Splendour

Hallowed halls reflect,
Light through glass of many hues,
In simple splendour.


Went into Bury St Edmunds today and met up with  a belly dance friend of mine who moved up here about 18 months ago.  We had a lovely catch up over lunch, then said our goodbyes and we went off for a wander.

A lovely place with so much to see, I fear we barely scratched the surface, but we did go into St Mary's church.  The oldest part of the church dates from about 1240 and  apparently it is the third largest parish church in the land. It is also the burial place of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII.

Mary's story is quite interesting, she was briefly married to Louis XII of France who was more than 30 years older than her.  Henry wanted the marriage for political reasons, but she didn't want to marry him but agreed to on the condition that she could marry who she wanted after his death.  He died after a few months and she then wed Charles Bandon, Duke of Suffolk in secret.  Henry was furious about this but was mollified by Thomas Wolsey and just imposed a fine on them ...

She clearly knew that Henry wasn't going to keep his word, so forced the issue to marry who she wanted.  Quite a dangerous strategy which luckily paid off.  Well done Mary!

Anyway, back to the church - apparently it has the largest West window of any parish church, and this is it .... and rather glorious it is to.

Solar power used to artistic effect ....