Salisbury and Magna Carta

On to Salisbury!

Patsy severely wanted to see Stonehenge, so we planned a day trip.

Now, there is only so much time you can look at rocks until you get bored, so we included a side jaunt to nearby Salisbury to see "Magna Carta". Yes, just "Magna Carta", not >the< Magna Carta. (I have no idea why "the" is omitted. Perhaps it makes the document more endearing.)

I will not turn this into a history lesson, so if you aren't familiar with what Magna Carta is you must look elsewhere. The short story: King John had really aggrieved the barons and the church with excessive taxation and what not to the point he had to make a deal with them, the deal being recorded in Magna Carta. Mind you, he had no plan of actually observing the agreement, but at least it was finally recorded that a king would not himself be above the law.

This year is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, and England is in quite a dither about it. Well, not so much on the street, but definitely where the various official copies of Magna Carta are stored. (As the Internet and even the printing press did not exist at the time of signing, the document was copied by scribes and the copies were officially attested. These copies were then circulated so everyone could know, well, at least so the rest of the barons and the church could know.)

According to Wikipedia, Salisbury Cathedral holds what is likely the best preserved of the remaining four official copies of the document. Interestingly, two more copies are held within a couple of blocks of our lodgings at he British Library.

Salisbury Cathedral itself is nigh on 800 years old, so we were treated to a double dose of antiquity.

The cathedral grounds are quite extensive. This is the north entrance gate.

Within the gates, approaching the cathedral.

It's a tall one, boyo!

Through the cloister to the chamber in which the document is held.

Inside the magnificent Chapter House, where the document is on display.

The little lady speaking with Jeff is one of the docents in attendance who provided an abundance of interesting but obscure facts.

The central pillar of the Chamber House.

Interesting detail carving at the bottom of the central pillar. Kind of hard to make out in the picture. It is a dog kissing a cat.

And now inside the cathedral proper. We happened to be there the day of a mass Baptism, which explains the number of young people in their finery.

A model of the building of the cathedral. This really reminds me of the scene from Zoolander: "What is this? A cathedral for ANTS?!?!?"