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Mar. 11th, 2011 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
endlessraritiesAnother week's over, and according to the weather forecast, we're going to be getting snow tomorrow. Lots of snow.
Oh, dear. I guess that means the primroses, daffodils and crocuses will be spreadeagled once the thaw sets in. For Elbow fans: Build a Rocket Boys! is a really good album. It's more small-scale and intimate than The Seldom Seen Kid (there's nothing of the epic scale of Loneliness of the Tower Crane Driver) but once again the lyrics are marvellous, and it's a very lovely mellow collection of songs. After a couple of plays, I think I'll be hooked.
Another trip to Grasmere now, and one last visit to St Oswald's Church. I couldn't leave without a post devoted to the windows. Here's one of the original windows, with modern glass. They did have one window in the chancel which had reused earlier stained glass, but I couldn't get a decent picture, so this isn't it:-
Oh, dear. I guess that means the primroses, daffodils and crocuses will be spreadeagled once the thaw sets in. For Elbow fans: Build a Rocket Boys! is a really good album. It's more small-scale and intimate than The Seldom Seen Kid (there's nothing of the epic scale of Loneliness of the Tower Crane Driver) but once again the lyrics are marvellous, and it's a very lovely mellow collection of songs. After a couple of plays, I think I'll be hooked.
Another trip to Grasmere now, and one last visit to St Oswald's Church. I couldn't leave without a post devoted to the windows. Here's one of the original windows, with modern glass. They did have one window in the chancel which had reused earlier stained glass, but I couldn't get a decent picture, so this isn't it:-
And I must concede... In this context, the whitewashed walls look rather lovely.
Another window, this time from the Langdale Nave, which is of course late fifteenth century in date, and quite different in its style:-
Another window, this time from the Langdale Nave, which is of course late fifteenth century in date, and quite different in its style:-
The stained glass is, once again, modern. Modern being 19th century, of course...
For my current reading matter... I am wading through hefty tone by Dickinson (1979) entitled The Later Middle Ages: From the Norman Conquest to the Eve of the Reformation, which forms part of a series called The Ecclestiastical History of England. The author initially got my back up by describing the Middle Ages in Scotland as 'colourless' (I assume he's referring to the ecclesiastical side of things, but still...), but I'm plodding regardless, because I really need to expand my knowledge of this area.
So here, thanks to Dickinson, is my useless fact of the day. Did you know that the Cistercian Order followed the same rules as Judean and Islamic art in that it forbid the depictions of animal and human forms? I presume they started off rigidly obeying this rule before successive generations relaxed the reins somewhat. Anyway, this was news to me, so I'll be inspecting any Cistercian abbeys I encounter very closely in future to see how closely they adhere to their Cistercian principles... Any input from those medieval historians out there who can elucidate this matter further will of course be much appreciated. And if you want to tell me that Dickinson's old hat and that I should stick it straight in the bin and buy something more theoretically hip and trendy, I quite understand.
Which reminds me... The timing of the Elbow gig is not very good. The renowned medieval archaeologist Roberta Gilchrist is giving a series of lectures to Glasgow Archaeological Society next week and I'm going to miss them. I think if I wasn't indisposed for the first one and out on site next week, I'd have gone, because she's a really good public speaker. I saw her once at aTheoretical Archaeology Group conference and she was excellent...
Ah well. Such is life... I've almost forgotten what it's like to do medieval archaeology. Life's just one long blur of brick and concrete.
For my current reading matter... I am wading through hefty tone by Dickinson (1979) entitled The Later Middle Ages: From the Norman Conquest to the Eve of the Reformation, which forms part of a series called The Ecclestiastical History of England. The author initially got my back up by describing the Middle Ages in Scotland as 'colourless' (I assume he's referring to the ecclesiastical side of things, but still...), but I'm plodding regardless, because I really need to expand my knowledge of this area.
So here, thanks to Dickinson, is my useless fact of the day. Did you know that the Cistercian Order followed the same rules as Judean and Islamic art in that it forbid the depictions of animal and human forms? I presume they started off rigidly obeying this rule before successive generations relaxed the reins somewhat. Anyway, this was news to me, so I'll be inspecting any Cistercian abbeys I encounter very closely in future to see how closely they adhere to their Cistercian principles... Any input from those medieval historians out there who can elucidate this matter further will of course be much appreciated. And if you want to tell me that Dickinson's old hat and that I should stick it straight in the bin and buy something more theoretically hip and trendy, I quite understand.
Which reminds me... The timing of the Elbow gig is not very good. The renowned medieval archaeologist Roberta Gilchrist is giving a series of lectures to Glasgow Archaeological Society next week and I'm going to miss them. I think if I wasn't indisposed for the first one and out on site next week, I'd have gone, because she's a really good public speaker. I saw her once at aTheoretical Archaeology Group conference and she was excellent...
Ah well. Such is life... I've almost forgotten what it's like to do medieval archaeology. Life's just one long blur of brick and concrete.
