Monday 7 February 2011

Coventry 4.

IMG_0050 IMG_0054

This Elephant carrying a Castle on it’s back appears on Coventry Cities Coat of Arms and signifies strength apparently. The Latin inscription underneath reads “Camera Principis” which translates as the Princes Chamber. Some remains of the 11 century castle and it’s wall are still visible.

IMG_0056 Golden Cross Inn c1583 jettied upper floors IMG_0055 Bayley Lane c1500 Medieval

We meandered down Bayley Lane and saw The Golden Cross Inn a medieval timber framed building with oversailing or jettied upper floors. Further down the quaint cobbled lane stood another cottage built c1500 with lovely carved woodwork.

IMG_0047 The Flying Standard

This magnificent building is The Flying Standard and is one of  Wetherspoon’s Inns. The inn sign had a painting of a Standard car on it.

From here we ventured up to see the two Cathedrals', there was a charge to go into the new one so I went in by myself. The old Cathedral had been bombed by the Luftwaffe in 1940 and was just a shell.The new one was completed right next to it on an unusual North South orientation in 1962. Everything about the new building is very modern, the large tapestry above the alter, the religious inscriptions on big stone tablets along the walls and the huge southern glass wall etched with angels. There were two circular side chapels one of which had an angular mosaic floor. The stained glass windows contained many small square or rectangular slabs stretching from floor to roof. Below the baptistery window was the font, a large round boulder brought from Bethlehem with a shell cut into the top for holding the water. On my way out a lady in a long beige robe asked me if I liked what I saw and I said no, it all looked rather extravagant and overwhelming. She said, “oh that is sad”, so I asked her why and how much had it all cost. She didn’t know, so I told her I would rather visit a tiny remote chapel somewhere a little more modest and meaningful. Sorry there are no images for this as photography was not allowed. We then strolled around the peaceful remains of the old Cathedral which would be a great place for a picnic on a hot summers day.

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