tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post8517252005514238440..comments2024-03-25T15:10:13.792+00:00Comments on English Buildings: Westbury, WiltshirePhilip Wilkinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-54787413072721317682010-06-08T11:58:02.317+01:002010-06-08T11:58:02.317+01:00Peter: Those Ravilious pictures are terrific, as a...Peter: Those Ravilious pictures are terrific, as are the other pictures of chalk figures that he did. <br /><br />Many thanks for your comment on my photograph. I did wonder about taking a shot through the car windscreen, but this would have been dangerous and anyway I'd have had to clean all the insects off the glass.Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-51883482254644406012010-06-08T11:14:52.599+01:002010-06-08T11:14:52.599+01:00What an interesting discussion. Also, see Raviliou...What an interesting discussion. Also, see Ravilious's paintings of this White Horse, one from a train carriage, one from the hill with a train down in the vale. Bringing us to Larkin's <i>Whitsun Weddings</i> where he comments on the parallel idea of lives containing the same hour (or something like that.) And great contextural shot Wilko.Peter Ashleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00027878122724846472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-44471956628756930502010-06-07T08:58:53.060+01:002010-06-07T08:58:53.060+01:00Indeed. Everything is layered, and your use of the...Indeed. Everything is layered, and your use of the word 'incorporating', with its bodily overtones, is very apt. People tend to mourn what is lost when they look at old buildings, but if we are alert we can also see much of what has been incorporated. I am also reminded of David Jones's resonant lines (from the <i>Anathemata</i>): 'The adaptations, the fusions / the transmogrifications / but always / the inward continuities / of the site / of place.'Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-34127159954543160762010-06-07T08:48:45.601+01:002010-06-07T08:48:45.601+01:00One of the best things about learning history at O...One of the best things about learning history at Oxford was the emphasis on historic geography, it was the first thing you learned. I would go so far as to say that most sites - towns, castles, churches are layered. Why? - because the geography is right - in this case the aspect of the hill. <br /><br />But it is more than that, the more we look at archaeology the more we realise the continuity of habitation - celt, roman, saxon, norman. In many places there is no break. And increasingly we realise there is no familial break either, the people who created the horse were possibly descendants of those who lived in the hillfort. Sometimes I wonder whether in building churches on pagan sites our ancestors were not eliminating the past but incorporating it.Zoe Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03812139316593467950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-82650068614415040382010-06-03T09:17:24.036+01:002010-06-03T09:17:24.036+01:00Absolutely - and sometimes a village just failed c...Absolutely - and sometimes a village just failed completely for some reason, leaving the church on its own. Every case is different, which is why history is so endlessly fascinating.Chris Partridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14883064324795042491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-51740619141722562992010-06-03T08:40:00.164+01:002010-06-03T08:40:00.164+01:00Chris: Indeed. Although sometimes the distance bet...Chris: Indeed. Although sometimes the distance between village and church is because the village has moved over the years (e.g. because a local landlord wanted the land, or because the new site was better in some way).Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-22149991326442213422010-06-02T08:41:14.167+01:002010-06-02T08:41:14.167+01:00Down here in Sussex and I imagine elsewhere the mi...Down here in Sussex and I imagine elsewhere the missionaries to the Saxons were specifically instructed to place churches on the sacred groves to eliminate them as place of pagan worship. It is why so many Sussex churches are a short walk outside the villages they serve.Chris Partridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14883064324795042491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-33613877102223362102010-06-01T17:03:52.970+01:002010-06-01T17:03:52.970+01:00Bazza: You've anticipated what will probably b...Bazza: You've anticipated what will probably be my next post; stand by in a couple of days for more on churches on ancient sites.Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-20305705585943655072010-06-01T14:28:47.666+01:002010-06-01T14:28:47.666+01:00Hello Philip. The layering of history is an intere...Hello Philip. The layering of history is an interesting phenomenon.<br />Is it not the case that early churches were often built on the site of Roman temples and pagan places of worship. They are often at the intersection of ancient 'ley lines' if they can be said to exist!bazzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14794010156639774028noreply@blogger.com