Apr 10, 2025
Main photo: Winchester Cathedral Crypt, 1093 Medieval history is partly shaped by the ‘magnates’ of a realm. These confident people, often men, positioned themselves to achieve what still echoes today. Two of the Norman Bishops of Winchester played their role, not...
Mar 9, 2025
Winchester was well situated for trade to make its way to and from the city. Roman roads approached it from all directions and the River Itchen was navigable to Southampton Water. From there continental trade links were accessible.[i] Winchester had developed along a...
Sep 9, 2024
The second of the Dorset churches on my August ‘church crawl’ (as John Betjeman would have called such a quest) is just over 3 miles east from Bere Regis in Dorset. A turning off the A31 leads to the settlement of Winterborne Tomson. In a field by a farm is the Church...
Aug 30, 2024
I don’t particularly like to venture out from late July through August, when the schools are on holiday. However, the places that are guaranteed to be free of tourists are parish churches. This August (2024) I ventured out with a friend to visit two Dorset churches...
Feb 7, 2023
Walking around Bruton, particularly down by the riverside, one can get the feeling of medieval Somerset. The single-span bridge would have seen trains of packhorses and mules, laden with woolsacks, woollen cloth, and silken cloth making their way through Bruton and...
May 31, 2022
Baptism is a key, and usually the initial, sacrament in the life of a Christian. Early Christians performed the rite with immersion in water. In the medieval Christian church, the process of infusion was practiced – the pouring of water on the head of the new...
