Not long ago, my friend and fellow blogger Nigel Borrington did a post on Kilcooley Abbey, a Cistercian Abbey in County Tipperary, Ireland. Nigel is an artist and professional photographer whose images of the Irish landscape and knowledge of its history are not to be missed. Please do yourself a favor and check out his blog!
I really loved Nigel’s Kilcooley post as I had visited England and France this past spring and found the religious structures incredibly beautiful and fascinating in their history – especially the lesser known churches that dot the English countryside. Although Westminster is the most famous of England’s abbeys, I found the simplicity of the small churches to be just as intriguing. They are remote and peaceful; austere yet humble. You can stand in the nave of canons priory, for example, and imagine this place in the thirteenth century – the monks communing in silence as they prayed, read, fished, meditated, held services.
It’s high summer in the Midwest. The sun is blazing down and the air is thick with humidity. I thought it would be nice, then, to revisit the cool spring afternoon of the English countryside.
The light was low on the day we visited, and these are mobile phone images, so please excuse the poor quality.
I want to thank Nigel for his encouragement and support. He answers my questions with patience and wisdom. He is generous and kind with his feedback of not just my blog but other fellow bloggers on WordPress as well. So thank you, Nigel!
🙂
Sunearthsky 
Hello Sharon 🙂 🙂 😉
Firstly this is a great post and set of images just brilliant and very interesting as well, as you know I just love abbeys like this. The history of the early church in Europe is a very interesting subject. The monks and the lives they had, the villages and people living around the abbey’s it’s a very interesting subject the more you look into it!
Love this post…..
Know, well what can I say but the biggest thanks ever – those are lovely comments Sharon and I am so pleased that I came across your you and brilliant blog.
Thank you Sharon – I truly didn’t expect that – however your a great friend and I very much welcome and appreciate your very kind words 🙂 🙂 🙂
I don’t know what else to say – Truly – your brilliant and a great photographer and person !
🙂 🙂
I’m so happy you like the images Nigel! 🙂 And thank you for those really lovely sentiments :-).
The National trust is massive in the UK Sharon, it’s history is clouded in controversy to be honest, for some people anyway. It mainly started after the great war and the second world war, with the big estate house’s. So many of the sons of land owners and estate owner had been killed that no one was left to inherit these places, ( Why they thought a daughter or two not do so ?) so they started being left to the nation. The nation did know what to do, so they setup the national trust and opened up to the public for viewing and events.
I don’t know when the NT started taking old church property but it could be that some was on these estates. So its basically become any old national and church property that has been accepted, its a massive amount and your right, I don’t think in a life time you would get to see everything in the UK that’s in the hands of the NT.
Emily one of my nieces works for them and has a great time working with there environmental/legal areas 🙂