QUAINT AND CURIOUS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20584, 6 December 1928, Page 13

QUAINT AND CURIOUS.

. CHURCHES OF BRITAIN. GREAT POEMS IN STONE, i VENERABLE OLD RUINS. Britain is full of Quaint and curious churches. ■ Some ate-worth visiting for their architectural features (says an English writer), others for their ■ beautiful carving,- and 'still. Others for . their relics, Belonging to 1 a '.past’ age when "life Was more; simple, and 1 the life of man did riot crave forrich decoration that we firid in. a later-age. •' . The elaborate and richly-carved bishop’s throne such as is found in Exeter Cathedral and. the wonderfuly carly-English carving- such as that td be seen in Carlisle Cathedral /show how, in' after ages, men inado much of the-chureh buildings and desired the very best in material and ■workmanship. They desired their sane-. tuarieS to be poems in stone standing aloft. " '■

There ig a - wealth--- of curious features" in the-’old churches of : Britain. ' At Covehithe, on the Suffolk:coast, there is a church built “within-a church—the pre- . sent'church being builtwithin the nave of the larger‘and Alder .building. - •' fn Yorkshire,.at Laslirighami the parish church dates from Norman times. -.lt is built on the top of an .earlier Saxon’build- 1 ’ mg, part of'which- is seen inthe crypt below;;. This ancient crypt. it isßaid- By antiquaries, is part-' of the 1 old church founded by Cedd, brother of: the more famous St. Chad, in 660. - ' .' Sonid' old thatched churches still remain, as at Marlincford, while at Greenstead, . near .Chipping .Ongar, in Essex, there is - an aridibrit, church huflt of- chest-' nut logs, said.-to date from . Saxon .times. MANY. SMALL■ CHURCHES. -- m, - *bc smallest -church , iu -bfltam. Jhw. question has 1 often Been, debated;; Very small .'churches are found --Underclxff; dn. th'e Isle of Wight, at -Lulhngton, in Sussex, at Cogan, near Carand. .at Upleatham, in , Yorkshire. Trie latter, id.eapablo of holding 20 people. Lulhrigton Church'is only 16 feet Square', irr*?'" tt ims to he .;the; smallest church in ilritain. Another- very small church, with a wooden tower, ,is to be found at Tsransford, m Worcestershire.. ; , ' _ An ancient church of unique- interest is the.old .church of St._ Gregory, at Kirkaaie,- in Yorkshire,' which .possesses some remarkable stones.; It is a beautifullysituated building k and- a" wonderful old sundial -Rearing, an inscription in Saxon characteristics, states that the l church was tebuittNuTthe days of;,Edward the Con* fessor. ;• The original;.-church.-;is. thought’ -to.-have.been-' founded in the seventh century, m , the, days ■ of- St. Aidan. the apostle-of Nor.thUmbna, 1 -? th^r . riricieht churches is 'that of Barfreston, in Kent, said'to date from .Norman titoeri',,' Hero ,is a church which rias neither spire nor tower, nor yet possessee bclfryj porch, or vestry. It Consists of a nave: and chancel, and has onlv a dozen Jong pews. There iyas found cmbedded the) plaster of .this church an bid pair.of Ecissora, of quaint design, left there, no doubt, by a cateUsa workman. Kilpeck Church, hear Hereford,- is ahother interesting building, in bid Norman ’ „ It ', v , as completely rebuilt in 1818, “with the old materials. and in the ancient style. Its apse is considered one of the nnest Norman, speeittierif) kuoVvn. St, Michael s .Chapel, riear;Torquay, arid Aylton Church,, Herefordshire, are both so quaint as to, merit a visit; ’ ..-.-v.. INTERESTING . OtD RUINS. , . af remote corner ot Herefordshire, possesses a; curious porch, known as Volta’s Chaiulieri With a ehurck. ..This may have been built'f&r 'somb recluse. Simple and-'tmy--is---:the''.quftiai little e ai n N v% r Wcstdale,- among of Cumberlaiid: - It is .built Hike St. Pin*. .CornwaH. ,- Tbit was’.dug-,out of 'the 1835 lng gt 6a pv ° £ the : C ° r ? ish coast in ,1835. St. Piran was an Irish monk who people of Cornwall Ind tbe lcols! - ’ “ St ‘ Colp mbia did .Ajl.nncient ecclesiastical ruin is that of Whitby Abbey, on the Yorkshire coast S 1 u ? de( J. ln the seventh century By St- ? nKw t^ e rum -stands ' high up on over Hhicu St.. Hilda is said to have swept the snakes. The ■ strangely-marked tho herd 6B^® ** pictuVesquef ruin a vanished age, when the church was a dominant factor in Christendom? TWELVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD. l->o J ?? l^u erhurstj •* n Glou cestershire, is to be found an ancient church, with liLll ciarea, in 1056, while at Bradford-ori- : Avon is one of the oldest stone buildingK Among-- the curious' features-of -nMchurches is the quaint carvfng to be ™ of them. - The churches It mf bn^vhhd. Iffley POEBCS3 fi nely-carved “y are representations of all manner of .animals and birds ChSl' In - the stalls of few: sfewssss* Some churches possess p Pr ;« sistent tales of ghosta Thi „u d l per ; sfj^:-s.s=a