Sawley Abbey

[poliphilo]

After picnicing on the coast we drove inland in search of something medieval.  I leafed through my English Heritage guide book and picked out Sawley Abbey. I didn't think we'd been there before, but as we got closer and I started to recognise the scenery I realised we had. It was ten years back (at least) and I'd just bought Ailz a pendulum and she walked round the church trying to dowse where the high altar had stood.
 
The guides tend to be a bit sniffy about Sawley. "Not a major monastic site"- that sort of thing. I don't suppose the monks thought of it in those terms.

It was a Cistercian house with a reputation for producing fine scholars. The name used to be written Salley and maybe it was pronounced that way too.

There's a pretty, little village and the river Ribble runs nearby. This was Yorkshire until 1974, when local government reorganisation turned it into Lancashire. The hill framed by the arch (cobbled together from bits of monastic detritus) is   Pendle Hill- famous as the meeting place of the 16th century Lancashire witches.

Places like Sawley make me very happy in a sad sort of way. Does that make sense?

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

We must have passed very close to Sawley on our own Sunday morning journey; it's clearly an area worth knowing better.

I particularly like the last of these; such lovely light, and I love the way the curves work together.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

The detritus arch is great. It has me wondering just where the bits of carved stone fit into the original Abbey. What was the location of the carved face in the second last photo?

Your sad happiness (or happy sadness) makes sense to me. I tend to define such feelings as a happy melancholy. Ruins do that to me as well, especially the kind where only a few stones are left standing against a beautiful backdrop.

I have to say that English Heritage really manicures their properties.
:)

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

I especially like the barely-there spider web in the third shot.

[silverhawkdruid.livejournal.com]

Lovely photos. My dad's side of the family were from Yorkshire, and I am pretty sure we visited this area when I was a child, so thanks for invoking some nice memories. :-) We used to drive up to Yorkshire from Cornwall about three times a year to visit relatives, and Dad had a passion for old architecture and ancient sites, so he took us to see ruins, castles, cathedrals, and old towns like York every time we travelled. We also got to see different places everytime we 'overnighted' en route. I fondly remember us searching around Lincoln cathedral for the Lincoln Imp, among other visits. :-)

I love the old monasteries and abbeys. There is something profoundly moving about the way the remains stand as a monument to the past history of our country. Something profoundly spiritual about the sites too, that really touch me somewhere deep inside.

[sovay]

Those shadows in the first photograph remind me of the Roman Forum: the remnants of mathematics.

[oakmouse]

Lovely as usual --- thank you for sharing these!

Places like Sawley make me very happy in a sad sort of way. Does that make sense?

Completely, although I couldn't articulate why. I recognize the feeling.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

Oh, I want to go there. What a wonderful arch.

[nostoi.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful arch!

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Your ruins are so much nicer than ours. But then, ours are only a couple of hundred years old. I believe it is the age that lends them that "joyfully-sad" aspect.
I got the same feelings at Schoolmaster's Hill as well as a few other spots around New England, such as Mystery Hill - and oh, yes, Cathedral in the Pines, New Hampshire. I also often feel the Presence in the deep woods, and when I was able to climb, on the mountaintops as well.
I can see why the OT pagans went to the "high places" to worship....