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
There are several roof angels that I want to use for ‘Sunday Roof Angel’ from St John The Baptist Church in Stamford, Lincolnshire. There are three different types, and they in turn are all different, but this angel is the only one with a ‘Green Man’ which is one of the roof bosses. Most Medieval churches will have a green man in some form or another, but they are hard to find. If you look at the second photo you will see that the rest of the bosses are faceless, apart from this one on the bottom of the left hand side.
A very short version of the meaning of the ‘Green Man’……..Leaves or vegetation are a very important symbol in the church and can be seen in the sculpture of churches of all ages as well as in windows. Leaves are a symbol of life, eternal life if you wish. In the older heads the leaves or branches with new leaves originate in the mouth, two, one at either side. A head with leaves thus described, is nowadays called a Green Man.
We are our on our way home today, after a very eventful five days in Scotland. Eventful due to the weather, ranging from brilliant sunshine, to heavy snow. We visited castles, churches and whiskey distilleries. There would have been more to visit, but of course many places are not open until April. This Sundays ‘Roof Angel’ comes from St John The Baptist Church in Stamford, Lincolnshire. These type of angels are on the side aisles and much lower than the ones on the main roof, so you can get a closer look at them.
The wagon type roof of the refectory in Cleeve Abbey, in Somerset, brought the biggest smile to my face, wonderful roof angels. The refectory was remodelled in the 15th century and the angels date from this time.
July 2016
The beautiful 15th century Parish Church of Southwold in Suffolk is full of wonderful roof angels. So I thought I would start a new Sunday theme of the many roof angels I have collected, and also it might make me post about the beautiful churches they residue in 🙂
What you are looking at, is a Seraphim Angel and they have six sets of feathered wings and are high up in the Choir of Angels.
I will add a photo of the roofs, you might see the same roof for a few of the angels, but it just gives you an idea of how beautiful they are.
If you look up in St Nicholas’ Chapel, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, the largest chapel in England, you will see some of the most beautifully craved angels in the chapel’s 15th century roof, that have greeted visitors for the last 600 years, We dropped in a few weeks ago, well it was more like the chapel was open, and even if I have visited a trillion times, it would have to be a trillion and one times. It’s such a beautiful building and the angels hold a total fascination for me, well all roof angels do. So it was a quick point with camera and then back to shopping, and yes, the camera even comes shopping, well you never know….
What I like about these angels, are their shadows on the roof, some look like crosses, beautiful 🙂
One holds a recorder – the earliest ever portrayal of the instrument in church carving.
The angel below is holding tools, you can see large nails and a hammer.
February 2017
Not an easy church to take exterior photos, so I took lots of interior ones of the beautiful church of St James’s, Louth in Lincolnshire. We had a short holiday on the Lincolnshire coast last week and the weather was stunning, we stopped at Louth for a tea break and I had a chance to explore the church.
For over a thousand years there has been a church in this spot. This building was originally dated from the 12th century was rebuilt in about 1247 and again in 1447. Restoration work was carried out in 1869.
The door was fully open and there was a lady to welcome you, in a fully dedicated shop of books and other souvenirs of the church, which is fine if it makes money for the up keep of the building and more importantly, keeps the church open for those of us who wish to visit.
The first thing this strikes you is the beautiful light that streams through the windows and then the angel roof, which I was not expecting and was a delightful surprise, there is nothing more than I love when walking into a church, is to find angels waiting for me to photograph them.
From the church booklet: The roof of the nave was restored in 1825, in which year an item occurs in the churchwarden accounts ‘Two men and fifteen woman washing and cleaning the church after the roof was finish’
The splendid ceiling is Georgian and dates from 1825, in 1822 the vestry decided to ask for surveys and reports of the roofs of the church. £2,500 was borrowed from the Exchequer and then re-roofing the nave and aisle roofs began. In 1988 the friends of the church decided to clean the roof and restored the Baltic pine to is original colour by stripping off the black varnish and treating the timber with beeswax. The plaster angels and the bosses were repainted in Georgian colours and the whole operation cost £38,000.
There were also other creatures waiting for me, corbels in the nave, with some illustrating the individual masons’s reaction to his work: imagination, love and humour.
There are beautiful stained glass windows down each of the aisles, making colour light spill across the benches.
There is so much to see in this beautiful church, but I had three males waiting for me and one straining at the leash, so please enjoy the following photos as much as I did taking them.
My never ending patience husband, who is not praying, but reading his messages, with Eddie and Toffee.
August 2016
