Another Church Post - Especially for WILDECATE!!

[curiouswombat]

Before anything about my pictures for today, can I just say Our Boy Done well!

D-d and I sat and watched the last 35km and were jumping up and down and cheering him at the end there.

Today is my usual Sunday Pic Spam, so not beautiful pictures of fabulous Italian cathedrals with painted ceilings, but some pictures of another of our, much less ornate, parish churches.

Actually the first picture is not part of the church picture post, it is a piece of of our industrial heritage, but the other pictures are almost all of Lezayre Church - which has special significance for wildecate, so I am hoping that she notices!



Firstly, this is a bit of industrial heritage. In the nineteenth century there was quite a lot of tin mining on the island - these are the ruins of some of the Rushen mines, taken on one of those warm, hazy days, from the roadway.



Wildecate asked me if I ever went to Lezayre church, and, a few days ago, I actually did have a patient to see in the area, and a few minutes to spare. Compared with the ornate parish churches of much of England, ours are all rather plain - but Lezayre is, at least, quite imposing. The only problem is that it is difficult to get far enough away from it to see it all through the lens... It is on a narrow road that loops up from the main road, and the trees are high and very leafy at this time of year.

However, I did my best! These give some idea of the outside -

The west end and doorway -



The east end -



And the spire -



I think they had better get someone up to look at the roof of the spire, if they leave it for much longer it is going to need quite a lot of work done...

Inside the church is, like almost all the others I have visited with my camera, quite plain. My picture taken looking towards the altar was a bit fuzzy, but this is taken from the front looking back towards the choir balcony -



I would guess that for normal services the parishioners will all sit in front of the curtains, and they would be drawn back if the church is full. The decor is plain, but the ceiling and the panelling on the balcony is picked out in pale blue and white and, like the one in Santon church it bears a coat of arms - the most decorative thing in the building!



The only decoration on the plain walls are texts written in Manx -






That second one translates as something like "People should praise at all times" - my Manx is not good!

You'll see, in the first of those two, that a small lady-chapel has been created, probably for mid-week services.

The walls, though, were not always so plain - this section of older decoration has been uncovered on one wall -



This beautifully embroidered copy of The Lord's Prayer graces another wall -



And, in the back of the church is the usual engraved board with the names of previous incumbents of the parish -



There can't be that many parishes whose board starts with the name of the priest in 1408! Although, obviously, this particular church building was not built then.

Finally for those, who like me, like an interesting gateway - this one is across the road from the church;






I've had a lovely day today - I've been totally lazy, even skiving off church as there is no Sunday School now that the schools have broken up. I've pottered around dead-heading flowers, sat in the garden with a wee glass of wine for a while, made banana and chocolate chip cake to use up the over-ripe bananas, revised another chapter of Ten Years After to post over at Twisting the Hellmouth, and spent time downsizing some more of D-d's holiday pics to share later in the week. Oh, and eaten garlic and lemon prawns with salad for lunch, and chicken with roast sweet potato and cabbage for dinner. Now for coffee, and a bit of that cake.

Comments

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Summer days like that are priceless, aren't they!

All your churches are beautiful but the insides are never how I would imagine them to be from viewing the exterior.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The church looks as if it should be much darker, and more ornate, doesn't it? I'll do St Ninian's sometime - it actually is stone inside, rather than whitewashed, and so rather different.

[artykat.livejournal.com]

I agree. I expect them to look like the churches in East Anglia in England that we visited during our 3 weeks living there in 2001. It surprises me to see the inside looking so modern! But WOW, the listings of all the priests! The first didn't even have a last name!

[winsomeone.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a wonderful Sunday. Here's to more like it.

Congrats to Mark- he did you guys proud.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

A very lazy day - but nice.

Mark did so well - D-d was at school with him, although in a lower year.

[wildecate.livejournal.com]

*grins happily* you made my day. i remember all the gorgeous painted sections on the walls and heh yes the outside of the church having numerous wedding photos taken there. Now that we have our new scanner at work I shall make an effort to scan in the photos that Lee took and post them here. I have stood in that churchyard in my knickers :-D

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that you noticed them!

And - I have stood in that churchyard in my knickers :-D - better than standing there without them...

[wildecate.livejournal.com]

Well I was changing into my wedding dress at the time..

They are fab. My niece and nephew are on their way here from the IOM tomorrow and my BiL comes over the weekend of Writercon.....

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Pretty pictures, and yay for Cavendish.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

We love the way that, when he was being downright rude to reporters, Cav was a Manx rider - but as soon as he begins to win stages again the BBC call him 'British rider Mark Cavendish'....

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

I always love your Sunday pixspam. I'm positive you live in paradise.

Your whole day sounds lovely - it is waaayyy to hot around here to cook anything!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The temp today was about 18C - mid 60sF. Cold to some people, but pleasant to our taste.

The island isn't paradise - but I do love it.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Lovely old Church.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I rather like Lezayre.

[shirebound]

What a nice day! A lovely Sunday.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It was a lovely lazy day. The cake tastes good, too.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love those rare Sundays when we stay home from church and take a day off. Music usually calls, though, and those days don't come around very often (probably just as well, for my soul's sake!)

Thank you for the picture of the gateway! It's lovely and intriguing. And I do wonder what that is growing on the church spire--it looks like shrubbery, almost! Is it mistletoe?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I always feel very decadent sitting around in my nightdress on the odd Sunday morning in summer and not going to church!

As for the plant on the church spire - it's actually valerian - you can see the plant I mean in this picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/voirreys_pics/3691664980/in/set-72157623404336211/) from my 365 project.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

As for the plant on the church spire - it's actually valerian - you can see the plant I mean in this picture from my 365 project.

Goodness! Well, at least when it blooms, it makes for a pretty decoration up there!

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, gateway!

Ooooh, cake! *grin* Sounds like you've had an excellent weekend!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It's a rather nice gateway...

The cake tastes very good - and used up the last few bananas, the end of a bag of chocolate chips, the end of a tub of butter, the last of a bag of caster sugar... it was certainly a very good way to tidy the kitchen!

[artykat.livejournal.com]

YUM!!!!

[ukamikanasi.livejournal.com]

That old church is gorgeous!

Also all those foods you mentioned are sounding quite good. Now I'm hungry!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Our churches are very plain when compared with some of the beautiful ones in the south of England - but they have a charm of their own, I think.

The food was good and, generally, quite healthy, really.

[cbtreks.livejournal.com]

I might have asked this before but can't remember - are your churches just open so anyone can go in at any time? (I know in books and movies churches are always open, but the churches I've gone to are only open if someone's there. Only open during the week during office hours, or if there's something going on at night.)

[cbtreks.livejournal.com]

(And I meant to add I always like your church photos. Also, I think the mines up in the Upper Peninsula - where the Cornish miners settled and introduced pasties - are tin mines as well.)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The Cornish miners were very good at tin. A few were brought over here in the early nineteenth century as supervisors, I gather, for our tin and lead mines.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The parish churches are always left open during the day - I guess a church warden must unlock them in the morning and lock them up again at night. The same is true of the catholic churches, but the Methodists and other free churches are often locked unless something is going on in them.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

I love that gate- it's so mysterious. Beautiful pictures of the church too!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

There is something quite fascinating about gateways - they could lead almost anywhere. I do like Lezayre church - it's very peaceful inside.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing these lovely photos.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you, it's my pleasure.

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

I rather like the plain insides - it's quite Shaker-like. I agree that spire needs looking at urgently! Those plants look rather too well established!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The spire is becoming very garden like...

I was thinking myself, when I wss in the church, that a lot of our parish churches have a Sheker-like quality, so it's interesting that you think the same thing.

[1c2k3p4p5c.livejournal.com]

I do like seeing all your gate and path photos. It does sound as if you had a lovely lazy day - well earned, I'm sure!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It was a nice day - but back to work today...

There is something very mysterious about gates and doorways - they inspire me to write.

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that is very hard to date. The outside is done in Early English style, but isn't anything of the sort - which normally means Victorian. The inside looks late eighteenth century, but it isn't classical enough.

Man churches are confusing for the English church aficionado, but I shall plump for early nineteenth century..

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think the rebuild was abut 1830 or so - so a pretty good guess there!

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

*preens*

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

It looks as though trees or bushes are taking root on the spire. They'll wreak havoc if not removed soon.

Your island seems to have ample supply of churches. When the congregation dies away or leaves for other churches, are the buildings sold and used for other purposes? Or do you not have that problem?

The church in which I was married was sold and became a daycare, was resold, and now is someone's home.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It's valarian growing in the spire - they really must sort it out.

The parish churches must remain open - and some have congregations of only 15 or 20 or so - but the methodist chapels do get closed and sold off - there are quite a few turned into houses, industrial buildings, and offices dotted around the place. Perhaps another camera project for me sometime.

[melegyrn.livejournal.com]

The spire of the church with its greenery reminded me of the spire at St. Peter Claver Church in New Orleans the spring after hurricane Katrina. It has also sprouted some green stuff, though by the next year it was all gone.

And oh, that gateway pic! I do love all your gateway pics, but this one is just scrumptious, and just the place to start a story...

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

That is valerian growing up there - they really will have to sort it out or it is going to cause major problems.

Gateways ask for stories, don't they?

I have almost finished a story based on this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/voirreys_pics/4508977606/) - and discovered one of my friends has been inspired by exactly the same one, and will have her, very different, story finished for the same 'plot without porn' community in a couple of weeks time!