Programme:-
Please inform
Paul Kenneth
beforehand if you wish to
come on any visit. We need to provide both
church & pub with an indication of numbers.
Churches
and Pubs Provisional Visits for 2014
Click
on the date link for the report
April
2nd St
Helen, Sefton village.
May 7th St Mary,
Nether Alderley
June 4th All Saints,
Bakewell
July 2nd Clitheroe
area to be confirmed
Aug None
Sept 3rd St Bartholomew,
Ripponden
Oct
1st St
Leonard, Middleton
Nov 5th St Mary, Rostherne
Paul
Kenneth, Churches and Pubs.
Reports
on
Visits:
May 7th St Mary,
Nether Alderley
.
Hidden from the main A34 road, yet only a few yards down a lane
opposite Nether Alderley Mill, lies the 14th. century Church of St.
Mary.
Passing old cottages and under spreading beech trees you discover the
hidden treasure. Through the Church gates is the Elizabethan
school, built in 1628, for the basic education of boys of the
Parish and used until 1908. Then you see the Stanley
Mausoleum, built in 1909 by and for the 4th. Lord Stanley and his
wife. Then in front of you is the treasure that is the Church of
St. Mary, Alderley.
Beautiful Victorian stained glass windows catch the eye. Look
upward to the barrel-shaped ceiling in the Nave, built in the 16th.
century, but covered with a false ceiling and uncovered in 1877.
The 14th. century Font shows signs of having been abused, it was buried
under the yew tree in the grave yard, possibly for its own protection
at some point. It remained hidden until 1821 and was finally
reinstated in its present position in 1924.
In the 1600's the Stanley family built their own pew, high up and
looking down on the south aisle and
only
accessible from outside the
Church. It both looks and feels inside like a Royal box at the
Opera House-such comfort.
Altogether the Church and its history are real gems and well
worth a
visit.
We all went on to the Davenport Arms in Marton for a thoroughly
enjoyable lunch.
A good day was had by all. - Thank you, Paul.
April
2nd
St.
Helen’s Church, Sefton.
The
first trip of 2014 took 43 of
us to Sefton village to
visit St.
Helen’s Church. We
were
greeted by Gordon Corbett the churchwarden and two helpers who supplied
us with
a cup of coffee and a biscuit each—excellent.
Gordon then took us all on a
guided and interesting tour of this
magnificent church.
Described as the
“Cathedral of the fields” the church stands among
flat
meadows.
The large 14th
century
spire rises
from a buttressed tower, the outlines unified by spirelets. All
but the tower and steeple and the north
aisle was taken down in 1500 and rebuilt in brown-grey stone. The
church was built as a perpendicular
church with a south aisle.
The only
things added since then were the choir vestry in 1915 and the kitchen
and
toilet added to the vestry in1990.
A fine
Tudor interior contains glorious early 16th
century woodwork, including the canopied rood and chancel screens, the
screens
to the North and South chapels, and to the South the Sefton pew. The
chancel stalls of 1500 are complete and
there is a canopied pulpit of 1635. The
Molyneux monuments commemorate the family’s courage in battle
and
range from a
mailed effigy of 1296 to a table tomb with brasses of 1568. Many
thanks to Gordon for an excellent and
interesting tour of the church.
Lunch
was taken next door to the church in The Punchbowl Pub. Good
food and very good
service. When
we
came out of the pub
most of us walked two minutes up the road to have a look at St.
Helen’s well
which was said to have healing properties in former times.
Paul
Kenneth.