Ancient History

Eight years ago last month, I had my right hip replaced at the very young age of 51. As I was sitting around recuperating, I passed the time watching Series 1 of LOCI over and over, taking notes about the doink doink days and dates and the outfits Goren and Eames were wearing, trying to see if dates overlapped from episode to episode and whether the outfits matched up. (The answer is yes, no and maybe - making the dates with their stated days correspond to a particular year was impossible, as they were fake.)

That June, still walking with crutches, I went on a day-trip to Salisbury, Old Sarum and Stonehenge. For those who don't know the story, Old Sarum was a medieval town that was moved to a more favourable situation, and rebuilt on a grid plan - a very early example of town planning. The base ruins of some buildings, including the original cathedral, are still visible.

Old Sarum on its bleak hilltop

The foundations of the old cathedral.

The cathedral in the new town of Salisbury is the pinnacle of gothic cathedral-building, completed (apart from the spire) in less than 40 years in the 13th century.

My own pictures of these places are not on my computer, and in any case they couldn't do the justice to these places that these online pictures do. However, when we went to 5,000-year-old Stonehenge, it proved impossible to take a bad or inadequate picture. Access to the stones is only allowed on a very few occasions each year, and is carefully controlled by English Heritage. As soon as the ordinary visitors left, the site reopened to us. For the first time that day, the rain stopped and the skies cleared. As if by magic, the lengthening shadows of the sinking sun transformed the site into a place of breathtaking beauty.