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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thanks for these replies. The English village church with which I'm most familiar (St John the Baptist in Adel, Leeds; a grade I listed building) is kept locked when no one is about. Its siting is such that one could enter it unlocked without attracting notice and, also without attracting notice, cause damage or quickly remove something portable. It is kept open on one morning and one afternoon in the week but at those times it is watched. Moreover, there are church buildings behind it making provision for the key at other times less of an an issue than it might be elsewhere. Indeed, I had guessed that a major component of the rationale for leaving the church in Brent Eleigh open would be difficulty with provision for key, given that the building is situated above the village (so the account at <http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/churches/england/suffolk/suffolk_one/brent_eleigh/index.html>) and that the village itself is lightly inhabited (fewer than 200 residents). That this church is so situated and also hidden by trees (more of a security problem in some months than in others) could suggest a perhaps statistically unusual vulnerability.Best again,
John Dillon
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Madeleine Gray <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 6, 2016 11:02:26 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Suffolk wall paintings damagedmedieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religionCounter-intuitively, Ecclesiastical Insurance (who insure most churches in England and Wales) say churches are almost always safer open. They are mostly thinking about theft rather than vandalism, but they say that anyone trying to steal from or damage a church which is open could be interrupted at any time. Few church doors can be so securely locked that they will resist determined efforts to break in (and there's always the windows ...) and if the church is believed to be locked the intruders can be fairly confident of being undisturbed.
Ecclesiastical also suggest a range of strategies that churches can use to protect themselves against theft and vandalism while remaining open - from not leaving old parish magazines lying round to not putting the parish lawnmower and its petrol in the tower!
Maddy
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Prof. Madeleine Gray University of South Wales http://www.heritagetortoise.co.uk http://twitter.com/heritagepilgrim 'The communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living' (T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding)On 06/04/2016 16:47, John Dillon wrote:
********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religionmedieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religionThank you, Cate. This very sad news. It would be interesting to know what the rationale was for not keeping the church locked when no one was around.
Best,
John Dillon
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Cate Gunn <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 6, 2016 3:54:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [M-R] Suffolk wall paintings damagedmedieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and cultureAt Easter I mentioned a rare (for England!) painting of the Harrowing of Hell in Brent Eleigh church; in the same church there’s a rather lovely 13th (or 14th?) century painting of the crucifixion which has recently been deliberately defaced. It seems it is not just ‘mindless vandalism’ but follows a few incidents of what may be deliberate desecration.If you are interested, and can forgive the rather intrusive advertisements, the Suffolk Free Press has an article on this: http://www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk/news/latest-news/medieval-paintings-left-damaged-1-7305629
