QUAINT AND CURIOUS

Evening Star, Issue 20054, 20 December 1928, Page 16

QUAINT AND CURIOUS

CHURCHES OF BRITAIN GREAT POEMS IN STOME Britain is full of quaint and curious churches. Some are worth visiting for their architectural features (says an English writer), others for their beautiful carving, and still others for their relics, belonging to a past age when life was more simple, and the life of man did not crave for rich decoration that wo find in a later age. . The elaborate and richly-carved bishop’s throne, such as is found in Exeter, Cathedral, and the wonderful early English carving such as that to to bo seen in. Carlisle Cathedral, show how, in after ages, men made much of the church buildings and desired the very best in material and workmanship. They desired their sanctuaries to be poems in stone, standing aloft.' There is a wealth of curious features in the old churches of Britain. At Covehitho, on the Suffolk coast, there is a church built within a church—the present church being built within the nave of the larger and older building. jn Yorkshire, at Lastingham, the parish church dates from Norman times. It is built on the top of an earlier Saxon building, part of which is seen in the crypt below. This ancient crypt, it is said by antiquaries, is part of the old church founded by Cecld, brother of tho more famous St. Chad, in 660. Some old thatched churches still remain, as at Marlingford, while at Grccnstead, near Chipping Ongar, in Essex, there is an ancient church built of chestnut logs, said to date from Saxon times. MANY SMALL CHURCHES.

Which is the smallest church in Britain? This question has often been debated. Very small churches arc found at Undercliff, in tho Isle of Wight, at Lullington, in Sussex, at Cogun, near Cafdilf, and at Upleatham, in Yorkshire. The hitter Is capable of holding twenty people. Lnllington Church is only 16ft square and claims to be tho smallest church in Britain. Another very small church, with a wooden tower, is to ho found at Bransford, in Worcestershire. An ancient church of unique interest is tho old church of St. Gregory, at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, which possesses some remarkable stones. It is a beautifully situated building, and a wonderful ‘old sundial, bearing an inscription in Saxon characteristics, states that the church was rebuilt in the days of Edward tho Confessor. The original church is thought to have been founded in tho seventh century, in the days of St. Aidan. the apostle of Northumbria. Among other ancient _ churches is that of Barfreston, in Kent, said to date from Norman times. Here is a church which has neither spire nor tower, nor yet possesses belfry, porch, or vestry. It consists of a navo and chancel, and has only a dozen long pews. There was found embedded in the plaster of this church an old pair of scissors, of quaint design, left there, no doubt, by a careless workman. Kilpeck Church, near Hereford, is another interesting building, in old Norman style. It was completely rebuilt in 1843, with the old materials and in the ancient style. Its apse is considered one of the finest Norman specimens known. St. Michael’s Chapel, near Torquay, and Aylton Church, Herefordshire, are both so quaint as to merit a visit. INTERESTING OLD RUINS. Kingsland Church, in a remote corner of Herefordshire, possesses a curious porch, known as Volta’s Chamber, with a window which looks in the church. This may have been built for some recluse.

Simple and tiny is the, quaint little sanctuary in Nether Wnstdale, among tho hills of Cumberland. It is built like a cottage, and must be one of the simplest of all English churches. Among the interesting old ruins of ancient churches, few have Hie historical interest of St. Piran, at Perranzabnloe, in Cornwall. This was dug out of tho shifting sands of tho Cornish coast in 1835. St. Piran was an Irish monk who settled among the people of Cornwall and evangaliscd them, as St. Columba did tho Scots. An ancient ecclesiastical ruin is that of Whitby Abbey, on the Yorkshire mast. Founded in the seventh century by St. Hilda, the old ruin stands high up on a cliff, close to the sea-washed precipice over whiph St. Hilda is said to have swept tho snakes. Tho strangely-marked amrnonities found among the rocks below are said to bo the fossilised snakes which the famous abbess drove into ibc sea. The existing ruins are thoso_ of tlio Benedictine Abbey, built in the eleventh century and demolished in tho reign of Henry VIII. It was at Whitby that the earliest English poet Caedmon, the cowherd, wrote his poem cm Creation. This picturesque rum stands out as a relic of a vanished age, when the church was a dominant factor in Christendom. TWELVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD. At Deerhurst, in Gloucestershire, is to be found an ancient church, with a stone proclaiming that the church was consecrated in the year 1056. while at Bradford-on-Avon is one of the oldest stone buildings in the land. It was built in 705, ,and is. a remnant of the Saxon church built before the fierce Danish pirates ravished tho 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 quaint carving to be found in many of them. The churches of Kilimm and Tffley possess finelycarved doors on which are representations of all manner of animals and birds, with beaks and chevrons. In the choir stalls of Whalley Church is a piece of carving representing a woman thrashing her husband with a frying pan, much to the poor man’s discomfort. Some churches possess eerie and persistent talcs of ghosts. The church of St. Thomas, at Portsmouth, is credited with being visited by the ghost of Thomas a Beckct, which is seen at times standing by the altar with a swordcut of his ' murderers still ragged and red upon his skull.