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Tag: historic (Page 2 of 3)

Southwell Minster and The Architecture of the Ages

 

 

Southwell Minster and churchyard

The Minster’s west front and north porch.

Southwell Minster – The heavy walls, sharp corners and definitive rounded arches peered out from the pages of a book I was reading – or was it an on-line, social media post? – late last year, drawing me in with it’s grand, austere Norman architecture and emitting an aura of the medieval times in which it was conceived.

The plain simplicity of it’s Romanesque west front reflects the piety and devotion to a Higher Power of those who built it. But in it’s simplicity the building’s architecture  serves another purpose – a projection of power and authority, a domineering fortress to protect against an oft anarchic age.

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A Dive Into Heraldry

Looking over the pictures at St Leonard’s that I took in January, I became interested in the heraldic family crest that sits atop the memorial to Sir John Reresby (1634 – 1689). Crests and coat of arms like this were quite common on memorials to individuals with some rank or title. Sir John, as I explain here, was a member of the Baronetcy, the only British hereditary honour that is not a peerage. jon rosling Continue reading

Whitby Abbey: The Illuminated Abbey

 

 
Halloween is always an atmospheric time of year – glowing pumpkins, roasted chestnuts, Yorkshire parkin and faces painted in a myriad of ghoulish disguises. But this year was made all the more so by spending Samhain in the Gothic surroundings of Whitby and it’s wonderful illuminated abbey ruins. jon rosling

English Heritage‘s Illuminated Abbey event in 2019 was a week of activities at the abbey that sits in a prominent position on the headland overlooking Whitby’s ancient harbour. The abbey itself is, of course, a ruin – years of neglect after the violence of it’s dissolution in 1540 left it a shell. The bracing wind, rain and salt spray  from the North Sea have also taken their toll on the stonework and an attack by German battle-cruisers in December 1914 did further severe damage.

Wide angle photograph of Whitby Church of St Mary's and Harbour. Photo by John Rosling

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The Legend of St Leonard of Reresby Pt II

Correggio's image of Saint LeonardMy earlier blog posting considered the legend of a local saint, Saint Leonard of Reresby, one about which I had never come across until I researched the medieval stone cross at St Leonard’s Church in nearby Thrybergh. jon rosling

It’s unsurprising that I’ve never come across the legend before as it seems the first time anyone has put any coherent research together is John Doxey’s website on the local area.

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