Ecclesiastical oddments

The interior of the rather grand church of St. Paul de Leon at Staverton, with what I take to be a Victorian screen. A number of churches in the south west have this dedication, possibly something to do with the place in Brittany called Saint-Pol-de-Léon which has a cathedral founded by Saint Paul Aurélien. Perhaps the Conqueror summoned some of their monks to get things onto a proper footing in the wilds of Devon and Cornwall.

The joints between the blocks are clearly visible and there is no question of the columns being monoliths here.

They were no taking no chances with their copy of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, with one key being needed to open the book and another to take it away. Luckily Bing turned up a freebie.

A church which was still being used, as I came across a programme for a wedding there earlier in the month. A programme which included a reading from the Ballad of the Hobbit and music from the Beach Boys, Ennio Morricone and Randy Newman,. Perhaps I am too old to have heard of the latter two of these. The service was led by the Reverend Professor Gina Radford, an unexpectedly senior person in the world of health before taking the cloth. See reference 2.

Presently based in South Brent, a place which I have long been curious about and which we managed to pass through in the course of this stay in Devon. An old town, with an old church, but nothing to do with Brent Tor, on the western fringe of Dartmoor.

The relationship between South Brent and Brent Tor had to be gone over again, to get it straight once again, despite have gone over it on a previous visit to the area. Maybe a visit to both places will get me on the straight and narrow.

The interior of the rather grand church at Ottery St. Mary, last visited in 2019 and noticed at reference 4. A large church with an interesting history and a very old clock. See references 5 and 6.

The exterior.

A third class pew in the church of St. George at Portland, last visited in 2018 and noticed at reference 7. The box pews are almost a Grade I listed building in their own right, being held freehold by parishioners who contributed at the time of installation. A freehold which it seems is infinitely divisible, making for all kinds of legal complications when the church authorities wanted to make changes.

Another curious feature is that the pew between the two pulpits in the middle of the church and the altar at the east end, face the pulpits rather than the altar, making for all kinds of ecclesiastical complications when the ruling faction is less sermon orientated than that at the time the pews were installed.

The view from the gallery. There is a third place for authority, below and to the right of the right hand pulpit. A sort of sub-pulpit. Perhaps for the sexton or a church warden, rather than for an officiant proper.

PS 1: home from home. We found a photo booth in Ottery St. Mary, operated by the people who operated out of Blenheim Road in Epsom. We have a booth in the station and I pass the HQ on a regular basis.

PS 2: a coincidence. On Friday 13th May, we both woke up to read Lady Glenconner's famous royalty flavoured memoir. Each unknown, at least at first, to the other. BH in the paperback version I had bought her at some point, me on the Kindle. A book which appears to have come to my notice on or about New Year's Day, so making it to the first post of the year, at reference 9. I think BH really was reading her book, while I was wondering what it was doing on my Kindle, it having popped up during the course of recharging. The Kindle not being something I am making a great deal of use of at the moment, the odd bit of research using its text search facility aside.

PS 3: at some point, probably turning around in some narrow lane up a hill, there was some serious handbrake action. And then, a few days previously, there had been an incident involving my forgetting the hand brake when parking at Oaklands Farm Shop & Tea Room outside Honiton. I stopped the rolling car, at some danger to life and limb, by reaching inside and jamming on the hand brake. All this prompted a rather unpleasant dream involving the rather worn handbrake reaching vertical before it did any good.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxe%27s_Book_of_Martyrs.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Radford.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/05/piano-58.html. Ottery St. Mary.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/10/ottery-st-mary.html. Sadly, the fine off-licensee noticed here is now working from home. Shop shut. But we did manage some cheesy crumpets.

Reference 5: https://www.otterystmary.org.uk/.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary's_Church,_Ottery_St_Mary.

Reference 7: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/10/portland.html.

Reference 8: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/10/brents-hair-shirt.html. The last discussion about the various Brents.

Reference 9: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/01/public-bar.html.