Story about General Synod meeting at York
Photoshop by MadPriest
Saturday, 7 July 2012
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
Headline from "Christian Today"
Story about General Synod meeting at York
Photoshop by MadPriest
Story about General Synod meeting at York
Photoshop by MadPriest
THE RAIN IT RAINETH EVERYDAY (6)
Friday started with rain and ended with wind and rain. But we did get a few hours of dryness in the afternoon and were able to get out for a nose around a nearby village and (for the dogs) a walk along a sandy beach.
We started with lunch at Peggy's Tearoom in the village of Kirkoswald.
The village of Kirkoswald is located 4 miles south-west of Maybole. It is well known as the village where Robert Burns attended school with Maybole notable William Niven. It is also here that we find the cottage of Souter Johnnie in which the 18th-century life of a cobbler is presented. Buried in the Kirkoswald churchyard are John Davidson and Douglas Graham, memorialised as Souter Johnnie and Tam o' Shanter in the poem of Robert Burns.
By Scottish standards (see previous posts) it is an attractive village with many points of interest. First among these is the ruin of Saint Oswald's kirk and it's graveyard.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
My favourite aspect of the old churchyard are the early graves carved with images of earthly mortality. Very goth.
In 1789 Burns was asked to produce a witch tale to accompany a picture of Auld Kirk Alloway in the book Antiquities of Scotland. His response was a poem regarded by many as his masterpiece: Tam o' Shanter. The story was based on an old legend about two Ayrshire farmers who spent too long drinking and on their way home saw witches dancing with the devil in the ruined kirk at Alloway.
The central characters were Tam o' Shanter and Souter Johnnie, readily identified by residents of Kirkoswald as neighbours Douglas Graham and John Davidson. The two were old friends who were well known for socialising enthusiastically in Ayr on market days, often returning home late.
John Davidson was a shoemaker or souter. In 1785 he built a cottage on Main Street in Kirkoswald in which he lived and worked until his death in 1806. Burns probably stayed at the cottage when visiting Kirkoswald in 1786.
At the moment the centre of the village is scarred by the ruins of Souter Johnny's Inn. A couple of years or so back they removed the slate tiles and thatched the building to make it look more olde worlde and "authentic." Sadly, earlier this year, the thatch caught fire and the following two photos show the damage that resulted from the conflagration.
Our next stop was Croy Beach.
At the southerly tip of the beach you get fine views of Culzean Castle, perched romantically on the very edge of the cliff. We are hoping to spend a whole day at Culzean castle and Country Park so I will put off blogging about it until then.
After an invigorating, somewhat windswept, yomp along the beach and back we drove the short distance to the quaint little harbour hamlet of Dunure. There's a coffee shop right next to the haven and we were in need of refreshment. It was 4.30 when we arrived and the cafe, officially, closed at 5.00. But the staff had already put the "closed" sign on the door and were busy cleaning up for the day. So, no luck there.
In my opinion there should be a law against shops not being open during their advertised opening hours. And what is it with British tea shops? They are never open at tea-time!
Although it has been a ruin for at least three hundred years, Dunure Castle was once the main fortress of the powerful Kennedy family, the Earls of Cassilis. Today the Kennedys are much more closely associated with Culzean Castle, less than four miles down the coast, but for several centuries from the 1200s, Dunure Castle was by far the more important of the two.
The castle's origins probably date back to at least the 1200s when a stone keep was built on an easily defensible rocky outcrop overlooking the Firth of Clyde. The Kennedy family prospered, with one member marrying a daughter of King Robert III while another went on to become Bishop of St Andrews and the founder of St Salvator's College. As the family prospered, so their castle expanded. New ranges of buildings were added at a lower level slightly inland, and a curtain wall was erected to surround the whole castle. The new buildings included a kitchen range and a chapel, a great hall and a prison, plus living accommodation for the family and their retainers.
Dunure Castle featured as a footnote in history on a number of occasions during its active life. In 1429 a meeting took place here - presumably because it was seen to be neutral territory - between James Campbell, representing King James I of Scotland and John Mor MacDonald, representing the Lord of the Isles. Violence broke out and MacDonald was killed. James I's efforts to contain the outrage of the Lords of the Isles by executing Campbell did not prevent a subsequent uprising by them.
For three days from 4 August 1563, Mary Queen of Scots stayed at Dunure Castle as the guest of Gilbert Kennedy, the 4th Earl of Cassilis. Mary made a number of progressions around her realm during her short reign, and Dunure thus joins a long list of those who would be able to display a "Mary slept here" plaque.
Gilbert Kennedy was not always so hospitable towards his guests. The arrival of the Reformation in Scotland in 1560 led to a huge land-grab, in which secular landowners and lairds tried hard to take control of lands and properties previously held by abbeys across Scotland. Gilbert, 4th Earl of Cassilis, managed to gain control of at least some of the lands of Glenluce Abbey in Galloway, allegedly by paying a monk to forge the necessary signatures on a charter under which abbey lands were passed to him. Gilbert then, also allegedly, had the monk killed by a paid assassin, who in turn he hung on a trumped up charge of theft.
Gilbert Kennedy's efforts to gain control of the lands of nearby Crossraguel Abbey were equally unscrupulous, but caused him more problems. The last Abbot of Crossraguel, who died in 1564, was Quintin Kennedy, Gilbert Kennedy's uncle. He was replaced by a lay commendator (or administrator) called Alan Stewart, who spent much of the next five years fending off assorted attempts by Gilbert, 4th Earl of Cassilis, to take ownership of the abbey lands. Matters came to a head on 29 August 1569 when, according to a complaint later made to the Scottish Privy Council by Alan Stewart, Gilbert had Stewart kidnapped, taken to Dunure Castle, and roasted over an open fire in the castle kitchens until he agreed to sign over the abbey estates to Gilbert. This he apparently did after two turns on the spit. The story then gets rather confused. A distant relative of Gilbert's, Thomas Kennedy of Bargany (who wanted the abbey lands for himself), stormed Dunure Castle and released Alan Stewart. But before Thomas Kennedy could escape he was in turn besieged in the castle keep by a larger force which had arrived under the personal command of Gilbert Kennedy. The ensuing fight between forces occupying different parts of the castle caused considerable damage to its structure. How all this was resolved is a little unclear: but it seems that Gilbert Kennedy was eventually instructed by the Scottish Privy Council to pay Alan Stewart a pension for life in compensation for his treatment: but it also seems that Gilbert may have been allowed to retain the abbey lands signed over to him under duress by Stewart.
Our final destination of the day was the most exciting of all.
The Electric Brae is a gravity hill in Ayrshire, Scotland where cars appear to be drawn uphill by some mysterious attraction. The Lowland Scots word brae means a hill-slope or brow (with which it is cognate), and the "electric" name was given when electricity was a new technology associated with strange forces. Though the road appears to be running uphill, a suitably free-running vehicle will slowly move off from a standstill. It was widely believed that vehicles were being propelled uphill by a mysterious magnetic force, but the road's apparently uphill slope is an optical illusion. Metal road signs which used to mark the place have tended to be taken by visitors, and have been replaced by a stone which is inscribed with an explanation.
I remember seeing this "optical illusion" on television when I was a kid and I don't think I ever really believed it was as impressive as had been made out. But it is! We parked the car in the lay-by and spent far too much time for people of our age, letting the car roll uphill over and over again. Even Mrs MP, who normally scorns such childish behaviour allowed herself a brief period of immaturity. She particularly liked the weird feeling you get when you walk downhill whilst believing you are walking uphill.
The view across to Ailsa Craig taken from the Electric Brae.
We started with lunch at Peggy's Tearoom in the village of Kirkoswald.
The village of Kirkoswald is located 4 miles south-west of Maybole. It is well known as the village where Robert Burns attended school with Maybole notable William Niven. It is also here that we find the cottage of Souter Johnnie in which the 18th-century life of a cobbler is presented. Buried in the Kirkoswald churchyard are John Davidson and Douglas Graham, memorialised as Souter Johnnie and Tam o' Shanter in the poem of Robert Burns.
By Scottish standards (see previous posts) it is an attractive village with many points of interest. First among these is the ruin of Saint Oswald's kirk and it's graveyard.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
My favourite aspect of the old churchyard are the early graves carved with images of earthly mortality. Very goth.
In 1789 Burns was asked to produce a witch tale to accompany a picture of Auld Kirk Alloway in the book Antiquities of Scotland. His response was a poem regarded by many as his masterpiece: Tam o' Shanter. The story was based on an old legend about two Ayrshire farmers who spent too long drinking and on their way home saw witches dancing with the devil in the ruined kirk at Alloway.
The central characters were Tam o' Shanter and Souter Johnnie, readily identified by residents of Kirkoswald as neighbours Douglas Graham and John Davidson. The two were old friends who were well known for socialising enthusiastically in Ayr on market days, often returning home late.
John Davidson was a shoemaker or souter. In 1785 he built a cottage on Main Street in Kirkoswald in which he lived and worked until his death in 1806. Burns probably stayed at the cottage when visiting Kirkoswald in 1786.
At the moment the centre of the village is scarred by the ruins of Souter Johnny's Inn. A couple of years or so back they removed the slate tiles and thatched the building to make it look more olde worlde and "authentic." Sadly, earlier this year, the thatch caught fire and the following two photos show the damage that resulted from the conflagration.
Our next stop was Croy Beach.
At the southerly tip of the beach you get fine views of Culzean Castle, perched romantically on the very edge of the cliff. We are hoping to spend a whole day at Culzean castle and Country Park so I will put off blogging about it until then.
After an invigorating, somewhat windswept, yomp along the beach and back we drove the short distance to the quaint little harbour hamlet of Dunure. There's a coffee shop right next to the haven and we were in need of refreshment. It was 4.30 when we arrived and the cafe, officially, closed at 5.00. But the staff had already put the "closed" sign on the door and were busy cleaning up for the day. So, no luck there.
In my opinion there should be a law against shops not being open during their advertised opening hours. And what is it with British tea shops? They are never open at tea-time!
Although it has been a ruin for at least three hundred years, Dunure Castle was once the main fortress of the powerful Kennedy family, the Earls of Cassilis. Today the Kennedys are much more closely associated with Culzean Castle, less than four miles down the coast, but for several centuries from the 1200s, Dunure Castle was by far the more important of the two.
The castle's origins probably date back to at least the 1200s when a stone keep was built on an easily defensible rocky outcrop overlooking the Firth of Clyde. The Kennedy family prospered, with one member marrying a daughter of King Robert III while another went on to become Bishop of St Andrews and the founder of St Salvator's College. As the family prospered, so their castle expanded. New ranges of buildings were added at a lower level slightly inland, and a curtain wall was erected to surround the whole castle. The new buildings included a kitchen range and a chapel, a great hall and a prison, plus living accommodation for the family and their retainers.
Dunure Castle featured as a footnote in history on a number of occasions during its active life. In 1429 a meeting took place here - presumably because it was seen to be neutral territory - between James Campbell, representing King James I of Scotland and John Mor MacDonald, representing the Lord of the Isles. Violence broke out and MacDonald was killed. James I's efforts to contain the outrage of the Lords of the Isles by executing Campbell did not prevent a subsequent uprising by them.
For three days from 4 August 1563, Mary Queen of Scots stayed at Dunure Castle as the guest of Gilbert Kennedy, the 4th Earl of Cassilis. Mary made a number of progressions around her realm during her short reign, and Dunure thus joins a long list of those who would be able to display a "Mary slept here" plaque.
Gilbert Kennedy was not always so hospitable towards his guests. The arrival of the Reformation in Scotland in 1560 led to a huge land-grab, in which secular landowners and lairds tried hard to take control of lands and properties previously held by abbeys across Scotland. Gilbert, 4th Earl of Cassilis, managed to gain control of at least some of the lands of Glenluce Abbey in Galloway, allegedly by paying a monk to forge the necessary signatures on a charter under which abbey lands were passed to him. Gilbert then, also allegedly, had the monk killed by a paid assassin, who in turn he hung on a trumped up charge of theft.
Gilbert Kennedy's efforts to gain control of the lands of nearby Crossraguel Abbey were equally unscrupulous, but caused him more problems. The last Abbot of Crossraguel, who died in 1564, was Quintin Kennedy, Gilbert Kennedy's uncle. He was replaced by a lay commendator (or administrator) called Alan Stewart, who spent much of the next five years fending off assorted attempts by Gilbert, 4th Earl of Cassilis, to take ownership of the abbey lands. Matters came to a head on 29 August 1569 when, according to a complaint later made to the Scottish Privy Council by Alan Stewart, Gilbert had Stewart kidnapped, taken to Dunure Castle, and roasted over an open fire in the castle kitchens until he agreed to sign over the abbey estates to Gilbert. This he apparently did after two turns on the spit. The story then gets rather confused. A distant relative of Gilbert's, Thomas Kennedy of Bargany (who wanted the abbey lands for himself), stormed Dunure Castle and released Alan Stewart. But before Thomas Kennedy could escape he was in turn besieged in the castle keep by a larger force which had arrived under the personal command of Gilbert Kennedy. The ensuing fight between forces occupying different parts of the castle caused considerable damage to its structure. How all this was resolved is a little unclear: but it seems that Gilbert Kennedy was eventually instructed by the Scottish Privy Council to pay Alan Stewart a pension for life in compensation for his treatment: but it also seems that Gilbert may have been allowed to retain the abbey lands signed over to him under duress by Stewart.
Our final destination of the day was the most exciting of all.
The Electric Brae is a gravity hill in Ayrshire, Scotland where cars appear to be drawn uphill by some mysterious attraction. The Lowland Scots word brae means a hill-slope or brow (with which it is cognate), and the "electric" name was given when electricity was a new technology associated with strange forces. Though the road appears to be running uphill, a suitably free-running vehicle will slowly move off from a standstill. It was widely believed that vehicles were being propelled uphill by a mysterious magnetic force, but the road's apparently uphill slope is an optical illusion. Metal road signs which used to mark the place have tended to be taken by visitors, and have been replaced by a stone which is inscribed with an explanation.
I remember seeing this "optical illusion" on television when I was a kid and I don't think I ever really believed it was as impressive as had been made out. But it is! We parked the car in the lay-by and spent far too much time for people of our age, letting the car roll uphill over and over again. Even Mrs MP, who normally scorns such childish behaviour allowed herself a brief period of immaturity. She particularly liked the weird feeling you get when you walk downhill whilst believing you are walking uphill.
The view across to Ailsa Craig taken from the Electric Brae.
THE RAIN IT RAINETH EVERYDAY (5)
Thursday.
Thunder and lightning.
Very, very frightening.
So we stayed in the caravan all day.
A day of rest and reading.
Friday, 6 July 2012
WOMEN CLIMBING GREASY POLE IN C OF E
BUT ONLY IF THEY WEAR THE OLD SCHOOL TIE
Forgive me for not getting all excited that the new dean of York Minster is a woman. I will get excited when the "wrong type of woman" gets a top job in the Church of England, a woman called Jane Smith rather than Vivienne Faull and whose CV doesn't include private education at a posh school and one of the Oxbridge colleges.
Vivienne Frances Faull was educated at The Queen's School, Chester and St Hilda's College, Oxford.
Ordained deaconess in 1982 and priest in 1994, she served first at St Matthew and St James, Mossley Hill and then as Chaplain at Clare College, Cambridge. From 1990 to 2000, she was on the staff at Gloucester Cathedral before moving to Leicester. On 13 May 2000, she was installed as Provost of Leicester Cathedral. Since 2002, when her job title (but not the essential nature of the role) changed, she has been the Dean of Leicester. (WIKIPEDIA)
Ordained deaconess in 1982 and priest in 1994, she served first at St Matthew and St James, Mossley Hill and then as Chaplain at Clare College, Cambridge. From 1990 to 2000, she was on the staff at Gloucester Cathedral before moving to Leicester. On 13 May 2000, she was installed as Provost of Leicester Cathedral. Since 2002, when her job title (but not the essential nature of the role) changed, she has been the Dean of Leicester. (WIKIPEDIA)
THE RAIN IT RAINETH EVERYDAY (4)
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
Wednesday. Showery. Largs.
Largs (Scottish Gaelic: An Leargaidh Ghallda) is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about 33 miles (53 km) from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (An Leargaidh) in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town markets itself on its historic links with the Vikings and an annual festival is held each year in early September. In 1263 it was the site of the Battle of Largs between the Norwegian and the Scottish armies.
We had travelled to Largs today to meet up with my longstanding internet friend, Christine, of the legendary BLETHERS blog. Chris has been blogging for over seven years and was one of the first people I made contact with when I started OCICBW..., over six years ago now. I had met Chris once before, at Glasgow, St. Mary's Cathedral, when Bishop Gene Robinson visited some years back. We didn't get much of an opportunity to chat that time so it was great to be able meet up for a leisurely chin wag over lunch at Nardini's At The Moorings. Of course, we mostly gossiped about Scottish clergy and I have a lot more dirt on certain individuals now.
The reason why Chris wanted us to meet her in Largs was so that we could catch the ferry over to the island of Great Cumbrae after lunch to visit the Cathedral of the Isles, a Scottish Episcopal Church of great beauty and sacredness. It was in this building that Chris "realised that it was all true" and began her long association with Anglicanism. Her "sudden" conversion was very similar to Mrs MP's conversion experience in Walsingham many years ago, and so we were very keen to make our pilgrimage to check out this island cathedral. Leaving our car in Largs we made our way as foot (and paw) passengers as this is much the cheaper option and the bus service on Cumbrae is excellent.
It was a journey well worth taking as the cathedral certainly lived up to all our expectations.
The Cathedral of The Isles and Collegiate Church of the Holy Spirit is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church in the town of Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae. It is one of the two cathedrals of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, the other being St John's Cathedral in Oban.
George Frederick Boyle, 6th Earl of Glasgow was benefactor of the cathedral and commissioned William Butterfield to design the building. Butterfield was one of the great architects of the Gothic revival and also designed St Ninian's Cathedral in Perth. Construction finished in 1849 and the cathedral opened in 1851. Formal gardens and woodland surround the cathedral, the highest building on Great Cumbrae and the smallest cathedral in the British Isles.
Before I left the church, I lit a candle in the Lady Chapel and prayed that one day I would get to serve as a priest in a building like this one.
The only sizeable settlement on Great Cumbrae is the small town of Millport. It's a charming place with rough edges. Obviously it was once quite genteel but now the centre is dominated by scruffy holiday let flats rented by Glaswegian families with not enough money to holiday more than a few miles down the road from where they live.
To be honest, I really liked it.
The next photo is a perfect example of something I was on about the other day. Whenever Scottish planners come across a beautiful view they seem absolutely compelled to erect a bloody ugly power station in the middle of it. How many tourist pounds Millport has lost over the years because of this eyesore must be staggeringly high.
The following photo is of the famous painted rock of Millport. It was originally created back in the early 1950s about the same time as a young boy named Reggie, from Watford in England, would visit Great Cumbrae on holiday each summer with his Aunty Suzanne. They loved the shoreline at Millport and would spend many hours holding hands and skimming stones across the water of the bay. When young Reggie first came across the painted rock he was so excited that his feet just couldn't keep still.
Many years later, Reginald, now known by his stagename, Elton John, would write the song "Crocodile Rock" in which he remembers the rock when it was young and how much fun his Aunt Susie and himself had together on their summer holidays on Cumbrae.
All good things come to an end and as we didn't want to get stuck on the island with nowhere to stay overnight, we caught the ferry back to Largs.
A useful road sign warning cyclists to get off their bikes before plunging to a watery doom. This is an environmental thing. Humans are biodegradable. Bicycles are not. The last thing the Firth of Clyde needs is loads of old bikes cluttering up its depths.
Well it doesn't take much to keep them amused.
I love the faux American architecture of British seaside resorts.
This ice cream parlour is a brilliant example of the genre.
Wednesday. Showery. Largs.
Largs (Scottish Gaelic: An Leargaidh Ghallda) is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about 33 miles (53 km) from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (An Leargaidh) in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town markets itself on its historic links with the Vikings and an annual festival is held each year in early September. In 1263 it was the site of the Battle of Largs between the Norwegian and the Scottish armies.
The reason why Chris wanted us to meet her in Largs was so that we could catch the ferry over to the island of Great Cumbrae after lunch to visit the Cathedral of the Isles, a Scottish Episcopal Church of great beauty and sacredness. It was in this building that Chris "realised that it was all true" and began her long association with Anglicanism. Her "sudden" conversion was very similar to Mrs MP's conversion experience in Walsingham many years ago, and so we were very keen to make our pilgrimage to check out this island cathedral. Leaving our car in Largs we made our way as foot (and paw) passengers as this is much the cheaper option and the bus service on Cumbrae is excellent.
It was a journey well worth taking as the cathedral certainly lived up to all our expectations.
The Cathedral of The Isles and Collegiate Church of the Holy Spirit is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church in the town of Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae. It is one of the two cathedrals of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, the other being St John's Cathedral in Oban.
George Frederick Boyle, 6th Earl of Glasgow was benefactor of the cathedral and commissioned William Butterfield to design the building. Butterfield was one of the great architects of the Gothic revival and also designed St Ninian's Cathedral in Perth. Construction finished in 1849 and the cathedral opened in 1851. Formal gardens and woodland surround the cathedral, the highest building on Great Cumbrae and the smallest cathedral in the British Isles.
Before I left the church, I lit a candle in the Lady Chapel and prayed that one day I would get to serve as a priest in a building like this one.
The only sizeable settlement on Great Cumbrae is the small town of Millport. It's a charming place with rough edges. Obviously it was once quite genteel but now the centre is dominated by scruffy holiday let flats rented by Glaswegian families with not enough money to holiday more than a few miles down the road from where they live.
To be honest, I really liked it.
The next photo is a perfect example of something I was on about the other day. Whenever Scottish planners come across a beautiful view they seem absolutely compelled to erect a bloody ugly power station in the middle of it. How many tourist pounds Millport has lost over the years because of this eyesore must be staggeringly high.
The following photo is of the famous painted rock of Millport. It was originally created back in the early 1950s about the same time as a young boy named Reggie, from Watford in England, would visit Great Cumbrae on holiday each summer with his Aunty Suzanne. They loved the shoreline at Millport and would spend many hours holding hands and skimming stones across the water of the bay. When young Reggie first came across the painted rock he was so excited that his feet just couldn't keep still.
Many years later, Reginald, now known by his stagename, Elton John, would write the song "Crocodile Rock" in which he remembers the rock when it was young and how much fun his Aunt Susie and himself had together on their summer holidays on Cumbrae.
All good things come to an end and as we didn't want to get stuck on the island with nowhere to stay overnight, we caught the ferry back to Largs.
A useful road sign warning cyclists to get off their bikes before plunging to a watery doom. This is an environmental thing. Humans are biodegradable. Bicycles are not. The last thing the Firth of Clyde needs is loads of old bikes cluttering up its depths.
Well it doesn't take much to keep them amused.
I love the faux American architecture of British seaside resorts.
This ice cream parlour is a brilliant example of the genre.
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