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.