How cute is this! My adorable dad as a little one. I had the exact same type of hair at his age.
K. Having some difficulty getting the picture above to rotate and stay – stay tuned to fix that – but you got the picture (pun pun). Anyway, spent my last day in Brid wandering about and seeing the old historic town. It is so lovely. I first went to the Priory which has been there since 1086 or something like that. It is pretty spectacular and has a very different feel to the Catholic churches and churches in Germany.
The beautiful Augustine Priory
It used to be a much larger building and complex but good ol’ Henry XVIII had it destroyed when he dissolved all monestaries that would compete with his desire to bring in the church so that he could officially and legally divorce and behead all his wives – or something like that! But I really enjoyed looking around the building. It had been left to ruins in the late 1500s after Henry had his bidding done and it was not until the 1800s that the local towns people came together to restore and rebuild the church so that they could use it. It is interesting because you can see the amateurish brick work at the ends where they worked to build the Priory up and put a roof on it. It is amazing it survived so well.
Rough brickwork at the Priory where the local townsfolk got together to bring the remains of this glorious building back to life.
Outer details on the Priory - a young restored face is sandwiched by two worn faces
An elderly woman showed me around the Priory and was quite excited to show me some inocuous details that others would not know about or see if it was not for her. She was so sweet. She asked me if I knew the saying “going to the wall”. I said I think I did. Well she told me that people used to not be allowed to sit during services. Only the elderly and infirm could sit on the cold uncomfortable ledge that was found against the actual wall. Thus the saying – “going to the wall”. She then told me that the bishops or head priests or perhaps it was the monks (I can’t remembers) were also supposed to stand but the head ones cheated and she showed me how the lid of their seats could lift and exposed a soft seating ledge against which they leaned while appearing to stand – the little devils is all I can say!
Detail under the lifted lit that exposed a leaning ledge for the Bishop/Priest/Monk - can't tell you which one - but they cheated!
Looking at the Priory from behind through the gravestones
Outside there were numerous tombstones. Some had the grass around them cleared. Some the grass was growing high and other were immersed deep in the growth of a natural forested area. It was actually very beautiful. There was a back to nature feel about the place of repose that these tombstones represented. It was a poetry in a way that I cannot explain. Needless to say, the Priory was beautiful. Next I was onto the Bayle and then to check the old town High Street. I have not shown much yet except for the Priory but this post is already long enough and I am sitting in the Edinburgh train station – having some trouble with picture loading. So stay tuned and I will post more soon.
A gravestone fights to remain seen
And I thought “going to the wall” meant something else, as in when something is going wrong people have been known to say, “it’s going to the wall” – ermm interesting….
I only knew the saying “hitting the wall” which happens when you are running and you can’t go any further. Maybe the yound and elderly were sent to the wall when they were bad????
First of all, I’m happy that you were able to rotate your Dad’s baby picture. 🙂
I’ve always liked the old English churches and I appreciate that you included a picture of the cemetery plus a tombstone.