I had a DAC visit to Whittingham to look at plans for a kitchen in the south transept. Since last visiting in May 2013 they have put a loo in the south west corner, and had the floors well-sorted. It was nice to go back. I was running a little early, so I stopped in the middle of the village to look at the Ravensworth Statue and Fountain – a grade II listed statue. It was built in 1905 in memory of Athole, 3rd Earl of Ravensworth, erected by the Countess Caroline, his wife.
Some nice metal signs nearby.
The bridge is over the River Aln, early C19, with nice snowdrops.
There are some nice photos on this blog from my last visit. This time I photoed the church from the north side, and photoed some of the wonderful headstones. A rather nice plaque on the church tower commemorates the clock.
Inside the church there was a fascinating document commemorating the WW1 soldiers. I wish I could have taken it and properly copied – there is so much WW1 material in our churches which we are not using properly.
The East window remains gorgeous – see the photos in the last blog. Neither the guidebook or Pevsner mention who made it, so I asked Neil. He tells me it was designed by John William Brown who lived in Jesmond. He worked for Powells of London, but this is not a Powells window. It turns out he freelanced for the Plymouth firm of Fouracre and Watson – and this window was made by them. The website of the Stained Glass Window museum at Ely Cathedral – a museum I have not been to for years – refers to one of his windows, and says he has work in Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral and the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York (northernvicar crosses the Atlantic). I can’t find out much about Fouracre and Watson of Plymouth – I wonder what they felt about getting a commission so far away.
There is a good selection of hatchments and now a nice disabled loo.
We had driven to Whittingham via Barter Books in Alnwick – website – it’s in the old station. Julie had actually allowed me to take two large bags of books to barter – she came away with two large bags of books, but they cost less than they would have done. The books BB didn’t want went to the British Heart Foundation in Morpeth on return (before Madam decided she had to keep them). A useful morning!