its fluffy goodness that comes in powder form. Excellent. But my menu has ranged from rice with ketchup in to tinned curry on toast. Not so weird when you consider a friend of mine who tried to make a cooking sauce using milk. Not only gross but highly ineffective. It tastes rank. Don't try it.

It's nearly as bad as a girl I knew who dipped toast in hot chocolate. This wasn't a poverty thing but a taste preference. Either way, it still turns my stomach a little just thinking about it, but then I have put soup in a tortilla before. Not quite Mexican, and incredibly messy, but still, it did the trick.

Stereotyping.. Redneck Americans...?

Well what prompted this was a link I was sent about a TV quiz show in America, staring Kelly Pickler from American Idol.

Its one of these wonderfully droll programmes about whether or not a 10 yr old kid is smarter than an adult. So I dutifully watched the video and laughed a lot. The question was... 'Budapest is the capital of what European country?"

Naturally, before the woman had answered, I muttered 'Hungary' under my breath. Simple question, easy answer. But the woman was clueless. Her initial undoing was when she said, '...I thought Europe was a country." Ooook, so that really made me laugh. She then dug herself a bigger hole by saying '...I know they speak French there... I wanna say is France a country...?"

I proceeded to titter for several moments, watched the end of the clip and then scrolled down to see what the comments were. I have to say I was a little shocked by the response. Ok, so clearly the woman is uneducated but even so the comments were awful. Three pages worth of America bashing, slandering of 'redneck' Americans and so forth followed.

It got me to thinking - as things often do - and as always I intend to share my opinion, whether or not it is wanted.

Her ignorance is not the only ignorance here. Naturally the Hungarian's were pissed off that this woman didn't know where their country was but even so, their responses were somewhat uncalled for. Not every person from the United States is stupid, nor are all southerners rednecks. Do they not have some of the most prestigious universities in the world over there? Stanford, Princeton, Harvard? Surely the people who attend these places have an IQ higher than an amoeba.

It is no different from saying all Brits talk like the Queen and drink tea all the time. It is that kind of stereotyping that leads to half the problems in the world these days. Clearly the woman needs to go to school or at least pick up a text book but these stereotypes are as stupid as her thinking Europe is a country.

Here is the video anyway.