St Mungo's Church (Bromfield)

Trip No.81  Entry No.1  Date Added: 15th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Hogback and ancient crosses at St. Mungo's Church, Bromfield: Our first stop of the day. This is clearly an ancient village.

The church was locked, so the only stone we could see was in the porch – AS Corpus Bromfield 04. From the Corpus image, the top of the hogback looks clearer from the inside of the church, but of course we couldn’t get in.

After walking back from the well, I stopped to look at the hideous memorial in the southern part of the churchyard and noticed that it was built on what looked like the base of an old village/medieval cross. I haven’t been able to find anything out about this – it’s not mentioned in any literature I’ve currently come across – but suddenly it became more interesting!

We did try and find High Aketon Farm to see AS Corpus Bromfield 03, but couldn’t find it on the paper OS map and an internet search pulled up nothing. We decided to move on to the next location.

I’m going to try and contact the vicar to see if we can arrange entry into the church for sometime in mid-August.

St Mungo's Well (Bromfield)

Trip No.81  Entry No.2  Date Added: 22nd Jul 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Mungo's Holy Well, Bromfield: The kissing gate from the north of the churchyard led down some sandstone gate, although the gate had been wired shut with a cable tie, so we had to clamber over. Even though there had been a long period of dry weather, parts of the ground around the well were still damp and the cattle’s hooves had sunk deep into the ground, creating tussocks and hollows. The well cavity itself was dry. In a very scenic setting, with lazy cattle (and a bull) lazing against a nearby hedgerow, looking over at us, but fortunately too hot to move.

A lovely well in a very nice, tranquil setting.

The Hatching Well (Gilcrux)

Trip No.81  Entry No.3  Date Added: 10th Jul 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: The Hatching Well, Gilcrux: We arrived here and find this well bubbling away just outside the church - completely unexpected as it's not got any entries on Pastscape or Historic England. Neither is it mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for Gilcrux.

I guess finding this well made up for not being able to get into the church, which was very firmly locked and bolted, despite thinking we'd be able to get in. I'm trying to arrange with the vicar to go back mid-August to see AS Corpus Gilcrux 01.

St Mary's Church (Gilcrux)

Trip No.81  Entry No.4  Date Added: 10th Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Viking cross head and shaft fragments, St Mary's Church, Gilcrux: We arrived here to find the outer screen door open, but the door into the church very firmly locked. To say this was disappointing was an understatement, as the building looking fascinating with a lot of history from the outside.

I have since exchanged emails the vicar, who is arranging for the church to be opened for us on either 13th or 14th August.

St Mungo's Dearham

Trip No.81  Entry No.5  Date Added: 16th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Ancient Crosses and a Norman font, St Mungo's Church, Dearham: After having been to two other churches which had been firmly locked, this church was, thankfully open and very welcoming.

The church was packed full of knitted scenes from the bible, jewellery and books. We missed the Adam Stone, but are going back on 14th August, and have asked for permission to get into the vestry to see AS Corpus Dearham 03, a fragment of a wheel headed cross built into the wall.

We had to move quite a few items from the west window to photograph AS Corpus Dearham 02, and it took us ages to get everything back!

The Norman font, apparently carved from the cushion capital of a column, was really interesting.

There was no church guide book, although there was a postcard (30p) and a display board, which I took a few photos of.

The first notes on the display board say: “There can be no doubt that Dearham had a church during the Dark Ages, following the withdrawal of Roman Forces from Britain. Many pre-Norman sculptured stones displayed in the present church provide evidence that Christianity was prevalent during Anglo Saxon and Viking times. The Reverend William Slater Calverley was vicar of Dearham from 1877 until 1885 and was responsible for uncovering and displaying many of these stones. He worked tirelessly on restoring the church to much of the originality as possible during his period of incumbency. In 1880 it was recorded that he did not know to whom the church was dedicated, the original dedication having been lost. It was rededicated in 1935, as a result of the inspiration of the Reverend Canon Malcolm D. Grieve, to St. Mungo, a Scottish saint whose real name was St. Kentigern. In 1937 Canon Grieve was also responsible for the addition inside the church building, of a side chapel dedicated to the Holy Name. It stands at the east end of the north aisle.”

There is a section on the display called: “A brief look at the history of St. Mungo’s. It is believed that the original stone church dating back to the early 1100s was about 48 feet long in the shape of a long, low tunnel. During the Norman period parts were added and extended later in the Early English period. The tower was added probably early 14th century. The porch was also an addition to the original building covering the Norman doorway. The north aisle was a completely new addition during the 1882 restoration when Mr. Calverley enlarged the church. The vestry, at the east end, is an extension to the north aisle, the date being cut into the pillar of an arch. Built in the north wall of the vestry is the head of the “Kenneth Cross”. It was found near the east end of the church and built into the vestry wall curing restoration. The stained glass window behind the altar was given by Mr. John Wilson of Dearham and built in at the time of the 1882 restoration. The bell, which weights almost half a ton, was given by Colonel Sewell, whose family were seated at Brandlingill end of Hayborough. The ancient windows, dating back probably to 1150 were removed during the 1815 restoration and sadly lost to this day! Had they been lying about in 1880 Rev. Calverley would have restorated them to their rightful place, when he in turn removed the sash windows and inserted new ones fashioned in the style of the originals.”

The display says: “The magnificent wheel head cross (Viking cross) stands 5ft 4ins high and is carved with “Yggdrasil”, the Norse tree of the universe. It stood in the churchyard until 1900 and then brought into the church and placed in front of the organ.”

Another section reads: “The treasures of the Church include two stones found during 1882 restoration work. Standing 4ft high is the Adam stone, dating from AD 900, which depicts the Fall and Redemption of Man, with Adam and Eve hand in hand above a serpent. The Kenneth Cross shows the legend of the 6th century hermit, S. Kenneth, who was lame from birth and after his baptism cast away in a coracle. He was saved from the gales, and brought up by seabirds.”

The small door leading up into the tower was open, with a very narrow set of steps leading up. Not even Andrew fancied venturing up.

Blennerhasset Cross

Trip No.81  Entry No.6  Date Added: 10th Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Three crosses in one, Blennerhasset, Cumbria: Having been to four churches to see Anglo Saxon carved stones, and only found one unlocked, I wanted to stop and see the 'cross' marked on the OS map in this small village. This really is a stunning medieval village, and I wish we’d had more time to wander round and admire the old buildings. There was a lovely bridge over the river, although there was a children’s picnic and football match going on next to it, so we didn’t disturb them. There were two information boards outside the school, but neither mentioned the cross. Despite it looking like a war memorial, I wandered across only to find the base of the medieval cross and the discarded socket stone. Brilliant!