Category: Churches

1. Advent Day 14 - Reed Church

   Posted on 7:01am Wednesday 14th Dec 2016

   If you drive along the A10 towards Royston then you may pass by a few signs for the turning towards Reed. You'll probably ignore those signs, but should you decide to follow them then you'll find a small village. Down a side road is the equally small church of St Mary. You'll probably think it's nothing special, but this church shows so much evidence of it's Anglo-Saxon origins that it's second only to the abbey at St Albans. No other church in Hertfordshire has this much original stonework remaining. 

2. Advent Day 13 - Greyfriars in London

   Posted on 6:14am Tuesday 13th Dec 2016

   If you walk around near St Paul's Cathedral then chances are you'll stumble on the exposed ruins of the church of Christ Church Greyfriars. Today it's a public space, offering a space for workers in the surrounding offices to sit and have lunch among trailing vines and flowerbeds. But it used to be an important centre of worship in Medieval London, and the final resting place of several Queens of England. 

3. Advent Day 12 - Canterbury Cathedral

   Posted on 6:08am Monday 12th Dec 2016

   The first cathedral I ever set foot in was for my 28^th birthday, the gentleman that I’d been dating for a few months (who’s now my fiancé) suggested that we visit somewhere as a birthday present. There was one place I’d wanted to visit for years, and happily he agreed to take me – Canterbury Cathedral! 

4. Advent Day 11 - Ford End Church

   Posted on 6:26am Sunday 11th Dec 2016

   Ford End is a village in Essex with a collection of pretty 15th century cottages, among other more recent houses. With such old buildings at their core, you'd be surprised to come round the corner and find an odd-sized red brick church, far from the traditional old churches you normally find in the area. 

5. Advent Day 10 - Barkway Church

   Posted on 6:04am Saturday 10th Dec 2016

   The church of St Mary Magdalene at Barkway was the first church I went to, as my primary school hosted many nativity shows, Easter ceremonies and harvest festivals in this building over the years. As a child I mostly just remember it being a rather plain and very cold building (especially during the nativity show), but as an adult I have gone back repeatedly to remind myself of it's beautiful memorials and some nice stained glass. 

6. Advent Day 9 - St Giles in Edinburgh

   Posted on 6:32am Friday 9th Dec 2016

   The High Kirk of St Giles is one of the landmarks of Edinburgh. But despite it's size, the church isn't a cathedral. Before the reformation the Cathedral for Edinburgh was actually at St Andrew's, while the reformed Church of Scotland has no bishops, and therefore cannot have a cathedral. The name "High Kirk" has been in use in Scotland for some time, and so St Giles' is known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh, rather than Edinburgh Cathedral. 

7. Advent Day 8 - Brent Pelham Church

   Posted on 6:41am Thursday 8th Dec 2016

   The church of St Mary the Virgin in the village of Brent Pelham in Hertfordshire looks rather unremarkable from the outside. Like a lot of churches in the local area the walls are flint rubble, while the square tower has buttresses and a Hertfordshire spike. Inside the church is a collection of memorials, including one from the 17th century depicting Mary and Ann, the two wives of a man named John Rowley, and some 18th century marble memorials. 

8. Advent Day 7 - Littlebury Green Chapel

   Posted on 7:00am Wednesday 7th Dec 2016

   The hamlet of Littlebury Green stands up the road from the larger village of Littlebury in Essex, and forms part of the parish that includes Audley End. Although I'd been past the main church at Littlebury in the past, I only spotted the tiny chapel of St Peter at Littlebury Green when I drove through the hamlet. 

9. Advent Day 6 - St Cecilia in Trastavere

   Posted on 6:49am Tuesday 6th Dec 2016

   The church of Saint Cecilia is in Trastavere, a beautiful part of Rome that's filled with tiny alleyways and old buildings. The church is down one of those alleyways, our guidebook had to give us pretty precise instructions for us to find it, and we were glad that we went out of our way to track it down. 

10. Advent Day 5 - Leigh on Sea

    Posted on 6:30am Monday 5th Dec 2016

    The town of Leigh on Sea in Essex has become a regular visiting spot of mine over the past year, as my fiancee's parents live there. While walking around the town with my fiancee we had a wander up to the local parish church. A building has stood here since the 13th century, but the current church was built in the 1500's, with additional works carried out in the 19th and 20th centuries. The position of the church means that it virtually looms over the area known as "Old Leigh", but the proximity to the Thames Estuary makes this quite an apt place for a type of memorial that I've never seen before - a Dunkirk memorial.