Small and simple

• ladyfi

During my recent trip to England, I had a lovely outing to Clayton Church:

An ancient church mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086).

Clayton Church

The church loomed out of the sunlight

And the old wooden door looked like something out of a film set.

Domesday church copy

 

The simple yet elegant windows

Looked inviting.

Window

Going around to the back of the church,

I could see the ancient walls

Next to the more modern part to the left.

Old walls

The view from the back

Was stunning too.

View

Apart from its great age, the church is most famous

For having some of the oldest murals in England,

Painted by monks somewhere between 1080 and 1150.

These remarkable wall paintings were forgotten

And then re-discovered some 700 years later during restoration of the church.

Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasure. — Rumi

Murals

For more treasure, please visit: Our World. 

 

92 thoughts on “Small and simple”

  3. Your photos remind me of why I concentrated on English Literature during my post-graduate studies. Thanks for helping me conjure up fond memories. Lovely shots, Lady Fi.

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  5. Beautiful old church. I especially love the inside. And the view is terrific.

    Maybe Spring is finally coming to our area this week… I hope so since it has been a LONG winter and a crazy one!!!!

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  11. Ancient history never fails to fascinate me — particularly since I live in such a young country!! This is such an incredible place and how wonderful that it has been saved! So much history!! Your captures are superb as always, Fiona!! Thanks for sharing the beauty — as always, too!!

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  13. What a beautiful building and a monument to design and building techniques. It’s weathered exterior is fascinating, isn’t it? The murals inside are also beautiful. They remind me a little of those in Eds kyrka at Upplands-Väsby (built around 1100) the interior of which was painted by a well known medieval artist Albertus Pictor.

    I still can’t get my head around the history of places like this. I come from such a “young” nation and it can be hard to believe that this was all here over 700 years before the First Fleet landed on the shores of Botany Bay in 1788. It is something that I discussed one day while walking in Stockholm with one of my Canadian friends. We were both spellbound by the architecture in Gamla Stan and the age of the town, much to the bemusement of our Swedish partners to whom all of this is quite normal. 🙂

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  25. Marvelous, thanks for the tour! Such an old building. It looks like it was a splendid day. You can tell the windows were a later addition patched in. (The Gothic arch wasn’t developed until the late Renaissance.) Can’t wait to see more pics of your visit!

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  32. Hard to imagine, stone an mortar can possess the quality of warmth in this structure and it’s surfaces. The patina of centuries brought about by environment, destruction and reconstruction brings out that grand maternal glow -more skin then inert mass. One sense this was built with hands and sweat, broken bones and worst.

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  34. Dearest Ladyfi;
    We have old templeｓ to proud of but these exotic places (An ancient church!!!) are really fantastic for me☆☆☆
    Have a wonderful new week♪

    Sending you Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*

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  40. If only those walls could speak – they simply ooze history!

    btw. The perfect setting for *The Woman in White* by Wilkie Collins,

    Wherever I travel, I’m always on the lookout for what (book/movie) could be shot there! (Maybe a closet movie location spotter?).

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  47. The whole of England can look like a film set at times! I wonder how many other secrets lie under the paint of otherwise ordinary parish churches – apparently many of the Cathedrals were painted in very bright colours, before they were “made over” in later years.

    Nice pictures.

    Cheers – Stewart M – Melbourne

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  49. Thanks for letting us tag along on your adventure. Isn’t it amazing that the murals had been covered up but have since been restored.

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  52. Hi! Nice captures. I knew what was the Domesday Book for the first time. I feel weight of the history from your photos. Thanks for sharing.

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  54. These ancient churches are so inspiring for novel writers like Jane Austen was and Daphne du Maurier, who wrote about those small and ancient churches in Cornwall. Lovely post, thank you!

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  58. Oh my, how magnificent.
    Wonderful captures!
    How I would love to see that old church ‘with my own eyes’
    We visited Scotland and England a few years ago and did visit some beautiful old churches.

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  67. questa patina del tempo si è posata su ogni cosa, e sembra ricordarci che tutto scorre nella vita, e lento passa
    magnifico reportage, mi ha emozionata

    This patina of time has placed on everything, and it seems to remind us that everything flows in life, and slow passes
    magnificent report, I was excited

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  76. That looks so beautiful! and ’round the back even more so! The exterior itself looks so historic, the paintings inside look a little weathered but it is amazing to think that much is preserved in such a long time.

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  77. these are lovely, the sunspot bokeh adds to their charm ..makes me want to go to England even more than before

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