The HOUSE

Photo:  ‘House’, Middx. England – WHB 2020

 

A house is just a house
When it tells you that it is.

 

A house becomes a home
When it shows you that it is. 

 

 

Arundel Castle, West Sussex, U.K.

Arundel is an ancient town situated on the River Arun in West Sussex, England.  Its castle, massive and dominant in the landscape, dates from the 11th Century, although considerably altered and added to since that time.

Arundel Castle has undergone many restorations and extensions since it was first built in the year following the Norman Invasion of England in 1066.  It was officially  established by Roger de Montgomery on Christmas Day 1067.   By the grace of William the Conqueror, he was the first to hold the earldom of Arundel.   The castle has remained in the possession of his descendants ever since and is now the home of the Duke of Norfolk, who is the Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England.  The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk.

My photographs, featured below, are amongst those I took on a recent visit there in October 2017.

Arundel, showing its position just a few miles inland from the English Channel and about 65 miles from London.

Showing how the castle position dominates the town and the surrounding area

 

Looking up to the massive southern wall of the castle

The Castle’s Western Gateway

Part of the extensive castle gardens, looking towards Arundel’s Roman Catholic Cathedral

The more private part of the castle where the present Duke of Norfolk lives

Further view of the gardens

The Root Garden, planted with the upturned roots of trees lost in the great 1987 Storm

It was pumpkin time in the castle vegetable gardens, and Halloween was approaching

A medieval montage within the castle keep

An important 12th Century visitor to the Castle

A re-enactment of 12th Century knights in battle

More Norman knights

A view of the River Arun and its bridge at Arundel after several days of rain

 

St Petersburg

The Hermitage Museum from Palace Square

St. Petersburg is a Russian port city on the Baltic Sea. It was the imperial capital for 2 centuries, having been founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, subject of the city’s iconic “Bronze Horseman” statue. It remains Russia’s cultural centre, with venues like the ultramodern Mariinsky Theatre hosting opera and ballet, and the State Russian Museum showcasing Russian art, from Orthodox icon paintings to Kandinsky works.

Below is a gallery of some of my photographs of St. Petersburg taken during a brief visit in 2004

Sea approach to St Petersburg from the Gulf of Finland

St. Isaac’s Cathedral

One of the city’s many Canals

Front façade of Catherine’s Palace

Front façade of Catherine’s Palace – closer view

Interior of Catherine’s Palace

Grand Staircase – Interior of Catherine’s Palace

Saint Petersburg Conservatory – Music School and ballet venue

Saint Petersburg Conservatory – Music School and ballet venue; Statue of Tchaikovsky

The Moscow Triumphal Gate

Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad

The Bronze Horseman – Eternal Defender of St. Petersburg

Sunset Over St. Petersburg

 

 

The fire and the rose

The ‘Unknown Remembered Gate’,  Weybridge, Surrey,UK. … Photo – WHB – 2015

By T.S.Eliot

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always –
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

The above is an extract taken from the very end of the last of  T.S.Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’, called ‘Little Gidding’.    Little Gidding itself is a small Anglican community in Huntingdonshire, England, and was established there in the 17th century. just before the English Civil War, during which the community was broken up and scattered.

‘The Four Quartets’is a series of 4 poems which discuss time, perspective, humanity, and salvation. It was first published in September 1942 after being delayed for over a year because of the air-raids on Great Britain during World War II and Eliot’s declining health.

The poem uses the combined image of fire and Pentecostal fire to emphasise the need for purification and purgation. According to the poet, humanity’s flawed understanding of life and turning away from God leads to a cycle of warfare, but this can be overcome by recognising the lessons of the past.

Little Gidding focuses on the unity of past, present, and future, and claims that understanding this unity is necessary for salvation. In Eliot’s imagery the resolution of mankind’s turmoil will be achieved by the coming together of the fire and the rose.