We spent a great long weekend in Cambridge and East Anglia. The main purpose was to visit friends, but we took the opportunity to do some sightseeing (mainly churches and cathedrals) and of course I managed a bit of birding.
We drove up to Cambridge on the evening of the 16th and met up with my friend Jennie the following morning. I first met Jennie in 1972 when she moved from Brighton to Leeds University to do a PhD. After I graduated in 1973 Jennie, along , Di and Nigel (whom I met up with at Christmas time) and Dave (whom I last saw in 2011) all friends from University, shared a house for three years in Leeds. After that we went our separate ways, Di married my friend Clive and moved to Newcastle, Jennie moved to Cambridge, Dave move to Co Durham and I married Janet and moved to the other side of Leeds. Only Nigel still lives in Leeds.
I kept in regular contact with Jennie initially, sometimes visiting her when I went birding in East Anglia, but as time passed visits became less frequent and we last met up when we had a ‘Leeds reunion’ in 2003. It was lovely to see her again and Margaret very much enjoyed meeting her for the first time.
Redheads united ! Margaret and Jennie
King’s College Chapel, the largest private chapel in the world and one of England’s finest churches.
King’s College Chapel, Cambridge
King’s College Chapel nave showing the largest fan vault in the world.
Jennie and Margaret at King’s College Chapel, it is here that the famous choir sits.
Later we visited Trinity College ….
Statues commemorating some of the former students
Wonderful carved ceilings
Photography was banned in the fantastic Wren Library so I copied this photo from the internet.
In the afternoon we headed north to Ely to visit it’s famous cathedral. Once called the Isle of Ely as it stands on raised ground above the surrounding fen, it was here that Hereward the Wake held out against the forces of the William the Conqueror in 1071.
Every bit as dramatic as anything we saw in Cambridge, Ely Cathedral is one of our finest architectural wonders. It dates from 1083 although an earlier Saxon monastery stood on the site since 673
The ornate wooden ceiling is a masterpiece.
The nave
One of its unique features is this octagonal lantern …..
… built in 1322 when the earlier Norman tower collapsed.
Ely Cathedral, one of our architectural gems, I considered it to be the finest building we visited during the weekend.
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