A lovely sunny day here today - I've been waiting for one of those as I needed some decent light to do the latest photo for the online photo challenge I'm part of - the theme was "Reflection" and I knew the shot I wanted, getting it has been quite the challenge though. However, this is not the photo I've posted on here....
Once the challenge photo was done I crossed the road to the fantastic St Mary Latton church. I've taken some shots of the church before, but not for a long while, and as I was so close it seemed silly not to go and play! Some more shots will probably appear in due course, but for now, this gargoyle-type creature is one of a pair to be found either side of the main entrance door in the base of the tower.
A quick bit of history - there has been a church of some sort on the site since at least 900AD, and the main part of the current church is known to have been built in 1087 by the Normans. The Square tower was added in the 16th century, replacing the previous round one, but utilising some of the materials from the old one, including some Roman bricks which can still be seen at the base of the tower. From the early 1920's the numbers in the parish declined drastically and the church gradually fell into disuse, until in 1950 a group of people got together with the intention of reopening and restoring the now derelict church, which was re-consecrated in October of that year. It is a fascinating building, both inside and out, and my thanks go to the verger (I presume) who arrived whilst I was happily strolling around the outside and asked if I would like to see the inside as well - I did! He also furnished me with a fascinating booklet from which the above history has largely been taken.
Robyn
1 comment:
The word 'gargoyle' comes from the fact that the masks would have originally housed a water spout, so that they would gargle out rainwater from the roof. Not a lot of people know that...;-)
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