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Feb 10

When we took Tuxlith Chapel in West Sussex into our care in the 1970s, it had been derelict for decades. At the time we didn't have enough money to re-instate the lath and plaster ceiling, so we nailed some painted boards across the ceiling.

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This did the trick until last year, when the boards began to fail, so we went back, and this time, thanks to a Culture Recovery Fund grant, we can restore the lath and plaster ceiling.

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#HereForCulture

Here it is in an early phase of the work.

The plasterer, Ian Holloway, carefully removed all the rusting nails and damp boards, and has set out the base for his plaster: carefully spaced riven oak laths.

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Feb 5

While we don’t mean keep visitors away from Llancillo church, getting there is a bit of battle, involving sharp turns, potholes, rattling cattle grids, boorish cattle, watchful sheep and a busy train-track. But this area is no stranger to battles...

#thread

It’s here, along the spellbinding Welsh Marches, that you’ll find the densest concentration of motte-and-bailey castles in England and Wales. These castles were the result of William the Conqueror’s plan to subdue the Welsh by installing Marcher Lords along the border.

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But defence wasn’t new to the Marches: along their length, the Romans built forts to defend themselves from the Welsh. The Anglo-Saxons dug an 80-mile ditch. So, it's no wonder really that our little church at Llancillo is in the shadow of an ancient castle.

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Feb 3

This beautiful door is in the Tuscan-inspired Arts & Crafts church of St Mark's, Brithdir, Gwynedd — built at the end of the 19th century.

It’s inlaid with teak and ebony woods, and with mother of pearl from abalone shells.

#AdoorableThursday

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Mother of pearl, or nacre, is produced by some molluscs to build their inner shell layer.

It's formed of octagonal platelets of aragonite, whose thickness is close to the wavelength of visible light.

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When viewed from different angles, the lightwaves are disrupted, giving it its colourful and lustrous iridescence.

(that’s the simple version — I’m no physicist! - Clare)

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Jan 28

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Jan 25

@hisdoryan

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.

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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.

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