S. Swithin, Compton Beauchamp, Oxfordshire By Simon Cotton The Vale of the White Horse is probably the finest scenery in Oxfordshire. It takes its name from the Uffington White Horse, a Bronze Age figure cut into a grass-covered hilltop that exposes the white chalk beneath. Compton Beauchamp is a very small settlement nearby, located beneath the Downs. Near a moated manor, … [Read more...] about Baroque Splendor in the Vale of the White Horse
architecture
The Church That Came Back From the Dead
Cornerstones St. Mary, Houghton-on-the Hill, Norfolk By Simon Cotton Two English villages, nearly 100 miles apart, share the same name. The village of Houghton-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire is a thriving place, with a population of around 1,500. The A47 trunk road passes through Houghton — drive 90 miles along this road, heading east, and you find the Norfolk village of … [Read more...] about The Church That Came Back From the Dead
The Whirligig of Time in Isle Abbots
Cornerstones By Simon Cotton Different parts of England are associated with churches in particular architectural styles. County Durham has a number of early Anglo-Saxon buildings, like Escomb and Monkwearmouth, and there is a famous school of 12th-century Romanesque work associated with Herefordshire. If you want to see early 14th-century Decorated work, especially … [Read more...] about The Whirligig of Time in Isle Abbots
St. Germaine de Pibrac, the Suffering Shepherdess
Cornerstones By Simon Cotton Some people collect postage stamps; I’m no philatelist, I collect French cathedrals. Over the years I have visited around 120 of them, and been to Mass in some 35, from the Gothic masterpieces of the north (Chartres, Paris, Amiens, Bourges) to more modest Romanesque buildings in the south. On an August Sunday in 2002, I went to Mass in … [Read more...] about St. Germaine de Pibrac, the Suffering Shepherdess
The Gnat Line’s Gothic Treasure
By Stephen Herbert The impious simile “hot as hell” really doesn’t apply to Talbotton, Georgia, in August. Not because it isn’t hot, but because hell’s heat can’t possibly be this humid. All those fires in the netherworld must dry the air out a little. Your correspondent is standing in front of Zion Episcopal Church in Talbotton, having just tried a front door he knew … [Read more...] about The Gnat Line’s Gothic Treasure
Grieve with the Grieving
Guest Column By Chuck Alley For more than eight centuries the Notre-Dame de Paris has witnessed indiscriminately to multitudes of people from every nation, language, and creed. From Catholics to humanists, Notre-Dame has been a source of inspiration and awe. It is a structure that transcends the dimensions of our everyday world. It is a treasure trove of historical and … [Read more...] about Grieve with the Grieving
The Long Work of Rebuilding
Patrick Sisson reports for Curbed: “It’s okay to cry,” said Jorge Otero-Pailos. As news spread of the tragic fire that consumed the roof of Notre Dame cathedral, a national, spiritual, and architectural symbol with few parallels, Otero-Pailos, director of the preservation program at Columbia University, was still taking in the enormity of what had been lost. But with hundreds … [Read more...] about The Long Work of Rebuilding
God and the Architect
By Duo Dickinson When we think of religion and architecture, it is easy to have visions of churches: ascending forms, focused and spiritually evocative spaces, perfect settings for icons and rituals. But architecture starts with architects. Architecture is the self-designated Mother of the Arts because it combines all aesthetics in one built effort. When architecture’s … [Read more...] about God and the Architect