TITLE: Church Curiosities: Strange Objects and Bizarre Legends
AUTHOR: David Castleton
PUBLISHER: Shire Publications
ISBN: 978-1-784-42444-2
PODCAST EPISODE: Book Club Episode 11
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
According to the English Church Census of 2005 there are 37,501 churches scattered throughout the whole of England. It is a remarkably high number, considering how small the island is. Travel for any good amount of time and you will likely encounter a church, or a building that once was one. Many of them are ancient and mysterious buildings, rife with folkloric practices that stretch back to the Georgian, Elizabethan, or Roman times. Occasionally that past goes even deeper, into the more mythic Pagan days of the British past. It is precisely those unusually murky waters that David Castleton dives into in his slim book Church Curiosities: Strange Objects and Bizarre Legends.
Castleton challenges the reader to consider just how well they know the churches within their vicinity. That church right down the street might contain Viking Runes or ancient Ogham carvings upon its walls. Perhaps it even contains one of the enigmatic Sheela-na-gigs - effigies of a woman with her legs spread wide that may be meant to encourage fertility, frighten away demons, simply frighten later church-goers against falling to the sin of lust? There are churches with stone circles, remains of meteorites, skulls, and the graves of dead heroes that all hearken back to a time before Christinity became the predominantly practiced religion. Echoes are even to be seen in church placements - many are thought to have been erected purposefully in formerly sacred groves. And what of some of the traditions still practiced in modern times, such as the enigmatic reindeer dance wherein six men take up reindeer antlers from 1045 and perform a weaving dance with them, alongside a cross-dressing Maid Marion and an archer? Is this an echo of the worship of the horned god, or something else?
Each chapter focuses upon a different set of curiosities, ranging from “Legendary Skulls, Strange Remains, and Weird Repositories” to “Holy Wells, Sacred Eels, and Saints’ Skulls”. Littered throughout the chapters are beautiful color photographs of some of the items described within the text. The pictures alone are worth leafing through the book - high quality and detailed, you can almost smell the moss upon the damp church stones. It was a joy to look through these pictures at a time when travel is near impossible.
Castleton does not focus merely upon the popular locales, either. He has a keen eye for describing the more eccentric practices and items found in England’s rural areas. He pays close attention to accurately discussing these obscure folkloric practices and beliefs and never shies away from admitting when the origin of something is truly unknown. Nor does he shy away from admitting when the ash upon a doorframe might just be from a candle rather than the devil’s framing death, or when beloved Greyfriars Bobby might never have actually existed at all.
The book does double-duty as a fascinating travel guide, thanks to the Places to Visit section in the back. The further reading, likewise, piqued my interest, as it contained books covering more rural English folklore as well as guides to understanding the symbology of church architecture itself. For anyone curious to learn more about Britain’s Churches I think this would prove to be a valuable and fascinating read. At the very least, the stories should delight and amuse, and the pictures evoke a keen nostalgia for places one might have never been.
AUTHOR: David Castleton
PUBLISHER: Shire Publications
ISBN: 978-1-784-42444-2
PODCAST EPISODE: Book Club Episode 11
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
According to the English Church Census of 2005 there are 37,501 churches scattered throughout the whole of England. It is a remarkably high number, considering how small the island is. Travel for any good amount of time and you will likely encounter a church, or a building that once was one. Many of them are ancient and mysterious buildings, rife with folkloric practices that stretch back to the Georgian, Elizabethan, or Roman times. Occasionally that past goes even deeper, into the more mythic Pagan days of the British past. It is precisely those unusually murky waters that David Castleton dives into in his slim book Church Curiosities: Strange Objects and Bizarre Legends.
Castleton challenges the reader to consider just how well they know the churches within their vicinity. That church right down the street might contain Viking Runes or ancient Ogham carvings upon its walls. Perhaps it even contains one of the enigmatic Sheela-na-gigs - effigies of a woman with her legs spread wide that may be meant to encourage fertility, frighten away demons, simply frighten later church-goers against falling to the sin of lust? There are churches with stone circles, remains of meteorites, skulls, and the graves of dead heroes that all hearken back to a time before Christinity became the predominantly practiced religion. Echoes are even to be seen in church placements - many are thought to have been erected purposefully in formerly sacred groves. And what of some of the traditions still practiced in modern times, such as the enigmatic reindeer dance wherein six men take up reindeer antlers from 1045 and perform a weaving dance with them, alongside a cross-dressing Maid Marion and an archer? Is this an echo of the worship of the horned god, or something else?
Each chapter focuses upon a different set of curiosities, ranging from “Legendary Skulls, Strange Remains, and Weird Repositories” to “Holy Wells, Sacred Eels, and Saints’ Skulls”. Littered throughout the chapters are beautiful color photographs of some of the items described within the text. The pictures alone are worth leafing through the book - high quality and detailed, you can almost smell the moss upon the damp church stones. It was a joy to look through these pictures at a time when travel is near impossible.
Castleton does not focus merely upon the popular locales, either. He has a keen eye for describing the more eccentric practices and items found in England’s rural areas. He pays close attention to accurately discussing these obscure folkloric practices and beliefs and never shies away from admitting when the origin of something is truly unknown. Nor does he shy away from admitting when the ash upon a doorframe might just be from a candle rather than the devil’s framing death, or when beloved Greyfriars Bobby might never have actually existed at all.
The book does double-duty as a fascinating travel guide, thanks to the Places to Visit section in the back. The further reading, likewise, piqued my interest, as it contained books covering more rural English folklore as well as guides to understanding the symbology of church architecture itself. For anyone curious to learn more about Britain’s Churches I think this would prove to be a valuable and fascinating read. At the very least, the stories should delight and amuse, and the pictures evoke a keen nostalgia for places one might have never been.