David Cronin
Much Marcle Herefordshire - Chancel - Annunciation - King David Close-up
On the second day of my recent visit to Herefordshire, I decided to visit three churches all of which are included in Simon Jenkins’ England’s Thousand Best Churches. The three churches were All Saints at Brockhampton-by- Ross, St Catherine at Hoarwithy and St Bartholomew at Much Marcle. The last of these being a re-visit to get some better pictures of the collection of Kempe stained glass in the church.
Having finished my visit to the church of St Catherine at Hoarwithy I made my way to St Bartholomew’s at Much Marcle. When I entered the church I found almost immediately that the church was nearly as alarmed as Brockhampton earlier in the day. At one point I approached a monument in the chancel and suddenly found that I was being told by a disembodied voice to move away as I was getting too close to an alarmed area. As I have said before I understand the need to protect a church against vandalism so that it can be open to the public. However there is a point where it can interfere with the enjoyment of the building and make the church more like a museum than a place of worship.
As a result of the restrictions imposed by the alarms I decided to concentrate solely on photographing the stained glass windows by C E Kempe and C E Kempe and Co Ltd, with which the church is well endowed. The photographs will be posted in a chronological sequence based on the date of manufacture of the windows. This picture shows a detail from the window in the chancel which dates to 1878 and which depicts the Annunciation, see Luke i :26 to 38. It shows a panel representing King David. The words on the scroll read 'Benedixit te Deus in aeternum' and which may be translated as 'God has blessed you for ever'. This is taken from Psalm 44(45) verse 3(2).
Much Marcle Herefordshire - Chancel - Annunciation - King David Close-up
On the second day of my recent visit to Herefordshire, I decided to visit three churches all of which are included in Simon Jenkins’ England’s Thousand Best Churches. The three churches were All Saints at Brockhampton-by- Ross, St Catherine at Hoarwithy and St Bartholomew at Much Marcle. The last of these being a re-visit to get some better pictures of the collection of Kempe stained glass in the church.
Having finished my visit to the church of St Catherine at Hoarwithy I made my way to St Bartholomew’s at Much Marcle. When I entered the church I found almost immediately that the church was nearly as alarmed as Brockhampton earlier in the day. At one point I approached a monument in the chancel and suddenly found that I was being told by a disembodied voice to move away as I was getting too close to an alarmed area. As I have said before I understand the need to protect a church against vandalism so that it can be open to the public. However there is a point where it can interfere with the enjoyment of the building and make the church more like a museum than a place of worship.
As a result of the restrictions imposed by the alarms I decided to concentrate solely on photographing the stained glass windows by C E Kempe and C E Kempe and Co Ltd, with which the church is well endowed. The photographs will be posted in a chronological sequence based on the date of manufacture of the windows. This picture shows a detail from the window in the chancel which dates to 1878 and which depicts the Annunciation, see Luke i :26 to 38. It shows a panel representing King David. The words on the scroll read 'Benedixit te Deus in aeternum' and which may be translated as 'God has blessed you for ever'. This is taken from Psalm 44(45) verse 3(2).