Malmesbury

We only live about thirty miles from Malmesbury, but until today we had never looked properly around the town. It's small, with a population of only a couple of thousand, with a central area set on a rise between two rivers with water on three sides, but it's oh so historic.

In the 10th century, Malmesbury was briefly the capital of England. A king is buried there, and the Abbey was so rich as a centre of learning that it rivalled anywhere else in the country. Moonface and I wandered around for several hours on a cold mizzly day, and enjoyed it in a low-key way. The town itself is unexceptional, pretty enough with no wonderful architecture but a consistent front in Cotswold stone and hard red brick. There are few signs to any of the points of interest, and nothing was open apart from the Abbey which is ancient but unspectacular. Within the Abbey, I like the solidity of the Romanesque apse, but the plethora of 19th century plaques to young men who died in the colonies distract from the consistency of the interior. There is a good Pre-Raphaelite stained glass window, and a strange stone sentry-box overlooking the central aisle.

Nowhere in the town did we discover a reference to Thomas Hobbes, one of the greatest political philosophers who was born and raised here. Why not? His ideas are still relevant today. No blue plaques, no nothing.

:o/