Hearth, home and redundant words

click photo to enlarge
During my relatively short time on this planet I've seen words disappear from my everyday language. Take the word "aerodrome". This particularly British construction once described all the early "airfields" (a word still in use) and "airports" (today's preferred word for places with commercial flights), but is now never used except in an historical context. Or how about "palings" to describe a fence used as a boundary, and the origin of the phrase, "beyond the pale". Similarly, "petticoat" seems to have gone, not only because such full, trimmed undergarments are no longer the fashion, but also because "underskirt" replaced the word.

Looking at my photograph of the cottage at Monksthorpe Baptist Chapel, Linconshire, a building currently undergoing restoration, but still showing its old cast-iron fire with built-in ovens, it occurred to me that the word "hearth" is also becoming an endangered species. The ubiquity of central heating, gas fires and electric fires, has significantly reduced the number of open fireplaces burning wood or coal. Consequently the number of actual hearths is much fewer, and therefore the need for people to refer to the hearth is disappearing too. Phrases such as "hearth and home", and the idea of the hearth being the focal point of family life disappeared in the 1950s and 1960s, as television took over that role. And today, with the rise of computers, and other forms of entertainment and information delivery, the television is losing its place at the centre of things. Perhaps something new will come along that turns "television" into a word as antiquated as "wireless". If it draws families back together into a shared experience it will have served a useful purpose.

I took this photograph on my visit to the early eighteenth century Chapel that I have documented in another blog post here. The cottage is of an indeterminate date, but I would guess it's also eighteenth century, though the built-in stove is probably from the nineteenth century. I thought it made a good subject next to the litter of broken plaster and floor tiles, and black and white seemed to suit it better than colour.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 15mm (30mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/125 seconds
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Monksthorpe Baptist Chapel

click photo to enlarge
Rites of passage mark our journey through life. The first day at school, moving away from home, the award of qualifications, starting our first paid work, marriage, retirement - the trajectory of our life is punctuated by significant events of this kind. Members of religions additionally experience ceremonies that mark their acceptance and growth within the faith. For Christians one of the most significant events is baptism. This act usually involves water that represents the washing away of sin, and recalls the Bible story of John the Baptist and Christ in the River Jordan. Often a small, symbolic amount of water is splashed on the recipient by the priest. However, some sects, notably Baptists, practise complete immersion in water. I recall once seeing a group of people being baptised in the sea at Fleetwood, Lancashire: a cold and wet experience! Some early Baptist churches had much more convenient, purpose-built outdoor baptisteries (fonts) where people could be immersed as they were received into the faith. In England only two of these remain, and I stumbled upon one of them recently at Monksthorpe Baptist Chapel, Lincolnshire.

This single room chapel, shown on the left above, is out in the countryside, down a grassy track and an avenue of trees near a farm. The remote location was necessary because of the periodic persecution that "non-conformist" religions experienced at the time. It was built in 1701 and once again holds services after falling out of use for a period during the 1970s. The whole site comprises the church, a block containing stables and a caretaker's house (on the right), the outdoor baptistery (in the foreground, last used in 1962), and a graveyard. It is now in the care of the National Trust, and the stable/house block is currently undergoing restoration.

I visit a lot of old churches during my travels, and every now and then I come upon a building that seems to transport me back into the past. Monksthorpe, despite being relatively recent as English churches go, has that effect. Even though it has been restored and altered over the centuries (the thatched roof is gone) none of the newer work has altered its essential simplicity or character. After seeing the chapel I was motivated to return again the following day to once again imbibe its atmosphere. The photograph above was taken on my first visit by bicycle - you can see our bikes leaning against the building - and I tried to take a shot that encompassed all the main elements of the site, including that (almost) unique brick baptistery.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 13mm (26mm/44mm equiv.)
F No: f11
Shutter Speed: 1/125 seconds
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On