Friday, September 12, 2008

St Catherine's Church, Hoarwithy, Herefs

A revisit to this church and to the pub for lunch. The description is my original one.
Stuck on a Herefordshire hillside looking out over the River Wye is an Italian Tuscan church, a humble church of the 1840s (the current nave structurally) was transformed by the addition of a campanile and cloister walk running along the south wall of the church. It turns into an atrium on the west wall and a porch in the NW corner. If this isn't enough then to the south is a mature Monkey Puzzle Tree (well that's what I have always called them). Inside is jaw-dropping, because within the east end of the church Seddon has created an almost Byzantine effect by introducing four piers with absurdly large carved capitals, to create a crossing and transepts effect. The east apse glistens with a golden mosaic fresco. In actuality the parts are ugly, but the sum of the parts is astounding, and quite unlike anything you would expect in the English countryside

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