Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 14 November 2022

The Great Hall

Along with visiting Winchester cathedral, I also visited the great 13th century medieval Hall (pictured right), famous mostly because of the reproduction of the round table .
The great hall has been a royal residence, a stronghold and a courtroom as well as beind used for TV and films.
The round table was painted by Henry VIII around 1516 CE.
Here's the photos:
The city's medieval west gate, found en route to the Hall.
The 5.5m diameter round table, weighing 1200kg up on the wall
The other end of the Hall, opposite the table.
Close up of the above wall showing a myriad of genealogy

Stunning armourial bearing in the windows.
Picture (poor) of a model of early Winchester, Hall on the left and the West gate on the right.
I purposely didn't show these photographs last week as I wouldn't have had anything to post about this week. Last week I was occupied with a clinic visit to give blood and a hospital visit to scan my bones (being old etc.). The week was then topped of with a letter informing me of another hospital visit booked for December ! This week has already started with yet another covid booster jab (my 4th), but I am hoping to have some gladiator action this week, hoepfully,  that  I'll probably post about next week,

That's it then for this week, thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are welcomed and appreciated.

18 comments:

  1. Great pictures Joe, can't remember the number of times I walked past these places, and never went in, really should have paid more attention ! LOL Hope the results all come back positive for you, and that you can get a gladiator game in this week.

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    1. Thanks Dave, if I'd been on my own I would have taken in the three military museums in the area too.
      Gladiaotras are a 'go' atm.

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    1. Thanks Ray, a great place to visit; I couldn have done with another day though

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    1. Thanks you michal, we do have a lot of history I'd still like to see,

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  4. Hi Joe, is this 4 boosters after the first 2 or 4 in total, if the first you must be older than me and Methuselah ;) Looking forward to the Gladatorial fight.

    Stay well..

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    1. Thanks John, it was my fourth jab and yes I'm old - I'm a 27 year old trapped in a 70 year old's body.

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    2. 27 is quite mature, you should be pleased, Mrs V thinks I'm a 15 year old trapped in a 70 year old body.

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  5. Going to get my seasonal booster injection on Friday - not quite sure why I'm eligible and neither is my (new-ish) GP practice.

    Possibly because I'm listed as asthmatic? Which I was listed as for thirty-plus years, until in 2020 I was told I wasn't, but now it seems I might still be... According to central NHS records.

    So its a case of finding out now if I am still or aren't still. Or was it a case of was-and-then-wasn't, until-the-records-say-I-do-have-and-somebody-does-a-physical-test-to-reconfirm?

    I'm a massive fan of the NHS but, I can see how the people on the frontlines find it so tough working for it at present. And it's only going to get worse, here, on Catterick Garrison and Richmondshire, when the new Garrison medical centre is built and is opened - as they're already fighting it out in the meetings on whether it will be NHS and British Army or British Army exclusively.

    To tie this all back in to historic wargaming, I will say my booster jab is getting done at the pharmacy at Cataractonium (Catterick Village to those not ancient Roman) and, Catterick is thought to be the site of the Battle of Catraeth (c. 598) mentioned in the Welsh language poem Y Gododdin. This was fought between Celtic British or Brythonic kingdoms and the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia. Paulinus of York performed baptisms nearby in the River Swale.

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    1. Congratulations on getting your jab, I didnt have any after effect whereas my wife's arm is still sore.
      I definetly didn;t realise how old catterick was.

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    2. Yes, If Catterick Garrison's military museum ever gets built one of the advertised selling points will be 2000 years of military presense, which is a very loose and generous interpretation of history since once the Roman's left, exluding the occupying Norman's and Georgian/Victorian British Army at nearby Richmond, the next bit of military activity at Catterick was when Baden-Powell said the place would be a good location to build an army camp pre-WW1, and so arrived the Camp and RFC airfield.

      Saying all this, you wouldn't know that the Romans were ever at Catterick, as there's nowt here to see. Nearest place with anything Roman to us, is Piercebridge Roman Fort [Wikipedia has quite an interesting page of information on the local North Yorkshire/south County Durham Roman history of the area].

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    3. Unknown Roman architecture still keeps cropping up from time to time

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  6. More wonderful photos, Joe! It's astonishing to think that the hall has been around for 900 years, and that the UK is full of old buildings like that.

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    1. THanks Matt, you're absolutely correct, I had the pleasure of iving next door (lierally) to the keep of Newcastle's castle (12th iirc) for many years whilst it was being restored. There was quite a few old sites right on my doorstep.

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    2. I used to live down the road from Goodrich Castle and remember going up the keep (built around 1100) a few times. Living on the Welsh border means there's tons of old ruins all over the place. Tintern Abbey is my absolute favourite, it's stunning.

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  7. Great looking hall and photos, had my 4th jab a few weeks ago , felt lousy for a day or so but all good now!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain, and congratulations on getting the booster, I had more of a sore arm with my flu jabs thank any of my covid jabs.

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