Bede's World

It's been a while since I've had some London reminiscing, and I think I could really use it today, so here we go.

There's something special when two grown men--serious, intelligent BYU professors--stampede students as they are rushing off the bus to get to the next site. Am I talking about Disneyland? Of course not, but it wasn't too far from how a couple of kids would have acted like at the gates to the magic kingdom, for sure. Dr. Seely and Dr. Tate were off like a flash, before Tony had even put the bus into park. Where on earth could we be that would cause such great excitement? The one, the only.... BEDE'S WORLD!!!Bede's World-I'm sure you are asking yourself, what is Bede's World? Well, let me tell you, it is still awaiting an awesome theme song to accompany its magical features (we're working on it). Although not the amusement park that its name may imply, Bede's World is pretty awesome. It is a museum in Jarrow (where Bede lived and worked 1300 years ago) dedicated to the extraordinary life of the Venerable Bede (mascot of our Bible and Christianity class for sure)--monk, author, scholar, and overall awesome guy.

Here at Bede's World one can find an interactive Age of Bede Exhibition:

I'm still not quite sure about this one... modern art? I think it's the Bede version of the Wizard of Oz...

An ancient herb garden and Gyrwe, the Anglo-Saxon demonstration farm, complete with rare breeds of animals and recreated timber buildings.

This is our friend, Fatty--he is one of the rare breeds you can encounter here on the Gyrwe. What makes him special--besides being a freakin' monster!--is that he is bred from crossing Tarnworth and Berkshires (both old breeds) with wild boar. Yep, pretty scary, so we let him sleep.

That fence was definitely NOT big enough or sturdy enough if he had gotten mad. But he was pretty cute just sleeping there.

Of course, this was little Fatty's pen--maybe we should have named him Ferdinand! <3

Sheepees! The sheep here are from older varieties which have survived in some marginal areas of Britain; the flock consists of Herdwick, Hebridean, Ronaldsay, Manx and Soay varieties. This poor fellow had his horn stuck in the fence. :(

And the horses--I love horses, I need one!--Lizzie loves them too, see? And the horses really seemed to love her. They are so sweet!

That's the cute little medieval horse--isn't he adorable?

Behind the amazing petty zoo was St. Paul's church. The chancel is a direct survival from the 7th century! Inside the church, cemented into the wall of the tower, is the original stone slab which records the Latin inscription of the dedication of the church on April 23, 685 AD.

DEDICATIO BASILICAE
SCI PAUL VIIII KL MAI
ANNO XV EFRIDI REG
CEOLFRIDI ABB EIUSDEM
Q ECCLES DO AVCTORE
CONDITORIS ANNO IIII

This translates as: The dedication of the basilica of St. Paul on the 9th day before the Kalens of May in the 15th year of King Ecgfrith and in the fourth year of Abbot Ceolfrith founder, by God's guidance, of the same church.

This is Bede's chair--awesome.

It was a small, yet quite impressive little building. The entire trip made me feel like I had gone back in time, or to another world--yes, it was rather other-worldly for sure, but in a very cool way.

Come on, even the mushrooms are magical!

And I had to take a picture of the enormous Morning Glory for my mom--and I thought that pig was monstrous, these blossoms were the size of my entire hand!