Tantalising Glimpse.....
This tantalising view is as close as one is normally allowed to get to the north chapel at Lapworth church, as the entire eastern half of the building is rendered off limits by a sensitive alarm system.
This was bitterly disappointing as not only could this fine window by Richard Stubington (whose amazing east window at Packwood I'd just seen) not be seen in detail, the church's most famous treasure, an Eric Gill Madonna & Child relief, was totally invisible (being mounted on the reverse side of the right hand pillar!)
It was a frustrating experience, as the best things in the church were so close, but out of reach. I left a frustrated note in the visitors book about how sorry I was to have had to miss out on the Eric Gill and the glass, and came back for one more glimpse of that rich blue window just out of range, but the story doesn't end there........
On my final attempt to take this picture before leaving I leant slightly, without realising, just over the rope that cordoned off everything from the front nave pew eastwards. In the next instant a beeping noise errupted!
As I ran to the door to seek help it stopped so I assumed everything was ok. But then it got from bad to worse when I'd got outside, ear splitting and inescapable, but nobody was around to hear it other than me!
I went to the rectory across the road and managed to rouse the vicar's wife, (I don't think they'd noticed till then the siren wailing from the steeple!) She was pleasant and accepted my apologies as the siren suddenly stopped, the panic was over! Another lady who was a churchwarden had heard the siren and came to switch it off herself. Phew!
I went over to apologise to her for the inconvenience and explained what had happened. She was most gracious about the whole situation and reckoned I'd probably been unlucky enough to be right next to the sensor for the alarm to have gone off so easily.
The outcome of all this ironically was a happy one for me, as the kind lady offered to wait until I'd had a look at the inaccessible areas before switching the alarm back on! Thus I got to see all that I had been frustrated about missing out on, thanks to the generosity of an individual I had in effect, though inadvertedly, inconvenienced; she was an absolute star, and that was an act of kindness I shan't soon forget!
Tantalising Glimpse.....
This tantalising view is as close as one is normally allowed to get to the north chapel at Lapworth church, as the entire eastern half of the building is rendered off limits by a sensitive alarm system.
This was bitterly disappointing as not only could this fine window by Richard Stubington (whose amazing east window at Packwood I'd just seen) not be seen in detail, the church's most famous treasure, an Eric Gill Madonna & Child relief, was totally invisible (being mounted on the reverse side of the right hand pillar!)
It was a frustrating experience, as the best things in the church were so close, but out of reach. I left a frustrated note in the visitors book about how sorry I was to have had to miss out on the Eric Gill and the glass, and came back for one more glimpse of that rich blue window just out of range, but the story doesn't end there........
On my final attempt to take this picture before leaving I leant slightly, without realising, just over the rope that cordoned off everything from the front nave pew eastwards. In the next instant a beeping noise errupted!
As I ran to the door to seek help it stopped so I assumed everything was ok. But then it got from bad to worse when I'd got outside, ear splitting and inescapable, but nobody was around to hear it other than me!
I went to the rectory across the road and managed to rouse the vicar's wife, (I don't think they'd noticed till then the siren wailing from the steeple!) She was pleasant and accepted my apologies as the siren suddenly stopped, the panic was over! Another lady who was a churchwarden had heard the siren and came to switch it off herself. Phew!
I went over to apologise to her for the inconvenience and explained what had happened. She was most gracious about the whole situation and reckoned I'd probably been unlucky enough to be right next to the sensor for the alarm to have gone off so easily.
The outcome of all this ironically was a happy one for me, as the kind lady offered to wait until I'd had a look at the inaccessible areas before switching the alarm back on! Thus I got to see all that I had been frustrated about missing out on, thanks to the generosity of an individual I had in effect, though inadvertedly, inconvenienced; she was an absolute star, and that was an act of kindness I shan't soon forget!