Historic church tours 2012

We are once again delighted to invite you to meet staff from the Trust at one or more of our Historic church tours - previously Hospitality Days. Here are the details of this year's events, please note that due to the long lead time needed to plan these events we may have to make some changes from time to time.

The Dickens Churches - Kent

Thursday 24 May, 10.30am - 4.00pm

In this year, the 200th anniversay of Charles Dickens' birth, this tour takes in three Kent churches with strong connections to Dickens.

We start at St Mary, Higham, Dickens' parish church in his later years, before moving on to St Mary Magdalene church, Cobham (Diocese of Rochester). St Mary Magdalene's features in The Pickwick Papers, as does The Leather Bottle hotel across the road where we will stop for lunch. The final visit of the day will be to St James, Cooling. The churchyard of St James was the inspiration for the opening chapter of Great Expectations and the location of 'Pip's Graves'.

£25 Supporter Scheme members; £35 non-members

Price includes a sandwich lunch and coach travel. Coach pick up at 10.30am from Higham train station, drop off 4.00pm at Higham train station.

Book tickets for this event here

Royal Arms, Heraldry & Monuments - Leicestershire

Thursday 28 June, 10.30am - 4.00pm

Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee could not be a more appropriate time to consider a fascinating feature of parish churches, the Royal Arms. This tour also considers other examples of heraldry as well as some stunning church monuments.

The first stop is St Michael & All Angels, Edmondthorpe, an imposing Medieval church with impressive memorials. From there we move on to the church of St Mary Magdalene, Stapleford, an elegant, 18th century Gothic Revival church in the beautiful setting of Stapleford Park where we will stop for a light lunch.

The final visit will be to the 14th century All Saints, Beeby built of colourful orange ironstone.

£25 Supporter Scheme members; £35 non-members

Price includes a sandwich lunch and coach travel. Coach pick up at 10.30am from Leicester train station, drop off 4.00pm at Leicester train station.

Book here for this event

Find out about recently launched online resource Revealing Royal Arms

The Development of the Medieval Parish Church - Berkshire

Thursday 19 July, 10.30am - 4.00pm

This tour follows the development of the Medieval parish church in Berkshire.

We start with St Thomas, East Shefford, which has pre-Norman origins and glorious Medieval wall paintings. We then move on to St Margaret, Catmore, a small 12th-century downland church with cartwheel chandeliers and a flatstone floor.

After a light lunch the final stop of the day is St Bartholomew, Lower Basildon, a 13th-century church near a beautiful stretch of the Thames with eight centuries of remarkable memorials including brass effigies of John Clerk and his wife Lucie, both in Medieval costume.

£25 Supporter Scheme members; £35 non-members

Price includes a sandwich lunch and coach travel. Coach pick up at 10.30am from Reading train station, drop off 4.00pm at Reading train station.

SOLD OUT - this event is now sold out.

Please contact us if you would like to be placed on the waiting list in case of cancellations.

Contrast - Norfolk

Thursday 23 August, 10.30am - 4.00pm

This tour takes in three churches with very different styles, sizes and shapes across Norfolk.

We start with St Nicholas, Brandiston, a secluded flint church of Norman origins and large clear glass windows. We move on to the nearby St Michael the Archangel, Booton, a large breathtaking Victorian church filled with angels - carved on the roof beams and in the stained glass windows.

After a light lunch, the last stop is St Faith, Little Witchingham, an authentic Medieval church – a riot of colour and pattern with picture stories that could be read by a largely illiterate congregation.

£25 Supporter Scheme members; £35 non-members

Price includes a sandwich lunch and coach travel. Coach pick up at 10.30am from Norwich train station, drop off 4.00pm at Norwich train station.

Book here for this event

Thomas Hardy, William Barnes, Wallpaintings - Dorset

Wednesday 26 September, 10.30am - 4.00pm

This tour takes in two churches with a connection to Thomas Hardy and William Barnes and a third with ghostly wall-paintings.

We starts at Whitcombe church, which may have inspired Thomas Hardy as one of his friends, the poet and scholar William Barnes, preached there. The church contains Medieval wall paintings including an image of St Christopher and a mermaid combing her hair. We will then move on to St Peter, Winterborne Came, an atmospheric church dating from the 14th and 15th centuries where William Barnes is buried.

The final stop of the day is St Mary, Tarrant Crawford, dating back to 12th-century and containing ghostly 14th-century paintings with depictions of Margaret of Antioch and three animated skeletons, who warn three princes of the emptiness of earthly rank and wealth

£25 Supporter Scheme members; £35 non-members

Price includes a sandwich lunch and coach travel. Coach pick up at 10.30am from Dorchester train station, drop off 4.00pm at Dorchester train station.

Book here for this event

Sir Gilbert Scott - West Yorkshire

Thursday 11 October, 10.30am - 4.00pm

Sir George Gilbert Scott was the designer of St Pancras Station and the Albert Memorial and this tour visits three of the churches he is connected to in Yorkshire.

We start with All Souls in Halifax, a local landmark and one of the most magnificent buildings he designed with its 72-meter-high spire. The next stop is All Saints, Harewood, dating from the 15th-century and restored by Gilbert Scott. All Saints contains some of the greatest surviving examples of medieval alabaster carving.

The last visit of the day is to St John the Evangelist, Leeds, the oldest church in Leeds city Centre. Threatened with demolition in the mid-19th century, St John’s rescue was led by Norman Shaw and Sir George Gilbert Scott.

£25 Supporter Scheme members; £35 non-members

Price includes a sandwich lunch and coach travel. Coach pick up at 10.30am from Leeds train station, drop off 4.00pm at Leeds train station.

SOLD OUT - this event is now sold out.

Please contact us if you would like to be placed on the waiting list in case of cancellations.

Here is a reminder of the 2011 tours

From one of our Supporters: ..."I did just want to put on record how much we enjoyed the day - well organised, informative and interesting." 

Worcestershire - June 2011

We started in the Midlands at the imposing 16th-century church of St Lawrence in Evesham, built in the grounds of the Medieval abbey, followed by the beautiful St John the Baptist, Strensham, with its spectacular screens on the gallery with painted panels and finished the day in Croome D’Abitot, St Mary Magdalene created by two of the great 18th-century names, Robert Adam and Capability Brown.

 

Suffolk - July 2011

We visited some beautiful Suffolk churches: St Mary, Rickinghall Superior with its 14th-century tower, and the history of local boy Samuel Speare who went to Zanzibar as a missionary at the age of 15! The second was the gothic gem of St Mary, Redgrave with its 13 hatchments. The final stop was the quaint, isolated St Andrew, Sapiston with its beautifully carved Norman door.

North Yorkshire - August 2011

In North Yorkshire we visited the Medieval church of St Michael, Cowthorpe - a church sketched by the artist Joseph Turner, where we have a standing exhibition of his work, St Martin, Allerton Mauleverer housing several timber Medieval effigies, and St Mary, Roecliffe, with its Jacobean pulpit and a vestry door from York Minster. We finished at the awe-inspiring Burges church of Christ the Consoler in Skelton-cum-Newby, where Burges expert David Thornton gave a presentation on the history of this fascinating estate church. 

Bristol - September 2011

In Bristol, we started with a visit to CCT's fantastic Circomedia project at St Pauls' church before moving on to the Early English rural church of St Michael, Clapton-in-Gordano with its 14th-century benches that are rare survivors in Medieval churches. We finished with a visit to St James, Cameley described by John Betjeman as ‘Rip van Winkle's Church’. Asleep for centuries and virtually untouched, there are beautiful wallpaintings in the church dating from 1200-1800.