Asthall Churchyard, Oxfordshire

Tags

Asthall, manor house, Mitfords, Oxfordshire, sepia, St Nicholas' church, tombs

Photo by Candia Dixon-Stuart. All Rights Reserved.

Asthall, nr Swinbrook, Oxfordshire

Tags

Asthall, Cotswolds, Eton College, Job, King David, Mitfords, murals, Naomi, Oxfordshire, Queen Esther, St Nicholas' church

I think Eton College funded its 19th century restoration.

Haunt of the Mitford Family.  A Cotswold cornucopia.

Photos by Candia Dixon-Stuart

Asthall – till Epiphany

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altar, Asthall, Christmas tree, Cotswolds, epiphany, Oxfordshire, St Nicholas' church

tree still up till 6th January, by tradition.

Photo by Candia Dixon- Stuart

St James the Great, South Leigh

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Doom, John Wesley, Mary, Oxfordshire, rosary, South Leigh, St James the Great church, wall paintings

Oxfordshire.  Photos by Candia Dixon-Stuart.

These were whitewashed and when John Wesley preached here in

his early days, he would not have been able to see them.

Poem to follow- next post.

Sacred Texts from The Weston Library

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Oxford exhibition, sacred texts, Weston Library

a recent exhibition at The Weston Library, Oxford.

St John the Baptist, Cirencester

Tags

Anne Boleyn, Benjamin, Cirencester, communion chalice, Dissolution of Abbeys, fan vaulting, farthingale, Gethsemane, Henry VIII, Herod, Salome, St John the Baptist church, wool church, Woolsack

(Anne Boleyn’s Communion chalice, donated by Elizabeth I’s physician,

is displayed in a niche in the above.)

 

 

Had her head been brought in on a platter,

she might have seen a vaulted porch, with veins

like gills, or fine tracery of brocade;

or diagrams of a nervous system;

or skeletal frames of hooped farthingales.

That narrow windpipe staircase on the right,

constricted as her white, extended throat,

might have reminded her of a Tower

and the futility of counting steps.

 

This holy place was built on virgin wool.

It was a fold for sheep, who stood before

shearers and then were led to swift slaughter.

Here is a wine glass pulpit, slim as waists,

pre-gravid: a stem for those who could grasp.

 

A Lamb prayed such a cup would pass from Him,

but had to drink it to the bitter dregs

and she had her Gethsemane as well.

Benjamin, caught with a stolen vessel,

was offered clemency – but she had none.

Her gilt chalice, though charged with sacred blood,

conferred no immunity,  nor did it

prevent Dissolution of the Abbey.

 

Criticism of a current favourite

did John the Baptist no favours either.

But the dancer in Herod’s court was sly –

perhaps more so than this sloe-eyed woman,

who ultimately was beheaded too.

 

May, the traditional time for losing

one’s heart to one’s love, was a nuptial month,

but also a month of execution.

 

Cherry tree confetti in the graveyard,

proleptic of this afternoon’s wedding,

has already been bruised and downtrodden.

 

You may sit on a Woolsack, or a throne,

and gain the whole world, or lose your own head.

 

(The engraved acanthus decoration

evokes immortality; lineage.

Though its thorny leaves speak of sin and pain,

it was an apt gift to a physician,

from the grateful daughter of Anne Boleyn.)

 

 

 

Lechlade-on-Thames

Tags

Cotswolds, Lechlade, St Lawrence church, Sunset, Thames

Spire of St Lawrence by Candia Dixon-Stuart.  All Rights Reserved.

Whirling Dervish, Turkey

Tags

Cappadocia, Sufi, Turkey, whirling dervish

Photo by Candia Dixon-Stuart

Walk in the Light

Tags

mood photography, puddles, shadows, Walk in the Light

Photos by Candia Dixon-Stuart.  All Rights Reserved

Bowood Treasures

Tags

Bowood, etched glass, Fishermen, Jesus, King George, Queen Charlotte, Wiltshire

Photos by Candia Dixon-Stuart