It was an article in The Guardian that led us to visit the teeny wee village of Romaldkirk in Teesdale, north England, back in September. It was the first time we had been away from home since the pandemic. It felt strange, but I do love ancient churches and their surroundings and it was definitely not busy, in fact we were the only visitors so we had the place to ourselves. The Church of St Romald has been added to a lot over the centuries. The oldest part dates from the 12th century and the most recent addition of an organ chamber was in 1929.
I’m always saying it – but I am not in the least bit religious yet I do love old churches – and the areas that they were built, the really old ones were previously inhabited by pre-Christians so they seem like special situations to me. Usually on high ground of course – closer to whichever gods you chose to worship!
Below is the tesselated floor of the chancel.
Below is the tomb of Hugh Fitz Henry dating from 1305.
Below is something I had certainly never seen before a Devil’s Door which as you can see has been blocked up!
The font below is thought to be 12th century with a 17th century wooden cover.
The doorway has stone seats either side of it, I think this is a very English sort of design, I don’t recall ever seeing anything like that in a Scottish church.
The whole church has that ancient building aroma which doesn’t really fare well for the church. I was surprised to see that the pointing in between the stone blocks is dark grey in many areas, almost black which means there is very strong cement in the mix which will be dragging moisture into the building. It should of course have been pointed with a lime mixture to stop that from happening. It’s a lovely place to visit though.
It’s hard to get good pictures inside a church but these are great – especially the second one!
I am always amused by my mother who takes very personally the fact that these Anglican churches were once Roman Catholic. “That should be ours!” she will say. I notice it never annoys her when the church is ugly, only when it is beautiful!
Constance,
I find that attitude amusing too, but it is quite depressing if people take it too far, I hate the bigotry we have had in the past in the west of Scotland, I don’t think it’s so bad nowadays. Anyway, in Scotland and the north of England very old churches would originally have been Celtic Christians and they were taken over by the RCs after Queen Margaret of Scotland/Hungary married King Malcolm III. The link below does not mention that he got rid of his first wife so he could marry Margaret! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Margaret_of_Scotland. If you scroll down to the bit headed Piety it tells how she changed things. The old churches have Celtic saints names such as Saint Drostan.
That is a lovely church and the grounds and cemetery are nice too. Your photos are very good. My husband would love to visit and take tons of photos, but even under better circumstances neither of us would fly so…
tracybham,
Again, I feel exctly the same. I haven’t flown for over 40 years and have no intention of doing so again. I’m waiting for a Star Trek ‘beam me up’ gadget!
A beautiful old church and a lovely day by the look of it. Are services still held there?
Stefanie,
Yes it is still very much the village church, but seems to be open to visitors daily. They are very trusting I think as we had the place to ourselves, I imagine the villagers keep an eye on it, we must have looked trustworthy!
That’s pretty cool. I’m sure you look very trustworthy đŸ™‚
Stefanie,
That probably means we look old enough to be genuinely interested in an old church!