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St Peter and St Paul, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
The fragments include St Olave holding an axe.
A vast urban church in the middle of this lovely little town. Indeed, I believe it is Cambridgeshire's biggest parish church. The tower stands separately to the north, the masons here having learned the lesson of Elm a couple of miles off. You step inside to the south aisle and are presented with two huge naves side by side, each with its own chancel, and north and south aisles beyond these, all separated by three quite different arcades. The chancel to the north nave is vast, bigger on its own than most Cambridgeshire churches. Neither Jenkins nor Pevsner are particularly kind - Jenkins says the church 'lacks focus' (inevitably so!) and Pevsner feels it is 'too varied'. But it is full of interest. It reminded me most of North Walsham in Norfolk, that big, grand interior full of 18th and 19th Century confidence. There is a sprinkling of medieval survivals, including some fascinating glass. Looking west from the north chancel there is the shock of a Norman arcade running within the line of the nave. The chancels are full of grand memorials. I liked it a lot, as you can tell. It is a clumsy, lovely church.
I came across this fragment [1] of Basalt at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. My wife and I had just been explaining to our son that the rock we were standing on was really black despite the exterior brown appearance so to discover this piece that had obviously been broken very recently was a great find (notwithstanding wherever it was missing from).
Perhaps I should have angled it round a fraction more but you can see on the lower left side the surface that matches the apparently brown rock that it sits upon.
[1] Not broken by me !!!
Holy Trinity, Great Paxton, Cambridgeshire
We dragged ourselves away from lovely Croxton church reluctantly, for it was getting late - the church clock was striking six as we drove back through the park. We headed back to the Ouse, crossing back into the former Hunts one last time. Just to the north of St Neots sits the small village of Great Paxton (the larger village of Little Paxton is on the other side of the river). Here sits a famous church.
Really, I shouldn't tell you about this church. Simon Jenkins writes: 'as long as English churches offer surprises such as Paxton they will survive', while Pevsner notes that 'the interior is not only a surprise, but an architectural shock of the highest order'. But then, they both go on to reveal all. Doh. So I may as well tell you too.
We got the key, and let ourselves in. Despite the exterior appearance of a perpendicular aisled church (though there are some clues) the interior reveals itself as an aisled, cruciform late Saxon/early Norman interior, echoes of Lydd in Kent. This is dramatic, but not terribly atmospheric because everything has been whitewashed, and while the rugged stone arcades and the vast, soaring transept arches would be thrilling if they were still bare stone, it isn't quite the same when they've been given a lick of emulsion. So for me this was not as exciting as Croxton, despite what Messrs Jenkins and Pevsner might say.
Great Paxton church sits right beside the East Coast Main Line, London to Edinburgh, with long trains blaring through every few minutes. As, indeed, do both the next two, Offord Darcy and Offord Cluny.
Fragment of Roman fresco painting in the south choir aisle, a remnant of the Roman villa that once stood on the site of the present church.
Southwell Minster is a remarkably preserved piece of Romanesque church architecture, dating from between 1108-50. The only English church to retain its full set of three complete Norman towers, the nave and transepts retain their original 12th century appearance, whilst the eastern limb was replaced by the present early Gothic choir in c1230 after its Norman predecessor was found to be too small. The last substantial addition to the building was the fine Decorated chapter house on the north side a few decades later in 1284.
The Minster was originally built as a collegiate church but stripped of this status at the Reformation, becoming merely a parish church (albeit one of the grandest in the country) for several centuries until finally being elevated to cathedral status in 1884 as the seat of the new Nottinghamshire diocese. Though on a more modest scale than most of our great medieval cathedrals, Southwell Minster fits its cathedral status so well that it is hard to imagine it not being built as such, though Southwell itself does seem a surprisingly quiet location for so grand a church, a small rural town that has become England's smallest cathedral city.
Inside the Norman character of the church is preserved in the subdued lighting of the 12th century nave and transepts, whilst east of the crossing, beyond the fine medieval choir screen, all is Gothic in the 13th century choir and aisles, light, airy and lit by tall lancet windows.
Perhaps the most famous part of the building is the octagonal chapter house entered from the north choir aisle via a vestibule. Whilst a gem of medieval architecture in its own right, the building is most renowned for its superb foliate carvings, the finest and most delicately carved to survive from medieval England The technical skill and unusually naturalistic treatment of the carved capitals and spandrels here means the 'Leaves of Southwell' should not be missed by any visitor.
Little remains of the Minster's original furnishing or decoration, following Civil War damage and a major fire caused by lightning strike in the early 18th century (which affected the high wooden ceilings of nave and crossing and the pyramid spires of the west towers, later replaced to their original design). It has however been embellished in more recent years with some outstanding glass including the huge west window installed at the end of the 20th century.
Southwell Minster is a delight to visit, and perhaps the most peaceful of all English cathedrals. For more see the link below:-
On some rude fragment of the rocky shore,
Muffling my solitary feet, I stop and listen to the deep and solemn roar.
This fragment shot of an old decayed mooring line ('hawser') was taken at the former Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, California. Probably made of hemp this length of hawser was used in the backbreaking task of tying large ships to the pier. In the early days of sailing, the English used the words "moren rap" which meant "ship's rope" to refer to a mooring line. This mooring line is approximately 3" wide and, obviously, hasn't been used for quite some time.
Hand made in crystal resin and wood.
Sterling silver.
Fragments of nature. Fragments of time.Fragments of life.
It was one year ago. While walking thru the park, enjoying early summer wind and rain I saw a little beauty underneath my feet.
Just as it was, I took a picture, placed it gently into my pocket and waited for its time.
Fragment eines Palastfussbodens
Fragment of a palace floor
Neues Reich,18.Dyn ,um 1350 v. Chr.
Amarna,Südpalast,
Gipsstück
Neues Museum Berlin
Fragmento de la muiñada por el 30 aniversario de O muiño vello de Redondela. Eric, gaitero-navegante belga, invitado especial, Langarika, Miguel, y Toti a las castañuelas...Perdón por la calidad del vídeo, pero las muiñadas son a media luz...
A fragment of a struck/ hammered silver 'Second Hand coinage' penny of Aethelred II, minted in London by either Beorhtlaf, Beorhtsige or Beornwulf between AD c. 985 - 991. This penny was found in Staffordshire.
This is recorded as WMID-B34EA1