A day out to remember - Pt. 1 - St Mary's Church, Kempley

Yes, you may recognize the view and yes, it was another Malvern day yesterday!

Above and below - French goodies.  I liked those painted dark blue handled bowls but doubted I could have made a profit on them.  Sweet little bird-house below.

Another lovely painted window.  I thought to myself, I could do that.  When we move, perhaps I will!!

Sundries outside.  There was a mischievous wind which blew both the paintings over a few minutes later.

Anyway, we came away from Malvern Flea, and just for badness (and because Tam wanted to) went to Ledbury car boot sale, which was huge yesterday and filled the entire field.  I just bought some local apples (Early Windsors) and some Apricots, but we had a good wander.  By the end of the day I had clocked up over 22,000 miles on my Fitbit!

Whilst there is no record of a church on this site in the Domesday Book of 1086, there may well have been a Saxon church on the site.  Kempley Church was on land belonging to Hugh de Lacy, (of Lassy in Normandy), whose father came over with the Normans following the Battle of Hastings.  Hugh had founded the original Llanthony Priory in the Black Mountains and although he probably had the church built here, he died in 1121 and would not have lived to see it completed.  The chapel arch and south and west doorways are Romanesque (as indeed are the wonderful paintings, which are of national importance) and construction was in the 12th  C "Dymock" style of sculpture.

Below:the South door, showing the Tynpanum and chevron Norman archway.

These are the original 12th C doors, which is pretty amazing.  I love the hinges on this one into the tower.  Those trees probably began growing as Britain emerged from the Dark Ages . . .

You would think this Parish Chest was another original 12th C piece but dendro shows it dates to the 16th C - perhaps it was made to copy the original chest?  Below, "the stone cross was discovered during the 1912-13 works on the tower and may have been the finial on the west gable until the construction of the tower dislodged it". (Taken from the brochure I bought in the church.)

Above, dendrochonology has shown that the timbers of the roof date to 1120 - 1150, and the roof is one of the earliest surviving in Europe.

It is hard to believe that such wonderful paintings should have been painted over in the Reformation, but at least they were partly-protected over the intervening years before they were rediscovered.

If you click on the photos, they should enlarge so that you can read them more clearly.

More tomorrow, as it's late and I'm tired.