The rains at the end of November produced massive flooding all over England. Frankly, though it was worse than the first flood in September, it was not as bad as many parts of England. Still, we didn't anticipate what it was like.
Another place my husband wanted to go was Stratford-upon-Avon. The day after we arrived in Worcester, Helen took us to Stratford to see a performance of "A Midsummer's Night's Dream". We walked around by the theater district by the river, but we didn't visit any of the Shakespeare sites. He asked if we could return on this visit for that purpose.
It was a beautiful Sunday morning, so we were quite optimistic. We headed out on the road, but no more than ten miles outside of Worcester we were stopped by a sign indicating there was no through passage. We pulled in to the parking lot of a pub and looked at an atlas for alternative routes to Stratford. We thought we had a plan, but after winding around teeny, tiny villages, we saw the road was impassable. A four-wheel vehicle coming from the opposite direction slowed down and told us there was no way our rented Vauxhall would make it through the water, so we ditched the plan to go to Stratford and headed south on the M5.
While we were driving to Stonehenge I had seen signs for Cirencester, a village I had visited about 10 years ago when our two oldest kids were here with me and my sisters. My memory of that visit was restricted to a little lunch spot and the church which featured the Anne Boleyn Cup. My sisters and kids will remember my foolish look around the church searching for that cup and coming upon something I thought might be the vessel in question, but was really a plastic cup. Ah...the stuff of family jokes.
We parked in a public lot and I made the mistake of paying and displaying. I say "mistake" because I learned later that there's no need to do so on Sundays. Ah well, the city fathers of Cirencester earned an easy three pounds off me.
We decided to wander about and explore. Our first objective however, was lunch. Our first stop was a little shopping area featuring a statue of a ram.
Sheep and wool seem to be major focal points of the town. This little shopping area didn't have any open restaurants or cafes, so we kept looking. We didn't have to walk too far before finding The Fleece.
Three guesses what I ordered...
'twas good! Warmed scone, clotted cream, and delicious strawberry jam. I'll miss the cream teas very, very much.
Jim had a lovely salmon salad and a bowl of carrot soup.
Duly sated, we moved down to the church of St. John the Baptist, and guess what...the Anne Boleyn cup was still there!
Anne Boleyn's daughter, Queen Elizabeth, gave the cup to her physician who, in turn, bequeathed it to the church.
There was a baptism scheduled for that afternoon, so we did a quick look around.
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| This is the Lady Chapel. The left hand side shows earlier decorations on the wall. |
There were some charming gargoyles on the exterior of the church.
This is the tallest yew hedge in Great Britain. It obscures Cirencester House, home of the Earl of Bathurst.
To the south of the home, is Cirencester Park. While open to the public during daylight hours, it is private.
The broad ride extends five miles uninterrupted. This path encourages pet owners to take their dogs of their leads, and prohibits any wheels--bikes, skateboards, etc.
But owners are encouraged to replace the leads as visitors leave the park. It is a lovely park, bordered by chestnut trees.
The entrance back into town is quite lovely.
We had walked the park briefly as we waited for the Corinium Museum to open. The guide book I bought reveals that "[t]his is the fourth Museum in Cirencester to bear this name and continues a tradition reaching back over 150 years." It goes on to note that "Cirencester stands at the junction of three major Roman roads and contains some of the most important archaeological remains from Roman Britain." The museum covers not only the story of the Cirencester of the Roman era, but also that of "the earliest hunter-gatherers to the canals and railways of the industrial revolution."
There were wonderful mosaics throughout the museum. This was one of the most interesting, the Hare Mosaic.
Apparently the hare was sacred to the Celts. It is the logo of the Corinium Museum. Corinium is the Roman name of Cirencester.
There were some wonderful exhibits. I particularly liked this one of a Roman garden.
True to form, this museum also featured some creepy mannequins. This one was extra spooky.
It's supposed to represent a Roman composing a letter home. Many of the displays reminded me of sites we saw in Israel back in 1999. This one in particular was familiar.
This was part of the under floor heating system, or hypocaust. The slice of life scenes were rather engaging.
The mosaic floor represents the seasons.
Some of the other displays had truly disturbing mannequins.
This display focused on child burials. The faces of these two deserve a closer look.
I thought I saw this guy walking the High Street.
I get the feeling that there must be unending work for archaeologists throughout this country. Check out this discovery--Mrs. Getty.
This figure is so named because of the riches found in her wooden casket. One of the remarkable aspects of this figure is that her face was reconstructed from her skull. So...her face may resemble the actual body.
My favorite displays were these medieval heads.
There were many more wonderful displays, but there's not enough room and time to cover all of what was available.
Long story short--Cirencester is worth a visit.
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