Doubled Angels

Well, I've seen a thing or two this weekend - of which perhaps the most breathtakingly beautiful was this - the angel roof of Cawston church in Norfolk. I've always been a sucker for an angel roof, but this one, with its doubled angels, standing on the hammerbeams and lining the cornices, is, I think, the loveliest I've ever seen. As well as its amazing roof, Cawston also has a rood screen of rare beauty - there's more about it all here - so visiting this church for the first time was quite an experience. And then there was Salle, and South Creake... Yes, I've been church crawling - and dodging torrential rain and enjoying brief sun, and eating and drinking very well, and enjoying the birdlife and the occasional Ringlet and Meadow Brown - with Bryan (lately one of the principal ornaments of the blogscape). We also spent a good deal of time comparing ailments, bemoaning the general state of things, and staring into the middle distance in companionable silence. That's what old friends are for. Peter Porter wrote a fine, grief-infused poem about another great angel roof (in Suffolk), where the serene angels fly in line, wings outspread, along the ridge beam of the nave...