St. Bartholomew’s, Burwash January 28, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in England, Literature, Rudyard Kipling.Tags: 'My Boy Jack', Bateman's, Battle Abbey, Battle of Hastings, Battle of Loos, Carrie Kipling, East Sussex, Irish Guards, iron-master, John Kipling, Kipling, Literature, Normans, Rudyard Kipling, Senlac Hill, St Bartholomew's, Victorians, war memorial, World War One
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St Bartholomew's, Burwash, East Sussex
That this church is beautiful there can be no doubt, but if the Victorians had left more than just the Norman tower to St Bartholomew’s, and not ‘restored’ it, I think we would all have enjoyed it even more. Dating from 1090 – only 24 years after the ‘dread fight on Senlac Hill’, the Battle of Hastings, it was built in the local style of stone and clay-tile. Senlac Hill, and Battle Abbey, are only 8 miles away, so this area was amongst the very first to feel the grip of the Normans.
Burwash had a world-famous inhabitant in Rudyard Kipling, who lived at nearby ‘Bateman’s’ a former iron-master’s house. The war memorial outside St Bartholomew’s bears an inscription to 2nd Lt John Kipling, Irish Guards – the author’s only son, who was reported wounded and missing on his first day in action, 27th September, 1915, during the Battle of Loos. Rudyard and Carrie Kipling searched for years for him, hoping that he was only incapacitated or a prisoner of war; it wasn’t until 1919 that they accepted his death. Kipling’s poem ‘My Boy Jack’, written in 1915, is extremely poignant.
Temple to Mithras, Carrawburgh January 8, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in England, Great Britain, Literature, Rudyard Kipling.Tags: Brocolitia, Carrawburgh, England, Hadrian's Wall, initiation, Kipling, Literature, Mason, Masonic, mithraem, Mithranism, Mithras, Northumberland, Puck of Pook's Hill, Rewards and Fairies, Roman Legions, Romans, Rudyard Kipling, temple
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The mithraeum, Carrawburgh
Temples to the god Mithras, or mithrae, were common amongst the Roman Legions. Wherever they went, they were sure to erect a temple to this Persian deity. Sacred rites, always conducted in near darkness, involved the initiation and ‘raising’ of members of this cult from one of the seven grades to the next. Central to this worship was the sacrifice of a bull, and special chambers were constructed to allow for this event.
Here we see part of a tiny mithraem just south of Hadrian’s wall near what was the Roman fort of Brocolitia (now Carrawburgh). The columns you can see are concrete replicas – the originals having been removed for display elsewhere.
I always think of Kipling when I see a temple or votive carving dedicated to this god, beloved of the Legions. Several of the short stories in ‘Puck of Pook’s Hill’ and ‘Rewards and Faries’ are centred on The Wall and involve characters who are devotees of Mithras. In some ways there are echoes of Mithranism in the various Masonic rites, with their initiation and ‘raising’ and secret methods of identifying fellow-initiates. It is no surprise, therefore, to learn that Rudyard Kipling, who wove Mithranism into some of his stories, also wrote others with a Masonic theme, or that he was, himself, a Mason.
Bateman’s – Rudyard Kipling’s home December 5, 2008
Posted by shortfinals in England, Literature, Rudyard Kipling.Tags: Bateman's, cartouche, cream tea, electricity, England, flour, formal gardens, iron-master, Jacobean, Kipling, Literature, mill, National Trust, Puck of Pook's Hill, Rewards and Fairies, River Dudwell, roses, stoneground, Sussex, tea rooms, turbine, watermill
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The cartouche over the front door at Batemans
For those with an interest in Kipling, a visit to Bateman’s is something of a major pilgrimage. This Jacobean ironmaster’s house (the setting for ‘Puck of Pook’s Hill’ and ‘Rewards and Fairies’) is a magical place. Whether your taste runs to formal gardens, or the wilderness beyond, Bateman’s will weave it’s spell over you. The interior delights, with its treasures almost piled one on top of the other. Whatever you do, make sure to visit the watermill across the little River Dudwell, where you can purchase stoneground flour (the mill was used to provide electricity to the house in Kipling’s day, via a turbine). Nothing completes a visit to Bateman’s like a visit to the Tea Rooms on site – the National Trust serves a splendid cream tea!
Rudyard Kipling – author, visionary, enigma December 2, 2008
Posted by shortfinals in Literature, Rudyard Kipling.Tags: Bateman's, England, Kipling, Literature
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Batemans, Front Elevation
The more you read and study Rudyard Kipling, the more you become puzzled. The man is an enigma, some might call him the most Jingoistic of Victorian authors, yet here is someone who refused the post of Poet Laureate. I think that if you have never read any Kipling, you really shouldn’t begin with any of the Indian stories, but instead try two slim volumes, ‘Puck of Pook’s Hill’ and its sequel ‘Rewards & Fairies’, set in and around Bateman’s and his beloved Sussex. These are, as the author described them, ‘children’s tales written for adults’. Little slices of English history, linked by polished jewels of poems. Enjoy!
