Some churches were deserted hundreds of years ago. Villages lost for generations. In others, people left less than 30 years ago. In these ancient places, over centuries, people come and go, use ebbs and flows. Sometimes they flourish, sometimes they’re fallow.
There are about 3,000 deserted medieval villages in England alone. One example is the diminutive St Mary Magdalene in Caldecote, Hertfordshire. The most common reason for desertion of medieval villages is death, depopulation and harvest failure as a result of the Black Death.
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The population of Caldecote declined heavily during the 14th century - by the end there were less than ten householders. The village limped on until the end of the 16th century when it was all but abandoned... Luckily, it now has a small group of steadfast friends.
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The 19th century brought railways and industry. The move to industrial centres leading to new churches, but the abandonment of older, rural ones. In 1801, 20% of the population lived in cities. By 1901, that was up to 75%.
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In 1850, St Peter’s, Wickham Bishops, Essex found itself on the wrong side of the tracks. Literally. With the arrival of the railway, the village migrated to the east. Out of sight, the church spiralled into decay. The threat of demolition loomed – until we saved it.
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St Decuman’s, Rhoscrowther near Milford Haven has its origins in the 1200s. In 1964, it gained a new neighbour – a sprawling oil refinery.
In 1993 an explosion at the refinery caused material damage locally, including the church.
The village was eventually evacuated.
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We are so grateful that some of the villagers – now relocated to other homes m - still look after and care for this complicated, hulking old church.
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We take on more churches every year. Some have a thriving community presence. Others don’t. Both are equally important. People always come and go. But the importance of these places doesn’t diminish. We’re here for the fallow periods. We’re a safety net.
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(And if you would like to help us care for these places, you can do so by becoming a member. It costs £30 and we make every penny stretch:
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. ...
The church at Skeffling was built from glacial clutter and recycled masonry in the 1400s. It sits in Holderness. A landscape of mudflats and salt-marshes washed into existence by the North Sea.
Here ‘leaves unnoticed thicken, hidden weeds flower, neglected waters quicken’.
Those are the words of poet, Philip Larkin. Larkin explored this area after he moved to Hull in 1955 to take up the position of librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull. He lived there and held that job for thirty years, until his death in 1985.
Of Hull, he wrote "I never thought about Hull until I was here. Having got here, it suits me in many ways. It is a little on the edge of things, I think even its natives would say that. I rather like being on the edge of things.”
If there were more than 20 sheep in the flock, he could note the first 20 when he reached Figgit by putting a pebble in his pocket, and then starting the sequence from Yan again.
(info from 'Alex's Adventures in Numberland' by Alex Bellos)
In about 1300, five massive oak legs were pushed into the soil at Boveney to raise a belltower out of the clay tile roof of the 12th-century church. Inside, in the 1800s fielded panelling was installed, hiding those hardworking legs.
Perfect as that panelling looked, it obscured the most important timbers. Noticing that the bellcote was somewhat slumped, our architect removed some panels, and we found the legs were rotten. Boveney church was *almost* without a leg to stand on.
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Many things contributed to the decay-the high water-table of the river-bank church, deathwatch beetle, fruiting bodies… The panelling concealed this until it was almost too late. The words, ‘catastrophic collapse’, were used. Panic set in. The £60,000 repair bill quadrupled.
Between 1666 and 1680, the English parliament sought to protect the wool trade, by requiring the dead to be buried in nothing but a shroud of English sheep's wool. Plague victims and the destitute were the only exceptions.
The 'Burying in Woollen Acts' required an Affidavit within 8 days of burial, proving before a JP that the law had been complied with. Those who didn't comply were fined £5, half of which went to the poor. This blog has some terrific examples of affidavits:buff.ly/3YkB33B
Many wealthy families preferred to simply pay the fine and bury their loved ones in clothing or shrouds of finer materials, such as linen.
St Patrick was ripped from his home as a teenager. After six years as a slave in the west of Ireland, he trekked the breadth of the island to get home to Britain. He would become the patron saint of Ireland, yet at the end of his life, he felt he had failed.
Patrick lived in the 5th century. Upon leaving Ireland in his early 20s, he devoted his life to Christ. He returned to Ireland after hearing Vox Hiberionacum – the voice of the Irish – in a dream.
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He became the patron saint of Ireland in the 7th century when the embellishment of St Patrick’s story began. Some of the biographers got quite creative, attributing all manner of miracles to the man – from snakes to sprouting staffs.