Red dragons and greyhounds

This has to be one of my favourite buildings.

I first visited when I was a schoolboy. A teacher took a group of us - we had to cycle 10 miles and then catch a train. I don’t think we locked our bikes at the station - times were different.

We last visited 20 years ago. The changes in this city since then are astonishing. And this building is no longer free to enter.

It has the most magnificent collection of old stained glass - apart from one window, all 16th century - in England. It was saved in the civil war - the soldiers were stopped by a friend of Cromwell who held an office here. And at the start of World War Two all the glass was removed and stored in people’s houses - in rooms, under stairs. That required an incredible inventory to locate it all later.

Everywhere there are dragons, greyhounds, portcullis, roses and fleur de lys. The kings who completed this magnificence were making a big statement.

You may know it :)

Extra - Jim and Sam. Returning last night we were left a message that the farrier was turning up early this morning to re-shoe Jim, and apologising for the disturbance. The concerns of rural life.