samedi 11 décembre 2004

More Scenes from Wiltshire The Tallest and The Smallest Within a few minutes walk of each other in north Wiltshire are two churches which have odd claims... one had the highest steeple before it was blown down in a great storm, whilst the other lays claim to be the most diminutive... so we have the tallest and the smallest! Most people wanting to see both in one afternoon will no doubt start in the centre of town after a lunch at one of the several inns or restaurants. Visiting the second location a couple of miles down the road afterwards will no doubt work off some of the calories gained beforehand... so I'll describe the Abbey first. Malmesbury Abbey Many years ago when I lived in Malmesbury and found myself returning home from journeys further afield, I always looked for the Abbey on the skyline. To see it as soon as possible was reminiscent of the childhood urge on a day out to the seaside... which was to spot Blackpool Tower from afar before anyone else in the car... certainly worth a bonus point at whatever diversionary game the family were playing at the time. Malmesbury is a hill-top town and was a centre of learning second only to Canterbury through the teachings of Maildulph the Irish monk who arrived in the seventh century. One of his pupils was Aldhelm who became an Abbot of Malmesbury in AD 672. His canonisation made Malmesbury famous... a reputation that was further enhanced when Athelstan, the first King of All England, was buried in the abbey at his behest. The abbey then was not as we know it to have been later in Norman times... and the present remains are only one third the size of that grander building. It is also known that in the fourteenth century a spire was added to the tower... no mere addition though, but one higher than that of Salisbury Cathedral which would have made it the tallest in Europe. Alas, it fell during a great storm at about the time of the Dissolution... and the golden ball on top was never found. Another spectacular decent, though not the fall, was planned on purpose. In the eleventh century a Benedictine monk by the name of Egelmer constructed wings and planned to don them in an attempt to fly from one of the abbey's Saxon towers. News of this first attempt at "man powered flight" spread far afield and many came to watch the spectacle. What actually happened will never be known with certainty - legend has it that Egelmer flew for a furlong and although he broke both legs on landing his fame was assured for the rest of his long life and beyond. For many years a coaching inn on the Gloucester Road called "The Flying Monk" and situated near where Egelmer was supposed to have landed was the only public house in Britain to have that name. The hotel has gone in recent years replaced by a supermarket... but its well-known sign depicting Egelmer in full flight now resides in the town's museum. There's much more to see than is possible in one day of Malmesbury, but a quick search of the grounds of the Abbey will reveal an unusual 300-year old gravestone... to a Hannah Twynnoy, aged 33 years, who was killed by a tiger which had escaped from a travelling circus in the town. The inscription reads... "In bloom of Life She's snatched from hence, She had not room To make defence; For Tyger fierce Took Life away, And here she lies In a bed of Clay, Until the Resurrection Day." By strange coincidence as I was writing today's piece I overheard this tale being related on a BBC Radio 4 programme about escaping animals. What the narrator didn't mention (perhaps it has been forgotten) was the intentional disfigurement of the gravestone. It was unsympathetically "restored" in 1982... my photographs showing the original lead-lined delicate lettering "before" and the re-chiseled and painted "after"... the result being that almost 300 years of antiquity was lost forever... and no-one complained! Foxley-cum-Bremilham Historically little is known of the tiny church in the yard of Cowage Farm on the outskirts of Malmesbury. The old parish of Bremilham had a list of rectors dating back to 1298 and a parish church on the site until the 1850s when it was largely demolished leaving only the nave and bellcote which forms the present church. Although recent excavations have revealed the site of a mediaeval hamlet nearby the population must have declined considerably since for this replacement church to be so small for its local congregation. Although it is recorded that the number of people paying "poll tax" in 1377 was 31, the present church records kept in the neighbouring farmhouse detail only two Christenings during the last century before the millennium. Knowledge of its existence has now spread far and wide as the Guinness Book of Records lists Bremilham as the smallest church "in service" in Britain. Measuring a scant 4 metres long by 3.6 metres wide the simple stone building contains an octagonal font in the Perpendicular style, a wooden pew for three or four people and a large cracked bell from the neighbouring church at Foxley. The church's brass cross and candlesticks sit on the window ledge opposite a sturdy weather-beaten cross-braced door. The atmosphere inside the church is cool and restful. Only the sound of cows lowing, hens and doves fluttering and a rattling tractor may give a reminder to the presence of the church in a working farmyard. Once outside this is plainly obvious... the church almost diminutive in size next to the barns and outhouses but standing apart on a raised cemetery mound onto which the Rogationtide (the three days before Ascension) congregation spills out for the annual service. For the rest of the year visitors come to browse and sometimes picnic in the yard or on the grass next to the shallow waters of the Sherston branch of the Avon which meanders nearby... and perhaps to witness the first baptism of the new millennium at this restful spot? 8:25:05 PM    comment []