Framlingham Castle

Framlingham Castle, in Suffolk, is said to have been built by Raedwald between 599 and 624 AD. There are 13 towers that are built atop the huge encircling castle wall and those were erected during the late 12th or early 13th century and for over 400 years served as the residence of the Earls and Dukes of Norfolk. While the only building inside the walls that is still standing is a poorhouse that was built, when the castle was at the height of its use, the inside was filled with buildings and bustling with people. It was here that Queen Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII rallied her supporters before she took the throne in 1553.

The building that is still standing, was turned into a poorhouse in the 1600's and 1700's and was in use for over 200 years.

Giant lawn chess set on the grounds

It was awesome to be able to walk up on the battlements and walk all around the castle wall.

During the Tudor time, the Howard's lived in the castle and to compete with the grandeur the Tudor's were known for, the Howard's had elaborate chimney's built atop the towers. Only 2 or 3 were actually connected to the fireplaces...all the others were purely decorative.

Kite Festival!

So, today is Mom's last full day in England, and we packed in a TON of stuff today! We had a traditional English breakfast this morning at Pop Bellies in Huntingdon, stopped by a kite festival, saw Framlingham Castle, had a cream tea in the afternoon, visited Orford Castle, and came home and went out for Indian food for dinner! I'm not sure how we managed all that in a day, but we did!

While we were on our way to Framlingham, we spotted a kite festival and stopped and walked around. It was pretty neat to see all the different kites...they even had a competition going on between different kite groups and that was cool. People were flying kites in time to music and they had at least 3 kites! It was rainy and cold and windy when we first got there, but the sun finally decided to peek through.

English Breakfast balloons...Eggs, Sausage, Chips, and Mushrooms (this was Christopher's favorite balloon)

3 kites with long tails in the competition

And my new favorite picture of Christopher...it speaks for itself.

Sylvester and Tweety

Then, while I was napping, Mom and Christopher stopped at this old church and snapped some pictures.

The past couple of days...

Well, we've taken the past couple of days kind of easy and just kind of relaxed and hung out, which has been nice. Its been great having Mom here! She's made beer muffins and yellow cake with homemade hot chocolate sauce on it, which are 2 AMAZING things from home I always miss! So, I think I'm going to kidnap her and not let her come home....lol

We saw "Angels & Demon's" on Thursday (it opened a day early over here) and it was pretty good. It's been a couple of years since I read the Dan Brown novel, but I started it again and didnt get a chance to finish it before we saw the movie, so my uber anal-retentiveness wasn't able to come out in full force; so I can say with certainty, that it was a fantastic film! Once I finish the book and see the movie again, I'll let you know if it lives up to Jessica standard...lol
Today we ventured over to Birmingham. The pull for us to go was the IMAX theatre to watch
"Star Trek", yes, "Star Trek". lol. I grew up watching it and while I'm not a Trekkie, I did attend a trekkie convention with my dad and uncle when I was like 4 and I got to sit on Scotty's(James Doohan) lap! It was great! I do have to say, it was a fantastic movie!

I did miss that William Shatner wasnt in it...because he is awesome...lol.

Other than that, Birmingham was a bust...it was kind of in the ghetto. So, we saw the movie and then left. Tomorrow we're headed out to Framlingham Castle so look for a post from there!

Ely Cathedral

Yesterday Mom and I headed out in East England. We had plans to start out and Denny Abbey, then head to a Stained Glass museum in Ely, then head over to Framlingham Castle. The Abbey was closed when we got there, so we headed over to Ely.

We got to Ely Cathedral and just expected to walk around the Stained Glass Museum for a few minutes and head on to Framlingham. Wrong. The Cathedral was amazing! We had so much fun walking around. When we walked up to the front of it, there were tons of baby ducks walking around. They were so tame, they came right up to us and let us pet them.

The Cathedral

Ely Cathedral was founded as a monastery in 673 By St. Etheldreda. It was destroyed by the Danes in 870 and then re-founded as a Benedictine Community in 970. It became a Cathedral in 1109 and Henry VIII closed the Monastery in 1539 during the reformation, during which time, he ordered parts of the church to be destroyed. His people removed the paintings from the walls and smashed and destroyed some of the sculptures and windows.

The Front Door from the inside

One of the Stained Glass windows and some of the old flags

Up on the 2nd level. That center Octagon in the middle of the church is where a tower used to stand. In 1322 the center tower fell and crumbled to the floor leaving a gaping hole in the ceiling. So, the Octagonal Lantern was built in its place.

Close up of the window

The View from outside

The inside of the Octagon in the middle of the church. Its a feat of engineering, especially for Medieval times. Its made completely of timber and its all braced against itself. To erect it, they had to build it on the ground, take it apart and haul each individual piece up onto the scaffolding, which held it up until the 16 large pieces of timber were put in place. The trees that they used for the main braces they think are over 1000 years old now, since they were upwards of 70 feet tall when they cut them down to use them as the main support. It took 18 years to finish and is over 60 feet high.

Looking into the Octagon

The Roof of the Octagon

Looking down from 60 feet

Mom on the other side of the Octagon

Looking down again

Outside on the roof

The view from the roof

Mom...trying not to freak out on the roof (we were 70 feet off the ground)

Looking through part of the roof

The TINY sprialing staircase (we had to go up something like 150 steps like this)

Mom coming out of the little door... I swear, the Monks must have been TINY when they built this place

The Lady Chapel

The Altar. The Statue of the Virgin Mary is a new statue that was comissioned for the Millenium by David Wynne.

Here in the Lady chapel, you can see the damage done by Henry VIII and the Reformation

The Window at the Altar

The altar in the Cathedral

One of the tombs...I like how this guy's hanging out like that...lol

Mom, shocked at how high up we were!

The outside. We were up where the arrow is pointing