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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Holy Places
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fletcher christian
Mutinous Seadog
# 13919
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Posted
Having read a recent book on Britain's holiest places I was quite surprised to discover just how many there were. As a lover of place I'm drawn to such 'shrines' and Ireland has a plethora of them; more possibly than you could ever visit in a lifetime. Of all of the one's I've seen, St Moninna's monastic site and well stands out more than any other. I'm not quite sure why, but it was a beautiful site with an old church, her grave and a little path through the grass and gorse that led up to her well on the slopes of Slieve Gullion where little sheep safely grazed and lambs kicked in delight as the clouds dispersing a fine mist constantly changed the light. Here is a pic of her well.
So, it's over to you; what shrines, waysides, holy spots are your favourite haunts?
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'God is love insaturable, love impossible to describe'
Staretz Silouan
Posts: 5235 | From: a prefecture | Registered: Jul 2008
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Two: the Cathedral At St David's in Wales, which is never crowded and IME always has a peace, tranquility and nebulous 'something'.
And also on the St David's peninsula, out towards St Justinian is St Non's Well & Chapel. It has amazing views out to sea and on a bright summer day is a good place to just sit, stare and think.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
Our Lady of Willesden, just to show holy places can be in the middle of inner city deprivation and not just unspoiled countryside. (Haven't been there for years but it was a very healing place for me at one time.)
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Our Lady of Willesden, just to show holy places can be in the middle of inner city deprivation and not just unspoiled countryside.
On a similar note, Blackfriars Priory, Oxford. It's right on one of the busiest main roads in the city, but the roar of traffic and the noise of passersby seem to fade pretty quickly once you're in there. There are other central churches nearby but none of them seem to have this atmosphere of "dynamic stillness", if you know what I mean. I've found just going and sitting quietly there can be very helpful and productive sometimes.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Bene Gesserit
Shipmate
# 14718
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Posted
The (Anglican) shrine at Walsingham, although I have only yet been there once.
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Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Posts: 405 | From: Flatlands of the East | Registered: Apr 2009
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dj_ordinaire
Host
# 4643
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Posted
I doubt there can be more evocative places in England than lastingham.
The fact I visited it with my mother on our last holiday together, and that there were words of T.S. Eliot to be read, only increases the impression it made..
(Edited to fix link)
[ 21. November 2013, 19:45: Message edited by: Firenze ]
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Flinging wide the gates...
Posts: 10335 | From: Hanging in the balance of the reality of man | Registered: Jun 2003
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
I was at Lastingham last year and deeply impressed. The crypt had a few more bits of tat around than the photo shows, (not 'Igh Church tat so much as a faded print of an icon, as I remember and the like) but being a bit tatty can be rather moving.
The upstairs has been restored to be impressive but any atmosphere was spoilt by the two church sitters gossiping loudly to each other and taking no notice of me whatsoever. (Personally I'd prefer that to them being gushily all over me, but just a smile and a nod in my direction would have been nice. It's a pity they were failing in manners.)
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
Partrishow, near Abergavenny. It's up tiny single track roads, but when you get there there's a sacred spring and a lovely little church with wall paintings. People leave bunches of flowers at the spring.
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
Elkstone Church, Gloucestershire.
A tiny church, Norman arches, golden Cotswold stone, a window into the chancel that casts a special light....there is an impressive stillness, a "feeling" here.
As different as could possibly be, while still being Norman: Durham Cathedral.
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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Clotilde
Shipmate
# 17600
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Posted
Its a fascinating subject for me, and thanks for raising it.
I wonder just what makes the place sacred or holy, and why do some places cease to be holy? - or at least only remain as pale reflections of what they were.
I'd love to visit Lastingham given the recommendations.
Durham Cathedral is special for me, but actually only at certain times.
I agree about Walsingham, but then again for me the Anglican shrine works best when it is very quiet. I went once in February when very few were around and it was in the evening and misty and it was beautiful. Then I went to a big do full of slightly pompous male priests (or so it felt) and it wasnt the place for me then.
Yes, a fascinating subject!
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A witness of female resistance
Posts: 159 | From: A man's world | Registered: Mar 2013
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
I love small shrines, or those large which blend with the environment. Whilst I appreciate cathedral and temple architecture, those are more places of people. The small are places of being.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Our Lady of Willesden, just to show holy places can be in the middle of inner city deprivation and not just unspoiled countryside.
On a similar note, Blackfriars Priory, Oxford. It's right on one of the busiest main roads in the city, but the roar of traffic and the noise of passersby seem to fade pretty quickly once you're in there. There are other central churches nearby but none of them seem to have this atmosphere of "dynamic stillness", if you know what I mean. I've found just going and sitting quietly there can be very helpful and productive sometimes.
Ditto this—especially during Compline. The effect spills over into the library, even; when I was studying at Blackfriars, I'd often take the desk near the door to the chapel tribune to hear the friars chanting the office.
More locally, I have a couple favorite chapels in the National Basilica (the narrow, quiet, and colorful Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Dominic's upstairs, the Founder's Chapel in the crypt) and the law school—though claiming to like the modern simplicity of that last one has raised a few eyebrows. I've also a bit of a fondness for crypt churches, low, quiet, dim and intimate underground spaces that seem to isolate the world and to encourage contemplation, places that feel governed by a geometry different than the light and open one of the world.
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
L'organist: the Cathedral At St David's in Wales, which is never crowded and IME always has a peace, tranquility and nebulous 'something'.
Seconded, very nice.
Here in Brazil, I quite like Oscar Niemeyer's Cathedral of Brasília. The underground entrance, and then you suddenly see those abstract stained-glass windows, and the clouds through them... Very good for contemplation.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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MrsBeaky
Shipmate
# 17663
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Posted
The parish church, St Nicholas, Studland
It's very beautiful but it carries something else too.
The whole fabric of the place resonated with the worship and prayers of Christians down through the centuries.
I felt that wonderful Presence as never before.
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"It is better to be kind than right."
http://davidandlizacooke.wordpress.com
Posts: 693 | From: UK/ Kenya | Registered: Apr 2013
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