Author: Heyjude

I have lived in the UK for most of my life, but when young I definitely had wanderlust and even ended up living in South Africa for several years which was a wonderful experience. I now look forward to a long and leisurely retirement doing what I like most - gardening, photography, walking and travelling.

Ludlow, St Laurence Church: Windows

The Parish Church of Ludlow is crammed behind surrounding buildings so that although you can see the impressive tower from miles around, the actual church is quite hidden.

Inside it is full of history, a perpendicular Gothic delight with medieval stained glass, choir stalls and misericords, chapels and tombs and even the burial-place of Prince Arthur’s heart, who died in Ludlow and altered the course of history.

The West Window, showing the Lords of Ludlow Castle and ending with the unfortunate Prince Arthur.

window-1

The Palmers Window in St John’s Chapel shows a version of the legend of King Edward the Confessor and St John the Evangelist. The story is told in eight panels and centres round the Ludlow Palmers making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land

window-9 palmers window

window-8

Detail from the Jesse Window (restored to the original colours and design) in Lady Chapel

window-10-Jesse

The Annunciation or Golden Window with St Catherine and her wheel (L) and St Christopher (R)

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Window in St Catherine’s Chapel

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And finally a window in the unusual octagonal porch

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This weekly challenge is hosted by Dawn from ‘The Day After’ who invites participants to post pictures of any windows that  they find curious, inviting, photogenic, or in some way tell a story. Visit her blog to see more windows and/or to join in with the challenge.

X for XV century Misericords

frizztext hosts a weekly A – Z Challenge

A_Z logo

Event Type: General Blogging

Start Date: Tuesdays, recurring weekly

Description: Every Tuesday I offer the “A to Z challenge”, walking step by step through the alphabet.

If you would like to join in then please click here

Woman with Coif
S4 – representing womanhood, possibly a mother and daughters

We are quite lucky in Ludlow to have a very impressive Parish Church – St Laurence, which is so big that it can be seen from miles around and is known as ‘The Cathedral of the Marches’. Now none of this has to do with the letter X, but inside the church you can find twenty eight misericords dating from the XV century.

Seated Man with Scroll
S13 – this could be a pupil or schoolmaster at the school run by the Palmers’ Guild in Ludlow.

Now I don’t propose to show you all 28, but here are a few of my favourites.

Owl with eagles
S5 – the owl in medieval times was a dark symbol. Here it is being mobbed by two birds looking inwards, possibly eagles.

St Laurence’s Church has twenty eight misericords in the choir stalls which are of a quality usually associated with great cathedrals such as Worcester or Gloucester.

Monster with female face
N2 – a Harpy (young woman’s head with the body and wings of a bat) with her supporters (bats) creatures of darkness and symbols of evil.

Carved on the underside of the hinged choir seats each misericord is fashioned from a piece of timber some 26 inches (660 mm) long, 12 inches (300 mm) deep and 6 inches (150 mm) thick.

falcon and scales
N13 – Falcon and Fetterlocks, the personal badge of Richard Duke of York (1411 – 1460)

The misericords have a wide variety of themes and with Ludlow then being a royal stronghold there is a royal influence shown in a number of misericords. Wikipedia

Prince of Wales Feathers
N8 – since the mid-16th century the three ostrich feathers have been the personal badge of the Prince of Wales.
S6 – Swan flanked by leaves, the badge of the Bohun family though without the crown collar.

The header misericord is N4 – a mermaid holding a mirror in her right hand, a comb missing from her left. Two dolphins flank her.

One Day One World Project: 18:00 – 19:00

Evenings in Kirkcudbright tended to be the best time of the day. Even on cloudy or drizzly days the sun broke out by mid-afternoon and because the sun didn’t set until late (after 10 pm) we had the most lovely evenings. Decided to return to the cottage via Carrick Bay after a visit to The Gatehouse of Fleet and got there just before 7 pm to see a lone windsurfer out on the bay. DSCF8722Lisa of the blog NorthWest Frame of Mind has decided to run a different project over the next 24 weeks. To try to show what is happening in different parts of the world (if you all join in) at a particular time of day. If you would like to participate you have until next Saturday midnight to post a photo or write about what is happening in your part of the world between 18:00 – 19:00 this week.  I hope you’ll join in! See links for more details.