{"id":12560,"date":"2023-11-14T19:53:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T19:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=12560"},"modified":"2024-03-04T08:30:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T08:30:20","slug":"days-out-st-andrews-abbots-ripton-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=12560","title":{"rendered":"DAYS OUT: St John the Baptist, Wistow, & St. Andrew\u2019s, Abbots Ripton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
St. John\u2019s, Wistow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This post is actually a retrospective one. I made a second visit to St Andrew\u2019s, in Abbots Ripton, in February, \u201824. And that reminded me I\u2019d been before. So I looked for it, as a previous entry, here on my blog. But it wasn\u2019t there. Hence this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that lead in turn to my realising that this had been a two church day. A good day! Here\u2019s the other church, the rather splendid, St John The Baptist, in Wistow. The village of Wistow is also quite pretty in parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A lovely old wooden porch. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The porch of this church is wooden. Whilst that makes it look and feel very old, I suspect that wooden porches might need renewing. I wonder how old the current pitch actually is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Entering the porch. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I entered the porch I spotted a gargoyle waterspout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
I do love a good gargoyle waterspout!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Nice carving in the porch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The contrast of wood and stone is very pleasing to the eye and mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Weirdly architectural glass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The stained glass here is glorious. It\u2019s amazing to contemplate that in rather humdrum little villages up and down the UK there are so many buildings like this. Churches are, not always, but very often, incredible repositories of human art, architecture and endeavour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Boom!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The intensity of colour in some of these windows is, frankly, breathtaking. The richness of the reds and blues in particular, in the lights above and below? Pretty staggering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Utterly fabulous.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Oh my God!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fact that these windows elicit an \u2018OMG\u2019 from me, a devout atheist, or – as I prefer to term it – naturalist and free-thinker, is, I think, quite remarkable. The window pictured above is pretty mindblowing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Why are these windows so mesmerising?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In light (get it?) of the functions of these windows, it\u2019s quite astonishing how powerfully effective they can be. Certainly they work a kind of magic on me. And I guess this was as intended? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
At first glance the same as the previous one\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And then you get the effect of repetition. The above is very similar to the one that precedes it. But it isn\u2019t<\/em> the same one. The effect of this density of imagery, and the repetition, it\u2019s like a visual chant. Again, the word mesmerising seems apt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
More beautiful would carving. Inside this time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Very attractive stalls, with carved screen behind. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Just\u2026 wow! That celestial blue? So intense.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I need to know more about the stained glass here, as it\u2019s so intensely magical in its effects. Whoever did it, they were artist and magician. The alchemy of glass, lead and light, the symphony of colours? Just phenomenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
That\u2019s a door.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And I leave, a sadder and wiser man! Perhaps. Or perhaps not? I do feel time spent in these \u2018sacred places\u2019 has a powerful and very positive effect. How this squares with their intended functions, and how that in turn is faring in modern times, when these buildings are no longer as central to so many lives as they once were\u2026 it\u2019s all a bit of a mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Wow! Quite an eye-catching autumnal display.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I simply had to stop and check out this church, looking so attractive in the autumnal season. And with those red poppy lines, presumably a Remembrance Day thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Looking around\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Approaching the church.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These few photos track my walk up to the church. Which, alas, was locked up, closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A nice mossy roof on the porch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The porch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Looking back out through the screen door.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s as far as I got on this attempted visit. I\u2019ll have to return at some point. See if I can find the keyholder, and have a look around inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Very pretty picnic area, beside the church.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another attraction here is a cute little rest area or picnic spot, adjacent to the church. I took a couple of photographs. Thinking it\u2019d be nice to have a picnic lunch here on a sunny spring or summers day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
I\/we shall be back!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is actually a retrospective one. I made a second visit to St Andrew\u2019s, in Abbots Ripton, in February, \u201824. And that reminded me I\u2019d been before. So I looked for it, as a previous entry, here on my blog. But it wasn\u2019t there. Hence this post. And that lead in turn to my … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “DAYS OUT: St John the Baptist, Wistow, & St. Andrew\u2019s, Abbots Ripton”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-3gA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12560"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12560"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12577,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12560\/revisions\/12577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}