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Copyright © 1995 by Manfred P.. All rights reserved.

Dec. 17, 1995

A Quick Trip Putting You 2 and 5 Milleniums Back

Stonehenge and Bath

by

Manfred P.

Keywords: England, Stonehenge, tourist, travel trip report, travel log, travelogue.

A rainy Sunday in London. What to do? How about a trip back in history.

Stonehenge is just an hour west of the city. The story started 5000 years ago. From the overall size it is not impressive. It cannot compete with today's sizes in architecture like the football superdoms. But it is in a nice setting, slightly rolling country side, green pastures, and dozens of burial mounds around it. Surprisingly the same jewelry found in mounds here was found in burial places on Easter Island.

Stonehenge is the oldest sight in Great Britain. I don't need to describe how it looks as everyone has seen pictures of it. Two circles of rock slabs. The inner circle is the oldest one made out of bluestone. Five centuries later the rocks were rearranged. Another 1000 years later the sight was expanded with the taller outer circle made out of sarsen stone.

People weren't lazy. Instead of picking up stones from the nearby quarry they carried 5 ton bluestone slabs from 350 miles away to the sight. At least they used the ocean and waterways to transport the rocks by raft. That is what we think today.

The sarsen stones are even heavier. They were brought from 20 miles and used for building the outer circle. These 22 foot pieces weighed 45 tons. To make sure the monument would last they had bumps on the vertical pieces that fitted into hollows in the vertical top pieces. Similarly, grove joints made the different circle forming top pieces fit together. That principle worked fairly well. After 500 years there are still 4 arches left.

From Stonehenge it is just a short ride to Salisbury. More history can be found there. Instead of old rocks it is old clocks. The oldest working clock made in 1386 can be found in the Salisbury Cathedral. Salisbury Cathedral also has the highest spire in Great Britain, but not the highest spire in Europe. That honor goes to St. Stephen's in Vienna so some people say. Other people say that the ones in Ulm are the highest at about 500 feet. Cologne's spires are just 12 feet shorter. St. Stephans is "only" 400 feet high. Anyway, I don't know why some people claim St. Stephen's to have the highest spire. Maybe the ones in Ulm and Cologne are not considered spires but towers. I won't arbitrate and I didn't care too much for the clock or the spire, but the choir singing during the Sunday mass was beautiful and gave the visit a solemn touch. Just right for Christmas. Other than that I was shocked how commercial the cathedral was. Toilets, snacks, gift and souvenir shop, booths for name searches, etc. on church ground. Is this a church or a mall?

From there another hour westbound gets you to Bath, the city for the rich and famous in centuries gone. The town has style and features well thought of round forms in architecture. Semi circular buildings is one the specialities here.

Shopping was in full bloom and while wandering through the streets I discovered that out of lack of imagination they called their bridge that carries shops to both sides 'Ponte Veccio' after the Florentine masterpiece.

Only 3000 years after the first slaves started working at Stonehenge the Romans starting exploring these parts of Europe. They found hotsprings and turned them into a Celtic and Roman temple as well as a prosperous health and business facility. The Roman Spa in Bath is really worth spending several hours on. It was fascinating. Water is still in the pools. It looks green and tempting. Steam is rising from it, especially now in winter. But no tourists are allowed in. I wonder if the workers after hours when everything is closed take a quick dip. For 2000 years now a quarter of a million gallons of mineral rich water gush out of these springs at 117 degrees every day. Amazing, isn't it? How must it have looked back then when the Gorgon's image combining the elements of earth, water, air, and fire in symbolic form was guarding the entrance to the Roman facility?

    

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