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Saturday, August 14Leeds Castle, Canterbury, DoverStart
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On Saturday, we took another Evan Evans full day tour. This time, we traveled east and southeast to visit Leeds Castle, Canterbury, and Dover. We returned to London traveling past the Channel Tunnel entrance.
Leeds Castle
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The Queen's Gallery |
The Queen's Bedroom |
Originally a Saxon royal manor built in AD. 857, Leeds became the stone Castle of the Norman Crevecoeur family. From 1278 Leeds was a royal palace where Edward I built the unique fortified mill and barbican. Falling to Edward II's troops in 1321 because his Queen was refused admission, the Castle was never again besieged as it's reputation for being a ladies Castle grew ever stronger. In it's illustrious history, Leeds Castle has been the home of six medieval Queens of England and will no doubt be graced by many distinguished ladies in the centuries ahead.
In 1552, Leeds was granted to Sir Anthony St. Leger, the Lord Deputy of Ireland. His successors, the Smyths, built a Jacobean house on the larger island selling it in 1632 to the Culpeper family. Supporting Parliament during the Civil War, the Culpepers allowed Leeds to become a Parliamentary arsenal. At the Restoration, the Culpepers sided with the Crown which had granted over 5 million acres in Virginia to the 1st Lord Culpeper for conveying the future Charles II into exile.
From the Culpepers, Leeds passed to Lord Fairfax, the successor of Black Tom Fairfax, the great Parliamentary General, whose portrait also hangs in the Castle. The 6th Lord Fairfax inherited the main house, entertaining King George III in 1778 while in 1821, the Wykeham Martins inherited Leeds but unfortunately bankrupted themselves rebuilding the Smyth House. Fortunately, Charles Wykeham Martin married an heiress in 1822 and retrieved the situation!
In 1926, Olive, later Lady Baillie, bought Leeds Castle from the Wykeham Martins, totally transforming it internally. Employing two international interior designers, Armand-Albert Rateau and Stéphane Boudin, Leeds Castle is probably the world's most complete memorial to these men. Lady Baillie filled her house with fine furniture, ceramics, tapestries and paintings, all of the highest quality - her collection of 18th Century Chinese porcelain is remarkable, with many pieces recalling her fondness for exotic birds. Lady Baillie's achievements culminated in the most radical development at Leeds Castle in its long history; by her will, the Leeds Castle Foundation was created to maintain the Castle, garden and park for the enjoyment of visitors in perpetuity.
Nancy strolling through the neighboring flower gardens.
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The Wood Garden |
The Culpeper Garden |
In the 17th century, the park at Leeds Castle was given a formal appearance - some of the original oaks planted between 1710 and 1740 still survive in the grounds today.
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Silver prizewinning
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Brass collar,
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The collection of antique dog collars at Leeds Castle spans five centuries and is the finest and most comprehensive collection of its kind in the world with over 100 collars and related exhibits tracing the history of canine neckwear from Medieval times to the present day.
Canterbury city is in Kent, southeastern England. Points of interest include the town's cathedral, seat of the Primate of the Church of England since the late 6th century.
A view down the dark and narrow medieval street of Mercery Lane, showing the warmly-lit towers of the cathedral in the distance.
Mercery Lane opens out before the medieval gate to the cathedral precinct into a wide area known as the Buttermarket, formerly used for slaughtering beef.
Canterbury is England's ecclesiastical capital, where St. Thomas Beckett, then Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in 1170. Beckett's Shrine in the Cathedral became the goal of the 'Canterbury Pilgrims' and the town prospered on this early form of tourism.
Entrance to the Canterbury Cathedral precinct through the Christchurch Gateway, constructed in 1517, and restored to its present condition by the Friends of the Cathedral in the 1930's.
The delicate columns of Canterbury's nave rise up into soaring arches and vaulting high above the heads of visitors and worshipers.
Seen from the Choir, the high altar area in the presbytery is a fine example of English execution of Romanesque architecture.
The cathedral has much beautiful and original stained glass. To protect it from the bombing of Canterbury during World War II, it was removed.
The remains of Henry IV are those of the only English Monarch to be buried in Canterbury Cathedral.
The tomb of Edward of Woodstock, better known as the Black Prince, son of Edward III, considered by some to be the quintessential medieval knight. Born 16th June 1330. Became Duke of Cornwall in 1337, and Prince of Wales in 1345. Fought at Crécy on 1346, and won the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. Married the fair Maid of Kent in 1361, & won the battle of Hàjera in 1367: allowed the Massacre of Limoges in 1370. Died in England on the 8th June 1376. It was apparently the French who first called him the Black Prince, perhaps because he wore black armor.
The death effigy of the Black Prince rests atop his tomb.
The Great Cloisters as they stand today were designed and built around 1400 by a Kentish Man, Stephen Lote, an associate of Yevele who was actually responsible for the destruction of the earlier Norman Cloisters when he rebuilt the Nave of the Cathedral.
The cathedral viewed from the south east.
Aerial view of the full 540 foot
long Cathedral.
Distant overview from English Channel.
Nat BurtonThere'll be blue birds over
There'll be love and laughter
The shepherd will tend his sheep,
There'll be blue birds over
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