Having dealt with Providence at Charlwood, just noticed at reference 7, it was time for our picnic, taken on this occasion on one of the benches which had been thoughtfully placed around the large recreation ground in the middle of the village. Complete with what looked like a relatively new hut - for changing, teas and other rural activities. The sort of thing which crops up a lot in 'Midsomer Murders'.
In the margins of our picnic, BH finds out all about Charlwood Stone, which I now turn up at reference 1. The stone might properly be called Sussex Marble, but also goes by the name of Paludina Limestone, Bethersden Marble, Charlwood Stone and Petworth Marble. Part of the Wealden Clay formation, confusingly made up of clay, sandstone and limestone. This atlas looks to be an interesting occasional read so now put somewhere where I will be able to put my hand on it. Just like storing up stuff in the garage because I know it will come in handy one day.
The start of the path leading from the recreation ground to the church proper. Complete with some 19th century ironwork and a glimpse of Charlwood Stone bottom right. And a sign warning one that the path ahead, made with more Charlwood Stone, was rather uneven. They probably had not bothered to bed the flags properly in sand, rather just dumping them on the clay underneath the soil.
Perhaps a remnant of the oak forest which once covered the Weald.
An old yew. Signs of fire inside: lighting, that is to say Divine vandalism, or the other sort?
The church is old, some of it dating back to the 11th century, and was touched up in the nineteenth century.
Presumably part of the touching up just mentioned.
Unusual roof, with lower members looking newer than the upper members. I guessed king post, which turned out to be near enough, and I have now been confused by Wikipedia about the difference between a king post (in tension) and a crown post (in compression). Looking at the snap above, I would vote for compression. How long would it take to crank up my school statics to work it all out?
While this snap from Wikipedia is of something called a Norman truss, in roof of the 18th-century Bolduc House in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. A relic of the French, from their days in North America. So perhaps we got the technique from the Normans.
Pulpit and ancient wall paintings.
A restored version of some of the paintings, from reference 5, with the bit bottom right being visible just above the left of the pulpit. Whitewashed out by the Protestants of the Reformation, being rather Taliban-ish about that sort of thing.
The young lady, her top left, is coveted by the lord, the chap on the horse. She resists temptation, despite being rather bashed about. She survives being eaten by a dragon by making the sign of the cross from inside. But she ends up having her head chopped off just the same. Consolation prize: free pass to heaven. A medieval version of 'News of the World'; just the sort of thing to keep the peasants entertained while the priest mumbles on at the altar.
Elsewhere in the church we had songs from a local folk song group. Including a lament for all the casual work at harvest time that the traction engine driven threshing machine had done away with. All those chaps at the bottom of the heap who lost that bit of work at the end of the summer. Probably layabouts anyway. They were only going to drink what they got in the pub.
After the songs, we inspected the jam on offer and came away with a jar of plum jam. After the jam, we took a look around outside - to find a few of those board memorials you sometimes come across in rural churches in Surrey - to the right of the church. Yew tree already noticed, at the back, right of centre. And after that to the pub, the Half Moon, to take a spot of fizzy water. A big old place, fairly quiet, the home of the barmaid of reference 7.
A gift to the pub from a grateful customer. Perhaps once the stand for a prize aspidistra?
The path back to the recreation ground, from the church end. Charlwood Stone flags all present and correct. Reference 1 explains that 'though relatively hard when fresh, Sussex Marble [a fresh water limestone] weakens due to water penetration, which causes the rock to crumble and fail; exterior memorial stones rarely last more than 100 years. This limestone, which takes a good polish, has consequently been used mainly for internal decorative and monumental features such as altar tables, tombs and ledgers, fonts, columns and fireplaces. One of its occasional external uses was as paving and flagstones'.
And so back to Epsom, picking up the Wellingtonia already noticed at reference 2 on the way. Which took slightly longer than we had hoped due to an incident near Box Hill which meant we had to go a long way round.
Cover a bit fake, in that underneath the artisanal paper and ribbon we had a perfectly ordinary screw top lid. But the jam in the jar was fine.
PS: Gatwick gets it name from the de Gatwyck family. From reference 5 we have: 'the paintings are on the wall of the part of the church built in 1280 perhaps by the de Gatwyck family'.
References
Reference 1: https://www2.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/download/EHCountyAtlases/Surrey_Building_Stone_Atlas.pdf.
Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/wellingtonia-46.html.
Reference 3: http://www.charlwoodsociety.co.uk/.
Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Nicholas,_Charlwood.
Reference 5: https://www.stnicholaschurchcharlwood.co.uk/the-charlwood-wall-paintings.php.
Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Bolduc_House.
Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/heritage-day-2-part-1.html.
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