Motored over to Bury St. Edmund's yesterday to have lunch with Ann's middle brother David, His wife Jo, and Jo's cousin Jean. Had a very pleasant lunch at the Scandinavian Restaurant, then the ladies went shopping, and David and I pottered around the town, and took the above photo of the early Norman campanile (circa 1120 to 1140), with a view through the arch of the Abbey Gardens.
11 comments:
Your architecture over there is simply stunning...and it's everywhere.
Lovely clear photo Mike. The most interesting detail is the 2nd storey 'sentry-boxes' either side of the 'grand archway'. Their intertwining arched collumns and regimented masks suggest Saxon masons interpreting the overall Norman design. The typical Norman chevron patterns occur in the 'dado' line above the archway but are much more restrained than the typical riotous abundance of eye-swoggling zig-zag borders. I think the restrained and simple design of the main arch indicates very early Norman architecture sympathetically imposed upon the underlying Saxon expectations.
We rather like Bury St Edmunds. It also has a rather good model railway shop. I once got locked in the Abbey gardens - but that is another story......
This a splendid appreciation from Crowbard, which leaves me wondering if the intertwining columns he mentions and the resulting pointed apexes (apices?) carried through to become a characteristic feature of Early English/Gothic architecture?
hello parents - i am back on line and enjoying catching up on your blogetry. Smashing photies of suffolk, I do miss it sometimes.
Had a VERY busy week with the Bucks County Show, mike and guy fishing yesterday morning so trout for supper last night, very tasty. Crossword proving to be a little bit of a challenge - will call Monday/Tuesday for help !
Much Love
Stig
x
Thank you so much for the pleasure of your delightful company. Your visit was thoroughly enjoyed and deeply appreciated.
Fondest Blessings,
Carl'n'Jude
Pootatu appears to be concerned about imminent earthquakes or eruptions... her v-word is 'Peles'
(Pele being a spirit of vulcanism - is Pootatu being emphatic by pluralizing the name?) or just possibly she considers my comment to be excessively gushing and is drawling 'Perlease desist from such unmanly expression of emotion!'
Hoe nice to have a Scandinavian restaurant to hand. I should think they are fairly rare.
And what Crowbard says:)
Hello Lori. Yes, we're very well supplied in that department here in Suffolk.
Hello Crowbard. I think that bell tower is one of the best bits of early Norman architecture in East Anglia.
Hello Sir B. Sounds as if it might be a good story too. Perhaps you might share it one day when you have a few moments to spare .....
Hello Christopher. I think you're very probably right. It does seem a natural progression.
Hello Stig. Glad you're back. The four of us finished the crossword on Sunday morning. Give me yell if you get stuck.
Hello again Crowbard. Thank you both for a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend.
Hello Pat. Bury St. Edmund's is well supplied with eating places. We usually use the Refectory (part of the cathedral. The Scandinavian Restaurant is on a corner of Angel Hill,so very central. It opened a few years ago as a cafe with a Swedish theme, very clean, with nice clear colours and Scandinavian food. It's developed into a pleasant restaurant but now serves mainly English food. It's a nice place, reasonably priced but very popular, so that it's usually difficult to get a table. We were lucky on Thursday. David got there before us, bagged a table, and drank coffee until we got there. Very dutiful and brother-in-lawish of him (he's Ann's middle brother).
Hello Christopher,
Thank you for your kind words.
I hope I wasn't pontificating, just giving a heartfelt but uninformed personal response to the commanding presence of the architecture. I see where you're coming from and concur with and defer to your sharper insights. One joy of architecture is that it enables us to look both ways in time; looking back beyond the Saxon there is an almost Celtic feel to those interwoven pillar caps...
Crowbard
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