At Oswald’s Winwick

There are a lot of things I have missed this last 10 months.

One of them is mooching around churches and churchyards. I love the architecture, the sense of a long history, the differences in style and materials used across the country, and the feel you get for an area through what you find inside. They are often the visual focal point of a place.

It’s clear we are in this for this for the long haul. So I need local photographic projects to keep me focussed. One of them is going to be the local churches. And so .....

Our nearest old church. It sits on a hillock, close to a motorway and A road, so it’s steeple is visible for some distance from a number of directions. It is named after a 7th century Northumbrian king who died nearby in battle. There was a church here long before the current sandstone building was built in the 14th century, Like most old churches it has been remodelled since, parts have fallen down and rebuilt, and added too. In recent years it has been part hidden under scaffolding whilst repairs (dealing with lots of woodworm included) have been undertaken.

And now it lies silent and empty, like many churches in this pandemic time. A sign on a door suggests it’s closure may last some time, the vicar has got a new posting to nearby Warrington.