Grosmont Church, and more healing

 I will write this up before it gets forgotten.  Middle of the night here - I was woken by Alfie wanting to be let out, and when I first got up I was feeling "chesty" .  This does not surprise me at all, since "I" was sneezing mightily on Saturday afternoon. . .  Once kids meet other kids at nursery or school, it's a constant round of germs!

One of the hills on my local walk.

Yesterday my new friends came up and we did a gentle yoga (which was non-challenging to my ageing body but very grounding and relaxing.)  Then I was given an all-over Thai massage which has freed my shoulder up massively and helped unblock meridians etc all over.  I had energy after that, went out and did some garden tidying, and cleaned the car.  Boy, both were needed.  As a thankyou, they needed to go shopping and asked for a lift to Co-op in town, but I took them to Llandod and they did their shop there.  I thought I would try this Nadiya mix (blended spices) with some turkey mince I had thawed, and although I didn't turn it into Shepherd's Pie, I had some with rice and vegetables and it was so tasty.  I will buy this again.  No crap in it!

You can nearly read it!  Dried Garlic, Ground Cumin, Ground Coriander Seed, Ground Ginger, etc.

Grosmont Church 

This Grade 1 church is huge - no two ways about it, enormous, especially when the actual village is still pretty small.  It is the other side of the road to Grosmont castle.  The castle dates from the 11th C , but the church is 13th C and dedicated to St Nicholas.  It was founded by Hubert de Burgh.

It is of course restored, like so many churches, and by the 19th C the tower was close to collapse and the church not much better, although the actual structure of the original church was unaltered.  John Pollard Seddon and John Etherington Welch Rolls were responsible for its restoration.

It is difficult to show just how vast it is - like a small cathedral. This was built to be a Statement in the landscape.  As you can see the front half of the church has been closed over to keep some heat in!  The roof timbers have been dendro dated to 1232, making it the only pre-1400 church roof in Wales.

With a church of this age and importance, there were of course many  worthies recalled in stone.

A forgotten knight.

Pulpit and Font.

. . . I forgot to turn over the page . . .

Sorry, none of these are terribly readable - I hope you can click on them and enlarge them.

This photo of the nave gives you a better perspective of the size of the church.  Many, many burial slabs of the great and good hereabouts.

Billy - you will have to visit here and do it justice!  There was so much to see and photograph.

Right, back to bed shortly and hopefully I can sleep.