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Photograph taken at an altitude of Two hundred and sixty metres, at 09:44am on Thursday September 6th 2012 off Kirkstone Pass climbing towards the summit of a road so windy and tricky they named it 'The Struggle', past Glenridding and heading towards Ambleside and Lake Windermer, part of the Lake District in Cumbria, England.
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Nikon D7000 10mm 1/250s f/18.0 iso200 RAW (14Bit) Handheld. Manual focus. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance.
Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5-5.6 DX EC HSM. Jessops 72mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D11 battery grip pack. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon GP-1 GPS
LATITUDE: N 54d 26m 34.76s
LONGITUDE: W 2d 56m 39.34s
ALTITUDE: 260.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 46.30MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 9.96MB
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Processing power:
HP Pavillion Desktop with AMD A10-5700 APU processor. HD graphics. 2TB with 8GB RAM. 64-bit Windows 8.1. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. Nikon VIEWNX2 Version 2.10.0 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit
A good perspective of Denver with the mountains in the background and urban sprawl reaching out for kilometers around it.
View from the Arc de Tromphe in Paris; Grand Palais & Louvre is the background.
32 bits HDR file created with Photomatix 4.2.4 from 3 bracketed photos, and rendered through Lightroom 4.2.
I was surprised at the extent of the urban sprawl throughout Coachella Valley. This is the view from Mt. San Jacinto after taking the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to 8500 ft elevation. Desert, palm trees, golf courses and cacti below - forest above!
I have been doing the Kent church project for 11 years now, so I thought I knew most churches in Kent and all in East Kent, but just before Christmas a contact posted shots of a church I had not heard of before, St Peter-in-Thanet.
Once life settled down, I tried to arrange a visit before Christmas, that was impossible, but the church will be open every days from 2nd January I was told.
And as I had one more day off, why not start the year with a crawl?
I programmed the sat nav with the post code, and let it guide me to Sandwich then to Ramsgate and across the island via Westwood Cross, with the urban sprawl of Ramsgate and Broadstairs merging into one large town all around.
I saw the tower of St Peter from a mile away, surprisingly large. Nearer, I see that the area declares itself a village, also called St Peter, and there is a traditional village pub opposite.
I point out again at this point, the towns of Ramsgate and Broadstairs merge into one, St Peter is now part of Broadstairs. And indeed was the ancient centre of the town before the resort took off.
I park next to the church, present myself in the large and friendly parish offices next door, and told the church is open.
I just have to find which one of the half dozen doors into the church and vestry is actually unlocked.
I introduce myself, again, and they are happy to let me go around taking shots, whilst they water the multitude of plants. But they do stop to point out interesting details.
Nothing more fabulous that the highly decorated chancel; painted panels on the roof, painted beams, tiles and mosaics.
Even at first glance it is stunning.
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The medieval church of Broadstairs, St Peter's stands well inland to serve the original farming community that showed little interest in the coast that was to change the later life of this part of Kent. The tower, however, is easily visible from the sea and was long used as a landmark to shipping, which is why it still flies the White Ensign. Although the church was restored in the nineteenth century by Joseph Clarke and is stamped with the atmosphere he usually managed to create, there is some fine Norman architecture in the five bay aisle arcades (although the central arch in the south arcade is a later insertion into an inexplicable break in the Norman work). The chancel arch is of the thirteenth century and there is a good cut-down sedilia in the sanctuary. The delicate marble font is of eighteenth century date and there are some fine hanging wall tablets of the same period. The stained glass presents a good cross-section of the nineteenth century art, much of it by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=St+Peters
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ST. PETER'S
LIES the next parish south-eastward from St. John's, being so called from the dedication of the church of it to St. Peter. This parish is within the liberty and jurisdiction of the cinque ports, and is an antient member of the town and port of Dover, and though united to it ever since king Edward I.'s reign, yet so late as in that of king Henry VI. it became a dispute, whether this parish was not in the county at large; to take away therefore all doubt of it, that king, by his letters patent, united it to Dover, to which place, in like manner as St. John's above-mentioned, it is subsect in all matters of civil jurisdiction. The mayor of Dover here too appoints one of the inhabitants to be his deputy, who is chosen either yearly, or once in two or three years, at the mayor's pleasure; and to the charges of the sessions formerly held at Margate, this parish and Birchington used to contribute their proportion.
THE PARISH OF ST. PETER is as pleasant and healthy a situation as any in this island, the lands open and uninclosed, the soil a dry chalk, with frequent hill and dale interspersed throughout it. At Sowell hill, in the northern part of the parish, the land is reckoned to be the highest in the island. The village stands on a pleasing eminence, surrounded with trees, which is rather uncommon in these parts, having the church on the north-west side of it; at a little distance southward from which, is a small neat chapel, built by the sect of Methodists. Several genteel families reside in this village, situated about the middle of the parish, which is about two miles and a half across each way, and is bounded by the high chalk cliffs on the sea shore towards the north and east. It seems formerly to have been more populous than it is at present, for there were in the year 1563, as appeared by archbishop Parker's return to the orders of the privy council, one hundred and eighty-six housholds within this parish. Besides the village above mentioned, there are several other small hamlets and houses interspersed throughout it, viz. towards the south, Upton, Brompston, which is now the joint property of Henry Jessard, esq. and Mr. John Grey; Dumpton, great part of which extends into St. Laurence, it belongs to the earl of Hardwick; and Norwood. On the north-west side of the parish is Sacket's-hill, so called from its being the estate of an antient yeomanry family of this name, several of whom lie buried in this church, one of whom, John Sackett, as appears by his will, resided here and died possessed of his estate in this parish in 1444; on it there has been lately built a handsome house by Mr. King, for his summer residence, whose children are now possessed of it. In the northern part of the parish is the hamlet of Reading-street, southward of which is a small forstall, and then Sowell-street. In the eastern part of the parish, close to the cliffs, is Hackendon downe, or banks, where several antiquities have been dug up, as will be further mentioned hereafter; and the hamlet of Stone, formerly the residence of the Pawlyns, and then of the Huggets, where a few years ago Sir Charles Raymond, bart. built a small pleasant seat for his summer residence; Sir Harry Harper, bart. is the present owner of it. Not far from hence there formerly stood a beacon, which used to be fired to alarm the country in case of an invasion; a few years since some remains of the timber of it was dug up on the top of the Beacon-hill, about fifty five rods nearer to Stone than the present light-house.
¶About a mile and an half north-eastward from the church, at the extremity of the chalk cliff, is a point of land called the NORTH FORELAND, (suppofed by most to be the Cantium of Ptolemy) so called to distinguish it from the other Foreland, betwixt Deal and Dover, usually called the South Foreland; it is a promontory, or cape of land, that reaches further into the sea, and is somewhat higher than most of the land herebouts. On the top of it was formerly a house, built of timber, lath, and plaister work, with a large glass lanthorn on the top of it, in which a light was kept to direct ships in the night in their course, that they might keep clear of the Goodwin Sands, which lie off this point, and on which ships are apt to strike before they are aware, on account of their endeavouring to keep clear of this land, which extends so far into the sea. This house being by some accident burnt down in 1683, there was for some time a sort of beacon made use of, on which a light was hoisted; but about the latter end of the last century there was built here a strong house of flint, an octagon, on the top of which was an iron greate, quite open to the air, in which was made a blazing fire of coals. But about the year 1732, the top of this light-house was covered with a sort of lanthorn, with large sash lights, and the fire was kept burning by the help of bellows, which the light-men kept blowing all night. This invention was to save coals, but the sailors complained of it, as being very much to the prejudice of the navigation, many vessels being lost on the Goodwin Sands for want of seeing it, and indeed it was so little seen at sea, that some of the sailors asserted, they had in hazy weather seen the Foreland before they saw the light; whereas, before the lanthorn was placed here, when the fire was kept in the open air, as the wind kept the coals constantly alight, the blaze of it was seen in the air far above the light-house; complaint being made of this, the governors of Greenwich hospital ordered Sir John Thomson to view it, who ordered the lanthorn to be taken away, and the light-house to be made nearly the same as it was before, the light to continue burning all night and till day-light; since which, a few years ago, it was again repaired, and two stories of brick were raised on the former building. The height of it at present, including the small room in which the lights are kept, is somewhat more than one hundred feet; this room, which may be perhaps best described as a done raised on a decagon, is about ten feet in diameter, and twelve feet high; it is coated with copper, as is the gallery round it, to prevent fires. From the gallery there is a very extensive view, of which a conception may be formed from these lights being visible in clear weather at the Nore, which is ten leagues distant; in each of the sides of the decagon, towards the sea, is a patent lamp, kept burning all night, with a reflector and magnifier, the latter being very large. The whole building is white-washed, except the light room on the top; and all the rooms in it are used by the man and his family, who take care of it. (fn. 1) To the repair and maintenance of this light-house, every ship belonging to Great Britain, which sails by this Foreland, is obliged to pay two-pence for each ton; and every foreigner four-pence. It is under the direction of the governors of Greenwich hospital, in whom it is vested. There is a signal house between the North Foreland and Stonehouse, erected in 1795, the establishment of it is a lieutenant and midshipman of the navy, and two men.
Here were two fairs formerly kept every year, one on June 29, being St. Peter's day; and the other on March 25, being Lady-day; but they have for several years past been changed to the 10th of july, and the 5th of April.
The manor of Minster claims paramount over the greatest part of this parish; the landholders holding of it, by a certain rent called Pennygavel. Subordinate to this manor is that of
Near this place, in 1574, a monstrous fish shot himself on shore on a little sand, now called Fishness, where, for want of water it died the next day; before which his roaring was heard above a mile; his length, says Kilburne, was twenty-two yards; the nether jaw opening twelve feet; one of his eyes was more than a cart and six horses could draw; a man stood upright in the place from whence his eye was taken; the thickness from his back to the top of his belly (which lay upwards) was fourteen feet; his tail of the same breadth; the distance between his eyes was twelve feet; three men stood upright in his mouth; some of his ribs were fourteen feet long; his tongue was fifteen feet long; his liver was two cart loads, and a man might creep into his nostril. (fn. 7) There were four whales, or monstrous large fish, towed ashore by the fishermen on this island a few years ago, one of which had been found floating on the sea dead, and was brought to Broadstairs, and measured about sixty feet long, and thirty-eight feet round the middle; its forked tail was fifteen feet wide, its lower jaw nine feet long; it had two rows of teeth, twenty-two in each row, about two inches long; the upper jaw had no teeth, only holes for the lower ones to shut in. It had only one nostril. It had two gills, and the lower jaw shut in about three feet from the end of the nose. It is said this fish sold at Deal for twenty-two guineas.
MANY BRASS COINS of the Roman emperors have been found near Broadstairs, on a fall of the adjoining cliff, after much rain and frost at different times; but they have been so much worn and defaced, as not to be distinguished what they were.
Near the cliffs, about midway between the lighthouse and Kingsgate, are two large barrows, or banks of earth, called by the country people Hackendon, or Hackingdown banks, already noticed before. The tradition is, that these banks are the graves of those English and Danes, which were killed in a fight here; and that as one bank is greater than the other, the former is the place where the Danes were buried, who are said to have been defeated. It is not improbable that this battle referred to in history, was that fought A. D. 853, when the Danes having invaded this island with a considerable force, were attacked by earl Alcher with the Kentish men, and earl Huda with those of Surry, and an obstinate battle was fought, in which the English at first got some advantage, yet were at last deseated; great numbers were killed, among which were the two English generals; and the battle being fought so near the sea, a great many on both sides were pushed into it and drowned.
One of these barrows was opened in 1743, in the presence of many hundred people; a little below the surface of the ground several graves were discovered, cut out of the solid chalk and covered with flat stones; they were not more than three feet long, in an oblong oval form, and the bodies seem to have been thrust into them almost double; a deep trench was dug in the middle, and the bodies laid on each side of it; two of the skulls were covered with wood-coals and ashes. The skeletons seem to have been of men, women, and children, and by the smallness of the latter, these were conjectured to have been unborn.
¶Three urns made of very coarse black earth, not half burnt, one of them holding near half a bushel, were found with them, which crambled into dust on being exposed to the air. The bones were rather of a large size, and for the most part perfectly found. In 1765, the smaller barrow was opened, the appearances were similar to the former, but no urns were found. In memory of this battle, lord Holland erected a fantastic house, or monument, with an inscription, on the larger of the two banks.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Westbere.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, stands on a rising ground. It is a small structure which has something pleasing in the appearance of it. It is built, as the rest of the churches are hereabouts, of flints, covered with rough-cast, and the quoins, windows and doors cased with ashlar stone, only the porch has more workmanship used about it; above are stone battlements; the roof is covered with lead, and the portal or door way has a mitred arch of wrought stone. It consists of a nave with a small isle on each side of it, a large middle chancel, and a smaller one on the north side of it, part of which is now made into a vestry. The middle chancel, which is beautiful, is ceiled in compartments, the framing of which is enriched with carved work, as is the cornice round it. The church is elegantly pewed with wainscot, and has a very handsome desk and pulpit. In the middle isle are two handsome brass chandeliers, which were purchased by subscription, and there is a neat gallery at the west end, well contrived for the convenience of the inhabitants, and the whole is kept in excellent order, and more than usual neatness. At the west end of the middle isle, under the gallery, is a handsome font, of white marble, the gift of John Dekewer, esq. as appears by the inscription, erected in 1746; below the inscription are the arms of Dekewer. At the west end of the north isle stands the tower, which is a sea mark. There were antiently five bells in it, which some years ago were cast into six, the great bell being made into two. The high or middle chancel was beautified about the year 1730, at the expence of Mrs. Elizabeth Lovejoy, lessee of Callis grange; who, out of the profits of that estate, ordered this chancel as well as hers and her husband's monuments in it, to be repaired as often as should be needful; and the sum of twenty shillings to be paid yearly to the clerk, on the day of the anniversary of her death, March 29, as an encouragement for him to take due care of the monuments.
At the west end of the south isle is a room taken off for the school house. In this church were antiently, besides the high altar in the middle chancel, three other altars dedicated to St. James the Apostle, St. Mary of Pity, and St. Margaret. Before these altars, on which were the images of these saints, were wax-lights constantly burning, for the maintenance of which there were several fraternities and legacies left. Several antient monuments and inscriptions are in the body and chancels of this church, the principal ones of which are in the middle or high chancel: Among others, a monument for James Shipton, vicar, obt. 1665; another, for George Lovejoy, first school-master at Islington, then of the king's school at Canterbury, obt. 1685. He lies buried within the altar-rails; arms, Azure, three bars, dancette, or, impaling chequy, azure and or, on a fess, three leopards faces of the second. On a marble against the north wall is an account of the charities given by Mrs. Elizabeth Lovejoy, as follows: By her will and testament, to the mayor and commonalty of the city of Canterbury, her lease of Callis grange, upon trust, to pay yearly to the vicar of this parish, forty pounds; to a school master, to teach twenty poor children gratis in the parish, twenty pounds; to Jesus hospital, Canterbury, five pounds; to St. John's hospital, in Canterbury, ten pounds; to Kingsbridge hospital, in Canterbury, five pounds; to Cogan's hospital, in Canterbury, four pounds; to St. Stephens's hospital, five pounds; to Harbledown hospital, five pounds per annum; and she gave by her will to the school and hospital at Islington, 200l. and to the school at Wicomb, in Buckinghamshire, 100l.
She wainscotted and adorned this chancel, and gave plate for the communion table in her life time, and two silver flagons by her will, A. D. 1694. She died of an apoplexy before she had sealed or finished her will, so that it took no effect as to her real estate, but after many suits and controversies was adjudged good as to her personal estate; and twenty shillings she left yearly to be paid to this parish clerk to keep both monuments clean. A memorial for Mr. Leonard Rowntree, minister, obt. 1624. In the north chancel, on an altar tomb, an inscription for Manasses Norwoode, of Dane court, and Norwoode, esq. obt. 1636; arms, Ermine, a cross, engrailed, impaling six coats. There are several brass plates and inscriptions for Culmer and Elmstone. In the north isle an altar tomb for Michael Webb, obt. 1587. A brass plate for Philip Smith, obt. 1451. Another for John Sacket, of this parish, obt. 1623. A memorial for Alexander, son of Alexander Nor woode, esq. of Dane-court. A black marble for Cornelius Willes, A. M. nineteen years vicar of this parish, and prebendary of Wells, obt. 1776. A like stone for the Rev. John Deane, A. M. forty-one years vicar, obt. 1757. A memorial for Daniel Pamflet, gent. and Mary his wife. He died 1719. An antient tomb for Mrs Elizabeth Omer, obt. 1709. A mural monument and inscription for the Rev. Roger Huggett, M. A. late vicar of the king's free chapel of St. George, in Windsor, and rector of Hartley Waspaill, in Southampton, eldest son of Roger Huggett, of Stone, in this parish, who was sole heir of the Pawlyns, an antient and respectable family of that place. He died at Hartley, in 1769, where he was buried; on it are inscriptions for others of the same name; arms, Gules, a chevron, between three stags heads, or, impaling parted per pale, sable and gules, a griffin passant, counterchanged. A tomb for Mr. Henry Huggett, gent. sole heir of the Pawlins, of Stone; he died in 1751; and for others of this family. A mural monument, shewing that in a vault underneath, lies Mary, wife of John Dekewer, esq. of Hackney, who died without surviving issue, one son and one daughter lying interred with her, obt. 1748. In the same vault lies the abovementioned John Dekewer, esq. an especial benefactor to this parish, obt. 1762, æt 76; arms, Vert, on a cross, or, five fleurs de lis, sable, between two caltrops, and two lions, rampant, impaling argent, parted per fess, three escallops, two and one, in chief, gules, in base three piles waved, sable. A tomb for John Dekewer, son of the above John, obt. 1740. In the same vault are others of this family. A beautiful mural monument of white marble, on which is the figure of a child sitting, weeping and leaning on an urn, erected to the memory of John-Alexander Dekewer, son of John Dekewer, esq. of Hackney, and Elizabeth his wife, obt. 1778, æt. ten years. A mural monument for the Rev. Tho. Reynolds, obt. 1754. Besides these there are memo rials for Noble, Gray, Read, Witherden, White, Simons, Cooke, Culmer, Wild, Jeken, Tilman, and Kerby. In the middle of the chancel, a memorial for Grace, wife of James White, gent. of Chilham, daugh ter of Gratian Lynch, gent. of Grove, in Staple, obt. 1740, and for Grace her daughter, wife of Thomas Hawkins, obt. 1746. A brass plate in the north isle, for John Sacket, of this parish, obt. 1623, æt. 59. At the end of the north isle is a large white stone, much obliterated, for Michael Pavlen, obt. 1662; Anne his wife, and Anne their daughter. In the church yard are many handsome tombs and grave-stones, of persons of different trades and occupations, residents of this parish. In the tower is a great crack on the east and west sides of it, from the top almost to the bottom, where it opened near an inch, and more than two at the top, so that the tower by it inclines to the northward; and it is wonderful, that when it was so rent it did not fall; the fissure is filled up with stone and mortar. As tradition reports, it was occasioned by the earthquake in queen Elizabeth's reign, in the 22d year of which, Mr. Camden tells us, there was a great one felt in this county.
This church was one of the three chapels belonging to the church of Minister, and very probably was made parochial sometime after the year 1200, when the church of Minster, with its appendages, was appropriated, in the year 1128, to the monastery of St. Augustine; it was at the same time assigned, with the above-mentioned chapels, with all rents, tithes, and other things belonging to that church and those chapels, to the sacristy of the monastery; and it was further granted, that the abbot and convent should present to the archbishop in the above-mentioned chapels, fit perpetual chaplains to the altarages of them; but that the vicar of the mother church of Minister should take and receive in right of his vicarage, the tenths of the small tithes, viz. of lambs and pigs, and the obventions arising from marriages and churchings, which were forbidden at these chapels, and were solemnized, &c. at the mother church only.
As to the chaplains of these chapels, though they were to receive no more than ten marcs of these altarages, yet they were not excluded the enjoyment of the manses and glebes given to these chapels when they were first consecrated, which made some additiou to their income, and enabled them to keep a deacon to assist them on the great and principal festivals. The inhabitants of these three chapelries, preceded by their priests, were accustomed to go in procession to Minster, in token of their subjection to their parochial or mother church. (fn. 10)
After this the appropriation of the church of Minster, with its appendant chapels, and the advowsons of the vicarages of them, continued with the abbot and convent till the dissolution of the monastery in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. when they were surrendered, together with the rest of the possessions of the monastery, into the king's hands.
After the dissolution of the monastery and the change in the service of the churches wrought by the reformation, this parochial chapel of St. Peter became entirely separated from the mother church of Minster, the vicar of this parish having no further subjection to it in any shape whatever; but by the same change he was likewise deprived of several of those emoluments he had before enjoyed in right of his vicarage, and all the great tithes of this parish, being appropriated to Callis and Salmestone granges, formerly belonging to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, as has been already taken notice of before; the endowment of this vicarage consisted only of the small tithes of this parish, the payment of two bushels of corn yearly at Midsummer, from Salmanstone grange, and a pension of ten pounds to be paid yearly out of Callis grange; besides which he had a vicarage house, orchard, garden, and two parcels of land.
The small tithes of this parish being chiefly arable land, with the other emoluments of the vicarage, by reason of the great increase of every necessary article of life, falling far short of a reasonable maintenance, Mrs. Elizabeth Lovejoy, in the year 1694, further augmented it with the sum of forty pounds per annum, to be paid half yearly out of Callis grange above-mentioned; in consideration of which augmentation, the vicar is obliged, without accepting any dispensation, to be constantly resident on this vicarage, with several other injunctions mentioned in her will.
This vicarage is valued in the king's books at nine pounds, and the yearly tenths at eighteen shillings. In 1588 here were one hundred and forty-six communicants. In 1640 here were three hundred communicants, and it was valued at seventy pounds, but it appears by the return made in 1709, to the enquiry into the clear value of church livings, that this vicarage was worth only thirty pounds clear yearly income, before Mrs. Lovejoy's addition of forty pounds per annum.
¶The advowson of this vicarage coming into the hands of the crown, on the dissolution of the abbey of St. Augustine, continued there till king Edward VI. in his first year, granted the advowson of the vicarage of Minster, with the three chapels appendant to it, one of which was this church of St. Peter, among other premises, to the archbishop; since which this advowson has continued parcel of the possessions of that see, the archbishop being the present patron of it.
In 1630 the churchwardens and assistants reported, that here were belonging to the vicarage a mansion, with a well house, one orchard, one garden, and one acre of land adjoining to it, and one parcel of land, called the Vicar's Acre, lying within the lands of Capt. Norwood, who paid to the vicar, in consideration of it, five shillings a year; but no care being taken to preserve the bounds of this acre, the place where it lay was forgot, and the rent paid for it disputed, and at length quite discontinued.
Development along the north border of Mt Laurel, AL. Provides great contrast to what lies directly south
A sprawly speedy spotty at Werribee Zoo.
Shot with a Canon 350D, 70-200 f/2.8 IS, fillflash provided by a 580EX.
28/10/2024 LED trap; Boughton Heath Allotment colony, Chester.
I’ve yet to come across an explanation of the ‘claws’ on the forelegs of this species – perhaps used in grooming?
More details
www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/asteroscopus-sphinx/
species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0000501413
Feathered Thorn (2)
Juniper Carpet (2)
Mottled Umber (1)
November Moth agg. (3)
Red-green Carpet (1)
Satellite (1)
Sprawler (1)
My first half frame adventure: scanned as if it were a full frame.
Film expired in 2002 (the year I graduated high school & started college).
Digitized Kodachrome slide, Pentax ME
From the N. University Beefer, looking north toward intersection at Pioneer Parkway
THis is where the story begins. Well, almost.
On a sunny day in the early autumn of 1965, the baby Jelltex was baptised here, and there are photographs of me being held by both Godmothers.
Despite living, literally, down the road for four years in the previous decade, since that baptism, I have not seen inside St Michael. Indeed it was locked on this occasion too.
I see now it is unusual with the tower in the middle of the nave, and so I wonder what its history could be.
Unbeknown to me, I knew a keyholder, and when I mentioned I had been trying to see inside for years, she said, will Friday morning do? It will indeed.
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Hemmed in by the sea on one side, the town of Lowestoft sprawls relentlessly in the other three directions, like a liquid flowing downhill. The quality of the urban landscape is not, quite frankly, very high. In Pevsner's The Buildings of England: Suffolk, 22 pages are given to Bury St Edmunds and 20 to Ipswich; but Lowestoft receives just six, and most of this taken up by St Margaret, the medieval Borough parish church.
But Oulton is a pleasant enough space, protected from the industrial horrors of central Lowestoft by the charming Normanston Park, and from 19th century Oulton Broad by the open lake of the same name. There was considerable building here in that century, and the parish was home to the Lowestoft area workhouse; the workhouse chapel survives.
And right on the edge of the suburb, right on the edge of Lowestoft, so that the wide marshes stretch beyond it into Norfolk, is St Michael, Oulton, one of the modern Borough's six medieval churches.
St Michael was once a cruciform church with a central tower, an uncommon pattern in Suffolk, and one not recorded too many times on this site. Eyke, Dallinghoo, Pakenham and Ousden spring to mind, and possibly Brockley.
The transepts have gone, and the tower is a replacement of the 18th century and later. Walking around the outside, though, there are a couple of points of interest.
Surviving in the south wall is the outline of an arch. In the days when this was a Catholic church, it probably led into the chantry chapel of the guild of the Holy Trinity, and was obviously left disused, and filled in, after the Reformation.
The 14th century priest's doorway has a fine, fierce grotesque corbel above it, with flaring nostrils. It's probably not in its original place.
The south porch is nice on the outside, but rather grimly repainted on the inside.
There are two curious alcoves in the inside east wall, the left hand one of which was probably for a holy water stoup - but again, they may not be in their original places.
The Norman doorway is not one of Suffolk's finest.
The key (of which more in a moment) lets us into the priest's door, and, as always in churches with central towers, one is struck by the extent to which the chancel is cut off from the nave. It is also higher than the nave.
Also striking is the lurid chancel carpet - not quite competition for the one at Tuddenham St Martin, but alarming just the same.
The results of the 1857 restoration are plain to see, and one of them was the theft at that time of the two fine brasses in the chancel floor, which were no doubt melted down soon after.
However, Henry Davy had taken copies of them, and replicas made from these lie in their place. The single man is Adam Bacon, who was a priest here.
Dating from 1318, it was the earliest English brass to depict a priest wearing Mass vestments, and its loss is a grievous one.
No less interesting are the couple in the other brass. The man is none other than Sir John Fastolfe, immortalised by Shakespeare as Sir John Falstaff. I understand that he was rather less jolly in real life.
He lies with Katharine, his wife.
Stepping beneath the tower, we look up at two interesting things. Firstly, the door high up in the east nave wall. This is to the tower stairs, and shows that access to the tower was via the rood loft.
Secondly, a rare coat of arms of James II, which apparently came from a London church, although there seems to be some disagreement about exactly which one.
The gallery at the west end is rather fine, and still bears a dedicatory inscription: Erected at the expense of the patron of this Rectory and some of the principal landowners and inhabitants 1836.
There is a good view of the church below from it.
On my visit, the church was packed with trestle tables and jumble for the following day's summer fete, which was at least a sign of a bit of life in the parish. I was not surprised to find the church locked (all Lowestoft churches are kept locked) but I was surprised to find a keyholder listed. I hastened to collect it, but was treated with much suspicion, being questioned as to my motives, having to prove my identity and offer up my cheque guarantee card (which was copied) to obtain the key. As the keyholder was the Rector, this made me rather sad.
About six months after this entry first appeared, I received a rather extraordinary e-mail about it. It appeared to come from a member of the parish, although for reasons that I hope are apparent, I'm withholding the sender's name. In part, it read:
Your guide appears somewhat derogatory and biased. As someone who frequently visits churches, you should know they are generally locked.
Now, this simply isn't true. Most Suffolk parish churches, indeed most English parish churches, are kept open.
However, the e-mail continued: St Michael's is locked because of its isolated position, and because the insurers will not insure it open and unattended and being a small congregation do not have the personnel to be there.
I thought this was also sad. Even so, it struck me as strange that Evangelists for Christ's Word on Earth should be more concerned about protecting their property than being open as an act of witness.
I read on: Surely a phone call to the incumbent - and you know where bonafide enquirers may obtain the numbers - would be the best way of introducing yourself, and to make sure that the church could be conveniently opened. At St Michael's this would have avoided your photograph in bad taste of the church interior as the Summer Fete was being prepared.
It might also have meant that more interesting information about St Michael, Oulton could have been given to you, and a guide produced without the need to include comments which appear to have been made as a result of an ill-planned visit and subsequent unpleasant meeting with a key holder, who happened to be the Rector.
All St Michael's key holders are expected to get identification from anybody asking for a key to the church, and not known to them personally, especially when the request is from someone not dressed as would be normally expected for their purpose in the area.
While St Michael, Oulton is in the care of the present generation, it is intended that all will be done to preserve it for the future.
Well, as you can imagine, this made me breathe out in exasperation. What, then, is the point in being a Church? Most people who turn to God do not do so by turning up for a church service. Most wander into an empty church, perhaps more than once, and respond to its prayerful silence over a period of time, before taking the plunge and joining the community for worship.
This would not be possible in Oulton, or almost anywhere in Lowestoft. Someone seeking salvation in Lowestoft would be hard-pressed to do so in a Christian building. There is only one Lowestoft church that opens its doors to strangers (thank God there is one!) and that is Our Lady Star of the Sea, the Catholic church in the town centre.
But I think that our churches are there for the whole People of God, not just for the Sunday club of believers. When the Victorians tried to resacramentalise the parish churches of England, they were very fond of a quotation from the Book of Genesis: This is the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven. They inscribed this above the entrance to many of Suffolk's churches.
An open church is the greatest act of witness a parish can make. By simply locking our churches, insuring them, and 'preserving' them for the future, we may find that we end up with no future for which to preserve them. Is it possible that, by keeping our church doors locked, we are barring the Gate of Heaven against the People of God?
Oh, and I'm still trying to work out exactly what someone not dressed as would be normally expected for their purpose in the area means. Does it mean me? Oh dear. My advice to anyone seeking salvation in the west Lowestoft area is to smarten up a bit, and phone ahead. Otherwise, maybe God won't get to hear about it.
www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/oultonmike.html
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Lothingland is called in Domesday Book the Half Hundred of Ludingaland, and was returned as the King's Estate. It appears to have formed a portion of the Hundred of Ludinga, which was afterwards termed the Half Hundred of Mutford. (fn. 1) Lothingland continued to be considered as a Half Hundred only till the year 1763, when it was incorporated with the Mutford division as the Hundred of Mutford and Lothingland. It lies in the Archdeaconry of Suffolk, and gives name to a Deanery which embraces all the incorporated parishes; and in judicial affairs is comprehended in the Beccles division. It forms the north-eastern point of the county of Suffolk, and extends about ten miles in length, though its greatest breadth does not exceed five. It varies much in soil, but must be considered, on the whole, as a fertile district.
It is bounded on the east by the German Ocean, against whose encroachments it opposes a bold range of cliffs, except for about three miles towards the north, where it is separated from the sea by a narrow peninsula of sand, called Yarmouth Denes, and by the River Yare, which mingles with the waters of the ocean at Gorleston. On the north, this Hundred is encompassed by Breydon, a salt-water lake, now the shallow basin of the once impetuous Gar. The navigable River Waveney washes its western side with its winding tides, while Oulton Broad and Lake Lothing form its southern boundary; which, uniting with the ocean near Lowestoft, insulate the district.
This insular character of Lothingland, which it possessed from the remotest period of history, was destroyed in the early part of the last century by the action of the tides, and the fury of the eastern gales, which "play the tyrant" on the coasts of East Anglia. Their combined agency raised a barrier of sand and pebbles about a quarter of a mile wide, across the ancient mouth of Lake Lothing, by which all communication between the sea and the river was interrupted. Occasionally, at high tides, the sea broke over this barrier, as if desirous to regain its former dominion. The last irruption which happened at this place occurred on the 14th of December, 1717, when the sea forced its way over the beach with such irresistible violence as to carry away Mutford Bridge at the distance of two miles from the shore. To guard, however, against future damages, a breakwater was erected between Lowestoft and Kirkley, which effectually resisted all subsequent attacks of the ocean, and across which the mail-coach road from Yarmouth to London was formed. Lothingland thus continued a peninsula till the year 1831, when, in pursuance of an Act of Parliament obtained to transport sea-borne vessels to Norwich by Lake Lothing, a navigable cut was made through the recently formed isthmus, and Lothingland became once more an island. Strong lock-gates were placed at the inner extremity of this cut, to prevent the too impetuous entry of the tides, if danger should be apprehended, and barriers of a like description erected at Mutford Bridge, where there is a dam of earth, which forms a causeway of communication between the opposite shores, and divides the Lake from Oulton Broad. The flow of the tide is permanently resisted here, which is not suffered to pass the lock, as the port of Yarmouth claims the flood and the ebb in Oulton Broad and the Waveney.
At an inquisition, held at Lowestoft, in 1845, before Joseph Hume, Esq., M.P., Chairman of the Royal Tidal Harbours Commissioners, it was shown by Mr. Hodges, Engineer of the Lowestoft Harbour, that the difference between the water on one side and on the other of Mutford Lock was sometimes seven feet, in consequence of the land floods. On the Lothing side, during high water, the tide is four feet higher than the water in Oulton. The tide which flows into Oulton Broad by the Waveney, from Yarmouth, is four hours and a half later than the tide in Lake Lothing.
The fee of the Hundred continued in the Crown as a Royal demesne, from the time of the Conquest to the reign of Henry III. By the latter monarch it was granted to John Baliol and the Countess Devorgill, his wife, and passed to John Baliol, King of Scotland; but upon this King's renouncing his homage to Edward I., this, and all his English estates, became forfeited to the Crown. By Edward I. the fee of the Hundred was granted, in 1306, to John de Dreux, Earl of Richmond, his sister's son. John de Dreux, nephew and heir of the former Earl, died in 1341, in possession of it; and in 1376 it appears to have been held by the Earl of Surrey. It next passed into the hands of Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, whose descendant, Edmund de la Pole, lost it by attainder of High Treason, in the reign of Henry VIII., when it was regranted by that monarch to Edmund Jernegan, Esq., and Mary his wife, and subsequently passed, as the Hundred of Mutford, through the families of Allin and Anguish, to its present possessor, Samuel Morton Peto, Esq.
In 1561, the island of Lothingland returned the following list of freeholders: Laystoft, 16; Gunton, 2; Belton, 4; Bradwell, 1; Borowcastell, 4; Somerleyton, 7; Heringfleet, 4; Ffritton, 3; Gorleston, 6; Hopton, 1; Lound, 2; Blundeston, 10; Corton, 6; Ashby, 2. (fn. 2) Francis Jessup, of Beccles, was appointed Will. Dowsing's substitute for "Lethergland and Bungay."
The coast line of Lothingland has suffered very considerable changes within the last few centuries; for the village of Newton, recorded in Domesday, and lying contiguous to Corton, has been entirely swept away, with a portion of the latter parish; whilst the point, or Ness, at Lowestoft, has been gradually extending itself into the sea. It was lately shown, before Mr. Hume and the Tidal Harbours Commissioners, that this point had extended 132 yards eastward since the year 1825.
www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/suffolk-history-antiq...
Pictures from my brother, Terry Nelson's Tour in Vietnam 1971-72, as a member of the 362nd Assault Helicopter Company, 1st Cav.
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