Quietude

[pjthompson]

When we were in Bodmin we went to a restaurant called La Providence. It was a slow night and the chef, a native who'd gone to London and done the restaurant business there for several years before returning home, came out to talk with us. He suggested several places he thought we'd enjoy visiting. One place he mentioned was the Temple Church out on Bodmin Moor. Actually, the church is St. Catherine's at Temple, a small village, but everyone calls it the Temple Church. It was founded by the Knights Templar, abandoned in the Eighteenth Century, restored in the late 19th, and sits now in a small, green valley. We decided to visit it before leaving Cornwall for the cottage we'd rented in Somerset.

Of all the sweet little churches we visited on our trip, this was by far my favorite. So much love surrounded it, from the villagers who lovingly kept it up, to the peace of the churchyard. It's a tiny cruciform structure, but has lovely stained glass windows. They look plain from the outside but blaze with color inside the church—because they were designed not for folks to appreciate from outside, but to enhance worship on the inside.

It had no pews—just simple wooden chairs before the altar, and an ancient stone baptismal font crowded against one wall with a glorious stained glass window above. St. Francis? A saint with birds flying all around him and the words beneath, He prayeth well who loveth well/Both man and bird and beast.

So much spirit there, so much sense of something beyond the human occupants of the place, so much peace and quietude. Truly a place that renewed the spirit.





I didn't take this one. I stole it from the lovely folks at the Local Heritage Initiative:

http://www.lhi.org.uk/projects_directory/projects_by_region/south_west/cornwall/temple_association_project/index.html#

But it captures the green quietude so much better than any of my shots.



Here's what the stain glassed windows look like from outside.



Here's that same window on the inside.



The glass over the baptismal font.



And over the altar.



And here's a shot Ann took of the altar.



A place to worship.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

St Francis is my favorite of the entire pantheon.

[pjthompson]

Yeah, one of mine, too, I think.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

Worship at the altar of quaintness...
Another bunch of gorgeousness. Thanks for posting them!

[pjthompson]

It's been fun processing these photos. I take them to show to people, sure. But I mostly take them to jog these memories free.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I really like that pic "A place to worship." The composition and lighting speak to me and make for an ideal place for some of that quietude.

[pjthompson]

Thanks. I think that's one of my favorite shots for the whole trip.

[jasperh.livejournal.com]

There is something special about Templar and Hospitlar churches . The difference is Hospitlar ones were round churches but very similar inside to this one.

There is one on the Essex/Suffolk boarder in a tiny hamlet. It has the same air of absolute serenity and love. Unspoilt by Victorian Gothic tastes, its lines are clean and unsullied by organ housings. They just have an upright piano in the back. The chairs are also identical. I can feel the atmosphere still.

[pjthompson]

I definitely love these little churches, although the cathedrals and fancy churches don't do much for me. Like you said, unspoilt by Victorian tastes and so much more serene. The spirit is so much more present there, no matter what faith you happen to follow.