Snowdrops at St Mary's Temple Balsall

On Monday family chauffeuring meant I had about 90 minutes to spend in the Knowle area so I decided to drive the short distance to Temple Balsall and see if there were any snowdrops in the churchyard.

The original name for Temple Balsall was Belesale or Balisale taken from the name of the Anglo-Saxon landowner Bele or Bali and the old English word healh meaning a corner of land which led to the name Bele's healh which eventually became Belesale/Balisale.

In later centuries the Manor of Balsall was given by a Norman Knight, Roger de Mowbray, to the Knights Templar Order and by 1185 there was a manor with 67 tenants on 640 acres of arable land. Temple Balsall as it became known was the Preceptory or Headquarters of other Templar owned land in Warwickshire. By the early 14th century the King of France brought charges against the Order and templars were arrested in France and England including 5 from Temple Balsall. The order was suppressed and in March 1312 the Pope abolished the Order of the Knights Templar and transferred their properties to the Knights of St John (the Hospitallers) - a branch of this was the forerunner of the modern St John's Ambulance Brigade. Few records remain of the Hospitallers time at Temple Balsall but it is possible they built the church of St Mary.

By 1470 the Hospitallers had left the area and Katharine Parr (the 6th and last wife of Henry VIII) was given the manor of Temple Balsall by the king in 1543. Later Queen Elizabeth I gave the manor to her favourite Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Eventually the manor passed to Lady Anne Holbourn and her sister Lady Katherine Leveson of Trentham Hall, Staffs. The latter bought her sister's share in the estate. In her will she left instructions for an almshouse to be built at Temple Balsall and instructions to the minister to teach 20 of the poorest young boys in the parish. She died in 1674 and the first almswomen were admitted in 1679. The work continues to this day with the church, the Lady Katharine Leveson Church of England primary school and Lady Katharine Leveson Housing and Care.



I find it a very beautiful area with a special atmosphere - it is a place where time seems to have stood still and it is always peaceful and tranquil.


I made my way along the Bread Walk which runs between the almshouses and Temple Balsall House until I reached

St Mary's Church

A few photos of the corbel table, grotesques and gargoyles on the church.

There is a lovely Green Man carving on the church. The Green Man always seems to play hide and seek with me and I couldn't find him on Monday so this a photo taken by D some years ago when we did spot him.

*D



The Templar or Old Hall

This is the most significant item to remain from the time of the Knights Templars. It formed their Preceptory (the senior court for Templars in Warwickshire). The original timber-framed building was built in the 13th century and it was restored by St Gilbert Scott in the 19th century. It still contains tumble aisle pillars supporting the original roof timbers. It is usually open on Sunday afternoons in the summer for tea and cakes.


St Mary's Church

Snowdrops were carpeting many areas of the churchyard - such a welcome harbinger of Spring.

Snowdrops (Galanthus species) are a symbol of hope and purity dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Alternative country names include Snow Piercer, Mary's Tapers, Snow Bells, Purification Flower, Fair Maids of February, Christ's Flower, Candlemas Bell and White Purification.

A legend tells that after the Fall of Man an angel visited Eve in the Garden of Eden to comfort her as she wept over the bare soil. It was snowing and the angel caught a snowflake and told it come to life. As soon as it touched the ground it flowered and later a circle of Snowdrops appeared where the angel had stood to bring hope to Eve.

Snowdrops may have been introduced into Britain in the late 15th century by Italian monks and the flowers are often found in the grounds of churches, monasteries and convents where they were grown for Candlemas Day.

In folklore it is believed to be unlucky to bring just one flower into the house. If you insist on bringing them indoors a bunch is safer and if you want to be married within the year you should never pick one until after Valentine's Day!




Under this old tree I found my first

winter aconites of the year and

a few Primroses were already beginning to flower. Winter Aconites are one of the first flowers to appear in the New Year and are often known as "New Year's 'gift'".

Part of the churchyard is a wildlife area and around 130 species of wild plants have been recorded.

If you go the end of the churchyard there is a lovely secret garden but to be honest it was a trifle muddy and I wasn't wearing my wellies so I didn't go that far on Monday.

I would have gone inside the church which has so much of interest but I had noticed that people in sombre clothing and a vicar were starting to arrive so I assumed a service possibly a funeral would soon be taking place so I decided it was time to leave.



Another view of the Templar Hall where I found

Hellebores in flower.

Timothy was very cold but eventually agreed to come out of my pocket to pose for a photo.

I didn't have time on Monday but D and I often continue along the Bread Walk past a stream and then either walk through a cemetery or take the path through woodland and continue round the corner where there is a small Warwickshire Wildlife Reserve.


I returned to Knowle where I saw this statue in the churchyard by the War Memorial.

I met up with D and before coming home we had a tomato, mozarella and pesto toasted sandwich and a hot chocolate in the tearoom at the Artisan Bakery - sorry no photo I had left my camera in the car boot!!





*D - archive photo of Green Man taken by my son some years ago

Rest of photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera




Reference: Temple Balsall website for history of Temple Balsall

Discovering the Folklore of Plants by Margaret Baker (Shire Publications)

Britain's Wild Flowers (A Treasury of Traditions, Superstitions, Remedies and Literature) by Rosamond Richardson (National Trust)

St Mary's Church, Chastleton and The Four Shires Stone

After visiting Chastleton House and Garden we had a quick look around the Church of St Mary which is next door to the house. It was quite busy in the church as they were serving afternoon tea and cakes (we didn't have any on this occasion :( ).

There may have been a church on the site since before the Norman Conquest but parts of the present building date back to 1100 AD. The church was extended in the early 14th century (1320) and the tower was erected in 1689. The church was restored and the chancel rebuilt by C E Powell in 1878/80.

The pulpit is Jacobean and may have been made by the same craftsmen who built most of the panelling in Chastleton House. The date 1623 is carved into the wood.

Fragments of 17th/18th century wall paintings which were discovered in the 1930's.

The stained glass mainly dates back to the 19th century restoration but there are fragments of older, possibly Medieval, glass.

The window of faces

There were a couple of floor brasses (not easy to get photos as it was so dark and I didn't like to use the flash). One is of Katherine Throckmorton, grandmother of Robert Catesby. Robert Catesby lived at Chastleton in 1601 and his name was linked to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 - he was the son of Anne Throckmorton from Coughton Court. The second brass is of Edmund Ansley who died in 1613.

Annoyingly (and as usual!) I didn't really read the church guide until I got home so I didn't realise that these floor tiles are medieval (14th century). I would have tried to have got better pictures had I realised at the time. I also failed to take a photo of the font which was next to the table serving teas and not easy to access. I later discovered it was 13th century or possibly earlier.

Beautiful lichens covering gravestones.

There is an interesting story in the church guide about a young man called Collins who climbed up onto the gallery in the chancel (the gallery has now been removed) and sprinkled people with pepper as they listened to the sermon. Afterwards he was prosecuted under an ancient Act of Parliament and sent to prison for a few weeks.


Final view of the house

Four Shires Stone

On the way home we stopped off at the Four Shires Stone near Moreton-in-Marsh. It is Grade II listed, 9 feet high, made of Cotswold stone and marks the location where the four counties of Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire once met. Today only 3 counties meet here. The stone seen today is 18th century with 19th century lettering although a stone has been at the site since the late 16th century.

Each side of the stone has one of the County names on it.

Many tales have evolved over the centuries suggesting that ancient battles took place nearby and it was once a site for prize fighting and other illegal activities as, if the police arrived, it was easy to move from one county to another! It is also believed that it was the inspiration for J R R Tolkien's Three Farthing Stone which marked a point in the Shire where 3 farthings met.

"Our Warwickshire" website reports that the stone was boarded up in World War 2 to protect it and also so that if the Germans invaded and reached this far inland they would not be able to use it for navigation. For their website please click here It is a fascinating website about the County of Warwickshire and is providing me with lots of ideas for days out :)



I hope to revisit this area one day as I would love to go back to the Rollright Stones and the church at Long Compton nearby has a very unusual and picturesque lychgate.