August 26, 2021

northernvicarwalks – July 2021

Northern Vicar is not very good at walking. I only managed 17 miles this month, partly because of an ingrowing toenail. I did manage railway trips to Marple, the tram curve in the middle of Sheffield, the early morning curves used in Toton yard, the line at Amerton, and the East Coast Main line from Doncaster down to Peterborough and back via Pyewipe Junction in Lincoln. Here are the railway records – part of my campaign to do all British Rail track for a third time. I did manage to do some work. We have 10 am services in...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Northumberland/Railway History/Roman Britain Comments: 0
August 26, 2021

Derbyshire – Smalley, St John the Baptist

One of our local retired priests put on facebook that there was a flower festival at St John the Baptist in Smalley – I thought we had a Diocesan communications department to tell us what is going on – so we went for a drive, it’s only a few miles away, SK 407446. They had a nice clear notice outside. There is a mention of a church and priest in the Domesday book, but it was a parochial chapelry for Morley until 1877. They have a yew tree in the churchyard which they claim is “the finest in the...
Categories Derbyshire/World War 1 Comments: 0
August 26, 2021

Orkney 2021 – Burray, St Lawrence

Thursday 17 June was a beautiful day. We went to St Lawrence church on Burray, the island we’re staying on. It’s down a lane off the main road at ND492964. I had rather hoped we could get down to the beach, but no. It is a beautiful churchyard – Orkney Islands Council (I assume) care for them extremely well. First I made a beeline to the War Memorial. I had read the cottage’s copy of “Broch Island, a history of the island of Burray in Orkney”, by J.M. Struthers, 2013, and purchased my own copy from Kirkwall Museum. It...
Categories Scotland/World War 1 Comments: 0
August 26, 2021

Orkney 2021 – Burwick, St Mary

Having visited the Italian Chapel on Thursday 10 June we headed south through South Ronaldsay, right down to Burwick. This end of the island looks very desolate. There are beautiful empty buildings which I would love to buy and redevelop – but they are the same buildings I feel in love with last time. The church was locked with no notices, but there are fascinating lichens (or is that singular?) on the stones. Apparently it is St Mary’s church, built in 1789, replacing an earlier church. There is a website – https://www.saintmarysburwick.org/ of a Preservation Trust, but the paypal...
Categories Scotland Comments: 0
August 26, 2021

Orkney 2021 – The Italian Chapel and St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall

The Italian Chapel was open. I called in one afternoon and they suggested we visited first thing in the morning. We did, and had it to ourselves. It is an atmospheric place. I did a bit of maths – if it was completed in 1945 and I first visited in 1982, that was 37 years. It is now 39 years since my first visit. I do enjoy the artwork, not just the Virgin and child, but also the gospel writers and the decoration and “stonework”. It is a fascinating story of the triumph of the human spirit in the...
Categories Scotland Comment: 1
August 26, 2021

Orkney 2021 – a holiday as Covid seemed less of a threat

I did full posts on several Orkney churches, and St Magnus Cathedral, when we visited in 2017. We came up for two weeks in June 2021, staying at The Slap Cottage on Burray. It’s highly recommended – their website is http://www.theslapcottage.co.uk/ We had originally booked for 2020, but that was cancelled. Catherine just transferred us to 2021, and both Premier Inn and Pentland Ferries gave us full refunds. This time travel is allowed. We were asked to take Covid tests before we set off and we found the cleaning regime in both PInns en route, and on the ferry,...
Categories Scotland Comments: 0
August 26, 2021

northernvicarwalks – June 2021

Most of June was spent on Orkney, and I’ll blog a couple of churches from there shortly. No railway trips at all that month, and facebook ramblings were a bit erratic. Here they are for posterity. In the week we came home we had a lovely walk along the Chesterfield Canal from the Hollingwood Hub, plus three weddings (including a bus), a baptism, a couple of memorial services, and an Annual Parochial Church meeting (or was it two?). We had a morning out hoping to explore churches, but Fenny Bentley, Bradbourne and Brassington were all locked. The month only...
Categories 1,000 mile walking Comments: 0
August 26, 2021

Thockrington, Northumberland – St Aidan

On Tuesday 25 May 2021 we were in Northumberland, collected Harry, drove north to Barter Books, then south via Edlingham (which was locked), Otterburn Mill for lunch, then onto the A68 and south – until I saw the sign for Thockrington. That was fun! At one point we were herding sheep with the car, then had to send Harry out to send the sheep behind the car so they didn’t escape when he opened the gate. We walked up to the church and found it open, which was a joy. My 2013 blog is very short. Here’s a bit...
Categories Northumberland Comments: 0
August 26, 2021

northernvicarwalks – May 2021

Lotherton Hall in Yorkshire, my second railway jaunt (Sheffield across to Lincoln), and Darley Abbey Day (mainly on line, but with a decorated “moment” in the churchyard – have a look at the church website (www.stedsandstmatts.co.uk > News > 2021 January to July) to see more. Renishaw Hall again, with stunning bluebells and bulbs, and an afternoon chasing trains in Liverpool. A trip to the Black Country Museum in Dudley, a trip to the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway, and a few days “up north”. 18 miles walked, but facebook ramblings done almost every day.
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Railway History Comments: 0
August 26, 2021

northernvicarwalks – April 2021

I am sorry the blog has been ignored for ages. People make comments, which I read, but I cannot see how I get those comments on to the pages so you can read them. (I’ve just wasted an hour trying to find out – can anyone help?). We did Holy Week on Zoom (getting far more people for Compline than when we’ve done it in the buildings) and then opened both churches for Easter Sunday morning. We asked people to book so we didn’t have too many in church – Dave Walker in the Church Times summed this Easter...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Railway History Comments: 0