Sorry, I don’t have a snappy punchline 😀 Instead I have a door – or, to be more precise, a doorway. The door is long gone, the doorway bricked over and its only ornament a crown of green. But once there was a door here, probably nine hundred years or so ago.
This is the corner of St Mary’s Cathedral, Coventry, the first cathedral to exist in the city. The original monastery on the site was built in 1043 by Leofric and Godiva (yes, that Godiva), Earl and Lady of Mercia at that time. The cathedral was completed about two hundred years later, and remained there until the 16th century, when good old Henry VIII, busy dissolving monasteries around the country, ordered it destroyed.
In 1856, the Blue Coats School built a new school building on the site, incorporating part of the ruins in the base – this is what you can see here, the newer red brick contrasting with the ancient stones of the old cathedral. The rest of the cathedral was buried, gradually, only bits and pieces remaining above ground.
Then, in 1999, Time Team were invited to Coventry to excavate St Mary’s. The archaeology was so good that the TV show broke their rule of staying only three days on one site and stayed an extra day, eventually discovering a long-forgotten burial chamber containing the bones of one of Coventry’s first priors. A subsequent visit revealed more artifacts, and their excavation is preserved, the ancient cathedral site revealed once more.
This is my entry to this week’s Thursday Doors Challenge, courtesy of Norm 2.0. For more doors, or to add one of your own, visit Norm’s site and click the link.
Helen Glynn Jones 
Great pictures, Helen! I really need to get up to Coventry to explore. Haven’t been for years, except to the industrial areas…which isn’t quite the same.
Thanks, Sue – there are some wonderful gems hidden around the town centre. The Guildhall is particularly fine – I took loads of photos there as well. It’s an interesting place to explore 🙂 You never know, we might be there at the same time one day…
That would be good 🙂
🙂 It would indeed
🙂
Something intrinsically wrong about a bricked up doorway methinks…
Yes. It feels like the energy is blocked. Same with bricked up or boarded windows – it changes everything. There are entrances around the other side still open – part of the original crypt. It’s an interesting place – I have a photo of it years ago where most of it was still underground, you could just see the tops of the columns around the edges.
Cool post – and the opening photo – the brick doorway – has such a mysterious vibe!
Thank you 🙂 It’s a pretty interesting place, so many layers of history in one spot.
Such rich history. This kinda stuff just mesmerizes me – great post Helen.
Thanks, Norm – I took so many photos just in that small part of Coventry. And I have loads more doors… 🙂
passage through a doorway is not always in the physical realm. 😉
Very true. In fact, a friend of mine had an interesting experience along that vein while she was in Egypt… 🙂
A delight of a story, wonderfully told in words and pictures!
Thanks, Ludwig 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it.
What a cool place. Thanks for sharing it with all of us. The author in me wonders if something, or someone, might have been walled in behind that doorway.
Yes, I did wonder about that. The stones walling it up look contemporary to the door, rather than the newer building above…
For over a thousand years, the ancient evil remained walled up behind a blessed doorway at St. Mary’s Cathedral.
In the summer of 2016, an overzealous archaeologist detected something behind the wall using electromagnetic sounding equipment…
I like where this is going 🙂
…entering through the old crypt, the archaeologist made their way through the vaulted chambers, footsteps echoing as they headed deeper into the dark…
We should invite participants.
The smell of moss and rot filled their nostrils. The light failed. A slight dragging noise came from farther down…
We really should 🙂
… the smell grew stronger, but with a hint of something darker, like smoke from a funeral pyre. All at once the archaeologist was aware of the great weight of stone pressing down from above…
How do we invite people? 😀
I’ll try it via reblog and see what we get.
I’ve just put the comments into a post – I’ll share that too if you think it might work 🙂
Sure. This kind of thing is fun.
It sure is! 😀
I can open it up as a post, if you like 🙂
Reblogged this on Entertaining Stories and commented:
Helen’s door post is wonderful today. She got my writer’s brain going and we’ve started a story. Please check it out and add a few lines. Share it with your friends.
Thanks, Craig – this is fun!
Pingback: What Happens Next? Add To The Story… | Journey To Ambeth
I am happy to learn more about this place. The bricked doorway is very eye catching and I love how it makes your imagination run wild!
Thanks so much, Suvi – really glad you enjoyed the post 😀
I love bricked-over doors. I don’t know why. I just love doors and doorways. 💖
So cool that they stayed and found the burial chamber! Wicked.
Yes, it was awesome. They also came back for a follow-up visit, as it’s such an interesting site. I must find the photo I have from years ago showing it before they excavated it.
Pingback: The Crypt – Completed! A Tale With Two Endings… | Journey To Ambeth
Some great pictures. Especially the one taken of St Mary’s Cathedral, Coventry. It looks as though a person has been caught urinating on the walls and has been turned to stone as punishment. (or maybe I need a visit to specsavers?)
Ha ha, that’s an excellent description – there might even be a story in it, The Curse of St Mary’s or something like that 😀. Thanks for your comment, glad you enjoyed the photos!