Problems for the
Archbishop
The church of St Boltoph
at Carlton near
Stokesley in Cleveland
has stood on the same site since the 7th century. Unfortunately the church burned down in 1881
and the vicar, the Rev. George Sanger, stood trial for arson. It was said that Rev. Sanger had become
deranged because a local girl was carrying his illegitimate child. However, he was found not guilty and soon
left the village.
His successor was a colourful
character – Canon John Kyle – who was an old style sporting parson. Kyle
raised enough funds to rebuild the church and soon settled into his roll
of ‘squarson’, a cross between a squire and a parson. He
owned three farms and rode to the hounds.
He was also an accomplished boxer and was able to hold his own against
the village youths. Furthermore he was
also the landlord of the Fox & Hounds pub in the village until he died in
1943. When asked by an anxious
Archbishop to explain his role as a pub landlord, Kyle said that it was so that
he could be in a position to moderate bad language and loud singing in the pub
and indeed so that he could close it on Sundays!
Carlton Church
Eccentric ministers
Two 19th century
incumbents of St Oswald’s parish church at Filey in North
Yorkshire , are particularly remembered for their differing
eccentricities.
The Rev. Evan Williams was a
Perpetual Curate at the church from 1809 to 1833 and lived alone in the Church
House. He would not allow any woman into
the house and it is said that he would buy just one shilling’s worth of fish
for his food, and his milk was delivered to him in a pitcher which he let down
on a rope from an upstairs window.
Sometimes, soon after commencing a service, he would announce that there
would not be a sermon and then he would depart quickly, locking the church door
behind him. Instead of the Church
Wardens being the choice of one by the parishioners and one by the vicar at St
Oswald’s, it had always been customary for both to be selected by the
parishioners. This was challenged by the
Rev. Williams, but his law suit found favour with the established tradition, at
a cost of £90 to the church.
The Rev. A.N Cooper was a much
loved vicar of Filey for 55 years (1880
– 1935). He was known as The Walking Parson, and wrote several
books about his travels both at home and abroad. He thought nothing of walking from Filey to London after Sunday
evensong, returning by train in time for the following Sunday. On Easter Monday 1887, he set off to walk to
Rome and,
having walked to Hull
he took the ferry to Rotterdam
and, averaging some 30 miles a day, he completed the journey in one month. During his walks on the continent he reached
Budapest , Vienna , Monte Carlo , Barcelona , Lourdes , Copenhagen and Stockholm .
His only luggage was a small knapsack containing a change of underwear
and his bible.
St Oswald's Church
Sweetheart Abbey
Devorgilla, Lady of Galloway,
founded a Cistercian Monastery on the banks of the River Nith near Dumfries in 1273 in memory of her husband, John Balliol,
father of King John of Scotland
and founder of Balliol
College , Oxford .
When he died, Devorgilla had his heart embalmed and she carried it
around in a casket. When she died in
1289, she was buried with the casket in front of the high altar of the
abbey. Thus the word sweetheart
became part of the English language and the abbey became known
as Sweetheart
Abbey. The ruined abbey church still
stands in the village
of New Abbey .
Sweetheart Abbey
A maiden’s garland
A curious relic is preserved in
the church at Alne near York
– it is a maiden’s garland or virgin’s wreath. It was given to the church in 1923 by
Tollerton Girls’ Friendly Society.
According to ‘The dialect of Craven 1829’, one of these votive garlands
was solemnly borne before the corpse by two girls who placed it on the coffin
in the church during the service.
Thence it was conveyed to the grave and afterwards deposited on the
‘skreen’ dividing the ‘quior’ from the nave, either as an emblem of virgin
purity or of the frailty and uncertainty of human life.
Zennor Church
Copyright chris scarsrook to who I am grateful for allowing me to copy his photograph.
The lady with
the lamp
Anne Bronte’s grave
The lady with
the lamp
Florence Nightingdale, the name
is legendary, the popular heroine of the Crimean War. She was actually born in Florence , Italy ,
on 12th May 1820
of a well to English family, and on her return from the Crimea ,
she settled in the family home at East Wellow
in Hampshire and eventually became something of a recluse. She died on 13th August 1910 and was buried in
the family vault at St Margaret’s church, Wellow, where a very simple memorial
can be seen – just a simple engraving of a cross inscribed – FN, Born 12 May 1820 . Died 13 August 1910 - in accordance with her express wishes.
East Wellow Church
Copyright 'agilux35' to whom I am grateful for allowing me to copy his photograph.
Inside the church are a number of
memento's and a copy of the Scutari Cross.
This cross is believed to have been given to Florence by a British soldier during the
Crimean War (1854 – 56). It was made of
shot and shrapnel from the battlefield.
She left it to the church when she died, but very sadly the original
cross was stolen from the church on 20th December 1991 and has not been recovered.
Anne Bronte’s grave
In the graveyard alongside the
parish church of St Mary at Scarborough
in North Yorkshire , is an attractive gravestone
– it marks the grave of Anne Bronte.
The inscription gives her age as 28 years when she died – she was in fact 29 years old.
Anne of Bronte family fame, was a
frequent visitor to Scarborough , a place she
loved. In 1849, with ‘consumption of both lungs too far advanced
to be curable,’ she yearned to visit Scarborough
for one last time. She did so in the company with sister
Charlotte and friend Ellen Nussey and they lodged at 2 The Cliff (where the
Grand Hotel now stands). Within a few
days Anne died and had discussed with Charlotte
her wish ‘to die at Scarborough
where she had known peace and happiness.’
St Mary's Church
Grace Darling
Grace Horsley Darling was born at Bamburgh in 1815. Her
father was a lighthouse keeper at Longstone lighthouse. At 4.0am on the morning of 7th September 1838 during a
violent storm, the steamship Forfarshire was wrecked at Big Harcar Rock on the
nearby Farne Islands and 40 lives were lost. At 7.0am Grace saw the wreck some half a
mile from the lighthouse and spotted that there were survivors. Her father
William thought that the weather was two bad for the Seahouses lifeboat to be
launched and so he and Grace launched their little coble in the atrocious
conditions which resulted in them rowing around the jagged rocks for nearly a
mile to reach the survivors. William went ashore whilst Grace kept the coble
steady, and they took five survivors back to the lighthouse.
Grace died of tuberculosis in 1842. A fine memorial tomb was
erected in the churchyard at Bamburgh by public subscription in 1844. The
original sculpture of Grace in Portland stone weathered badly and was removed
to the inside of the church and a new effigy in local stone replaced it. The
original coble can be seen, together with other artefacts, in the Grace Darling
Museum opposite the
church.
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