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Category: World War 1

June 15, 2014

Nantwich, Cheshire – St Mary

We last came to Nantwich when we were on a narrow boat in 1983 – I remembered that the church had lovely misericords. We drove from Little Moreton Hall and parked in the town centre, Julie had a wander round the shops, and I did the church. It is beautiful. Built mostly in the 14th century of “a warm, if crumbly, red sandstone” (what a poetic guidebook). The town’s prosperity comes from salt, and a castle and chapel were soon built after the Norman Conquest. There were two abbeys established nearby, Combermere and Vale Royal, the latter by Robert Burnell,...
Categories Outside Northumberland/World War 1 Comments: 3
June 14, 2014

Christ Church, Oxford

I have managed to get out of order. We did Claydon, then Oxford, then Little Moreton Hall, then Nantwich. Sorry – as a holder of half a geography degree from the premier University (Cambridge, in case you don’t know), I now have to write about Oxford having got my geography wrong … . We are in Oxford on Tuesday 13 May. Christ Church is a 12th century church, one of the oldest buildings in Oxford. Cathedral and College Chapel. A nice welcome, a friendly leaflet (it invites us to attend a service), which tells us that “Cathedral time is...
Categories Cathedrals/Outside Northumberland/Oxfordshire/World War 1 Comments: 2
May 8, 2014

Newcastle – St Thomas (War Memorials outside)

St Thomas’s church is across the road from Haymarket metro station, and outside the metro is “The Winged Victory”, a memorial commemorating those who died in the Boer War of 1899-1901. It was not a good day for photos, so you might want to look at the old postcards at the Roll of Honour website. 373 men from Northumbrian regiments died in South Africa. This memorial, 70 feet high, was designed and sculpted by Thomas Eyre Macklin. On the south west side of the church is a statue of St George and the Dragon. This is a WW1 memorial “to...
Categories Newcastle upon Tyne/World War 1 Comments: 0
May 3, 2014

Beverley Minster – St John & St Martin

Today (3 May 2014) I have photographed another Northumberland church, and when I came to blog it I realised I’d written up two Yorkshire churches and not the third. So, wheel history back to Monday 27 January and let’s travel South (with apologies for my tardiness). I’m now on sabbatical for three months, so I promise you’ll get a few more churches to read about. I will also mention that my George Herbert talks (see Leighton Bromswold) are on Ponteland church’s website. I have also promised my kids that I will mention in my blog that a group of them (i.e....
Categories Outside Northumberland/World War 1 Comment: 1
February 3, 2014

Blacktoft, Yorkshire – St Clement

In Howden minster we had picked up a leaflet “Historic Churches of Howdenshire”, produced by East Yorkshire Historic Churches which says the Minster is only open on a Thursday (today is Monday) – and decided we’d go and find Blacktoft Church down by the Humber (partly because it said there was a loo in the Old School Hall). We took the B road, the old road, to Gilberdyke, then turned south. The roads got narrower until we reached the river. You can’t actually see the river – we could easily be back in Cambridgeshire, north of Ely somewhere. The church is...
Categories Outside Northumberland/Railway History/World War 1 Comments: 0
February 2, 2014

Howden, Yorkshire – St Peter and St Paul

Monday 27 January was a day for a drive. Howden Minster is incredible – in the centre of a small market town SE748283. The Minster had nice flat access, a notice warning us of CCTV, and absolutely no one around. I can’t find a church website, but there is a fascinating one about the artist J.M.W. Turner in Yorkshire. He went to Howden and to many other bits of Yorkshire – and there are pictures, podcasts, trails – a great deal to explore. Originally, that is before the Norman Conquest, the church belonged to the abbey at Peterborough, but then it served...
Categories Outside Northumberland/Railway History/World War 1 Comments: 2
December 13, 2013

Slaley – St Mary the Virgin

There is a whole area south of Hexham I feel I know quite well, though I have not explored. The Moorland benefice – Slaley, Blanchland with Hunstanworth, Edmundbyers with Muggleswick and Waskerley, Healey, and Whittonstall – are looking for a new Vicar, and I got roped in to help them draft the parish profile, the document which prospective applicants are sent. We had an evening at Healey Hall, sat round a table in the library by the light of candles, all trying to agree what made this benefice special, what each community could offer, and what they want in...
Categories Northumberland/World War 1 Comments: 0
December 11, 2013

Barton, Cumbria – St Michael

The Cumbrian Tourist Board will hate me, but I don’t really do the Lakes. Every time we head that way it rains. Today (30 September 2013) we’d spent the morning in Carlisle, visited Wreay about lunchtime, had a leisurely tea beside the railway, and found very narrow roads to explore. We came down by Ullswater, then followed the B5320 to the south of Penrith. Entering the hamlet of Barton – I grew up in Barton, Cambridgeshire – we followed the sign to the church … and what a church! Part of a benefice with Pooley Bridge et al. NY488263, Grade 1...
Categories Cumbria/World War 1 Comment: 1
September 23, 2013

Jesmond – Holy Trinity

A DAC meeting, preceded by an excellent lunch, in this church on Churchill Gardens on 12 September 2013. Their grid reference is NZ261660 and website http://www.htjesmond.org.uk. Obviously a welcoming and busy church, but interesting that the website says nothing at all about the building. The chancel by Hicks & Charlewood 1905, then nave, aisles, tower and spire built as a war memorial by Hoare and Wheeler in 1922. It was the gift of the Dalgleish and Hoare family. Mark the Vicar commented that they were “ship builders or arms dealers, depending on your point of view”. HMS Valentine came to...
Categories Newcastle upon Tyne/World War 1 Comments: 0
September 15, 2013

Wallsend – St Luke

I caught the metro to Wallsend – where the station notices are in Latin as well as English. St Luke’s is on Station Road, visible from the platform – NZ300663. I was there for a DAC meeting on 25 July. If you type it into google, you find a St Luke’s Wallsend in New South Wales – perhaps southernvicar could blog it! Our St Luke’s was built by Oliver & Leeson 1885-7, western vestries ten years later, tower, chancel and Lady Chapel by Oliver, Leeson & Wood 1906. There’s a modern hall, well an old hall with modern work –...
Categories Newcastle upon Tyne/Railway History/World War 1 Comments: 2