Sunday, September 30, 2012

A London Weekend

Loyal followers. Just got back from four days in London and am not going to be able to post today. Got to get ready for the week. Two of the courses I'm teaching I haven't taught for five years, so it requires a bit more prep than in the good old days. Will try to get some new posts up in the next couple of days

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

A Day in Grantham

Well folks, my sweetie is here. Steph arrived at the manor on Monday after having flown into Heathrow late Sunday night. Today we went into Grantham to see the sights and for her to visit Living Health, a spa which in addition to the normal services associated with that word, also specializes in chiropractic and sports injury treatment. It is located in the birthplace of Grantham's second most famous native son--or in this case daughter--Margaret Thatcher. Her father had a shop there. Someone had gotten Steph a little gift package to celebrate her arrival.

So, while she was enjoying that, I wandered over to St. Wulfram's for a closer look. You may recall from an earlier post that we went by the church but not into it during our Historical Grantham tour with Malcolm (see Sept. 9 post). The spire is in need of 600,000 pounds of repair, but the interior is holding up just fine. Here is a pic of the floor plan.


The church sits on the site of a Saxon church which predated the Conquest. The Normans built a larger structure in the 12th century, but the building depicted in this drawing was completed in the mid-14th century with several minor additions since then--well, come on, it has been 700 years. Think you will have done any remodeling of your place in the next 700 years or so?

The church is named for St. Wulfram from France who never visited England, let alone Grantham, so it is a bit of a mystery why they dedicated their church to him. There is only one other in all England. Here is a pic of the choir.

 
 
 
As usual, one of the most moving aspects of any church in England is the Honor Roll of the fallen from the First World War. In addition to the roll of all those men from Grantham who were killed, and it is depressing to see three and four listed all with the same surname, there is a memorial to the Machine Gun Regiment which suffered more than 60,000 casualties during the war out of a total complement of 160,000.
 
 
However, the most interesting  display of the day was a number of "chained books" from the Trigge Library in the church, set up by Francis Trigge in 1598. Trigge was born in Lincolnshire, exactly where is not known, and served his entire career at the nearby parish of St. Chad's in Welbourn. In addition to the library, he left a substantial sum for the assistance of the poor in the borough upon his death.
 
"Chained books" are just what they sound like, books chained to the carrel. In medieval times, books were so valuable and so rare, they were literally chained to the stand in a library so that no one could steal them. You read them standing up. More than 80 of the 350 plus titles in the Trigge still have their original chains, made by a local black smith, attached. The texts are all printed, but a large number of them are incunabula, i.e. printed before 1500, in the first 50 or so years of movable type, thus making them quite rare.
 
In addition to the religious titles you might expect, including a Polyglot Bible  from Antwerp, a disputation by Cardinal Robetr Bellarmine who tried to talk some sense into Galileo about this sun-centered nonsense in 1616, Duns Scotus musings on the limitation of reason in matter of theology from the 14th century,  and a collection of 15th century sermons that tend to run about 3 1/2 hours apiece, there are also titles on cosmology, natural history (including one of the first texts of zoology ever published and which has a number of woodcuts by Albrecht Durer), Tudor legal writs, and a medical text which includes some pretty whacked out remedies for problems, such as dried magpie brain in white wine to cure the inability to urinate and "gelding" for manic behavior which cured that but led to intense melancholia, d'uh
 
After that, a wander around the town and then back to the Living Health to pick up Steph for lunch at the Cafe Leo and home.
 
 

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Another lovely day

OK campers, if you can guess who this is, you will know where I went today.

 
If you guessed William Tell, go directly to Jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.  If you guessed Robin Hood, go to the head of the class. Yes, spent the day in Nottingham about 30 miles from Harlaxton, and what a beautiful day it was, sunny and in the high 50s. Travelled with one of my colleagues, Dr. James Larner from Marian University, a music professor and director of our Harlaxton choir among other things.

We spent most of the day in the castle, the outer bailey wall of which you can see behind the statue of Robin Hood. There is a series of bronze reliefs mounted on the wall, including this one, depicting Robin's last bow shot fired from his death bed to determine where he would be buried or so legend has it, but since just about everything about Robin Hood is legendary at best, why spoil a good story by demanding proof.



The castle was first built by, you guessed it, William the Conquerer during the harrying of the North referred to in previous posts--I told you there would be quizes--on a high outcropping of local sandstone which has a particularly soft consistency making it susceptible to easy tunnelling, more about which later. Over time it was expanded to include an outer and inner bailey, each with a dry moat ditch, and a single entrance through here.


The castle withstood a number of sieges and storming attempts, particularly during the Civil War of the 1640s when it was held for Parliament. However, the commander fell out with Cromwell in 1651 and while Oliver was up north stomping on his erstwhile ally the Scots, the bulk of the castle was knocked down so it could not be used by Cromwell to control the area. The ruins were sold to William Cavendish, First Earl of Newcastle in 1663 in reward for his support of Charles I and his son, now King Charles II. Cavendish had spent part of the Interregnum in exile in Italy, and rather than rebuild the castle, he put up a palace in the Italian style inside the ruined walls.


In 1831 the good citizens of Nottingham, enraged at the Earl's descendant who had led the fight against the Great Reform Bill in the House of Lords, sacked the palace and burnt it to a bare shell. The Earl got 21,000 pounds compensation for the place, but refused to rebuild it. In 1878, however, it was finally restored and opened as a gallery and museum which it has remained to this day.

However, the very best part of the castle you can't see from above ground. As I mentioned, it is built on an outcropping of a peculiar kind of sandstone that is easily excavated, so the whole town of Nottingham is honeycombed with caves and tunnels, all man-made, some dating from the Middle Ages, and the castle is no exception. Some of the tunnels begin with brick archways, such as this one


but quickly give way to solid sandstone, such as this one, known as Mortimer's Cave


And who was Mortimer, I hear you cry? Not Mortimer Snerd, I can assure you, but Roger Mortimer. He was the lover of Isabella, "Shewolf" of France, wife of Edward II. Together they deposed Edward and murdered him in a most foul manner--really, really foul. Isabella's son became Edward III but was not yet of age and kept in the background while Mom and Mortimer ruled the kingdom from Nottingham Castle. Three years later, Edward III struck back. Mortimer was dragged and kicked down this tunnel, probably a hundred and fifty or so steps. You can get the idea of how far that was from this photo taken from the bottom of the tunnel.

 


Mortimer was sent to London, hanged, drawn and quartered.  Edward was gentler with his mother, but she spent the rest of her life under house arrest.

Anyway, after the tour of the castle and the tunnels, it was off to what claims to be the oldest inn in England, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem at the base of the castle outcropping It purports to date from 1189 the year Richard I, the Lionheart, ascended the throne upon the death of his father Henry II, he of the Lion in Winter. Of course, Richard immediately went on Crusade--hence the "trip to Jerusalem" theme.  Those of you who know me will understand that this was an absolute must. Had an excellent pint and a Scotch Egg for lunch.

 

After that, Dr. Larner and I walked around in the center of Nottingham to the Market Square where there was a full display on. And, it was stunning in its variety of foods, German Wursts, Italian Chocolates, Caribbean Jerk, Spanish churros, you name it.


There is no question that the UK is one of, if not the most diverse countries in Europe. Certainly London is the most multi-cultural.

After this a somewhat leisurely trip back to Grantham via the railway, and not by choice. Train never left the station because of mechanical issues. Had to transfer to another which took its sweet time covering the 30 miles back to Grantham. Ever since the Tories privatized British Rail in the 1990s, things have never been the same. Classic example how the private sector does not do certain things better than government. Of course, the British railway system was almost the only one in Europe built by private companies in the 19th century and was only nationalized after World War II.

Anyway, all in all, a wonderful day.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Busy week

Well, it has been a busy week so far here at the Manor. Have not been able to get away except for a haircut and some more exploring in Grantham for a bit yesterday. First round of exams this week, as well as the first hints of an English autumn--gray and rainy. Just in time for Stephanie's arrival on Monday! Hope we get some of that late summer weather back for her time here. We're going to London next weekend, my favorite city in the world. Great city for walking, reasonably flat and a new architectural or historical treasure practically around every corner.

News here has been dominated by the murder of two female police constables who were lured to their deaths by a false report of a domestic dispute and then gunned down. This sort of thing just doesn't happen here very often, so the shock level is very high. Good coverage of our presidental campaign, particularly Mitt Romney's latest gaffes. Interestingly, his remarks about the Palestinians got more play here that his dismissal of the 47% of Americans who are, in his eyes apparently, just moochers. Shows that the Middle East is of more concern here than what Mitt thinks about half the people he would govern as president.

Sorry can't be newsier today. I'm planning at trip to Nottingham--yes with the Sheriff and all--for Saturday, weather cooperating. Will post after that.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

So, Here's the (Fire) Drill!

Well, been an interesting few days since my last post. The greatest fear around here, as on any campus, is the fear of fire. More than half the students live in the Manor itself, along with most of the visiting faculty, and the others live in the Carriage House about 100 yards away. While the exteriors of these buildings are brick and limestone, the interiors are all wood, and wood that has been drying out since the 1830s. So, we take fire safety very seriously.

On Friday morning at 6:45 a.m., we had a full fire drill for both buildings. The evacuation time to beat is 7 minutes, and we did so in good time, proceeding to the assembly point in front of the Manor where noses were counted using  a color code system based on where your room is located. So, we were assured that there would be no more drills and that if we heard the alarm again, it would be for real.

Well, sure enough at 11:45 p.m. that night off it went in the Manor. Most of the students were still up, but yours truly was roused from his sleep. This time it was not a drill. Turns out a girl left her curling iron or hair straightener or whatever on in her room directly under the heat sensor and walked away. Ouch. The fire brigade duly arrived--and from considerably farther away than in Bethany--and they were not pleased as you might expect. The good news is no damage, and as a practical matter it did give the students a sober lesson of both the danger of fire and their responsibilities much more forcefully than a drill. Let us hope it does not go unlearned!

Then, yesterday for me it was off to Leeds, a city about an hour from here by train. I was headed north, but another group of students and faculty were headed for London the the Premier League match between Fulham and West Brom. Here they are across the platform at the Grantham station.


The student in the red shirt is in my World Civ class. Another group was out to Stratford-Upon-Avon for a day in Shakespeare country as well.

Anyway, my reason for going to Leeds was two-fold. First, I've gotten to know the night security officer pretty well because we take breakfast at the same time every morning, 7:30. His wife used to live in Leeds, and he told me of the Tetley Brewery, established in 1822, one of the biggest in England. They give tours, and they have a museum of the history of the public house (pub) in the country. Always up for a tour of a brewery. And, second, a branch of the Royal Armouries was recently build in Leeds, and I do love armouries.

So, off I go. Get to Leeds and find my way to the Brewery. Founded by Joseph Tetley, it had been producing beer in Leeds for generations. Looks pretty cool, right!


Wrong! See the Carlsberg sign in the center. The Tetley heir sold the place to them about 10 years ago as part of the globalization of the beer industry. And, of course, they ran it into the ground so that the rest of the complex now looks like this.


They've torn the whole place down, Tetley's is brewed elsewhere now, just like Rolling Rock and so many other American breweries bought out by the big boys. I suppose it will end when every single brewery in the world is owned by one company and we'll all be drinking Bud Lite or some such abomination.

After that disappointment, what a delightful surprise when I pressed on the armory. In the plaza outside the entrance, a group from the Civil War Society--their civil war not ours--had set up shop and were demonstrating the life of Cavaliers and Roundheads in the 1640s when Charles I tried to assert his "divine right" to rule and got handed his head, literally. Never a popular king or particularly accomplished, he did, however, mount the scaffold with great dignity, and it was said later that nothing in his life became him so much as his losing it. A couple of pix of their layout.



Anyway, those of you who have had the Weapons and Warfare course will understand what a treat it was, quite unexpected, to be there on this day because at 2 p.m. they conducted a demonstation of weapons and tactics of the period including pikemen, matchlock musketeers, and artillery. Here is a musketeer loading and firing his weapon.




 
Then a brief demonstration by the pikemen (a number of whom were pikewomen, by the way) necessary on the 17th century battlefield to protect the musketeers from cavalry, follwed by the artillery. They had two small cannon, introduced onto the battlefield by Gustavus Adolphus, that could be manhandled around the battlefied quickly by a team and brought into action against pike squares from a distance. The first pix is a close-up and the second is of the firing exercise. The concussion from the guns was enough to set off some car alarms nearby.





The second gun is obscured by the smoke of the nearer piece's shot. All in all a splendid display. Then a couple of hours in the armory which houses weaponry from all ages and areas of the world, as well as a display of hunting and sporting firearms and a somewhat peculiar display of guns made famous in Hollywood films such as the ones in various James Bond films, and of course Dirty Harry's iconic .44 magnum. Here is one of the displays in the main staircase This actually goes on for five floors!



Then a stroll through the historical district of Leeds downtown, a couple of pints at the Scarbrough Hotel and a safe trip home.
 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

A day in Lincoln

Spent today in Lincoln, touring the castle and the cathedral there. Was the first real "English" weather day, sunny, cloudy, drizzle, hard rain with wind, drizzle, gray, sunny, drizzle, etc. etc. etc. Loved it!

Spent the morning touring the castle, the only one in England with two "mottes", no, not the water thingie, but a mound of earth thrown up with a keep atop it. The castle was started by William the Conquerer in 1068 during his "harrying" of the North campaign to bring the Anglo-Saxons to heel after his victory at Hastings two years before. Very bloody business, so the Normans needed some place safe to sleep and to dominate the surrounding countryside. Here is one of the motte taken from just outside the east gate


As you can see, a stiff breeze. Inside, a model of the entire layout of the place showing the mottes, bailey walls and buildings inside. The one at the left is actually the central criminal court for the district to this day and was in session this morning. The ones on the right were a prison in the 19th century. Executions were staged outside the walls for a time, but the crowds got too rowdy and so they were moved inside the walls .


The castle withstood several seiges but was also taken by coup de main in the 1140s during the time of the civil war between Stephen and Matilda for control of the throne.

But, the crowning glory of Lincoln is its cathedral. Spent most of the day there including a tour up into the roof of the nave which makes my little tours of the bell tower of Old Main look pretty puny. Truly magnificent.

But let us begin at the beginning. Almost immediately the castle went up, they started on a cathedral for the bishop. It was built in the Romanesque style as the rounded arches of the West entrance show.


The row of kings over the top of the arch is a later bit added on after an earthquake destroyed part of the cathedral nave in 1185. When they got going again, the new Gothic style had taken hold, so most of the interior and much of the higher work is in that style rather than Romanesque. And, as you know, the whole point of the gothic style is to reduce the thickness of the walls and allow windows with brilliant stained glass to be cut into them, such as in this rose window in the south transcept.


As it was overcast or raining most of the day, the effect is lost somewhat, but still beautiful to behold.

As I mentioned, however, the triumph of the day was the tour up into the roof area over the nave. Along the way we passed over Joseph Banks' "walk" a narrow walkway high up in the west wall from which Banks painted a number of interiors--all of them better than this photo, but you get the idea.



I later went back down to ground level and took a picture of the area where we were on the walkway. It is located just below the circular window high up in the west wall.


You may be able to see the little "kink" in the axis of the nave roof toward the windows. When the nave was rebuilt,they started at the transcept, building toward the west wall, and they got the alignment slightly off. By the time they got to the two towers of the west wall that were still standing, they were about six feet off, and you can see on the left that extra bit that you don't see on the right.

Then into the roof area via the bell-ringers' room. The cathedral has a set of 13 bells still rung by hand by the bellringers guild. Inside the roof, you can see the timbers which have held the lead roofing in place for 800 plus years. Some of the beams have been determined to have been from trees about 200 years old at the time they were cut down, i.e. 100 years before the Norman Conquest even took place!


You can see that some shoring up and some stiffening have been added, but the great bulk of the wood is original. Fascinating stuff.

We stepped out onto a small balcony of the South Tower on the west facade, and I took this picture of the castle. Remember the motte at the beginning of this post? It is at the left of the picture


So a wonderful day in Lincoln. Looking forward to many more of these.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Grantham Tour

Grantham is the nearest city to Harlaxton, about four miles away from the manor. I walked there yesterday along the canal towpath and went to the market (see post from Sept 1), did some shopping, and bought myself a little cellphone, a "throwaway" as they say just for making calls here in the UK. Despite my technical backwardness, happy to say that I have figured out how to set the clock and calendar, add contacts, and call myself, all in less than 24 hours. Not bad.

Today, Sunday, it was off to St. Mary and Peter for services in the morning, a lovely walk through the village with a group of students. A number of faculty also attended. Then, after lunch into Grantham for a tour with a local historical society guide. Grantham goes back at least to Anglo-Saxon times. You can tell by the "ham" at the end of the town's name--"by" denotes Viking, "chester" denotes Roman times--and grand or grant means gravel. There is a small river nearby that had thrown up a bar of gravel and sand, and the Saxons decided it was a good place for a village.

In the main square on St. Peter Hill, there is a statue of Grantham's most famous son (well he was born about 10 miles away) Isaac Newton.

 
It is sometimes referred to as Isaac Newtonski because the bronze for the statue as donated by the Army from Russian cannons captured during the Crimean War. More on Isaac in a bit.
 
Our tour guide was named Malcolm, 81 years young and a native of Grantham. Did an excellent job. Riveted the students with his account of being bombed during WWII when he was 10. Shepherded us through the back streets of the town past a church that had been "made redundant" as they say, i.e. so few parishioners left that it has been closed and the people combined with another parish. It is the same as "laid off" in America. Next a memorial to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her death in 1901 after 64 years on the throne. Another statue?
 
  
Wrong. They built a small hospital for the poor which continues to operate as a medical facility to this day, although now in private hands.
 
Then on to the church, and by church I mean something that would be a cathedral in most places.
 
 
 
 

The curvilinear windows int he nave are among the best in England. However, they are having a problem with the spire. At 283 feet, it is one of the tallest in the UK. The top 15 feet were repaired in the 1960s, but now the next 24 feet below it are in trouble. Worked on in the 18th century, the iron bands used to strengthen the stone are now rusting and expanding. You can see the scaffolding about 40 feet from the top


Going to cost about $1 million, not far off what it cost Bethany to repair the clock tower about 12 years ago. We didn't go into the church, so I will save the rest of it for another post. But, right across the street is the school where little Isaac Newton learned his Latin and Greek, what was then called simply the Grammar School.

It is now called King's School and this building is just the library. Our guide Malcolm attended there in his youth.

Finally a stop at the Angel and Royal on High Street. High Street was literally the High Road from London to Edinburgh going back many centuries and the Angel and Royal entertained many important guests including (evil) King John, (wicked) King Richard III, and (delightfully disreputable) King Edward VII.


Most of the rooms are named for former members of the royal family and The King's Room fronts the building on the second floor


That's the fireplace there.

All in all a lovely afternoon. Next big event, a trip to Lincoln on Wednesday. Sure to be a winner.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

A Busy Day

Well, today, Wednesday, Sept 5, turned out to be a very busy day here at Harlaxton. British History lecture at 8:30 on the three Edwards, I-III, with all the gory details of the deaths of William Wallace, (hanged, drawn, and quartered), Edward II (you don't want to know), and a substantial minority (40%?) of the population of England as a result of the Black Death. Cheery stuff to start the day. Then at 1 p.m. this afternoon we had the campus-wide picture.


You can see the students beginning to mill about on the front lawn of the entrance to the Manor.


That's Ian Welsh, head of IT,  risking life and limb standing on a chair in the back of a pick-up truck in order to get a decent shot. Although that was at 1 p.m. the finished shots are already posted on the bulletin board by Reception. I'll try to get an electronic copy for the blog.

Then, this evening at 6 p.m. in the Great Hall, the first ever Harlaxton Hat Sorting ceremony where all of the students were assigned to a "house" ala Harry Potter. The Magic Hat was in attendance on the banister above the column in the center of the picture and directed each student to one of four houses as her or his name was called.



Yours truly, not a Harry Potter fan, had no idea of the symbolism until one of my students, a Physics major from Wabash College, explained it to me. The four houses are named for important links to Harlaxton including Pegasus, for the British 1st Airborne headquartered in the house during WWII; Gregory, for Gregory Gregory (yes you read that right) the builder of the manor; Mercia, after the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in these parts during the Heptarchy (look it up); and Newton, for Isaac Newton born not 10 miles from here on Chistmas Day 1642 (Old Style). The idea behind the "houses" is that they will become the friendly competitors during the course of the semester in somewhat the same way the Greek system works at Bethany.

Meanhwhile, earlier in the afternoon, your blogster, having now descended from the exalted ranks of adminsitration back to full-time faculty duties and realizing that he might need to supplement his meager faculty salary, has begun training to learn a new "trade." Maybe there will be a Starbucks opening soon!





No, seriously, one of key factors in making Harlaxton such a special place is that both students and faculty go the extra mile in volunteering to lend a hand in this or that activity. Several of us (two faculty and two faculty spouses) are running a free coffee shop in The Bistro, the Harlaxton version of Boomers, an afternoon or two a week, depending on our schedules. Rather like our Moonbeam Breakfasts during Finals Week, but a little more often.

 
 
 Without the volunteers, this would not be possible. That is the way with many things here at Harlaxton.

So, all in all, a very busy day.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Market Day

As you know, Saturday is Market Day in many English towns and villages, and Grantham is no different. The market is held on Westgate Road in the heart of the city. It is blocked off and stalls are erected early in the morning. This is a scene from before 9 a.m.--yes there is such a time--people already buying freshly picked fruits and vegetables, fresh baked breads, meats, fish, you name it, as well as the sampling of misc. stuff, hardware, old record albums and CDs.


Nestled in the heart of Lincolnshire in farm country, as you might expect there are many stands with fresh produce, vegetables and fruit.


But, as I say there is also fresh fish, meats butchered to order, fresh bread and more

 
 
 


Belvoir is the name of a castle and village nearby. And, of course, what English scene would be complete without some four-legged furry creatures waiting patiently for the master to be done.


Enjoy the day.