Adultery and Fornication

[Guest]

or making the best of a dull afternoon.

The Church of St Nicholas, Baydon, Wilts

In 1405 the inhabitants of Baydon failed to provide a mass book for the church and the incumbent was accused of adultery: in 1571 the churchwardens failed to provide a surplice and the chaplain admitted fornication.

From: 'Parishes: Baydon', A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 12: Ramsbury and Selkley hundreds; the borough of Marlborough (1983), pp. 52-61. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rep...x?compid=66516 Date accessed: 27 February 2009.

Since then, presumably, the incumbents and the parishoners have been blameless.

But that doesn't stop the church being odd





Narrow nave with rounded arches (11-12 century Norman) on the south side and Early English (13'th) on the northside. A Chancel that has obviously been remodelled - extended and widened (the East window is from the 1850's). I suspect the pulpit and font are also from the 1850's or later.





But look along the line of the chancel wall - just above the gravestone - that looks like infill and a Priests Door, a good sign that the wall may be 11'th-13'th century.

Which all goes to show that your sins will be remembered until the 17'th generation; but nobody has ever known for sure what the builders have done.


(E-3, 11-22, Master, Photomatix, The GIMP)

Nick

[snaarman]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

Which all goes to show that your sins will be remembered until the 17'th generation; but nobody has ever known for sure what the builders have done.
Nick

Aaah.. How true

[Naughty Nigel]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

Oh dear. I have spotted three large loudspeakers above the nave, which can only mean one thing. (An electronic organ).

Excellent photographs as always Nick, and a fascinating story. I wonder how commonplace such behavoir was in those days, before the News of the World had come into our lives to provide moral leadership.

[Guest]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

Oh dear. I have spotted three large loudspeakers above the nave, which can only mean one thing. (An electronic organ).

Yes - it can be seen under the brown cover at the west end of the central aisle - but it's possible that originally it just had a Harmonium, this is a small church.

Excellent photographs as always Nick, and a fascinating story. I wonder how commonplace such behavoir was in those days, before the News of the World had come into our lives to provide moral leadership.

Well men have always had the same desires and women are seldom better, I suspect there have been other 'scandals' which did not raise the necessary publicity. Still it gave me a good title for the thread.

Nick

[Naughty Nigel]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

Well men have always had the same desires and women are seldom better, I suspect there have been other 'scandals' which did not raise the necessary publicity. Still it gave me a good title for the thread.

Nick

Reminds me of the joke about the Vicar who thought his bike had been stolen, and so asked his Curate to watch the faces of the congregation for guilty expressions as he read through the Ten Commandments.





........... except that when he got to 'Thou shalt not commit adultery' he remembered where he'd left his bike.

[Ellie]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

Two things that strike me as unusual about the interior of this church are that the pulpit is made of stone, and the font is half way down the aisle instead of just inside the door.

Lovely pictures as usual Nick, and a typically eye-catching title for the thread too!

[mike_j]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

It's strange - when I saw the title of this thread I immediately expected some pictures of ducks. I must be spending too much time out on the Rutland Water nature reserve.

[snaarman]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

No-one has commented on the double tree effect top right in the final images.. I assume this is something to do with multiple image combination in Photomatix??

I always make a point of telling the trees to keep their branches still because I am about to take a picture. I find this helps.

Pete

[Guest]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

No-one has commented on the double tree effect top right in the final images.. I assume this is something to do with multiple image combination in Photomatix??

I always make a point of telling the trees to keep their branches still because I am about to take a picture. I find this helps.

Pete

Mayhaps all that adultery and fornication has made the earth move (lucky sods).

I have reprocessed with Photomatix anti-ghosting set to foreground/people and High - which seems to have controlled the effect



Sorry the title fooled Mike_J, I do shoot other things than ducks.

Ellie - yes the inside is a bit unusual, primarily due I think to the small size/narrowness of the aisles. I haven't yet found a good history of the building (as opposed to the pecadillos of its incumbents).

Thanks

Nick

[Naughty Nigel]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

No-one has commented on the double tree effect top right in the final images.. I assume this is something to do with multiple image combination in Photomatix??

I always make a point of telling the trees to keep their branches still because I am about to take a picture. I find this helps.

Pete

Interesting point. I didn't notice that until Peter pointed it out, so it shows how well the eye is drawn to the subject!

I have created a few HDR images in Photoshop, and have seen similar effects, including a yacht with three masts, (all stepped at exactly the same place), and a dockyard crane that looked as if it had been photographed using a stroboscope!

Nick, do you have any opinion about the effectiveness of Photomatics v Photoshop when creating HDR images? I have Photoshop CS3 already, and would be keen to use that if I can.

[Guest]

Re: Adultery and Fornication

Nick, do you have any opinion about the effectiveness of Photomatics v Photoshop when creating HDR images? I have Photoshop CS3 already, and would be keen to use that if I can.

I don't use Photoshop, although some time ago I did try it for a month (free trial). I found it over complicated (mainly by misguided attempts to be helpful) and prefer the simpler approach of The GIMP.

I didn't try HDR in Photoshop - so have no view.

Nick