Another photo from the train window, while traveling from the UK to Venice, Italy 2016. We saw a great many tall red spired churches, in fact in the end they all look the same and I have spent quite a while researching this one. But every time I think I have found it, something is not quite right. The church appeared after we had passed Reifenstein Castle, as per my previous post, but it was before Trento……my, thats narrowed it down a lot… anyway its the image of the church that counts 🙂
Potter Heigham (pronouced Potterham) in Norfolk has had a new village sign. a two sided one. What is nice, is that the sign depicts two sides of the village and on both sides, the medieval bridge is shown.
Potter Heigham Bridge is a medieval bridge, believed to date from 1385, famous for being the most difficult to navigate in the Broads. The bridge opening is so narrow that only small cruisers can pass through it, and then only at low water. We have visited Potter Hingham many times, but I have never seen a boat going under the bridge, maybe one day.
The church is St Nicholas and has a 12th century round tower (which I still have to post about) and the font is the only brick one in Norfolk. It appears to be 15th century, there are banded details which have eroded, but may have been trefoils.
The potters on the sign………The village was just simply named Heigham, but the extensive manufacture of Roman pottery taking place in the ‘Pothills’ area in the very northwestern corner of the parish. By 1797 the village had become known as Potter Heigham, though the marshes retained the older Heigham Potter name.
Looking at the other side of the sign, which indicates Hickling Board, where you can fish, walk, cruise on the water and really enjoy the outdoor life.
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West Haddon in Northamptonshire, has a very nice sign, with a sheep, church, canal and some Almshouses. The church is ‘All Saints’, which I still have to post about, as it has a wonderful font. We visited the church in November 2015 and I just noticed the sign as we were hurtling past, hence its a bit blurry.
I found a little history of the Almshouses….The sons of a doctor who had moved into the village in the 1730s became some of the biggest farmers in the parish and one of them, John Heygate, became the nearest thing the village had ever known to a squire, endowing the village with a school, while his heir, William Lovett, established the Almshouses.
The canal depicted, I think, is the Grand Union Canal, but the sheep, I have no idea. It could be that maybe the Heygates (the biggest farmers from the 1730) had sheep, or the area is know for sheep.
No ‘Sunday Roof Angel’ today, but another kind of angel…..The Madonna and The Baby Jesus. I found this beautiful icon in the Parish Church of St Mary The Virgin, in Axminster, Devon. Thought it was just right for ‘Mothers Day’ here in the UK.
St John,
This was going to be a post on Denny Abbey, but after visiting Manchester and Sheffield today, one is a little tired, well shattered more like 🙂 But it was worth it though, the sky was more blue than cloud and the sun was shining, which made going through the Peak District a pleasure.
So a quick Church and Village sign ……… All I can find about the Village sign is …….Waterbeach village sign erected in 1980 as a memorial to local doctor John Pritchard. Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Roman waterway whose course continues on to Lincoln, and there is also evidence of Roman settlement at the southern end of the village. Looking at the sign, it looks like a Heron taking flight from a waterway, this could be Car Dyke or the River Cam and maybe the Doctor studied Waterfowl…..as yet I have drawn a blank about him. The sign is dated 1980 and is made of metal.
We stopped at the church, St John the Evangelist, and I must say, a pretty church, with a very neat and tidy churchyard. The church is normally open, except when they are carrying out repairs…… door well and truly locked. I did get a couple of wonderful gargoyles.
A few details of the church……..The oldest building in Waterbeach is the parish church of St John the Evangelist. There are some surviving Norman features which indicate that its origins were late 12th century although in general the architecture is Early English and Perpendicular. Much restoration and reconstruction has taken place over the centuries and is continuing. The bell and altar from the Fen Church, which was demolished after the floor collapsed during a harvest festival since in the 1960s, is in the south aisle.
Visit of July 2016
In the beautiful church of St John the Baptist in Stamford, Lincolnshire, there are many different types of angels. This angel is holding a book with some text on it. The angel, I think its an angel, and not an apostle, because some of the photos of the same type of angels show tucked in wings, is in the roof of one of the side aisles.
March 2016
From one of the many churches we visit, just a random chair that you might find in any church. You can sit on the chair if you wish, no ropes across to stop you, as in some stately homes, I know why they do it, but not in this church. In this church you can sit and enjoy the sunlight 🙂
