In case you were wondering...

why there haven't been many blog posts lately, meet Eloise (aka "Little Moo").

Eloise arrived in February and, together with her big brother Luke, has been keeping us busy.

Now things have settled down a bit, I'll hopefully be able to spend a bit more time on my walking and blogging.

A Mystery Solved

Some time ago I wrote a post about a mysterious memorial stone I came across in Cockerhurst Road on the outskirts of Shoreham.

 

On one face it is inscribed with a passage taken from the Bible (Hosea) - "Behold therefore I will allure her and will lead her into the wilderness and there I will speak to her heart"....

 

 

On another face the inscription reads "Pray for the soul of E.J.G.B".....

 

 

and on another "and of A.J.B".

 

Thanks to tip offs received from members of Kent History Forum I have managed to get to find out the origins of the stone.

The stone was erected in 1928 by a Miss Maud Berkeley in memory of her late father, Dr E J G Berkeley. She lived at  Little Timberden in the village and ran a Catholic mission chapel.

As well as the stone and a seat, she also erected a 15' high teak crucifix with a life size statue of Jesus.

The crucifix had a somewhat chequered history.

On the 21st January 1943 it was blown down in a gale and on the 27th October 1960 it suffered an even worse fate.

The crucifix was deliberately sawn down and the statue of Jesus vandalised. It would appear that some residents of Shoreham thought the towering crucifix an eyesore.

The crucifix and statue were removed and put into storage for a number of years. Eventually a Miss Cobbold suggested they be relocated to the Carmelite monastery at Quidenham in Norfolk where they remain to this day.

If you have found this post of interest you may also like....

The White Cross of Shoreham

My Darent Valley Walk Part 1

Tin Tabernacles in Kent

Kent Big Weekend 2013

Once again Kent and Medway residents have the chance to apply for free entry tickets to many popular attractions in Kent over the weekend of 23rd/24th March.

The closing date for applications is the 18th February and tickets are allocated by ballot. Over the last few years we have usually been lucky enough to get tickets and had some enjoyable days out.

Participating attractions this year include Leeds Castle, Wildwood, The Historic Dockyard and Royal Engineers Museum.

For further details please see the Big Weekend web site http://www.mykentbigweekend.co.uk

Good Luck!

UPDATE - we won tickets for the Canterbuy Tales....

The Rochester Cathedral Fresco

One of my favourite places to visit in Kent is Rochester Cathedral.

Virtually every time we are in Rochester we drop in for another look around and no matter how many times we've been before we always seem to notice something interesting we've previously missed.

One piece of artwork that is totally unmissable, however, is the fresco painted by Russian artist Sergey Fyodorov in 2004 to mark the 1400th anniversary of the founding of the cathedral.

The upper part of the fresco depicts the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. The dove above Jesus's head symbolises the spirit of God and the fish/sea monster represents the old pagan religions being superseded by the new religion of Christianity. Jesus is attended by angels.

Below Jesus's feet is a portrait of the Virgin Mary flanked by the two main apostles Peter and Paul and the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The lower section of the fresco depicts events of great significance to Kent (and indeed British) history.

The lower left hand side of the fresco shows the Anglo Saxon King Ethelbert being baptised by Saint Augustine in 597 AD at Canterbury.

Augustine was a Christian missionary sent to Kent from Rome by Pope Gregory I - possibly at the behest of King Ethelbert's wife Bertha (who was already a Christian and daughter of Charibert, King of the Franks).

King Ethelbert later went on to establish many churches during his reign.

The lower right hand half of the fresco depicts Bishop Justus giving communion to newly baptised Anglo Saxons emerging from the River Medway.

Justus was another missionary sent from Rome to Kent in around 601 AD. In 604 AD he became the first Bishop of Rochester and in 624 AD the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Cathedral is open daily and admission is FREE.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please feel free to leave a comment.

More posts you may like....

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell

Day Trip to Rochester

A Walk by the Thames and Medway Canal