A place of worship, such as a church, temple, mosque or other sacred site.
Be careful where you tread; you never know what might have happened beneath your feet, long ago. A cross in the centre of Oxford’s Broad Street marks the spot where, almost 500 years before, three men were legally burnt to death. Their crime was their faith – although we may argue they strayed into politics
The Oxford Martyrs Read More »
South East
Constantly keep your eyes open when wandering round the old City of London. Behind the steel and glass and beneath your feet are about two thousand years of history. Reminders of the past are everywhere – some obvious, others not; and some are real hidden gems. One of the finest of those hidden gems is
Dunstan in the East Read More »
London
London’s Bunhill Fields is known as a place for dissenters. Not living ones – though I daresay there are plenty of those too – but dead ones, non-conformist Protestants opposed to the practices of the established Church of England, who were able to be laid to rest here without having the form of service prescribed
The bodies at Bunhill Read More »
London
The key to Keld Chapel is hanging by the front door of the house opposite. It’s that kind of place, if you know what I mean. Keld is a tiny Cumbrian hamlet, just outside the straggling village of Shap and a little south east of long abandoned Shap Abbey. Travellers on the M6 will be
It should be simple enough to write a bit about Easter, I thought. After all, it is the most important festival in the Christian calendar, and a good deal of Britain’s heritage, at least for the last fourteen centuries or so, has been informed by a Christian tradition. So we should be sure of our
Easter, eggs, bunnies and buns Read More »
British Stuff Events
There are so many reasons to visit Southwell Minster that it’s a good job someone decided to build it… A few miles north-west of Nottingham, in the English East Midlands, Southwell is neither on a major route to anywhere, nor in traditional tourist-land. So, for most people, going there is a premeditated act; it took
Thank God for Southwell Minster Read More »
East Midlands
Christ Church Greyfriars is one of those places you stumble across in London without meaning to. That’s exactly what I did a few years ago, anyway, drifting in search of somewhere to eat a sandwich after a tedious business meeting. Close to the Stock Exchange, I found myself in a peaceful garden planted inside the
The ghosts of Christ Church Greyfriars Read More »
London
Scotland’s national saint, St Andrew, has his day on 30th November. As well as being the patron saint of Scotland, St Andrew is the patron saint of Amalfi, Barbados, Greece, Romania, Russia, the Ukraine, singers, spinsters, would-be mothers, fishmongers and fishermen, gout and sore throats. According to the Scottish Government’s website, St Andrew’s Day “is
St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland Read More »
British Stuff Events Scotland
Almost hidden, tucked away from the jarring bustle of London just off the Strand, you may stumble upon a church that was built by the Knights Templar. Like all Templar churches, it is round – modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, traditional site of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. The Order
London’s Church of the Templars Read More »
London
This is one of our friend Jeni’s favourite places and she said we should go; so of course we did. Heysham (pronounced ‘hee-shum’, not ‘hay-sham’) sits on Lancashire’s coast at the southern end of Morecambe Bay. I knew of Heysham as a ferry port, offering services to the Isle of Man and Ireland, as well
St Patrick’s Chapel, Heysham Read More »
North West England
In a field opposite the Crooked Billet pub near the village of Saxton, in North Yorkshire, stands the tiny chapel of St Mary’s, Lead. Cross the field over Cock Beck, which was said to run red with blood after the nearby Battle of Towton in 1461, and you are stepping through a vanished hamlet to
St Mary’s Chapel, Lead Read More »
Yorkshire and the Humber
I was looking for Geoffrey Chaucer’s Granddaughter – as you do. In the process, I discovered a unique church and the last resting place of Jerome K Jerome. Let’s start with Chaucer’s granddaughter, Alice de la Pole. Alice was quite a lady, a duchess, with extensive lands in the Thames Valley, East Anglia and overseas.Â
Visiting Alice de la Pole and St Mary’s, Ewelme Read More »
South East