QUAINT AND CURIOUS

Hokitika Guardian, 14 December 1928, Page 3

QUAINT AND CURIOUS

CHURCHES OF BRITAIN

GBEAT POEMS IN STONE

Britain is full of quaint and curioio • •huivties. Some are worth visiting for Ihcir architectural features (says an English writer), others for Iheii beautiful carvings, and still others for their relics, belonging to a past ago when life was -more simple and the ii:e T ninn did not crave lor rich decoration that we find in a later age. Tiie elaborate and richly-carved aisle p’s throne such as m luund in Exeter Cat herdral am! the wonderful early English carving such as that to be seen in Carlisle Cathedral show bow. in nfter ages, men made much of the church buildings and desired tin* very V:est in material and workma nsliip. Thev desired their sand naries to he poems in stone standing alnlt.

There is a wealtii of curious features in (he old Church of Britain. At Coveiilnthe, on the Snllolk coast, there is a church bnili within a church—-the present church being built within tin* nave of the larger and older building.

In Yorkshire, at Tarstingham. the parish church dates for Norman times. •ft is (built mi tbe (op ot an early Saxon building, part ol which is seen in of crypt below. This ancient crypt it is said by ant apiaries, is part id Ibe old elm roll founded by Codd brother of the the more famous St. ( hadd, in GOO.

Some old ibalclied churches still remain, as at Marlingford. while ;il Grcenmaiii. near Chipping Ougnr. in E ■ (>';, I ban* is an ancient chun-h bnili of chestnut logs, said to dale from Saxon limes.

MANY SMALL (’HUUniES

Whidi is Ihe smallest church in Britain? This (|Ucstian li:i< often b"cn debated. Very small churches are found at Underdid’. in I lie isle ol Wight, al 1.-tdliiiglon. in Sussex, al Covan near Canlig. and al I’pleatb'im in Yorkshire. Ibe latter is ra.pablc of bolding 2d i»*oob*. Lullingtaii Cbardi L onlv K 5 L'** 1 ‘-'(‘'are. and claims lo be tlu* sMalbsl di'irdi in Brilain. Another very small chord) -.villi a wooden lower, is lo be. bmiid a! Braiidnd. in Worees'fersh 're. All ancient ell n pel i of n lib | lie inti* rest is (be old church ol Si. Gregory, at Kirkdah*. in Yorkshire, which posse--sc-- so:-ie remarkable '-lanes, fj is a bea ''.l i f>i II v situated building and a wonderful old sundial bearing an in

serin! -on in Seven dm r:e I critics, slates j lei I Hie dim'd) was rebuilt in llie days of Edward I lie Con lesser. The original dmrdi is iDi>i:* r Gt to bav '

been founded in the seventh (eiilury. the. davs of St. Aidan. the apostle of Northumbria.

Among other ancient, churches is that of Barf'reston.-'in Kent, said, to date from Norman times. Here is a church which Inis neither spin* nor tower, nor yet possesses belfry, porch, or vestry. ‘Tt consists of a nave ami chancel, and lias only a dozen h'ng pews. There was found embedded in the plaster of this church an old pair of scissors of (plaint design, left them, no dual,l by a careless workman.

Kiipeeb Church, near Hereford, is another interesting building, in old Norman style. It was completely i'“huill in 1818, with lln* e-id maicrubami in the ancient style. Its arc* " considered one ol the finest Normal, '■••iccinens known. St. Michael!' Chapel, near Torrpmv, and Av'tm Chureh, Hereford -hire, tare both *-•■ quaint as lo merit: a visit.

INTERESTING OLD RUINS

Kingdand Church, in a remote e*r nor of Ilerolerdshirc. possesses a < urious ]Mirch, known as Volta s ( ham her, with a window v.'liic'i he-*:" b the church. This may have been built for some renuso.

Simple and tiny is the rpiainl little sanctuary in Nether AYestdiih*. ninontr tin* hills of Comherland. It ibiiil likl a cottage, and must lie one of the simplest of all English church

Among tin* interesting old ruins id ancient churches, low have trie historical interest of St. Pi ran. at Porranzoliuloe. in Cornwall. Tliis wa" dug out of the shifting sands of the C irnish coast in 18,‘ib. St. Pi ran was an Irish monk who settled among tie* people of Cornwall and evangelised them, as SI. Columbia did the Scots. An ancient ecclesiastical ruin is that of Whitby Abbey, on the Yorkshire roast. Founded in the scenlli century by St. Hilda, the old ruin stands high upon a editf closi* to the seawaslied precipice over winch St. Hilda is said to have swept llie snakes. The strangely-marked ammonities lonic’ among the rocks below are said to b<* fiis'.jlisi'd snakes which the lamous abbess drove into the sea. The existing ruins are those- ol 11 ,r * Benedictine Abbey, built in the eleventil century and demolished in 'b“ reign of Henry VflT. I! was al Wbi'hy tliat Hu* earliest English pool Caedmon, the cowherd, wrote his poem on creation. This pirt uresrpie mustands out as a relic of a vanish**' a ,r e. when Ihe church was a dominant factor in Chrislemlom.

TWELVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD

At Deerliursf, in Chiuors-iorhire. r to he found an ancient church, with a. stone proclaiming that the ehure'* was consecrated in losfi, while at Bradford-on-Avon is one of the oldest stone buildings in the lands. Tt wn* built in 700. and is a remnant of the Saxon church built before the fieri e Danish pirates ravished the land with fire and sword, and destroyed many old churches with the ruthless hammer of their fierce god, Thor.

Among the curious features of old churches is the quant carving to he found in many of them. The churches of Kiiiiam and lii'ley possess finelycarved doors on which are representations of all manner of animals and birds, with beaks and chevrons, in the choir stalls of Whallcv Church is a piece of carving representing a woman thrashing her husband with a frying pan, much to the poor man’s discomfort. Some dm relies possess eerie and persistent tales of ghosts. The church o! \St. Thomas, at Portsmouth, is credo ed with being visited 'ey tbc ghost ol Thomas a’Bechet, which is seen at times standing by the aha", with t'n* sword-cut of his murderers still ragged and red upon his skull.