I was reading a book about the English Civil War and read
about a Royalist called Sir Geoffrey Shackerley. In
1645 he emerged as a good soldier fighting for Charles 1st. He was
galloping across countryside on his horse to receive orders from the King however
the journey was halted when they arrived at the sides of the River Dee. Rather
than riding up to a bridge Geoffrey threw a barrel into the water, jumped in and
rowed across. He needed his horse at the other side so it swam alongside him.
He sounded
pretty cool and when I read there was Shackerley
Chapel in a corner of a church in the Cheshire countryside I just had to have a
look. I drove through beautiful countryside one Saturday afternoon saw a sign
for St Oswald’s church and parked on a cobbled lane that must have led up to
it. Those cobbles might shake my car lifeless so I pulled up and had a coffee.
A woman was walking down the lane toward me. I got out an asked if the church
was definitely at the end of the lane. I felt a bit of a nerd as I noticed she
was wearing a vicar’s collar and there was confetti on her shoes. “Would you mind
if I go inside your church?” I asked and she said she’d just married a couple
so give it ten minutes before I slipped inside.
The couple she
had married were just outside having photos taken. I waited a respectable ten
minutes then slipped into the church, treading over confetti. There was a
wealth of wood inside the beautiful church - arcades, arches, rafters - all
hewn from trees that were growing in Saxon England. This is the oldest arcaded
wooded church in Europe, put up in the 14th century.
The Shackerley family must have been big around here as pews
had their family crest on them and their wee chapel was in a corner of the
church. The Shackerley tomb is there and I touched
it, ran my finger along Geoffrey’s name while imagining him rowing in a barrel
with his horse swimming nearby. He lived a long time for the era – 77 years
old.
I read about
Geoffrey in a book about churches in bed one night. I turned off the lamp about
midnight then had a dream about a man rowing across a river in a barrel, horse
alongside him. Why haven’t Microsoft invented a Dream Machine where you can
selected what you’re going to dream about before you drop off to sleep? Come on
Bill (Gates), Google, Sony, Samsung – wake up, get one invented. I’ll buy one
and I hardly buy anything.
Looking
for Sir Geoffrey who is on the left.
Waiting for Jason Statham to get out
of the way….hurry up I’ve other places to visit after this….
You can’t blame the lad for looking,
he’s only human…
I only have to see a pulpit and want
to start preaching (but I didn’t bother that day)…
The man who rowed cross the river in
a barrel is here…
Out in the grave yard I like this
grave with the bowling ball but…no holes…
Time to go…hope the marriage works
out. I liked how the woman wore blue to match the clock face…