Thursday, April 13, 2006

Am I odd or something?

And I would appreciate no sarky comments - you know who you are Blonde One!!

From a comment made on Sean's Blog, Cherry Pie and AS-I-GET-OLDER-I-GO-BACK_TO_FILM -BIRDER implies that people who look at old churches must be, well how do I put it? Uhm odd, geeky, STRANGE. The implication being that this is a particularly sad activity!

This is curious, firstly I guess most readers would not find it odd to pop into ooh I don't know York Minster or St Paul's Cathedral when they are on holiday. The view will be that these are major works of architecture and contain major works of art (glass, tombs etc).

The general public flock to visit Historic Houses. The National Trust has over a million members I believe and visiting Houses seems to be a major activity.

So what is so different from visiting an old house or a cathedral than looking at an old church. OK your average parish church is unlikely to be as major a source of Art and Architecture as the likes of Canterbury or Lincoln Cathedral but many parish churches contain the odd treasure worth looking at.

For instance the village of Brant Broughton in Lincolnshire is a fine medieval church sensitively restored by the architect G F Bodley. Fairford in Gloucstershire as the finest 15th century glass in England. Exton in Rutland and Bottesford in Leicestershire have excellent collections of monuments.

There are a number of county guides to Parish churches (suffolk and Norfolk are particularly well served) and there are some excellent National Gazeteers. Perhaps the most famous is the guide by John Betjeman but in recent years Simon Jenkin's 1000 best Parish churches as sold well. Indeed its the 1000 churches in that book I am working my way through. I'll never do the lot - I can't see me going to Moss Side in Manchester but I'm up to 577.

Of course a number of Parish Churches are famous Beverley Minster, St Martin's in the Field etc but often its the little gems like the church at Glandford than live in the memory. Friends and family have got used to be shooting off down a side road to "tick" a church. Some years ago I took my parents down a bumpy unadopted road to show them a favourite church.

Bounce bounce, "this had better be worth it !" - My Dad . Eventually we stopped next to an unprepossessing building and walked up. Was it worth it? Well when I opened the door to St Michael and All Angels Great Witley (Attached to Witley Court) oh yes. They still talk about it.

http://www.greatwitleychurch.org.uk/aboutthe.htm

11 comments:

DH59 said...

Oy! Quacky-birder. Less of the 'as I get older' malarky.

I suppose birding could be classed as geeky, too, by some people. So you're a double-geek!! ;)

I can appreciate old buildings, even churches, but I'm toying with the idea of whether to join the National Trust or not, as wandering round stately homes is not really my/our thing. I suppose they have other types of attraction that one can visit.

It wouldn't do for us all to like the same things, though, would it?

Cherrypie said...

Oh, Pete! I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to offend you with my cheap quip.

I love looking round churches ( except york Minster which gives me the creeps). On New Years Day I almost broke into a tiny little church on a windswept headland reputed to be the site where St Patrick lived before setting out to rid Ireland of snakes, so desperate was I to get a look at the 800 year old stones. It was used as a set for a forthcoming Demi Moore movie.

I try to hide the fact that I am a weirdie-beardie ( I find Tweezerman works best) but am really pleased to have met someone as passionate and unapologetic as you.
xx

The Quacks of Life said...

CP - I'm not offended!! Honest guv. I'm birder for goodness sake I get loads of "oh so you are a twitcher then" As I-AM-GOING-BACK-TO-DEVLOPING_MY_OWN_FILM says I'm a double geek

The Quacks of Life said...

Oh and not as passionate as I should be. Birding keeps getting in the way.

As to the National Trust? Well one of local patches is in the care of the NT (Hatfield Forest) and anyway in the course of the year its cost effective.

Ooh idea for blog for tomorrow. Goes to type and save!!

nicola said...

Ah but you are a lovely geek and wouldnt have you any other way!! No seriously what ever flips your lid mate, we all have different passions in life and yours is yours which shouldnt be any more or less important than our own. What is always special is to share our passions with others, indeed we can all gain more knowledge in that way. I dont really have a view on walking around churhes but I do respect you and your hobbies. I wouldnt worry about it too much..now the getting older bit........ ;)

DH59 said...

Cherrypie, don't mind Pete, he's harmless really! And you can see how he treats me. Doesn't deserve any sympathy if you ask me. ;)

Pete, I will not be developing my own film. I never have and I never will.

Eagleseagles said...

Join the National Trust!!!

Saves money...and some very good birding can be done in the grounds of many properties!!
Not just looking at old buildings...
...history....gardens...heritage!!

Keep enjoying the churches...I do and often the churchyards have lovely birds!!

Seany said...

I'm sure we're not really that sad, there's just something I find strangely fascinating about them! Cathedrals even more so.

Following my recent quest for photos,I'm now particularly drawn to Sutton St James in South Lincolnshire where a disappearing nave has left the tower standing 66 feet from the church.

The Birdman said...

Can't beat a good church... I ain't no architecture buff, that's for sure, but I knows whad I likes, and I likes dem churches.

Is it just British churches then, Pete, or have you got a selection from foreign lands?

I know I bang on about Slovenia a lot, but they've got some corkers over there.

Not your Minster-sized-gothic-flying-buttress-and-that's-only-the -vicasrage types, generally... usually much less imposing, but boy do they like their friezes and frescoes!

The Quacks of Life said...

Sean,

there is a church in Norfolk, Little Snoring that has a detached tower BUT the tower is on a different alignment and it looks like it was attached to another building. No one knows if there were once two churches because the tower is round so probably very old.

The Quacks of Life said...

Dave - never done ANY foreign churches......

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