Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: tree

Bath a city with a population of nearly 100.000, is named after its Roman-built baths. The city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The city became a spa with the Latin name Aquae Sulis around 60 AD when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon. Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century. The building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. Claims were made for the curative properties of water from the springs, and Bath became popular as a spa town. In the 16th and 17th centuries, aristocrats and even monarchs came here for a cure and made the place famous. The Queen of England was a guest in 1702. The steep rise as a fashionable spa resort of world renown began. By 1800, the population had grown to 34,000 thanks to the spa, making Bath the eighth largest city in England. The Circus is a historic ring of large townhouses forming a circle with three entrances. Designed by architect John Wood, the Elder, it was built between 1754 and 1769, and is a pre-eminent example of Georgian architecture. "Circus" means a ring, oval or circle in Latin. The Circus is divided into three segments of equal length, with a lawn in the centre. Each segment faces one of the three entrances, ensuring a classical façade is always presented straight ahead. The Circus was designed by the architect John Wood, the Elder. Convinced that Bath had been the principal centre of Druid activity in Britain, Wood surveyed Stonehenge, which has a diameter 99 m at the outer earth bank, and designed the Circus with a 97 m diameter to mimic this. Wood died less than three months after the first stone was laid. His son, John Wood, the Younger, completed the project to his father's design. In the centre of the Circus - looking up.

Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury. The site contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. Constructed over several hundred years in the third millennium BC, during the Neolithic Age, the monument comprises a large henge (a bank and a ditch) with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles situated inside the centre of the monument. Its original purpose is unknown. During the Early Middle Ages, a village first began to be built around the monument, eventually extending into it. In the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods, local people destroyed many of the standing stones. Next to the circle is this shady meeting place.

Mozac Abbey is one of the oldest monasteries in the Auvergne, dating back into Merovingian times. A legend tells that it was founded by Calminius (later Saint Calmin). He must have been pretty important and well off, as his name is connected to the foundations of three abbeys. He introduced the benedictian rules to the area, and brought (from Rome)a relic of Saint Peter and (from Agen) a relic of Saint Caprasius to Mozac. He got buried in the crypt of this church together with his wife Saint Namadie. Within the 9th century relics of Saint Austremonius, the first bishop of Clermont were transferred to Mozac, so already before Santiago de Compostella was on the map, this was a place of pilgrimage. In 1095 Mozac abbey got affiliated to Cluny, but was important enough, to have Hugue of Semur, nephew of Hugue of Cluny here as abbot. He was followed by Eustachius, brother of Petrus Venerabilis. Three churches could be traced here by archeologists, what can be seen today is "Mozac 3", a great church built within the first half of the 12th century. As most of "Mozac 3" got destroyed by a number earthquakes between 1437 and 1490. Actually only ruins can be seen. Apses, choir, ambulatory, radial chapels, transept and clerestorys were beyond repair, when the early reconstruction started - in gothic style. Most pillars and capitals of "Mozac 3" are still in place (in situ). Some / Most of the carvings here are so "perfect", that they seem to be much younger, even baroque, but all are - 12th century - romanesque. - Two men on their knees showing/presenting the fruits (grapes?) of a large, very symmetrical tree. The two men are naked within a mythical natural enviroment. Adam and Even were naked in the Garden of Eden, before they met the snake. But at that time, the couple was alone in the garden.