Christian History Tour of England
...daughter shares both of those loves. And so we had a great time. The following is a summary of our main stops with relevant comments. St. Paul’s Cathedral, London King Ethelbert of the East Saxons built the first church dedicated to St Paul on this spot in 604 AD. When the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed the third church (and 80% of the city), Christopher Wren was commissioned to built the current cathedral. Wren’s initial designs were all rejected by the clergy because they looked too much like the great Roman Catholic churches of Italy. (The 17th century was not a good time to be a Roman Catholic in England.) When he finally submitted a design that they approved, King Charles II added a proviso to the Royal Warrant, saying, “variations, rather ornamental than essential” could be made. Wren used the proviso to change nearly everything, and to make the cathedral like his original designs. Thirty-three years later Wren had created the second largest cathedral in the world.
John Wesley’s Home Wesley lived in this house the last twelve winters of his life. (He spent the rest of the year travelling his circuits throughout England.) There is a museum in the bottom floor of the church dedicated to his life and ministry. Wesley is one of the most remarkable men in church history. When the Anglican pulpit was denied him, he took to the open fields preaching over 40,000 sermons and traveling over 250,000 miles on horseback. He was a prolific author of educational treatises, histories, ser¬mons, and commentaries, publishing 233 books and 5,000 tracts. He edited and compiled an English dictionary, published twenty-three collections of hymns, and recorded his travels in his Journal. His medical handbook went through thirty-two editions. He also pioneered or participated in prison reform, the abolition of slavery, civil rights, and popular education. At his death, there were over 500 preachers and 115,000 people who called themselves Methodists.
The Tower of London William the Conqueror began building the Tower of London shortly after his victory over Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Tower has dominated London life for over 900 years. Anne Boleyn was excecuted at the Tower in 1536. Edward IV’s two young sons were banished to the Tower in 1483 and never heard from again.Richard II was forced to abdicate his crown at the Tower in 1399. And Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh were all held prisoner at the Tower at one time or another. The Crown Jewels have been kept at the Tower for over 600 years. They are still one of the largest tourist attraction in all of England.
York Minster There are records of Christians in York as far back as 300 AD, but the first church on the site was built in 627. The current Minster, built between the 12th and 15th centuries, is the largest Gothic Cathedral in England. It is 524 feet long and 249 feet wide, and the lantern tower 234 feet. Since the Roman occupation in the first century, York has ben one of the most significant cities in England. In 306, the Roman emperor Constantine was crowned in York. In 1297, Edward I (Longshanks) moved the seat of government to York in order to quash the Scottish uprising under William Wallace.
Lindisfarne (“The Holy Isle”) In 634, Oswald, the Saxon king of Northumbria, asked that a missionary from the island of Iona be sent to convert his kingdom. When St Aidan arrived, he was given the tidal island of Lindisfarne to built a monastery and establish a base of operations for the evangelization of the nation. Aidan walked through the land, conversing with the people he met and slowly introducing them to Christ. The kingdom was converted, and Northumbria became a base for evangelizing the other Saxon kingdoms. In 793, the Vikings sacked Lindisfarne and the site fell into ruin. In the 12th century, the Benedictine’s established a monastery there. In the 16th centruy, Henry VIII built a castle on the island that is still standing today.
Lanercost Priory The Augustinian’s founded Lanercost priory as a monestary during the reign of Henry II in 1166. Stones from nearby Hadrian’s Wall were used to construct it. There are some Roman altars, carvings, and inscriptions from the second century at the Priory. Because of its proximity to the Scottish border, it had a troubled history; it was ransacked in 1296 by William Wallace.
Hadrian’s Wall In 122 AD, the Emperor Hardian came to Britian and ordered that a stone wall be built to separate the Romans occupation of England from the “Barbarians to the north.” Six years later the Wall was finished. It formed a protective barrier from the Scottish Picts for 250 years. The Wall was 73 miles long and stretched the entire width of the island It was twenty feet high and ten feet wide. At every mile marker there was a fortification that could house as many as 50 men. There were also sixtenn forts along the wall with gates for traffic to flow north and south. These forts could house up to 1,000 men. After the Romans left England in the early fifth century, the wall fell in disrepair. Much of the stone was used for churches, castles, and other buildings.
Blenheim Palace In 1704, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, defeted the forces of Louis XIV at the Bavarian village of Blenheim. In reward for his services, the English soverreign Queen Anne granted to Marlborough the Royal Manor of Woodstock and agreed to build him a majestic house to be called Blenheim Palace. Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim in 1874, the grandson of the seventh Duke of Marlborough. The palace is over 300,000 square feet. There are 2000 acres of land. The hedge maze in the garden is the largest one in all of Europe.
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