The last pictures from my Christmas countryside walks in around my former hometown of Bury, Lancashire are from St. James (Anglican) church, Ashworth, near Norden (one of the more pleasant parts of Rochdale).
With only a few rural houses nearby, it's amazing that this church is open at all (I'm not an Anglican, but used to enjoy listening to Evensong in Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, when I lived down there - in my imagination, I kind of view Evensong as an Anglican attempt at Gregorian chant).
Love the light below at the top of the door:
There's also great poignancy here, such as the memorial to those who died fighting during the 1st World War below:
Every time I see such a memorial, I'm reminded of the 'Great War' poets (Wilfried Owen; Siegfried Sassoon; Isaac Rosenberg etc.) who my old friend Dave Dealy (who now lives in Ireland) used to read all the time.
Finally, I love the craftsmanship on the gravestone above, it just kind of points to this meaningless (post-) postmodern world that we inhabit having lost something (e.g. religious enchantment; the religious imagination; a sense of religious presence/significance; a sense of transcendence etc.) really quite valuable, irrespective of whether God exists or not.
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