Share this page!

Friendless Churches Profile picture
Twitter logo
3 Dec, 8 tweets, 3 min read
Our two churches in Lincolnshire stand in what was once Viking territory. In the late 9th C a swathe of Eastern and Northern England was occupied by Danes and other Norsemen, and governed by Danelaw.

/a Viking thread ...
Christian Anglo-Saxons labelled the Norse settlers 'heathens'. However, some Scandinavian pagans were buried in Christian churchyards. Others converted to Christianity, and over time, people, beliefs, art & languages from the different cultures became intertwined.
Anglo-Norse dialects developed, and they influenced local speech for hundreds of years. Even today, the English language has numerous words of Old Norse origin, like 'knife', 'kindling',  'egg', & ‘window' (literally - 'wind eye').
Many place names also have Viking roots ...
Place names ending ‘by' take their suffix from the Old Norse for 'farmstead' or 'settlement'. Our churches in Lincolnshire are sited in two such places:
‘Sutterby’ is believed to be Old Norse and Old Danish for 'the settlement of the shoemaker'.
And 12 miles away, marshy ‘Saltfleetby’ - pronounced 'Sollerby'- (where we care for the tower of Old St Peter’s) adds Norse 'by' to 'Salt fleot' - the Anglo-Saxon name for the saltwater inlet where salt had been produced and exported since the Bronze age.
In 2010, this spindle whorl was found in a field at Saltfleetby, inscribed with a Norse runic inscription. It probably dates from the 11th C, by which time there may well have already been a Christian church in the village.
Yet this personal object, probably owned by a woman called Ulfljót, invokes the names of three Norse Gods, including Odin, the one-eyed all-father god whose Anglo-Saxon name gave us the word 'Wednesday'.

Spindle whorl photos ©  Lincolnshire County Council
You can learn more about Viking Saltfleetby and its spindle whorl from @EMidsVikings at emidsvikings.ac.uk/items/saltflee…

/end of saga
————-
Winter at Saltfleetby Dunes ©  Natural England via Flickr

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Friendless Churches

Friendless Churches Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @friendschurches

Friendless Churches Profile picture
29 Nov
Today, we thought we'd look back at some of our 'big saves'. 

First, St Peter’s, Wickham Bishops, Essex. We took it on in the ‘70s, repaired it, found four schemes of hugely important wall-paintings. Now a stained-glass artist works from the nave, and welcomes visitors.

#thread
To Caernarfon, to Hen Eglwys Baglan. An ancient church in the shadow of Snowdon and overlooking the Menai Straits. By the 1970s, it had been neglected for years, and was teetering on the edge when we took it on. Now, it is well-used and beloved by people all over the world.

2/
In Sussex, the little chapel at Milland fell into disuse and dereliction in the 1930s. By 1960, it looked like this. In 1974, working with a local group – who are still active today - haul this ancient place back from the brink. And just in the nick of time too. 

3/
Read 7 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
28 Nov
So far this year, we’ve taken three closed churches into our care. They were no longer needed for worship. Two would have been demolished.

Our places of worship are the spiritual investment of generations, and they should survive.

The churches we’ve saved in 2020 are… 
#thread
St Helen's, Barmby-on-the-Marsh, Yorkshire closed in 2007. The earliest record of a chapel here dates to 1388. In 1489, the parishioners petitioned at Rome for a grander church. This was granted. Only the nave survives from this date.

2/
The medieval tower with timber spire was ruinous by 1773, and was dismantled, rebuilt in red brick and crowned with a copper cupola. The chancel seems to have been added only in the 19th century, when the church was restored in 1854 by Thomas Clarke.

3/
Read 9 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
26 Nov
#OTD in 1703 a hurricane ravaged England and Wales: trees damaged, property destroyed, livestock killed, ships lost at sea...
Lives were lost too, including the Bishop of Bath & Wells and his wife - killed in their bed when a chimney of the Palace at Wells fell on them.

#thread Image
The weather blew in from the north Atlantic and is one of the worst storms to have ever hit the UK.

Writer Daniel Defoe engaged in one of the first examples of what would today be called 'investigative journalism', obtaining country-wide accounts of people's experiences.

2/4
Defoe published his findings in The Storm (1704).

In Wales, most of the accounts came from seaboard towns - Chepstow, Cardiff, Swansea and Milford Haven - but one is of particular interest to the Friends; it was from "Llaneloe" (i.e. Llanelieu) in Breconshire.

3/4 Image
Read 4 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
18 Nov
The churches in our care are derived from the landscape they occupy. Forest, mountain, field and sea, in many cases, we know exactly where the raw materials came from. Locally sourced limestone formed the lime mortar that sticks masonry and brickwork together.

#thread
When it comes to buildings, mortar really does the heavy lifting. It sticks masonry together, keeps masonry apart, and impacts everything from load distribution to acoustic insulation.

2/6
Mortar is a binding agent composed primarily of binder and aggregate. Generally, it is defined by the binding agent, i.e. lime. Aggregate provides a vital framework and prevents shrinkage. The proportion, grading and packing of aggregate will affect quality, porosity and strength
Read 6 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
17 Nov
And at the dead end of the small secret valley
Folded neatly into its ancient habitat
Stands St Jerome’s, a long way from Rome
Hidden from view, tucked away safely
Unless you know that it’s there
Hidden from time and slow to transform

#thread
By the side of its small stream
Whose other small gods must once
Have played before a crucifix arrived
It hides the curlicues of its delicate screen

2/4
And silent green men, who stare down
At you, unchanging over the centuries
Knowing more about you, than you know of them
Because they have seen footprints and faces
For hundreds of years, approach the altar
In love, in despair, in sin, in reverence...

3/4
Read 4 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
6 Nov
In some churches you might spot Christ, mid ascension, carried within a colourful oval. The oval is known as the mandorla. It represents the intersection of the terrestrial and the celestial, of the human and the divine, which are linked by Christ’s resurrection.

#thread
The shape is also known as vesica piscis, and in mathematical terms is formed when two circles overlap equally. From the earliest times, it has been loaded with meaning. As its basic shape recalls the vagina, it has been a symbol of fertility and femininity, of growing life.

2/
When it came to iconography, Early Christians needed a way to visually symbolise the Glory of God. In the absence of divine inspiration, they borrowed ideas from the world around them. The ancient vesica piscis symbol created a visual device into a sacred space.

3/
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @friendschurches has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @friendschurches!

Read all threads by @friendschurches