GEN-TRIVIA-UNIVERSAL-L Archives

Archiver > GEN-TRIVIA-UNIVERSAL > 2003-04 > 1051534762


From: "Lizzie Love" <>
Subject: Re: General History
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 13:59:22 +0100
References: <000e01c30d18$ee5db280$763758db@default>


I also have a soft spot for the Meditations (random jottings) of the emperor
Marcus Aurelius who wasn't afraid to say that when he woke in the morning he
just wanted to pull the covers over his head and go back to sleep.

Anyway, Stan ... if you were an architect, you'll have to make that UK trip
one day and see the structure of this cottage. There's a whole tree
stretched across the bedroom ceiling, very roughly adzed. In the centre a
huge mortice and tenon joint seats the king-post that disappears up through
the ceiling and supports the roof. The roof nowadays is slate, but the
original would have been riven stone slabs, as many in the village still
are. The weight must be collossal, but they don't blow off in the gales.

Other local architecture includes the 18C Crescent and spa buildings in
Buxton which is a bit like Bath (thermal springs under the town) and the
Devonshire Hospital (recently closed) which started life as the Duke of
Devonshire's stables. The excercise ring is covered by the largest
unsupported dome in Europe, it's circumference being exactly one furlong. As
a hospital it specialised in orthopaedics and when my friend Connie had her
hip replaced there, her husband, a retired miner, declared that when she
could get round the balcony on her zimmer he was entering her for the St
Leger!!

In the other direction from us there's Haddon Hall ... beats Chatsworth
hands down ... an exquisite rambling manor-cum-castle small enough to feel
like a large family home. It has the earliest *fitted kitchen* I've seen.
... and the gardens are wonderful.

There's plenty for the archaeologist here too. The Romans were here, as were
the Danes. There are burial mounds and passage graves where Egyptian faience
beads have been found and there's even a stone circle ... not standing ...
but more intimate than Stonehenge. Then there's all the Saxon stuff and ...
and ... well come and see for yourself.

Lizzie

> For myself, I am a retired architect, but my real interest is historical

> research. I wanted to be an archaeologist in my younger years, but it
> would have meant considerable study overseas, which I couldn't afford.
> And Lizzie says "Oooh! Tacitus, Suetonius, Plutarch ..." I would add
> - Homer, Herodotus, Plautus ...!
~
ô¿ô¬ Stan in New Zealand
v






==== GEN-TRIVIA-UNIVERSAL Mailing List ====
List owner
Joan White
http://www.vmims.com/middleton.htm

==============================
To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go
to:
http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237





This thread: