Pages

▼

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.
at

23 comments:

  1. 21 Wits15 November 2013 at 15:41

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike Brubaker15 November 2013 at 16:05

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marc Latham15 November 2013 at 16:55

    Nice varied collection Bob.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous15 November 2013 at 23:20

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

    ReplyDelete
  5. Author R. Mac Wheeler15 November 2013 at 23:48


    Great shots.

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

    ;O)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous16 November 2013 at 01:33

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

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alan Burnett16 November 2013 at 09:26

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

    ReplyDelete
  8. JohnF16 November 2013 at 14:06

    Love the teddy bear shop

    ReplyDelete
  9. Unknown16 November 2013 at 15:01

    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...

    ReplyDelete
  10. ScotSue16 November 2013 at 16:17

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

    ReplyDelete
  11. Crafty Kate16 November 2013 at 19:14

    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?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jackie van Bergen17 November 2013 at 09:53

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Jo17 November 2013 at 13:00

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hazel17 November 2013 at 15:30

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

    Hazel

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sean Bentley17 November 2013 at 18:04

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bob Scotney17 November 2013 at 18:12

    @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.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Little Nell17 November 2013 at 20:49

    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’.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Tattered and Lost18 November 2013 at 00:57

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

    ReplyDelete
  19. Joan18 November 2013 at 02:26

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

    ReplyDelete
  20. DougVernX18 November 2013 at 18:48

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

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wendy18 November 2013 at 20:36

    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!)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Unknown19 November 2013 at 01:43

    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

    ReplyDelete
  23. Boobook22 November 2013 at 01:41

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

    ReplyDelete