Keld Chapel, Cumbria, part of Shap Abbey

It was sad to leave Nanno's house on Loch Etive, this morning despite the heavy rain that had started to fall. We have had a good time on holiday there, although we didn't manage to do everything we had hoped for, particularly missing our trip to the Isle of Mull.

The rain got worse as we climbed up and then down, into Inverary, then over the glen to Loch Lomond and Glasgow. We stopped at the local shop in Inverary to buy the Oban Times, and found that the headline story was the floods which we'd both blipped on Monday, and Woodpeckers mum was quoted in the story.

I managed to keep driving without stopping all the way through Glasgow and southern Scotland, and we decided to break to explore a small chapel that Helena had found in the National Trust book of their properties. It was in the hamlet of Keld, near to Shap, one of the highest villages in Cumbria, in a very exposed area. We left Shap village and saw the signs to a National Trust property, but that turned out to be Shap Abbey, a ruined monastic building in a small river valley. We parked there and walked across the river on ancient footbridges, then beside the dry stone walls to the tower of the Abbey, which is the major remnant of the site, although the remains of the walls of the cloisters showed what an impressive building it must have been.

Apparently this was home to a community of Premonstratensian canons, founded in about 1200. These canons, like the Cistercians, wore white habits and built their monasteries in remote places, living a contemplative life whilst serving as priests in the local community. They appear to have then built Keld Chapel in the village about two miles from the Abbey, which the National Trust has now preserved in its original state. We drove over there through ancient narrow lanes, between dry stone walls. The chapel was beautifully simple inside, and as you can see seems to still be used by the community. It may just be the way the Trust maintains it, but its atmosphere was very calm and simple.

I'm glad we had time to appreciate these two places in the middle of our 450 mile ,journey, which ended as the sun set behind the Malvern Hills in Gloucestershire at about 9-30pm, and in a temperature of 25C. (It had been as high as 31C by the time we reached southern Lancashire). Now we are home and Bomble is pleased to see us, so that he can be fed as often as he expects, since out visitors who have looked after him must have been indulging his bad habits! It is lovely to see him looking so well though.


from a local website:
Shap Abbey
In 1199 a group of Premonstratian monks from Preston Patrick chose an isolated location on the banks of the River Lowther to found an abbey. The abbey prospered for around 300 years until the Dissolution of the Monasteries when the lead was taken from the roof and the building stones carted away for re-use elsewhere. All that remains today is the priory tower, still at its full height, and the outline of various buildings associated with the monastery. Open all year. Free admission.

Keld Chapel, Shap
It is thought that this simple chapel was used as a chantry by the monks of Shap Abbey, a place where prayers were said for the souls of the dead. With its bare walls, uneven stone floor and rustic pews, it is one of the few pre-Reformation chapels in the country and daties from the late 15th century. In its time it has been used as a cottage, a meeting place for various religious sects and as a lodging house for navvies working on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway.