While still based in Padstow, Cornwall, UK, I went to the 13th century Restormel Castle. It's an example of a circular shell keep, a rare style of fortification built during a short period in the 12th and early 13th centuries. As usual, the periodic rain lent the entire site a wonderful ancient atmosphere. 

The remnants of the large fireplace in the kitchen 

After that, a quick stop along the roadway to see King Doniert's Stone - two Celtic memorial crosses (missing the actual cross) dating to the 9th century, with some interesting carvings. 

Further on was Trevethy Quoit, an impressive neolithic tomb chamber tucked behind some houses - one of the biggest ones I've seen, and since one support stone has fallen I could get inside it, under a 20-ton capstone.

Unusual that it has that hole in the capstone…
I could not find any information on that

By the way…driving around these off-the-beaten-path sites was a bit stressful - even more so than in Ireland - with many, many instances of single-lane (or smaller) curvy roads with frequent oncoming vehicles (at one point a full-sized bus; another, a giant tractor), requiring one of us to either back up, pull into a tiny turnout (if there is one near), or both.

Chysauster Ancient Village is a set of nine 'houses' with a main 'street' down the middle, built and occupied from about 100 to 300 AD, when much of southeast Britain was under Roman rule. Each of the stone-walled houses had multiple rooms arranged around a central courtyard (archeologists call them Courtyard Houses). These pictures don't do the site justice; it was incredible to walk around and through this small, protected ‘neighborhood.’

After a lunch of a spicy chicken and mango Cornish pasty (which, sadly, was neither spicy, nor tasting of mango, but was consumed with a nice picnic view), I visited Men-an-Tol, an unusual Bronze Age set of stones, possibly part of a stone circle that is buried. As I got back on the road, I spotted a megalithic tomb in a field, so I pulled over and went to take a look. Let's just say it was, um, occupied.

Looks huge, right?

For my final excursion in Cornwall, I went to St. Agnes Head and hiked on the beautiful bluffs.

Loads of fun with the 3-hour Liverpool Fab4 Taxi Tour followed by a visit to The Beatles Story Exhibition. I went to their childhood homes, the place where John and Paul first met, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, and more. Among the items at the museum were George Harrison’s first guitar, some hand-written lyric sheets, and their original demo 45 record of “Love Me Do“ on which which McCartney‘s name was misspelled.

These original gates at Strawberry Field were stolen,
recovered, and placed here inside the grounds 

For my Beatles Pilgrimage I’m staying in the town of Chester, near Liverpool, and enjoyed seeing its nice Roman wall and the canal.

London is my final stop before heading home. I took the underground to The Royal College of Music Museum, which is small but has a few very interesting items. 

Reportedly the world’s oldest surviving guitar, 1581

And…the world’s oldest surviving keyboard
instrument with strings, from 1480

These are called Pochettes, very small violins
to be carried around in the pocket; ornately designed,
even one with a compartment that opens to a fan

Albert memorial opposite the Royal Albert Hall 

What drew me to London's National Gallery is a special exhibit - After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art which looks at the early 20th century evolution toward ‘modern’ art that began after the impressionist period.

The first three paintings below - all are of a tree - are by Piet Mondriaan, showing his journey from naturalism to geometric abstraction. They are from 1906, 1908, and 1912, respectively. Zooming in on all of these is recommended!

Edgar Degas, 1889

Paul Signac, 1891

Vincent van Gogh, 1888

The National Gallery, left side, from one of
the fountains at Trafalger Square 

This morning I had a ticket for an 'out-of-hours' tour at the British Museum, focusing on "Introduction to Ancient Egypt." It started at 9 am, so we got in before the museum opened at 10, thus avoiding the extreme crowds for an hour. This was a very nice and entertaining overview of the Egyptian area of the museum, after which I wandered throughout the building for a few hours. I even managed to find some modern-ish stuff, too.

King Ramesses II, 1250 BC

Unusually large "false door" tomb, 2400 BC, with
hieroglyphic account of the owner's life

Statues of the Goddess Sekhmet (head of
a lion, body of a woman), about 1390 BC

The Rosetta Stone - key to deciphering
ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics - 196 BC

 

"Gebelein Man" - died about 3500 BC, naturally
mummified by rapidly drying in the hot desert sand.
That's a couple of thousand years older than the
preserved bog bodies we saw in Dublin, Ireland.

After that I went to Abbey Road - in the rain - and got a picture of me in the famous crosswalk. I know, you can hardly tell it's me, but I assure you it was! By the way, the traffic on that road is busy, not easy to stand out there too long...

Even though I will be here for a few more days (visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Tate Museum, at least), this is a great way to close this five-month blog! I hope you've enjoyed reading and seeing pictures of some of our adventures, great and small.

Thanks,

~ malcolm

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Addendum - for those who may still be reading this.

July 24, 2023

The Tate Modern was very satisfying, some great modern art - I think I put in about 5 miles just wandering the museum.

Then, a visit to Leadenhall Market, which is nice looking, but not much actually going on - mostly restaurants, not too many shops that I was hoping for. From there I walked to St. Dunstan's in the East, a very interesting overgrown ruin in the middle of London. Originally built in 1100, it was damaged both in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and during the bombing in 1941. It was decided not to rebuild it, and it then became a sort of oasis. Very nice.

And my final museum of this long trip, the Victoria & Albert Museum. Much, much more than I expected! lots of great japanese, chinese, middle eastern, classical, medieval, some modern, and more. A fitting museum finale.

 

As we crossed back over into the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland we no longer saw the Union Jack (and lots of various 'orange order') flags and banners all over the towns and villages, as they celebrate July 12, variously known as The Twelfth, The Glorious Twelfth,  Orangeman's Day. It's the celebration to mark the victory of William of Orange (Protestant) over King James (Catholic) in 1690. Ok, whatever...anyway, we came back to speed limits in kilometers, signs saying "Yield" instead of "Give Way," and Google maps showing "Ireland" instead of "UK." 

Then we spent one night in Athlone ("the very center of Ireland") where we visited Sean's Bar which, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the oldest pub in the world, in operation since 900 AD (and they apparently have the property records to prove it). 

On the road to Kilkenny, we stopped at the Meehambee Dolmen (3500 BC tomb). Unlike  the others we've seen, it's in a forest instead of an open field, covered with moss and plants. Really nice short hike in the forest to reach it - it may well have been in an open field when built, I guess plants and trees grow over the course of more than 5,000 years.

Off the main and even rural roads to reach
the Meehambee Dolmen

Then, about a one kilometer walk

Kilkenny is kind of cool, a really nice vibe. First stop was St. Canice's Cathedral and round tower. We went up to the top of the 100-foot tower (1200s). This was where the monks went when attacked, through a door 15 feet up the side, then pulled in the ladder to prevent the attackers from following and, I dunno, wait them out? Or something. Super cool, and nice (windy) view from the top. Then the cathedral - an incredible array of tombs, carvings, some nice stained glass, and other items. Another worthwhile Kilkenny sight was St. Mary's Medieval Museum (including medieval-era bones of two women, a pre-teen, and an infant, found on-site just a few years ago). 

St. Canice's Cathedral and round tower

Kilkenny Castle in the background 

Tomb of Piers Butler, Earl of Ossory, and
wife Margaret Fitzgerald (1540)

Tomb of Richard Butler 1st Viscount of Mountgarret
(1546) - died of poisoning in London. Zoom in on the carvings!
Yes, the Butlers were big in Kilkenny for generations.

The holes in the bottom are for draining fluids
from the decomposing corpse - I just thought you should know!

Zoom in to see the detail on this tomb - not sure, but 
maybe more of the 'vocational' grave markings?

There were sad stories gleaned from analysis of the bones
(infant bones not on display) - evidence of injuries,
malnutrition, infection. These were not people of means,
they were peasants buried in nothing but shrouds, none
of the fancy carved tombs of the elite 

And then was The King's Harper: The Irish Harp at 17th Century English Court, part of the Kilkenny Festival of Early Irish Harp. Taking place in the Parade Tower of Kilkenny Castle, the instrumentation (lute, treble viol, 2 bass viols, early Irish harp) was very likely quite similar to that which was used in that same location 1,000 years ago. The music, all late 1500s/early 1600s, was sublime.

We enjoyed a final morning in Kilkenny before leaving for Dublin to complete our (approximate) circumnavigation of Ireland. First it was back at the Chester Beatty museum to pick up Eileen’s daypack/bag which she had left accidentally when we were there about six weeks ago! We called after losing it, but at that time they did not seem to have it. A few weeks later, we contacted them again and, faith and begorrah, they had it and agreed to hang on to it for a few more weeks until we would return. A nice reunion! After that we visited the small art glass museum on site that was closed when we visited before, and it was fantastic.

Thursday morning I dropped Eileen off at the airport, as she flies to Minnesota today for a McKenna family gathering. Our rental car - and my world! - feels out of balance without her sitting there in the passenger seat… we will meet back at home in 13 days, after my visit to Wales, Cornwall, Liverpool, and London.

My flight out is not until this evening so I head back into Dublin to kill a few hours at the National Gallery of Ireland. This is really a very good, large-ish museum with a wonderful selection of mostly paintings, ranging from the 1300s to mid-20th century. 

Although I gravitate toward the modern stuff, I loved the special exhibit of the works of Lavinia Fontana, a groundbreaking Italian female painter of the late 16th century who is “widely considered to be the first woman artist to achieve professional success beyond the confines of a court or convent…the first woman to manage her own workshop, and the first woman to paint public alterpieces and female nudes.” They don’t allow photos of that exhibit so I added a couple from online.

Maine Jellet, 1941

Colin Middleton, 1948

This is the greatest crucifixion of Jesus
painting I’ve ever seen! Albert Gleizes, 1935

Jack B. Yeats (yes, the brother of W.B.), 1949

The above two are by Fontana, late 1500s

Ugolino di Nerio, 1320 - the oldest painting I came
across at this museum - over 700 years old!

In Cardiff, Wales I visited my friend Tim, and amidst intermittent pouring rain he gave me a whirlwind tour of Cardiff including the stunning Caerphilly Castle, the largest castle and grounds (including moat) in Wales. And with the dripping rain and very few visitors, it really took me back to 1275…

The next two are from the 64-page (!) booklet they give you upon entering.

Long drive from Cardiff (BTW, it's back to MPH now...) to Padstow, which is on the north coast of Cornwall. On the way I stopped at a Roman amphitheater, then Tintagel Castle. Remember I wrote that we could not use the rope bridge in Ireland due to wind? Same thing here, even though the bridge is much sturdier than rope. Took a nice long and strenuous hike along the bluffs anyway. Three nights here, for my exploration of more megalithic sites, ruins, and hopefully some locations where the tv show Poldark was filmed.

This is the island (see the bridge to the left?) where the castle was;
you can see various areas of rubble here and there (see close-up below)