We had to visit Bristol for work on Friday night and as its quite a distance from Norfolk to Gloucestershire, we stayed over and spent Saturday exploring. I had planned to visit certain places in Bristol, but the weather had other ideas, I have never seen such heavy rain……so we left Bristol and headed for brighter skies. We deceided Somerset was the best choice, we thought we would visit a couple of National Trust Houses, but the ones we tried to visit had some kind of concerts on and were packed out with cars and people. But all is not lost, lots of lovely churches in Somerset and I found a little gem. The church of The Holy Saviour in Puxton, North Somerset and is tucked away behind Church Cottage, which you have to walk past to get to the church. The interior the church has hardly changed over the centuries, its a beautiful country church and I have chosen the 17th century octagonal Jacobean pulpit for this Sunday’s post.
I will post about the church later.
Echoes of the Past 
Wow, I knew it was an old pulpit! What a gem, as you say. Beautiful! Think of how many sermons have been preached from there. Would be so lovely to go back and see the congregation at the time of James I!
I would think they would have been very uncomfortable judging by those pews, but it would be interesting to see the congregation and even more who was preaching them. Did he put the fear of God into them or was he a gentle country vicar, well it would have been more than one over the years 🙂
Lynn, Wonderfully atmospheric ~ looking forward to seeing more of the church. What a” long haul” re : your journey from Norfolk to Somerset. I think Somerset has some of the loveliest churches ~ there are the ones with incredibly tall and ornate gothic “towers’ without steeples ~ you may already know of these~ most built in the 1400’s and probably by same group of very skilled talented masons~ the people who made their fortunes from wool were the benefactors for these ‘tower churches” They can be seen from miles around. Hope you will get a chance to see some~ Not sure how many there are but I have been to a couple~ I know there is a gorgeous one in Taunton and another in Huish Episcopi (amazing name eh?) There is a really wonderful place I have longed to visit and was quite near to it when I was in the area years ago but just no time then unfortunately. Are you familiar with Muchleney Abbey? Only one building remains but such a glorious one the Abbots house which is Tudor but ancient church intact nearby and medieval foundations of the abbey ~ made from that beautiful golden honey colored stone called Ham (which was quarried in Ham, Somerset) A very beautiful and atmospheric place ~ you may not have time or be in the area of the Levels but if you do get the chance I think you would be pleased to see it. You will be spoiled for choice I think! Hope you are enjoying it despite rain and set backs with the houses. Guess that is typical of summer time really. Bye for now !
Glad you liked the photos. I haven’t been to those places you have mentioned, but we are thinking of taking a long weekend down there, so I will try and have a look then, they sound very interesting. Yes some of the the churches are really beautiful, I have been in the one in Taunton with its tall spire, I really must do a post on it. I read today there are about 47,000 churches in the uk……I really have a long way to go. We are back to glorious sunshine today,(Monday) after the really wet week-end, always the way, but it allows everything to dry out, ready for the next wet weekend 🙂
A quick p.s. Meant to tell you that love the contrast you captured with the dark old wood and rich red of the cushions on the old benches~ as well as the quality of light in the second shot.
🙂
I had to smile reading your quote of the number of churches in the UK~ you will be busy for quite a while if you attempt to make any even half ! It will be fun trying anyway. Hope you will be able to return and have a look at more of the churches in Somerset ~ they are rated in terms of architecture and age some of the finest in England ~ ranking up there with Norfolk~ Anyway, I can see by your recent posts that you have been seeing plenty of interesting things so must go and take a closer look at where you have been! Just one more comment that I found synchronistic ~ when I asked if you also liked to visit some of the older medieval/Tudor/ Jacobean ect manor houses , and you replied that you did but also really like the moated houses! They are also a particular favorite of mine~ always on the look out for them where ever I am in England, always been intrigued by them and know there are some exceptionally fine ones in Norfolk and Suffolk~ Have you by the way ever heard of or been to Harvington Hall?It is an amazing Elizabethan house in Worcs.absolutely brimming with priest holes of every size and description. It is also moated~ such a romantic looking house with fascinating (if tragic )history. If you have never been you might want to add it to your ever expanding list! “Talk” to you later!
Oh I could quite happily live in Harvington Hall, that is a beautiful house with a proper moat 🙂 I had a look on google and it will be added to the never ending list. There is a web site, but I can’t remember which one, but it showed photos of moated houses from the air, oh they were all beautiful and so many in Norfolk and Suffolk, but of course a lot are private and really that is the only way you can see them. I think with the churches I must be grateful with whatever comes my way, but you are right there are some beautiful churches in Dorset and Somerset, all just waiting for me to explore them 🙂 I’m having a lovely time at the moment because they are having their flower festivals and at the weekend I managed to visit three which are normally always locked. One I can understand why, because they had a terrible fire and it has take 4 year to rebuild it, but the other two are right in the heart of the village opposite the village shops, so I was a good day on Sunday. Talk soon 🙂