"Things You Wouldn't Know If We Didn't Blog Intermittently."
17 August 2020
A thousand years old and still standing
Not the tower. The Saxon church. The Roman tower next to it is 2,000 years old. (I'm an American, so this degree of antiquity never ceases to amaze me.)
From the description on the Historic England website:
St Mary-in-Castro and the Roman lighthouse, Dover Castle, Kent
"The rough masonry tower at the west end of the church of St Mary-in-Castro is the remains of one of a pair of Roman lighthouses at Dover which guided shipping across the channel. The church itself dates from circa 1020 AD. The church was extensively repaired in 1582 but was in little use from the end of the 16th century. By 1724 its bells had been removed and the building was in ruins. It was used as a Fives' Court in the early 1790s and a garrison coal store during the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815). During the modernising of the castle in the mid 19th century the church was restored. This site is now in the care of English Heritage (2010)."
There's a larger Roman era structure at Burgh Castle in Norfolk.
The parenthetical comment in the post is spot on. I've often thought that this is at least part of what sets we Americans apart from a lot of the rest of the world - we don't walk among the reminders of our past. I live in Boston, where (with some exceptions) some of the earliest structures in North America stand, and they pale in comparison to the age of buildings that are still in use in Europe. In comparison, our surroundings are nearly ephemeral. Our environment is what we want it to be or we knock it down and build what we want and call it progress.
When Parisians pass by the Notre-Dame de Paris, they're passing a building which saw groundbreaking in 1163. The Tower of London? 1078. The Colosseum? A thousand years older than that. How can people not see their place in the world differently? Or their responsibilities? They have the opportunity to revere things that are bigger than themselves, and know that humanity is a wonderous thing, with remarkable potential - at least on the scale that we can comprehend.
Of course, in the USA, the only thing that I have to think about is me, and the only thing that holds that much reverence is lip service to a Christian god and his holy sacrament, the AR-15.
For a kick, people should research the oldest earthworks and structures in North America. Fascinating stuff there, but most of us don't see any of it on a regular basis. I make a point to see as much as I can.
In Cambridge, you can stand on a particular spot and look at one o'clock to your right and see St Bene't's Church Tower, which is so old that two of the windows consist of large stones with holes cut in them - it's one of the oldest buildings in the city; look at 11 o'clock to your left and you can see the windows of the laboratory in the Old Cavendish Laboratory where Ernest Rutherford first split the nucleus of an atom.
You should look up Durham Cathedral. I'm from England, have travelled a lot in Europe and did history of art as a degree so am used to very old places. But being in Durham still felt very special. A similar feeling to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in your country.
It was common for early Saxon buildings to be made from re-purposed Roman building materials, such as at St. Nicholas, which was built using brick from the bath-house next door. On the inside of the church, in full view as you walk in, is a Roman brick positioned in such as way as to show off a cat's footprint impressed in the clay when it was still wet. Every generation has it's own sense of the past, and reveres it (or not) accordingly.
Meanwhile, here in Australia, it's fine to blast a rockshelter for iron ore/profits that has 46,000 years of human occupation associated with it.
I'm english, but now living in Texas, where a building that was completed last thursday is historic. I used to drink beer in a pub that has been selling ale since at least 950 AD, possibly as far back as 905, when it was built. in my local city of York, water still runs through conduits built by the engineers of the ninth legion. The emperor Severus Ruled the Roman Empire from that city from 208-11, Constantine the great was proclaimed Emperor, when his father died in York in 306 AD. It was 500 years old by the time Christopher Columbus was born.
:-) some vinyl siding, maybe some new windows - that could be a real looker! :-)
ReplyDeleteI-)
Mesa Verde, Serpent Mounds are both close to 1000 years.
ReplyDeleteFrom the description on the Historic England website:
ReplyDeleteSt Mary-in-Castro and the Roman lighthouse, Dover Castle, Kent
"The rough masonry tower at the west end of the church of St Mary-in-Castro is the remains of one of a pair of Roman lighthouses at Dover which guided shipping across the channel. The church itself dates from circa 1020 AD. The church was extensively repaired in 1582 but was in little use from the end of the 16th century. By 1724 its bells had been removed and the building was in ruins. It was used as a Fives' Court in the early 1790s and a garrison coal store during the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815). During the modernising of the castle in the mid 19th century the church was restored. This site is now in the care of English Heritage (2010)."
There's a larger Roman era structure at Burgh Castle in Norfolk.
It amazes me, too. When I went to Europe, the ages of some of the structures boggled my mind!
ReplyDeleteI assume it's Dover where I was 8 years ago.
ReplyDeleteIf it is, then it's near Dover Castle.
The parenthetical comment in the post is spot on. I've often thought that this is at least part of what sets we Americans apart from a lot of the rest of the world - we don't walk among the reminders of our past. I live in Boston, where (with some exceptions) some of the earliest structures in North America stand, and they pale in comparison to the age of buildings that are still in use in Europe. In comparison, our surroundings are nearly ephemeral. Our environment is what we want it to be or we knock it down and build what we want and call it progress.
ReplyDeleteWhen Parisians pass by the Notre-Dame de Paris, they're passing a building which saw groundbreaking in 1163. The Tower of London? 1078. The Colosseum? A thousand years older than that. How can people not see their place in the world differently? Or their responsibilities? They have the opportunity to revere things that are bigger than themselves, and know that humanity is a wonderous thing, with remarkable potential - at least on the scale that we can comprehend.
Of course, in the USA, the only thing that I have to think about is me, and the only thing that holds that much reverence is lip service to a Christian god and his holy sacrament, the AR-15.
For a kick, people should research the oldest earthworks and structures in North America. Fascinating stuff there, but most of us don't see any of it on a regular basis. I make a point to see as much as I can.
In Cambridge, you can stand on a particular spot and look at one o'clock to your right and see St Bene't's Church Tower, which is so old that two of the windows consist of large stones with holes cut in them - it's one of the oldest buildings in the city; look at 11 o'clock to your left and you can see the windows of the laboratory in the Old Cavendish Laboratory where Ernest Rutherford first split the nucleus of an atom.
ReplyDeleteYou should look up Durham Cathedral. I'm from England, have travelled a lot in Europe and did history of art as a degree so am used to very old places. But being in Durham still felt very special. A similar feeling to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in your country.
ReplyDeleteA similar example can be found in Leicester at St. Nicholas church and the Jewry Wall (great little museum next door).
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nicholas_Church,_Leicester
It was common for early Saxon buildings to be made from re-purposed Roman building materials, such as at St. Nicholas, which was built using brick from the bath-house next door. On the inside of the church, in full view as you walk in, is a Roman brick positioned in such as way as to show off a cat's footprint impressed in the clay when it was still wet. Every generation has it's own sense of the past, and reveres it (or not) accordingly.
Meanwhile, here in Australia, it's fine to blast a rockshelter for iron ore/profits that has 46,000 years of human occupation associated with it.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/26/rio-tinto-blasts-46000-year-old-aboriginal-site-to-expand-iron-ore-mine
I'm english, but now living in Texas, where a building that was completed last thursday is historic.
ReplyDeleteI used to drink beer in a pub that has been selling ale since at least 950 AD, possibly as far back as 905, when it was built.
in my local city of York, water still runs through conduits built by the engineers of the ninth legion. The emperor Severus Ruled the Roman Empire from that city from 208-11, Constantine the great was proclaimed Emperor, when his father died in York in 306 AD.
It was 500 years old by the time Christopher Columbus was born.