Friday, 14 September 2012

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.

6 comments:

  1. Very interesting to see the Queen and Bishop. They are however fictional rather than historical. I must look out for such. Dearie me, my life is so full....

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    Replies
    1. Well, that's one theory that bites the dust. I await your findings.

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  2. I wanted to see the inside of the church and the views of the sea!
    I tried to find more photos. It is St. John the Evangelist Church and there are very few photos of it online.
    Thanks for your photos of it on this post. More please!
    And I love the anchor on the mother's grave.

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    Replies
    1. I didn't have time to visit the inside on that walk but no doubt I will in the future. It's not a very old or historical church so for me it's less interesting. There is one picture of the inside online

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  3. I can find no fault with the title of this post.

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  4. Maybe Mother was the anchor of this family, as many are.

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Forethoughts, afterthoughts, any thoughts. Tell me.