Been on a trip to a part of England I've never seen before. Canterbury is a lovely city, dominated by its huge cathedral. I stood on the spot where Archbishop Thomas Becket was assassinated in 1170. The knights didn't make a good job of it and ended up chopping off part of his skull, stabbing him and he still lived, so they stabbed him with a sword and yanked out his brain - still reading?? Horrible story. Oh - that did kill him.
The cathedral had a few great gargoyles and ever since I wrote ROCKED, I've been interested in stone masonry and gargoyles.
The other picture is of a very crooked house that Dickens wrote about!
3 comments:
You're an expert at blending gory detail with fantasy. Lovely pictures. History is so fascinating and horrible, and Rocked, a paranormal romance, is a thrilling work of art. Very cool to see Canterbury and gargoyles through your eyes.
Barbara, I was there the year they had their 1000th anniversary! I got a Canterbury cross necklace and wore it for my wedding a few years later. The cross patterns was (how crazy is this?) part of the design of the fabric we chose for the skirt of my gown.
Anyway, I'd just read Pillars of the Earth and then, when my Mom and I were at the cathedral, I got all excited to stand in that same spot you talked of. Surreal. The town was lovely, and I remember a plaque or something saying that the shop owners are not allowed to change the looks of their buildings, and if there is a fire they require a 6mos archeological dig of the site because there is so much history buried below the town itself.
Just amazing, that area. I remember it fondly. Aaaand I got a Canterbury Tales at a bookstore there. LOL
Heather
Ooh, fancy that!! You really do have a link with Canterbury. I really really liked it. And yep, I watched Pillars of the Earth too! When you look at the size of the place it's hard to conceive how they could have built the cathedral. I noticed in the shopping area, they have a sort of map on the flagstones that seems to indicate what's beneath them. I'd guess there's a lot to be excavated in that town and they won't be able to touch most of it until the buildings have to come down. Canterbury is very like York which I live near. I reminded me of Chester too. Another old town. On the downside, when I told my friend how much I liked it - she said she lived there until she was four and liked it too BUT in the summer its crammed with cars and people and its not so pleasant!!
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