With museums shut and having to stay local, what can you still go to see during lockdown? In March everything was shut, but this time around a lot of churches are open for private prayer. Many of our local walks have featured a lunchtime bench in a churchyard, so it was perfectly natural to go in and have a look around. At Barkway we saw a stained glass window commemorating the Burma campaign in World War II, it was right next to a medieval corbel thought to be a caricature of the original builders of the church. What with that and the hand-gel dispenser in the porch, we had the last 900 years pretty much covered.
Historically, churches were always a hub of the community, a place of permanence in uncertain times. Go back a few hundred years to a very different kind of plague and sometimes you find prayers scratched into the very walls of churches. At Acle in Norfolk you have “Oh lamentable death, how many have you cast into the pit”, at Ashwell, Herts, “1360…a wretched populace survives to witness”. At Steeple Bumpstead it is the heartfelt “God help me” repeated around the church. A reminder that pandemics are nothing new, although the Black Death was considerably more deadly than Covid.
Most Medieval Church graffiti is in the form of blessings and protection marks. The hexfoil, or compass flower, is a frequent sight, but not as common as the simple cross. Often seen in the porch, or by the door, the cross is associated with oath taking. There is some historical evidence that people sometimes chose to sign documents with a cross even if they could write their own name, as a promise to God.
And protection in the 21st century? Well there’s the scientific reassurance of the vaccine, but I have just put my bay tree back by the front door, just in case any plague should be passing. It reminds me of the story of the physicist, Niels Bohr, who had a horseshoe above the door of his house. A visitor asked incredulously if the professor really believed horseshoes brought good luck. “No,” Bohr replied, “but I am told that they bring luck even to those who do not believe in them.”
Ali
A Walk in the Sea
Last year Marion walked the Broomway in Essex. Rumoured to be Roman in origin, it is a path with a rather grim reputation, relying on you sticking to a narrow band of firm sand just under the sea off the coast of Shoeburyness. Think of the coastal mists and sucking mud you can sometimes experience on the edge of Essex, plus the flat landscape and scarce landmarks, and you will realise how easy it might be to lose your way. These days the Broomway is just used recreationally, but up to 1922 it was the only way on and off Foulness Island. Needless to say, there are tales of travellers being caught out by mists or fast moving tides and being lost to the sea. The route of the path was marked with twigs of broom – hence the name – but in modern times you get no such visual aid. The modern traveller has to rely on an experienced guide armed with a GPS!
Although private citizens do live and work on the island, access to Foulness is controlled by the MOD and you need a permit to enter via the road. The MOD have had a presence at Shoeburyness since 1849 largely so they could fire guns out into the Maplin Sands and then paddle out to retrieve the shells. They are landlords to a dwindling local population that can no longer support a shop, a pub or even a church. The former island school has been transformed into a small heritage museum which is definitely worth a visit. One of the more poignant exhibitions is the one on the 1953 floods, which devastated this part of the coast, including Foulness. They didn’t have the human losses of places like Canvey or Jaywick, but the personal stories and photographs of homes lost and the whole island flooded show the impact on such a small community. A number of animals were inevitably drowned, but the Broomway came into its own that day, used extensively by the MOD for the evacuation.
So, why am I banging on about this ancient trackway with a dodgy reputation? Well, Marion enjoyed her walk so much she’s booked the same guide to take CYHA out on 4th July. Numbers will be limited, so book your place early! Cost is £30 per person.
Ali