St.James
Number 80 in the
series is St James in Cooling.
The churchyard at Cooling is famous
to readers of Dickens as the setting for the opening scenes of
Great Expectations. By the tower are 'Pip's Graves', a group of
thirteen eighteenth-century bodystones that Dickens described so
well. The church is thirteenth century in date and is surprisingly
large for so small a village. Since 1978 it has been owned by The
Churches Conservation Trust, and cared for by local residents. At
the back of the church is a set of three fourteenth-century benches
- some of the earliest seats in existence. The chancel is
particularly lavish and is arcaded with Purbeck marble shafts of
thirteenth-century date. The arcading on the south side
incorporates three sedilia and a fine double piscina, although the
nineteenth-century raising of the floor level has made a nonsense
of the composition. The tiny vestry gives the impression of a
grotto, its walls being lined with hundreds of cockle shells. The
fine east window depicting the Ascension dates from 1897 and is a
good example of the work of Clayton and Bell.
An easy
straightforward cache. There is limited parking available on Main
road.
Series Stats so far
- A clear FTF lead from ZORO, with Deepdiggingmole coming a not so
close second, Davjan with the remaining FTF for a rather cheeky but
clever find. I hope I'm not giving too much away but there is
enough time (and caches) to catch up with ZORO.
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The cache has a log
book but no pen so please bring one with you.
If any body would
like to expand this series please do, I would just ask that you
could let sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the
Church numbers and names to avoid duplication
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