Constantine proclaimed Caesar by his troops in York in 306AD, defeats his rival Maxentius at Milvian Bridge Rome in 313, and ends persecution of Christians in the Empire. Statue of Constantine seated by York Minster, taken by the author.
Painting of the scholar monk Bede (672-7350) Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, author of The Ecclesiastical History of the English nation. Picture courtesy of St Benet’s Kentish Town.
A statue of Alfred the Great (848-899) in Wantage, his birthplace. As king of Wessex he defeated the Danes and was a statesman, educator and Christian. Taken by the author
The tomb of King Athelstan in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire. Athelstan created a unitary Kingdom of the Anglo Saxons in England following his victory at Brunanburh on the Wirral in 937. Picture by the author.
A section of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman Invasion in 1066. About 7,000 men with 2,000 horses invaded under Duke William of Normandy, defeated Harold at Hastings and changed both the English elite and the English Church. Picture taken by the author.
The short hill at Battle Abbey where the fate of England was decided in a single day on October 14 1066. The direction of the English church was also decided that day, with the replacement thereafter of almost all Saxon bishops by Normans. Photo of Battle Abbey taken by the author.
Magna Carta was sealed by King John here at Runnymede on 15 June 1215. It was drafted by the scholar archbishop Stephen Langton. It enshrined diverse laws covering the right of habeas corpus or the recourse of citizens to justice, the number of fish traps on the Thames and the freedom of the church from civil law. Photo taken by the Author.
Fountains Abbey founded in 1132 one of the best preserved Cistercian Monastic ruins in the country. Dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. It remains a formidable spiritual presence. Taken by David Whitworth, The Author’s son.
The West front of Wells Cathedral, considered by some the finest of English cathedrals was completed in c1240. Its pure Gothic style, scissor arch, chapter house, Vicars Close and accompanying buildings of the Bishop’s Palace, Abbey grounds and the famous springs make it an exceptional cluster of buildings. Photo by author.
Kings College Chapel founded by King Henry VI, along with Eton College, was completed by Henry VIII. A glorious piece of late perpendicular architecture, every year it hosts the Nine Lessons and Carols service begun in 1918 be Dean Milner-White. Photo taken by the Author.
Robert Grosseteste (c1175-1253) was a scholar bishop. He taught both in the divinity and philosophical schools at Oxford during the burgeoning of university education in the 13th Century. He had a special interest in the science light and became a reforming Bishop of Lincoln. Source: Commons Wikipedia.
St Julian’s of Norwich (1343-1416): the church where Julian of Norwich lived as a solitary and where she experienced and wrote Revelations of Divine Love after the period of the Black Death. Picture by the Author.
John Wycliffe (c1320-1384) Scholar Priest initially worked for John of Gaunt but came to call for reform of the church: its privileged status and worldly power, the need for trained clergy and an English Bible. His works were burnt, and he was condemned as a heretic at the Council of Constance in 1415.
Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury, scholar and liturgist 1489-1556. The cautious reforming archbishop who paid with his life for helping to establish the protestant Church of England with some catholic ceremony. Appointed by Henry VIII to obtain his divorce, burnt on the orders of Queen Mary. He left the Legacy of the Book of Common Prayer. Portrait by Gerlach Flicke 1545. Public Domain.
William Tyndale from Hertford College Oxford
Edward VI (1537- 1553) the Protestant boy king. His library was filled with works by the Reformers and his Commissioners began iconoclasm in England. Portrait by circle of William Scots c1550. Public Domain.
Richard Hooker (1554-1600), priest and theologian during Elizabeth’s I reign wrote a defence of the Church of England or Anglicanism stressing its faithfulness to the Church Fathers, Scripture and reason. Here he is seated outside Exeter Cathedral. He came from Devon, like his mentor Bishop John Jewel. Photo by the Author.
Oliver Cromwell, MP for Huntingdon, cavalry commander and General in the Civil War, Lord Protector of England, revered and hated who said of the execution of Charles I it was a “cruel necessity”. Portrait by Samuel Cooper, Public Domain.
John Bunyan (1628-1688), Puritan Minister imprisoned in Bedford Gaol for twelve years as a Dissenting Minister, where he began to write Pilgrim’s Progress. John Bunyan by Thomas Sadler, Elstow, Bedfordshire.
John Wesley (1703-1791), scholar, evangelist, author and organiser of the Methodist Conference. A man of exceptional energy whose heart “was strangely warmed”. Photo of Wesley outside The City Road Chapel, London by the Author.
Olney Parish Church where John Newton the slave trader turned minister and hymn writer was vicar and the poet and hymn writer William Cowper lived. Together they wrote Olney Hymns including Amazing Grace and Cowper’s “God moves in a mysterious way”. Photo by the Author.
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) drawn by her sister Parthenay Verney in a private book about Florence’s pet owl Athena, rescued at the Parthenon, Athens. Athena died when Florence embarked for the Crimea in 1853. Picture from the private papers of the author. His great great grandmother Frances Hanford Flood (1823-1875) was a close friend of the Nightingale family.
John Henry Newman, Cardinal, Saint, author and scholar who started life as an Evangelical Anglican was the leader of the Oxford Tractarian Movement and became a Roman Catholic. Famous for his hymn Lead Kindly Light, Queen Victoria’s favourite hymn. Picture of Newman by John Everett Millais, Public Domain.
Josephine Butler (1828-1926), pioneer in women’s welfare and sexual health. She successfully lobbied for the repeal of the Sexual Diseases Act 1886 and against human trafficking. She also wrote a book on St Catherine of Siena. Picture by George Richmond. Public Domain.
The Thiepval Monument to the Somme designed Sir Edwin Lutyens and commemorates the 73,367 soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth whose bodies were not found. The Somme changed a generation. Photo by the author.
The remains of Coventry Cathedral destroyed by German bombing on 14 November 1940. Picture artuk.org
The New Coventry Cathedral was opened on 25 May 1962. Designed by Sir Basil Spence with tapestries by Graham Sutherland and the glass in the Baptistery window designed by John Piper. Britten’s War Requiem was performed for the first time here on 25 May 1962. Picture Artway.eu
The Chapel at Toc H in Poperinge, Belgium where Reverend Tubby Clayton ministered to soldiers of all ranks behind the lines of Ypres and Passchendaele. For many it was their last church service. Photo by the author.
