Friday, January 27, 2012

Dec 2011: St. Dunstans in the West Church

St Dunstan’s in the West is one of the oldest churches in London, with a history going back to 988AD. This particular church building is of much more recent provenance as the previous church was demolished to allow the widening of the Fleet Street in 1829AD.

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I noticed the church from the other side of the street.

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There is a fountain, now sadly defunct, in front of the church, dating back to 1860. That face on the top right hand side corner is apparently of King Lud.

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Lovely curves of the entrance, no?

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Two heraldic crests in the front on top of the door. Presumably this will be for the kings?

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A fascinating clock on a very long beam hangs out on the right.

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This clock was the first clock in London to have a minute hand. On the quarter of the hour, these two figures, perhaps of Gog and Magog, strike the bells. Despite their rather negative connotations, did you know that figures of these two chaps are carried in the Lord Mayor’s Parade in London?

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A statue of Lord Northcliffe, the founder of the Daily Mail.

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Another plaque commemorates another journalist.

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This statue of Queen Elizabeth I dates back to 1586, this was removed from the old Ludgate and is the oldest outdoor statue in London. Now she was an amazing character, its so interesting that England has thrown up such strong monarchs most of the time.

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A stained glass window from the outside, the stone work is very nice.

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I head back inside the church.

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Two massive boards state the rectors and the benefactors of the church since it was consecrated. The rope hanging down is the church bell rope.

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Goes up through the foot up to the steeple.

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It is an octagonal sized building, very interesting, and most of the sides have these little niches.

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That is the exit/entrance to the church and has the organ pipes loaded up above it. I think the Romanian service had just finished. This church also serves the Romanians in London as the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

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The groined roof is beautiful, looks like the sky, with the octagonal shape more clearly shown.

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This massive carved wooden structure is typical of orthodox churches, where each panel has Christian scenes painted on them, but mind you, I have never seen a more intricately carved structure before and I have been to some churches in Turkey, Greece, Eastern Europe and Russia. Beautiful polished wood, delicate tracery, just lovely.


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I hate these lamps, these are the new energy efficient lamps, they shine a bilious light on the altars and make them look jaundiced and ill. Disgusting. How can one be with God when the light that is thrown on the artefacts makes them look like they are ill? bah.

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The altar and the pulpit. Note that the pulpit has an octagonal roof as well.

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This altar is apparently dedicated to Lutheran Church in Berlin.

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This altar is dedicated to the Oriental Churches (Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Syro-Indian) and a shrine of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches is shown below. Bloody hell, this is a United Nations of Churches right here.

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A display unit requesting funding for additional restoration of the church.

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Massive font and this time its covered by this wooden structure. Interesting. Also interesting is the statue in the background, its just half, couldn't go inside but interesting, looks like a sleeping lady.

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Looking back at the wooden structure.

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Heading out of the church with a last look back.

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Outside looking up at the steeple. Hmmm, I am afraid I wasnt that impressed by the church. It was too dark, too squashed and then the really horrible thing was the bloody lamps, they made the entire church look horrible. And if they had all the lamps like that, it wouldnt look that bad. But some were the flood lights, some were normal old style lights and some of these bilious lights. It really made the church look very dingy and sad. Not good, didnt like it, sorry, mate.

Here is the wiki entry and here is the church’s website.

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