7 Wonders Swindon: The Cathedral of St Zvlkx (Site of) (postcard)

The great non-event of the vanished Cathedral of St Zvlkx (site of) had its uneasy birth in many different conflicting ideas and an old family joke regarding the Ordnance Survey maps. Firstly, I liked the idea that Swindon should once have been home to one of the greatest Cathedrals the country had ever seen. The initial idea was to take pictures of ruined monasteries and friaries and then place them reverently on the car park at Tesco's - where there is more than enough room. As time went by I thought perhaps less was indeed more and it was funnier to have no trace at all - but promote it as a 'wonder' nonetheless. You can see a Zvlkx overview at the The Cathedral of St Zvlkx (Site of) website.

So out it all came and Zvlkx cathedral suffered the terrible indignation of Ordnance Survey Ambiguous Parenthesis. These are small yet damning words that follow some great and historic area marked on the OS map. There are two of them. The first, (Rems of) is not too bad; it means 'remains of' so at least there is something to see. The second, (site of) is somewhat worse - not only is there nothing to see but the good people at OS obviously thought it was worth while seeing once - they even sadistically write it in Olde English text to tantalise you further.

Hence the family connection when out exploring: "Dad," says I, having been on a wild Ordnance Survey Goose Chase many times before, "is this castle/14th century church/ ancient motte/roman fort 'rems of ' or 'site of'?"

Still, at least it was better than staying indoors. Imagine the high burden of boredom we children of the 70's had to endure - no VCR, no playstation, no Gameboy.

Caption on the back reads: "Despite the fact that nothing remains, the medieval cathedral that once graced this site was an equal to Chartres or York. Visitors to the site frequently marvel at the wonders that are no longer here."

Incidentally, the descriptions I use for St Zvlkx on the website are for Llanthony Priory and Tintern Abbey, both still fortunately 'rems of'. The High cross was from Monstaboice in the Boyne valley, Eire.

Colour postcard, unnumbered, given out on UK, US, Pacific & Canadian tours for Something Rotten July - October 2004. 500 editions.