Kelmscott Re-Visited
25 Tuesday Jun 2019
Posted Architecture, Arts, gardens, History, Horticulture, Nostalgia, Personal, Photography, Summer
in25 Tuesday Jun 2019
Posted Architecture, Arts, gardens, History, Horticulture, Nostalgia, Personal, Photography, Summer
in09 Thursday May 2019
Acylic painting by Candia Dixon-Stuart
21 Thursday Feb 2019
Posted art, Environment, Nature, Nostalgia, Photography
inTags
Photos by Candia 2018
21 Thursday Feb 2019
06 Wednesday Feb 2019
Posted art, Environment, Nature, Nostalgia, Personal, Photography
in19 Friday Oct 2018
Tags
14 Sunday Oct 2018
Posted art, Arts, History, Nostalgia, Photography
inThis gallery contains 6 photos.
11 Thursday Oct 2018
Posted History, Horticulture, Nature, Nostalgia, Personal, Photography
inTags
Today I asked a volunteer at Kelmscott if the quince trees were there in
Morris’ day and he said that they were.
Wonder what that fuzzy stuff is? William Morris’ beard?
10 Wednesday Oct 2018
Posted Arts, History, Horticulture, Nature, Nostalgia, Personal, Photography
inTags
Autumn, Isis ceramics, Kelmscott, medlars, quinces, William Morris
10 Tuesday Oct 2017
Posted Architecture, Bible, Community, History, Nostalgia, Poetry, Religion, Social Comment, Writing
inTags
aesthetic, Cistercian, Cotswold, Genesis, Great Coxwell, Henry VIII, Joseph, Malachi 3, Matthew 6, Pharoah, Pre-Raphaelite, sestina, The National Trust, William Morris
(Photo: Ballista: Wikipaedia)
Great Coxwell’s Barn
Off Hollow Way stands this vast, vacant barn:
huge receptacle for Cistercian tithes,
garnered from tenant farmers – a dry store,
where the granger checked accounts; did not trust
his hired servants. Here Cotswold riches
were protected from thieves and from decay.
Christ had warned disciples about decay
and storing up of surplus in a barn.
Christians were always meant to share riches
and not to extract profit from fat tithes.
The parable’s ‘fool’ was he whose whole trust
was in possessions. He had wrath in store.
Henry VIII would plunder a marked store
and most abbeys were subject to decay.
Monastic wealth was held in deep distrust.
Though Morris praised this cathedral-like barn,
Pre-Raphaelites would not restore tithes;
they venerated aesthetic riches.
We coveted colonial riches
and viewed the whole world as potential store,
compelling other countries to pay tithes;
forgetting moth and rust would cause decay.
What were the treasures we stored in our barn?
We’ll reap what we sowed: we abused faith, trust.
Joseph, in whom Pharoah had put his trust,
managed underground silos of riches
and, when his brothers came – not to a barn-
but to the pits where corn was kept in store,
did they recall they’d left him to decay
in such a space? (He who asked no tithes.)
This massive hulk, once packed with peasant tithes,
now supported by The National Trust,
mouldered with neglect; died of decay,
until ‘heritage’ was seen as riches.
What are the values we would like to store?
Should we maintain the past? Convert the barn?
Some build barns with their family riches,
but tithes benefited community,
as long as mutual trust did not decay.