Growing up, I was captivated by tales of the past and enthralled by historical fiction. This passion led me to become a dedicated tourist, eagerly seeking out the very sites I had read about. During our nearly two-week stay in the United Kingdom, we made a plan to explore a few places in the southern regions.
Our first destination was Canterbury, the home of the cathedral that houses the head of the Church of England and Chaucer’s renowned medieval tales. However, some trouble locating our rental car left us with limited time to explore. Unfortunately, the immersive experience for the Canterbury Tales, which we had planned to visit, was closed on the day we arrived. It seemed like this trip was already facing some challenges, but we enjoyed the view from our hotel and a short walk to its entrance. Perhaps on another trip?
Moving westward to the setting of numerous books, we found Salisbury, also known as the Roman Fort, or Old Sarum. The cathedral here, with its tallest spire in England, holds a rich history. Constructed over thirty years, it stands as one of the first churches to embrace Early English Gothic architecture, deviating from the more prevalent Romanesque style. The cathedral itself houses one of the world’s oldest working clocks, while the Chapter House houses one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta. As we entered, a knowledgeable docent guided us through the tour, bringing to life the characters from our past reads and providing us with a deeper understanding of the cathedral’s significance.
A must read inspired by the building of this worship center, is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. He has a way of making scenes come alive and the reader becomes very invested in the lives of the people who contributed to the building of the cathedral as well as the establishment of Salisbury as an important place of history. I also enjoyed Sarum by Edward Rutherford, which is an epic story of the generations of the peoples who settled in this area. Their history is depicted through its sheep and wool trade for cloth, as well as the shifting religious and belief systems that influenced its governance.
Bletchley Park, a subject of numerous novels and the movie “The Imitation Game,” was a top-secret location during World War II. It was here that the British worked tirelessly to decode the German Enigma machine-created missives, led by the brilliant Alan Turing. Their efforts not only saved countless lives but also contributed to the earlier end of the war. Today, the area has been meticulously recreated to reflect its historical significance, although the mathematical complexities involved in the decoding process remain a fascinating enigma.
An entertaining novel is The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. This narrative is both entertaining and engaging, seamlessly blending historical facts with the suspenseful atmosphere of a thriller. Despite its over 600-page length, the story maintains a fast-paced pace throughout.