old things

Hence begins the field trip sequence.  During my last four weeks in Oxford, we took a field trip each week.  The first was to Salisbury Cathedral.

The Magna Carta:  This is one of the few things I remember from history class.  King John's nobles made him sign it in 1215.  Simplified, it was their way of telling him he had to obey his own rules (at least sometimes) and not boss them around quite so much.  It was really quite democratic for its day.

Salisbury has one of the four surviving originals.  I liked seeing it because I actually knew about it beforehand and why it was important.  Of course I wasn't allowed to take photos of the actual, but the walkway and courtyard leading up to it were quite nice themselves.

The stones were laid for Salisbury's foundation in 1220, five years after King John signed the Great Letter.

The wood impressed me more than the stone.  We took a tour up in the cathedral attic, where the guide showed us the massive oak framework.  This old wood has been holding up the cathedral for almost 800 years.  The wood itself is probably a thousand years old.  I just don't think of wood as lasting that long.

To be continued.