Ever heard the word "antidisestablishmentarianism"? That described the Church of Ireland people who wanted to continue the system whereby their extreme-minority colonial Anglican church was paid for by the people of Ireland, who were over 90% Catholic, and most of the rest of whom were low-church Protestants of Ulster-- also not Anglican. All over Ireland now are these beautiful, dilapidated, empty Church of Ireland churches.
Bunratty Castle was restored more than forty years ago and once received President Kennedy.
It even looks beautiful, on the inside and on the outside.
The river Tyne meets the North Sea. On the north bank of the river mouth are the ruins of Tynemouth Priory, site of an Anglo-Saxon-era monastery built over by the Normans.
The name of the river Tyne is very ancient, possibly even pre-Celtic. Supposedly it means simply "river" in old Welsh.
The photo is of some underwater rescue vehicles at the marine academy. The mouth of the river Tyne was always a dangerous place for ships, and the very first lifeboat was built here 200 years ago to rescue survivors of shipwrecks at the mouth of the Tyne.
Unusually empty London road leading to Buckingham Palace, on Saturday 2 July 2005. The Live 8 concert was going on and drivers had been warned to stay out of central London.
This was the site of an important battle of the English Civil War, on 29 June 1644, where the army of King Charles beat the Parliament forces.
This is the road to Oxford on a Friday morning in early June. Much of England is crowded and traffic-jammed.
The windows commemorate various royal visits to Harrow School, including here Queen Elizabeth I (twice) and Prince Philip.
More royal visits to Harrow School are commemorated in these windows, including those of King George V and Queen Mary, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, King George III (in 1804, a year in which he had a mental breakdown), and interestingly, King Charles I in 1646, the year he was on the run from Parliament.
Like most British schools, Harrow lost much of a generation in the First World War.
Harrow School was founded in 1571, and this is the oldest classroom. (It featured in the first "Harry Potter" movie.) It was a tradition at Harrow to carve your name into the walls of this room. George Gordon, Lord Byron, was a student there from 1801 till 1805. His history at Harrow included eight fistfights, several memorable speeches, "inattention to Business, and his propensity to make others laugh and disregard their Employments."
Seafrance and P&O are two rival ferry companies. Seafrance speaks more French on board and P&O is British.
Some of the Oxford colleges let you visit, usually after paying a fee, and some are resolutely private. There is usually a guardian at the gate. Oxford is a tourist town and Balliol, one of the prettiest colleges, is right near my favorite place, Blackwell's book store.
Take away the cars and you have the decor of many a BBC costume drama. I think this is Stow-on-the-Wold but I can't remember. Awfully pretty, anyway.
I love the way so much of the landscape still reminds you of hundreds of years ago. The Romans loved the Cotswolds too.
One of the weirdest factory buildings ever, near Chipping Norton. It is an antiques center now.
The game of rugby was invented here when a boy named William Webb Ellis took the football in his arms and ran. There is a small rugby museum in town, and all the boys at the school have to learn to play rugby. Of course! The BBC recently filmed a mini-series at Rugby based on the famous 1857 book about the school, Tom Brown's School Days.