The Saturday before last we had our first dos of spring with bright sunshine and relatively warm temperatures. The Caterham had been sitting in the garage since the heavy snow fall earlier in the month so I was itching to get it out and take the hood down.
All I needed was an excuse for a blat. Thankfully one of my congregation Vic Garman had told me about a church the other side of Cheltenham at Stoke Orchard that was linked with the pilgrim route to Santiago. What’s slightly amusing is that Vic is form across the Pond the good old USA. I have several American friends and they all have the knack of being able to tell me about historical places on my door step. As they are visitors or travellers to the UK they read the guide books and do the internet searches where as we just take for granted where we live. So if you want to know anything about good old Blity than ask an America and you’ll be surprised by what you may discover right outside your door. That’s probably why Bill Bryson’s books are so popular.
The drive up was great though a bit breeze but the heater kept my legs warm while the rest of me froze. I travel up via the back roads to Cirencester in order avoid the A419 which though quick is dull as you miss going through all those lovely Cotswold villages and then along the A435 which is a great road nice and wide with lots of bends and great views, the Sat Nav, which now works in the Caterham as I installed a 12V power socket before Christmas taking the worry out of navigation.
The Church of St James the Great is in the centre of Stoke Orchard along the Stoke Road and is set in a beautifully kept churchyard. The church dates back to circa 1170AD. It had a fantastic car park which was locked so I had to leave S7 FOP by the roadside. The exterior of the building does not give any hints to the treasures that await inside, though if you look closely at the lintel of the door you will see small engraved pilgrim’s crosses. Pilgrims would carve these in the stone and then upon their safe return carves a circle around the cross as an act of thanksgiving. I hasten to say I did not follow the tradition which today would count vandalism!
When you open the door an enter the little church with beams of light coming through the windows picking up the dust dancing in the air and making mottled green patters on the floor as the light passes through very old glass with a green tinge you immediately notice the remains of ancient wall paintings covering the whole of the nave.
The paintings are very faded and damaged but once your eyes become accustom to the light you can start to make out shapes and figures. The paintings [over 40 in total] depict the life of St James from his call by Christ to his Martyrdom which can be found in Chapter 12 of the book of Acts in the Bible. According to the guide this is one of the few places in the whole of Western Europe where his complete story is told the other is in a stained glass window in Chartres Cathedral. Though little remains of the original paintings thanks to a modern photographic technique much detail has been reviled that can’t be seen by the naked eye and framed sets of prints can be seen on the walls under the original paintings.
Standing in this small church certainly gave me a feeling of being linked to the many pilgrims that had passed this way centuries before on the Camino to Santiago which I too would be shortly setting out upon. I wondered as I travel through France and Spain and visit other pilgrim churches whether any of the crosses I would find carved on doorways there would have been made by the same hand that made those on the lint here.
All I needed was an excuse for a blat. Thankfully one of my congregation Vic Garman had told me about a church the other side of Cheltenham at Stoke Orchard that was linked with the pilgrim route to Santiago. What’s slightly amusing is that Vic is form across the Pond the good old USA. I have several American friends and they all have the knack of being able to tell me about historical places on my door step. As they are visitors or travellers to the UK they read the guide books and do the internet searches where as we just take for granted where we live. So if you want to know anything about good old Blity than ask an America and you’ll be surprised by what you may discover right outside your door. That’s probably why Bill Bryson’s books are so popular.
The drive up was great though a bit breeze but the heater kept my legs warm while the rest of me froze. I travel up via the back roads to Cirencester in order avoid the A419 which though quick is dull as you miss going through all those lovely Cotswold villages and then along the A435 which is a great road nice and wide with lots of bends and great views, the Sat Nav, which now works in the Caterham as I installed a 12V power socket before Christmas taking the worry out of navigation.
The Church of St James the Great is in the centre of Stoke Orchard along the Stoke Road and is set in a beautifully kept churchyard. The church dates back to circa 1170AD. It had a fantastic car park which was locked so I had to leave S7 FOP by the roadside. The exterior of the building does not give any hints to the treasures that await inside, though if you look closely at the lintel of the door you will see small engraved pilgrim’s crosses. Pilgrims would carve these in the stone and then upon their safe return carves a circle around the cross as an act of thanksgiving. I hasten to say I did not follow the tradition which today would count vandalism!
When you open the door an enter the little church with beams of light coming through the windows picking up the dust dancing in the air and making mottled green patters on the floor as the light passes through very old glass with a green tinge you immediately notice the remains of ancient wall paintings covering the whole of the nave.
The paintings are very faded and damaged but once your eyes become accustom to the light you can start to make out shapes and figures. The paintings [over 40 in total] depict the life of St James from his call by Christ to his Martyrdom which can be found in Chapter 12 of the book of Acts in the Bible. According to the guide this is one of the few places in the whole of Western Europe where his complete story is told the other is in a stained glass window in Chartres Cathedral. Though little remains of the original paintings thanks to a modern photographic technique much detail has been reviled that can’t be seen by the naked eye and framed sets of prints can be seen on the walls under the original paintings.
Standing in this small church certainly gave me a feeling of being linked to the many pilgrims that had passed this way centuries before on the Camino to Santiago which I too would be shortly setting out upon. I wondered as I travel through France and Spain and visit other pilgrim churches whether any of the crosses I would find carved on doorways there would have been made by the same hand that made those on the lint here.
To see the photos in full size simply double click on the slide show opposite.
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