Nooks and Corners of Lancashire and Cheshire.: A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive.Croston, James
History
Nooks and Corners of Lancashire and Cheshire.: A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive.
Croston, James
Cheshire (England); Lancashire (England)
The interior of the church is picturesque and well cared for, and
the garrulous old lady who brought us the keys looks upon it with an
affection that is not diminished by the serving and tending of many
long years. It is an interesting specimen of an old English house of
worship. As you cross the threshold a host of memories are conjured up,
and you feel that you are in the sanctuary where in times past have
communed, and where now rest, the remains of a line famous in chivalry,
the members of which, in their day and generation, did good service
to the State. The seats are low and open, and the appearance has been
greatly improved by the removal of the heavy cumbrous pews with which
until late years it was filled. At the east end, within the chancel
rails, are the effigies and stately tombs of the Fittons already
described. The shadows of centuries seem to fall on the broad nave,
while the slanting rays of the westering sun, as they steal through the
tall windows, brighten the elaborate figures of the knights in armour,
and bring out the colouring of gown and kirtle, where their stately
dames are reposing by their side. During the restorations some of them
were removed from their original positions, and shorn of their original
canopies, as the inscription upon a tablet affixed to the north wall
testifies. Near the centre of the aisle is a plain marble slab with a
brass fillet surrounding it, on which is an inscription commemorating
the marriage and death of Thomas Fitton of Siddington, the second son
of Sir Edward of Gawsworth, by his wife Mary, the daughter of Sir
Guiscard Harbottle.
After our brief survey we passed out through the western door into the
churchyard. The sun was circling westwards over the woods, a warm
haze suffused the landscape, and the shadows were lengthening over the
hillocks and grass-grown mounds in the quiet graveyard. As our cicerone
turned the key in the rusty wards of the lock and turned to depart,
a robin poured out its wealth of song in the neighbouring copse, a
fitting requiem to the expiring day. We stood for a moment looking
through the trees at the picturesque old parsonage. What a lovely
spot!—the spot of all others that a country clergyman might delight to
pass his days in. Well might good Henry Newcome be “sadly affected and
broken all to pieces” at leaving it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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