Sunday 22 September 2013

Ely shopfront

   I spent a couple of days with the bf last week.  We found this old shop front undergoing restoration/redecoration in Fore Hill, Ely.  The lettering is lovely.  I wonder what lives are signified by it.  Apologies for the photography.  I was very tired: a sleepless night, a trip to Saffron Walden and the exquisite Fry Gallery, a trudge up from the station....






Saturday 21 September 2013

St Michael, Langtoft

     It's over two weeks ago now that I went to St Michael, Langtoft.  The position of the church in relationship to the village is similar to Baston: both churches are parallel to the long village street.  Neither village has a green as such, but both main streets are broad, generous and straight and run north east; in the case of Baston it roughly follows the course of a Roman road that leads from King Street (aka Stoney Street) into the fens.  The same could be also be true of Langtoft.
     The church is grander than Baston, with an elegant broach spire, (the tower is almost detached from the building).  The south chapel is striking from the outside with its square-headed windows, (though obviously restored in the nineteenth century).  It contains some luxuriant, if somewhat clumsy, Decorated period carvings, and reminds me a little of the 'Golden Chapel' at St Mary's in Stamford. The church also contains some interesting later furnishings, including a matching pair of Baroque monuments.