"Summer 22 Holidays"
After 5 days at Bridgenorth we parted company with John and Tony and made our way over to Cambridgeshire for another 5 days at the Fields End Water Caravan Park, near Doddington. We met up with Sandra, Dawn & Alan for another five days relaxation before returning home. During this stay we visited Cambridge, Huntingdon & Ely. Weather was OK but very windy, quite common in East Anglia I believe.
The following day we visited the Botanical Gardens in Cambridge, a longish drive but interesting place to visit, especially in Spring I think when many of the prettiest plants would be in flower. This heritage-listed botanic garden was originally conceived by Charles Darwin's mentor and teacher, Professor John Henslow. A selection of photos taken are shown below.
After that came Huntingdon & the only fact I knew about Huntingdon was Michael Ryan going on a shooting spree in August 1987, killing 16 people including a policeman and his own mother before shooting himself. He had used an arsenal of weapons including a Kalashnikov semiautomatic rifle, a Beretta pistole and an M1 carbine. The following year, the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 was signed into law, banning the ownership of semi-automatic firearms and pump-action weapons. It also made registration mandatory for all shotgun owners in Britain. The Hungerford massacre remains one of the most infamous shootings within the UK but what makes the case all the more chilling is the fact that the true motivation behind the massacre still remains an enigma today.
Huntingdon itself is very pretty, not the sort of place you would expect the horror of 1987 to happen. It is full of history being the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell and the Cromwell museum in the center of town is worth a visit. The church of All Saints is one of only two surviving medieval parish churches in Huntingdon (together with Saint Mary's) and dates back to the late 10th century; it was replaced first by a Norman church, which in turn was rebuilt in the 13th century in Early English style with the tower being added in the 14th century. Following restoration in the 19th century the tower is now the oldest part of the current church. The church font originated from the church of St John (now gone) and it is known that Cromwell was baptised at St John's so it is likely that this was in the font that is now at All Saints.
An interesting anecdote occured in 1612 when King James I ordered that the body of his mother Mary, Queen of Scots, should be transferred from its resting place in Peterborough Cathedral, to a new, grand tomb in Westminster Abbey. When the funeral procession reached Huntingdon the catafalque carrying the queen's body, was set for the night upon the chancel steps of All Saints church.
Our final trip out was to Ely to visit the Cathedral which is also steeped in history. With the Great Ouse flowing through the town it is also a very beautiful place to visit on a nice day (as it was for us) and after the cathedral we took a pleasant walk through Jubilee Gardens to the waterfront for lunch. Back to the cathedral
We have a thing about historic churches and cathedrals - Ely Cathedral is quite stunning and has a remarkable ceiling as well as one of the most amazing engineering feats of the Middle Ages in the form of its unique Octagon Tower. Ely Cathedral was one of the premier Saxon churches in England, on a par with Glastonbury and Canterbury and after the Norman invasion Simeon was named Abbot of Ely, by William the Conquerer, and he rebuilt the earlier Saxon cathedral in 1083 in the romanesque style. Unfortunately, the Norman tower later collapsed and was rebuilt by Alan of Walsingham who was a junior monk at the time and used his visionary architectural skills to design the new unique tower, known as the Octagonal or Lantern Tower, that stands to this day. At the time we visited the cathedral was also the scene of a wedding.
