Rydal St. Mary's Church Visit

 

During my lightning fast 20 minutes stop at Rydal village, I knew that I had to visit St. Mary's church because of its connection to Wordsworth and his family.

Have just read that St. Mary's church was built upon the instruction of Lady Le Fleming of Rydal Hall in 1824, with Wordsworth, himself, having helped to choose the site, which was originally an orchard near his home at Rydal Mount.

Despite my shortage of time, I did get a quick look inside St. Mary's church:

Have just read that Wordsworth and his family had family pews at the front of the church, and that Wordsworth was church warden between 1833 and 1834, with there being a memorial plaque to him inside the church.

Have also just discovered that no burials take place at Rydal because St. Mary's church and grounds are built on rocky ground beneath Nab Scar.

The picture below is taken of St. Mary's church from the entrance to Dora's Field, while I was sheltering from gushing rain under a tree:

Have just read about the history of Dora's Field. It was initially bought by Wordsworth to build a house which never materialised. 

Moreover, after his daughter Dora died in 1847, an elderly Wordsworth went down to the field with his wife Mary, sister Dorothy, and his gardener, and planted hundreds of daffodils in memory of Dora.

Unfortunately, I became weary of braving the heavy rain, and ended up not taking any shots in Dora's Field. Should've made the effort, of course.