A BIT OF RELIGION. (13/11/14)

Another dull damp day but at least it wasn’t raining. I decided to visit the Abbey. I got in for four pounds forty pence which was very fair. I can go again as the museum was closed due to circumstances beyond their control. They didn’t elaborate on the circumstances and I wasn’t in an awkward enough mood to ask. I assumed the curator was busy conceiving something, like lighting that doesn’t reflect from every shiny surface making snapping an impossible job. It could have been something mundane like leaves on the steps or a burglary.

I usually like to have a couple or three visits to places like this as the first one is taken up with admiring bits of this and that and trying to keep ones bearings. Then on the second visit I can plan a time frame and get the snaps I want to fit in with a bit of chat for a post. A third visit I can Take a few strobes and re-do scenes that need a bit of a shove.

The abbey was founded in 1136 and as it was so close to the English border kept getting raided, knocked down, set on fire. The remains are of building work from the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. I’ll try and remember what all the bits are called but church architecture is quite complex.

      The grassy bit behind the remains of the wall is the Nave. The big open window with the little doorway is the screen. It would have been filled with a wooden carving. The arches to the right are private chapels.

Wealthy people could be interred in them.

         This is the choir and the big window at the end is the east window.

           There are two of these passages one to the north of the choir and the other to the south.

         I don’t know what they are called but they are a beautiful bit of work. How the hell or heaven anyone can create a vaulted ceiling like this is just unimaginable. The infill is stone so all of those pieces must be tapered. Brilliant.

           The presbytery and the north transept.

          The east window.

           And a detail of it.

I think I got most of the bits correct. I have lots more photographs but they can wait for another day. The carving here is wonderful. Much of it was damaged after the reformation of the churches as the Protestants didn’t want folk worshiping Catholic statues. It’s a pity as the ones that are left are beautiful. Well worth appreciating if not worshipping.

As I left a charming lady asked if I had enjoyed my visit.  I did. Very few health and safety signs. No bright orange barriers. The National Trust ought to visit Melrose Abbey. This is how heritage ought to be displayed.