The Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Wigton, was built between 1785 and 1789 on the site of a previous church built in the year 1100. Unfortunately no records of the old church exist so there’s no documentation of its size or appearance though it’s known that round about 1330 a pele tower was added to the building to fortify it after it suffered considerable damage during the Scots raids in the early part of the 14th century.
The contract for the new church was awarded to Messrs Pattinson and Holmes (joiners) and masons Parkin and Nixons (the Nixons being father and son) with one of the conditions being that none of the old church should be incorporated in the new building, though it seems that this condition may only have applied to the exterior of the building as some of the oak beams in the new church tower appear to have been taken from the old church.
Constructed to the same design as St. Michael’s in Workington and St. Cuthbert’s in Carlisle St. Mary’s was built of red sandstone from Shawk Quarry, Rosley, with the tower being raised about nine feet higher than originally planned so it might serve as a landmark. A new bell was cast by bellfounders William Mears & Co and in June 1790 it was transported from London to St. Mary’s at a cost of £3 19s; still in use and weighing 12.5 cwt it’s the biggest single bell of any parish church in Cumbria.
To meet the changing needs of its congregation and the people of Wigton St. Mary’s has seen many repairs and improvements over the years. In 1880/1881 the floor was remodelled and relaid with blocks, two new stained glass windows and a new heating system were installed, and the high box pews with their doors and brass name plates were removed and taken to the workshop of John and Daniel Pearson where they were converted into the open pews seen in the church today.
The first organ in the church is believed to have been a small barrel organ, later exchanged for a larger instrument which was in turn sold for £30 in 1859 to Causewayhead Church near Silloth. Thanks to the generosity of George Moore from nearby Mealsgate who personally paid the cost of £240 the second organ was replaced by a new 12-stop organ built by Gray & Davison, one of the leading London organ builders. This was situated in the West Gallery, the traditional site for church organs, but changing fashions meant that fifty years later its position was considered to be inconvenient.
In 1912 Harrisons of Durham built the current organ which was sited at the south east corner of the church within the space occupied by the former vestry. At a cost of £800 it was built much larger than its predecessor with two manuals, twenty stops and more than 1200 pipes, some of which came from the previous Gray & Davison organ. Harrisons were advised in their work by influential organ designer Colonel George Dixon of St. Bees and thanks to their combined expertise the organ was remarkably versatile.
Harrisons have periodically maintained and tuned the organ since its installation, carrying out repairs in 1938, cleaning and renovation in 1977 and further repairs to the pneumatic action in 1994. Unfortunately in more recent years the organ became less reliable and a complete restoration was necessary; a scheme was proposed by Harrisons and approved by the Parochial Church Council and in 2011 the Centenary Restoration Appeal was launched. In 2012, 100 years after it was originally installed, the organ was granted a ”Historic Organ Certificate” by the British Institute of Organ Studies then in January 2013 it was dismantled and various parts were taken back to Harrisons in Durham. After extensive work and the meticulous cleaning of 1200 pipes the organ was rebuilt and returned to full working order in June that year, with the total cost of the rebuild standing at £120,000.
In 1928 the remaining original ornate box pew, formerly occupied by the owners of Highmoor House, was removed from the eastern end of the north aisle and twenty five years later a side chapel was installed in its place by the Reverend John Ford in memory of his mother. The chapel is dedicated to St. Catherine and behind the communion table is a reredos made of re-used carved oak panels of North German origin. In 1952, prior to the installation of the side chapel, the church interior was completely redecorated, with the midnight blue of the flat ceiling and the gold detailing on the decorative plaster roundels complementing the overall scheme.
In 1958 the whole of the church’s exterior, including the tower, was restored and improved with the work being carried out by Messrs John Laing of Carlisle, and during this time the bell was re-hung. Between 1973 and 1976 the vestries were modernised, the ceiling insulated and the whole building rewired which meant that further redecoration was necessary though this kept to the Reverend Ford’s original scheme. The following year a number of pews were removed from the back of the church to provide a space for social gatherings and informal activities then in 1985 the vicar’s vestry was repositioned to provide a space for a new kitchen.
Early 20th century Baptistry
Indian carved lectern
Designed by R B Edmundson of Manchester and dedicated in 1865 the East window was donated by William Banks of Highmoor to celebrate the coming of age of his eldest son, though the centre section attracted widely differing opinions. Featuring Jesus blessing little children it was described as ‘fine Venetian glass’ by one person and ‘intensely ugly, portraying grotesque children’ by another, though William Banks had paid for the best which was available at the time.
East window centre – Suffer little childrenEast window left – the Baptism of Our LordEast window right – the Last supper
Throughout the life of the church there was never any serious attempt to install a complete ringing peal of bells until discussions in early 1996 resulted in the Parochial Church Council voting to pursue the possibility. A structural survey of the tower proved positive, estimates were obtained and early in 1997 an application was made to the Millennium Commission for a 50% grant; work then started to raise the remaining 50% and by the end of that year the Millennium funding was in place. An order for a new set of eight bells was placed with John Taylor, bellfounders in Loughborough and work was started on preparing the tower.
In 1998 a band of novice ringers started training and on February 19th 1999 the bells arrived in Wigton, being initially displayed in the church before being installed in the tower and tested on March 3rd. On Easter Sunday that year the new band of ringers rang the bells for the first time for the morning service and on May 1st the first full peal of 5,088 changes was rung by members of the Carlisle Diocesan Guild of Bell Ringers. New Year 2000 was rung in by the new local ringers and since then the bells have been rung regularly for services and special occasions. The original 12 cwt bell, standing in a steel frame and ball bearings, remains in the top stage of the tower and continues to be rung for funerals and to sound the hours every day.
In 2006 broadcaster and author Melvyn Bragg (Lord Bragg of Wigton) who grew up in the town, offered St. Mary’s the gift of three new stained glass windows, not only remembering his relatives past and present but also with a theme of bringing Wigton into the church and showing St. Mary’s as part of the community. Brian Campbell, a well known local artist, was chosen to design the windows and after many meetings with church authorities the designs were approved. Alex Haynes of Albion Glass, Brampton, created the stained glass and the windows were installed on the north side of the nave in July 2009.
Each of the windows is filled with images of the town, the church and its people and the left hand window shows much of the commercial life of Wigton including the auction mart, mill, factory and a street with church. St. Mary’s church tower is the dominant feature in the centre window while the right hand window includes the George Moore fountain, Highmoor Tower, Nelson Tomlinson School, the cenotaph and the Caldbeck fells, and even though the windows are so modern they all contain Christian symbols.
During the first few years of the 21st century it became apparent that the church roof was raining in and wasn’t in a good state of repair. Following meetings with architect Elaine Blackett-Ord it was agreed to apply to English Heritage for grants to help towards the cost of repairs and fund raising began in 2007. The contract was awarded to local firm RMT Slating & Tiling and work on the nave roof was completed first, with completion of the tower roof in 2010.
Since it was built in the late 18th century each generation has contributed in some way to the present church and it’s hoped that those latest roof repairs will keep St. Mary’s waterproof for the forseeable future. It’s a lovely old building with many interesting features and after discovering it while I was doing the Wigton Heritage Trail in September I was glad I was able to look round and uncover some of its history.
While I was on my 2-week stay-cation last September, and on one of the area’s Heritage Open Days, I visited St. Augustine’s Church in Pendlebury, eight miles from home and an easy 20-minute drive heading towards Manchester. I’d never been there before but it had come to my attention the previous day and it sounded interesting so off I went.
Known locally as the ‘Miners’ Cathedral’ because of its vast cathedral-like proportions and its location in the heart of a one-time coal mining community St. Augustine’s came into being thanks to the generosity of one man, Edward Stanley Heywood, one of the family of Heywood Brothers who were influential Manchester bankers. Situated about five miles from the centre of Manchester the church was designed in 1870 by architect George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907) assisted by Thomas Garner, and construction started in 1871 with the foundation stone being laid in September that year. The completed building was consecrated in May 1874 and the total cost including decoration and furnishings was borne by Heywood himself. The church’s first vicar was Heywood’s brother-in-law Dr. Alfred Dewes who devoted his life to St. Augustine’s and remained there until his death in 1911.
George Frederick Bodley served as an apprentice architect for five years then at the age of 23 set up his own practice in 1850, eventually setting up a partnership with Thomas Garner in 1869, and it was during the later years of the 19th century that some of his finest churches were built. In designing St. Augustine’s Bodley had also designed a bell tower which was to be a free-standing structure linked to the church on the south side and standing higher than the main roof, but the ambitious project to build a church of cathedral proportions was extremely expensive and as Heywood considered the bell tower wasn’t essential the plan was abandoned and the money was used to provide a vicarage, school and gatehouse. The church itself was built of red brick, with a clay tiled roof and dressed stone for the windows and doorways, and the building’s dimensions measured 160ft long from east to west, 50ft wide and 80ft 2ins high at the ridge of the roof.
Above the main west doorway three niches contain the statues of St. Augustine flanked by the Angel Gabriel on the left and the Blessed Virgin Mary on the right, and high in the wall below the apex of the roof is a recess housing the single church bell. Above the porch doorway on the south west corner, which was originally the main entrance, are another three niches housing statues, with the centre one being Our Lord with his hand raised to bless those entering the church, and at each side are the carved 1874 date stones.
Below the window in the east wall is a memorial showing the Risen Christ and commemorating the 178 men and boys, the youngest only 13 years old, who lost their lives in a devastating underground explosion at the Clifton Hall Colliery on June 18th 1885; the bodies of the victims were buried in the grounds of several local churches with 64 of them being interred at St. Augustine’s. The churchyard also contains the war graves of twelve service personnel from WW1 and four from WW2 and is a favourite spot for tortoiseshell butterflies who continue to make the grounds their home.
Before opening for public worship it was Bodley’s express wish that St. Augustine’s was provided with chairs for the congregation rather than pews. This was not only from an appearance point of view but also to prevent the system of paid pew rents whereby the wealthy could have exclusive use of a particular pew for themselves, their family and friends. This system in other churches had often discouraged the poor from attending services as they could find themselves having to either stand up or sit on cold bare floors; there are seven rows of pews towards the front of the nave but these were later additions.
At the north west corner of the nave is the octagonal font, standing two steps above floor level. Each of its eight sides has an arched recess containing a shield, with four of the shields bearing the IHS monogram while the others have roses and fleur-de-lys. The font cover is a finely crafted piece of woodcarving and has a traceried lower section with three tiers above and an angel at the top.
High up on eight of the internal buttresses in the nave are a series of elaborately carved and gilded frames containing paintings depicting several saints, and of these eight the front two on each side of the nave have been restored. The four on the north wall are saints Paul, Peter, Gregory and Augustine while those on the south wall are the Venerable Bede and saints Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine of Hippo; unfortunately bright sunlight shining on the paintings of Gregory and Augustine made them difficult to photograph successfully so I only got six out of the eight.
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The square pulpit is carved in the 16th century style with ‘linen fold’ panelling on the three sides. A later addition was a shell-shaped ‘sounding board’ suspended above it from an iron bracket, this was to project the speaker’s voice into the nave; in 1929 it was described by a writer (unknown) as “an American contraption – very effective but also very ugly”. Church records show that it was installed during Bodley’s lifetime and it was known that its appearance reduced him to tears; fast forward to 1996 and it was removed after extensive consultations with everyone concerned.
Spaced at intervals along the walls of the nave and continuing into the north and south choir isles are a series of carved wooden plaques, possibly later additions, telling the story of the Crucifiction; I photographed them all but there were far too many to include them all on here so I’ve selected just two.
Mother
The women
Dividing the nave from the chancel is the oak rood screen, an elaborately carved design of Bodley’s with a wide central arch and six open sections with delicate tracery, surmounted by the base of the (incomplete) rood loft forming a deep canopy to the screen itself. Just in front and above the screen on the north side of the nave is the organ loft with its richly coloured and gilded organ case, again designed and crafted by Bodley; the organ itself was originally built by Brindley & Foster of Sheffield, later rebuilt with pneumatic action by Ernest Wadsworth & Co of Manchester then rebuilt with a detached console in the mid 1990s.
The doorway to the organ loft is on the opposite side of the nave to the organ and the door itself has large hinges depicting leaves and acorns, another example of Bodley’s meticulous attention to detail. Before the organ was rebuilt in the 1990s access to the console was gained by walking across the top of the rood screen, hazardous enough but made worse with the installation of a bank of heating pipes covering most of the canopy top. Although very effective in combating the cold down-draught they also prevented the use of the safety handrail, making the journey to the console doubly perilous, although a certain Dorothy Morris, St. Augustine’s organist for over 30 years, regularly made the hair-raising journey until she was well into her eighties.
On both sides of the chancel the ends of the rear choir stalls incorporate ten carved creatures, five on each side, and include a cockerel, a dog, and several mythological beasts. In the north choir isle behind the stalls is a small shrine while in the south choir isle is a permanent Lady Chapel with its own altar and seating for eight people, both created in the mid 1990s. The richly painted chancel ceiling was restored and repainted in 1971 but some later damage to the external roof resulted in water ingress which caused the paint to peel in several places, which seemingly hasn’t so far been rectified.
Bordered by gold vine leaf trail and completed with gilded cresting at the top the huge reredos fills the centre of the east wall while at each side the wall is lined with ‘linen fold’ oak panelling. The reredos itself is made up of 19 compartments containing a series of richly coloured paintings; each compartment has a traceried canopy and parts of some of the paintings are in relief. On the shelf at the bottom are six large candlesticks, four of which were dedicated in 1930; made in Milan they are copies of some 300-year old candlesticks situated where St. Peter’s Chair stands in Rome.
Top row left – St. John the Baptist and St. MichaelTop centre – The AnnunciationTop row right – the Apostles, James and PeterMiddle row leftMiddle row centre panel, St. AugustineMiddle row rightBottom row left – two angels bearing symbols of the Passion Bottom row centre – the Crucifiction with the Blessed Virgin and St. JohnBottom row right – two angels
Looking down the nave from the chancel
The design of the windows was closely supervised by Bodley, with the stained glass being done by Burlison & Grylls, a partnership set up in 1868 with the encouragement of Bodley himself and Thomas Garner. By the 1890s Burlison & Grylls was one of the most highly regarded stained glass firms in the country; thousands of their windows appeared in churches throughout Britain, with their most spectacular being the large rose window installed in 1902 in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey.
Bodley’s opinion was that much of the stained glass of his period was spoiled by having too great a variety of colours so for St. Augustine’s he chose colour schemes to provide each window with just one dominant colour. The windows themselves are set high in the church walls, with their bases some 16 feet above floor level, and being so high it was impossible to get good clear shots of them; apparently the only way to fully appreciate the detail in each window is through binoculars.
Tucked in the south west corner of the nave and near the south porch door is a very small single window depicting the entrance of St. Augustine into Canterbury, and with the addition of a votive candle stand in 1996 this corner has become the Shrine of St. Augustine. Most of Bodley’s original furnishings and adornments remain largely unchanged and any alterations or additions which have been made over the years are very few.
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George Frederick Bodley was a remarkable man. Architect, poet, musician and deeply religious he was remembered for his courtesy, his gentle personality and his amazing memory for detail – many years after visiting other churches he could still sit down and accurately draw detailed sketches of them. Pendlebury has changed greatly since 1874 and its generations have changed with it but St. Augustine’s remains in regular use, still standing at the heart of the community and a testament to the most accomplished and refined architect who designed and created it.
Back in the 19th century two local brothers, Nathaniel and Thomas Greenhalgh who had made a large fortune in the cotton spinning industry, were determined that some of their wealth should go towards improving the spiritual and moral welfare of the people living and working in the industrial sprawl on the outskirts of Bolton. Being fervent members of the evangelical wing of the Church of England they decided to build a school and a church on land they owned off the main road running north from the town centre, and though Nathaniel died in 1877 at the age of 60 Thomas decided to proceed with the scheme in his memory and work started on the school that same year.
In 1878 the architects Paley and Austin of Lancaster were appointed to design the church, with Thomas Greenhalgh’s remit being that the building should be without interior obstructions so that everyone could see and hear the sermon, and there should be no uncomfortable draughts for people to catch colds. Work on the Gothic Revival-style church started that same year though it was entirely without ceremony as Greenhalgh didn’t want the pomp of laying an official foundation stone; the contractors were Cordingley & Stopford of Manchester and the total cost of the build was £20,000, the equivalent of almost £2.4 million at today’s prices. The new church was consecrated by Bishop Fraser of Manchester on June 30th 1881 and the first vicar was the Reverend William Popplewell.
Built of locally made red brick with Longridge stone being used for the external dressings and Stourton stone inside, the church has a north porch and a west door, a small octagonal turret on the north side and a west tower 26ft square. The roofs were covered in Westmorland slate and at one time the tower had a weather vane bearing the date 1881 but unfortunately this was blown off during a storm in 1952 and was never replaced.
Thomas Greenhalgh’s remit that the church interior should be without obstructions produced a large nave 52ft wide and 86ft long with just one central aisle, and a chancel measuring 40ft x 25ft. The high vaulted roof and the panelling of the nave walls were made of pitch pine, as were the original pews which could seat 800 people. The pulpit, lectern, reading desk, choir stalls, altar and communion rails were all designed by Paley and Austin and made of oak.
The church was originally lit by twelve gas pendants then in 1929 electric lighting was introduced, with electric blowers being added to the organ at the same time. The organ itself was built by Abbott of Leeds in 1880 from a specification prepared by S W Pilling of Bolton, with extensive overhauls being carried out in 1959 and again in the 1970s by Peter Wood of Huddersfield. The case, again designed by Paley and Austin, was made of Danzig oak.
The chancel floor is made up of white marble with inlays of Dent black marble, which isn’t true marble but a black crinoidal limestone found in certain areas of Dentdale and quarried during the late 18th century. With its amazing quantity of embedded fossil remains it became known as Dent Marble and was, at one time, very much sought after.
The reredos was designed by John Roddis of Birmingham, sculpted from Mansfield stone and made up of a series of panels containing the Apostles’ Creed, the Decalogue and the Lord’s Prayer, while the large font near the west door was also designed by John Roddis and sculpted from Mansfield stone. In later years an oak font cover was added which was paid for by public subscription in 1930 and dedicated to William Popplewell, the church’s first vicar. The inscription on the plaque reads “To the glory of God and in loving memory of the Rev’d William Popplewell, first vicar of this parish 1879 – 1923”
The eastern windows of the chancel were all made by Clayton & Bell of London and date from the building of the church. Clayton & Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient English stained glass workshops during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, well known for their use of exceptionally bright primary colours. The company was founded in 1855 and continued until 1993 with their windows being found throughout the UK and in America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The windows in All Souls were given in memory of Nathaniel Greenhalgh and show scenes from the New Testament including several from The Acts of the Apostles, all with the relevant quotation below them.
Fast forward through the years and what had once been a large congregation gradually dwindled over time and by the time the church celebrated its centenary in 1981 it was becoming obvious that the building had major problems. From the 1940s there had been several outbreaks of dry rot and in later years vandalism was rife – in 1970 the stained glass windows in the tower were removed after being badly damaged. They had been made by Shrigley and Hunt and had depicted the six days of the Creation but they were replaced with plain glass containing a cross in the upper part of the central light.
In 1986 it was stated that over 80% of the area’s population were of Asian origin with most being Muslims and with the small congregation unable to meet the parish’s financial commitments closure of the church was inevitable; the last service was held there on December 28th that same year. To avoid All Souls suffering the same fate as its sister church, which had been in another area of the town and was demolished in 1975, in June 1987 the church was vested in the Redundant Churches Fund, now known as the Churches Conservation Trust. Since then the Trust has undertaken several major repairs to the fabric of the building including eradicating the dry rot and pointing the brickwork.
In 2007 a local resident, Inayat Omarji, who had lived in the area all his life, recognised the church’s potential to be a community, events and business centre and after gathering support and financial backing for its regeneration a rescue plan was developed in partnership with the Churches Conservation Trust. Renovation and restoration work began in September 2013 and was completed in November 2014, with the doors finally reopening to the public on December 6th that year.
Because the inside of the church had been originally designed without pillars or aisles it was very adaptable to its new purpose as an events and community space. The philosophy of the restoration was to preserve the original beauty of the church while incorporating the very best of contemporary design and the interior now features two connected 3-storey ‘pods’ which are independent of the main building and touch neither the sides nor the roof of it. The newly designed interior provides an events space in the main body of the church for heritage and community activity, a ground floor coffee shop, a history wall, office space and five meeting rooms, while the chancel and all its original features remain intact. The building is still consecrated as a church and weddings can still be held there with the permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In spite of All Souls being only a mile from home I’d never actually been in there, either in the past or in more recent years, however I visited a couple of weeks ago on one of the Heritage Open Days – and I have to say that what you see on the inside is definitely not what you would expect to see from the outside.
The church as it was – photo from the internet
As it is now – looking down the nave
View from the chancel
After spending some time wandering round taking photos and reading various bits of information on the history wall I sat down to listen to a very interesting talk on the history of the church given by Suzanne, one of the community workers, then I had the opportunity to climb the tower steps up onto the roof, stopping a couple of times on the way up to look down into the main body of the church.
The tower is 117ft high with a narrow spiral stone staircase of 180 steps and a ring of eight bells cast in 1880 by J Taylor & Co. of Loughborough. The tenor bell alone weighs over 23cwt (1160kg) with the whole ring of eight weighing a total of 90cwt (4570kg). Going up the staircase was certainly a test of heart and lung capacity, though with no handrail or rope to hold onto coming back down was more a test of nerve and definitely not for the faint-hearted.
Looking down from the first balcony
The ringing room
From the ringing room balcony
Up in the main roof
From the third balcony
The strenuous climb up the tower steps was certainly worth it as I was rewarded with 360 degree views and I could see for miles in all directions; the weather was glorious and I got several good shots looking over the immediate area and beyond, with the high-rises of Manchester city centre on the horizon.
Back at ground level I had another wander round to catch up on anything I’d previously missed – and I still didn’t manage to see or read everything – then it was time to go as it was almost closing time. I’d been there for over two hours and it was certainly time well spent – I’d learnt something of the history of All Souls and it had been interesting to see the modern ‘building within a building’. The church is open every weekday so who knows, I may very well be tempted to pop in sometime when I’m passing to sample their coffee and cake.
My Monday walk this week was done just yesterday and was actually Plan B when Plan A didn’t work out. I started off mid morning at the big car boot sale near the village of St Michael’s on Wyre; normally held every weekend from May bank holiday until the end of September it was the first time this year that it was on and I’d been looking forward to it.
My original intention, once I’d looked round all the stalls twice, was to drive over to Garstang and walk along a section of the Lancaster canal but when I came to take the first couple of photos at the car boot my camera told me that all images would be stored on the internal memory, which I thought was rather odd until I found the media card was missing – I’d transferred it to my card reader a few days previously and forgotten to put it back in the camera.
View from the car boot field
Not knowing how many photos I could take using the camera’s internal memory – I suspected not very many – and with a lot of grey clouds around anyway there was no point going all the way to Garstang so I decided to have a short walk along a section of the River Wyre instead. Driving into the village I parked near the primary school then walked the hundred yards or so along the main road and over the bridge to the riverside path and the start of the walk; it’s a walk I’m familiar with as I camped a few times at a lovely little site nearby several years ago.
River Wyre from the bridge
While the river meandered round and doubled back on itself the path carried straight on, first through a tree shaded area close to a small field of sheep then along the high bank of the river itself with a couple of pleasant meadows on my left below the bank. At the next bend there was just one lone person sitting fishing; the river wound back on itself again there, skirting the edge of another meadow and effectively making it a dead end so I knew I would end up retracing my steps.
Continuing to follow the river round the edge of the meadow I came to the junction of a narrow brook and I remembered that on the next bend there should be a small sandy beach. I was right, the beach was still there, so I went down off the bank and let Poppie have a few minutes paddle before I continued round the edge of the meadow. Eventually I could go no farther as my way was blocked by a fence and gate leading to a small development of waterside holiday lodges so I cut diagonally back across the meadow and rejoined the main riverside path along the top of the bank.
The Bowland fells in the distance
Heading back to the road I almost stood on a toad in the middle of the stony path. At first I thought it may be injured but it hopped a couple of paces when I touched it; up ahead I could see a couple coming towards me with a big dog so to save the possibility of the toad being snapped at I picked it up and put it gently in the foliage off the path.
Back at the bridge I crossed the road to the riverbank at the other side with the intention of walking along for a mile or so – another route I’ve done before – but there was a small herd of cows up ahead with a couple of mean looking ones right in the middle of the path. I had no intention of getting into an argument with those two so I gave up on that idea and decided to call it a day and make tracks for home.
Passing St. Michael’s Church I found it was open to visitors for ‘private prayer’ – not that I’m religious – so finding somewhere suitable to leave Poppie for a few minutes I went to take a look and found I was the only person in there. A church has occupied that site from at least the 13th century; the present church was probably built in the 15th century with alterations being made in the 17th century. The chapel at the north of the church dates from 1480, it was repaired in 1797 and restored in 1854. The tower is said to date from 1549 and houses a ring of three bells hung in a timber frame. Inscribed with Gothic script the treble bell was originally cast in 1458 and was given to the church by a French lady; the second bell was cast in 1663 by Geoffrey Scott of Wigan while the third bell dates from 1742 and was cast by Abel Rudhall of Gloucestershire.
The colourful corner in the angle of the church wall was my final shot, the camera’s internal memory was full, so there was nothing else I could do other than return to the van and head for home. My day hadn’t worked out as I’d originally planned but I’d made the best of it, Poppie had a paddle and I actually got more photos than I thought I would so I suppose it was still a success even though it was a minor one.
My Monday walk this week was done just five days ago – June 24th – on what must have been one of the hottest days of the year so far. I don’t usually watch weather forecasts but I’d heard that the weekend was probably going to be very wet so I decided to take advantage of the midweek sunshine and explore a couple of places I hadn’t been to before.
Driving up the M6 I took the turn-off for Lancaster and headed along the A683 which bypassed the city itself and led straight to Heysham port, though on the spur of the moment I took a minor road down to the River Lune to check out a particular spot which – I’d been told by someone ages ago – was quite nice and had good views over the river. I didn’t have to go far before I came to a pleasant looking static caravan site and next to it The Golden Ball Hotel set several feet higher than the road.
According to local history there’s been an inn on that site since the mid 1600s; the main part of the existing inn, known locally as Snatchems, was built in 1710 and an extension was added in 1790. Fast forward to the early 20th century and in 1910 William Mitchell bought the inn and it became a tenanted pub with Mitchells of Lancaster being the landlords. In early 2010 the last tenants left and with no-one to run it the pub was closed and put up for sale by Mitchells, eventually being bought in 2011 by the current owner and further extended.
There are a few stories of how the pub’s nickname Snatchems originated though the most interesting and widely accepted explanation stems from when the River Lune was used as a shipping channel. When any tall ship was about to sail out on the high tide the captain would check how many men were on board and if the numbers were short a boat would be sent over to the inn, where the crew would ‘snatch’ any men who were intoxicated – and by the time they sobered up they would be well on the way to a foreign country!
Parking at the roadside near the pub I had a very short walk in each direction and other than a handful of passing cars I had the place to myself. Round a bend just west of the pub the road went over a deep drainage ditch while a hundred yards or so to the east the grass riverbank widened out to quite a pleasant area. The Golden Ball itself was temporarily closed up, with its entrances at road level surrounded by high steel barriers, and coupled with obviously overgrown gardens the place had a distinct air of abandonment about it.
Looking west
Looking east, with a hazy Ingleborough in the far distance
Lythe Bridge
The Golden Ball Hotel
With my curiosity satisfied I drove back to the main road and headed to my first ‘official’ destination, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Heysham Nature Reserve. At the point where the road led into the docks and the power station a lane on the left took me to the track leading to the reserve; unfortunately there was a barrier across the track with a ‘car park closed’ notice on it but I was able to squeeze the van into a suitable space just off the lane and I set off to see what I could find. The first disappointment came when I got to the far side of the car park and found a notice on the gate saying dogs weren’t allowed in that part of the reserve, however there was no way I could leave Poppie in the van on such a hot day and there was no-one around anyway so I took a chance and went through.
The second disappointment came just a few yards farther on when I found a large part of the reserve completely closed off by a high steel fence and a locked gate with a ‘No Entry’ sign attached to it. That was one area I definitely couldn’t get into so I followed the path down a series of steps and found myself on the road to the power station – this couldn’t be right, there had to be more to the reserve than that. Across the road was a grassy area at the entrance to the large EDF Energy place and at the far side I spotted a rabbit so I snatched a quick long distance photo before it moved then went back up the steps into the reserve.
Not far from the top of the steps I found another path which meandered between hedgerows alive with birdsong, and past a quiet little tree shaded pond I came to a large meadow which, ignoring the constant hum and crackle from the power lines above, was quite a pleasant place in the sunshine. The path eventually brought me out not far from where I’d left the van and across the track was another path with a notice on the gate saying this area was where dogs could be walked and could also be allowed off lead, not that Poppie ever is.
In the shade just inside the gate was a metal box with a lid and a dog bowl at the side – a notice on the fence said ‘Dog water – please refill’ and in the box were several 2-litre milk containers full of fresh water, with a couple of empty ones left at the side. Quite a handy provision for thirsty dogs, presumably supplied by a local member of the Trust, and once Poppie had a quick drink we set off on some further exploration. The path was long and straight, bordered by trees on one side and open grassy areas on the other, and a distance along was a pond with hundreds of fish, possibly chub, swarming about close to the edge.
Eventually the path crossed an access lane to part of the power station and I came to an open picnic area with benches here and there; it was overlooked by the huge Heysham 2 nuclear reactor but plenty of surrounding trees did help to screen the building from view. Heysham 2 seems to dominate the horizon from miles away and from a distance looks quite ugly but close up, with its red, blue and green colours, I thought it looked strangely attractive. At the end of the picnic area the path ran for a short distance past the power station’s perimeter fence with its ‘keep out’ notices at intervals; with the continuous loops of razor wire on top of the fence I felt almost like I was passing the grounds of a prison and I certainly couldn’t imagine anyone trying to get in there.
I finally emerged onto a very rocky shore at Red Nab rocks, an area of Permo-triassic rocks of red and white sandstone. A long concrete promenade ran past the power station perimeter towards the port entrance and halfway along was a closed off short pier with the surface of the sea in a turmoil underneath it, which was presumably something to do with the power station; according to the notice on the fence this was the Heysham Sea Bass Nursery Area managed by the North Western Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and public fishing wasn’t allowed.
A bit farther along were the remains of an old wooden pier and at the end of the promenade was the old south pier lighthouse at the port entrance. Built from cast iron in 1904 and almost 30ft high the base had originally been red and the lantern gallery white, though it now looks sorely in need of a coat of paint. Information tells me that in spite of its derelict looks it’s still active with a 6-second on/1.5-second off green light, though I’m not sure how correct that information is.
Perched on the railing to the left of the old light tower were several cormorants
The old light house was the one thing I’d wanted to see so once I’d taken a couple of photos I retraced my steps along the promenade. By then the tide had come in and the turmoil of water under the sea bass nursery pier had levelled out, with dozens of seagulls in the channel – presumably at some point there would be a lot of fish in evidence just there. Walking back along the path through the nature reserve I was momentarily surprised when a bird flew out of a tree and landed right in front of me; it could possibly have been a thrush but without seeing the front of it I couldn’t be sure.
Back at the van I gave Poppie a drink even though she had some from her travel bottle while we were walking, then I drove the short distance to the next place on my itinerary, Half Moon Bay which was just at the other side of the port and another place I’d never been to. There was nothing there really, just a large rough-surfaced car park, a beach and a small café, closed of course; ignoring the ever-present power station building it wasn’t a bad little place but I wasn’t sure about the crooked sign attached to a crooked pole.
Half Moon Bay beach
On the grass just off the end of the short promenade was a sculpture commissioned by the Morecambe Bay Partnership in 2019. It was just called ‘Ship’ and is supposed to reflect the importance of Morecambe Bay’s maritime heritage, with one figure facing ‘the new’ of Heysham’s nuclear power station and the other facing ‘the old’ of the ancient ruins of St. Patrick’s chapel on the cliffs farther along, and though I quite liked it I failed to see the significance of the holes through the figures’ upper bodies.
With nothing else to see at Half Moon Bay I returned to the van and took the road leading into Heysham village; I hadn’t intended going there but I wanted to find a cold drink from somewhere. Across from the village car park the side window of the Curiosity Corner cafe was open for takeaway drinks and snacks so I went to get something from there and was charged £1.20 for a can of Tango – sheesh, these places certainly know how to charge over the odds for something! I was glad that at least I’d taken my own slab of fruit cake as to buy some cake from there would probably have cost an arm and several legs.
Suitably refreshed I took a walk along to the end of the village’s main street and was delighted to find that the church was open to visitors. I’d wanted to go in there when I visited the village last year but it was closed then so I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity this time as I wanted to photograph the carved Viking hogback tombstone which dates from the 10th century. Unfortunately I couldn’t get proper shots of the stained glass windows as much of the church was blocked off but photographing the tombstone was no problem as it was close to the open side door.
Back outside I took a wander round Glebe Garden as due to the palaver ofrescuing an injured hedgehog last year I hadn’t seen much of the place at the time. It wasn’t a big garden but it was very pretty and as I walked round I discovered many delightful miniature houses and tiny animals set among the foliage and on cut down tree stumps.
Walking back through the village I shot my last couple of photos and returned to the van; it was still only mid afternoon but I had to go to work later on and it was an hour’s drive back home, plus I wanted to make a brief stop on the way back.
Driving back through Half Moon Bay I reversed the route from there back to the Golden Ball on the River Lune as I wanted to see if the area looked any different now that the tide was in. It certainly did, and far from there being no-one around when I was there earlier there were several cars and trailers parked along the road and a few people out on jet skis, with a couple of families sitting on the grass while their kids and dogs played at the water’s edge.
With my day out finishing exactly where it began I did the journey home with no problems and arrived back with just enough time to get changed before going to work. All in all it had been a good day out, and though I had no wish to return to the nature reserve or Half Moon Bay it had been good to visit them both just to see what they were like – and with the healthy dose of sea air for myself and Poppie we both slept well that night.
This week’s Monday walk, if you can call it that, features a wander round a church about seven miles from home in the next town. The Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin is situated right on the edge of Bury town centre, just a couple of minutes walk from the interchange and the main shopping centre and not far from the well known open market. Church records suggest that the first church on the site was a wood and thatch structure which was replaced in the late 16th century by a building in the Gothic style ; between 1773 and 1780 the main body of this church was demolished and rebuilt although the spire wasn’t touched.
The spire itself was replaced in 1842 but by 1870 the timbers in the rest of the church had rotted and another new building was needed. The current church was designed on a much grander scale by architect J S Crowther and was built leaving the 1842 spire in place ; construction took five years and the church was finally consecrated on February 2nd 1876. The interior features hammerbeam and tie-beam roof trusses, decorative mosaic flooring by Minton and stained glass windows by Clayton & Bell and Hardman & Company, while the tower houses eight bells, six of which date from 1722.
The nave is 84ft 6ins long, 30ft wide and 76ft 6ins high, with the windows on the north wall depicting Old Testament figures while those on the south wall depict those from the New Testament. Unfortunately most of the windows were so high up that I would have needed to use an exceptionally long step ladder to get good clear shots of them. The west wall rises in four stages to the great rose window and was inspired by Westminster Abbey, while the pulpit was given in memory of Reverend Roger Kay who re-founded Bury Grammar School in 1726 ; it’s believed that he is actually buried beneath the pulpit.
The nave and sanctuary
The ornate sanctuary screen
Looking down the nave from the sanctuary
The organ was at one time situated above the west door but it was relocated to its current position when the church was rebuilt in 1876. Originally a tracker action organ electrics were eventually installed and the console was moved to the south side of the chancel where it faced east. The organ was rebuilt in 2007, keeping some of the original pipework and giving it a French sound, and the console was turned to face south.
Flooring in the South Chapel
South Chapel reredos – Mary and child flanked by patron saints of Britain
Looking down the nave to the west wall
The church is also the garrison church of the Lancashire Fusiliers. On April 25th 1915 the Lancashire Fusiliers were involved in taking West Beach at Gallipoli, for which the regiment won six VCs, and each year a service is held on the nearest Sunday to that date to commemorate those who took part in Gallipoli and subsequent battles. For anyone interested in regimental history the church has a number of colours hung on display along with memorial tablets, record books and other artefacts, with a dedicated museum in the old Fusiliers building round the corner.
The Fusilier Museum
I hadn’t originally intended going into the church as I was in Bury for an entirely different reason, but when I saw the ‘church open’ sign on the outside railings I thought I may as well pop in for a quick look and I’m glad I did. It’s a lovely place with many interesting features, more than I realised at the time, so it would be worth making a return visit the next time I go to Bury – and with a nice little café just across the road I can treat myself to coffee and cake as well.
My last full day in Roscrea arrived with sunshine and blue sky and after breakfast my first task was to find some nice artificial flowers to replace the ones I left on Michael’s dad’s grave last year. Although I really wanted a single large arrangement I couldn’t find one so I settled for six small bunches, three red and three white, and back at the house I filched a length of Nellie’s green knitting wool and tied them all together into one arrangement before taking them up to the grave. While I was up there I noticed that the lantern and plaques that Michael and I had left at the time of the funeral were looking a bit grubby so I took them back to the house, gave them a good clean then went to return them to the grave. I took my camera with me too as I’d seen that the church was open so I went in to see if I could get some photos of the stained glass windows which I didn’t get shots of on a previous occasion.
The construction of St. Cronan’s RC Church started in 1844 just before the Great Hunger and in spite of the best efforts of the parish priest and the local community it proved impossible to complete during the famine years. After various fund raising efforts both in the community and in America the church was finally opened for worship in 1855 although it still didn’t have a roof at that time. In the 1870s the towers flanking the west end of the building were added, and before his death in 1902 John Francis Bentley, the architect of Westminster Cathedral, said that the hand carved altar pinnacle and screen was the most beautiful piece of church architecture he had seen in Ireland. In 1913 lightning seriously damaged the apse so restoration and redecoration was carried out on the whole church, then in the 1920s the statue of St. Cronan was added, which now stands above the main door.
It seemed like I was the only person in the church at that time so with no interruptions I wandered round freely and managed to get shots of every stained glass window in there. Someone belonging to the church must have been there somewhere though as only a few minutes after I’d gone out I heard the main door being closed and locked from the inside – it seemed I’d got my photos just at the right time.
St. Cronan’s RC Church, Roscrea
Back at the house Nellie made me a coffee and a couple of sandwiches then I got ready for the next part of my day ; earlier in the holiday I’d promised Trixie that I would take her for a good walk and as it was still a lovely day weather-wise that’s just what I was going to do.
Standing adjacent to St. Mary of the Rosary church, but in its own grounds, St. Mary’s Church of Ireland was built in 1862 to a design by architect Joseph Welland and features a stained glass window from the studio of Harry Clarke. It was a much smaller building than its opulent next-door neighbour and with very few features the interior was strikingly simple in comparison.
This pulpit was made of concrete and reminded me of a very thickly-iced wedding cake
Needless to say it didn’t take me long to look round this church and I was soon heading back on the couple of minutes walk into town. Nenagh town centre is bigger and has more shops than Roscrea but I’m not one for shopping so it still didn’t take me long to look round, and when it started raining again I decided to cut my losses and get the next coach back to Nellie’s – trying to take photos with one hand while holding an umbrella up with the other wasn’t an easy task and the couple of shots I did take of the town centre were rather spoilt by getting rain spots on the lens, so if there was anything else worth seeing in Neenagh it would have to wait until another time.
St. Mary of the Rosary church, built in 1896, is an excellent example of large scale Gothic Revival architecture, with the exterior being notable for its finely-carved dressings and elaborate west doorway. The interior of the nave revives the quatrefoil columns which would have been found in some of the 13th century Irish and English Gothic parish churches – the columns and pointed arches are built of Portland stone and the chancel features a series of fine mosaics designed by Ludwig Oppenheimer in 1911.
Photo taken from the internet – all the others are my own
Looking down the main aisle
One of the ornate filigree screens
A section of tiled wall mosaic
The finely-carved oak pulpit
The beautifully tiled floor which runs throughout
The interior features of this church were beautiful and there were so many of them I could have spent much longer in there but while I was wandering round I noticed several young men in suits and other people obviously getting prepared for something so I thought I’d better make myself scarce. When I got outside the car park was full of cars with more arriving and from the outfits that people were wearing it looked like a wedding was imminent so it seemed that I’d timed my church visit just right. Next door was the much smaller St. Mary’s Church of Ireland which I hadn’t been into last year so now it was time to take a look in there.
The last day of November arrived bright and sunny so as Michael was meeting up with some of his friends I decided to take myself off to Nenagh, a 25-minute bus ride from Roscrea. I’d gone there last year as I wanted to see the castle but unfortunately I’d chosen one of the only two days in the week when it was closed, so now armed with proper details of the opening days and times I was making a second attempt, also Nellie had shown me a postcard with some pictures of Nenagh Town Park and it looked interesting so that was somewhere else I could check out.
I got the mid-day coach from Roscrea but halfway through the journey the sunshine disappeared and the rain started ; by the time I got to Nenagh it was pouring down so I dashed into the nearest discount shop and bought a cheap umbrella but the rain had stopped by the time I came out again. That seemed to set a pattern though and the rest of the afternoon passed with alternate sunshine and showers. I’d passed the Town Park on the way into Nenagh but the coach didn’t stop anywhere near it so I’d had to go into the town and walk back again but it only took ten minutes. To be honest I found the park to be rather disappointing when I got there ; bordered on three sides by the Nenagh river and a railway line on the fourth side it was nothing more than a very large childrens’ playground with various modern pieces of play equipment dotted around, a small pond and a few grassy picnic areas with a pathway all the way round, though maybe it would look nicer on a sunny summer day.
Nenagh Town Park
The Nenagh river
Walking back into the town I passed a pub with a picture on its corner wall which made me smile. Back in 1935 the Guinness toucan first made its appearance in an advertising campaign for the brand on posters and many years later on television, and though various other animals featured in the adverts over the years it was the toucan which became the most famous. The gang of animal friends appeared in the adverts for decades but in 1982 Guinness stopped working with the advertising company and the animals were dropped completely. In 2016 a limited edition can of Guinness was produced featuring the toucan but it now primarily lives on in the memories of Guinness lovers and collectors and on the walls of some Irish pubs.
Back in the town I made my way round to the castle and leaving my bag with the two friendly guys at the information desk in the entrance I set off on my climb to the top of the tower. The castle was built at the beginning of the 13th century with the keep being Nenagh’s oldest building ; originally it was incorporated in the curtain walls surrounding a five-sided courtyard but only a few fragments of the walls now remain and these are inaccessible to the public. Built of limestone the keep has an external diameter of 55ft round the base and access is through a short passageway in the base of the wall which is 16ft thick. The keep rises to 100ft, with four storeys accessed by stone spiral staircases which change direction at each floor level, and there are 101 steps to the top.
The stairs got steeper and narrower as I climbed further up, a definite test of one’s heart and lung capacity, and eventually I emerged onto the castle roof. The crown of crenellations and clerestory windows weren’t added to the tower until 1861, and though not true to historic character they ensured the iconic status of the keep which is now a major tourist attraction. The sun shining intermittently through the rain clouds produced rather an odd light for photo taking but on a clear sunny day the views from up there would be really good.
Nenagh castle
Modern staircase to the first floor
Stone staircase to the second floor
Renovated window seats on the second floor
Getting steeper – stairs to the third floor
Even narrower – stairs to the top
Up on the roof
Nenagh Court House in the centre, the Arts Centre (white building) in the foreground
St. Mary of the Rosary church
Rear of St. Mary’s Church of Ireland
A hazy view to the Silvermine Mountains
Going back down
Back at ground level I retrieved my bag from the guys at the desk and spent a few minutes chatting to them then made my way round to St. Mary of the Rosary church. I’d gone in there last year and had been really impressed with its opulent interior, and though I’d taken several general photos at the time I wanted to get some more detailed shots. I spent quite a while in there and achieved my aim, though I took far too many photos to include here so I’ll put them in a follow-up post of their own.
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Life In The Mouse House 