Unusual Church Finds...
How many of you I wonder visit the churches that lie in villages less than two or three miles from the centre of Leighton Buzzard?
If you did you might find a mouse that has been happily sitting on a gate for some years, a wheatsheaf that remains golden despite being over 100 years old, details of a scheme that aims to encourage life where only death is prevalent, 3000 year old sheep that travelled from Hughenden decades ago and a thatch-hook that needed many strong men to operate it.
Let me explain. In a broad arc to the south of Leighton, lie the villages of Ivinghoe, Slapton, Edlesborough, Billington, and Stanbridge. Each village has a church and each has many stories to tell but in picking just one from each, I hope to show how much diversity lies just a few miles from your door.
On the wall of Ivinghoe churchyard, just opposite the turning near The King’s Head hangs a long, heavy, wood and metal thatch-hook that was used by villagers in the 18th century to pull burning thatch from roof fires. Some buildings were insured with private companies that would send a fire tender to douse the flames (you may still see the plaques identifying such houses high up on village buildings), but many were not insured and it was a case of helping your neighbour to help yourself, for if one house roof caught fire, there would surely be many more to follow.
Moving on to Slapton churchyard, here you will find three creamy mottled Jacob sheep either sheltering under an old tree or nibbling away contentedly on the churchyard grass. A previous vicar who was transferred from Hughenden brought the sheep with him several decades ago and they are still there. It is perhaps not surprising that these particular sheep show longevity for the Jacob is thought to originate from what is now Syria over 3000 years ago and are a particularly hardy breed.
Edlesborough has the awe-inspiring church on the hill, so familiar to road users on the Leighton to Hemel Hemstead route. It is known for its fantastic carved screen and miserichords but low down in a stained glass window in the Chancel is a small piece of glass decorated with a wheatsheaf, as golden as when it was made in 1898. To the knowledgeable this is a logo, a sign in fact that the glass was designed and made by Victorian craftsman Charles Eamer Kempe. Kempe made glass for Wells and York as well as many provincial churches and the wheatsheaf or garb taken from his coat of arms adorns many examples of his company’s work.
In the churchyard at Stanbridge, which in summer has splendid wild flowers, you will find a small plaque. It describes the project known as The Living Churchyard, overseen by the St Albans Diocese and the Wildlife Trusts, whose aim is to encourage the land between and around the graves to be managed to stimulate diversity whilst still retaining that sense of solitude so necessary for mourners. When successful, as here, these schemes can really bring life to an area, with plants such as oxe-eye daisy, self-heal, lady’s bedstraw and even orchids occuring where once there was simply grass. Even lichen on tombstones can be encouraged and following on from such an initiative come insects and birds. Ironic that a scheme that encourages life should be found in a spot where death is the norm.
Lastly, to Great Brickhill, where the church of St Michael and All Angels looks out over the plains below. Sharing the view, set on a gate that guards the churchyard, is a small wooden mouse, with leather extremities. Too easy for me to tell you the story behind that curiosity – why not go and look for yourself?