Whalley St Mary and All Saints

Back in the 1980s I was writing regularly for a Lancashire-based magazine and had a series of articles called "John Burke's Curious Lancashire" that featured half a dozen or so images from around the county with a bit of text covering the sort of antiquities and rarities that most people would pass by without a thought.

This is the church of St Mary and All Saints at Whalley in the Ribble Valley. Already mentioned for its abbey ruins on these pages, Whalley also has an interesting church, built on the site of or as an enlargement of a Norman church of the 11th century which itself was built on the site of an even earlier Anglo-Saxon church mentioned in the Domesday Book. Remnants of both earlier churches stand in its churchyard and fragments that are built into its walls.

This is one of three Saxon crosses to be found in the sunshine close by the church door. You can also find them in rain, snow and fog (not as easily in fog...) but they do look better in sunshine and I was lucky on this visit!

Equally so on an earlier visit, this photograph dating from 1983 and one of several taken for the magazine work. It was rare for magazines to use colour photos in those days apart from on the cover. The Saxon crosses have lost the actual arms of the cross, but the surviving shafts have carvings placed there by stonemasons in the 10th or 11th century.

The current church was built mostly in the 13th century, the tower added in the 15th century and the south porch in 1844. Subsequent restorations and additions took place in the 1860s and in 1909. Inside, the stalls were carved in 1430 and came from the Abbey after the Dissolution. They have the name of the carver, Mr Eatough.

The octagonal chunky font of gritstone dates from the 15th century and has marks suggesting that a lock was fitted in the 16th century, quite possibly to stop the local witches from trying to steal the Holy Water. We are in Pendle country here...

Coming back out of the church I found this old stone coffin.

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St Senara, Zennor, Cornwall

Zennor is a lovely little village down in the Lands End peninsula of Cornwall. You wouldn't stumble across it by accident I suspect, but a few times I have gone to visit this church and look around the small museum.

This is the only church in the land - nay the world - to be dedicated to St Senara. As with many of the very early Cornish saints (the first church on this site to be dedicated to her is said to have been 6th century) there are several versions of the saint's story, some more fantastic than others.

In one version she plays the part of an Irish princess, a cross between Perseus's mother, Danae and Snow White - for her father the king orders his pregnant daughter killed. The knight thus ordered, cannot bring himself to do the deed and instead (this is better???) persuades her to get into a barrel, nails down the lid and rolls it off a cliff into the sea. She ends up at Cornwall, at this church and falls in love with a chorister who loves her in return. In other versions she is born a mermaid. Well look... it was a long time ago, ok? The details get muddied in time...

The church of course does have another (or perhaps the same...) mermaid story. This version tells of a chorister called Matthew Trewella, 600 years ago, whose voice was so pure that he sang the closing hymn to services as a solo. A mermaid heard his singing and came to the church (presumably somewhat in the manner of a sea lion but without the ball balanced on her nose) to entice him back into the sea as her husband. "Crikey! You'll do for me!" he said with relish, looking at her vital statistics of 36, 24, £1.20 per pound... He vanished with her beneath the waves and it is said that on a still night after seventeen pints you can still hear him drowning singing from beneath the waves.

A piscina. These small bowls can often be found in the aisle of churches. They were used for washing the communion vessels.

There are two fonts here. The one that the Normans used was found buried in the garden of the vicarage and was set up in the church once again in 1960. The one in use though is this one, a mere stripling of modernity, dating from the 1200s or 1300s.

From the fourteenth century is this ancient carving of a mermaid on a bench end. Is it St Senara, or did this carving prompt the legend of the mermaid who came to woo the unfortunate Matthew Trewhella? Arthur Mee in the Cornwall entry to his King's England series of guide books, says that the Puritans are to blame for the obliterating of her face and bare breasts. The face certainly bears signs of violence, the breasts less so. I wonder how much of them were left by the time of the Puritans, after 300+ years of furtive fondling by the village's teenaged boys - who after all had no juke boxes, fruit machines or phone signal...

A photograph from an earlier visit, this one taken on film rather than digitally.

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Messina Duomo Basilica

In September 2014 we were on a cruise, taking in various ports in and near Italy. This day we docked in Messina, Sicily and as part of a sight-seeing excursion we visited the Duomo or basilica of Messina.

In particular the visit was timed to end at the basilica and we were dropped off in the square in good time to watch the animated clock tower performance at twelve noon. The ship had been intending to leave at twelve thirty which would have meant missing this, but they extended the "all aboard" deadline to allow tours and independent passengers to see the clock.

It was built by the Normans, those descendants of the Norsemen who hadn't quite done with wanting to spread out from Scandinavia searching for warmer places to spend winter in. The church was consecrated in 1197, the King and Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI and his Queen Constance I of Sicily being on hand to witness the ceremony be performed by Archbishop Barardo.

We had time before the show to have a quick look inside the cathedral. It contains the 13th century tomb of Conrad IV, a king of Germany and Sicily, but repeated earthquakes (the last in 1908) and the bombing of WWII means most of the church is reconstructed.

The campanile or clock tower has several interesting features. On the side facing the basilica are two clock faces: the lower one is a perpetual calendar with a rotating outer ring showing the day and month, with a marble statue of an angel, just discernable on the left side of the dial on the photo, pointing out the day, whilst moveable panels within the ring ensure that the moveable feasts such as Easter are always correctly shown. Underneath the central star-pointed sun a panel shows the currrent year. The top dial is a planetarium and shows the nine planets geared and spaced in true scale to rotate around the central sun, whilst the astological signs of the Zodiac show which sign each planet is within.

On the side of the tower facing the square are animated displays. At twelve noon the souvenir sellers stop their incessant peddling of their tea towels, magnets, wooden fold-up fruit bowls etc. and the clock chimes the hour. Following this, the lion in the top window waves his flag, wags his tail and tilts his head back to roar. And it really does give a very realistic and loud roar!

Then the giant cockerel flaps his wings and crows whilst two legendary defenders of Messina ring the bells at either side of the cockeral. Just below an angel hands a letter to Messina's patron saint the Madonna of the letters whilst the figures of St Paul and ambassadors of Messina pass before her and bow. In the next window a different biblical scene is shown during each quarter of the year. As the loudspeakers play the Ave Maria, the next window comes to life. A golden church, representing the Sanctuary of the Madonna at Montalto, appears rising from behind a cloud as a dove flies in circles overhead; robed figures turn and bow to a throne as they pass before it. In the bottom window a different classical figure (Apollo, Mars, Diana etc.) appears, a different figure each day of the week, each driving a chariot pulled by a different animal. I totally missed any movement in some of the windows, perhaps they move too slow given the short time we were there.

No matter how clever and intricate something is, these days it generally has to be judged against the latest Hollywood CGI and, against such wonders, the clock seems to be very slow and intermittent. Feedback and ratings on websites seem to show mixed reception. In 1933 when it was first installed, it must have knocked everyone's socks off. Even today, the first time the lion's head is thrown back and the loud roar comes from the tower, it is a brilliant moment.

At the end of the show, a few people clapped, a few cheered, the tour guides waved impatient flags, the peddlers pounced and the independent travellers from the ship shot off to dash down the hill and onto the ship before it sailed!

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Halifax Minster

This article is an edited version of a larger article covering a visit to Piece Hall in Halifax, during which we decided to visit Halifax Minster. This was more down to curiosity than it was to any prior knowledge of the Minster. I can recommend a visit though - it doesn't disappoint.

This is no York Minster - it is the size of most parish churches - unsurprising as that was its role until it was raised to Minster status only as recently as 2009. It dates mainly from the 1400s, but includes some stonework from a Norman church previously on the same site some 300 years earlier.

"Old Tristram", carved circa 1701 by John Aked, holds the alms box and is thought to be an effigy of a real beggar of the time.

The font is thought to be as old as perhaps the 15th century and the undoubtedly medieval cover was once painted and generously gilded.

The tomb of Archdeacon Charles Musgrave lies underneath the church tower. He was vicar of the parish church from 1827-1875 and was instrumental in improving the town's sewerage system from an open sewer and a single privy which had to cater for 221 people. The average lifespan of a labourer in the locality at the time was a mere 22 years!

Standing in front of the organ pipes is a pulpit on wheels. To the left is the chantry chapel of William Rokeby who was vicar here from 1502-1521 and who from 1511 also became Archbishop of Dublin and who baptised King Henry VIII's first daughter, Mary Tudor, later "Bloody" Queen Mary. On his death, Rokeby's heart was sealed into a lead box and buried within the chapel. The box also contains his bowels... There was an English language class being taught to some Afghanistan refugees in the chapel so we couldn't go in. We'll have to sniff out the bowels at some more convenient time.

The organ was rebuilt in 1928 but still contains pipes from the original Snetzler organ of 1766. The church's first organist was L. William Herschel before he became King George III's personal astronomer and became famous to this day and forever as the first person to discover the planet Uranus.

To either side of the chancel gateway are carved heads on bench ends. Happy-looking souls...

The Wellington Chapel in the south east corner of the church contains the Duke of Wellington's Regimental Colours - the flags seen here, carried by standard bearers onto the battlefield.

A set of chairs in the Wellington Chapel were made by the famous furniture maker Robert "Mouseman" Thompson - also known as "Mousey" Thompson. In the 1920s he had started carving a mouse on each piece of furniture. Even on a set they would be placed in different positions and were not always easy to spot. On this one, modelled by Miss Franny, the mouse is on the front right-hand chair leg.

Fran buys one or two things from the shop and we thank the guide who had come down to point out the mice on the chairs. The sky is not promising too much as we come out to look at the external features of the church. The clock and sundial on the tower and the gargoyles.

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Chester St John's - Chester's Original Cathedral

Friday 20 June 2005. We were spending a day in Chester, a place we have visited numerous times since childhood - in fact it was one of the regular annual jaunts on a coach from primary school.

So it was with a touch of surprise that, having walked a little further up the river bank than we usually did, we stumbled across these ruins that claimed to be Chester's original cathedral.

I knew nothing about it at the time - not even the fact that part of it was and still is standing in use as a parish church. At the time of our visit it was thought to have been founded by King Æthelred in the year 869 CE. However it is now thought that Æthelred built over the remains of an even earlier Celtic church and worship here may date from the 3rd or 4th centuries, making the site one of the oldest sites in Europe still in use for worship.

The Saxon church was built of stone and in 973 CE King Edgar, only the 5th King of all England, came here to receive homage of his subject regional kings, being rowed by six of them down the River Dee to this church from his temporary headquarters at a site now known as Edgar's Field. In 1075 the first Norman Bishop moved himself here from Lichfield and pulled down the Saxon Minster to build St John's. It took 200 years and it pre-dated Durham Cathedral by just 13 years. It was known as the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross and St John the Baptist. It was said to have a fragment of the true Cross - a sliver of wood from the cross of Jesus, brought back from Jerusalem after the Crusades.

In 1468 the central tower collapsed. With Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, the east end of the church was demolished - it is the remains of these ruins that we are wandering about. The locals petitioned Queen Elizabeth I to retain the church as a parish church. She agreed at the price of taking all the lead from the roof. In 1572 the northwest tower partially collapsed. In 1574 the rest of it collapsed, destroying some of the bays of the nave which were rebuilt to a "magnificent scale".

During the English Civil War a sniper used the roof of the west tower to take a pot shot at King Charles I who was on the roof of the new (current) cathedral, watching the Battle of Rowton Heath, though other versions of the battle have Charles watching from the Phoenix Tower on Chester's city wall. Both versions may be true as, if the sound of a musket ball striking nearby was heard, he may well have been persuaded to move out of range. The surviving parish church was restored in the 19th century, though during the restoration of the twice-fallen northwest tower, it went for third time lucky and took the north porch with it.

To one side of an archway an old medieval coffin, hewn from a block of oak has been built into the stonework. Inside it has an inscription to remind people where they came from and to where they must inevitably go: Dust to Dust. Someday I really must go back and look inside the parish church. The mostly Early English-style architechture is said to be inspiring and contains much of the original Norman masonry.

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A Mystery Stone Circle

Thursday 10 August 1989. Here's a mystery that I'm hoping someone can clear up for me - I know... I shouldn't have spilt it in the first place, but no - this mystery is of the stone circle variety.

On the previous day I had gone off exploring various stone circles, standing stones and cromlechs and had met up with a couple at the Merry Maidens stone circle near Penzance who were explaining the theories behind ley lines. I'd had a go with some dowsing rods and found that I could make them work (I would be subjected to much family scoffing whenever I tried to demonstrate).

Anyway, today we came across a stone circle I had never visited before and when I looked at my map which normally gives the name of anything like this all I read was "stone circle".

So here's the mystery and the question for my readers - if I get an answer I'll update this article: does anyone know exactly where this circle is? As far as I can remember we were travelling from Newquay to Polperro on this day, whether on our way there or during the return journey I'm not sure. But if it was during the return we may have detoured away from a straight road back. And what is the name of this circle? It's been puzzling me for 34 years now!

Anyway - I bet you can all guess where we are going for the next article, can't you?

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Merry Maidens

Wednesday 7 August 1996. After dinner in a small village pub (both the village and the pub were small) we went to find the Merry Maidens stone circle near Lamorna.

Legend says the stones are the remains of dancers who broke the rule banning dancing on the Sabbath day. Since they pre-date Christianity it was probably a tale made up by early Christians to stop locals using a place of spiritual meaning to them. In a nearby field are a couple of taller standing stones called The Pipers. If they were playing their music for the maidens then the poor girls must have had very good hearing...

With all this exploring of hill tops, Mum was making sure that any low-flying helicopter pilots saw us...

I had no dowsing rods but tried to find any ley lines with a couple of blades of grass. They swivelled as they should, but Dad was a bit sceptical! "That's wind!" he scoffed. I reminded him that he used to say the same thing when I smiled...

We're quite a way away from Newquay, so it's goodbye to the ancient stones of the far south west of Cornwall and back to the car to head back to meet the others before it's time for our main meal of the day. We have just one further stop to make...

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Wiltshire, The Cotswolds and Avon, May 1998

Join us for a few days touring around Wiltshire, The Cotswolds and Avon with a sneaky dash to Oxfordshire for good measure. Lots of history, stone circles, burial chambers and hill forts amongst other items of interest.

Each place of interest is shown on its own separate article, reached by clicking/tapping the photos below. A link on each page will bring you back here.

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