Revisiting a day out in Bredwardine from this day in 2015

 

Back in 2015, it had been a Malvern Antiques Fair Day. We met up with some friends and bought a few things, and then on the way home, decided to stop off in Bredwardine, which is between Hereford and the turning off for Clyro and Hay-on-Wye.

Standing by the lych gate, this was the view north-westwards, across the ploughed fields and browning Hazel catkins.  It was far prettier than my photo allows it.

There was an apple orchard (cider apples) just beside the church, and looking across it to the steeply rising hillsides, dotted with houses, I was reminded of the view from the edge of Florence, this time in 2014.

Another view across the valley, to the left of the one above.

I loved this orchard - old trees which were smothered with Mistletoe.  I can't wait for blossom-time to come round so I can take some heart-lifting photos of the blooms.

The massive font is carved from one enormous piece of stone.  It dates from the 12th C, and is very simple in form.  The Herefordshire school of Romanesque Sculpture had no sway here.  If you are interested by that term, check out Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire, which is a magnificent example. The link is well worth checking out.  However, it does have one motif in common with Kilpeck (and other churches) which is a Sheela-na-Gig over a blocked doorway, see photo lower down.

The beautiful stained glass windows behind the Altar. Whilst some of the stonework in the fabric of the external building is Norman, at its heart lies the remains of a Saxon church .

Above, the tomb of the Knight Walter Baskerville which lies to the right of the Altar.

To the left of the Altar lies Sir Roger Vaughan, who died defending Henry V at Agincourt in 1415.  Sadly, he was later defaced - doubtless in the time of the Civil War.

The Rev. Francis Kilvert was the Vicar here back in 1877 - 1879, when he died aged just 38, some three weeks after marrying, from what was generally considered to be Peritonitis.  More about him later but here is a quick insight.

On this update, I managed to find a photo of Rev. Kilvert's grave at Bredwardine.  He was much-loved by his parishioners, especially at Clyro where he was for several years.

Over a blocked doorway is an intriguing carving, possibly 12th C.  The right hand figure looks very like a monkey, but some consider it to be like a Sheelah-naa-gig - though not obviously so in the normal way! The left hand figure looks to me to be rather like a bird-headed man, such as  you find on some Pictish stones.

Kilvert called this door "the Devil's door" . . . and elsewhere it is mentioned that this is a half-human figure with its tongue out (like the Devil in a similar representation at Hereford cathedral, some 12 miles away).  The other figure is considered to be a woman with a "fanciful head-dress" and two clear nude breasts, and could be Luxuria - connected with the vice of Lust.  See LINK.

Such a peaceful view.