Not in the Gothic style

I blipped St Mary's Church, Wreay near Carlisle, a while back and said something about its having been designed in 1841 by Sarah Losh, a quite extraordinary lady. The book of her life by Jenny Uglow "the Pinecone' is well worth reading.

We re-visited today on a pretty dismal afternoon. Although there is so much to photograph inside the church, I decided to blip the outside. It is astonishing to come upon this building in an ordinary small village close to the M6. It is like no other church anywhere.

And it was strikingly different from anything else in Britain at the time. Sarah had studied books of architecture and had travelled widely all round Europe, so she knew all about what was being built at the time. She turned her back on the currently popular Gothic ideas, wanting something purer, simpler and more 'rustic'. Her design was unique - Romanesque, but with something of the local Norman church about it.


In extras I have added a photo of the inside of the main door, just to give an idea of the kind of carvings that are to be seen throughout the church.