- Joined
- Sep 17, 2020
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Good morning,
This is a fascinating place if you've never heard of it and here's a bit about it from Wikipedia...
The Shell Grotto is an ornate subterranean passageway in Margate, Kent, UK. Almost all the surface area of the walls and roof is covered in mosaics created entirely of seashells, totalling about 2,000 square feet (190 m2) of mosaic, or 4.6 million shells. It was discovered in 1835, but its age and purpose remain unknown. The grotto is a Grade I-listed building and is open to the public.
The purpose of the structure is unknown and various hypotheses date its construction to any time in the past 3,000 years. Hypotheses include: it was an 18th or 19th-century rich man’s folly; it was a prehistoric astronomical calendar; it is connected with the Knights Templar or Freemasonry. No scientific dating of the site has been carried out.
They reckon it's about 70ft long, 8ft high and leads to an 'Altar Chamber' that's approx. 15x20ft and could have been created 'anytime in the last 3000 years'.
Here's a few pictures.
There are a lot more images here - More pics
This next picture is from the 'Altar Chamber'. Granted, it's a pretty common symbol -
Here's the full area (the same room the ladies are sitting in in the above picture) -
You probably recognise it from all sorts of places, the first image I thought of was the 'Star of Inana/Ishtar' -
This image comes around so often and it intrigues me that it is in a pretty central position in the 'Altar Chamber'.
I've no solid ideas as to what this fascinating little gem in Southern England is, the 'rich man's folly' answer is always an easy cop-out. I'm beyond cynical these days, so I try to keep my paranoid thoughts to myself, but I thought you'd like to see a bit of 'something different'. I hope you enjoy it!
Best wishes,
This is a fascinating place if you've never heard of it and here's a bit about it from Wikipedia...
The Shell Grotto is an ornate subterranean passageway in Margate, Kent, UK. Almost all the surface area of the walls and roof is covered in mosaics created entirely of seashells, totalling about 2,000 square feet (190 m2) of mosaic, or 4.6 million shells. It was discovered in 1835, but its age and purpose remain unknown. The grotto is a Grade I-listed building and is open to the public.
The purpose of the structure is unknown and various hypotheses date its construction to any time in the past 3,000 years. Hypotheses include: it was an 18th or 19th-century rich man’s folly; it was a prehistoric astronomical calendar; it is connected with the Knights Templar or Freemasonry. No scientific dating of the site has been carried out.
They reckon it's about 70ft long, 8ft high and leads to an 'Altar Chamber' that's approx. 15x20ft and could have been created 'anytime in the last 3000 years'.
Here's a few pictures.
There are a lot more images here - More pics
This next picture is from the 'Altar Chamber'. Granted, it's a pretty common symbol -
Here's the full area (the same room the ladies are sitting in in the above picture) -
You probably recognise it from all sorts of places, the first image I thought of was the 'Star of Inana/Ishtar' -
This image comes around so often and it intrigues me that it is in a pretty central position in the 'Altar Chamber'.
I've no solid ideas as to what this fascinating little gem in Southern England is, the 'rich man's folly' answer is always an easy cop-out. I'm beyond cynical these days, so I try to keep my paranoid thoughts to myself, but I thought you'd like to see a bit of 'something different'. I hope you enjoy it!
Best wishes,
