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Old 12-12-2014, 19:30   #33
Dave Walsh
Member
 

Re: St. James Church, Church Kirk

I'm back again having first turned up in June 2013. I was looking for info re tracing my Grandfather and this had led me to Church [District]. Posting [punning] as "Churchgoer" then got me into difficulty right away but I continue to be interested in this under appreciated community and it's pie shop [ok it's an outsiders view]. On the other hand I remember once being laughed at for living in Ramsbottom and now trendy people are desperate to move there! I fully intended to get more involved in local research but it has been difficult to follow up the helpfull suggestions made by Bob Dobson as I have other commitments here in East Sussex.

I've checked in on the Accy Web from time to time however and I'm a bit intrigued. The family research itself threw up a number of strange coincidences [see my Luke Of The Cross thread]. It happened that during one of the times I was in the Royal Thorn in 2013, I heard a chap talking about a tunnel from Church Kirk-he wasn't being taken seriously. I didn't want to butt in but by the time I returned to the bar he had gone and no-one seemed to know who he was or what I was talking about? I'd missed this thread from earlier in the year but blow me, there's the tunnel again!

Here in the S East there is a rumour of a tunnel from the original village pub. As Bob says these stories are legion but here there is a major history of smuggling to account for it. On the other hand, Lancashire has it's Civil War period etc! I didn't really expect to come across another example of Church "Tunnel Vision" but there it was in Accy Explorer's enquiry.

As for the Church Kirk premises itself, even Philip Larkin acknowledged that a religious building seems to have a "compressed" atmosphere and depth regardless of the inhumanity that can results from fanatical faith-something we've largely outgrown in the UK over a number of centuries. It is true that Church Kirk is very impressive but more on the inside than the external architecture I would suggest. I do like the way that the Churchyard is bordered by the Canal however.
Dave W

Last edited by Dave Walsh; 12-12-2014 at 19:37.
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