After we discovered the WWI graffiti we headed back down to the nave in a kind of torch driven half-light. When we reached the bottom of the stairs in the nave, John tapped me on the shoulder and told me a secret.
The genius of this place is revealed in how its inhabitants shaped the land to serve their needs, while letting the land shape them in return..
In the midst of Richmond I found an invincible joy in the accumulation of the past within the honeycombed streets.
The climb to the castle heights takes me from the market's hustle and bustle to the whistle of the wind through the ramparts. With every metre gained in height, the clamour below gradually evaporates.
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The light is a blessing today, John - the magnificent and ruinous east end is rising above the rooftops.
It’s remarkable how, when we take the time to look closely, we can sense the spirit or zeitgeist behind an object. For me, it feels like time travel—an opening into the mind of the artist who crafted it.
This is not a place to rush through or tick off a bucket list. It is a place that rewards patience, a place to linger when others hurry past. To be here is to step into a world where time folds in on itself, where the genius loci appears to those willing to invest their time.
And there are rumours that the synchronicity that sprang from the Roman temple inspired the medieval scholar Alcuin to build the Alma Sophia (Holy Wisdom) here.