AN ECCLESIASTIC GEM……in Lakeland

The place is Little Town, the location is in the Newlands Valley in Lakeland, Cumbria and this is one beautiful and remote country Church. Sheltering underneath its Cumbrian Slate roof and surrounded by trees, Newlands Church is a  little gem and no doubt was once the centre of its community.  For indeed this was once much more than a Church.  The lower building to the left of this images is the School Room.  According to the plaque the School was built by parishioners, opened in 1877 and no doubt served the children from the surrounding farms well.  It didn’t quite make a century of use as it was closed in 1967.  Thankfully it was restored in 2000 (I presume a millennium project).  It came to the top of my image pile to-day as part of a search for a publisher for small, interesting and unusual rural churches. Newlands and Little Town are long-time favourites of mine and always features as part of one of my Lakeland walks when visiting Cumbria.

There was also another small church on the list, one that is not to far from Little Town….in fact it is located at the end of the Newlands Valley overlooking the village of Buttermere.  It is the stone built Shepherds Church and has become more frequently visited in recent years as it now has a simple but special Memorial window.

The window has been dedicated to Alfred Wainwright, writer of the definitive and unique Lakeland Guide Books and later in life a Broadcaster.  By all accounts a solitary man, yet driven by the desire to record every accent of all the Lakeland hills in words pictures and his very own descriptive maps, for all to share and in so doing enjoy the hills he so loved.  In later life he was persuaded to share his knowledge and love of the hills on both radio and T.V. 

The plaque has a simple message… “ Lift your eyes to Haystacks, his favourite place”…  Indeed that is the mountain silhouetted in the window. 

A very simple and appropriate memorial.  His wish was that his ashes be scattered on Haystacks and thus the penning of his famous line a of ‘ a bit of Grit on Haystacks’    Alfred Wainwright 1907 – 1991.

So you see that a mornings work collating images for a publisher is far from a chore but a reminder of even more places that make our country so special.

19th January