BÉAL AN CHALAIDH - PORTSMOUTH

 

I spent the day exploring Portsmouth with Liana and Philip.  We started off in the discount mall section but with a little prodding from me they admitted that Portsmouth had an old town that I might be interested in seeing.  Portsmouth suffered heavy bombardments during WWII because of its status as headquarters of the Royal Navy.  Much of the city was rebuilt in Nondescript Style.  Interestingly, while there was much information about what buildings and sections of the city were destroyed by the German bombardments there was no information about what German cities suffered English bombardment.
We had lunch in a traditional pub close to the Catholic cathedral.  Afterwards, we explored the cathedral, a very strange building that looked a little like a mosque with minerets.  We saw a facsimile of the marriage register recording the marriage between Charles II and Catherine of Braganza which took place in Portsmouth.  One of his many mistresses, Louise Renée de Penancoet de Kérouaille was made Duchess of Portsmouth in 1673.

IDSWORTH

My hosts in Petersfield, Liana and Philip, took me to see an 11th century hunters' church in the fields close to Petersfield.  Saint Hubert's Church in Idsworth was built by the Saxons and added to by the Normans.  It has a fine lampe de mort and frescos that were covered up during the Wars of Religion and rediscovered in the 19th century.  One fresco in particular, depicts scenes from the life of Saint Hubert who converted to Christianity when he saw a stag with antlers in the form of the crucifiction.  Another scene is of the banquet where Saint John the Baptist's head was served after the consommé and before the fish course.  A lot of material for a Freudian analyst.

PETERSFIELD

The strangest thing I've seen in Petersfield is the statute of King Billie on his white charger.  The inscription on the plinth says that it was commissioned by a wealthy citizen who attributed his good fortune to the Protestant faith and the rule of parliamentary law that he believed flowed from William's consolidation of power during the War of the Kings.  Wikipedia says that there are only four similar statues in England and that Loyalist pipe bands show up at the one in Petersfield every 12 of July to celebrate William's victory over James.  My friends in Petersfield, Liana and Philip, assure me that Wikipedia has it wrong and I have nothing to fear from a Loyolist mob rampaging through the streets of Petersfield.  If only the people of Ardoyne were so lucky.