St Cuthbert Church

St Cuthbert's church was carpeted with the gold of daffodils as I came through the Lynch gate.  I had come here for solace as my dear Ron died suddenly on Monday 22 March and while many of the churches in the area had closed because of Covid I thought this one was open.

The church is Norman in origin

and this is the front entrance surrounded by Yew trees.  Although the porch was open the door was not so in the Spring sunshine I wandered around to the right side away from the sharp wind.  I have never though about why country churches have a low sloping sort of concrete attachment on the bottom of the church wall but as I sat down realised why, most comfortable.  I sat and contemplated and was joined by a robin who sat nearby on a gravestone and kept me company for some time. I rose and wandered off

spotting a group of these bell like plants. They are a little like lungwort but not quite.

There is pretty gravestone for the Postlethwaite family and a more austere but attractive

grave marker for Dr James Menzies 1853-1941 and his wife Elizabeth Ellen 1863-1937. He was the Kirkby in Furness doctor and must have been admired because the stone reads - "The skill of the physician/ shall lift up his head and/in the sight of great men/he shall be in admiration".

I left by the war memorial with its white and yellow daffodils.  For the history buff there are little biographies of the men by the gate but on this day of sadness it was not for me.

I admired the detail of the cross and went on my way home




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Church Tower

A carpet of crocus and a scattering of daffodils surround the tombs of St Mary Magdalene churchyard.  Here I stand on the west side of the church looking towards the tower. A church has stood here since the 12th century, although little remains of it after an extension in the 16th century, alterations in the 18th century and lastly a rebuilding in 1873.  The squat saddleback tower we see today is by Austin and Paley, a duo of much loved local architects, and replaced the old one in 1900-1.

It is difficult to get a photograph of the whole church as it is surrounded by trees and from this angle the tower saddleback cannot be seen but lets head out towards the gate for another angle, look up to check the time

and see a homily on the tower "Watch for ye know not the hour",  perhaps something to meditate on as I take a turn around the tombstones

while enjoying a day of spring sunshine and flowers.

Here can be seen how well the sturdy tower sits with the church as they nestle in the hollow of the valley south of the village of Broughton in Furness.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at T here

    

Life and Death

A profusion of crocus covers St Andrew's churchyard in Coniston at the moment. It is a churchyard with many interesting and ornate gravestones, mostly on the other side of the church to this view, but the star of the show at the moment are the flowers.  No wonder John Ruskin opted for this peaceful place in the shadow of Lakeland hills to Westminster Abbey as his final resting place. 

Church in Northern France

Walking through the small village of Coet-Bugat in France we came across a little Gothic style church.  I like a wander round a church, but it was locked, so we never got to see the intriguing stained glass windows from the inside.  What else is a person with a camera to do but look for something interesting outside.

 

An entry in the mid-week meme  "Window Views....and doors too"

Crosses and Crocus

"Of all the pulpits from which the human voice is ever set forth, there is none from which it reaches so far as from the grave" The Seven Lamps of Architecture by John Ruskin (1849)

The cross of John Ruskin in St Andrew's churchyard, Coniston. It is a beautiful object carved by H T Miles on green slate from the local quarry at Tilberthwaite, and designed by W G Collingwood, an expert on Anglo Saxon crosses. It depicts some aspects of Ruskin's work and it captures the essence of his artistic philosophy.  The afternoon light was shining on this side which highlighted the carving so a photograph was irresistible.  I will have to go back next time in the morning to capture the light shining on the front.

"There is no wealth but life"

Could not resist another Ruskin quote. The churchyard was full of  snowdrops and crocus basking in this marvellous spell of sunny weather.