Thursday, May 31, 2012

St Luke's, Newton Harcourt


Newton Harcourt church (like the Manor House opposite - once the home of the Leicestershire architect Joseph Goddard) is separated from the rest of the village by the railway and canal.

The attractive tower and west end stand right beside the lane, though the rest of the church was rebuilt in undistinguished 19th-century red-brick Gothic. It is easy to mourn this, but the Victoria County History makes it clear that if the Victorians had not taken radical action the church would not be here for us to enjoy today. And I suspect that is true of thousands of churches across the country.

An odd monument in the churchyard was shining white in the sun. It looked like something a child would make out of building bricks. And then I saw why:

TO THE
FRAGRANT MEMORY
OF
CHRISTOPHER V. GARDNER
BORN 26 AUG 1916
DIED 20 SEP 1924
AGED 8 YEARS


Later. There is more about 'the little church' here

No comments: