ABOUT Tim GOULDER
I was a GP in Denmead and Hambledon for 40 years and have a great love of walking in my local countryside. I always found a walk was enhanced by visiting a country village pub for a meal and a pint and increasingly over time became more interested in the local churches.
Years ago, when GPs were on call at weekends and overnight through the week, I had a midweek day off. My youngest 2 year old son needed entertaining, so I would pack a child carrier and head for a village nestling somewhere in the South Downs
England was renowned in the middle ages for being “Mary’s dowry”. The sense that England had been given to Mary and was her treasured possession was a catalyst for devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary – St Mary. This largely disappeared after the reformation and has remained quiescent ever since.
With this ancient devotion in mind I decided to visit all the medieval churches dedicated to St Mary in the countryside nearby.
I would have a pub lunch, visit the local church and have a few miles circular walk. I choose villages within a twenty mile radius of where I lived.
I realised I could write a guide book about these half day rambles within Hampshire and West Sussex, which would include a circular walk, decent pub and ancient church.
However after walking the Camino de Santiago with two friends I began to wonder if I could join up some of the villages with St Mary churches and create a few day’s walk.
The result was Mary’s Crescent.
It became a journey for me as well, particularly learning more about how church services were conducted before the Reformation and how the Medieval mindset and attitudes influenced the interior architecture of the churches. The interior church features that were important to Medieval Christians ceased to be valued post Reformation and were specifically dismantled or defaced, some features remain however and are there to be identified in all the churches visited.
About the book
The guide book “Mary’s Crescent” describes the four day walk in detail, and provides maps of each day’s walk. An introduction provides the context to medieval worship and explains how churches may have looked prior to the reformation.
At each church you visit I identify features still present today that were relevant to Medieval Christian worship, as well as a general and uncomplicated guide to each church.
The book is full of colour photographs which I took myself and also contains drawings by Simon Privett. Simon walked the Camino with me and drew delightful sketches of the Cathedrals and ancient buildings along the route, he kindly agreed to draw the churches and some of the interior features I discuss in “Mary’s Crescent” - two examples are shown here.
The book also has details of places to stay and where you can eat, all of which are referenced on this website.
All profits from the sale of the book will go to support the fabric of these ancient churches.