Maintenance

Prayer might be a strong wall and fortress of the church but it does no harm to get in the masons every now and then to check over the stonework and make sure the church is still a goodly Christian weapon. Here's Cottingham's parish church, St Mary's, getting some serious maintenance a few weeks back, after seven hundred years or so perhaps this is not so surprising.

N ♥ L 09

A declaration of love made four years ago, I wonder if the passion is still as strong now and would they carve their names again on an old churchyard tree?

For those who like numbers and so on, Blogger informs me that this is the 1,000^th post. I suppose a modest celebration is in order,

A backyard off High Street

You could see St Mary's on Lowgate if it wasn't for the houses in between.

Stands the church clock at ten to three?

The English the English the English are best

I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest

Here's the flag of St George, Macedonian slayer of dragons and patron, so it seems, to half the countries of Europe and elsewhere (many Muslims around Bethlehem also celebrate his feast day). I can't admit to feeling any stirrings of patriotic fervour at the sight of this rag so you'll not be surprised that I'm not inspired by suggestions that today, St George's Day, be made an English National Day. There is, of course, no need for such a day celebrating all things English, as it is well known, for the true Englishman (not me, I'm a cad and probably a bounder as well), every day is a celebration of his God given superiority.

It's not that they're wicked or naturally bad

It's just that they're foreign that makes them so mad

The English are all that a nation should be

And the pride of the English are Chipper and me

(Flanders & Swan)

Today is also the birthday and deathday (is there such a word?) of that well known English playwright William Shakespeare whose famous last words were almost certainly not "It's my birthday and I'll die if I want to".

The good folk at City Daily Photo are having a St George's Day theme, perhaps they took it more seriously than me, I do hope not. Any way you can find what others made of this here.

A strange old place

So this is Mark Kirby's Free School, hmm. First I've heard of it and indeed that's a brand spanking new sign. So a trip to the land of Google and Wikipedia informs me that Mr Kirby left an endowment in 1712 to support the village school near the churchyard and the school was to be renamed as you see. All well and good you might say except that to the right of the door is the sign you see below saying Richard Burton (who, if he'd read them, clearly did not heed the words of Matthew 6:3) gifted the land and the parishioners paid to build the house in 1729.  The wording "to the use of the poor of Cottingham for ever" implies a workhouse was built here a far cry from a school. So, anyway, you're thinking this is a house built in 1729, well not quite. Further delving into the arcane depths of Cottingham's history reveals that this building was modified when the church hall next to it was built in the 1850s. I'm finding what no doubt many have before that the past is a strange old place.

After all that you'll be wanting to see the building. Here it is with the church hall in the foreground. The building is now a coffee shop run by the church.

A full churchyard

This is the churchyard of St Mary's in Cottingham. As you can see it's pretty full not just with graves but trees.  You might think that because the church is old these trees are of a similar age but you'd be wrong. They've all sprouted up in the last century or so. You can see how it looked in 1885 if you click here. When that was taken the churchyard was still in use and so there's no trees. It closed for burials in 1889 and seems to have been subject to reafforestation. It's a little haven for wildlife with squirrels and birds even some exotics.

If  you have an interest in graves and graveyards pop over to Taphophile Tragics.

Blue Bin

In an effort to cut down on costly landfill taxes the council have for some time been running a recycling scheme. So paper, tin cans and plastics go into the blue bin. Soon, no doubt, they'll want to recycle the dead ...

All that exists deserves to perish

Poor old Thomas Stainton; nothing to remember him by but his headstone and that ain't looking too good.

This is in Cottingham, St Mary's churchyard.

Three heads are better than one

This curious carving is on Cottingham's church. I'm guessing it had deep meaning when originally carved possibly something theological (the old three-in-one trick) or perhaps it symbolises some mediaeval merchant banker capable of saying three conflicting statements while looking out for number one. Hmmm.

Stained Glass

Leif Hagen asked for a peek inside Beverley Minster but as I don't have any shots from there this will have to do. Last year I posted some shots from inside the local church. Here are some more. If I've got my iconography right the top one is Mary and Jesus; the lower one is Elizabeth and John the Baptist, but I may well be wrong about this.

Cottingham Church in Snow

I forged my way through snow and ice to bring you this view of Cottingham Church.

Churchyard

St Mary's, Lowgate in Autumn sunshine.

St Mary's from the Westwood

Pasture Terrace, Beverley

Arc-boutant

Arcs-boutants also known as a flying buttresses; these devices transmit the force of the ceiling through the wall to a counterweight outside the building. It means the walls can be thinner and allows more space inside the building. They were extensively used in mediaeval ecclesiastical buildings. However the ones you see here, at St Mary's, Beverley, were put up in the 1850s in a restoration job by Augustus Welby Pugin, his son E Welby Pugin, and Sir Gilbert Scott.
They fit in well and do look pretty cool with the light shining through. 

Parrots Go For Gold

I mentioned that St Mary's in Cottingham had been having a spot of bother with vandals stealing the lead off the roof. Well here's another problem that you really couldn't make up. These are Orange Winged Amazon parrots and have been living in the area for a while. Indeed they have been reported on the local news programme for a spot of ecclesiastical vandalism. They ate the gold leaf of St Mary's recently renovated clock! They're also extremely noisy little beasts.

St Mary the Virgin, Cottingham

This is the inside of the church I featured the other day. There are some fine stained glass windows, reflecting the wealth of the patrons of the parish.

Sunday, go to church

Here I present the beauty that is St Mary the Virgin,Cottingham.
Picture postcard perfect.
It's been here since the early 13th century; that's before France had borders, Germany was a country and well before the USA was a stain on humanity.
It's main problems are caused by the insistence of English Heritage that the roof be made of lead. This has led to many thefts of lead from the roof; and damage to the the fabric of the building. If a suitable replacement were allowed the church would be saved many thousands of pounds in restoration costs.

Lowgate

This is the other end of Lowgate seen through the entrance to St Mary the Virgin , an old church dating back to the early 14th century. Dimly in the background lurks the statute I featured yesterday. Lowgate houses many law firms and so on; this may be because the Crown Court is at one end and the Magistrates' Court at the other, what do you think?