A place of worship, such as a church, temple, mosque or other sacred site.
This is the skeletal remains of the Temple of Mithras, just outside the Roman fort of Brocolitia on Hadrian’s Wall. The fort, also sometimes called ‘Carrawburgh’ is only visible as lumps in the ground; this is not a place for those cursed with a short attention span. I visited at dusk on a bleak day […]
Brocolitia Mithraeum Read More »
There’s something calm and peaceful about the ruins of Egglestone Abbey. They huddle on top of a small hill above the River Tees, just outside the old market town of Barnard Castle, in County Durham. The location feels almost as secluded these days as it must have been when the abbey was founded eight centuries
Castell Henllys (‘Castle of the old court’) is just off the A487, between Newport and Cardigan and is a recreated ancient Celtic hill-fort. Park your chariot (or time machine) in the maes parcio (car park) and carefully follow the path through woodland by the pretty Nant (river) Duad. Here there be bats, otters and more
We thought we should go to the Cradle of Christianity in Scotland; the place where St Ninian, Scotland’s first Christian missionary, landed in 397AD and showed the pagan Picts The Way. There is a chapel there, near the Saint’s alleged landing place on the Isle of Whithorn, at the south-east corner of the Machars Peninsula
St Ninian’s Chapel Read More »
These are the remains of Sweetheart Abbey, founded by Dervogilla Balliol. Here’s devotion for you. When her husband, John Balliol, died in 1268, Lady Dervorgilla had his heart removed, embalmed and placed in an ivory casket which she carried with her for the rest of her days. Apparently, it sat there at mealtimes, her ‘sweet
Dervorgilla’s Sweetheart Read More »
Before England existed, the lonely Isle of Ely lay in the territory of the Gyrwas. Around the year 652AD, Tondbert, a prince of the South Gyrwas, married the Princess Etheldreda, a descendent of the mighty Wuffingas who had united the North-folk with the South-folk. Tondbert died and Etheldreda, whose father was Anna (or Onna), King
We came upon St Hubert’s, my good friend and I, very late one night and many years’ ago. We were young, and had been indulging that well-known youthful pastime, ‘Visiting Old Places After Dark To See If You Get Scared’. As we walked up the hill through the still Hampshire night toward the church, it
St Hubert’s, Idsworth Read More »
Head west out of London Bridge Station. If you’re very careful, you will discover London’s third Anglican cathedral, Southwark; it’s easily missed. Hemmed in between the colourful and vibrant Borough Market and the occasionally vulgar Montagu Close, and often hidden by dark Victorian railway arches over which trains ceaselessly rattle and clunk in and out
London’s forgotten cathedral Read More »
I’m always a little wary of claims to be “the oldest” this or that. There are probably at least a dozen pubs that are the oldest in Britain and, clearly, only one of them is. But the good folk at St Andrews, Greensted, Essex, claim theirs is the oldest wooden church in the world, as
Greensted Log Church Read More »
The ruins of medieval abbeys and monasteries are found the length and breadth of Britain; but why on earth would you want to visit one? Well, no reason at all – except to wonder at the achievement, think on a time and lifestyle that was so very different to ours and bask in the beauty
Valle Crucis Abbey Read More »
This is a story about bravery and love. It covers just one chapter in the long history of the village of Eyam (pronounced ‘Eeem’ *), tucked away in Derbyshire’s Peak District just north of Bakewell. Casual travellers between Chesterfield and Chapel-en-le-Frith would pass it by without comment – unless they knew: in that case, they
How Britain not only became Christian, but also specifically Roman Catholic Britain, like the rest of Western Europe, has a long Christian heritage. The Church came to wield enormous political and socio-economic power, and religion is such a part of Britain’s continuing story, so it is important to understand a bit about how Christianity arrived.
Christianity and the age of the saints Read More »
