05-May-2023
The outside of St Mary de Ballaugh (the new one, as opposed to the old one) figured in a couple of posts last year, but we'd never been inside. Until two days ago.
It dates back to 1832, and was built to accommodate a population that was not only growing but was also now located some two miles from The Cronk and the old church.
It doesn't lack attractiveness:
Picturesque...
The Royal Coat of Arms for William IV (found only in churches under crown patronage)
Awesome organ...
With the Spiral Stone, which we saw yesterday after our walk in the Laxey area, we're going much further back in time. According to this source, it possibly dates from the late Neolithic period or early Bronze Age:
Then today, rounding off a fun day of meeting up with friends and family in cafes, we visited the church of St Michael and All Angels in Kirk Michael, which -- again -- we'd seen only from the outside last year.
There are cute box pews:
And below is one of many commemorative plaques designed by Archibald Knox, my mother's erstwhile art teacher:
But what this church is most famous for is its huge collection of ancient crosses (sources for what follows are the Isle of Man Guide, and Mike Clague's The Michael Crosses, 2021):
This simple cross was found during the 1910 excavation of Cabbal Pheric
Cross 94. There's a horseman on the other side, but we couldn't make him out
Cross 101, sculpted around 900. The runes at the top read: "Gautr carved this and all in Man", which is the earliest written record of the Island's name that we know of...
The one in the foreground is Cross 117, aka the Dragon Cross (the dragons are either side of the broad shaft)
Cross 110. It was used to mark a grave dated 1699, but the runes on the edge put its manufacture somewhere around 940. A nice bit of recycling...
Cross 123. It is thought the figure is Gerth, who is the daughter of the mountain giant Gymir, and represents spring and nature
Cross 126, or Grim's Cross. There's little agreement as to who is represented by the robed figure
Cross 129, depicting Christ
Cross 130 (the runes side, with the 11th-century inscription to Malmury, Mallymkun's foster-mother, which ends: "Better to leave a good foster-son than a bad son")
Cross 132, Joalf's Cross, again dating from the end of the 10th century. The runic inscription on the edge reads: "Joalf, son of Torolf the Red, raised this cross in memory of Fritha, his mother"
A detail from the front
Joalf's Cross used to stand outside the church
Cross 116. Some of the details are in "Ringerike style", named after an area in Norway
How amazing. Really... Runes. Norsemen. That whole changeover of religions. And I'm still finding it hard to believe how ignorant I was of most of this stuff when I lived here...