A church and graveyard

This pretty little church is perched on top of the cliffs in Kingsdown so you can see it from quite a way around.  It has always interested me because of the open bell tower.  In Europe I believe they are more common but I don't know.  In France it would be called a clocher-mur.
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The church is surrounded by the graveyard.

When I spotted this grave with its anchor I felt sure it must belong to a seaman, this being an old fishing village, but no.  It's engraved for "Dear mother".

And this church too, like Adullamite's, has it's faces on either side of the entrance, a bishop and what I took to be a queen.  They are so lacking in any character it's almost impossible to say.

The church was built in 1853 so Victoria would have been on the throne which makes me wonder if it was the custom to have the reigning monarch and maybe the Archbishop of Canterbury on either side of a church entrance.  Not that I've really noticed it anywhere before.

Symbols of power

Medieval castles, five of them in this small town of Chauvigny, all symbols of power of a bygone age.

Chauvigny is situated on a high promontory over the River Vienne, the only medieval settlement of its kind in Europe, so the promotional literature says.  The five fortresses are grouped inside a single outer wall and overlooked by the belfry of St Peter's Church.

Left to right in the view above: Château Baronial, Château d'Harcourt, St Peter's Church, Château de Gouzon, The other two fortresses, Flins and Montléon don't show on this picture.  The tower of Flins is now a private residence while Montléon has all but disappeared by being incorporated into more recent buildings.

But as with many symbols of power, they have crumbled over time.

Taken over gradually by vegetation ...

 ... and other wildlife.

A two-in-one post for the Photo Hunts. 

The joy of circles

Most of these photos seem to come from in and around churches or cathedrals and that probably reflects the joy I find in visiting these very often ancient buildings.

The bishop's gardens, le Jardin de la Berbie, in Albi with circular patterns described in boxwood hedges.  This is how it would have looked from 1678.  Everything is tended by hand, watering, pruning, weeding.

A circular window above an ancient door in an equally ancient church in the south of France.

A small gravestone behind a small church in England.

Circular panels in this stained glass window in a church in central France.  The colours are so rich and vibrant.

The final picture possibly brings me most joy because I made the effort to go out very early on an autumn morning to catch this reflection while the mists were rising from the river and before any breezes ruffled the water.

A two-in-one post for the Photo Hunts.

It was a bright and sunny morning ...

... one day last week.  An unusual event this winter, so to celebrate I decided a visit to Chauvigny was a good idea.  The old part of Chauvigny was a medieval town which grew up on a high rocky outcrop overlooking the river Vienne.  Uniquely, it had five different fortresses within the ramparts, along with an imposing church.  The idea was to visit it and return via Saint Savin.  By the the half way point, it was fairly clear that there was no bright and sunny morning in Chauvigny.

The top of the imposing church was lost in the mists.

As was the Château de Gouzon.  Everywhere was deserted, probably because it was bitterly cold.

The Château baronial, they helpfully said on a nearby noticeboard, the least well preserved of the five fortresses. Preservation isn't a word I'd associate with this "château", at all.

I had a look at the much vaunted panorama over the town and river (I think the river was there).

I sat down to have a think but I was stone cold by this time and decided to go home, not stopping in Saint Savin for any length of time because it turned out to be shut.  I'll return on a sunny day.

Vallée des Fresques

The Valley of Frescos.  A fair while ago I went to visit the Abbey of Saint Savin sur Gartempe, a beautiful abbey church decorated in the most magnificent frescos.  While I was there, I took a short walk along the river and noticed a sign indicating that if you followed the river far enough you'd be able to visit several other churches with similar frescos, hence the name, Vallée de Fresques.  I made a mental note that I should do that before long.

That was 18 months ago, but the other day I finally made it back.

This was not a successful trip.

The idea was to start at Montmorillon because there I could see three things at once: a church, a chapel and an octagon.  Apparently.  From the car park I could see a church but I never actually managed to reach it.  The two other places had no sign posts to them at all, so I didn't see them at all, never mind reach them.

The river looked pretty and I could see the church from here too.  This was just about as close as I got.
Onwards.  Plenty of other places on the list.  Next, Jouhet.

The river at Jouhet, the same river, the Gartempe.

This is the funerary chapel.  I went to the church first by mistake, which was shut.  However on the chapel door there was a notice to say that if you wanted to see it, the keys could be found in the bar.  Or, if the bar was closed, they would be in the Town Hall.  Well, it was a very small chapel and there were still plenty of places left on the list....

The church at Pindray .... was shut.  There was no indication of any keys anywhere.

They appeared to be having some difficulty in the surrounding graveyard, with rainwater washing away the earth.  Many of the gravestones had fallen over or were propped up at odd angles.

Pretty fountain, though.  Maybe it overflowed into the graveyard?

It wasn't until I got home that I discovered I should have been looking at the nearby château and not the church at all. I didn't lose anything though, because the château isn't open for visiting.  So that's all right then.

From flickr

On to Antigny.  Antigny appeared to be open - as we sailed past.  It was by now lunch time and my chauffeur was rapidly losing interest.  So I noted the open door for future reference.

And it was back  to St Savin itself for a bite to eat in the only place serving food for miles around.  Wednesday.  Why was everything shut?  There was only one more place left on the list, St Germain.  I didn't hold out a great deal of hope, and it was just as well.

It was shut.  You could collect the keys from the Town Hall, if you happened to know where that was.

The side entrance was locked too.  The church was very clearly recently renovated, possibly over-renovated?  It all looked a little too perfect for a mediaeval church.  The surround for the side door looked as though it had been painted on but it really is stone.  It will be pleasant when, if, it's allowed to weather a bit.

Every cloud has a silver lining, however, and I found that the river here gave one of the better views of the abbey itself.  All was not lost.  Lunch was OK too.  Ice cream for dessert. :)

School

My camera is back and working so I have been able, at the last minute, to take some pictures of a school.  I did consider a school of fish, but they wouldn't stay still long enough, and I don't know enough about schools of art or architecture, so it's back to education.

This is the courtyard of our local school which students attend from the ages for 11 to 16.  It is called the collège.  Before that they attend the école and afterwards they go on to the lycée in the "big" town.  As you can see, it's a very old building and once upon a time it used to be a monastery built in the 12th century for the monks who founded the town.

I doubt whether this tower is in everyday use, though it may be of course, but they do have superb views across the river and beyond.

On the far side of the courtyard with the Romanesque church which the monks built. All public schools are uncompromisingly secular so it's a little ironic that this one is physically and historically so closely associated with the church.

This is my exceedingly late entry for this week's Photo Hunt.  Visit TNchick's site where you can find more people who have joined in.