Portchester Castle, from the previous post, sits within the old walls of the Roman fort, so too does St. Mary’s church. The church can be dated back to 1128 as an Augustinian priory, while the keep of the castle was build around 1130, so basically built at the same time! The photo above is from the roof of the keep, while the photo below is the reverse view!
The Priory didn’t last long, by 1150, only 22 years later, the community moved to Southwick, and the residential buildings here were demolished, the church was left, and although it nearly got given to the Ministry of Public Works and Buildings to do something with in 1971, it survived. Amazingly the same year, the census of the town reveals even then, 158 houses still had no inside toilet…. 1971!! Anyway, steps were taken to improve it’s appeal and in 1974 new rooms were added, and there is now a rather good fund raising tea room. Should you wish there is a good history of the church here.
I remember from my youth a harvest festival was often, especially in the area I lived, a time to share “produce”. Often that was beans or beets, potatoes or cabbage from an allotment. There were always a few sheaths of wheat, sometimes eggs from someone who kept chickens, maybe home made jam. It jarred me a little to notice that apart from the token wheat there was nothing fresh at all. How “harvest”, Kellogg’s Coco Pops and Quality Street go together I have no idea! Then I thought about it. Fact is we don’t work the land anymore, people generally don’t grow/harvest in that sense any longer – we all go to Tesco or Walmart or where ever. I suspect/hope that this food goes to a food bank, where tinned goods and Coco Pops will be much more use than a Turnip! As it turns out apart from the tea room there is a “Men’s Breakfast”, Full free Christmas dinner for those who may be on their own at that time of year, a toddler group for young mothers, and a Women’s Breakfast – if I were to ever “join” a church, this would be the sort I’d look for I think!
cut and paste…. you’ve read this before!
Chatter: For this series of posts I used the Canon EOS 30 with the Canon STM 40mm lens. I use this combo a lot! The film was, once again Foma 200, bulk loaded, although I’m nearing the end of this 30.5 meters already, especially with the help of this trip! Film developed at the kitchen sink in Barry Thornton’s (Metol) Two Bath developer, I’m liking the combination of the two! I give 5 mins on bath A and another 5 in B, the stop and fix in the usual way.
