The English Heritage Festival of History covers 2000 years of British history. Most of the displays are military, probably because it leads to a more dramatic show.
In addition to the big displays, there was a historic market where you could buy traditional clothing, games, tableware.
Click on the thumbnail to view the image
The National Hamster Council had a Hamster Display at the show. This allowed members of the public to handle hamsters and discuss animal ownership and welfare. We went to help out, and had an interesting time talking to people in the display tent. We also managed to go out into the rest of the show to go around some of the stalls and events.
Click on the thumbnail to view the image
Something very strange happened in the Whitefriars Pub last night. The three of us (Me, Emma, Stuart) were sitting in the old part of the pub when Stuart felt something wet on his back. He turned round to show us and there were several wet patches where water had trickled down onto him. There was also a drop on the chair. None of us saw anything happen. I felt the ceiling but it was completely dry. The pub was nearly empty - there was nobody near at the time so it seems unlikely that anyone squirted water at us.
Parts of the building date from the 14th century, and the building has had many different uses over the years. Before it was converted into a pub, it had been a butchers shop. The place may be haunted but I'm not sure. I think we'll need to revisit the pub and investigate, over a few more pints of beer. There is always an extensive and ever-changing range of real ales to sample.
The annual Coventry Heritage Open Day is upon us again. A lot of historic attractions are open to the public this weekend, including some which are usually limited access or by appointment only.
We've been meaning to visit the Guildhall for a while, so this was the ideal opportunity. We also visited the Watchmaking Museum and the Police Museum - both of which are usually closed to the public.
St Mary's Guildhall
Black Swan Terrace, a recently renovated row of medieval houses on Upper Spon Street. The middle house was the Weavers Cottage, which was open for viewing. Until recently, the buildings were hidden from view, covered in scaffolding.
The photos are from the Festival of History, at Kelmarsh Hall. The event takes place over 2 days (today and tomorrow) and celebrates nearly 2000 years of British history, from the Romans to the Second World War. Military events are a large part of the event, but as they make the more spectacular reconstructions, that's no surprise.
The 1st World War air display was almost worth the cost of entry on its own. Other events included Jousting, artillary demonstrations and battle re-enactments.
Click on the thumbnail to view the image
Spon Street and Spon End |
Story location: Home / photography / pinhole / |
| 16/Sep/2006 |
Spon Street in Coventry contains a lot of the medieval building in the city, some of which were moved there in the 1970s. During daylight hours the street is usually full of parked cars. These photos were taken early on a sunday morning to try to avoid too many vehicles.
Click on the thumbnail to view the image
This weekend celebrates Heritage Open Days where many of Coventry's historic sites are open for free, including many sites which aren't usually open to the public. We heard about this in one of the local papers and it mentioned the Lunt Roman Fort, which had been on our 'to-do' list, so that's where we went first.
The fort is near the airport, near the village of Baginton, and is quite small. The outlines of buildings are still visible but have been covered in concrete so no roman brickwork is visible anymore. An replica granary building has been erected and houses displays and models showing what the fort would have looked like.
This afternoon we headed into town to the tour of the old Priory Undercroft. This is part of the ruins of the original priory building from the 12th Century and isn't normally open to the public. The guided tour was very interesting.
Underneath the ruins of the old cathedral, one of the crypt chapels was open. This was used for services during the war, after the cathedral had been bombed. It was very small so they can't have fitted many people inside. We also went into the new cathedral to take a look around. It was very impressive and larger than we were expecting.
On the way home we popped into another old building - the Old Windmill pub on Spon Street. They were holding a Cider Festival so we had a couple of drinks as we were passing.
American Presidents |
Story location: Home / bits-n-bobs / |
| 24/May/2006 |
Presidents of the USA from 1789 to present.
List of British Prime Ministers |
Story location: Home / bits-n-bobs / |
| 24/May/2006 |
British Prime Ministers, 1721-2006
It didn't take long to drive to the Space Centre - I think it took as long to get out of Coventry as it did to drive the rest of the way to Leicester.
Entry includes a film show in the planetarium style 'Space Theatre'. The film was called Big and was about the scale of the universe. Other highlights include Astronaut training which included a simulator ride to Jupiter's moons.
While we were there, we had a quick look at the Abbey Pumping Station which was next door. This was billed as Leicester's Science and Technology Museum but was on a much smaller 'local' scale. As the site used to be a sewage pumping station, a lot of the exhibits were to do with toilets and sanitation.
Eleanor Crosses |
Story location: Home / bits-n-bobs / |
| 27/Nov/2005 |
When Eleanor of Castile (wife of Edward I) died near Lincoln in 1290, her body was taken back to Westminster. At each overnight stop, Edward ordered a cross to be erected:
- Harby, Nottinghamshire (near Lincoln)
- Grantham, Lincolnshire
- Stamford, Lincolnshire
- Geddington, Northamptonshire (near Kettering)
- Hardingstone, near Northampton
- Stony Stratford (near Milton Keynes)
- Woburn, Bedfordshire
- Dunstable, Bedfordshire
- St Albans, Hertfordshire
- Waltham (now Waltham Cross) near Cheshunt in Hertfordshire
- Westcheap (Cheapside), London
- Charing (now Charing Cross)
A couple of weeks ago, we received through the door a 'buy one get one free' entry voucher for Warwick Castle. We'd already been there last year, but that was off-season and they had fewer attractions (and more rain). This time around, they had a Trebuchet, Birds of Prey, Jousting, and many other stalls and side-shows. The only one of these they had last time was the Archery demonstration.
We went for the Trebuchet and stayed for the Jousting. The only real problem was the popularity of the place (quite amazing since the normal adult entry fee is £17). There were queues to get into some of the indoor exhibits and onto the battlements.
After leaving the castle, we had a wander around the town itself including the Warwickshire Museum which had everything a local museum should have: history, geography, wildlife, and free entry.
Click on the thumbnail to view the image
Emma and I went into Coventry city centre this morning with some fixed ideas about what we wanted to do:
- Take some films to be developed (from last summer and Christmas!)
- Renew my travel card (which I use on the trains and buses to get to work)
- Visit the Toy Museum
We've been meaning to do the latter for many months now (ever since I moved to Coventry last year and we were trying to find out what attractions there were in the city).
The museum is in an old gatehouse near the centre of the city, in Much Park Street. Inside, it looks more like a bric-a-brac shop than a museum. Old toys and games lie on shelves and in cabinets and in some cases hang from the ceiling. The toys range from early 20th century to fairly modern, so there's enough there to make anyone feel nostalgic. While the museum itself is quite small, an awful lot of items have been packed into the building. It would be possible to spend several hours there.
More details about the museum can be found on the BBC website.
Whilst wandering around Coventry city centre this afternoon, we decided to have a look at the transport museum. Having walked past it a number of times, we thought it was worth seeing what was in there. On the whole, it was interesting. After looking around the downstairs area, with lots of old or historic or unusual cars (such as the Jaguar XK8 from a James Bond film), we went upstairs.
This was much more like an old-fashioned museum with lots of side rooms with different exhibits. While wandering around more or less at random, we found the Thrust SSC exhibit, where you sat through a simulation of the record breaking run before having a look at the actual car which broke the world land speed record in 1997. This seemed such a major item for the museum to have and keep quiet about! Neither of us knew it was here and there was nothing in the museum itself or at the entrance which gave a hint that it was inside.
All in all, it was in interesting hour or so. We'll have to go back and have a more thorough explore when we've got more time.
