April 16, 2023

northernvicar January to March 2023

Let’s start a new year with a couple of rides on the Great Central Railway. Then a few days in Cambridge. It was a pleasure to revisit both the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Scott Polar Reasearch Institute – places I often went to as a child. Captain Oates’ sleeping bag brought back lots of memories, and I like the notice in the lift. Then a couple of local tram/train trips, and another visit to the Great Central. They do a superb breakfast! Northern Rail had a flash ticket sale – it would have been rude to have ignored it!...
Categories Personal/Railway History Comment: 1
April 16, 2023

Clifton Campville, Staffordshire – St Andrew

Friday 31 March 2023 and we drove south of Derby to find three locked churches. Then we crossed the border into Staffordshire and Lichfield Diocese, and our luck changed. St Andrew’s Clifton Campville is in the centre of the village at SK252107, but I managed to find a parking space. Their website is https://measevalleychurches.com/our-churches/st-andrews-church-clifton-campville/. I will give them 10/10 for a website which says when the building is open, has some nice photos and a guide, and says “we have a disabled toilet and a movable ramp to aid wheelchair access through our main doors.” Unfortunately they lose marks...
Categories Staffordshire Comments: 0
March 26, 2023

Blore, Staffordshire – St Bartholomew

On Friday 17 March 2023 Julie had a dental appointment, so I drove to Ashbourne with some bags of books for the Oxfam shop. Then I thought I’d go and find a church to blog (even though I only had my mobile for photos). St Batholomew, Blore Ray, is just over the border into Staffordshire – SK 127492. They are on https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/4331/. Blore can best be described as a hamlet, and there wasn’t a lot of parking by the church. “It won’t be open” I thought as I walked up, noting the width of the east end of the...
Categories Staffordshire Comments: 2
March 24, 2023

Horton in Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire – St Oswald

Friday 10 February 2023 was not the nicest day to be driving round the Dales, but as it is the first wet day we have had on a week’s holiday near Settle we can hardly complain. We stopped in Horton in Ribblesdale – not the easiest village to park in – and went to discover St Oswald’s church (SD 810721). It doesn’t have its own website, but there is a lot of information on the Parish Council website about the village –   https://www.hortoninribblesdale.org.uk/st-oswalds-church. How nice that the page ends: “The Church has always been an important centre for local...
Categories Yorkshire Comments: 0
March 24, 2023

Langcliffe, North Yorkshire – St John the Evangelist

For the first week of February we had a lovely week in a cottage near Settle. On Sunday 5 February I called in at St John the Evangelist in Langcliffe because we saw a notice saying “books in church”. Unfortunately the real book lover couldn’t get in (according to the website they have a portable ramp for services). The church is at SD 823650, the website is https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/6902/about-us/, but there is a huge amount of architectural detail at http://www.english-church-architecture.net/n%20york%20l/langcliffe/langcliffe.htm. Apparently the church “was paid for largely by John Green Paley J.P., a partner of the Bowling Ironworks Company and...
Categories World War 1/Yorkshire Comment: 1
February 23, 2023

Cawood, North Yorkshire – All Saints’

I continued along the B1223 to the village of Cawood. It looked lovely and I passed what looked like a castle. I found  All Saints’ church is beside the River Ouse at SE578377 – http://www.allsaintscawood.org.uk/. Not a lot of parking nearby, but I found somewhere to leave the car and walked up to the church. Very good little guidebook, written last summer. It points out that, although the church is beside the river, it is on the highest piece of land – a good place to keep watch. It is likely that Danish troops landed near here before the...
Categories World War 1/Yorkshire Comments: 2
February 9, 2023

Church Fenton, North Yorkshire – St Mary’s

February 1 2023 and I have an afternoon at Hannah’s in Yorkshire. I went for an explore and decided that first stop was Church Fenton. St Mary’s church is at SE515367. It is part of the Tadcaster benefice – https://www.tadcasterbenefice.org/st-mary-s-church-church-fenton. I parked outside and was pleased to see snowdrops just inside the gate – I have a few in my garden, but these are lovely. The first record of the parish is in a grant of hides (an old measure for land) made by King Edgar in 963 AD to Aeslac of Sherburn-in-Elmet. There is no mention of a...
Categories World War 1/Yorkshire Comments: 0
January 28, 2023

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk – St Mary’s

It is ridiculous that I lived about a hundred yards from St Mary’s for seven years – this photo is taken from the track to our house – and yet I only visited a handful of times. It has to be said that when I arrived relations with the Cathedral (where I worked) were never brilliant, and I like to think I did my bit to make them better. We did some services together – including a lovely open air service on Ascension Day in the Abbey ruins – and I was very pleased to see that the current...
Categories Suffolk Comments: 0
January 10, 2023

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk – Cathedral (again)

I did a blog about the Cathedral back in 2014 and commented that I could never summarise a place that means so much to me in just one blog – https://www.northernvicar.co.uk/2014/07/11/the-cathedral-church-of-st-james-and-st-edmund-bury-st-edmunds-suffolk/. We went back on Wednesday 4 January 2023. Here are a few more photos. A brief history is that Edmund was martyred in 869 and his body came to the nearby village of Beodrichsworth – if you are thinking that Hoxne to Bury is a long way, read my blog on Bradfield St Clare – https://www.northernvicar.co.uk/2014/07/26/bradfield-st-clare-suffolk-st-clare/. In 1020 the Benedictines founded an Abbey, and churches were built for...
Categories Personal/Railway History/Suffolk Comment: 1
December 31, 2022

northernvicarwalks Sep to Dec 2022

To be honest, Northern Vicar doesn’t walk much between September and December 2022. A routine blood test led to a cancer diagnosis, which led to major surgery at the end of November. The Chaplains at The Christie Hospital in Manchester came to see me (thank you), but I didn’t manage to go and blog the hospital chapel. In September we marked the passing of Her Majesty The Queen and the proclamation of the reign of King Charles III. I often moan about the Church of England centrally, but they were excellent in producing material for prayer and reflection as...
Categories Derbyshire/Personal/Railway History/Scotland Comments: 2