The church at Castlemartin cuts into a steeply sloping rock bank. Perhaps the proximity to a stream and two holy wells gave this site spiritual significance... Or perhaps, nestled in a tree-lined hollow, it offered invisibility from marauders coming from the sea...

#thread Image
This Pembrokeshire site is encircled by earth-banked encampments, possibly prehistoric, and an ancient burial mound, while several early pilgrim paths lead to the church. A 7th-9th century carved cross was found in the churchyard in 1922, but hasn't been seen for decades...

2/ Image
Architecturally, we can place the church in the late 12th century when the parish enjoyed wealth and status due the abundance of fertile, lime-rich soil in which crops thrive. The massive scalloped font and north arcade are the oldest visible remains of this early church.

3/ Image
The small carved faces on the arcades are described as having “a death-like appearance, with closed eyes and shrunken noses and lips.” It is interesting that these masks face north – traditionally the dark or ‘devil’s side’ of the church and could be figures of protection.

4/ Image
The 15th and 16th centuries brought much change to the church: the north and south chapels were removed, as was the north transept. Pre-Restoration sketches also indicate the presence of a west porch of Jacobean character of such size than it more resembled a chapel.

5/ Image
The 2nd Earl of Cawdor paid for the restoration of the church in the late 1850s. The church was re-roofed, re-floored and re-fenestrated, the vestry was added, and doorways rebuilt. As a legacy, encaustic tiles emblazoned with the Cawdor arms decorate the chancel floor.

6/ Image
In the early 20th century, most of the land in Castlemartin - 6,000 acres to be precise - was cleared by the government for use as an artillery range. The church closed in 2016 and was a bit of a milestone for the Friends, being the 50th church we adopted!

  7/7 Image

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More from @friendschurches

15 Oct
At St David's, Llangeview, Monmouthshire, 18th century ledgerstones commemorating James Blower, Mary Jones and James Meredith lay before the wooden altar rail with its twisted balusters, made in the same century. And more can be seen in the nave. Image
The name 'ledger' comes from Old English via the Middle English words lygger, ligger or leger - to lie down. There are an estimated 250,000 surviving ledgerstones in churches in England and Wales, most from the late 17th to late 18th centuries.
The chancel was the usual resting place for members of the clergy, while the nave was usually the option for those with the financial means and local influence — from aristocracy and gentry to families of middle class professionals and tradesmen. Image
Read 8 tweets
11 Oct
This is the most important #thread we’ve ever written.

The Church Commissioners are running a consultation that makes deeply worrying proposals that we believe would diminish the democracy of the church closure process, and reduce transparency and accountability of the Church.
In summary, the consultation seeks to make it faster and easier to close churches. They propose dispensing with expert advice from bodies such as Church Buildings Council and the Statutory Advisory Committee, and limiting rights to object to closure or reuse schemes.

2/
Trying to squeeze this into a tweet is going to be hard, but I will do my best.

There’s a piece of legislation called the Mission & Pastoral Measure (MPM) which, among other things, governs the disposal of churches no longer needed for regular public worship.

3/
Read 13 tweets
10 Oct
Digging into records about St Helen's, Skeffling (the most recent church to come under our wing), we've discovered a connection to *Madame Sarah Grand* — a Victorian feminist author who was internationally famous (and scandalous!) in her day but has since been largely forgotten.
Born Frances Bellenden Clarke, she married at 16 to a much older widower with children not much younger than herself. It was an unhappy marriage, and after leaving her husband, she devoted herself to writing, lecturing on women's issues and campaigning for votes for women.
Grand's novels centred on the 'New Woman', a name she coined for educated women who sought independence from oppressive marriages, and greater social freedoms. She promoted women's cycling, and argued for less restrictive, 'rational' clothing, such as split skirts.
Read 15 tweets
9 Oct
St Giles’, Tadlow is a “well-lit by jewelled blue-grey windows; a characteristic floor, delicate strips of pink and yellow on the sanctuary walls, and a delicious font of pinkish grey on a white base”.

And it’s on the Heritage at Risk register.

#thread
The quotation above is from Paul Thompson, William Butterfield’s biographer. You see, this is a medieval church “pleasantly placed, in a leafy position”  that had a Butterfield restoration in the late 1800s.

2/
If, like us, you keep an eye on the Church Commissioners’ consultation page on closed churches, you will see that there is a live consultation which seeks to put this Grade II* Cambridgeshire church into our care.

3/
Read 10 tweets
7 Oct
This image of the Llananno screen has always spoken to us. We love that you can see the human hands that carved it over 500 yrs ago in the way the timber thins and thickens, the shapes squeeze and spread..

The design is restless, alive.

And it inspired our new logo.

#thread
The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that we've updated our profile photo. The egg-yolk yellow logo was inspired by the perfectly imperfect quatrefoils in the majestic medieval roodscreen of St Anno's, Llananno, Powys.

2/
This screen has borne the whips and scorns of time.

Candle wax streaks, beetles gnawed the oak, hands gripped the frame, bats roosted in the loft, the roof leaked, worshippers left - and came back.

This screen - chipped, cracked, crumbled, surviving - has seen it all.

3/
Read 9 tweets
1 Oct
At Llangattock Vibon Avel, as light radiates into the church of St Cadoc, it illuminates St Michael’s golden armour. A dazzling sight.

But this beautiful stained glass wouldn’t exist today if the maker, Charles Eamer Kempe, hadn’t had a stammer.
Kempe, the son of a Lord Mayor of London, attended Oxford and originally intended to take holy orders. However, he realised that his stammer, and his shyness, would make preaching extremely challenging. The priesthood just wasn’t meant for him.
While pondering his future, Kempe was inspired by William Morris's design for the Oxford Union's debating chamber. He decided that "if I was not permitted to minister in the Sanctuary I would use my talents to adorn it".
Read 9 tweets

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