Great art is created when the hand, the head, and the heart come together.
Llandeloy church was nothing more than a few medieval stumps by the 1840s. In the 1920s, John Coates Carter set about re-imagining the ruins to symbolise a personal journey through life...
Rebuilding the church from the fragments was meant to start in the early twentieth century. Locals donated more than £600 towards the work. But, just as they were about to begin, the Great War broke. Progress was halted for more than a decade.
2/7
In 1926, Carter returned. He designed a simple church to nestle deep into a hollow in the churchyard. An ancient holy well is hidden in the greenery to the south.
3/7
For Carter, the church with a “floor of slates won from the earth, and a roof of trees whose branches once reared skywards, become symbolic of the earth and the heavens”.
4/7
It is symbolic of a Christian’s journey as they move from the font (baptism), through the narrowing of the chancel arch, which was given by a mother in memory of her son who was killed in the war.
5/7
At this point, they are tempted by the generous, easeful byway of the transept, before stepping up into the chancel, stepping closer to the heavens, to the altar, where the reredos depicting Christ in Majesty was painted by Carter himself.
6/7
St Teilo’s, Llandeloy, Pembrokeshire would be Coates Carter’s final church.
He died less than a year after it was consecrated.
With a 15th-century rood loft hovering over rows of 18th-century box pews, the interior of St David’s, Llangeview in Monmouthshire offers a glimpse into the forms of worship from two bygone ages.
1/8
Spanning the entire width of the nave, the rood loft is a relic from the late medieval past. Before the Reformation, the rood loft would have carried the rood, a carving of Christ on the cross.
2/8
Alongside Christ, there would have been carved depictions of the Virgin Mary and John the Apostle. Sadly, none of the medieval roods survived the Reformation.
Caught Moss-Handed: how the rare mosses on the roof of St James’s, Llangua enabled the conviction of two criminals in the 1950s.
1/8
In the summer of 1951, a farmer spotted two men climbing on the roof of Llangua church at dusk. Unfortunately, by the time the police arrived, the men had fled the scene.
2/8
After committing further criminals acts in the local area — namely the theft of tools and car batteries — the authorities caught the men, who turned out to be two brothers that had come to Monmouthshire from Cardiff.
Across the centuries, the saintly dedication of a parish church can change — and at Manordeifi in Pembrokeshire, it is thought that the church's dedication has shifted several times throughout its long history.
1/8
A Christian place of worship at Manordeifi is believed to have stood on the site of the present church since the 7th century. The earliest church here was reportedly dedicated to St Llawddog.
2/8
A son of the Prince of Usk and a renowned as a miracle-worker, Llawddog became the focus of a popular local saintly cult. As such, there are thought to be four other churches in the region that were also originally dedicated to him.
Why is the English name for the festival of Christ’s resurrection so different from its name in almost every other language?
1/9 📷 East window of St Cadoc's, Llangattock-Vibon-Avel by Lavers & Barraud (1875).
In English, this most important Christian festival is known as Easter, whereas in most other languages, its name is markedly different: Pâques in French, Pasg in Welsh, and Páscoa in Portuguese.
2/9 📷 East window of St Beuno's, Penmorfa, Gwynedd by an unknown maker (c.1851)
This divergence between English and most other European languages is a hotly debated historical topic, relating to the transition from paganism to Christianity in England during the 6th and 7th centuries.
3/9 📷 East window of All Saints', Ballidon by C.E. Kempe
Caring for over 60 places of worship in England and Wales means that from a few of our churchyards you can see some varied sights.
From 20th century infrastructure to cultural landmarks, the fabric and fate of our churches has been shaped by their localities.
1/6 📷 Sutterby
On the Welsh border, in the remote fields of Herefordshire stands St Peter's, Llancillo. Adjacent to the church is an 8 meter high earthen Motte, which is all the remains of Llancillo Castle. This fortification was originally constructed in the 1090s by Richard Esketot.
2/6
Releasing plumes of steam into the sky, the cooling towers of the Drax Power Station are visible, across the flat Yorkshire’s Ouse Valley, from St Helen's, Barmby on the Marsh. While St Helen’s tower was built in the 1770s, the cooling towers were constructed in the 1970s.
Red and yellow and pink and green ... most children can tell you that rainbows contain seven colours, and many of us use 'ROYGBIV' to remember them. But people haven't always seen rainbows this way.
Rubens' 'The Rainbow Landscape' of 1636 was painted just three decades before major new scientific theories about colour and light emerged. The rainbow lights up surrounding clouds with highlights of lemony yellow and blue.
In 1664, Robert Boyle conducted experiments with prisms, and in the 'artificial rain-bow' he produced, he observed five colours: Red, Yellow, Green, Blew and Purple. ...