The medieval church of St Michael and All Angels stands within the grounds of Croft Castle, a historic medieval castle and stately home (National Trust). The church was constructed around the year 1300. To this earlier building was later added a 17th-century clock tower and interior gallery, as well as a set of box pews.

These stained glass windows were created by Tom Deny in 2007. The windows were inspired by Thomas Traherne and his writings.

Thomas Traherne was a priest, poet and spiritual writer. Born in Hereford in 1637, he almost certainly attended Hereford Cathedral School; this was at a time when the city was torn by civil war. After completing his studies at Brasenose College, Oxford, he returned to Herefordshire in 1657, as rector of Credenhill, a small village five miles west of the city. Here he ministered for sixteen years, as well as participating in the work of this cathedral.

Early in 1674, Traherne left Herefordshire for Teddington, where he continued to serve as chaplain to Sir Orlando Bridgeman. He died later that year and lies buried under the reading desk in Teddington Church.

Trahere’s search for happiness led him to see God’s love revealed in creation. He speaks of this vision in his writings, largely unpublished at his time of death. It is thanks to the twentieth century rediscovery of his manuscripts that he is now celebrated as a spiritual writer of great depth and beauty.

The Traherne windows represent themes in Traherne’s thinking:

Love for the Herefordshire countryside

Seeing the cross of Christ in the world around us

Insistence on the importance of love in human lives

Love for the city of Hereford and its inhabitants*

*from a signboard next to the windows

On our recent visit to Worcester Cathedral we passed several elephants that are part of a current art trail.

Each sculpture has been sponsored by a business and individually designed by an artist – either well-known or just starting out, from the Worcestershire area or further afield. They marched into the city on Tuesday, 13th July and will leave again from 5pm on Sunday, 5th September 2021. After this, there will be the chance to say a final ‘goodbye’ at a Farewell Event, before each elephant is auctioned to raise funds for St Richard’s Hospice.

The sculptures are delightful, although due to their popularity proved difficult to photograph.

The Church has been at the heart of Ledbury life since Anglo-Saxon times but the bell tower was not built until the early 13th century.

Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills.

It has a significant number of timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane and High Street. One of the most outstanding is the Market House,^[2] built in 1617, located in the town centre. Other notable buildings include the parish church of St. Michael and All Angels,^[3] the Painted Room^[4] (containing sixteenth-century frescoes), the Old Grammar School, the Barrett-Browning memorial clock tower^[5] (designed by Brightwen Binyon and opened in 1896 to house the library until 2015),