The church at Castlemartin is a riddle of arches.

From yawning arcades and stone arcs floating in a limewashed wall to sloping skew-passages and pointed scars of lost roofs, these shapes chart the 900-year architectural history of the church.

#thread
Cut into a steep sandstone bank just a couple of miles from the Pembrokeshire coast, the earliest parts are the south and western walls (and font) which date from the late 1100s. This includes, we believe, the four-bay arcade.

2/
The chancel was rebuilt and extended in the 1200s. At the same time the north aisle was reconstructed and the tower erected over the south transept. A north transept was also added at this time.

3/
The 13th century saw a considerable enlargement of the church, more or less doubling it in size. Such enlargements were often a response to the ritual and ceremonial requirements of the Sarum Use for the Mass and other liturgical rites.

4/
In the 14th-century, the two storey porch was tacked on to the south.
The Reformation era of the 16th century, coupled with the introduction after 1549 of a less elaborate and more static liturgy, probably precipitated the reduction in size to the proportions we see today.

5/
The north and south chancel aisles were demolished, along with the north transept. The only evidence of their existence is the arches over the windows.
The north chancel aisle, where it abutted on the north nave aisle, was replaced by an angled passageway leading to the chancel.
Except for the provision of a vestry on part of the site of the north chancel aisle, which was constructed in 1856 over a boiler-house and cellar, no additions were subsequently made to the church.

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More from @friendschurches

Jan 27
Legend has it that the church at Rhoscrowther is built over the grave of its 6th-century founder, St Decuman.
But that’s not the only legend about this place. In Welsh Rhoscrowdder means the crwth player’s moor. Who could this ancient musician have been?
#thread #FolkloreThursday
The crwth is one of the oldest traditional instruments in Wales. It’s a type of bowed lyre, and was hugely important throughout Welsh history. It’s mentioned in the 10th-century laws of Hywel Dda, and in 1176, at the first ever Eisteddfod, there was a crwth playing contest.

2/7
Cerdd dafod (literally dance of the tongue) was a form of singing with crwth accompaniment, which flourished in Wales from the beginning of the 14th century to the end of the 16th century. The arrival of the fiddle called time on the crwth.

3/7
Read 7 tweets
Jan 25
Today's #thread is brought to you by wonderful Welsh history blogger
@hisdoryan!

Did you know that the 25th of January is St Dwynwen’s Day (Dydd Santes Dwynwen) here in Wales? St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers…

♥️
In the famous story, Dwynwen fell in love with Maelon Dafodrill but she was already betrothed by her father to another prince.

2/
Dwynwen fled to the forest, where she prayed that God would make her forget her love. She fell asleep, and was visited by an angel with a potion that erased all memory of Maelon and turned him into a block of ice.

3/
Read 12 tweets
Jan 23
During the Victorian rebuilding of St Jerome's, Llangwm Uchaf, Monmouthshire, builders discovered this intriguing object built into the fabric of the church — an hourglass-shaped stone decorated with a ribbon-plait design and with its top surface hollowed out into a bowl.
At some point in its history it was used as a stoup. However, the hole cut into the bowl for that use was clearly added to it later. Other theories for its original use have included a baluster shaft and a pillar-piscina.
But in fact it was most likely to have been a stone lamp!
Some stone lamps were filled with animal fat or beeswax, and a wick inserted, like a candle. But this one shows no signs of burning/blackening so it probably held a pottery lamp inside it.
Read 8 tweets
Jan 20
Winter sunlight spills from St Helen's, Barmby on the Marsh. It glints off the fine recycled 18th-century doors.

#AdoorableThursday

1/4
On these doors, trompe l’oeil painting imitates panelling on inner face. Even the heavy iron strap-hinges have been grained to imitate timber!

2/4
The outer face is full-blooded panelling. We recently removed the peeling plastic paint and revealed a veritable alphabet of initials etched into the surface. The earliest graffiti we found dates to 1782.

3/4
Read 5 tweets
Jan 18
Last summer, we pulled back a door mat at Boveney church and revealed a tile stamped with the maker’s name: Garrett Brothers, Burslem. Not one of the usual tile makers, we did some research, and discovered their business took an interesting route into... ferns.

#thread
Garrett Brothers, Brownhills, Burslem, Staffordshire It seems that the firm only operated for a few years in the 1860s. A trade directory of 1864 describes their business as ...

2/5
Blue Metallic tileries, near Burslem … and 16 south Wharf, Paddington, London; Paving and ridge tiles … stable Bricks, Garden edging etc … also improved pressed flooring tiles for churches, entrance halls, conservatories, dairies &c.'

3/5
Read 6 tweets
Jan 15
At Llangwm Uchaf, what remains of the gloomy inscription on this crumbling gravestone has a great example of the archaic use of 'ye' (the) which we tweeted about recently, but you can also spot two lovely examples of another extinct letterform: ſ - known as the 'long s'.
At a glance, ſ looks a bit like an f (especially in typefaces that give it a little nub on its left hand side - like in this edition of Paradise Lost).
But what looks like 'fpend' on the headstone is actually 'spend'.
Read 11 tweets

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