Graffiti - An Old Problem

Graffiti is often thought of as a modern problem, but in fact for people to leave their mark goes back much further in time as these examples show with the oldest nearly four hundred years old. Although these go back nearly four hundred years it not that uncommon to find other examples from the eighteen hundreds in old churches.

These are just a few examples that I found carved onto various tombs and grave covers in St Mary's Church in Ashwell. If you are passing buy the Church pop in and have a look yourself. There is a impressive hallow wooden effigy of a knight in amour that dates back to 1320,  the time of crusades in the Holy land.

St Michael's and All Angels Church- Edmondthorpe

I have probably said before that every so often I will be passing a church and pop in and have a look around. Since most of the churches in the area have a open door policy in Rutland that is easy to do. Some time ago in the blog I talked of doing an occasional post on the churches I visit and for some reason never got round to it. This is the forsy of those posts. The church in this post was the one I was going to start with.  It is the church of Michael's and All Angels in Edmondthorpe and previous featured in the post The Place that Time Forgot.

Edmondthorpe is a small village in Leicestershire near the Rutland boarder. It has a population of around eighty people. Having such a small population the congregation was so small that the church in the village was no longer needed and so it fell to the Churches Conservation Trust to preserve the church for future generations. As such the church is open daily for people just to pop in and look around. It is a real gem and looks like time has forgotten it and it sort stuck in a time warp. As I said in a pervious post it would make an idea film location because it is so unspoilt.

St Michael's and All Angels Church is impressive medieval church, which consists of battlemented tower to the west, a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, north and south porches, and a chancel. The main fabric of the church dates from thirtieth century, aisles were added a century later, and in the fifteenth century a clerestory was added to increase the hight of the nave. The church basically reminded untouched for six centuries until the ninth century when the church was restored and a new clock was added. In the late nineteen sixties the church became a grade one listed building and as such  it has been recognised as a building of exceptional interest.

The church is surprisingly light and airy even on a dullish day, probably because it lacks the large stain glass windows found in may churches in England combined with the light coloured render that was applied in Victorian times. This rendering process sometimes covered older art work depicting bible stories, some believe that the reason for the wall paintings were to tell the stories to people that couldn't read.

There are a number of monuments inside the church the most notable being the grave of 'Grave and Religious Sir Roger Smith Knight" who died in 1665. The main part of the marble monument is on three levels with  Sir Roger Smith on the top level and underneath him his two wives, Jane Heron and Anne Goodman. It is said that Anne Goodman was a witch and if you look carefully are wrist you will notice a red mark which was said was a wound that received while in cat of course it could be seam of iron in the stone but why ruin a good story. Later were added waist height busts of his son and grandson and iron railings to protect the monument.

 

Like many churches of the time the Victorians made substantial contributions to the inside of the church during it's restoration these include a octagonal pulpit, a desk, the stalls, benches, brass lectern as well as stoves for heating.

If you are passing  Edmondthorpe it is well worth stopping to have a look around St Michael's and All Angels. It is a lovely church and that feeling that time has forgot it gives it a certain charm and like a lot of churches in the area it is very atmospheric and very beautiful in it own right. Given the size of the communities that these churches supported they are a testament to the faith of those that built such monuments that formed the centre of village life so many centuries ago.

St Peter's Church - Allexton

There is plenty to do around Rutland that is free if you care to seek out some of the treasures that are often overlooked by most people. Sometime ago we started visiting some of the old churches that can be found in and around the county whose doors are often open so you can look around. One such church we visited sometime ago is St Peter's Church in Allexton which is a small village near Uppingham.

The Church is no longer used and it is maintained by the Church Conservation Trust. As such, like the church in Edmondthorpe, featured in the an earlier post, it seems to have been left in a time warp. Just walking in through the door just takes you back in time. Maybe not back to Victorian times like the church in Edmondthorpe but still back to the early to middle of the twentieth century when electric light was first fitted to the church.

The Church dates from the twelfth century and it's most important feature is the Norman north arcade, a set of arches leading to the north aisle, dating back to about 1160. Over the years parts have been added to the church such as the tower in the fifteenth century. Like many churches of this age a lot of careful restoration took place in the nineteenth century including the preservation of the the north arcade which was in need of repair.

The fabric of the building is constructed of stone with Welsh slate roofs. There is a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel with a north porch, and a west tower. In the southern facing part of the roof over the nave there are two two-light dormer windows which let light into what would be dark interior. It is not clear when these widows were added but looking at them would seem they are a much later addition to the church. Both the north and the side of the chancel have two windows making this part of the church seem much brighter than rest of the church. In the north aisle there are windows contain plate tracery which would date that part of the church before the thirtieth century. 

Looking at the oldest part of the church, the Norman north arcade, you will notice it has two bays with round piers, the arches carved with a zigzag pattern. While the south arcade is similar in having two bays but this time with octantal piers. Once in chancel you can see the shallow basin placed near the called a piscina, this was once used for washing the communion vessels. The windows in the north aisle are really rather lovely and one of them contains some medieval stained glass. Finally the font dates to the fifteenth century which makes it about the same age as the tower.

There are loads of litle things that make you think back to how the church such as the lighting. Above the nave candle holder sits high in the air complete with six candles while above the pulpit there is an angles electric light with an old oil lamp behind it complete with it's glass shade. As you enter the church you will notice two stone lions believed to be medieval which guard the entrance to the church. While in the grave yard is the tomb of Thomas Hotchkin who made his wealth from plantations and slave trading in the West Indies and died in 1774. There are loads of charming features about this little bit of Englidh Heritage. 

There are churches all around us and I think we often miss how important these building are. May be this is because we are not religious like we once were or that we just fail to see these building as the center of a communities life like they once were in the past. I look at my own village and the exhibition that was on last weekend and I can see how even today that these building can bring people together as a community. May be we have a lot to learn sometimes from the past that we should take forward into the future. 

If you have a church near you just pop in and learn about it. It just might might surprise you. They might have been built for worship but they are part of our heritage just any stately home and unlike them they were accessible by everyone and still are. It might sound like a boring thing to do, but it better than being stuck in front of the television or a computer. There is a lot beauty in the world if you just care to look for it.