footnotes

The Right Revd David James,

once Lecturer in Chemistry at Southampton University, is the present Bishop of Bradford, having been translated from the suffragan see of Pontefract in 2002.

Fr Dwight

Longenecker

was formerly a priest of the Church of England, and is now a Catholic priest serving as Chaplain of St Joseph’s Catholic School in Greenville, South Carolina. A vigorous and entertaining apologist (reviewed in ND), his blog can be found at

<www.dwightlongenecker.com>

Canon Ronald Crane is

the Vicar of Emmanuel, Wylde Green, a member of the Forward in Faith Council, and a leading light in children’s work in the Church of England.

National Churches Trust

Survey [page 7] All churches, chapels and meeting houses in the UK are encouraged to submit their information. Te online survey is easy to use, and has been designed to be

filled in as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Any further questions can be addressed to Charlote Walshe at <nationalchurchestrust@surveylab. co.uk> or Te National Churches Trust, 31 Newbury Street, London EC1A 7HU.

touching place

C

down into a wooded valley, before reaching the village. Drive the length of the village street, and further twists in the road bring you to the church. Its little chancel is dominated by the clerestoried nave and, above all, by the late Perpendicular tower, whose west door is the entrance. Visit Batcombe in the afternoon,

when light floods through the big west window, illuminating harmonious furnishings (Jacobean altar rails; pews of 1960; Big Six on the High Altar). One of Somerset’s finest towers, its design is sui generis, combining the motif of triple windows in the belfry stage found at Mells and Leigh to the north (and Bruton to the south) with the long-panelled windows of Evercreech to the west. Flanked by six angels, a statue of the Resurrected Christ still occupies a canopied niche above the W.

Gossip and unsubstantiated

rumour As an unatributable leter, it did not make the grade; but now we hear it substantiated from another (anonymous) source. Te latest sought-aſter piece of extreme Anglo- Catholic tat among a certain type of Oxford ordinand is… a surplice and scarf. Hard to find, it is true, and

never worn in resectable circles; but apparently it is the must-have apparel for those contemplating the Ordinariate. How else will we distinguish ourselves from our Roman Roman colleagues?

Cover Albrecht Altdorfer: Te

Resurrection of Christ, panel from the St Florian altar, c. 1515 - oil on wood in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. ND

Blessed Virgin Mary, Batcombe

ome to Batcombe from Frome; when you turn off the A359, the minor road immediately starts diving and twisting

window – the lowest two angels hold scrolls; the next two above hold a ladder and nails, instruments of his Passion; and the top two swing censers. Just over a dozen miles away,

beyond Wells, a similar sculpture is found on the contemporary tower at Chewton Mendip; designed by a different architect, but maybe sharing a sculptor for this one special job. Going up in 1539, when parishioner George George left 20s. in his will to ‘the byldyng of the Towre of Batcombe’, this splendid tower testifies to the vitality of church life on the eve of the Reformation, and its sculpture reminds us of its spiritual underpinning. ‘For the first disciples the

Gospel without the Resurrection was not merely a Gospel without its final chapter: it was not a Gospel at all’ [Michael Ramsey,

The Resurrection of Christ].

Map reference ST 690390

Simon Cotton

April 2010 ■ newdirections ■ 35 Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40