Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Holy Trinity, Minsterley


Across the road from Minsterley's Bridge Hotel (which was called the Miners' Arms in the days when the nearby Stiperstones lead mines were operating) stands the village church. It was built in 1689 which Pevsner says is:
a rare date for a church in the country, and the church is indeed both interesting and attractive in its naive handling of the new semi-classical, semi Baroque motifs.
A Birmingham Post article gives more of the history of the church and also discusses the maidens garlands that you will find inside:
Our ancestors had a different way of marking the death of an unmarried woman. In England they made her a maiden’s garland, carried before her funeral procession or borne on her coffin. The garland was a crown made of thin hoops of wood, wrapped in white lace.

And to the crown they tied ribbons and gloves and little paper flowers of blue or red. To that they then added real flowers. When the coffin was lowered into the ground, the garland remained in the church, to yellow with age and gather dust.

1 comment:

Philip Wilkinson said...

Fascinating. If there's such a thing as 'artisan baroque', this must be it. Another one no my 'to visit' list.