Easter Monday can be a bit dull so we always try to have an outing to divert us. This year we decided on a tour of ancient churches in north and north-west Cumbria. This is a quiet corner of the county and most of the time we had the roads to ourselves. As we noted, the roads have perfect surfaces without a single pothole - because hardly anyone drives on them.
Finally, we called into the Catholic Church in Warwick Bridge, to the east of Carlisle. This Victorian church has a beautiful painted Arts and Crafts ceiling and beautiful windows.
The first church we visited was Holme Cultram Abbey, a former Cistercian abbey dating from 1150. Unlike many abbeys which fell into ruin following the dissolution, Holme Cultram remained in use as the parish church and, somewhat smaller than before, it is still in use today. Today, much to our surprise, there was an afternoon tea in support of a local hospice.
From Holme Cultram we set of to Newton Arlosh and it’s interesting church. Built in 1393 it is built - quite literally - like a fortress. It is, of course, only a few miles from the Scottish border and the church was designed to fend off raiders from the north: squat with castellations and slits instead of windows.
Our next stop was the village of Kirkbampton and its lovely little 12th century church-cum-fortress. The most interesting features here are the Victorian windows, some designed by William Morris. The Sun was in a perfect position to light up some of the windows.
Next on our tour was Burgh-by-Sands. Its 12th century church was built using stones from nearby Hadrian’s Wall, some of which have distinctive markings on them.
Another fantastic day out.