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<\/a><\/p>\nRoving Medievalist posts pictures of the little Saxon Church in Bradford on Avon, England. <\/div>\nSt Laurence, Bradford on Avon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Roving Medievalist posts pictures of the little Saxon Church in Bradford on Avon, England. I first visited this sweet old church when I was a student at\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2007\/06\/st-laurence-bradford-on-avon-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St Laurence, Bradford on Avon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Roving Medievalist posts pictures of the little Saxon Church in Bradford on Avon, England. 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I first visited this sweet old church when I was a student at Oxford. I was drunk on the glories of English church architecture and made it my hobby to know the difference between pointed arches, Norman arches. I tracked all the details from Saxon to Norman to Gothic, Transitional and Perpendicular styles. When I was taken to this Saxon church it made a big impression. Years later we went to live in Chippenham, Wiltshire\u2013just ten minutes up the road from Bradford on Avon. On my regular treks to Downside Abbey I would stop in Bradford for a drink and a visit to St Laurence Church.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a poem I wrote after my firt visit many moons ago:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
These Saxon walls, rough and<\/p>\n
hand hewn stoically stand;<\/p>\n
Their opaque repose<\/p>\n
is their being and purpose<\/p>\n
and across the stone floor,<\/p>\n
darkened by windowless walls,<\/p>\n
there falls a light from the door<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The cold, bare chancel, stark<\/p>\n
as a tomb, is as dark<\/p>\n
and still as the centuries<\/p>\n
but high in the wall there lies<\/p>\n
a clear and small window<\/p>\n
where, to admit light ages ago,<\/p>\n
a stone was removed.<\/p>\n\n
<\/p>\n
The round arch rises, <\/p>\n
solid and graceless<\/p>\n
as its maker.<\/p>\n
This church does not take or<\/p>\n
demand a formal<\/p>\n
architect\u2013any normal<\/p>\n
eye can see simplicity\u2019s permanence<\/p>\n
and the balance of light and stone. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Roving Medievalist posts pictures of the little Saxon Church in Bradford on Avon, England. I first visited this sweet old church when I was a student at Oxford. I was drunk on the glories of English church architecture and made it my hobby to know the difference between pointed arches, Norman arches. I tracked all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n