| Torrential rain fell from a brown-grey sky. | | | | while with the ancient key.Eventually the key |
| Impromptu streams formed themselves inthe | | | | turned and I pushed open the heavy door. |
| middle of the roads, making driving | | | | Immediately inside the door it was dark, and |
| difficult. It was very cold.I have often had | | | | the darkness became intense after the door |
| the experience, in my researches, of | | | | swung shut behind me. Moving forward, I |
| penetrating into ever more remote areas of | | | | entered the main body of the church where a |
| the county, only to find even more obscure | | | | brownish light came through the windows from |
| communities that lie beyond. Just as you | | | | the wet afternoon sky. The rain thundered |
| think you know a region, it surprises you | | | | down on the roof.The interior was basically |
| with yet another aspect that appears, as if | | | | one large room divided into a nave and a |
| from nowhere.Such a district is the | | | | chancel. The furnishings were sumptuous |
| south-easternmost part of the escarpment (the | | | | Victorian, with brass chandeliers suspended |
| hills peter out, but unexpectedly appear | | | | over the chancel like golden crowns (looking |
| again, at a lower level, hidden by trees). | | | | up at them through the murky light I saw that |
| This group of wooded hills is crossed by a | | | | they held candles, so yet another building in |
| confusing cats cradle of lanes between two | | | | the twenty-first century lit by candlelight). |
| market towns. There is an unsettling quality | | | | Some indifferent medieval wall paintings, |
| to the atmosphere in this locality, almost a | | | | preserved more for their great antiquity |
| creepiness - not entirely unpleasant, but | | | | rather than any artistic merit.I had walked |
| there are places you would not want to stay | | | | about halfway down the length of the church, |
| after night has fallen. An example being the | | | | when my intuition told me, insistently: |
| village I went to last Sunday.It comprised a | | | | something is behind you . Looking round I saw |
| tiny estate around an Edwardian hall, the | | | | the upper half of the west end was filled by |
| village all of a piece architecturally. The | | | | a gallery, and on this gallery I could see |
| village was at the base of a small valley, | | | | dazzlingPre-Raphaelite figures (highly |
| with a sluggish and meandering river going | | | | coloured with golden halos). In the gloom I |
| through it. Steep slopes to the sides of the | | | | thought for a moment (an unpleasant moment) |
| valley, very green fields, hedgerows | | | | the figures were alive (it was a real "Da |
| bordering the lanes with oak trees dotted | | | | Vinci Code" moment!), until rationality |
| along them (the trees so swathed in ivy they | | | | gained control andI could see that they were |
| appear to be choking). There were a few large | | | | painted on a huge elaborate cabinet, of |
| farmhouses, and a short street of cottages, | | | | immense proportions, containing the church |
| all built in a picturesque style (knapped | | | | organ.Returning the key to the bungalow I |
| flints, redbrick quoins, high gables). The | | | | again stood in the rain (not so heavy) while |
| cottages were physically small, but had a | | | | the old lady talked about the village. The |
| grandiose appearance, as if they were | | | | parish had been dominated for over a century |
| miniature mansions - the rooms inside these | | | | by a dynasty of Rectors who passed the Living |
| cottages must be miniscule(the picturesque | | | | down, father to son, in a sort of |
| life was always uncomfortable). Out in the | | | | ecclesiastical monarchy. The organ was one of |
| fields, placed strategically for theatrical | | | | the treasures of the area, and had been |
| effect, were isolated cottages, now ruined | | | | brought to the church during the Second World |
| and tumbledown, sheep looking inquisitively | | | | War when the village it was previously |
| out of the gaping holes where the front doors | | | | located in had been taken over by the |
| would have been.Crossing the river over a | | | | military. There had been a long feud between |
| small humped-back bridge, I entered a world | | | | the Rectors of the church and the lords of |
| that was cold, damp and beautiful. There was | | | | the manor, and one of the more irascible |
| an extremely sharp bend to the road, and then | | | | occupants of the Hall had been buried just |
| the little village street with the main | | | | inside the church door so that everyone |
| entrance to the hall at the end (the hall was | | | | entering the building stepped on his grave. I |
| a jewel of Edwardian architecture - an | | | | jotted down all her stories into my notebook, |
| expansive, self-satisfied sort of building, | | | | the falling spots of rain making the ink run. |
| built for a banker in 1905 and allowed to | | | | Just as I was leaving I asked her about a |
| run-down in recent years following the death | | | | reference I had read in an obscure local |
| of a young heir in a car crash). To one side | | | | history that the parish had once had two |
| of the hall gates was the church, high on a | | | | medieval churches, and that the ruins of the |
| bank, with a round tower and heavy buttresses | | | | other church could still be seen."Ah, but |
| supporting thewalls.I got the key to the | | | | it's no longer in ruins" she said |
| church from a nearby bungalow, standing in | | | | mysteriously. "It's been restored in the last |
| the rain while the elderly lady searched for | | | | few years. The restoration has been a labour |
| it, then continuing to stand in the rain | | | | of love by one man. It's up on the ridge by |
| while she chatted about the village (I was | | | | the old bridlepath. It's not easy to find. |
| right about thehouses being damp - the | | | | You can't drive there, you'll have to park up |
| closeness of the river and the canopy of | | | | at the field gate and walk."I wrote down her |
| trees create a densely moist environment). | | | | directions and a rough map so that I could |
| The grass was very spongy in the rain, and | | | | find the way if I ever returned to the |
| the path up to the church porch was slippery. | | | | village. |
| The lock was stiff, and I struggled for a | | | | |