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35mm Film, Ilford HP5+ Developed in XTOL 1:1 for 12 minutes,
Konica Autoreflex TC SLR, 50mm f/1.4 Hexanon lens
"Un pintor es un hombre que pinta lo que vende. Un artista, en cambio, es un hombre que vende lo que pinta".
-Pablo Picasso
Recomiendo verla en grande
Juan Jose Garay, es uno de los pocos pintores que pintan del natural. En mi modesta opinión es uno de los mejores pintores impresionistas actuales que conozco. Su extensa obra, con más de 4.000 cuadros, ha ido evolucionando con su larga experiencia y dominio de la técnica. Expone en la Galería Otzaski de la Alameda de Hondarribia, cuando le corresponde el turno de los 8 pintores que integran dicha galería.
Happy Independence Day!
Numerous elements here... Original photograph was of my sweet son inside of a red plane at our local science center. I added an aviator helmet, goggles, flag, pole, scarf.... and of course, some great clouds by=erikbarker from deviantart.
Matt kindly bought the drinks when we popped down to the Spice Island Inn - I'm not really a pint kind of girl (too heavy and large!), but I slurped my way through this!!
Today the Hereios of the We’re Here! Group are visiting The Lost Glance. I can confirm that the golf club barmaid humoured me when I explained what I needed today, and she kindly posed with her hand on a beer pump.
Abanicos Vibenca, gran tarde con nuestros amigos Carmen, Juan y Álvaro.
Un gran paseo, aunque no acompañó nada el dia.
Esta serie de Vilassar de Mar, va dedicada a art_es_anna por el cariño que veo tiene a esta hermosa población del Maresme Espero que le guste. Pintor llevando al lienzo una típica y bonita calle del barrio antiguo del pueblo de Vilassar de Mar.
CENTRAL TERMICA-FIGOLS-CERCS-PINTURA-AQUAREL·LES-BAIX-TORRE DE REFRIGERACIO-PAISATGES-ESTRUCTURES-FORMIGÓ-PINTOR-ERNEST DESCALS-
Interesantes estructuras de hormigón, que me recuerdan la base de submarinos de la Kriegsmarine en Saint Nazaire, debajo mismo de la torre de refrigeración en la antigua Central Térmica de Fígols y Cercs en el Berguedà de Catalunya, el moho y el crecimieno de la vegetación ha llenado todo el lugar, gruesas paredes con importantes aberturas forman un mundo muy especial, son algunos detalles que apasionan de Pintar, en ellos encuentro algunas de las esencias de las contrucciones humanas transformadas en recuerdos de otros tiempos más florecientes. Pintura con acuarelas íntimas del artista pintor Ernest Descals sobre papel de 50 x70 centímetros.
09/52 - 52 Weeks of 2018
"Product advertisement"
This was a bit harder than I expected. I knew I wanted a bit of a challenge. I figured I would try to highlight a local/regional brand (this is a microbrew from Lakeland, which is about midway between Orlando and Tampa). I could have done a wine bottle, but those can be a bit cliche (even though they aren't exactly easy to light well). I learned aluminum cans aren't easy to light either.
This gave me an opportunity to play around with my off camera flash and some modifiers, but I just didn't have decent space to move and position them as they probably should have been. And unfortunately I don't really have the time to play around some more this weekend. I do have a few other ideas, but maybe for a later date. Also, I learned how to remote capture directly to the laptop, so that really helped.
La sala Manila del Palacio de Linares está decorada toda ella con motivos de inspiración china. Las paredes se revisten de madera pintadas de rojo, enmarcadas con molduras en negro y motivos chinescos en dorado. A media altura se muestran seis paños de seda en color crema con motivos de paisaje de influencia oriental pintada y bordada.
Destaca el tratamiento de decoración y cuidado de las tres puertas, laquedas en rojo y negro y con detalles hechos a mano. Las tres puertas quedan divididas en tres temáticas: en la parte media, paisajes; en la baja, temas florales; y ambas enmarcadas por cenefas que alternan los motivos geométricos y vegetales. En los marcos de las puertas se colocan tres discos de metal dorado y esmaltado con motivos chinescos sobre fondo azul.
El techo es otro alarde decorativo ya que se trata de un trabajo en madera y seda. Una moldura cóncava dorada decorada con motivos geométricos, rematada con personajes chinos en bajorrelieve en las esquinas, enmarca toda la superficie. Se da paso así a otro recuadro, también en madera, donde alternan los colores rojo y negro realzados con detalles en dorado.
Termina en una cenefa de temática vegetal en dorado sobre fondo negro que acoge un gran paño de seda de tonalidades doradas con motivos florales y aves pintados y bordados.
Completa el conjunto las colgaduras de los balcones y el detalle del dragón dorado que se desliza por el marco de uno de los vanos para quedar a media altura. El suelo es de madera taraceada con dibujos geométricos.
I've always loved the toucan-inspired ads for Guinness. This is a scan of a transparency from a number of years ago.
The construction site behind this billboard is now a building. Here's a current view courtesy of Google street view.
Tipo: retablo y pintura
Creador: Pasqual Ortoneda, atribuido Pasqual Ortoneda, círculo de Mateu Ortoneda
Creación: 1459
Género: arte sacro
Museo de las Culturas del Vino de Cataluña (Vilafranca del Penedès)
El Retablo de Nuestra Señora en el Vinseum es un retablo gótico con una Virgen que se exhibe desde 1940 en Vinseum, el Museo de las Culturas del Vino de Cataluña, de Vilafranca del Penedès. Se trata de un retablo gótico pintado en 1459, tal y como se aprecia en la inscripción de la base del trono.
Sobre la autoría del retablo, el historiador del arte Francesc Ruiz i Quesada afirma que el autor es Pasqual Ortoneda, cercano al círculo de Mateu Ortoneda, de la Escola de Tarragona. Ruiz y Quesada también apunta que el conjunto posiblemente procedía de la zona de la Franja, cercana a Barbastro, y debió de ser comercializado debido a la desamortización.
El retablo fue adquirido por el villafranqués Pau Milà i Fontanals, artista y teórico del arte de la Renaixença Catalana, que como otros prohombres contemporáneos se iniciaron en el coleccionismo a raíz de la desamortización de 1835, momento también en que en Cataluña empieza a valorarse el arte medieval. En 1890 el retablo fue instalado en el panteón familiar construido en el cementerio de Vilafranca. En 1926 fue exhibido en la I Exposición de Arte del Penedès celebrada en Vilafranca, tal y como puede verse en el catálogo de la exposición.
En la publicación Quaderns Il·lustrats Penedès de mayo de 1935, Manuel Trens sitúa el retablo entre las obras de la iglesia de la Trinidad, pero probablemente fue trasladado ese mismo año al finalizar su reconstrucción, tras la quema de octubre de 1934, dado que el semanario Acció no menciona el retablo cuando publica la relación de obras salvadas del incendio en la Trinidad. Todo hace pensar, pues, que pasó a ocupar el lugar de alguno de los retablos destruidos por las llamas.
El 11 de enero de 1939, el inspector de la Sección de Museos de la Generalidad de Cataluña, recibe del Ayuntamiento de Vilafranca cuatro objetos procedentes del Museo de Vilafranca, entre ellos el retablo de la familia Milà. Estos objetos debían ser enviados y depositados en la Concentración de los Museos de Cataluña con el objetivo de evitar su destrucción. Quién sabe si el retablo salió nunca de Vilafranca, poco después se anunció el fin de la guerra y no se ha localizado ningún documento del depósito. Aunque el 1 de abril del mismo año, el semanario local Acción publicaba una imagen del retablo con una nota: “Detalle del retablo gótico de la familia Milá y Fontanals que existía en la iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad que ha sido robado inicuamente antes de abandonar los marxistas nuestra villa flagelada”.
Desde 1940 el retablo ha sido custodiado por el Museo, año que ingresó en el Palacio Real de Vilafranca del Penedès uniéndose a las primeras piezas del fondo que habían transitado por diferentes sedes de la villa.
Composición
El retablo, que tiene unas dimensiones de 198 × 182 × 10 cm, se articula en tres calles de dos pisos cada uno y predela. El templo está en el centro, donde aparece la Virgen María entronizada, con el Niño en su regazo y rodeada por cuatro ángeles músicos, todos con nimbos dorados y burilados. Las calles laterales, junto al panel superior están dedicadas a los hechos relacionados con la muerte de María (Evangelios apócrifos). En la calle izquierda empezando por debajo, vemos la Anunciación de la muerte de María; en el piso superior aparece la Reunión de los Apóstoles a su alrededor. En la calle de la derecha, debajo está la Dormición de la Virgen María y encima, la Aparición de la Virgen María a Santo Tomás. En el panel superior del retablo aparece la Coronación. En el centro de la predela aparecen la Virgen María, el Barón de Dolores (Jesús) y San Juan, de medio cuerpo, detrás de una mesa en la que aparecen unos objetos simbólicos del Calvario (dados, clavos, churriacas, aceite. ..). A la derecha, en hornacinas diferentes hay, representados de medio cuerpo, Santa Lucía y San Pablo con sus atributos. En el lado izquierdo hay dos hornacinas diferentes en las que encontramos a San Pedro y Santa Bárbara, también de medio cuerpo, con sus atributos.
La estructura del retablo es la llamada “de patera” (cruz en aspa o cruz de san Andrés). Es un refuerzo tradicional en la construcción de retablos medievales en la Corona de Aragón, que viene directamente influenciado por la tradición italiana. Se disponen los travesaños en diagonal y se cruzan en medio. Está formado por seis postes verticales y seis travesaños (tres originales y tres nuevos). La unión de las tablas se hace por encolado a canto vivo y está reforzada con tela de lino. Según se puede observar, la predela se serró, separándola de las calles del retablo, y más adelante se volvió a añadir. Las escenas están divididas por unos enmarcados ornamentales de madera tallada, con columnas helicoidales y arcadas lobuladas, con las tres superiores rematadas con tres pináculos de formas vegetales (hojas).
Restauración
En 2012 fue restaurado por el Centro de Restauración de Bienes Muebles de Catalunya.
El hecho de que el retablo hubiera pasado varios años dentro de una capilla del cementerio con exceso de humedad, y los diferentes desplazamientos que había sufrido aconsejaron realizar una primera intervención de restauración en 1954 que corrió a cargo del restaurador italiano Arturo Cividini y fue gestionada por Manuel Trens. Por las fotografías que se conservan en Vinseum sabemos que fue eliminado un encuadre que no era original y fue reconstruido el coronamiento del retablo, que en algún momento se había descabezado para adaptarlo a un emplazamiento más reducido. En el catálogo de la I Exposición de Arte del Penedès, se dice: "La pulsera (marco exterior) fue desacertadamente restaurada. Algún verde y todos los azules han sido repintados y son hoy negros" (p. 172).
A nivel de superficie pictórica, el retablo presentaba muchos repintes y la gama cromática tenía bastantes alteraciones que, en parte, afectaban a su lectura visual estética. El proceso de restauración llevado a cabo comenzó con la fijación de la policromía en peligro de desprendimiento y con la estabilización del soporte de madera, con una limpieza y desinsectación. Sin embargo, el elemento más destacado fue la limpieza de la capa pictórica con la eliminación sistemática de los repintes que afectaban a la zona del fondo, la del piso superior y varias escenas de la vida de la Virgen —sobre todo el manto de la Virgen de la escena principal.
Toda la intervención de restauración fue acompañada de un extenso estudio de la pieza, con técnicas de examen diversas, como la fotografía con luz difusa, la fotografía ultravioleta y la reflectografía de rayos infrarrojos. También se realizaron extracciones de muestras para los análisis físico-químicos de pigmentos y capas superficiales, por parte de técnicos de la Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña-UPC.
El resultado final ha sido la recuperación de la lectura visual de la superficie policromada original del siglo xv.
Se presentó de nuevo una vez restaurado el sábado 30 de junio de 2012, y se ubicó temporalmente en la capilla de Sant Pelegrí, esperando la finalización de las obras de Vinseum. Desde octubre de 2012, el retablo es nuevamente visitable en la exposición estable de Vinseum.
Referencias
Ruiz i Quesada, Francesc «Les escoles pictòriques de Tarragona». L'Art gòtic a Catalunya: Pintura II, El corrent Internacional, 2005, pàg. 149-151.
I Exposició d'Art del Penedès: celebrada a Vilafranca des de'l día 22 d'agost al 5 de setembre de 1926. Vendrell: Imp. Ramon, 1927.
Benach i Torrents, Manuel «L'hospital del sant Esperit i el convent i l'església de la Trinitat de Vilafranca». Quaderns Il·lustrats Penedès, núm. 3, 1935.
El Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya (CRBMC) restaura el retaule gòtic del Museu del Vi de Vilafranca del Penedès, Generalitat de Catalunya
Bibliografia
Miret, Montserrat. El retaule de la Mare de Déu. Vilafranca del Penedès: Museu del Vi, 1994.
Traducido de
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retaule_de_la_Mare_de_D%c3%a9u_de_V...
El Retaule de la Mare de Déu de VINSEUM és un retaule gòtic amb una Mare de Déu que s'exhibeix des de 1940 a VINSEUM, el Museu de les Cultures del Vi de Catalunya, de Vilafranca del Penedès. Es tracta d'un retaule gòtic pintat el 1459, tal com s'aprecia a la inscripció de la base del tron.
Sobre l'autoria del retaule, l'historiador de l'art Francesc Ruiz i Quesada afirma que l'autor és Pasqual Ortoneda, proper al cercle de Mateu Ortoneda, de l'Escola de Tarragona. Ruiz i Quesada també apunta que el conjunt possiblement procedia de la zona de la Franja, propera a Barbastre, i devia ser comercialitzat a causa de la desamortització.[1]
El retaule va ser adquirit pel vilafranquí Pau Milà i Fontanals, artista i teòric de l'art de la Renaixença Catalana, que com altres prohoms contemporanis van iniciar-se en el col·leccionisme arran de la desamortització de 1835, moment també en què a Catalunya es comença a valorar l'art medieval. L'any 1890 el retaule va ser instal·lat al panteó familiar construït al cementiri de Vilafranca. El 1926 va ser exhibit a la I Exposició d'Art del Penedès celebrada a Vilafranca, tal com es pot veure en el catàleg de l'exposició.[2]
En la publicació Quaderns Il·lustrats Penedès del maig de 1935,[3] Manuel Trens situa el retaule entre les obres de l'església de la Trinitat, però probablement va ser-hi traslladat aquell mateix any en finalitzar la seva reconstrucció, després de la crema d'octubre de 1934, atès que el setmanari Acció [1] no esmenta el retaule quan publica la relació d'obres salvades de l'incendi a la Trinitat. Tot fa pensar doncs, que va passar a ocupar el lloc d'algun dels retaules destruïts per les flames.
L'11 de gener de 1939, l'inspector de la Secció de Museus de la Generalitat de Catalunya, rep de l'Ajuntament de Vilafranca quatre objectes procedents del Museu de Vilafranca, entre ells el retaule de la família Milà. Aquests objectes havien de ser tramesos i dipositats a la Concentració dels Museus de Catalunya amb l'objectiu d'evitar-ne la seva destrucció. Qui sap si el retaule va sortir mai de Vilafranca, doncs poc després es va anunciar la fi de la guerra i no s'ha localitzat cap document del dipòsit. Tot i que l'1 d'abril del mateix any, el setmanari local Acción [2] publicava una imatge del retaule amb una nota: “Detalle del retablo gótico de la familia Milá i Fontanals que existia en la iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad que ha sido robado inicuamente antes d'abandonar los marxistas nuestra villa flajelada”.
Des de 1940 el retaule ha estat custodiat pel Museu, any que va ingressar al Palau Reial de Vilafranca del Penedès unint-se a les primeres peces del fons que havien transitat per diferents seus de la vila.
Composició
El retaule, que té unes dimensions de 198 × 182 × 10 cm, s'articula en tres carrers de dos pisos cada un i predel·la. El temple és al centre, on hi apareix la Mare de Déu entronitzada, amb el Nen a la falda i envoltada per quatre àngels músics, tots amb nimbes daurats i burinats. Els carrers laterals, junt al plafó superior estan dedicats als fets relacionats amb la mort de Maria (Evangelis apòcrifs). Al carrer esquerre començant per sota, veiem l'Anunciació de la mort de Maria; al pis superior apareix la Reunió dels Apòstols al seu voltant. Al carrer de la dreta, a sota hi ha la Dormició de la Mare de Déu i a sobre, l'Aparició de la Mare de Déu a Sant Tomàs. Al plafó superior del retaule apareix la Coronació. Al centre de la predel·la apareixen la Mare de Déu, el Baró de Dolors (Jesús) i Sant Joan, de mig cos, darrere una taula en la que hi apareixen uns objectes simbòlics del Calvari (daus, claus, xurriaques, oli...). A la dreta, en fornícules diferents hi ha, representats de mig cos, Santa Llúcia i Sant Pau amb llurs atributs. A la banda esquerra hi ha dues fornícules diferents en les que trobem Sant Pere i Santa Bàrbara, també de mig cos, amb els seus atributs.
L'estructura del retaule és l'anomenada “de pastera” (creu en aspa o creu de sant Andreu). És un reforç tradicional en la construcció de retaules medievals a la Corona d'Aragó, que ve directament influenciat per la tradició italiana. Es disposen els travessers en diagonal i es creuen al mig. Està format per sis posts verticals i sis travessers (tres originals i tres de nous). La unió de les taules es fa per encolat a cantell viu i estan reforçades amb tela de lli. Segons es pot observar, la predel·la es va serrar, separant-la dels carrers del retaule, i més endavant s'hi va tornar a afegir. Les escenes estan dividides per uns emmarcaments ornamentals de fusta tallada, amb columnes helicoïdals i arcades lobul·lades, amb les tres superiors rematades amb tres pinacles de formes vegetals (fulles).
Restauració
El 2012 va ser restaurat pel Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya.[4]
El fet que el retaule hagués passat uns quants anys dins una capella del cementiri amb excés d'humitat, i els diferents desplaçaments que havia patit van aconsellar fer-hi una primera intervenció de restauració l'any 1954 que va anar a càrrec del restaurador italià Arturo Cividini i fou gestionada per Manuel Trens. Per les fotografies que es conserven a VINSEUM sabem que va ser eliminat un emmarcament que no era original i va ser reconstruït el coronament del retaule, que en algun moment s'havia escapçat per adaptar-lo a un emplaçament més reduït. En el catàleg de la I Exposició d'Art del Penedès, es diu: "La polsera (marc exterior) fou desencertadament restaurada. Algun verd i tots els blaus han estat repintats i són avui negres" (p. 172).
A nivell de superfície pictòrica, el retaule presentava moltes repintades i la gamma cromàtica tenia força alteracions que, en part, afectaven la seva lectura visual estètica. El procés de restauració dut a terme començà amb la fixació de la policromia en perill de despreniment i amb l'estabilització del suport de fusta, amb una neteja i desinsectació. L'element, però, més destacat fou la neteja de la capa pictòrica amb l'eliminació sistemàtica de les repintades que afectaven la zona del camper, la del pis superior i diverses escenes de la vida de la Verge —sobretot el mantell de la Verge de l'escena principal.
Tota la intervenció de restauració va anar acompanyada d'un extens estudi de la peça, amb tècniques d'examen de diverses com la fotografia amb llum difusa, la fotografia ultraviolada i la reflectografia de raigs infraroigs. També es van fer extraccions de mostres per a les anàlisis fisicoquímiques de pigments i capes superficials, per part de tècnics de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya–UPC.
El resultat final ha estat la recuperació de la lectura visual de la superfície policromada original del segle xv.
Es va presentar de nou un cop restaurat el dissabte 30 de juny de 2012, i es va ubicar temporalment a la capella de Sant Pelegrí, esperant la finalització de les obres de VINSEUM. Des de l'octubre de 2012, el retaule és novament visitable a l'exposició estable de VINSEUM.
Referències
Ruiz i Quesada, Francesc «Les escoles pictòriques de Tarragona». L'Art gòtic a Catalunya: Pintura II, El corrent Internacional, 2005, pàg. 149-151.
I Exposició d'Art del Penedès: celebrada a Vilafranca des de'l día 22 d'agost al 5 de setembre de 1926. Vendrell: Imp. Ramon, 1927.
Benach i Torrents, Manuel «L'hospital del sant Esperit i el convent i l'església de la Trinitat de Vilafranca». Quaderns Il·lustrats Penedès, núm. 3, 1935.
El Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya (CRBMC) restaura el retaule gòtic del Museu del Vi de Vilafranca del Penedès[Enllaç no actiu] Generalitat de Catalunya
Bibliografia
Miret, Montserrat. El retaule de la Mare de Déu. Vilafranca del Penedès: Museu del Vi, 1994.
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retaule_de_la_Mare_de_D%c3%a9u_de_V...
Thursday morning, and all I had to do was get back to Kent. Hopefully before five so I could hand the hire car back, but getting back safe and sound would do, really.
I woke at six so I could be dressed for breakfast at half six when it started, and as usual when in a hotel, I had fruit followed by sausage and bacon sarnies. And lots of coffee.
Outside it had snowed. OK, it might only be an inch of the stuff, but that's more than an inch needed to cause chaos on the roads.
Back to the room to pack, one last look round and back to reception to check out, then out into the dawn to find that about a quarter of the cars were having snow and ice cleared off them before being able to be driven.
I joined them, scraping the soft snow then the ice. Bracing stuff at seven in the morning.
Now able to see out, I inched out of the car park and out to the exit and onto the untreated roads.
It was a picturesque scene, but not one I wanted to stop to snap. My first road south had only been gritted on one side, thankfully the side I was travelling down, but was still just compacted snow.
After negotiating two roundabouts, I was on the on ramp to the M6, and a 60 mile or so drive south. The motorway was clear of snow, but huge amounts of spray was thrown up, and the traffic was only doing 45mph, or the inside lane was, and that was quite fast and safe enough for me.
More snow fell as I neared Stoke, just to add to the danger of the journey, and then the rising sun glinted off the road, something which I had most of the drive home.
I went down the toll road, it costs eight quid, but is quick and easy. And safe too with so little traffic on it. I think for the first time, I didn't stop at the services, as it was only about half nine, and only three hours since breakfast.
And by the time I was on the old M6, there was just about no snow on the ground, and the road was beginning to dry out.
My phone played the tunes from my apple music store. Loudly. So the miles slipped by.
After posting some shots from Fotheringhay online, a friend, Simon, suggested others nearby that were worth a visit, and I also realised that I hadn't taken wide angle shots looking east and west, so I could drop in there, then go to the others suggested.
And stopping here was about the half way point in the journey so was a good break in the drive, and by then the clouds had thinned and a weak sin shone down.
Fotheringhay is as wonderful as always, it really is a fine church, easy to stop there first, where I had it to myself, and this time even climbed into the richly decorated pulpit to snap the details.
A short drive away was Apethorpe, where there was no monkey business. The village was built of all the same buttery yellow sandstone, looking fine in the weak sunshine.
Churches in this part of Northamptonshire are always open, Simon said.
Not at Apethorpe. So I made do with snapping the church and the village stocks and whipping post opposite.
A short drive up the hill was King's Cliffe. Another buttery yellow village and a fine church, which I guessed would be open.
Though it took some finding, as driving up the narrow high street I failed to find the church. I checked the sat nav and I had driven right past it, but being down a short lane it was partially hidden behind a row of houses.
The church was open, and was surrounded by hundreds of fine stone gravestones, some of designs I have not seen before, but it was the huge numbers of them that was impressive.
Inside the church was fine, if cold. I record what I could, but my compact camera's batter had died the day before, and I had no charger, so just with the nifty fifty and the wide angle, still did a good job of recording it.
There was time for one more church. Just.
For those of us who remember the seventies, Warmington means Dad's Army, or rather Warmington on Sea did. THat there is a real Warmington was a surprise to me, and it lay just a couple of miles the other side of Fotheringhay.
The church is large, mostly Victorian after it fell out of use and became derelict, if the leaflet I read inside was accurate. But the renovation was excellent, none more so than the wooden vaulted roof with bosses dating to either the 15th or 16th centuries.
Another stunning item was the pulpit, which looks as though it is decorated with panels taken from the Rood Screen. Very effective.
Back to the car, I program the sat nav for home, and set off back to Fotheringhay and the A14 beyond.
No messing around now, just press on trying to make good time so to be home before dark, and time to go home, drop my bags, feed the cats before returning the car.
No real pleasure, but I made good time, despite encountering several bad drivers, who were clearly out only to ruin my mood.
Even the M25 was clear, I raced to the bridge, over the river and into Kent.
Nearly home.
I drive back down the A2, stopping at Medway services for a sandwich and a huge coffee on the company's credit card.
And that was that, just a blast down to Faversham, round onto the A2 and past Canterbury and to home, getting back at just after three, time to fill up the bird feeders, feed the cats, unpack and have a brew before going out at just gone four to return the car.
Jools would rescue me from the White Horse on her way home, so after being told the car was fine, walked to the pub and ordered two pints of Harvey's Best.
There was a guy from Essex and his American girlfriend, who were asking about all sorts of questions about Dover's history, and I was the right person to answer them.
I was told by a guide from the Castle I did a good job.
Yay me.
Jools arrived, so I went out and she took me home. Where the cats insisted they had not been fed.
Lies, all lies.
Dinner was teriyaki coated salmon, roasted sprouts and back, defrosted from before Christmas, and noodles.
Yummy.
Not much else to tell, just lighting the fire, so Scully and I would be toast warm watch the exciting Citeh v Spurs game, where Spurs were very Spursy indeed.
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I was exploring the churches of north-east Northamptonshire, and on my way back to Peterborough station how could I resist a visit to lovely Warmington church? The village is rather a suburban one but, the solid little entirely Early English church sits at its heart. Entirely a Huntingdonshire church in style, with a stubby spire and big dormer-style lucarnes.
I had previously visited almost exactly a year ago, and as before I left my bike in the Early English porch, which is vaulted in blocks of stone, handsome yet familiar. I remembered in 2015 stepping into what turned out to be then the most interesting interior of the day, although rather overshadowed by Apethorpe and Blatherwycke on my current trip. The most striking feature, and rather a surprising one, is that the roof of the nave is vaulted in wood. This was done in the 13th Century, and the bosses survive from that time - even more surprising, they all depict green men, nine of them. Why was this not done elsewhere?
The rood screen is one of the best in the area, and the medieval pulpit appears to be constructed of rood screen panels (can that be right? Did they come from the rood loft? Surely it is pre-Reformation, in which case perhaps they came from somewhere else). Lots to think about. A good church, it would be considered so in any county.
So I got back on my bike and headed on towards Peterborough, but not without a memory of the last time I had done the same thing, because in 2015, as I was about to leave the church, three young women came in. They were walking the Nene Way, and were attired as you might expect attractive young women to be on such a sunny day. I didn't want them to be made nervous by the presence of a middle-aged man with a camera, so I nodded a greeting as I left, but in the event they engaged me in conversation, asking me where I'd come from, telling me what they were doing, where they were going, and so on.
In the end I had to make my apologies and leave as they didn't seem to want to let me go, not an experience I have very often these days, I can tell you. It rather put me in mind of the Sirens episode in the Odyssey.
And so I headed on, wary now of any wandering rocks and one-eyed giants.
www.flickr.com/photos/norfolkodyssey/27033140016/in/photo...
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St Michael’s Parish Church, Warmington
Warmington was already an established farming community when its assets were recorded in Domesday Book. Shortly afterwards, its Norman owner, the Earl of Warwick, gave the manor of Warmington to the Benedictine Abbey which his father had endowed in Normandy, St.Peter’s at Preaux. Warmington was to remain in monastic hands, with one short break, for about 450 years. Monks were sent over from Preaux who built a small Priory. Its foundations were discovered when houses were built in Court Close in the 1950s. The Priory has disappeared, but the splendid church built under the monks’ supervision, mainly in the early medieval period, remains.
The church stands high above the village, close to the summit of Warmington Hill. Tradition tells us that the stone for building it was dug close by, in the area known as Catpits, or Churchpits. The stone for the tower was brought from a field known as Turpits, or Towerpits, a quarter of a mile away along the Hornton road. The churchyard is entered either by the lych-gate from the main road, or from the village by two long flights of steps. A diagonal line of pine trees marks the former boundary of the churchyard which was extended in the 1850s. In the older part, and especially near the south porch, are gravestones of exceptionally fine workmanship dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. About eighty of these are ‘listed’ by the Department of the Environment. All the inscribed memorials were recorded in 1981.
An admirable and detailed architectural description of the church is available in the Victoria County History. These notes are intended rather as a ‘layman’s conducted tour’. The church was purpose-built and used for the first half of its long life for forms of worship very different from our own. It was also the village meeting place for many secular purposes The church comprises north and south porches, nave with north and south aisles, a west tower and chancel with two-storey vestry adjoining.
As you enter the church by the south porch you walk forward into the nave. This area, with the first three pillars on each side, is where Warmington people have met and worshipped since the twelfth century. The area was extended by the addition of the aisles a century later. Today the overwhelming impression is a sense of simplicity, of space and of strength. Imagine the scene in the medieval period: no pews but white-washed walls covered with paintings, images of the saints in stone, on wood and painted cloths, the whole lit by the sunlight through stained glass and by candles and lamps burning before every image. On Sundays before Mass, at special festivals and for some fifty saints’ days in the year, a procession would form, with banners and hand bells, winding its way around the church and churchyard, and stopping at various points for particular acts of worship. The north and west doors, so rarely used today, had significance in these processions.
Before leaving this area of the church, notice the variety of windows, almost all of early date, but now mostly with clear glass. The ones at the east ends of the aisles, where the stone plate is pierced with roundels and a five-pointed star, are unusual. Considerable work has been undertaken in recent years in renewing the stone mullions, worn by the weather over time. The early Norman tub font of simple design is large enough for infant immersion. The aisles both taper by a foot, one to the east, and one to the west. The nave and chancel are slightly out of alignment, perhaps symbolic of Christ’s drooping head on the cross.
Before stepping down into the chancel, run your hand along the wooden screen under the chancel arch. This is all that remains of the great rood-screen which would have dominated the medieval church. The screen was hacked through quite roughly when the church was stripped of its ‘idolatrous’ treasures at the Reformation. Just to the right of the chancel arch is the doorway and stair which used to lead to the rood-screen loft.
The stained glass and memorial tablets in the chancel all commemorate the family of the Victorian rector during whose incumbency the church was restored. On the south wall are a richly decorated triple sedilia and piscina, dating from the fifteenth century when Warmington manor had newly passed to the Carthusian monks of Wytham in Somerset.
A door from the chancel leads into the vestry, built about 1340. The lower room was a chapel, dedicated to St Thomas. The stone altar shows four of its five original crosses cut in the top. An altar would have a piscina nearby for washing the vessels used at Mass. The piscina here has a trefoiled ogee-head and quartrefoil basin. On the opposite wall is a blocked fireplace.
The oak doors and stairway are delightful and a testament to the skills of local carpenters, smiths and masons. The upper room was the priest’s home complete with windows, commanding extensive views, fireplace, lavatory and a shuttered opening for keeping watch over the main alter. The exterior walls of the vestry are extraordinarily thick. One Warmington tradition was that it was used as a prison for recalcitrant monks!
A more credible and interesting suggestion is that the walls were so constructed to carry the weight of a tower. If this was indeed the plan, it was quickly abandoned, for soon after the vestry was built work started on the tower in the usual Warwickshire position at the west end of the nave.
The slightly different stonework on the exterior indicates the stages of its building. The tower is recessed slightly into the nave, presumably to accommodate it in the very limited land there was available for extending the church at the west end. A stair within the thickness of the wall gives access to the bell chamber and the roof. The flight is steep and the treads are worn down to the bottom of the risers. The present bells are dated 1602, 1613 and 1811.
There are many interesting gravestones in the churchyard, which were recorded by members of Warmington WI in a 1981 survey.
VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORY
WARMINGTON
This extract from the Victoria County History gives a very detailed description of the parish church.
The church stands directly on the east side of the main road from Banbury to Warwick at the top of a steep gradient and the village lies mostly to the northeast of it at a lower level. The parish church of ST. MICHAEL, or ST. NICHOLAS, consists of a chancel, north chapel with a priest’s chamber above it, nave, north and south aisles and porches and a west tower.
The nave dates from the 12th century; no detail is left to indicate its original date but it was of the proportion of two squares, common in the early 12th century. A north aisle was added first, about the middle of the 12th century, with an arcade of three bays; a south aisle followed, near the end of the 12th century, also with a three-bay arcade. After about a century a considerable enlargement was begun and continued over a period of half a century or more; the nave was lengthened eastwards about 10 ft. and a new chancel built. The extra length of the side walls added to the nave perhaps remained unpierced at first.
Although there is a general sameness in the Hornton stone ashlar walling throughout, all the various parts—chancel, chapel, aisles, and tower—have different plinths, &c., and there is a great variation in the elevations and details of the windows, showing constant changes from the 14th century, when there was much activity, onwards, probably because of decay and need for repair caused by the church’s exposed position on the brow of a hill.
The south aisle was widened to its present limits about 1290, on the evidence of the wide splays and other details of its windows; but an early-13th-century doorway was re-used. It is possible that the east part of the north aisle followed soon afterwards, c. 1300, as a kind of transeptal chapel, on the evidence of its east window, which differs from the other aisle windows. From c. 1330–40 much was done. The chancel arch was widened, new bays to match were inserted in the east lengths of the nave walls, making both arcades now of four bays, the widening of the whole of the north aisle was completed with the addition of the north porch. The 12th-century north arcade, which seems to have lost its inner order, was probably rebuilt. There is a curious distortion about both aisles, perhaps only explained by the widenings being made in more than one period; the north aisle tapers from west to east and the south aisle tapers from east to west, about a foot each, as compared with the lines of the arcades. The south porch was probably added about 1330.
About 1340 came also the addition of the chapel with the priest’s chamber above it. The north wall of the chancel, probably of the 13th century and thinner than any of the other walls, was kept to form the south wall of the chapel, but the other walls were made unusually thick, as though it was at first intended to raise a higher superstructure than was actually carried out, perhaps even a tower. If such was the intention it was quickly abandoned and the west tower was begun about 1340–5 and carried up to some two-thirds of its present height. There was not much room above the road-side and it had to encroach 2 or 3 ft. into the west end of the nave. The top stage was added or completed in the 15th century.
With the addition of the chapel, alterations were made to the chancel windows, but its south wall had to be rebuilt in the 15th century, when new and larger windows were inserted and the piscina and sedilia constructed.
There have been many repairs and renovations, notably in 1867 to the chancel and 1871 for the rest of the church, and others since then. The roofs have been entirely renewed, though probably more or less of the original forms of the 14th or 15th centuries.
The chancel (about 30½ft. by 16½ft.) has an east window of four trefoiled pointed lights and modern tracery of 14th-century character in a two-centred head with an external hood-mould having head-stops. The jambs and arch, of two moulded orders, and the hood-mould are early-14th-century. In the north wall is a 14th-century doorway into the chapel with jambs and ogee head of three moulded orders and a hoodmould with head-stops, the eastern a cowled man’s, the western a woman’s. It contains an ancient oak door, with stout diagonal framing at the back and hung with plain strap-hinges. At the west end of the wall are two windows close together; the eastern, of c. 1340, of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and cusped piercings in a square head with an external label having decayed head-stops. It has a shouldered internal lintel which is carved with grotesque faces. The western is a narrower and earlier 14th-century window of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and a quatrefoil, &c., in a square head with an external label.
The window at the west end of the south wall is similar. The other two are 15th-century insertions, each of two wide cinquefoiled three-centred lights under a square head with head-stops, one a cowled human head, the other beast-heads. The jambs and lintel of two sunk-chamfered orders are old, the rest restored. The rear lintel is also sunk-chamfered and is supported in the middle by a shaped stone bracket from the mullion.
The 14th-century priest’s doorway has jambs and two-centred ogee head of two ovolo-moulded orders and a cambered internal lintel; it has no hood-mould.
Below the south-east window is a 15th-century piscina with small side pilasters that have embattled heads, and a trefoiled ogee head enriched with crockets. The sill, which projects partly as a moulded corbel, has a round basin. West of it are three sedilia of the same character with cinquefoiled ogee heads also crocketed and with finials. At the springing level are carved human-head corbels: the cusp-points are variously carved, an acorn, a snake’s head, a skull, and foliage. The two outer are surmounted by crocketed and finialled gables and all are flanked and divided by pilasters with embattled heads and crocketed pinnacles.
The east wall is built of yellow-grey ashlar with a projecting splayed plinth; the gable-head has been rebuilt. At the south-east angle is a pair of square buttresses of two stages, probably later additions, as the plinth is not carried round them. Another at the former north-east angle has been restored. The south wall is of yellow ashlar but has a moulded plinth of the 15th century. The eaves have a hollow-moulded course with which the uprights of the 15th-century window-labels are mitred.
The 14th-century chancel arch has responds and pointed head of two ovolo-moulded orders interrupted at the springing line by the abacus.
The roof with arched trusses is modern and is covered with tiles.
The north chapel (about 12 ft. east to west by 17 ft. deep) is now used as the vestry, and dates from c. 1340. In its south wall, the thin north wall of the chancel, is a straight joint 3¼ft. from the east wall probably marking the east jamb of a former 13th-century window, and below it is the remnant of an early stringcourse that is chamfered on its upper edge. The east wall is 3 ft. 10 in. thick and the north wall 4 ft. 6 in. In the middle of each is a rectangular one-light window with moulded jambs and head of two orders and an external label; the internal reveals are half splayed and part squared at the inner edges and have a flat stone lintel. The lights were probably cusped originally. In the west wall is a filled-in square-headed fire-place, perhaps original. Partly in the recess of the east window and partly projecting is an ancient thick stone altarslab showing four of the original five crosses cut in the top. It has a hollow-chamfered lower edge and is supported by moulded stone corbels. South of it in the east wall is a piscina with a trefoiled ogee-head and hood-mould and a quatrefoil basin.
The stair-vice that leads up to the story above is in the south-west angle, its doorway being splayed westwards to avoid the doorway to the chancel. In it is an ancient oak door with one-way diagonal framing on the back. The turret projects externally to the west in the angle with the chancel wall; it is square in the lower part but higher is broadened northwards with a splay that is corbelled out below in three courses, the lowest corbel having a trefoiled ogee or blind arch cut in it. The top is tabled back up to the eaves of the chapel west wall. A moulded string-course passes round the projection and there is another half-way up the tabling. The doorway at the top of the spiral stair leading into the upper chamber has an ancient oak door hung with three strap-hinges.
The upper priest’s chamber has an east window of two plain square-headed lights, probably altered. In the north wall is a rectangular window that was of two lights but has lost its mullion. Outside it has a false pointed head of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and leaf tracery, all of it blank, and a hood-mould with human-head stops, one cowled. Apparently this treatment was purely for decorative purposes, like the square-headed windows at Shotteswell and elsewhere. The south wall is pierced by a watching-hole into the chancel, which is fitted with an iron grill and oak shutter: it has been reduced from a larger opening that had an ogee head and hood-mould. There is a square-headed fire-place in the west wall and in the splayed north-west angle is the entrance to a garderobe or latrine, which is lighted by a north loop.
The walls are of yellow ashlar and have a plinth of two courses, the upper moulded, a moulded stringcourse at first-floor level, and moulded eaves-courses at the sides. The north wall is gabled and has a parapet with string-course and coping. At the angles are diagonal buttresses of two stages; the lower stage is 2½ft. broad up to the first-floor level, above this the upper stage is reduced to about half the breadth. They support square diagonal pinnacles with restored crocketed finials. The west wall is unpierced but above it is a plain square chimney-shaft with an open-side hood on top. Internally the walls are faced with whitish-brown ashlar. The gabled roof is modern and of two bays.
The nave (about 41½ft. by 16½ft.) has north and south arcades of four bays. The easternmost bay on each side, with the first pillar, is of the same detail and date as the chancel arch. They vary in span, the north being about 9 ft. and the south about 10 ft., and in both cases the span is less than those of the older bays. Those on the north side are of 11–12 ft. span and date from the middle of the 12th century. The pillars are circular, the west respond a half-circle, with scalloped capitals, 6 in. high and square in the deep-browed upper part and with a 4½in. grooved and hollowchamfered abacus. The bases are chamfered and stand on square sub-bases. The arches are pointed and of one square order with a plain square hood-mould, The voussoirs are small. The middle parts of the soffits are plastered between the flush inner ends of the voussoirs, suggesting a former inner order, abolished perhaps in a rebuilding of the heads.
The same three bays of the south side are of 11 ft. span and of late-12th-century date. The round pillars are rather more slender than the northern, and the capitals are taller, 12 in. high, with long and shallow scallops, and have 4 in. abaci like the northern. The bases are taller and moulded in forms approaching those of the 13th century, on chamfered square sub-bases.
The pointed arches are of one chamfered order and their hood-moulds are now flush with the plastered wall-faces above.
The half-round west responds of both arcades have been overlapped on the nave side by the east wall of the tower.
High above the 14th-century south-east respond is a 15th-century four-centred doorway to the former rood-loft. The stair-vice leading up to it is entered by a four-centred doorway in the east wall of the south aisle.
The north aisle (11½ft. wide at the east end and 12½ft. at the west) has an uncommon east window of c. 1300. It is of three plain-pointed rather narrow lights; above the middle light, which has a shorter pointed head than the others, is a circle enclosing a pierced five-pointed star, all in a two-centred head with an external hood-mould having defaced head-stops, and with a chamfered rear-arch.
Set fairly close together at the east end of the north wall are two tall windows of c. 1340, each of two trefoiled round-headed lights and foiled leaf-tracery below a segmental-pointed head with an ogee apex, the tracery coming well below the arch. The jambs are of two orders, the outer sunk-chamfered. The lights are wider and the splays of ashlar are more acute than those of the east window.
The third window near the west end is narrower and shorter and of two plain-pointed lights and an uncusped spandrel in a two-centred head: it is of much the same date as the east window. The jambs and head are of two hollow-chamfered orders and the fairly obtuse plastered splays have old angle-dressings. The segmental-pointed rear-arch is chamfered.
The north doorway, also of c. 1340, has jambs and two-centred head without a hood-mould; the segmental rear-arch is of square section. In it is an 18th-century oak door.
The three-light window in the west wall has jambs and splays like those of the north-west but its head has been altered; it is now of three trefoiled ogee-headed lights below a four-centred arch. The chamfered reararch is elliptical.
The walls are yellow ashlar with a chamfered plinth and parapets with moulded string-courses and copings that are continued over the east and west gables. Below the sills of the two north-east windows is a plain stringcourse. At the east angle is a pair of shallow square buttresses and a diagonal buttress at the west, all ancient. White ashlar facing is exposed inside between the two north-east windows only, the remainder being plastered. The gabled roof of trussed-rafter type is modern and covered with tiles.
The south aisle (13 ft. wide at the east end and 12 ft. at the west) has an east window of three plain-pointed lights, and three plain circles in plate tracery form, in a two-centred head with an external hood-mould having mask stops. The yellow stone jambs and head of two chamfered orders and the wide ashlar splays are probably of the late 13th century; the grey stone mullions and tracery are apparently old restorations but are probably reproductions of the original forms.
There are two south windows: the eastern is of two wide cinquefoiled elliptical-headed lights under a square main head with an external label with return stops. The jambs are of two moulded orders, the inner (and the mullion) with small roll-moulds, probably of the 13th century re-used when the window was refashioned in the 15th century. The wide splays are of rubble-work and there is a chamfered segmental reararch. The western is a narrower opening of two trefoiled-pointed lights, with the early form of soffit cusping, and early-14th-century tracery in a twocentred head: the jambs are of two chamfered orders and the wide splays are plastered, with ashlar dressings: the chamfered rear-arch is segmental pointed.
The reset south doorway has jambs and pointed head of two moulded orders with filleted rolls and undercut hollows of the early 13th century, divided by a three-quarter hollow more typical of a later period, and all are stopped on a single splayed base. The hoodmould has defaced shield-shaped head-stops. There are four steps down into the church through this doorway.
The window in the west wall is like that in the east but the three lights are trefoiled and the three circles in the two-centred head are quatrefoiled: the head is all restored work. The jambs are ancient and precisely like those of the square-headed south window, and the wide splays are of rubble-work.
The walls are of yellow fine-jointed ashlar and have plinths of two splayed courses, the upper projecting like that of the east chancel-wall, and plain parapets with restored copings. At the angles are old and rather shallow diagonal buttresses. There are three scratched sundials on the south wall, one, a complete circle, being on a west jambstone of the south-east window.
The gabled roof is modern like that of the north aisle.
The south porch is built of ashlar like that of the aisle but the courses do not tally and it has a different plinth, a plain hollow-chamfer. The gabled south wall has a parapet with a restored coping. The pointed entrance is of two orders, the inner ovolo-moulded, the outer hollow-chamfered, and has a hood-mould of 13thcentury form. There are side benches. The roof is modern but on the wall of the aisle are cemented lines marking the position of an earlier high-pitched roof at a lower level than the present one.
The north porch is of shallower projection. It has a gabled front with diagonal buttresses and coped parapet and a pointed entrance with jambs and head of two chamfered orders, the inner hollow, and a hood-mould with head-stops.
The west tower (about 9½ft. square) is of three stages divided by projecting splayed string-courses: it has a high plinth, with a moulded upper member and chamfered lower course, and a plain parapet. The walls are of yellow ashlar, that of the two upper stages being of rather rougher facing and in smaller courses than the lowest stage. At the west angles are diagonal buttresses reaching to the top of the second stage. There are no east buttresses but in the angle of the north wall with the end of the nave is a shallow buttress against the nave-wall. In the south-west angle, but not projecting, is a stair-vice with a pointed doorway in a splay, and lighted by a west loop. The archway to the nave has a two-centred head of two chamfered orders, the inner dying on the reveals, the outer mitring with the single chamfered order of the responds. It has large voussoirs. The wall on either side of the archway is of squared rough-tooled ashlar.
The 14th-century west doorway has jambs and pointed head of two wave-moulded orders divided by a three-quarter hollow, and a hood-mould with return stops. The head of the tall and narrow 14th-century west window is carried up into the second stage, its hood-mould springing from the string-course. It is of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and a quatrefoil in a two-centred head: the jambs are of two chamfered orders.
There are no piercings in the second stage, but on the north side is a modern clock face.
The bell-chamber has 15th-century windows, each of two lights with depressed trefoiled ogee heads and uncusped tracery in which the mullion line is continued up to the apex of the two-centred head. The jambs are of two chamfered orders and there is no hood-mould.
The font is circular and dates probably from the 13th century. It has a plain tapering bowl, a short stem with a comparatively large 13th-century moulding at the top: a short base is also moulded.
In the vestry is an ancient iron-bound chest.
There are three bells, the first of 1811, the second of 1616, and the tenor of 1602 by Edward Newcombe.
The registers begin in 1636.
Advowson
The church was valued at £8 6s. 8d. in 1291, and at £16 3s. 10d., in addition to a pension of 13s. 4d. payable to Witham Priory, in 1535. The advowson passed with the manor until 1602, when the patron was Richard Cooper. In 1628 William Hall and Edward Wotton, by concession of — Hill, the patron, presented Richard Wotton, who at the time of his wife’s death in 1637 was ‘rector and patron, of the church’. In 1681 and 1694 presentations were made by Thomas Farrer, and from 1726 till his death in 1764 the patronage was held by his son Thomas Farrer. His widow Alice held it in 1766, but by 1773 it had been divided between their two daughters, Mary wife of John Adams, and Elizabeth Farrer (1782) who afterwards married Hamlyn Harris. In 1802 Henry Bagshaw Harrison was patron and rector. He died in 1830, and by 1850 the advowson had been acquired by Hulme’s Trustees, in whose hands it has continued, so that they now present on two out of three turns to the combined living of Warmington and Shotteswell, which was annexed to it in 1927.
For a list of rectors and clergy of Warmington see the ‘trades and occupations’ section of the site.
www.warmingtonheritage.com/village-history/significant-bu....
A zebra is born with camouflage stripes, immediate mobility and a mother's lessons of survival skills. Despite these benefits, predation and extinction loom. More than ever, the birth of a baby zebra is something to marvel at and celebrate, given the fact that two of the three species of zebra are presently listed as endangered species.