Looking for The Blue Angel?
Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:31 pm
Some time ago Kiya asked me if I knew about a blue angel in one of the stained glass windows in Canterbury Cathedral. I had not heard of it and an extensive Google search drew a blank. This morning I went into town and into the Cathedral with the sole objective of finding Kiya's Blue Angel. Many windows are still out while the stone mullions are being replaced. However a search of what was visible drew another blank.
In the hope that perhaps some local knowledge would help, I discussed my mission with several of the very helpful 'guardians'. I call them guardians because the perform a similar role to the guardians at the visitor sites in Egypt, the only difference, there is no outstretched hand for backsheesh.
Sadly just more blanks I am afraid Kiya. They said that if there was such a thing it might be a small feature in one of the windows that has not gained any specific interest. So sorry, no Blue Angel.
Whilst there I took more pictures with a particular purpose in mind so these are the other things I did, to some extent with LLL in mind.
LLL has a Fuji HS50 the same as mine and I wanted to try the full zoom range. In this first pair of images I was sitting on a bench in the precinct and took these two pictures at 25mm and 1040mm respectively.
In the second pair I was standing at the screen between the Nave and the choir stalls. This time pictures of the lower part of a pulpit. In both pairs I have drawn a circle around the area of interest. I hope you are getting some good results on your holiday LLL because the camera obviously has the capability of some decent zoom shots.
The main tower of the Cathedral is Bell Harry Tower, bell harry being the great bell housed in the tower. If you look up inside under the tower there is a very ornate ceiling. This is about 30 metres from the floor.
Above this is a strong floor from which the stones were raised during construction. What I didn’t know was that the original two man treadmill is still up on that floor. After googling I found some pictures of it and here is the best one.
When being constructed, it was decided that it was not safe or practical to continue with solid stone walls above that floor so an order for 400,000 bricks was raised to make the lifting lighter. As a result, what we see for the upper 40 metres is actually stone cladding with the interior of the walls brick built. Bricks can be seen in the treadmill picture.
The Nave is clear of any seating at present following the inspection of the roof with the biggest 'cherry picker' you could imagine. But a note explains that this gives an opportunity to see the Nave as it would have been in medieval times as just an open space where various activities would have taken place. Here is the cherry picker and the open Nave.
I asked if I could go up to the upper gallery but that is not open to visitors. Perhaps I can get on one of the special guided tours that they do by appointment later in the year. Like all Cathedrals, mine has so much history and secrets and I would love to spend time looking into it all.
In the hope that perhaps some local knowledge would help, I discussed my mission with several of the very helpful 'guardians'. I call them guardians because the perform a similar role to the guardians at the visitor sites in Egypt, the only difference, there is no outstretched hand for backsheesh.
Sadly just more blanks I am afraid Kiya. They said that if there was such a thing it might be a small feature in one of the windows that has not gained any specific interest. So sorry, no Blue Angel.Whilst there I took more pictures with a particular purpose in mind so these are the other things I did, to some extent with LLL in mind.
LLL has a Fuji HS50 the same as mine and I wanted to try the full zoom range. In this first pair of images I was sitting on a bench in the precinct and took these two pictures at 25mm and 1040mm respectively.
In the second pair I was standing at the screen between the Nave and the choir stalls. This time pictures of the lower part of a pulpit. In both pairs I have drawn a circle around the area of interest. I hope you are getting some good results on your holiday LLL because the camera obviously has the capability of some decent zoom shots.
The main tower of the Cathedral is Bell Harry Tower, bell harry being the great bell housed in the tower. If you look up inside under the tower there is a very ornate ceiling. This is about 30 metres from the floor.
Above this is a strong floor from which the stones were raised during construction. What I didn’t know was that the original two man treadmill is still up on that floor. After googling I found some pictures of it and here is the best one.
When being constructed, it was decided that it was not safe or practical to continue with solid stone walls above that floor so an order for 400,000 bricks was raised to make the lifting lighter. As a result, what we see for the upper 40 metres is actually stone cladding with the interior of the walls brick built. Bricks can be seen in the treadmill picture.
The Nave is clear of any seating at present following the inspection of the roof with the biggest 'cherry picker' you could imagine. But a note explains that this gives an opportunity to see the Nave as it would have been in medieval times as just an open space where various activities would have taken place. Here is the cherry picker and the open Nave.
I asked if I could go up to the upper gallery but that is not open to visitors. Perhaps I can get on one of the special guided tours that they do by appointment later in the year. Like all Cathedrals, mine has so much history and secrets and I would love to spend time looking into it all.
....did you mention also it was in Richard III time, if I remember rightly he got it made for his Queen Anne.
