Friday 21 October 2016

French fence

While looking for something else I happened across this week's fence photo.  It's taken looking over the hedge fence from the motel where I was staying in Bayeux, in Normandy, France.  After I'd looked around a bit I discovered the stock yards belonged to a veterinary practice.  They could have been in my back yard they looked so familiar.  


Except here when I look in the other direction I don't see a magnificent cathedral, in this case the Notre Dame Cathedral which was consecrated in 1077 in the presence of William the Conquerer.


It has survived fires, pillaging, the Huguenot rebellions, the French Revolution and even lightning. It sits very close to the coast and the beaches where the Allies landed in June, 1944.  Although it suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during the war, it did not collapse, but stood tall in an otherwise flattened city. The twin spires are said to have been used as an easily recognizable navigational landmark by Allied aircraft raiding deeper into Germany in the later years of the war, which may be a reason that the cathedral was not destroyed. 

Linking to Teresa's Good Fences.

11 comments:

  1. Great fence in a lovely place!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Pauline,

    You are right it does look New Zealandish! Thanks for the little history lesson.
    Have a great weekend.

    Happy days.
    Bev.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A n interesting post and good fence to find.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I enjoy the history of a place.

    Thanks for visiting mine.

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow that is quite a well build fence. I love fences. It's a nice one

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your photos make me want to return to that area. I visited it so briefly a few years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Splendid scenes Pauline. We were in Normandy in 2014. These bring back some very special memories.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice fence for sure and the Cathedral is very pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  9. gosh, the building has lasted a long time!

    ReplyDelete

I love to know who's visiting. Leave me a sign!