View allAll Photos Tagged extempore
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
The mighty troubadour breathes no more,
He lies amid mouldering ruins;
And death on Yarrow's hills,
Has closed the eyes of the shepherd-poet:
Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg
By William Wordsworth
Location: The Merrythought Company Limited, Dale End, The Wharfage,
Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, UK
Date of Photograph: am 16 November 2007
OS Grid Reference: SJ666037
Co-ordinates: 52:37:48N 2:29:38W
Elevation: 42.7 meters
Coalbrookdale is usually thought of as the Birthplace of Industry, but here it shows an industry habitually associated with the nonage of man.
The Ironbridge Gorge is crowded with industrial monuments that in the eighteenth century based themselves on the valley’s then seemingly infinite resources of coal, ironstone, fireclay and bitumen. It is a United Nations World Heritage Site.
In 1894 the German toymaker Sussenguth Brothers presented a stuffed toy bear in their catalog. Three years later, their competitor Steiff showed its “Roly-Poly” bear at a Leipzig trade fair, and by 1899 Margarete Steiff had patents for twenty-three of her soft toy designs including several ursine themes.
In 1902 American satirist Clifford Berryman published, in the Washington Post, a cartoon of noted huntsman Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear cub. The cartoon was syndicated worldwide and the US Commander-in-Chief was indelibly associated with a little bear. The “Teddy Bear” was born, and by November Morris Michtom had sold the first in his Brooklyn shop.
The next year Steiff exported three thousand 55PB bears to the USA, and they and their American competitors dominated the craze before The Great War.
In 1919, the Armistice brought slump to the enormous and workmanlike British textile industry. Notwithstanding, WG Holmes and GH Laxton opened a small mill in Yorkshire to spin imported mohair. They purchased Dyson Hall and Company Limited of Huddersfield and expanded vertically into weaving mohair plush.
To provide an outlet for their mohair plush they made a further vertical move into soft toy manufacture, and in September 1930 teddy bear maker Merrythought Limited was founded. Holmes and Laxton set it up in a temporary factory with a workforce of twenty, including managers enticed from Birmingham rival Chad Valley.
In February 1931 Merrythought leased an 1898 foundry complex from The Coalbrookdale Company. This premises was of course at Ironbridge, to which Merrythought moved.
Another key worker from Chad Valley was the deaf mute artist Florence Attwood who presented thirty-two toy designs for the 1930 season, and the first teddy in 1931. She prepared a range of soft toy designs for Merrythought until her death in 1949.
By 1932, over two hundred were employed at Dale End and the works was electrified. After three more years Merrythought was the largest soft toy maker in the United Kingdom.
In September 1939 the Merrythought factory was requisitioned by The Admiralty. Teddy production was banished to extempore works in nearby Wellington. The Dale End factory’s situation in a wooded defile made aerial bombing difficult. The Ironbridge complex was given over to secret map-making and plywood storage. Later, The Royal Navy used Dale End to make uniform badges, helmet linings, gas mask bags, specialist ammunition bags and a diversity of war goods made form gabardine and velour.
In March 1946, toy production resumed at the Dale End site. Nylon and Draylon entered the fabric and new machinery was installed. In 1955 a compressed-air actuated stuffing machine was imported from the US and worked in parallel with hand stuffing. During this era of post-war expansion the foundry buildings were renovated and design and commercial offices, as well as a showroom, erected on site. The next year Merrythought purchased the freehold from The Coalbrookdale Company.
Throughout the Sixties and Seventies, however, British consumer manufactures suffered a dramatic decline in the face of foreign competition. Many such industries were based upon a pre-scientific handicraft tradition and were aimed squarely at achieving a product life of decades, if not centuries, in a market where unit cost was no desideratum.
In its latter years, Merrythought boasted that it was the last British toymaker and that no two of its examples were identical. An American or Japanese maker would of course have regarded the latter diagnostic of process misconfiguration. In 1988 Merrythought opened a teddy bear retail outlet in an old shop premises beside the works gate.
On 27th November 2006 Merrythought should have been at its busiest point of the year. Fifty-six year old engineer Oliver Holmes, grandson of the founder, called his forty-eight remaining workers together. He thanked his staff for their talent and loyalty. He remarked that it was impossible for Merrythought to compete with foreign goods made at “significantly lower” manufacturing and overhead costs. The workers were told that they would not get their redundancy money until after Christmas.
The next day television news reported the closure and interviewed some of Merrythought’s tearful former employees before the factory gate. Later a journalist explained that it cost in one week to run the Telford workshops what it cost in one year to run a Chinese teddy bear factory. He added that Merrythought toys start at £40 whereas you could buy an imported teddy for a fiver.
On 14th December 2006 Merrythought Toys Limited was placed into Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation. Some of its major creditors, the employees, were however in a difficult position because the principal saleable asset, the designs’ patents and copyrights, were the property of the holding company, Merrythought Limited, which was not in liquidation.
Collectors worldwide “ran on” toyshops and cleared the shelves of remaining Merrythought product.
On 24th January 2007 the Merrythought Toys Limited residual body, Smudged Limited, sold its stock, assets and work-in-progress to Merrythought Limited and within five months a 2007 Merrythought catalog was published. Limited production for the collectors’ market resumed at Dale End.
The British bear had been reprieved.
He would now set you back between £47 and £295.
Development of a womenswear clothing collection for the Italian fashion brand Byblos: trends analysis for creating a moodboard, brand identity study, creative exploration through drawings of garments. first composition tests.
Technique: pencil
The sequel to "A Date with my shadow"
Music composed and performed by Samik Roy Choudhury
Choreographed,performed,directed,edited and cinematographed by Sheetal Petkar
Another extempore attempt. The dance was shot first without music after which the music was made. This is a straight from heart venture by me and Samik. No planning/discussions whatsoever :)
Watch this video on Vimeo. Video created by Sheetal Petkar.
A not so planned photoshoot, this is some of the photos from "Could we do a photoshoot?" and answer "brb - 5min".
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
www.starnow.co.uk/christopherw33618
2020 Reel youtu.be/fXhm5se6H3c
2017 Reel www.starnow.com/media/778224
2016 Reel www.starnow.co.uk/media/623368
2015 Reel www.starnow.co.uk/media/500618
Crew CV crew.mandy.com/uk/crew/profile/chris-christopher-wilson
wartimeproductions.co.uk/index.html
REMEMBERING THE ARMY CHAPLAINS OF THE GREAT WAR
Sarah Reay takes a look at the role of Army Chaplain’s throught the story of her grandfather, Rev Herbert Butler Cowl.
In the world of academia, references to Army Chaplaincy are few, and Rev Cowl’s story sheds new light to the subject.
“Sometimes as I cross a bit of rising ground between here and Headquarters, where the country is open, and the road only lined by an endless avenue of huge polled witch-elms, I stand in the darkness; watch the probing searchlights flicker on to the clouds and hear those grim far off voices speaking death. It is a new sound; it is another world; and it calls to unprecedented scenes and experiences. God grant as we march into it all, that there may arise a man in me that is sufficient to this new occasion!”
These were the words written by the Rev. Herbert Butler Cowl, a young Wesleyan Army Chaplain, to his parents on his way to the frontline in 1915.
Most of the Army Chaplains were new to such challenges – they had no experience of working with soldiers in the field of war. Herbert and the thousands who volunteered during the war to become Army Chaplains wanted to do their best and support the men under their pastoral care. It was considered to be a righteous war and the churches responded with a supply of suitable candidates! Suitability ranged from being physically fit, to the ability to preach ‘extempore’ (‘off the cuff’), an ability to ride a horse and to speak French and / or German. Herbert Cowl was one of the youngest Army Chaplains in 1914 – he had most of these qualities and he was in his late 20’s.
As we remember the Centenary of the Great War, the Army Chaplains seem to be an almost forgotten group of men who carried out a vital role during the war. Not only did they provide spiritual guidance and sustenance to the men, but they became major contributors to general morale. Also, they gave invaluable assistance in the Field Ambulances at the frontline, helping medical staff, from doctors to stretcher-bearers. They worked in the Home Camps and the Garrisons too, helping to prepare men for what they had to face at the front in battle and also supporting the wounded and sick soldiers who had returned to Blighty.
No man wanted to be forgotten and left behind in the mud of Flanders. It was comforting for the soldiers to know, and be re-assured, that if the worst fate should come to them, the padre, a good man, would inter them and send them to Heaven with the full blessing of God!
After the war, there were a number of Army Chaplains, who became popular public figures, including the famous Rev. Studdert-Kennedy M.C., known as ‘Woodbine Willie’, for handing out Woodbines (cigarettes) to the troops; the Rev. ‘Tubby’ Clayton and the Rev. Neville Talbot who co-founded ‘Toc H’ Talbot House in Poperinghe, Belgium. Talbot House was styled as an “Every Man’s Club”, where men were welcome, regardless of rank, and Christianity was promoted as an alternative to the other types of recreation on offer in the town. However, there were many other Army Chaplains who carried out incredible acts of bravery, too many to detail in this blog, but they were a band of brothers who have been largely been forgotten over the last 100 years.
Throughout history, men going to war have always sought the support of the representatives of their church. However, the First World War saw an unprecedented need and demand for Army Chaplains. During the war over 3,000 Chaplains were recruited from the different religious denominations. Of these, 179 made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives for King, Country and God. We need to remember them!
The Rev. Herbert B. Cowl C.F. M.C. considered himself no hero, but this is his story – one of many stories that has never been told.
Let us hope that more stories regarding the Army Chaplains of the Great War will come into the public domain over the coming years. Their selfless courage must never be forgotten.
A not so planned photoshoot, this is some of the photos from "Could we do a photoshoot?" and answer "brb - 5min".
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
Monday.
And time has came to leave Causeway House. A sad moment. We have enjoyed our stay, slept well, relaxed and seen some great things.
I have one final coffee, before the packing begins, and we manage to fitit all in the car, with room for us to spare. Jools programs the sat nave to Rosslyn, the sat nave tells us our route, and we are off. It decides we should go via Carlisle and then up the motorway, which would have been OK were it not for the pouring rain, but then I guess all roads would have been horrible to drive on. Along the A69, round Carlisle and up the M6 to Scotland. But, as we crossed the border, the rain began to ease, and we thought we sensed some brightness overhead.
We took the scenic route alongside the trackbed of the old Waverly Line, through green valley, past the source of the River Tweed, over passes and down the other side. It is a beautiful route, even in list drizzle and mist, but after a while we began to wish for some straighter roads.
We stop at a greasy spoon some 20 minutes shy of Rosslyn, I have square sausage in a bun, Jools has bacon. And we still have six days of holiday left.
It is some 11 years since I was last at Rosslyn, back then Da Vinci Code fever had only just begun; but now it is a world famous place, and with ample parking. And nine of your Scottish pounds to get in! And only once we paid did we see the sign informing all that photography was banned inside. For £9, a small, if bonkers, church?
We looked round, I took some exterior shots, and we left, leaving visitors of all nations behind.
Thanks to my good friend, John, our next port of call was Linlithgow, where the Scottish Stewart Royal family had their home, and Mary, Queen of Scots was born. He recommended we go, and who I am I to argue with John?
The rain threatened again, but stayed dry, at least for a while. Round the Edniburg by-pass towards Glasgow, and there were the signs, all simple. Into the town, and then the road to the palace was closed, and there were no alternative signs.
We drove up and down the high street, all the long term parking was full, until just as we were about to give up, we see signs for another, a little further out, and so do find a place to park.
It was a 5 minute walk to the centre of town, past the bowls centre, Tesco and the railway station. We were hungry, and there was a fine looking Italian place just there, should we go in? I think we should.
It is very nice, we have Insalata Caprese again, and some bread. And some olives. All is nice, so we are not tempted by the desserts. Well, we are but resist.
The rain had begun to fall again as we walked to the old palace, up the cobbled street and through the ornamental gateway: the parish church is on the right, so we go in and once again are delighted. But the most stunning aspect is a modern south window, which is just spectacular and takes my breath away.
The castle next door is mostly complete, except for the roof, which in the steady rain would have been nice. But we get in for free, our favourite price, and have the place almost to ourselves. I follow a spiral staircase up, and end up at the top of one of the towers, with views across the castle and rooftops of the town behind.
---------------------------------------------------------
"St Michael is kinde to strangers". So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. St Michael is the patron saint of the town and, in the form of the ancient church of that name, he still stands guard above its inhabitants, both residents and strangers alike.
Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. Whether he was hallowing a new building or rededicating an established House of God, is not certain. What is clear is that the ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as an historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301 King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse in which to house the war provisions required for his fortified palisade or "Peel".
After the Scottish Victory at Bannockburn, and the recapture of the Linlithgow fortifications, St Michael’s stood in need of considerable restoration.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years St Michael’s was largely rebuilt although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction. Several local strategies were enforced to finance the rebuilding of the Kirk. Taxes were imposed on ale and leather and the money from fines for chimney or overpricing at the market also swelled the church coffers.
ll the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the church’s completion celebrated with the granting of a new royal charter and, with it, the right to appoint a town Provost. The man chosen was Henry Forrest of Magdalenes who had himself been active in the "kirk werk" and had personally ensured that the masons received their "drinksilver". They certainly earned it for under their expert hands emerged the beautiful Medieval church we have today. First the nave and transepts were transformed; then the chancel and the apse. Outside, twenty niches were filled with carvings of saints and, inside, each of the 8 bays was graced with an altar, attended by a staff of chantry priests. The solid, square tower was furnished with a magnificent stone crown, topped with a weathervane, bearing the favourite emblem of King James III. The church was further adorned with the erection of a beautiful oak roof bearing the arms of George Crichton, vicar of St Michael’s and later Bishop of Dunkeld. The ecclesiastical masterpiece which resulted was much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
The font which carried the holy water used to baptise the royal baby did not survive for many years longer. In 1559 the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrive to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the church.
The first Protestant minister of St Michael’s was Patrick Kinloquy and his parish kirk was equipped with new galleries (including those for the town magistrates and the monarch) and a stone pulpit on the north side of the chancel. The town did try to uphold its obligations to its church and considerable money was spent on equipping it as a fitting House of God. However the church was also to be used for other purposes. In 1620 part of it served as a wood store while in 1645 it became for a brief time the University of Edinburgh when the students and professors escaped to Linlithgow form the plague-stricken capital.
The year 1646 saw the arrival of the roundhead troops of Oliver Cromwell. St Michael’s found itself incorporated in the general defences of the town with horses stabled in the nave and soldiers billeted in the triforium. By the time the Cromwellian army left Linlithgow the church had deteriorated and the heritors estimated that £1000 Scots was required to repair the roof and windows.
The 18th century church of Linlithgow followed the general Scottish pattern. It was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours". A typical church service lasted up to four hours. A sand-glass was attached to the ministers pulpit in order to ensure that he spoke (extempore, for all notes were frowned upon) for at least two hours. Singing was led by the precentor and was unaccompanied as music in the church was frowned on and an organ was referred to scathingly as a "kist o’ whistles".
In 1768 a storm damaged the steeple and blew down the weather cock and in 1773 the "old bell" cracked and had to be recast at Three Bells Foundry at Whitechapel.
In 1808 there was a panic when it was discovered that the old ceiling beams were rotten at the ends and that the "crazy roof" was about to collapse. In 1812, the 16th century "Crichton" ceiling was removed and replaced with a plaster one, partly due to the fact that oak was unavailable due to the shipbuilding demands of the Napoleonic War. The interior was also remodelled: a "restoration" generally regarded now as an act of colossal vandalism, especially the removal of the old dividing arch between chancel and nave and the whitewashing of the walls.
It was a grim church which emerged in the early 19th century and they were grim times. On February 19th 1819 a Linlithgow Mortsafe Society was established to hire out a huge metal cage which was placed over a recent grave to deter the grave robbers from "resurrecting" the body and selling it to the anatomy lecturers in Edinburgh. In addition, a watchman’s hut was erected in 1823 against the south wall of the churchyard and a watch of three men was appointed to prevent any "nocturnal activities".
In 1820 there occurred one of the most unfortunate episodes in the history of the church. A report concluded that the old stone crown was in danger of collapse. Despite the reluctance of the town and the church authorities there was no denying the fact that something had to be done. Local tradesmen all agreed that the crown was too heavy for the tower. It was reluctantly decided that the only course was demolition and, in the summer of 1821, the old crown was removed.
In 1885 the splendid centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.
In 1992 the Society of Friends of St. Michael's Church celebrated the church's 750th anniversary with the installation of a new stained glass window in the St. Katherine's Aisle. The window, created by Crear McCartney is designed around the theme of Pentecost.
You can download the PDF from the AHAM site (download PDF)
Related post on G+
Excerpts: (page numbers refer to the PDF)
From the blog post: Ramana Periya Puranam (page 27, bottom)
| On another occasion, Dandapani Swami, a tall and sturdy resident who demanded obedience from others, picked up a quarrel with Ramanatha Brahmachari. Despite his fragile body, Ramanatha Brahmachari was not relenting. Dandapani Swami pushed Ramanatha Brahmachari down and looking down at him shouted, "Do you know who I am?" obviously referring to his physical strength. Ramanatha Brahmachari, lying on the ground replied humbly with folded hands, "Dandapani Swami! Have we all not got together here for the noble purpose of finding out Who am I?" On hearing the words, "who am I", Dandapani Swami gained his composure and apologized for his misdemeanour.
From the G+ post: Why i don't like to pluck flowers (page 45, top)
| From that day on, Echammal started taking to Self Enquiry and meditating under Bhagavan‟s guidance. Nevertheless, her vasanas were difficult to renounce. Once, she took a vow to pluck one hundred thousand leaves from a bilva tree and offer them to Bhagavan's picture. Able to pluck only fifty thousand leaves, she complained to Bhagavan, "I wanted to complete this ritual but I could only manage to find fifty thousand leaves." "Did you try all the trees?" asked Bhagavan. "Yes Bhagavan, I tried all the trees but I could pluck only fifty thousand leaves." Bhagavan's face changed, "Then why don‟t you pluck flesh from your body and offer that instead?" Echammal thought Bhagavan was joking. She said, "How can I pinch my own body? It will hurt." Bhagavan then turned to her, "You are plucking leaves from the tree. Will it not hurt the tree?" "How could I know that?" she replied. Bhagavan retorted, "When you knew pinching your own body is painful, why did you not recognize that the tree will be equally pained if you rob it of its leaves? Do I have to tell you that?" This transformed her completely
From the blog post Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni:
| There are six pages of exhilarating material on Ganapati Muni in Ramana Periya Puranam (pp. 50-55). It starts with the Muni performing the very difficult Avadhanam as a teenager: (page 50, top)
|| It is late nineteenth century, Navadveep, Bengal. A fourteen year old boy sits amidst a group of scholars: mathematicians, poets, a music maestro and an astrologer, among others. The mathematicians give him a six digit number to be multiplied by another six digit number. One poet recites the last two lines of a Sanskrit verse and challenges the boy to compose the first two lines in the same metre and complete it. The other poet, meanwhile, gives him a subject to immediately compose a four line Sanskrit verse on. The astrologer places before him a complex pattern of planetary positions and asks him what the consequence will be. The musician hums a few notes of a particularly obscure raga and asks the boy to identify it. Another man rattles off a random date, like February 18 [!], 1756, and asks what day that was. As if all this weren't enough, another man stands behind the boy and throws tiny pebbles on his back while the others throw their challenges. The boy is expected to simultaneously keep count of how many pebbles were thrown. The boy answers all of them, instantaneously, correctly, brilliantly, to the tumultuous applause of a wonder struck audience.
| Later on this ability comes in very handy when he dictates the last three hundred verses of Uma Sahasram in a single sitting: (pp. 52-53)
|| He wanted to express his gratitude to the Mother by composing a thousand Sanskrit verses in her praise. He surrendered to Bhagavan and began the work after getting his permission. He chose a sacred day to complete the thousand verses. Unfortunately, he fell ill and could write only around seven hundred. The night before his self imposed deadline, he approached Bhagavan at Virupaksha cave with his problem. Bhagavan encouragingly reassured him, "Do not worry, I will come and sit with you."
|| It was a wonderful sight: The young master sitting, radiating silence, his older devotee dictating extempore verses in a torrential flow and his disciples writing them down late into the night around the lantern light. Genius that he was, Kavyakantha started dictating the first line of the first verse to the first disciple, the first line of the second verse to the second disciple, the first line of the third verse to the third disciple and so on. Then, he proceeded without stopping to dictate the second line of the first verse to the first disciple, the second line of the second verse to the second disciple, the second line of the third verse to the third disciple…until at one thirty in the morning, the thousand verses were complete. Bhagavan, who until then was sitting with eyes closed in rock like silence, opened his eyes and asked, "Have you taken down all that I dictated?" Kavyakantha fell at his guru's feet and cried "Yes Bhagavan, they are your verses!" This anthology of verses is called Uma Sahasram. Uma is the divine Mother, while 'sahasram' in Sanskrit means 'thousand'. Therefore, the title can be translated as 'thousand verses in praise of the divine Mother'. Kavyakantha revised the first seven hundred and odd verses many times but left the verses that he dictated that wonderful night, verses which he felt came from Bhagavan, untouched.
From the blog post How to Chant Nama:
| Ramana Sadguru gives a slightly-different focus to Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni for chanting nama: (pp. 51-52)
|| Kavyakantha leapt out of the hollow. It was one o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was beating down hard. The Karthikai festival was on and hundreds of people thronged around the hill. Undeterred, he ran up the hill to Virupaksha cave and found Bhagavan sitting alone outside. Bhagavan directed his glance of grace at Kavyakantha. Like many devotees before him, he was transfixed and could not take his eyes off Bhagavan. Kavyakantha, an erudite scholar, had never prostrated himself before any human being. Suddenly, he found himself flat on the ground in front of the young ascetic. He held Bhagavan's feet tightly and cried, "I have read all that has to be read. I have fully read Vedanta, I have performed japa to my heart's content, yet I have not understood what tapas is! Therefore, I have sought refuge at your feet. Pray, enlighten me as to the nature of tapas." The word 'tapas' in Sanskrit literally means 'striving for the realization of truth through penance and austerity'. However, Bhagavan imparted its deeper meaning to Kavyakantha. Helping him rise to his feet, Bhagavan looked into his eyes and after some time slowly replied, "If one watches from where the notion 'I' arises, the mind is absorbed into that. That is tapas." And since Kavyakantha had himself revealed that he practiced mantra japa - repeating mantras thousands of times every day, the master added, "When repeating a mantra, if one watches the source from which the sound is produced, the mind is absorbed in that. That is tapas."
From the blog posts Aspects of Arunachala and Mater, not Pater: (page 52, middle)
|| A little known secret about Arunachala is that the front is the Father aspect while the back is the Mother aspect. All miracles and powers - psychic, spiritual, physical or worldly - stem from the Mother aspect. In the lives of Bhagavan's devotees, miracles and visions took place between Nirudhilingam and Eshanyalingam.
From the blog post The Livin' Guru: (page 70)
|| Fortunately, he was bold enough to go to Bhagavan and confess, "Bhagavan, this is my problem. Please help me." Bhagavan looked at him for sometime: Bhagavan was never interested in the question. Instead, Bhagavan was always interested in the questioner. He looked at Masthan Swami and showering all his grace, replied, "Do you take this body to be Bhagavan? Do you think the Prophet is dead? Then, is the Buddha dead? Is Jesus Christ dead? Are they not guiding hundreds of thousands of people even today? Are they not living in the Heart? A living guru means the one living in one's Heart as a guru. A living guru does not mean somebody living in a body at a given historical time and in a given geographical space. The guru lives eternally in your Heart. Heart is Allah, Heart is Jesus Christ, Heart is Buddha and Heart is Bhagavan. Live in the Heart as the Heart by diving into the Heart."
From the G+ post Tiger by the Tale:
| From the reminiscences of TK Sundaresa "TKS" Iyer: (page 91, bottom)
|| One day, some Vedic scholars along with TKS, were going around the hill chanting the Sama Veda. They suddenly saw four or five tigers seated in the middle of the road. Petrified, they stopped chanting. For a long time, the tigers looked at them and then got up and disappeared into the forest. Bhagavan was at Skandashram. TKS ran to him and told him what had occurred. Bhagavan said, “Why did you stop chanting the Vedas? They were siddha purushas, eager to listen to your chants. You should have continued chanting the Vedas.”
From the blog post Guru Turiya: (page 111, bottom)
|| One day I [V Ganesan, the author] asked him, "You were always away from Bhagavan's presence; you were always working in the garden. How did you like it?" He replied, "Why Ganesan, from a distance I could see Bhagavan‟s form and I was always chanting his name. Bhagavan was always in my heart. Bhagavan was perfection itself and because of his perfection, when we looked at him or chanted his name, the perfection came to us. As he was always in a state of bliss, we too were in a state of bliss." In support of his statement, he quoted from tradition saying, "Ganesan, understand that in our scriptures this is called guru turiya. Turiya is the samadhi state - the fourth state transcending the three states of waking, dreaming and sleeping. When you are working very hard and looking at the master or chanting his name, he transports you to this state, which is not to your credit; it is because of his grace on you; hence it is called guru turiya. The samadhi state that we get established in is because of his blessings."
Years active, from 1900-1984. Destruction: 1995. In the beginning the original building was a work of high craftsmenship. Funded by the village council, eaves were of floral design and end ridges festooned in animals. There are no photos of the orginal school. But I hear it was sumptuous. This building was a government funded replacement and built in the 60s. It was basic, with two playgrounds. The other, further in, was erected later in the 70s. Fully furnished I recall watching the installation unfold. Swings, monkey bars, a merry go round and a giant slide. The slide was probably my favourite. We were too excited and couldnt wait. We climbed the stairs as workmen busied themselves around us and planted down our bottoms. We all slid down and landed at the bottom on our bottoms on raw, chunky earth that was far from finished. My memories of sleepy singing afternoons are of this school. My first return here was 1992. There, she lay, fossilized. I found it open and walked in. Inside, what greeted me were dwarfed desks and chairs laid thrown about as if the aftermath of a storm. But it was beautiful. The woodsy feel of the place oozed enchantment. For behind the school were the rice fields and extempore streams which were sanded and in the sand were freshwater clams...
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
A not so planned photoshoot, this is some of the photos from "Could we do a photoshoot?" and answer "brb - 5min".
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
The Treacle Well in the graveyard of St. Margaret's, Binsey, nr Oxford.
Visiting here was a bit of a pilgrimage for me. I've loved 'Alice in Wonderland' since childhood and have clear memories of falling out of bed laughing while making my poor dad read the same passages to me over and over again.
The well's rather uninspiring appearance dates back to a restoration by the Revd T. J. Prout in 1874, the original well-head was destroyed in 1639 (probably by Puritans up to their usual tricks).
Treacle is a Middle English word from Old French triacle meaning an antidote against venom. An example of this usage can be found in the in the 1549 edition of the Bible, in which Jeremiah 8:22 was translated as “Is there no tryacle [treacle] in Gilead?” So the holy wells visited for their curative properties in the early modern period became known in England as treacle wells. This particular treacle well was ‘made to flow by the prayers of St Frideswide’. For a time this was one of the most famous treacle wells in England.
Because Oxford’s patron saint, Frideswide was associated with childbirth, as was St Margaret of Antioch for whom the Binsey church is dedicated, the treacle well became a site of pilgrimage for women seeking protection and help in conception and pregnancy. Henry VIII is thought to have brought Katherine of Aragon to the well to pray for a son.
St Frideswide also has a connection to Christ Church (her shrine is located in the chapel of Christ Church Cathedral), and the treacle well was thus intimately woven into the fabric of the cultural world inhabited by Dodgson and the young Alice Liddle who’s father was the Dean, so its play on the meaning would have been known to her.
The story of 'Alice' first arose on 4 July 1862. Charles Dodgson and his friend reverend Canon Duckworth hired a rowing boat at Folly Bridge and took the sisters Alice, Lorina and Edith Liddell for a river trip up to Binsey for a picnic.
Duckworth remembered it later; “I rowed stroke and he rowed bow (the three little girls sat in the stern) … and the story was actually composed over my shoulder for the benefit of Alice Liddell, who was acting as ‘cox’ of our gig … I remember turning round and saying, ‘Dodgson, is this an extempore romance of yours?’ And he replied, ‘Yes, I’m inventing it as we go along.’ “
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
Adrian Claudiu Sana started the group in 1999. At the time, it consisted of him and his female counterpart, Ramona Barta.
Akcent's single "Kylie" has risen to the top of several European music charts. "Kylie" also became a moderate hit in the U.S., charting well on the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart. Their debut Romanian album In culori was released in Romania in 2002 on January 10, which had the hit single "Ti-am promis".
Their English debut album French Kiss with Kylie was released in Europe in 2006 on August 23 and include their 2 European smash hits: "Kylie" and "Jokero". Their song French kiss (the English version of 9 mai) is a cover of "Extemporal la dirigentie" by Stela Enache (a Romanian singer that was highly acclaimed in the 80s and whose song "Ani de Liceu" with her husband is still a hit among teenagers).
In April 2008 Marius Nedelcu left the band. Soon after Marius left, the three boys called in Corneliu Ulici, a former member of another Romanian group called Bliss. However, in September 2009, after 9 months, Corneliu Ulici left the band to dedicate his time to his acting career.
In 2009 the band released a new album, Fara Lacrimi. Two songs from the album, "Stay With Me" and "That's My Name," have become massive hits on radio stations in Romania as well as in number of other countries including: Greece, Armenia, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Pakistan, Ukraine, India, Tunisia, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Lebanon, Albania,and Bangladesh.
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...
Whilst we were on holiday at a Landmark Trust property we put together three jigsaws over the first three nights. This beauty, which I've known for ten years, was collected by John Hyde. I found another jigsaw which I believe to be by the same cutter and John, David & I put it together at a meeting -later Bronwen repaired it for me. I was extremely happy to be awarded this jigsaw in John's sale. All three of these images are from Pears Annual illustrations or plates.
John Hyde Collection jp592
Vintage (Swirling Whimsy Cutter) 250pc Pears 1917 Annual, Attack on the Coach by Lionel Edwards. Push-fit whimsy-dense cut, plywood.
I don't know if this was hand-cut from a predesigned cutting template, or created extempore without templates. It's astonishing cutting and I love it. I hope to find more examples one day.
The study of busts, sculptures and faces live and photographs comes a portrait of the American actor Johnny Depp using a grid guide on a dark paper sheet.
Technic: pastels in different shades of gray
Reading is very necessary for learning a language well. Only a good reader knows the finer nuances of speaking a language like an art. At Udgam we always recommend fostering reading habit as early as possible, beginning right from Preschool. To further emphasise the need for regular reading, our school celebrated Reading Week from December 1 to 6 in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Gujarati.
The Primary Section made the most of the week by inculcating activities like answering riddles, extempore speaking from chits drawn, sequencing jumbled stories, rapid fire, spinning the yard, poster making, tongue twisters, writing and reading aloud simple poems, reading newspaper articles and discussing, character description from folk tales and noun games.
In Middle Section activities that were pursued to enhance reading were news reading like a reporter after dividing new into categories like International, National, State, Sports and Weather. Along with sessions of story, book reading penned by famous authors was undertaken. In Hindi, children were encouraged to chant dohas by Kabirdas along with video screening. In Gujarati class, children had to draw lots to read books. Sanskrit reading was made interesting by giving them topics from grammar. The groups took down names and presented their topics on charts, quiz, dumb charade, housie, flash cards and so on.
The senior school children presented book reviews of novels read by them. The students shared with their classmates the highlights of the novels read, the various characters depicted, the ratings the book deserved,etc.While some students used PPTs to present their reviews, others depended on their verbal skills to interact with the others and convey the content of the book read.
In the main action area of reading, the School Library, the students were shown videos of famous stories with morals. There were activities like story writing, paragraph writing, draw-a-picture, writing about your favourite character and Read-a-thon.
A Book Fair was a Grand Finale to the Reading Week. It was attended in large numbers by students, parents and teachers. The children went around excitedly from shelf to shelf and selected books to buy and take home. We hope the spirit of reading will continue in the times to come...