InSPIREd Sunday ~ St Michael and All Angels’ Church

While we spent a morning in the Cotswold town of Broadway we enjoyed a visit to this church just down the road from the Pub we were going to have lunch at. The present parish church, built in 1840, and dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels, is a building with nave, two aisles and chancel.

Its chief antiquity is the pulpit, which is a fine piece of wood carving, and was transferred from the old church. It was reconstructed and part of it was used to form a chair which had since been stolen from the sanctuary.

We were intrigued with these ornate Eagle lecterns that we saw in most of the churches and cathedrals we visited in England. I researched to see the significance of this design. Here’s one explanation:

THE FLYING eagle is the symbol of John the Evangelist (see Revelation 4:7) who proclaimed Christ as ‘the Word of God’ at the beginning of his Gospel. The flying eagle is thus a suitable emblem from which God’s word is read, reaching (we hope) the ends of the earth. The eagle is also thought of as the bird which flies nearest to heaven. I am not sure such lecterns are confined just to the Anglican church. It was not until the Reformation that the lectern became prominent in ordinary parish churches of the reformed tradition, carrying the open bible.

This is my favorite Stained Glass Window from this church and appropriate for a church named St Michael and All Angels Church.

I love old doors of all kinds and this door into the church is very cool.

InSPIREd Sunday is hosted by Beth and Sally. This is a weekly meme devoted to sharing religious architecture from around the world.

Hope your Sunday is going well.

Stow ~ The Church of St. Edward

Ancient and historic Stow on-the Wold is the highest town in the Cotswolds standing 800 feet above sea level.

One of the historic Cotswold buildings in Stow on the Wold is the church of St Edward.The church is primarily a product of the 11th century with later additions in the 15th century. Quite apart from the lovely architecture, the church has a significant historical connection with the Battle of Stow on the Wold. The battle was the final conflict of the English Civil War.

Seeing this church door flanked by the ancient Yew trees is what first drew me to making Stow on the Wold a must see town in the Cotswolds. Here’s the inside photo of this great door.

The 88ft high 4-stage tower, completed in 1447, is a conspicuous landmark with an embattled parapet with pinnacles and a string course with gargoyles.

In 1646 a Royalist army marched through the Cotswolds in a desperate attempt to join up with King Charles at Oxford. They were finally confronted at Stow on the Wold by a Parliamentary force. The fighting was fierce and deadly. The Royalists were defeated and over 1000 imprisoned within the church.

We made a quick stop in this town on our trip in September of 2013, this time we stopped for a longer stay and enjoyed spending some time inside the church of St. Edward.

This portion of 1 Chronicles 16 was sculpted from Cotswold Stone

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice:
and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigneth.
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof:
let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein.
Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the Lord,

When we were done inside the church we walked around this small market town and enjoyed visiting some of the shops.

The Kings Arms on the market square hosted King Charles I before the Battle of Naseby in 1645.

It’s amazing to think these buildings have been standing for so long. I’m always blown away by the history in the places we visit in England.

Travel Tips for Stow-on-the-Wold. The market square has free two hour parking but when your two hours are up you have to move your car out of the square and find parking at other lots close by. The Fosseway long term parking near Tesco is said to have free parking. When you see “no returns” that means you can’t just change the spot your car is parked in. There is a good variety of shops and places to eat in Stow. We strolled through a few “thrift” stores in town which usually have names like Oxfam, Blue Cross, and others that benefit Hospice care or heart research, etc.

Bishop’s Palace Windows

Within the Bishop’s Palace there is a small chapel. Most of the windows in this post are from the chapel. Reconciliation is an important theme in the Chapel. The five icons behind the altar tell the Biblical story of God’s reconciling love for humanity throughout the ages. The Celtic knot under the altar also reflects this symbolism. I posted the icons with my Sunday Hymn here.

The Chapel was restored by Bishop George Henry Law in the nineteenth century. In the windows he used fragments of French medieval glass from churches in the Rouen area, which were destroyed in the revolutionary era.

We are finally getting some sunshine streaming into our windows at this old house. It really lifts the spirits! As I look out my windows today I’m seeing a steady stream of leaves falling and birds are pecking about in the lawns. What are you seeing out your windows?

St. James Church, Chipping Campden

The church of St James, is a landmark for miles around, can be found at the north end of Chipping Campden. It is a magnificent example of an early perpendicular wool church, rebuilt in the 15th century.

We walked away from the village center to walk about The Church of St. James. We really enjoyed the views of the church and from the church.

And from the inside of the church…

” The finely carved canopied tomb of Sir Thomas Smythe is on the North wall in the sanctuary and is the most remarkable in the church. He was Lord of the Manor of Campden until his death in 1593. He lived at the court of Henry VIII and was the first Governor of the East India Company.

Some interesting history of the church can be read by clicking here. It was interesting to me to read about the “peal of eight bells”. We passed this Inn on our way back to the town center from St. James.

Hope you all are having a nice weekend and for our friends in Canada I hope you are enjoying your traditional Thanksgiving meals with some loved ones. For the most part we’ve had a very unproductive weekend here at this old house. We did manage to take apart and clean out our dishwasher which revealed some interesting stuff…icky. Maybe the beginning of our week will be more productive. We have some fun plans for the end of this week. How about you?

Stained Glass ~ Washington National Cathedral

Get ready for photo overload. I have so many photos to share from our trip to Washington D.C. that I’ll have to break my posts down to different aspects of each spot I visited. The Washington National Cathedral was amazing to visit. Today I’ll share the Windows for you for Ruby Tuesday with Mary at Work of the Poet.

This is the Space Window which holds a piece of moon rock brought back by the crew of Apollo XI.

One theme, told moving from the west to east, is the story of redemption through faith. Beginning at the west facade and west rose window with the story of creation, this theme continues through the clerestory windows, and ends with the sculpture of Christ in Majesty at the high altar.

Christ in Majesty at the high altar.

This series of 3 photos shows 6 of the 12 disciples of Jesus.

I’ll be posting more photos of the Washington National Cathedral in the next couple of days.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Window Views

Well Mary the Professor has come up with another fun weekly photo challenge meme. Here’s what she says…

“I’ve always been fascinated by all kinds of windows. And photographing them from the outside or the inside has been fun for me. Will you join me?”

You can post:

house windows,
castle windows,
stained glass windows,
old windows,
new windows,
animals or people looking out of windows,
views through windows

Here are the rules:

Post your own photographs
Describe your photographs and the circumstances of taking your pictures if you want to
You may post as early as Wednesday at 4 o’clock EST (that’s when I will post)

Have fun!

These shots were taken in Ventura, California. This used to be a church and then it was a Wedding Chapel and then a Bed and Breakfast. It was for sale when I took these photos.

For more Window Views visit Mary at her Window Views Blog.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

ABC Wednesday ~ Mary Magdalen Church, Camarillo

M is for St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo, California

In my Sky Watch #10 Post I mentioned that I was trying to get inside St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo to see their historic stained glass windows. A few Sundays ago we went to the church grounds to buy some home made Mexican food at a fiesta they were putting on as a fund raiser. While there I was thrilled to see the church doors open and I went inside and was able to finally see and take pictures of these amazing works of art.

Here is an excerpt written in a historical site about the windows.

“The most notable chapel fixtures were its magnificent 13 stained glass windows. These azure, crimson, green, and gold windows tell a double story — one of the life of Christ, the other of a world at war.

While on a trip to Europe, Juan Camarillo selected the windows in Munich, Germany. The year was 1913 and the early rumbles of the continent gathering its strength for conflict were growing with each passing day. Somewhere between the studios of glass-blower F. X. Zettler of Munich and the church on a hilltop in faraway Camarillo, the stained glass windows were lost. Zettler’s name can be seen at the bottom of the windows depicting the Holy Family (east side) and Christ with the children (west side). Despite the best efforts of the Camarillo family through consuls and ambassadors, the windows appeared lost forever. Mrs. Carmen Camarillo Jones recalled that her uncle Juan feared they were at the bottom of the sea. One day a letter arrived from a German official. This official in Munich had been noticing several large crates staked outside a building with Juan’s name on them. He had written Juan several letters and finally one got through at the end of Word War 1. Much to the joy and relief of everyone, the lost windows had been found. However, it was a painfully slow and long trek to Los Angeles, and then on to Camarillo, before they were finally installed in the thick brick and plastered chapel walls in 1919.”