The Cloisters of Westminster...U.K. Trip Day 4g

This photograph may or may not be contraband. Rachel took this picture of the door leading from the Chapter House to the Cloisters. On the Cloister side. Where photos were allowed. So I am thinking we are all good here. Unless we are not. And in which case, just to be clear, Rachel took this picture.

       This is it, the Anglo-Saxon door, the oldest door in Britain, dating from the original Abbey.

Although as I have mentioned, photography was forbidden in the abbey, it was allowed in the cloisters, which are the covered walkways along the walls of the abbey, encircling the rectangular open space which were sometimes gardens, sometimes grassy areas.

 

 Rachel sitting in the window

 Besides being a covered walkway for the monks to get from place to place in the compound, the cloisters also served as classrooms and study areas as there were bookcases and tables and window seats. The hallways of the cloister also served as a place for memorials and even burial spots.

Just outside of the range of this photo to the left are the windows and the cloister garden. On the right side of this photo are but a few of the memorial plaques that line the walls.

  More Memorial Plaques

An ancient tomb

I wish my photos could catch the grandeur, the space, the soaring height, the majestic cavernous feeling of the cloisters.

Sara was so impressed by it all, she thought she would try to fly...

                                           









The detail of the various materials, the warmth of the sun on the marble floor, the textures, the echoes of our footsteps and the smell of ancientness...the Abbey captured all of our senses.

                                                   A parting view from a cloister window