MALMSBURY and a THAMES SIDE WALK

It's almost Midsummer and the rain keeps pouring down. I was thinking about the Romans, how they came here from warm and sunny Italy. They must have felt they'd been condemned to hell. 
It's dark, chilly,damp and the daily rain makes walk planning a challenge. It's also tough on the morale. But I;m making it work!

Today was transition day, moving from Castle Combe to Lower Slaughter. It wasn't a long drive so Malmesbury seemed a good detour. Being Sunday most businesses are closed and village life is subdued. 

Malmesbury Market

I like the old past idea of making Sunday a non-retail day.  You see families walking, playing in the parks, children, dogs, picnics, boat rides, outings, pub gardens with Sunday Roasts.... yum Yorkshire Pudding! All between rain showers. 

A House Attached to a Church Steeple, No Idea! 

I Love This Garden, I Bet They Dug Up Those Carved Heads in the Gutter! 

Malmesbury's origins date back to the middle of the 6C, after the Saxons wrested final control over this part of the country from the Britons. Malmesbury is the oldest borough in England, with a charter given by Alfred the Great around 880. It's dominated by the abbey remains which show some of the finest surviving Norman work in the south of England. Malmesbury Abbey is built on the site of a former Saxon monastery dating from 700, by the 12C it was an important Benedictine Abbey and a noted seat of learning. At that time it possessed the second largest library in Europe.

Malmesbury Abbey's founder, Maidulph, died in 675. At this time Aldhelm, a Saxon by birth and related to King Ine of Wessex, took over the leadership of the borough, and under him the town grew in stature and importance.

Around 700, Aldhelm built the first organ in England, which was described as a 'mighty instrument with innumerable tones, blown with bellows, and enclosed in a gilded case', and he is also credited with other churches in the area, including the one at Bradford-on-Avon. He died in 709 and was canonized, and he has been known ever after as St Aldhelm.

Storms of 1500 caused considerable destruction to the church, it lost its tower and spire, over two thirds of the nave and most of the transept. Further damage was caused in 1550, when the western tower collapsed The church ruins seen today is only half of the original building. Further damage was inflicted during the English Civil War when the abbey was the scene of a massacre. Bullet marks left from this time can still be found in the walls of the building but I wouldn't know where to look. 
There's a LOT of wall! 

 

One of the most spectacular parts of the church is the porch, this is medieval and is outstanding for its carvings of the Apostles.

The Apostle Doorway

One of the most interesting legends concerning the abbey is that in 1020 a monk named Eilmer  made an early attempt at man powered flight from the tower of the abbey, wearing a pair of man-made wings. Despite being crippled by the fall, Eilmer lived for over half a century. He is believed to have foretold the Norman invasion after seeing Halley's Comet. 

Up to No Good

The most important of Malmesbury's benefactors was the first king of all England - Alfred the Great's grandson, Athelstan. He reigned between 925 and 940.

Athelstan was a distinguished and courageous soldier who pushed the boundaries of the kingdom further than anyone had done before.

He's buried at Malmesbury Abbey. 

Signs of An Earlier Church?

Stone Coffin

Detail of the Apostle Doorway

 James Dyson established his headquarters in Malmesbury, where they do  research and development of their bagless vacuum cleaner. Special discount for being here? 


No lunch in sight in Malmesbury, everything is closed, next stop Lechlade -on - Thames. 

Seriously Yarn Bombed! 

I had an ulterior motive for this village. I'd found a short walk  starting in Lechlade in a favorite British magazine and hoped I could fit it in. It turned out to be a great way to spend a day before check in time. 

St Laurence Church

Lechlade is a small market town on the edge of the Cotswolds. It's wealth came from being the highest point on the great river Thames making it extremely navigable for barge laden boats. The river is tranquil, scenic and still draws boaters. 


The St Lawrence church is considered one of 6 finest parish churches in Gloucestershire. There was a church on this site since Saxon times but this building was finished in 1476.  Like many Cotswold "wool churches" it was financed by wealth from the wool trade.  

In 1501 the Lechlade Manor was given to ill-fated Katherine of Aragon upon her marriage to Henry VIII's brother Arthur. She renamed the church after St Lawrence. Tudor roses are cut into the stonework and the pomegranate, her symbol, is carved into the woodwork.

Beside the church the walk leads through the burial yard down "Shelley's Walk". Shelley visited Lechlade in 1815 with his friends and his wife Mary. They rowed up from Windsor hoping to find the source of the Thames. They didn't find it because their boat got tangled in thick weeds. 

The church inspired Shelley's poem:

Here could I hope, like some inquiring child

Spotting on graves, that death did hide from human sight

Sweet secrets

Who Carved This and What Was He Thinking?

The next part of the walk took me along a path that was taken by monks going between St Lawrence and their priory at St John the Baptist, now gone. A pub stands where the priory once was. The pub was once part of this priory. Established in 1220 by Augustinians, it served to care for the sick and poor. You can really imagine them walking here 800 years ago! 

Monks Path

Sunday Walk With Terrier, Skirt and Cardy. Nice That Some Things Don't Change

From the Bridge

Working the Lock

Doesn't this look like a Constable painting? 

Thou too, aerial pile whose
Pinnacles point from one shrine like pyramids of fire,
Obey'st I in silence their sweet solemn spells,
Clothing in hue of heaven thy dim and distant spire

Percy Bysshe Shelley "A Summer Evening Churchyard"

Halfpenny Bridge

Ha'penny Bridge 1792

Built in 1792, the bridge replaced a ferry that would take people from the warehouse , now a pub, across the turnpike which then turned and traveled along the river the way I'm walking. 

A toll of... you got it... a half penny was charged. 

Continue on.....

The walk actually returns to Inglesham, Wiltshire, crossing the county line near the Roundhouse.
Another Constable-esque view. 

The Roundhouse was the home of the man who managed a designated stretch of the river and the nearby lock. The ground floor was used as a stable with living upstairs.

Round House

Weird Farmer Humor

I suppose if I had people walking past my house all the time I'd do things to entertain them, and myself, too. 

The Painted Church

The final stop, and the highlight, is the tiny Painted Church of St John the Baptist. It is beautiful in the way these small simple churches can be. The medieval fabric is untouched, thanks to William Morris. His intervention safeguarded any renovation plans that would alter the interior. I love William Morris.

 This is a  once in a lifetime sight! The core is Saxon, but the building dates from 1205. The interior looks like it would have to worshippers in the 1600's,so this is a genuine step back into time. You are there! 

The wall paintings are from the 13-19C.  Imagine how they would have looked originally and in their entirety! 

Most churches today have bare stone walls creating a calm and solemn atmosphere. This wasn't always the case. Whether in a magnificent cathedral or a simple field church like this medieval worshipers would have been surrounded by vibrant art with walls, columns, screens and statues alive with color. 

Some of the painting was decorative - ivy, birds, nature or mythical such as gryphons and unicorns. Geometric patterns were also popular.  There were paintings of saints and stories depicting Christs' life.  Most of the people then couldn't read and pictures were a teaching aid. Church painting was done by journeymen who would travel from church to church under commission. 

The church, the Church Farm just outside and visual signs of a field system are all that are left of a larger medieval settlement. What happened? 

Knight?

Mary and Child

When Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1534 and the destruction of churches and monasteries began, all things "feigned miracles, pilgrimages, idolatry and superstition" was to be removed. Churches were whitewashed and walls torn down, replaced with coats of arms and  bare religions texts. A casualty. 

A "New" Idea, Box Pews So Families Could Sit Together

Nature and Animals Still Continued to Play a Part in Connecting God With the Soul.
How Can You Have One Without the Other? 

On the Thames

The walk then turned around to retrace some of the path but turned to pass over Halfpenny Bridge and back to the church. 

Carving at St Lawrence

 The service had ended so it was possible to go inside. What a stuffy and sterile difference after the Painted Church! I'm so glad I saw the small church first. I felt like saying "BAH!"  There was a lot to think about after the little church, the river flowing by, the quiet, the art and combination of nature and heavenly thought. There was no sun again, but the rain held off until night, a light dinner, tea and asleep before the Mid-summer sky darkened. I'm getting used to this!  

This 15C figure of St Agatha may be the few remaining works from the previous church on the site. Her breasts are holding a sword!