For over a thousand years The Crypt at St. Marys Lastingham
I know there are a great many historical churches in England but this one is very extraordinary and almost unique. The village of Lastingham is in the North York Moors National Park and its village church St Marys is itself very old. However it’s when you enter the church and go down the steep stone steps in the centre of the nave that you really begin to travel in time.
There are records that suggest a monastery was founded on this site in about AD650 . Around AD 725 the first stone church was built, and Cedd an important missionary from Lindisfarne human remains were reburied beside the altar. Stephen of Whitby refounded the Saxon monastery as a Benedictine house in 1078. Stephen built this present crypt over the place where Cedd was believed to have been buried. The crypt has been relatively unchanged for well over a thousand years.
I have not visited the Crypt for many years and it was a great pleasure to descend again into this remarkable space, which has a strange quality of calm.
I would agree with Simon Jenkins, author of England's Thousand Best Churches, when he calls the Norman crypt of St Mary's church in Lastingham 'one of England's special places'. He’s certainly right.
Technically the image is far from perfect I was balancing deep shadows a bright window and some strong LCD lights but I think you will get a sense of the place. In terms of size I would guess its about 100 meters long and 40 meters wide
THANKS FOR YOUR VISIT AND FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE A COMMENT IT’S MUCH APPRECIATED.
For over a thousand years The Crypt at St. Marys Lastingham
I know there are a great many historical churches in England but this one is very extraordinary and almost unique. The village of Lastingham is in the North York Moors National Park and its village church St Marys is itself very old. However it’s when you enter the church and go down the steep stone steps in the centre of the nave that you really begin to travel in time.
There are records that suggest a monastery was founded on this site in about AD650 . Around AD 725 the first stone church was built, and Cedd an important missionary from Lindisfarne human remains were reburied beside the altar. Stephen of Whitby refounded the Saxon monastery as a Benedictine house in 1078. Stephen built this present crypt over the place where Cedd was believed to have been buried. The crypt has been relatively unchanged for well over a thousand years.
I have not visited the Crypt for many years and it was a great pleasure to descend again into this remarkable space, which has a strange quality of calm.
I would agree with Simon Jenkins, author of England's Thousand Best Churches, when he calls the Norman crypt of St Mary's church in Lastingham 'one of England's special places'. He’s certainly right.
Technically the image is far from perfect I was balancing deep shadows a bright window and some strong LCD lights but I think you will get a sense of the place. In terms of size I would guess its about 100 meters long and 40 meters wide
THANKS FOR YOUR VISIT AND FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE A COMMENT IT’S MUCH APPRECIATED.