…tricking Mr C into a short walk
On Saturday afternoon we visited Buildwas Abbey which turned out be more brief than we had intended. Parts are inaccessible at the moment due to renovations and barriers closing off areas due to Covid-19. Just after we arrived a photographer turned up and whilst taking our own photographs we [...]
Shortly after lunchtime the sun made a brief appearance so I grabbed my my camera and headed off to Buildwas Abbey. It is a perfect tranquil place to enjoy the sunshine.
As I a sat on a bench I was reminded of a previous visit when I was treated to the sounds of a Benedictine chant [...]
Certainly, knowledge is a lock and its key is the question.
Ja’far Al-Sadiq (702 – 765)
by William Allingham
Pluck not the wayside flower,
It is the traveller’s dower;
A thousand passers-by
Its beauties may espy,
May win a touch of blessing
From Nature’s mild caressing.
The sad of heart perceives
A violet under leaves
Like sonic fresh-budding hope;
The primrose on the slope
A spot of sunshine dwells,
And cheerful message tells
Of kind renewing power;
The nodding bluebell’s dye
Is drawn from happy sky.
Then [...]
That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.
Aldous Huxley
From the guidebook:
In the customary Cistersian layout, we might expect there to have been a partition separating the two bays. If this was the case, the west bay served as the book room, or armarium, where some at least of the abbey’s fine collection of volumes could be stored for use in the cloister. [...]
The architecture of chapter house at Buildwas Abbey is Gothic in style and quite beautiful. It was from here that I was treated to that lovely musical surprise.
It is here where the monks would assemble every morning with the abbot presiding over the meeting:
This began with the reading of a lesson and a chapter from [...]