Well actually it is Lendal Bridge with Barker Tower and its cone shaped roof in the foreground, and Lendal Tower, the square building flying the flag, in the background. A chain used to be strung across the river at this point each night between the towers to guard the approach to the city by water. Before the bridge was built a ferry operated here from at least mediaeval times, with the ferryman living in Barker tower.
Barker Tower gets it's name from the tanning industry which used to thrive in this part of the city, and from 1879 the tower was used as a mortuary. Nowadays it is a cafe, and rather more fragrant smells waft from this old building.
That's a cafe I would like to try for sure!
ReplyDeleteI love this view. It gives a real feeling for the medieval city.
ReplyDeleteWho pays the ferryman. Nice scene, cannot imagine living near a medieval tannery, ughhh. That said when I was a boy we lived adjacent to the Oxford city mortuary.
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