Big Charter Carta

Salisbury Cathederal

After a visit to such an ancient place as Stonehenge it was hard to view anything else as even historical.  Even though the building of Salisbury Cathedral began in 1220, the Gothic architecture appeared contemporary in comparison.   Legend has it that the Bishop shot an arrow to choose the site for the Cathedral.  However, he hit a deer which ran on for several miles, Salisbury Cathedral was sited where the animal died. It boasts the tallest spire in England and with religious fervor I hoped like hell we had missed the daily "tower tour".

 Happy Homeschool History Lessons

While the vaulted ceiling is impressive, the real reason for our visit was to view the Magna Carta.  Encased in glass in a dark room these 800 year old hallowed chronicles brought history alive for my homeschoolers.  They were already  expounding all manner of relevant facts and I was impressed at what they knew. The agreement for peace was sealed by King John and the barons of England in 1215.  Several copies of the medieval document were written in Latin on animal skins, Salisbury has one of the last remaining four. Addressing justice fairness and human rights, it forms the basis for modern constitiutional government.  The Magna Carta is indeed a "big charter". 

Once inside, I was drawn to the moth eaten flags representing long disbanded regiments and even longer forgotton standard bearers.  Their raggedy appearance transported my imagination to the battles fought in every corner of the globe.  

The kids were more interested in the stone knight, but Chris could shed little light on the identity of this 14th century crusader.  It would remain the tomb of the unknown medieval soldier.  

We reconvened by the oldest working clock, which is thought to be over 600 years old.  I wondered if it kept better time than me?  We needed to forge onwards if we were to make the afternoon train up to Manchester. But maybe Chris had a solution, he claimed he could show us how to go back in time.  We suspiciously followed him to a dark dusty corner of the nave where he told us to search the flag stones for the grave marker of Thomas Lambert.  We scoured the floor under our feet and finally found the small and insignificant flat stone of a baby's tomb.  The words were slightly worn away by centuries of footsteps.  We could just make out that he had died in February 1683 yet he was born in May of the same year.  Chris explained it was during the period when England adopted the Gregorian calendar which reset the date backwards.        

 Halls of History

Unfortunately for us, time was only going one way and that was forward fast.  We made our way out through the courtyard and stumbled into a scene straight out of Harry Potter.  We were going to need some magic to fortify us for train travel on a Bank Holiday Sunday. Chris delivered us safely at the station, we had joined his tour as clients and we hugged goodbye as friends.  With no delays and no drama we easily caught the train to Piccadilly Station Manchester, perhaps "The Stones" were extending their ley lines along the tracks north?