The Road Goes Ever On

Monday, August 12, 2019

Rudston Menhir And The Rudston All Saints Church

The Rudston All Saints Church is not in Jenkins' top thousand English churches. But, for the last thousand years, it has graciously hosted the UK's tallest menhir, the Rudston Monolith, which goes back to 2,000 BCE, give or take a few hundred years. Contrary to previous travels in this part of the world, we have not visited much in the way of megaliths: very little remains on this side of England. Hence, we felt the Rudston menhir, tallest in the UK, was a must-see. Granted, the Isles are not known for their menhirs, but this is the tallest one, and we also got to see a little parish church that has taken its custodianship seriously and which has excelled in telling the larger story of the area.

Helpful plan of campus outside the gate

Just to clarify...

The font is said date from the original Norman church, c. 1100

Much of the nave north wall is taken up with informative displays of neolithic,
Roman, and other sites in the area

Thus; the church is smack in the middle of the photo of the display

Press a site's button, and, shazzam! it lights up!

Not impressed

This part of England is thought to have been a major megalithic center, although
now much torn down, defaced, removed...look up "Gypsey Race" or this video

Romans, too

Sic transit, Gloria

And there it is; you see things like this in Brittany, but the menhir is usually
"Christianized" or otherwise defaced; not here, thankfully

Remains of Roman sarcophagus

Trying mightily for a shot that would incorporate Roman, neolithic, and All Saints

Thank you, All Saints Rudston

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Patrington's St. Patrick Church, 2

Continuing our visit to St. Patrick's church, Patrington, East Riding of Yorkshire...with special insights...

Helpful model...

Children's area--a fixture in these churches, no matter how famous, historic, etc.

In the crossing, looking into the north transept; originally, the transepts had aisles
and even small chapels

Vicki studying something in the south transept, where a small Lady Chapel remains

Quire and chancel; the reredos is modern, constructed in 1936 to mark the coronation
of King George VI

Sedilia; priestly comfy chairs

Abaft the beam...what is wrong with this picture? Read on...

So here I am at the back of the nave, trying to line things up in the nave and chancel

Thus...only...they don't line up...

Notice that while the nave seems to point to 90 degrees
(for example), the chancel is 2 or 3 degrees off that...on a
somewhat different heading

Seriously, the wooden cross is in the middle of the altar, but
appears here to be seriously off; we have seen two churches
previously that had this sort of directional issue--the Saint-
Corentin Cathedral in Quimper, Brittany, and the St. John
of the Market church in Troyes--in both cases there are
reasons for the change of direction, but no one seems to have
noticed at St. Patrick's

Oh well

It's a splendid, wonderful parish church, as good as the critics all say, 5 stars

The octagonal base of the steeple, delicately buttressed

Patrington's St. Patrick Church, 1

The East Riding of Yorkshire's river Humber issues in a broad estuary, one of the east side's largest, the northernmost bit of which is a peninsula, the Holderness. Patrington is a small town out on the peninsula. Getting there would be no problem, but finding a place to over-night might have been. We drove right into the town and the empty church parking lot; and resolved to stay there, despite a sign that said there was a 4 hour limit. It was late Sunday afternoon, and the church was closed. Out on a reconnaissance, I accosted a policeman and asked whether there'd be a problem. He said no one enforced the limit and that town folk parked there all the time. We would be fine. After a quiet, if somewhat windy evening, we explored the church the next day. It is a fine 5-star, almost entirely Decorated, begun about 1300, first the transepts, then the tower, chancel and nave, and largely finished before the Black Death halted finishing touches for the next few generations. (Losing a third or a half of the population will do that to you). The steeple rises from a buttressed octagonal base to a height of more than 180 feet. All the critics praise St. Patrick's for its balance, harmony, etc. We enjoyed this church more than most--it was nice to see a purpose-built parish church, not a transformed abbey or collegiate church--but I have a small problem with the balance and harmony bit, to be explained in the next post.