Overlooked London: Saint Bartholomew The Great Church

by Sean McLachlan on

London is a city full of historic churches. Some can be a bit hard to find and get missed by the casual visitor. One of these is Saint Bartholomew the Great in West Smithfield.

Built by a courtier of King Henry I, it has been open for worship since 1143 and was the center of a large complex of church buildings before the Dissolution of Henry VIII took away most of its lands and two-thirds of the church itself.

What remains, however, is grandiose. After passing through the narrow gate shown here, you enter a church with high Gothic vaulting, a semicircular aisle going around the nave, and numerous old graves.

A brown marble tomb shows the busts of Percival and Agnes Smallpace (died 1558 and 1588), complete with frilled collars and period costume along with the inscription, “Behowlde youre selves by us sutche once were we as you and you in tyme shalbe even duste as we are now.”

Food for thought.

“Overlooked London” is a new, occasional series on lesser-known but still cool sights of London. Stay tuned!

[Both photos courtesy Christine McIntosh]

Cutty Sark Reopens After Disastrous Fire

by Sean McLachlan on


The famous tea clipper Cutty Sark will be once again open to the public this Thursday after years of restoration work to repair damage from a fire in 2007. The Queen will perform an official reopening ceremony on Wednesday.

Located in Greenwich, London, this beautiful ship has been a longtime favorite of Londoners. It went on its maiden voyage in 1870 and is the last surviving tea clipper in existence, a reminder of a time when sailing ships brought loads of tea to London from China. Steam-powered boats passing through the Suez Canal soon took over that route, though, and the Cutty Sark was transferred to the Australian wool route. It broke the speed record for that run and became one of the most famous ships on the high seas.

But as steam ships became increasingly common, the Cutty Sark became more and more outdated, being relegated to lesser runs for poorer shipping companies. The ship was saved from a sad end when it was bought by an admirer in 1922 and lovingly restored to its former glory. It opened to the public in 1957.

A fire broke out in 2007 while it was being refurbished. Its decks were burnt through but since much of the ship’s fittings and contents had been moved away while work was being done, these were saved. Now after a long restoration, you can stand on the deck of this remarkable vessel again and learn about daily life aboard her with a guided tour. The BBC has an interesting slideshow of the restoration work here.

[Photo courtesy Visit Greenwich]

History Museum Takes Interactive, Social Approach

by Chris Owen on

History museums offer a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural or historical importance, making them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. For some, history museums are an exciting look at the past with lessons for the future. To others, they are just boring old places full of old stuff. In Denver, the new History Colorado Center opens this weekend in an attempt to change perceptions of the state history museum experience with highly experiential exhibits that put visitors in the stories and make history fun.

Visitors can take a virtual soar off a historic ski jump, “yearbook” themselves in a 1920s hairdo for a small town high school, become a miner who must set the dynamite correctly to explode, and play a trading game swapping goods at a historic trading fort.

Live performances, hands-on projects, lectures and more will also serve to continually keep spaces alive.”The point to all this is that we want to put you in the center of the story – with all the pathos and humor and even the ridiculousness,” said chief operating officer Kathryn Hill to the Victoria Advocate.

The new History Colorado Center looks to be much more than a museum too. As a source of civic connection and a place for statewide interactive dialogue, the Center will bring educational programming to Colorado communities in new ways that promise to increase awareness, heighten interest and broaden participation with History Colorado. Once the transformation is complete, History Colorado will reach people of all ages and backgrounds, in all parts of the state.

The $110 million History Colorado Center opens to the public on Saturday, April 28, 2012.




[Flickr photo by an untrained eye]

Carlisle Castle Celebrates 1000th Birthday

by Sean McLachlan on


One of England’s most besieged castles has turned the ripe old age of 1000 this year.

A new exhibition at Carlisle Castle in Carlisle, England, tells its thousand-year history. Well, approximately a thousand years, since nobody actually knows when the first castle was built here. Like with many great English castles, it got its start with a Roman fort. This fell to ruins and was replaced in the late 11th century by a Norman fort built by William II, son of the famous William the Conqueror, known to his detractors as “Billy the Bastard.”

Carlisle Castle is located on the English side of the Scottish border by an important river and town. This made it of vital strategic importance. The Scots took it several times, only to have it taken back by the English again and again in a series of bloody conflicts that only ended when Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Scottish uprising lost at Culloden in 1745 and the bodies of my ancestors were tumbled into a mass grave.

(It’s a bit freaky to know there’s a mass grave with my name on it, but I don’t hold a grudge. Why should I?)

I got to visit Carlisle Castle when I hiked the Hadrian’s Wall Path. What remains of the castle is very well preserved and shows a series of changes over the years, not the least of which was when Henry VIII adapted the place for use by artillery. While artillery meant the death of most castles, Carlisle hung on because of its thick walls, earthworks, and the large number of artillery emplacements it had to defend itself. After 1745, however, it lost its purpose. There was never another serious rebellion in Scotland. The castle became the headquarters of the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment, which has recently moved out and been replaced by the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment.

The oldest part of the castle, the Captain’s Tower, probably built around 1180, has opened for the first time in 25 years. There’s also a regimental museum on the grounds and some fascinating renaissance graffiti in the Keep, including a crude drawing of a mermaid.
Carlisle itself it worth a day or two of exploration, with its windy medieval streets, museums, old pubs and the most awesome indie bookshop in England.

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10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Tahiti

by Jessica Festa on

Located in the South Pacific, Tahiti is thought of by many as a prime vacation destination. But what do you actually know about these islands? To test your Tahitian knowledge, here are 10 things you probably didn’t know.

1. The official languages of the country are both Tahitian and French. However, English is also widely spoken on most of the islands.

2. What is commonly known as “Tahiti” or “The Islands of Tahiti” is officially categorized as an Overseas Country of France, with its own government overseeing all international decisions on behalf of French Polynesia.

3. There are 118 islands and atolls spread out over five archipelagos.

4. Most Polynesians believe the mythical island of Hawaiki, today known as Raiatea, rose from the bottom of the ocean and was the beginning of all life on Earth.

5. The over-water bungalow was invented in the islands of Tahiti 45 years ago.

6. On Fakarava, there is a church called Jean de la Croix made completely of coral.

7. The Islands of Tahiti is the only country in the world to have a winery, Vin du Tahiti, on a coral atoll.

8. The word “tattoo” originated in French Polynesia. The legend of Tohu, the god of tattoo, talks about painting all the fish in the ocean and showing their vibrant colors and designs. In Polynesian culture, tattoos are thought to be signs of beauty, and were ceremoniously applied to the body as a celebration of adolescence in earlier times.

9. Mount Temehani on the island of Raiatea is home to the Tiare Apetahi flower. This flower will not grow anywhere else in the world, despite botanists having tried to replant it for centuries.

10. The Tahitian alphabet contains only 13 letters.

For a more visual idea of Tahiti’s lesser-known side, check out the gallery below.

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