Day Four: Salisbury (sic) Hill

 Yes, I know Peter Gabriel wasn’t singing about Salisbury, but the song title fits so it’s what you’ve got.

My first escape from London was a train to Salisbury, leaving 7:10am. This meant getting up before 6am to make sure I was ready and at the station in plenty of time. And whilst I got there and had a while before platform allocations it was a good thing – Salisbury wasn’t the last stop and I really struggled to find it on the board. Fortunately, there’s a lot of information staff available who are happy to help a dumb tourist find their train.

After grabbing breakfast, I hopped on the train and enjoyed a lovely ride through the countryside. I haven’t often remarked on how much the UK reminds me of Australia, but you can certainly see the British Influence on Australian buildings and way of life. Seeing how lush and green the countryside was, it reminded me of visiting Tasmania. And getting off at Salisbury was no different. I thought maybe I’d accidentally woken up on the Newcastle to Sydney and disembarked at Strathfield by accident.

Welcome to Escape to the Country

Salisbury or Strathfield?

My main concern today was actually how my body is holding up from the walking, particularly after yesterday’s shenanigans. On the positive side, my calves and shins are totally fine – a marked improvement on how they used to be before I had surgery to release my compartments. On the less positive side, my right knee really isn’t enjoying all the stairs and my left ankle is starting to protest the walking. But we have things booked and we soldier on.

My first stop was at a church called St Thomas’, a grade 1 listed church best known for it’s “Doom Painting” in the archway above the altar. It’s hard to find unique ways to describe this church, as like many of the other churches I have seen on this trip it is spectacular in its architecture, stained glass and ambience. I cannot count the times I have walked into a church and said “oh wow” upon seeing the interior.

 

The Doom painting is actually further back, above me in this photo - but the stained glass window is just as spectacular

But my next stop blew St Thomas’ out of the water. Salisbury Cathedral was absolutely one of the most spectacular churches I have ever been it. It is massive in scope and the vaulting of the ceiling is truly something else. In the middle is a baptismal font that I thought was a water feature – it was a modern addition that stood out in a way that really complimented the space. I was able to climb the bell tower and see the ways the cathedral is being restored and cared for, as well as some of the changes that have been made over the years for safety. Medieval architecture really was at times just hoping for the best!

Salisbury Cathedral in all its glory

Light in churches is so important to their design - this is the cathedral reflecting off the water in the baptismal font

 

The view from the rear stained-glass windows - we got to stand on this walkway as part of the climb to the clock tower (inside the spire)

The view from the top of the bell tower was amazing, although it was quite windy, as the young peregrine falcons that have nested in the tower will attest to. Getting down was quite the challenge as the typical medieval stair case (narrow and dark) was also well worn due to the many workers and tourists that have walked the stairs in its long existence. I do find it fascinating how only some stairs have been replaced – you would assume the stairs would be used relatively evenly – showcasing the variability in the stone that has been used to build the cathedral.

Internal timber scaffolding supporting the spire

Engineering drawing of the Cathedral Spire

 

The view of Salisbury from on top of the Clock Tower

After picking my jaw off the floor of the cathedral, I went into the Chapel House of the Cathedral to see one other very important thing. Magna Carta, perhaps the best copy of the document signed by King John that is the foundation of many human rights documents and constitutions in the world today. I’ve never really read up on the document, but I was fascinated by how progressive it was for its time; for instance, a clause said “a widow cannot be forced to remarry” which is quite feminist for the era. The actual copy itself, written on calf skin (velum), was incredible – the writing is so neat and small, it’s like a typeface in its regularity. Whoever wrote it down had incredible penman ship.

A quick spot of lunch and I was off to what is likely the most popular reason to come to Salisbury. Now when planning my trip, I had originally been of the belief that in order to actually see Stonehenge, you really needed to book an inner circle tour (which occur outside of general opening hours), otherwise you’d find yourself half a paddock away looking at some rocks in the distance. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a tour and transport to line up to allow that, so coming into this I was expecting disappointment.

Getting off the bus at the entrance, I took a brief look at their visitor centre which was really interesting. Stonehenge is another place I know really little about, so it was fascinating to see the information on the people who built the henge and the history of theories about the place. What really stood out to me was that the stones aren’t all local. The idea in the bronze age that they were bringing large stones from towns over to build the henge is incredible. But also, the fact they did that and then buried their dead around the henge area, really struck me as incredibly similar to St Thomas’, Salisbury Cathedral, or any of the other chapels, churches or cathedrals I’d been to. Those places had people buried within the walls or floor and Stonehenge was really no different.

I had also read online that the walk from the visitor centre to Stonehenge was really interesting and had a lot of things to read. And because I am a sucker for punishment, I set off on foot for 4km to get up to the henge. Unfortunately, it appears that a lot of that information or areas of interest are long diversions off the path to other construction sites or points of interest and I did not have the time nor the legs to make those trips. So instead, I walked 4km for no reason, ending up at the henge having seen nothing of note other than some hay bales which was nice.

The hay bales sitting in the fields on the walk to Stonehenge

Keeping with the theme of not trusting what you read on the internet – I don’t know what people’s problem is with the access to the henge. We were so close at times you could almost reach out and touch some of the stones. Realistically the only way you could be closer is by physically going inside the circle (which may be of interest for some people, but I was quite happy with what I saw.) The biggest challenge, which is something I imagine will continue to be a problem as I am here in summer, was the people. It seemed nigh impossible to get a photo without people in it, which may be another great reason to tour outside of standard visitor hours. That being said, I was satisfied with my results and really enjoyed walking around the henge.

 

Sometimes weird angles help - almost no people in this photo!

I sensibly caught the shuttle bus back to the visitor centre, ducked through the shop and then went to my last location for the day, Old Sarem. Before Salisbury Cathedral was built, the local church was inside a medieval castle built at Old Sarem. After a dispute between the church and the crown, the Cathedral was built and overtime, even the kings did not use the fortress often enough and it was ordered destroyed. All that is left now are some of the foundations, but it did offer some impressive views of the city and you could really appreciate why it was built where it was – it certainly offered solid defence for a castle.

View of Salisbury Cathedral from Old Sarem

Zoomed in

 After getting kicked out of Old Sarem (because it was closing time), I got the last tour bus back to the train station and headed home. Time to rest up, particularly my poor legs, because tomorrow is another day of adventure.