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Friday 15 November 2013

The Doors - Sepia Saturday


This week's prompt shows an old lady in a doorway and a window full of blinds. 

I may not be able to match that with old photos but the doors I am going to show date back hundreds of years.

Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey was the second Cistercian outpost founded in the North of England. From rather difficult beginnings it became the largest and richest Cistercian abbey in the country.

The foundation of Fountains was not planned. It was the consequence of an unforeseen chain of events in the early 1130s that forced a group of reform-minded monks of the Benedictine abbey of St Mary’s, York, to flee their house in search of a purer form of monastic life.

Doors among the ruins
Today Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately three miles south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire. 

Tucked away among the grounds there are doors of a different sort, you find them in many places.



Earlier this week we spent a day in York where I took this shot of York Minster.

York Minster
What you can't see is that notice in front of the door - it says, "Exit only."

Walking round the city I was studying doorways closely when I came across one just right for this week as you can see from what is standing next to it.

Stonegate's Original Teddy Bear Shop
Finally in my archives a photo I showed you almost three years ago.

Doris in front of John Walker's shop door at Preston Park Museum
It's not polite for me to reveal how old Doris is but she matches the theme.

I thought about ending with a piece of music and had a choice to make - church music or the Teddy Bears' Picnic? But neither could quite match 



To knock on other doors and be invited in, cross over to Sepia-Saturday-203.

24 comments:

21 Wits said...

Bob I'm so happy you closed with a song from The Doors, as of course your title brought them straight to mind. Good match on the old lady after my favorite shop for Teddy Bears. That would be so delightful to visit. Great set of doors, each and everyone a treasure to walk through.

Mike Brubaker said...

A terrific medley of doors, Bob. Last year we visited the Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire which introduced me to these wonderful structures. It is astounding how many were built around England and Wales. A stone mason in the 12th century could always find work.

Marc Latham said...

Nice varied collection Bob.

Kat Mortensen said...

Perfect music choice! I would love to visit that Teddy Bear store, and am so grateful that all the words on the windows behind Doris are clear as a bell.

Fountains Abbey is quite remarkable.

I "a-door" this post!

Anonymous said...

I'm now down to the "Exit Only" part of the post ! Loved the photos. Bye till next post.

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...


Great shots.

You got me. Can't approach those here in Florida.

;O)

Anonymous said...

Very intersting set of doors. And now I'll use the amazing "Exit Only" door. Until next post.

Alan Burnett said...

It's years since I gave been to Fountains Abbey. Your photographs prompt me to make a return journey

JohnF said...

Love the teddy bear shop

Unknown said...

What spectacular architecture! We've got nothing like that here in the US; our oldest buildings aren't old enough to show such grace! And you really got me on the Doors...

ScotSue said...

Thank you for bringing back memories of places I know in Yorkshire.

Crafty Kate said...

What a brilliant selection of pictures! I liked a lot that lonely tower standing in the garden all by itself in the Abbey. It's gothic, beautiful and... I've got no clue what a building like that can serve to? Kind of gazeebo? Gate?

Jackie van Bergen said...

We don't have such historic buildings in Australia - had to comprehend something built in the 1100s.
And, I love that song - one of my favourites.

Jo said...

Great doors Bob. Love the Abbey. Was it destroyed by Henry VIII? So many were. Haven't been in Yorkshire since I was about 15. I too love the Teddy Bear shop too.

Hazel said...

I love ruins! Will try to find Fountains Abbey when I visit England again. Yay York Minster! That's a lovely song.

Hazel

Sean Bentley said...

Lovely post. I visited Fountains many years ago. Here's an excerpt from a poem I wrote afterwards... not sure how the linebreaks are going to render here...

In constant devotions, the Cistercians can’t
know the sanctuary of Fountains Abbey
still will lie in its glade, but in a peace
crestfallen. Here they farm, brew,
chant, raise wool,
before Henry
dissolves the monasteries. Pigeons
nest today in the wreck of walls. Chunks
of column in the grass, fractured
stairs to nowhere, doors to nothing but
clouds through which a fighter tears,
Yank or Brit, following the valley,
as they do above Hailes Abbey. And
Tintagel, and through the winding
Cotswold dales, and the wildest islands
where I come from. Maneuvers.
Flocks burst from their niches, wingswirl
like small cassocks in the cloister
of a dust devil. Our leaders are still
up to no good.

Bob Scotney said...

@Mike - we live closer to Rievaulx than Fountains Abbey. I must check my Rievaulx photos too.

@Sean - thanks for the poem; the breaks didn't come out too badly.

Little Nell said...

I love Fountains Abbey. We had a spate in the 80s and 90s where we seemed to visit every abbey and monastery on the map. Great shots of the doorways - even the ‘exits’.

Tattered and Lost said...

I love the little tower off by itself. I remember finding little out buildings like that at many manors and they were usually mausoleums.

Joan said...

The photos of Fountains Abbey are just lovely. As Sean said, doors to nothing, stairs to nowhere --- and windows framing now and then. Thanks

DougVernX said...

Interesting progression through that theme what a surprise to find The Doors video at the very end. Thanks for sharing that.

Wendy said...

It's a good thing the theme isn't "roofs" because then we couldn't have enjoyed those beautiful castles. (Funny ending with The Doors -- only you, Bob!)

Unknown said...

oh very magnificent doorways into and from the past...and the Doors well, why not! The 3rd photo of a type of gazebo is most fascinating to me

Boobook said...

Of course!! The Doors! Why didn't I think of that?