UK, August 2003

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Note: Click on any image to view a larger version.

In August 2003, I was sent on a business trip to India and I arranged a 1-week stopover in the UK on the way back to visit some relatives.

Supper outside of London

		The Fox & Pheasant Carvery
		Uncle Norman and Aunt Daphne

Visting with Uncle Norman and Aunt Daphne

		Norman brought these back from Egypt when he was there during WWII. The brass plate was hand made to Norman's specifications.
		A map of India showing the route that Daphne's father marched during WWII.

Visting with Uncle Neville and Aunt Beti

		High Street
		The Cross Foxes is the oldest standing pub in Prestatyn.
		Uncle Neville and Aunt Beti.
		Beti and Neville's house.
		A typical cricket fan in his natural habitat.

Prestatyn

		This statue is on the site at the bottom of High Street where a 16th century farmhouse stood until the 1960's when it was torn down to make room for the shops seen in the background.
		Continuing up High Street...



		The grammar shool.

Liverpool

		There are two rivers to cross on the way to Liverpool from Prestatyn. This is the bridge that gets you over the Dee. A tunnel gets you under the Mersey.
		Entrance to a musuem paying tribute to the Beatles.
		The Albert Dock, situated on the east shore of the Mersey, is the site of a number of museums and other attractions.







		The Merseyside Maritime Museum is by far the best nautical musuem I've ever seen. I was only there for two hours. I could have spent 2 days, easily.
		The currently featured exhibit uncovers the world of historical and modern-day smuggling, and the customs officials who combat it.




		As you'd expect, the museum houses some spectaular examples of all things nautical.
		There is a particular emphasis on the naval battles of WWII.
		This American-made survival kit was kept stowed on a life raft.
		Craig listens to a recording from WWII.



		The building of ships in bottles is demonstrated here, but not this day.
		Out the 2nd-floor window.
		An exhibit dedicated to the Liverpooleans who suffered the bombings of WWII.






		The red and white striped building, opened in 1898, was the headquaters of the White Star Line.
		Some of the fine examples of Liverpool porcelain, many featuring the images of Liverpool-built sailing ships.
		Locations of the porcelain factories.

		The basement level houses a magnificent tribute to the emigrants who departed for the New World via Liverpool.



		There is a huge, walk-through facade showing exactly what it would have been like to walk across the docks and board your outbound ship.





		Four people were expected to share one bunk for a journey lasting up to 2 months.
		To get to Speke Hall from the Albert Dock, turn left at the yellow submarine.

Speke Hall

		Speke Hall is about 6 miles east of Liverpool.
		Speke Hall is one of the four best examples of "half timbered" houses in England.
		(I'm told that there are many other houses still standing of that style of construction, but they have been covered over with brickwork.)

		These yew trees in the courtyard are probably 1000 years old. The big one is called Adam, and the smaller one is Eve.
		The rectangular hole in the eves was placed there intentionally...
		...There is a small room hidden in the attic just behind there from which one might listen in on the conversation of any guests who await the front door to be answered. Thus the term "eves dropping."
		Visitors receive a demonstration of the mortice and tenon joint construction that holds the timbers together. To make sure that the tenons don't pull out from the mortices, holes were drilled through the joints and dowel pins were inserted...
		...To make sure the pins themselves didn't fall out, they were made oversized and heated to shrink. In the British climate, it took no time at all for moisture to seep back in, causing the dowel pins to swell.
		Here you can see that the dowel pins were left protruding from the walls by half an inch or so.
		This shows the waddle and daub construction that fills in between the timbers. There is as much waddle and daub as timber, thus the term "half timbered."

		No photography is allowed inside the Hall. You'll just have to go there and see for yourself the wonderful collection of furnishings and dark-stained oak carvings that are on display there. They range from the medieval to the Victorian era.

Chester

		Arriving in Chester from the direction of the railway station, you first come upon Eastgate, which is part of a wall that surrounds Chester.

		Looking upon Eastgate from atop the wall.


		Eastgate from the inside.
		The Chester Cathedral.


		Photograpy is not allowed in the main portions of the cathedral.




		Viewing the Catherdral from atop the wall.

Back In Prestatyn


		The Eagle and Child Inn is a family favorite. It overlooks Prestatyn from a hillside.




		A typical roadsign in Welsh and English.
		Fish and chips for dinner, of course.

Rhuddlan Castle

		Rhuddlan Castle resides just west of Prestatyn. It is one of the famous Edwardian castles of the 13th century.
		The moat.
		Some of the external walls with their archery slits remain.
		A view from within the courtyard.
		The site of King Edward I's parliament is now a private residence, but it is duly commemorated.
		"This casement is the remains of the building where King Edward I held his parliament A.D. 1283, in which was passed the Statute of Rhuddlan securing to the principality of Wales its judicial rights and independence.""

		St. Asaph Cathedral is the smallest cathedral in the United Kingdom.





		Neville and Craig stop for dinner and a pint at the Kensington Arms...
		...which is decorated with photographs and equipment celebrating the popular Welsh sport of mountain climbing...
		...and where the staff was as friendly as can be.
		St. Margaret's Church is also known as the marble church...
		...because the interrior was built with eight different kinds of marble.

		The remains of hundreds of Canadian soldiers are burried at St. Margaret's. They died of disease in the aftermath of WWII.
		Within the boundaries of Prestatyn proper, there lies these ruins of a Roman Bath House.



		"Ex Offra" refers to the fact the Prestatyn is at the northern end of King Offa's dyke, a huge wall and moat that once spanned the entire border separating Wales from England.