Above: by the side of the road is the old Butter Cross. Farmers would bring their butter and other dairy products in from the surrounding countryside. From a marketing perspective I am surprised that villages do not do more to encourage specialist productions from their particular area - the more of a story you have to tell, the more people will buy.
Above: the path to the church was not easy to find. It was on a prominence above the village, screened from the road by dense trees. Note the picturesque mixture of stone and brick in construction of the tower.
Above: the dedication is to the Archangel Michael, "Great Prince" of the high places. Churches dedicated to St Michael are often on hilltops or geographic eminences. I am not sure I believe the theory that they are all connected by ley lines.
Above: the angelic theme is continued under the tower where three wooden angels look down from below the bell chamber. Note the crude representation of feathers on the bodies of the angels (clicking on the image will enlarge it). They looked like angel-shaped balloons filled with helium that had floated up there and got stuck.
Above: old Bibles laid out on the altar.
Above: I have long been interested in the farms in this area. The tradition (at least until the beginning of the last century) was that only the strongest of a farmer's sons would succeed his father, although he would hold the land as a common family resouce for the other members. This produced over time a farming community that was exceptionally hardy and with notably impressive physiques, able to withstand all climatic conditions and produce above average crop yields.
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