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The impressive and historically significant Doom painting over the chancel arch at Holy Trinity, Coventry, which dates from around the 1430s. The dead are shown rising from their graves to be judged by Christ at the end of the world, with St Peter waiting at one side and the gates of Hell on the other.
After centuries of being covered, it was finally unveiled as recently as 2004.
Holy Trinity Coventry was originally built in the 12th Century and is the only medieval church in Coventry that is still complete with a 72 metre high spire, dating to 1432, that is one of the tallest non-cathedral spires in the UK.
The church was destroyed by fire in 1257, entirely apart from the north porch, and the current building dates mostly from the 14th Century. The church was then restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1854.
Springtime is a riot of wildflowers in the churchyard of Holy Cross, Seend; the churchyard is intentionally managed to not be mowed during this period to help pollinators and other wildlife.
Holy Cross is the parish church in the Wiltshire village of Seend (pop. 1,132), just outside Devizes. It is part of the Church of England Diocese of Salisbury.
I took this shot before-and-after I celebrated Mass and preached here on a Sunday morning.
The Rue du Jerzual is a steep medieval street connecting Dinan to the Rance river below. Fun walking down but tough walking back up this beautiful street.
Turku Castle is a medieval building in the city of Turku in Finland. Together with Turku Cathedral, the castle is one of the oldest buildings still in use in Finland. Turku Castle is the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. It was founded in the late 13th century and stands on the banks of the Aura River.
A start was made on building the castle in about 1280. The Swedish conquerors of Finland intended it originally as a military fortress. During the next two centuries its defences were strengthened and living quarters were added. The castle served as a bastion and administrative centre in Eastland, as Finland was known during the time as a province of Sweden. The main part of the castle was extended considerably during the 16th century after Gustav Vasa had ascended the Swedish throne and his son John headed the Finnish administration following his promotion to duke.
Chichester Cathedral in West Sussex is only a 30 minute train trip for me. Built by the Normans in 1075 to replace the old Cathedral built in 681 by the Anglo Saxons.
The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury known as Portsmouth Anglican Cathedral was built in 1180 and paid for my a local wealthy Norman merchant. It has a very interesting history. In 1449 the Bishop of Chichester was murdered in Portsmouth by sailors so the cathedral was closed for 58 years and the people of Portsmouth excommunicated! It reopened in 1508 when the excommunication was lifted. Queen Elizabeth 1st worshipped there. The remains of the sailors taken from the Tudor warship Mary Rose when she was lifted from the seabed just off Portsmouth are all in a tomb inside the cathedral.
The Cathedral is just a short walk from the closest beach at the Hot Walls. This photo was taken with my Samsung phone camera
A view of BRadford Cathedral from the south-west, at the top of the steps that lead up from Lower Kirkgate. I think perhaps the most attractive view of the Cathedral although the trees obscure the view somewhat, especially in summer.
The Grade I Bradford Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of St Peter, is built on a site used for Christian worship since the 8th century, when missionaries based in Dewsbury evangelised the area. It is notable for having a distinctly more Protestant tradition of furnishing, worship, and theology than any other Church of England cathedral, and it is under the patronage of the Simeon Trust.
The Saxon church fell into ruin during the Norman Invasion in 1066. The Norman Lady of the Manor, Alice de Laci, built a second church that three hundred years later would be destroyed by raiding Scots.
During the 14th century the church was rebuilt and some of the older masonry may have been used in the reconstruction of the nave. The nave arcades, the oldest parts of the present building, were completed in 1458. A clerestory above them was added by the end of the 15th century. Chantry chapels were founded, on the north side of the chancel by the Leventhorpe family, and on the south by the owners of Bolling Hall. The tower in the Perpendicular style was added to the west end and finished in 1508.
The building was extended in the 1950s and 1960s by Edward Maufe. The east end of the Cathedral (shown in the photo) is Maufe’s work, but he reused the Morris & Co. stained glass from the old east window—there is therefore Victorian stained glass throughout the building. In 1854 Robert Mawer carved a new reredos in Caen stone for the church – there is a photograph of it in the church archive – but this was lost during Maufe’s rebuild. There was a substantial internal reordering in 1987, which included the replacement of the Victorian pews by chairs.
St Peter’s Church became a cathedral in 1919, when the Diocese of Bradford was created out of the Diocese of Ripon; it became one of three co-equal cathedrals of the new Diocese of Leeds upon its creation on 20 April 2014.
The palazzo is one of the masterpieces of fourteenth century architecture. The façade, covered with rustic stone, is divided into three levels divided by cornices on which rest the beautiful mullioned windows whose arches are covered and underlined with the same stone.
Orford Castle aerial view - Suffolk
Built by Henry II between 1165–1173, Orford Castle was designed to assert royal power in East Anglia, countering the influence of the Bigod family. Its distinctive polygonal keep, with three clasping towers, remains one of the most complete and unusual keeps in England. Once a royal stronghold, it later passed to the Uffords and other noble families, and by the 16th century much of the outer bailey had been dismantled.
The keep was preserved as a landmark for shipping, restored in the 19th century, and gifted to the Orford Town Trust in 1928. It came under state care in 1962 and is now managed by English Heritage.
Between 2022 and 2023 a £1 million conservation project was carried out after more than a decade of research. The castle’s walls, built largely from fragile local mudstone (septaria), had been eroding badly. To halt further decay, specialists applied a protective lime render across more than 400 m² of wall surface, using some 24 tonnes of material. Additional repairs included work to the roof, drainage, stone dressings and timber windows.
The project, completed in late 2022, has stabilised the structure and given the castle renewed protection against the coastal climate
Visitors can explore from basement to roof, with displays from the Orford Museum Trust inside. Famous locally is the legend of the “Wild Man of Orford,” a mysterious hairy figure said to have been captured here in the 12th century.
Orford Castle aerial view - Suffolk
Built by Henry II between 1165–1173, Orford Castle was designed to assert royal power in East Anglia, countering the influence of the Bigod family. Its distinctive polygonal keep, with three clasping towers, remains one of the most complete and unusual keeps in England. Once a royal stronghold, it later passed to the Uffords and other noble families, and by the 16th century much of the outer bailey had been dismantled.
The keep was preserved as a landmark for shipping, restored in the 19th century, and gifted to the Orford Town Trust in 1928. It came under state care in 1962 and is now managed by English Heritage.
Between 2022 and 2023 a £1 million conservation project was carried out after more than a decade of research. The castle’s walls, built largely from fragile local mudstone (septaria), had been eroding badly. To halt further decay, specialists applied a protective lime render across more than 400 m² of wall surface, using some 24 tonnes of material. Additional repairs included work to the roof, drainage, stone dressings and timber windows.
The project, completed in late 2022, has stabilised the structure and given the castle renewed protection against the coastal climate
Visitors can explore from basement to roof, with displays from the Orford Museum Trust inside. Famous locally is the legend of the “Wild Man of Orford,” a mysterious hairy figure said to have been captured here in the 12th century.
iPhone shot of the Sanctuary ceiling of Peterborough Cathedral, handheld, Shoulderpod S1, remote, tweaked in Snapseed.
Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle and seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedral it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built in 1176–1450 to replace an earlier church on the site since 705, it is moderately sized for an English cathedral. Its broad west front and large central tower are dominant features. It has been called "unquestionably one of the most beautiful" and "most poetic" of English cathedrals.
Bryggen is a historic harbour district in Bergen, one of North Europe’s oldest port cities on the west coast of Norway which was established as a centre for trade by the 12th century.
In 1350 the Hanseatic League established a “Hanseatic Office” in Bergen. They gradually acquired ownership of Bryggen and controlled the trade in stockfish from Northern Norway through privileges granted by the Crown. The Hanseatic League established a total of four overseas Hanseatic Offices, Bryggen being the only one preserved today.
Vista exterior da Sainte-Chapelle, Paris. Uma capela de estilo gótico, situada na Ile de la Cité, no coração de Paris, famosa pelos seus trabalhos em pedra e vitrais intrincados.
Turku Castle is a medieval building in the city of Turku in Finland. Together with Turku Cathedral, the castle is one of the oldest buildings still in use in Finland. Turku Castle is the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. It was founded in the late 13th century and stands on the banks of the Aura River.
A start was made on building the castle in about 1280. The Swedish conquerors of Finland intended it originally as a military fortress. During the next two centuries its defences were strengthened and living quarters were added. The castle served as a bastion and administrative centre in Eastland, as Finland was known during the time as a province of Sweden. The main part of the castle was extended considerably during the 16th century after Gustav Vasa had ascended the Swedish throne and his son John headed the Finnish administration following his promotion to duke.
Turku Castle is a medieval building in the city of Turku in Finland. Together with Turku Cathedral, the castle is one of the oldest buildings still in use in Finland. Turku Castle is the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. It was founded in the late 13th century and stands on the banks of the Aura River.
A start was made on building the castle in about 1280. The Swedish conquerors of Finland intended it originally as a military fortress. During the next two centuries its defences were strengthened and living quarters were added. The castle served as a bastion and administrative centre in Eastland, as Finland was known during the time as a province of Sweden. The main part of the castle was extended considerably during the 16th century after Gustav Vasa had ascended the Swedish throne and his son John headed the Finnish administration following his promotion to duke.
The tower of St James' Soutbroom surrounded by a newly weeping willow, a sign that spring has sprung.
St James’ Church in the Wiltshire market town of Devizes (pop. 15,500) started life as a hospital chapel built with wood donated by King Henry III adjacent to the 13th century leprosy hospital in Southbroom. The district was so known because it was south of the defensive hedge or broom which protected the town from bandits; this tended to the poorest part of a wealthy medieval town.
The chapel was dedicated to St. James and St. Denys, but disappeared from the records after 1338. It is probable that St James’ was re-built on the site of this old chapel, given its proximity to Spitalcroft, which was the land attached to the hospital.
In 1461 the first evidence of the new building appeared in the will of William Selfe, which mentions a ‘chapelry’ on the Green. St James’ remained within the parish of Bishops Cannings which is 5 km away, rather than Devizes, but had its own registers by 1572, and its own clergy by 1683.
Most of the chapel was pulled down in 1831 to allow the building of a larger church, the current one, for the growing population. The exception was the fine perpendicular tower is the only part of the 15th century chapelry which remains. The tower bears the scars of the bombardments from Jump Hill by General Walters’ parliamentary forces in the Civil War siege of Devizes in 1643. The cannon balls were found in the tower by a worker in 1780 but subsequently lost.
Public contributions raised nearly all the cost of £1053 (over £100,000 at current value). With its new church, St James’ became a separate parish with its own vicar.
A Choir Vestry (now the Church Office) was added in the 1930s. At about the same time further changes were made, including the reordering of the sanctuary and the removal of the wooden side galleries. These had been added in the 19th century to make room for the soldiers of the Wiltshire Regiment garrison.
In 2008 major internal changes were made to make the building suitable for modern use, with the removal of pews and a wooden west gallery. This allowed a full width mezzanine gallery, giving space below for a meeting room and other facilities. The removal of organ pipes by replacement with a digital instrument gave access to the Tower Room for the first time since an organ was first installed in Victorian times. This revealed four carved stone heads, believed to be 15th century originals, and a beautiful stained glass window.
The churchyard was enlarged in 1844 at the expense of the Crammer pond, though was soon closed to new burials. The retaining wall had to be rebuilt after its collapse into the pond in 2008, allowing some improvements which support wildlife as part of the Living Churchyards project.
The church is a Grade II* listed building, as described in “An Architectural Description”. There are a number of windows and memorials of interest and the church houses the regimental chapel of the Wiltshire Regiment. These are described in “The Windows and Memorials”. A list of the successive vicars and the changes that occurring during their time can be found in “The Incumbents.”
This description contains much text from the church’s website.
They are built in stone and bricks with walls that at the base are up to 3 meters thick, thinning as it grows in height. The ground floor was intended for commerce, the basement for the warehouse and the other floors for residential use, with very few openings to the outside, some of them had a wooden balcony.
Rhodes island
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem is a Roman Catholic lay religious Order governed Rhodes island from 1310 to 1522 A.D.
The Order grew out of the Knights Hospitaller, an organization founded in Jerusalem in 1050 A.D. as an Amalfitan hospital to provide care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land.
Get to know the history of this little country, the elegant and picturesque Italian village and built in the Middle Ages.
Among them, villages erected during the Middle Ages, at strategic points - at the top of hills, where you have a panoramic view of the region (and the enemies that could approach).
The Middle Ages arose in Italy in the year 476 AD, with the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of feudalism and the Catholic Church. And this was reflected in a transformation of the country's scenarios.
For you to understand a little more about this period, I went to some of these medieval villages that, with their ruins, buildings and surrounded by bucolic landscapes, survived the time and today function as open-air museums.
See the photos, make your schedule of historical journeys and allow yourself to delve into this obscure time of servants, vassals, kings, castles and, of course, wars.
The National Churches Trust describes St Mary's in Potterne as a “an Early English church of exceptional purity and austerity.”
A priest, and land held by the Bishop of Salisbury, was recorded at Potterne in Domesday Book of 1086, and in Victorian times, a 10th Century font was found on the site of the present day Church of England parish church of St Mary. It was built in the 13th century and has survived with little change, beyond work to the tower in the 15th century and restoration by Ewan Christian. Pevsner describes it as, “An Early English parish church of exceptional purity and indeed classicity” and linked this to the Bishops’ ownership of the manor.
The church is cruciform, with a substantial tower over the crossing, and original lancet windows. It is built of rubble stone, with ashlar to the upper tower. The south porch was added in the 14th century, and in the 15th the tower was made higher and given an elaborate battlement. Restoration in 1870–2 included re-roofing and the removal of galleries, and the stained glass is from various dates in that century.
Since the 11th century, the church has been linked to All Saints at West Lavington as tithes from both churches endowed a prebendary at Salisbury Cathedral. From 1967 the benefice was held in plurality with Worton and since 2017 the parish has been part of the Wellsprings benefice, which extends to Seend, Bulkington and Poulshot.
This description incorporates text from the English Wikipedia.
The Sighisoara Clock Tower is the main entry point to the Citadel, with its 64 meters high, the tower is visible from almost every corner of the city from Mures County, its purpose was to defend the main gate of the Citadel and also served as the town hall until 1556. It is now considered one of the most expressive clock towers in all of Transylvania.
La Torre del Reloj de Sighisoara es el principal punto de entrada a la Ciudadela, con sus 64 metros de altura, la torre es visible desde casi todos los rincones de la ciudad desde el condado de Mures, su propósito era defender la puerta principal de la ciudadela y también sirvió como el ayuntamiento hasta 1556. Ahora se considera una de las torres de reloj más expresivas de todo Transilvania.
Sighisoara. Romania Europe
The pulpit at St Mary Redcliffe was carved in 1856 by William Bennett, from Portishead, who also carved the fine oak pews in the nave. He was a Quaker and it is believed that he used his fellow Quakers as models for the carvings of the Apostles on the pulpit.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, widely known as St Mary Redcliffe, is the main Church of England parish church for the Redcliffe district of Bristol. The first reference to a church on the site appears in 1158, with the present building dating from 1185 to 1872. The church is considered one of the country’s finest and largest parish churches as well as an outstanding example of English Gothic architecture. The church is so large it is sometimes mistaken for Bristol Cathedral by tourists. It, unsurprisingly, enjoys Grade I listed status.
The church is notable for its many large stained glass windows, decorative stone vaults, flying buttresses, rare hexagonal porch and massive Gothic spire. With a height of 84 metres to the top of the weathervane, St Mary Redcliffe is the second-tallest structure in Bristol and the sixth-tallest parish church in the country. The church spire is a major Bristol landmark, visible from across the city and until the completion of Castle Park View in 2020, was the tallest structure ever to have been erected in Bristol.
St Mary Redcliffe has received widespread critical acclaim from various architects, historians, poets, writers and monarchs. Queen Elizabeth I, on a visit to the church in 1574, described St Mary Redcliffe as “The fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England”; Simon Jenkins gives St Mary Redcliffe the maximum five-star rating in his book ‘England’s Thousand Best Churches’, one of only eighteen to receive such a rating, describing it as a “masterpiece of English Gothic”; and Nikolaus Pevsner says that “St Mary Redcliffe need not fear comparison with any other English parish church”.
This description incorporates text from the English Wikipedia.