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Ragged Rambling at Ranworth


It is that time of year once again when Ragged Ramblers can cast their time-pieces to one side and enjoy a leisurely evening perambulation. So it was that we arrived at St Helen's church, Ranworth on what was a glorious sun smiling day.


Upon arrival I bounded out of the motor vehicle and headed straight for the internal flint mould of an Echinoid I had noticed many years previously. For the benefit of visitors, it's located in the south wall of the church tower at about waist height (or ankle height, if you are Thadeus). It stretches one's imagination to think of the warm marine seas which these creatures inhabited many millions of years ago (tides of time)...



I will refrain from eulogising about the wonderful Fifteenth century rood screen and loft, for which St Helen's is rightly famous (this subject will be dealt with more fully, I'm sure, in future posts). Instead, I will invite you to climb with us as we ascend the narrow spiral staircase up to the church tower...


Pause for a while, and inspect the name neatly incised by a mason 111 years previously... pause, and wonder at the mark we make as we pass... worn steps; epitaphs - "the rags of time".


... and then you are there, and if the ascent hasn't already done it, the view will take your breath away! Beyond, the broads; legacy of medieval peat cuttings inundated - certainly by the time of the great flood of 1287. It's a site which makes some stop and reflect, and others... dance. It is one of the Ragged Society of Antiquarian Ramblers favourite sites.

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Location: Ranworth, Norwich, Norfolk NR13, UK

Comments

  1. Tom Stephenson22 April 2011 at 08:35

    Being in the west, I don't often get to Norfolk, but it has a great fascination for me. There is one street here in Bath which is paved with stones that are the fossilised strand of a Jurassic beach, when the tide went out for the last time, and - for some reason - never returned.

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  2. Tom Stephenson22 April 2011 at 22:41

    Uh-oh - I've just noticed that you have a small ring through your pierced left ear, and now I am getting extremely cold feet. I really hope that you're not an old-style pervert, like dear old Pevsner used to warn me against. Oh well, time will tell.

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  3. The Ragged Society of Antiquarian Ramblers23 April 2011 at 09:08

    Dear Tom,

    It has been suggested to us that Nikolaus Pevsner himself had piercings, "in secret places", so his moral testimony is not without question. Furthermore, we members of The Ragged Society of Antiquarian Ramblers have more of a tendency towards new-style perversion: church tower lust; rood screen rubbing - that kind of thing.

    Huzzah!

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  4. Many Coats23 April 2011 at 18:47

    Don't forget stroking the oak .

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  5. Thad23 April 2011 at 20:42

    And caressing the tweed!

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  6. R J Ooooooooooooostead (deceased)23 April 2011 at 22:08

    And 'flasking' (That's where you gather in heritage sight car parks late at night and watch men in bow ties drink tea)

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  7. Anonymous23 April 2011 at 22:18

    or double teaming. that's where two bishops squeeze through the same door

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  8. Lady Constanzia De Vallettia24 April 2011 at 21:33

    Or my favourite past time as a girl, carefully examining piers for marks left by the craftsmen who'd handled them.

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  9. Elias the Shovel24 April 2011 at 21:48

    I've always enjoyed a bit of backfilling...

    Elias the Shovel

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  10. Della Saxicola30 April 2012 at 18:11

    And double digging is quite fun

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