April 24: A cave, a cathedral, and a cottage.

Today Kathleen and I visited Kent Caverns in Torquay, a cave that was used by our earliest ancestors – and the odd cave bear.  While in Torquay, we took a brisk walk to the beach, and then drove to Exeter to visit the cathedral – and buy a clean shirt!  We finished our day by driving to our lovely cottage in Corse, just outside of Gloucestershire, where we will spend the next week.  Alanna came up from London by bus, and we are happily planning our two days with the three of us together.

Today Kathleen and I visited Kent Caverns in Torquay, a cave that was used by our earliest ancestors – and the odd cave bear.  For thousands of years the cave was home to ancient humans, sheltering from extreme weather, making fires, shaping stone tools and hunting wild Ice Age predators.The first section of the cave faces East, and so would have caught the light.  It also gave the hunters a clear view of the valley which was a migratory corridor.  They have found tools from eight different native populations, including Neanderthal, and found a fragment of human bone that has been radiocarbon dated to about 44, 000 years ago.  It is part of the upper jaw of a young person who had the fragment ripped out ot his or her face by a hyena when the person was still alive.  Earlier species of human are known only from the tools they have left behind.

The archeology is certainly interesting, not least because it was begun in the 1870's and was one of the first sites to be marked into blocks and systematically studied, with records kept of where each artefact or bone fragment was found.  The bottom of the cave had filled with dirt, clay, and mud over the millenia, and then a hard band of stone had formed over the top during the ice age, sealing in the floor below.

This looks like a Star Trek monster, but is actually a thicker than usual section of the sealing stone.  The workers cut through the rest of it, like taking the icing off a cake, and carefully sifted up the dirt below.

 Because the soil around here is full of iron oxide, the rock formations that have taken thousands of years to develop are beautifully coloured.  It was breathtaking, and the guided tour through the caves was fascinating.  Unlike other caves we have visited, these were not lit with coloured lights and special effects, but were left the way the first archeologists had left them, and the site is still an active archeological site.

Stalagtites and Satlagmites in the cave

Many of the formations have names.  The large whitish lump in the back is the wedding cake.

 

I think this was supposed to be a dragon, and I could see it at the time . . . but it does give you an idea of the many colours of the rock formations.

We went deep into the cave where the cave bears hibernated, and our guide, Fliss, showed us how well ancient shell lanterns worked.  They actually worked very well -- and they they were extinguished, and we were in total blackness.  It was kind of nice, actually!

These are hollow straw formations, and very delicate,

Our next stop was a trip to the beach to feed our inner Basil Fawlty, and a pretty brisk walk it was, too, trying to beat out the approaching rain.  Like all the walks I have taken this vacation, it was straight down the hill and straight back up.

The path to the beach was spectacular with wild flowers, even though the skies were very heavy and grey.  We fully expected to get a dousing.

Meadfoot Beach at Torquay.

This car had a staff parking sticker.  Kathleen took 18 pictures of it.  When did my sister become such a car buff?

We drove to Exeter and found the parking garage we had planned to use, which Kathleen refers to as “the parking lot designed by an idiot for use in hell.”  Colourful description, isn’t it?  Not only was it cramped and small, the parking machine didn't work on our floor -- which was only accessible from the rear of the building.

We walked up to the Cathedral and were only a couple of minutes late for our guided tour at 2:30.   Kathleen was worried about joining late, but Malcolm, our docent and a retired lecturer from Cardiff Unicversity, made us feel welcome.  We learned so much about the cathedral from the tour, including the heroic efforts that were made to fix he damage of a bombing attack on the city in World War II – and the only rugby player I have ever seen carved into a Gothic Church.  We also learned the origins of the nursery rhyme, “Hickory Dickory Dock”!

The soaring arches of the Gothic Cathedral, built over the foundations of the Norman Cathedral.

The Exeter Astronomical Clock now runs on electricity, but it still shows the correct time on a 24 hour clock, as well as the phases of the moon, and the day of the moon cycle -- so we were visiting on the 6th, not the 24th.

This is a cat hole in the clock tower door, and records show that it was cut to allow the Bishop's cat access to go after the mice that were attracted by the animal fat on the clockworks.  This is the origin of the nursery rhyme, "Hickory Dickory Dock".

The oldest and largest bishop's chair in England, made from oak from the bishop's estate.  It was dismantled to protect it during WWII, and had to be reassembled.  It is held together by dowels, and there isn't a nail or screw in the entire thing.

This is the works for the Exeter Astronomical Clock, which dates from 1484.  It was greased with animal fat.

The main stain class window.  SOme of it dates back to the construction of the church, but some is from only 300 years ago.,

Another view of the bishop's chair.

The choir stalls.  Each has a misericordia that is even older than the church.

Our docent, Malcolm, with the tomb of a bishop.  It is made of basalt, and has its original paint.  An alavbaster effigy just across from this one is now covered with graffitti and badly damaged, because it has softer stone.  This effigy, and several other carvings in the church are also damaged, due to riots during and just after the civil war.

One side of the cathedral was destroyed in WWII, while a rugby game was going on between Oxford and Exeter.  The two rugby clubs helped to raise the money to rebuild it, and so there is a rugby player as one of the bosses.

 

Cathedral Commons

A carving above the choir screen of a beagle -- made 600 years ago!

We had to buy gas – Kathleen’s turn – and we stopped at Sainsbury’s for breakfast and snack food, before leaving Exeter for our cottage for the next week here in Corse.  We picked up Alanna, who travelled up by bus for four hours, and tomorrow we are off to Cirencester!