Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-09-02

Norman in construction, dating back
to 1850 A. D. as most of the Norman
work does. Cromwell spared it as the
Percy family were on his side.
The castle is reached through a
medieval drawbridge, passing over a
moat. A large gate is located at the
end of towering walls of masonry. In
side is a large court, say two acres,
now greensward but once the stamp
ing ground of the troopers.
Our party went down in a dungeon
and had the guide switch off the
lights to give us the realistic effect.
Five minutes was enough although
some prisoners were there for indie
finite stays, the guide said. The dun
geon is like a large dry cistern with
no light or air except through the top
grating
WithstOOd Many Sieges
An interesting feature of the castle
is the decorations of stone figures sur
mounting the walls. There are but AZ
left out of several hundred. These fig
ures were carved out of rock hun
dreds of years ago, about half of life
size, and represent soldiers, man
All the rock for Alnwick was TAX
en- from a quarry on the estate. The
location is alongside of a good-sized
river, but quite high above it. The
guide said Alnwick was never taken
although assaulted many times.
Rare Old Cathedrals
In the evening we reached Durham,
an old cathedral town of about 10000
population. The majestic Norman ca
thedral is situated on a high bluff
above the river Wear and command
ing the town. 1t too was erected short
ly after the Norman conquest in 1866
A. D., but stands on the site of an
older Saxon church.
Words are poor things to use in at
tempting to describe the majesty,
beauty and fine workmanship of these
old cathedrals. Standing probably 500
feet in length from the altar to the
west of the nave and with transepts
perhaps 800 feet wide, they tower as
high as 200 feet above the ground
The perfect harmony of the proper
tons, the solidity and grace of the pill
lars, walls and roof compel respect
and silence. They are built of solid
stone reaching down to the rock, with
wood as material for various decora-
tive purposes.
In the three days enroute we visited
Durham, Ripon, York, Lincoln and
Peterboro cathedrals. While the archi
lecture, Norman drifting into Early
English, is the same, the general de-
sign is different in each. Lincoln i'm
pressed me most of all.
NadiavoI piIa
1t, too, is on high hill command
ing the city. This hill is so steep that
traffic cannot come straight up but
needs must go around. 1t is a stiff
climb on foot but three of us made
it and a sight of Lincoln cathedral, a
pre-medieval pile, by moonlight we'll
repaid the effort. Among other things
Lincoln has the finest specimens of
the flying buttresses supporting the
walls, in England. There are AZ of
these old cathedrals in all and one
could afford to spend a day in each.
The trip on into London was made
without incident but through the beau
tiful English countryside.
Crop Acreage High
The fields are we'll titled and the
crops of wheat and other grains are
magnificent The landscape is gently
rolling and we'll watered with consid
cradle timber, more on the average
than Wisconsin although this land has
been farmed for 20 centuries. Crop
average per acre is higher than ours.
Intensive cultivation and annual fer
tiiizing tell the story.
We passed through Newcastle-on-
Tyne, an old coal shipping port and
the largest of the kind in England
and through Cambridge, the ancient
college town with its immense group