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22 May

In the UK, there are more churches dedicated to Mary than any other saint.

The cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary really took hold in the Middle Ages. Mary was adored by monastic orders, who promoted stories of her miracles. By 1066 she had six annual feasts.

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Mary came to be depicted as the Queen of Paradise surrounded by red and white rosebushes: red for love and martyrdom, white for purity. (Later the white roses were ditched and the lily was adopted as the symbol of purity.)

But where did it all come from?

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The rose first appears as a romantic symbol in Hellenic poetry. Roman legends connecting Venus with roses establish two enduring connections with the God of Love and the blood of a divine martyr. Mary has been compared to the mystical rose since the Church’s earliest days.

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Friendless Churches

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20 May

Ninety years ago, in 1931, Waldo Williams visited a friend at Hoplas, Rhoscrowther. He was helping him to harvest turnips.
At the end of a day spent hunched and heaving at the earth, Waldo looked up. The sun was setting.

In that moment, he composed his most famous poem.

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#OTD in 1971 Welsh poet #WaldoWilliams died. Waldo trained as a teacher in Pembrokeshire, and in the 1920s he met Willie Jenkins - one of the pioneers of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in Pembrokeshire. The two men were pacifists, and deeply objected to war.

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In 1931 Waldo came to Rhoscrowther to help Jenkins on his farm. While here Waldo wrote one of his best-known poems, Cofio (Remembering). Apparently he composed the first verse when watching the sun set after a day on the fields. He went in for supper, and then wrote the rest.
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Friendless Churches

@friendschurches

9 May

Inside St Mary's, Fordham, in Cambridgeshire, a few intriguing items give clues to its ancient history — a medieval bell, a medieval pew with a carved lion, and two remarkable medieval tombstones which have come to rest on the altar steps ...

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These curious carved stone slabs appear to be coffin lids. But how old are they, where have they come from, who was buried beneath them, and what messages do they communicate to the living?

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The larger stone is beautifully decorated with an elaborately floriated cross. At one end, toothy wyverns are chewing on the intricate vine.

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Friendless Churches

@friendschurches

7 May

Did you know the verb canter comes from Canterbury? It was coined to describe the easy galloping pace of pilgrims as they rode into Canterbury to St Thomas Becket’s shrine.

Pilgrimage to Canterbury began in 1172, and one of the most popular routes was the Pilgrim’s Way.

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The Pilgrim’s Way is a 153 mile journey from Winchester to Canterbury. Along it, you’ll find the ruined church at St Mary’s, Eastwell in Kent.

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It’s on the Charing to Chilham leg of the journey, which Donald Maxwell summarises, “In which is much water, first in well, West and East, then in a Lake, and finally in a River.”

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Friendless Churches

@friendschurches

30 Apr

Britain was last invaded was 1797. It was February. 1,400 French soldiers under the command of American Col. William Tate landed on the coast at Carreg Wastad, Pembrokeshire. The invaders sacked the nearby church of St Gywndaf, Llanwnda, home to a 1620s Welsh bible.

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What exactly happened to the bible at that time is open to debate, but it bears evidence that it has been pulled apart with considerable force. Some believe French soldiers burned pages to keep warm, others suggest its pages were used as toilet paper…

📸: Llywelyn2000

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The Battle of Fishguard only lasted a few days. But the bible, one of the oldest in Wales, disappeared for centuries. That is, until it was discovered in the 1990s in a bin liner in the church. Its importance was realised, and it was placed in a display case in the church.

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Friendless Churches

@friendschurches

27 Apr

Sitting in isolation on a knoll in rolling open countryside is St Lawrence’s, Hutton Bonville. It closed in 2007 and has lain empty since then. A picture of timeless, relentless melancholy.

Last October, we took this little church into our care.

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St Lawrence’s is a small medieval church that was much altered in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The story of this Yorkshire church is told in its stonework: the variety of colour, tooling, lichen, carving, joints … and of course, cracks.

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In this location, the church really only makes sense in relation to Hutton Bonville Hall, which was demolished in 1962. The only physical neighbour this church now has are the Hall’s two abandoned 18th-century gate piers, swathed in nettles and cow parsley.

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