At St Mary’s, Eastwell the vitality of the frothy foliage balances the morbidity of the decaying church.
A picturesque lake created to the east of the church in the 1800s caused the collapse of building, as the chalk columns sucked moisture from the earth and crumbled...

#thread
In the 1940s, Eastwell Park in Kent was taken over by the army for tank training exercises. Shocks from nearby explosions didn’t help the vulnerable structure. But in February 1951, after weeks of heavy rain the nave roof collapsed and took the arcade with it.

2/
Six years later the church was dismantled. The bells were sold for scrap. The monuments found a new home in the @V_and_A.

A sad end for this lakeside beauty.

3/
We took the church into our care in 1980 and continue to gently care for it. Just this week we started a phase of repairs – mainly, removing the clawing ivy and consolidating loose elements of the flint walls, and repairing the roof and rainwater goods to the mortuary chapel. 
4/
All going well, works will be complete in mid-March. But in the meantime, we’ll share updates on the repairs to this venerable scheduled ancient monument on the Pilgrims’ Way.

5/

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More from @friendschurches

11 Dec
The Sound of Music has led generations of children astray.

Do is not a deer. Re is not a drop of golden sun. And Mi has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with an 8th-century poem to St John the Baptist.

#thread
About 1300 years ago, the monk and historian, Paulus Diaconus, lost his voice. During his illness, he composed a poem and dedicated it to St John the Baptist. 

It went:

Ut queant laxīs
resonāre fibrīs
Mīra gestōrum
famulī tuōrum,
Solve pollūtī
labiī reātum,
Sāncte Iōhannēs

2/
This translates as, So that your servants may, with loosened voices, resound the wonders of your deeds, clean the guilt from our stained lips, O Saint John.

3/
Read 6 tweets
3 Dec
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 ...
Read 8 tweets
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
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
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
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

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