My theme for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is – Places I Have Been. After some contemplation I decided to limit it to Places I Have been in the UK, this is because I have been to far more places in the UK and have very limited experience of places outside of the UK. I hope you enjoy my post.

Cathedrals

Before I begin, I know Cathedrals are not everyone’s thing, but you do not have to be religious to find Cathedrals interesting, just enjoy history or a roof over your head in the rain. I have to admit there have been a few occasions I have wandered into a Cathedral due to the weather, as they are usually free and have something of interest lurking somewhere inside. I am only going to mention a few Cathedrals in this post, the ones that I found of particular interest to me.

Winchester Cathedral

This is the only Cathedral where I have consciously made the decision to go in prior to visiting the City. The reason for this is due to one of the UK’s best selling authors being buried there. Jane Austen was buried in Winchester Cathedral in 1817 at the age of 41 years. The plaque that was originally placed makes no mention of her being an author or any of her books. In the late 1800’s a second plaque was placed close by to rectify this. Jane died following an illness just around the corner from the Cathedral. There is a blue plaque on the house to acknowledge that Jane Austen died there but it is a private property, so there is no public admittance, as it is someone’s current home.

Another reason why I was interested in Winchester Cathedral was that before London, Winchester was the capital of England. In 871, Alfred was crowned King of Wessex and established Winchester as his capital. By the time the Normans invaded in 1066 London had grown in popularity and eventually London became the Capital. It is believed that up to 12 Kings of England may have been buried there.

Coventry Cathedral

Founded in 700 AD Coventry Cathedral has seen its fair share of conflict. In 1016, King Canute’s army destroyed the Nunnery. During the reformation the first Cathedral was destroyed which required it to be rebuilt. Then during World War 2, Coventry was so badly bombed that the Cathedral was badly destroyed. In the 1950’s the Cathedral was rebuilt once again and so far, it is still there. Coventry is the closest Cathedral to where I live and I honestly never visited it until I was in my late 20’s while I was studying art. The architecture of the new building is very interesting. What I like about the Cathedral is that they incorporated the old cathedral ruins along with the new. I do however, like the ruined bit of the Cathedral most. I have used an image from Google as whenever I go to Coventry, there is always a grey sky and this shows a nice blue sky.

Truro Cathedral

I have included this as it was the last Cathedral I visited and it wasn’t intentional visit. Myself and my family were on holiday just after the Queen had died. We were in Cornwall and decided to have a day out to Truro, where we brought Churros, which were very nice. Anyway after walking around for a little bit we came across the Cathedral. Inside they were signing books of condolence for Her Majesty, so we decided to go inside and take a look. To be honest I don’t remember a lot about the Cathedral itself inside, I really only remember a very beautiful stained class window and the books of condolence. Outside though the gothic architecture is beautiful.

Above are just three of the Cathedrals in the UK that I found interesting for different reasons. There are some beautiful buildings round the UK, even if you don’t want to go inside, the architecture and decoration outside of the building are worth having a look at.

Thank you for reading.