1595 And All That

As I dithered and dawdled on my way along Church Street in Litlington, with the vague idea of completing my set of photos (see previous post) with a view of the rather beautiful church, a friendly gentleman wished me "Good morning" and with little further ado announced that the church should be open "if they've remembered to unlock it". I've seen the church before but didn't want to disappoint him, so in I went.

I didn't know much about the building, though apparently parts of it date from the twelfth century. Lets see if the keyholder's alarm clock worked this morning!

Sure enough, the door swung open. Once inside, apart from it being a much larger church than might have been expected in a small village, everything was much as I'd remembered. 

There's a bright and colourful window showing St Catherine, but it seemed to be of no great age. The inscription confirms that it commemorates the life of one William Pateman "ringer and choirman of this church", who passed away in 1935. 

Unusually this church has two organs, one in the nave and another, just a few feet away in the chancel. One dates from 1877 and the other from 1879. I wonder how that came about. Then I was struggling to find anything I really wanted to photograph - time to get inventive...

Some modern glass (or perhaps it's plastic), inserted between the nave and the tower gave curious reflections of the old windows, which also seemed to link up with the silhouetted bell-ropes hanging in the tower.

Then something attracted me to this rather off-kilter composition. Somehow it reflects the rather large church and this small village (and presumably even smaller congregation).

Next I was attracted by the light shining through St Catherine's window and lighting up the stone work. But there's always something which has survived from an earlier age, despite all the tidying up which some churches underwent back in the late 1800s.

Just inside another window I found the above, having been tipped off by a small printed notice beneath it. It falls within the category called "church graffiti" and used to be blamed upon bored choirboys. However more recent research has shown that it's something very different from our modern idea of graffiti. Most of these graffiti are very old - indeed they date from a time well before there were any choirboys. Rather than being the result of vandalism they were tolerated and even encouraged by the medieval church, being something akin to "prayers in stone". This one, to save you a probably fruitless task, says, according to that little printed notice:

Francis Drake, knight, about to set sail in the thirty-seventh year of the reign of the most august and serene prince Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queen of England, France and Ireland, defender of the faith. 1595 

The same always, John Sherman.

That's right, it does say prince Elizabeth but that may just be because of the bizarre hand-writing or the fact that it was written in Latin. Clearly not the work of bored choirboys, but seemingly a prayer for the safe return of the expedition and, being in Latin, probably the work of a man of the church. Was it a simple act of patriotism or did the writer have a friend or relative on board? 

I had another look around and found these. Carvings of heads are common enough in our old churches, but I've never seen anything like the triangular headgear of the lady on the right. At first sight I thought she had a strap under her nose (!) but now I reckon it is supposed to represent a veil. Whatever it is, I don't foresee fourteenth-century ladies' fashions making a comeback any day soon.

And behind the tower was this - a probable Roman coffin. Apparently it's a "Listed Building - Grade II", though its listing doesn't reveal any more than what I've already told you.

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This is nothing whatever to do with churches or the village of Litlington, but I thought you might like to see a couple of pictures taken as I wandered with my brother along a little watercourse known as Wicken Lode.

A spiky swan - well, you'd have a funny hairstyle if you had to put your head underwater to find your dinner!

And a couple of baby Moorhens floating on a lily-pad, proving that it is possible to be both cute and ugly at the same time.

Take care.