Welsh Country - Issue93 - Mar-Apr 20

Parson
The
Publican
and the
...visit St Mary's Church and White Heywood Farm, Craswall
In the words of the Parson
Long and low, Craswall church is a simple building
with a single roof line topped by a small wooden
bell-cote. As far from grand as it is possible to
be, this is a church for farming folk who for generations
have struggled to make a living off the upland pastures.
Nothing fancy in their lives or their church,
no unnecessary or expensive frills
or furbelows, yet it speaks of
their determination to gather
together for worship,
education and fun.
It seems the church
was built when
the Priory was
suppressed in
the 1460s for
being a foreign
foundation
and the
suggestion is
made in the
guide book
that the east
window was
relocated from
there – evidence
of both recycling
and the ever
thrifty hill farmer
I suggest. Beautiful
in its simplicity, the
interior of the church is
furnished with free standing
wooden pews whilst around the
walls are numerous large wooden pegs
upon which one imagines the men would hang
their hats, although it is hard to believe that there were ever
as many people in the church as there are pegs, so they
might well have had other uses as well. At the east end the
sanctuary is simple with altar, pulpit and modern stone font
providing all that is necessary for Divine Service. Although
very plain traces of pre-Reformation decoration remain
on the roof timbers above the altar where delicate flowers
and foliage point to a more colourful past. At the west end
a gallery, lit by a dormer window, provides extra seating
up a narrow stair. Under the gallery a small door leads to a
vestry.
In the eighteenth century the west end was separated
by a wall from the rest of the church and this space used
as a schoolroom, entered through the substantial porch.
Originally linked through an arched opening
to the church, this was blocked up
to make a much smaller door.
The OLV – Old Licensed
Victualler - suggests that
those at the back were
fed up with the
draughts.
It is fashionable
these days to talk
about making
churches more
available
to the
community
and this is to
be welcomed,
but it is not
new. Craswall
church has
been doing just
that probably
since it was built.
The schoolroom
is just one example.
When a new school
was built in the nineteenth
century this room was used
by farmers to store their fleeces in
before they were taken down the hill.
Fitted with a large shuttered window and a
fireplace I dare say it has seen its fair share of meetings both
sacred and secular. Outside I draw my chum's attention to
the stone seat that runs around the south and west walls of
the church, the court for hand tennis on the windowless
north side, of which faint red lines can be traced in the
plaster and the cockpit in the north west corner of the
churchyard, now overgrown with trees. It is not hard on an
evening such as this to imagine the locals gathering to pass
the time in gossip, flirting and games.
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