Monthly article

SEPTEMBER

This September I decided I would write about St Michael, the Archangel, after seeing Mont St Michel on the way to Brittany for my holiday. The Mont on which a church was built many centuries ago is on an island off the north coast of France. There is  similar island, St Michael’s Mount, with a medieval  church, off the coast of Cornwall, looked after by the National Trust which I have visited. So it got me thinking…….

I am not going to explore the subject of angels and Archangels and a few other types of angels, but just stick with Michael whose feast day is on the 29th  of September. Ten churches  in the current Shropshire Churches Tourism Group booklet are dedicated to him. They will certainly be celebrating at the end of the month.

As Christianity grew in the first centuries, not just where it started but spread out from Palestine,  east and west, so by the seventh century a new church in Rome was dedicated to Michael, an  honour indeed. Before we knew it, new buildings were dedicated to him all over the known world, 

Not only was  Michael venerated by Christians , but also by Jews. In the east in Constantinople he was looked on as the special guardian of the sick. He had a big job description too!, He was called upon to be the protector of the church, to battle against Satan to save souls from him, and was expected to escort those  who had died to heaven, In their spare time, all Archangels had to  guide and direct God’s people at all times and do some proclaiming too as lesser angels were not up to that work!

Now all the above is a very medieval approach to Archangels and angels and I am not sure many people even think about such beings these days.  I rather like the idea that the early Christians were very certain that a lot was going on in heaven and that angels were there to help those of us on earth,  so were seen as quite comforting. I am unsure about their announcing God’s plans any more as I have not heard of any recently! 

One thing I can announce  is that the churches of Alberbury, Cardeston, Ford, Lilleshall, Llanyblodwel, Munslow, Onibury, Petton (dedicated to St Raphael, an Archangel also celebrated along with Gabriel on the 29th ),    Smethcott and  Wentnor. All are amazing buildings and are open to visitors and welcoming. 

Anni Holden Calver
Secretary Shropshire Churches Tourism Group,
www.discovershropshirechurches.co.uk
Trustee of Caring for God’s Acre   www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk

AUGUST

Things are not what they used to be!

It’s been delightful recently visiting and working in our churchyards, many of which are full of colourful summer flowers in amongst the gravestones. But not everyone agrees with me! Some people feel that the grass should be kept well mowed and very neat and tidy. This got me thinking about the people who had built our ancient churches a thousand years ago.

In those days the only building in the village was the newly built stone church, started as a small place for worship and then expanded as the naves were added. William the Conqueror was very encouraging after his triumph at Hastings, and bringing his forward-looking fancy French clever building ideas. The church would have been  novel for our ancestors. Imagine putting all that effort in and only using it once a week for service. That is not what happened then. While the chancel, the part of the church where the altar stands was reserved for the priest, the nave became the meeting place for everyone.

So while moved by faith to build the church, it soon became a covered space for other activities. There is plenty of evidence , particularly in the Marches, (the area of Herefordshire, Shropshire and parts of Wales) of games being played with balls thrown and caught from the walls of the buildings- something you could do then if the rain was pouring down. The nave was also used for council meetings and as a court if needed, and as time went on other events were introduced. Patronal festivals and the marking of important feast days became more than just a service by the addition of singing, dancing and drinking. They were very busy places.

Ironically today most of our churches are used for services once a month and often little else.   Changes are happening to make them more useful but opposition to the addition of toilets and kitchens and removal of the Victorian pews can be very hard work for those keen for change. 

Back in the churchyard where we started, the work of Caring for God’s Acre  has made the meadow approach more popular as many a village now enjoys an amazing display of wild flowers, a stunning spread of colour, decorating the headstones. They now look as they would have looked a thousand years ago but with bigger yew trees.

photo: The wildflower meadow at St Michael's, Smethcott.

 

 

JULY

My plan this month is to give you a heads up for a big anniversary next July 2027. As you have probably picked up if you read my monthly articles,  I am very fond of Anglo-Saxon history. We are very blessed in Shropshire as many remains of 1500 years ago are still there for us to see. On the 12^th July 927 one person  had managed to bring together all the little kingdoms and was crowned as the first ever King of England. Athelstan was his name.

He was the grandson of Alfred the Great, a man who had inherited the throne of Wessex in a time of upheaval and battles between Vikings and the Anglo Saxon people. Despite having 3 older brothers Alfred’s turn as king followed the death of his 3^rd brother in 871. He decided to   calm life down and started to build the kingdom with the development of burhs, town plans or new towns. He reigned until 899 when the throne passed to his son Edward the Elder.

When Edwad died in July 924, his two eldest sons became King of Wessex and King of Mercia, but the elder son, Alfweard, died just a few weeks after his father and Athelstan became King of Mercia and Wessex. His coronation was in 925 at Kinston -on- Thames. Until this time the Archbishop of Canterbury would place a helmet on the new king’s head, but this coronation was to be different . Athelstan had a crown placed on his head and the rest as they say is history.

He took over where his grandfather had started,  following the codes of law Alfred the Great had introduced. He worked to implement them, demonstrating his authority as he went. He encouraged other local leaders to take the ideas on board. He also saw the advantage of arranging the marriage of his sister to Sihtric, King of York. Luck always seemed to be on Athelstan’s side as a year later Sihtric died and Athelstan was on the spot ready to take over, not only York, but the whole of Northumbria. Constantine II, King of the Scots, submitted to Athelstan at Bamburgh. 

Next stop was in Hereford, the Welsh princes made their submissions. So just the  Corn-Welsh (that’s Cornwall to you and me) to sort out and Athelstan had conquered all. From now on he was known at first as Rex Anglorum, but once the coins were struck, they bore the legend  “king of the whole of Britain”. Saxons were never mentioned again!

Athelstan reigned until 939. The Irish, Cornish and Scots tried to see him off but he was the victor at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.  He was a very wealthy man when he died. He had never married so had no children so was succeeded by his half-brother Edmund I.

Athelstan had made a mark on our country and I think we should be marking him next year, and making  the 1100 years since he became our first King something to shout about. What do you think? 

JUNE

St Mary's Harley

Harley is the only village in the whole of Shropshire that is entitled to be called a ‘Thankful Village’ because after the First World War, all twenty of the men who had gone to serve in the war returned safely. Consequently there is not a war memorial in the village, but there are two memorials, one in the village hall and the other in the church both recording the names of the men who served. There are only 53 villages or small towns in the whole of the United Kingdom that can use the title of a ‘Thankful Village’. There are also 14 doubly thankful villages in England and Wales where all the men returned from WW1 And WW2.

This is a very sad statistic, but one that shows how thankful the villages must have been when their loved ones returned from such a horrific war. Unfortunately none of those named on the memorials have descendants living in the village today.

Outside the church is the most beautiful bench I have ever seen.

 

 

 

   Andrew Edwards

 

 

 

 

 

MAY

Stanton Lacy

MAY

"Blow trumpet, for the world is white."

May is the month of blossom, generally white but if you look you will see different whites. Spot the lovely cherry, “hung with bloom along the bough” as our very own Shropshire poet, A E Housman wrote. The cherry is soon joined by the apple trees, white tinged at the edges with pink, the crab apple and even the pear is worth a quick look at. The April hawthorn is still in bloom and will be changing whites until June
So with good reason to get out and about this month, with milder weather and hopefully some sunshine too, what is your excuse? I have a few suggestions about where you might go. Given  what I am involved with, it will not surprise you that the local church and their churchyards are top of my list. There is so much to see and hear in these places and it is all free for you. 
The Churchyard Task Teams from Caring for God’s Acre will be all over the County as usual this month, and anyone is welcome to turn up and take part or just watch what is going on.so from the 5th onwards they will start May in Clungunford and the following day in Acton Scott. Clungunford is like a large field so some scythers will be cutting grass, trying to avoid the flowers still in bloom like the cowslips which we are so fortunate to have in abundance in Shropshire. In Acton Scott there should be bluebells still in bloom and ivy to cut back.
The following week the teams will be in Stoke St Milborough on Tuesday the 12th and and Kynnersly Cemetery on Thursday just north of Telford. At Stoke St Milborough you can check out the churchyard and the nearby Holywell, dedicated to St Milburgha, our own Shropshire saint. Culmington is the place to be the following week.(19th). This church has Saxon origins in abundance, which means you can stand by a wall of herring-bone bricks that are 1500 years old and still standing. I am sure embroiders and needleworkers will recognize this pattern immediately. (nearby Diddlebury has an even bigger wall like this) On the Thursday 21st the team will be scything the ground in Cressage and the same will happen in Knowbury on the 26th and Buildwas of the 28th. There is so much going on and just down the road from many of us. 
 

In the north of the county, the church at Petton will be celebrating the feast day of one of their saints on the 16th May. It is an extraordinary buildingwhich only acquired a dedication to Saint Raphael and St Isadore as a treat for the millenium but goes back 4 hundred years. It has had all sorts of additions and changes in that time too. Next year it will celebrate its 400th birthday. 
I could go on for ever. I will be starting May on a coach trip organized by Shropshire Churches Tourism Group visiting 4 churches and a pub for lunch, and all for £35. Another outing planned for September/October. Maybe I will meet you on it but in the meantime get out and about in your local area enjoying the treasures we all too often take for granted.
Anni Holden Calver, 
Secretary of Shropshire Churches Tourism Group
Trustee of Caring for God’s Acre

Photos, AP. Right: Petton churchyard in May. Left: Herringbone masonry at Diddlebury .