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Jul 21 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
By the mid 19th century, sounding boards — designed to amplify the preacher's oratory — were seen as ugly, out-dated, and even dangerous.

#HistoryThread
At Penarth, 1865, Rev. D. Morgan described the 'grotesque pulpit' & 'even more absurd sounding board over the head of the preacher, suspended like a large extinguisher and awakening in the minds of the congregation the fear that it will fall upon the expounder of Gospel truths.'
The fears might have been well-founded; a report from America in 1855 described the moment when an 'old-fashioned sounding board of huge dimensions' whizzed down, causing the minister to duck his head under the pulpit just in time to avoid being 'extinguished'!
Sounding boards were consequently removed from many churches; some were recycled into other useful articles such as shop signs and even novelty tables.
However, a few remain.

At St Mary's, Penllech, Gwynedd, a late Georgian-era sounding board is suspended above the pulpit.
The base is decorated with a large sunburst, each of its eight rays pointing to one side of the octagonal board. It's not grand; nonetheless it stands out within the church's simple and humble interior.

Learn more about St Mary's, Penllech: bit.ly/3PCCLte

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Friendless Churches Profile picture
Jul 19
Old churches can offer a welcome refreshing respite from hot weather. But why do historic places of worship tend to stay so deliciously cool in the summer?

This is primarily down to three key factors, says Architect and FoFC trustee Kirstie Robbins ...
@eitsrik01 Image
1. *Thick walls* — these absorb the sun's energy relatively slowly, so even though the outer face might warm up, it remains cool on the inside. And at night, when the temperature drops, the heat that the wall has absorbed radiates back into the cooler air. Image
2. *Small windows* relative to the size of the building — which limit solar gain.

📷 All Saints', Ballidon, Derbyshire photographed by C B Newham @cbnewham Image
Read 6 tweets
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Jul 17
The scorching weather in much of the UK right now reminds us of one effect of a similar heatwave in 2018:
At old St Matthew's, Lightcliffe, volunteers researching the churchyard identified several unmarked burials; due to drought conditions they showed up clearly in drone footage
Although very dry weather can be a short-term boon to archaeologists, hot and dry conditions can be detrimental to historic buildings and to archaeological sites.
For example, extreme temperature fluctuations can cause structural instability, and drought can lead to soil shrinkage, which can cause subsidence.
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Friendless Churches Profile picture
Jul 15
The chapel of ease at Thornton-le-Beans in North Yorkshire is a small building of coursed stone that was largely rebuilt in 1770.

The pretty chapel was favoured as the final resting place for local farming folk, who created a 'funeral walk' ... Image
... along which they brought their dead from North Otterington for burial at Thornton. Image
In his 'Buildings of England' series, Pevsner gives barely three sentences to the chapel. One of which reads, “but remarkable for no other reason”. However, this little chapel was under threat of demolition before we took it into our care in 2010.
Read 4 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
Jun 30
From the late 18th century, the revival of classical art and architecture and burgeoning interest in archaeology made the urn a ubiquitous image on gravestones and monuments.

📷 Llandeloy
The classical cremation urn (which actually came in many shapes and sizes), was both practical and symbolic in ancient Greek and Roman cultures.

📷 Gwernesney
It was a container for ashes, the focal point of remembrance, and a symbol of the after-life.

📷 Llanfihangel
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Friendless Churches Profile picture
Jun 25
Today’s the day! The big reveal!
The redecoration at St Mary’s, Long Crichel is complete, and this afternoon, the village will gather at the church for a celebration.
It’s so long to the 1970s purple and orange décor, and hello to blues, greys, wood-graining and gilding.

#thread
We undertook research of the historic decoration to inform the new scheme. Paint researcher, Helen Hughes, took tiny samples of paint from the surfaces, mounted them in resin, polished the blocks until the paint edge was exposed, and then viewed the samples under a microscope. 2/
Under magnification, it was clear that the white gloss woodwork had been wood-grained, the flat panels had been various blues, and the walls were a creams and greys.

3/
Read 7 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
Jun 23
It's such a thrill when churches reveal a long lost part of their past. And recently, St Mary's in Mundon did just that.

Since December, we've been underpinning this Essex church which has been suffering from structural movement for centuries.

#thread Image
To install the piles, we had to excavate inside and outside the church. This is a significant intervention, and required the removal of box pews, font, pulpit, lifting the tiled floor and digging down ...

2/ Image
During the digging in the chancel, our contractors hit upon something. Our archaeologist was on site, and together they uncovered a stone slab with empty spaces in the shape of human figures. The empty spaces would originally have held engraved brasses.

4/ Image
Read 7 tweets

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