Holy Trinity, Chapel Stile

Incredibly, this morning, I had my third sighting of a kingfisher. This time I had my camera in my hand, but my settings were unsuitable for a speeding kingfisher. Thus you have been spared a blip of a tiny turquoise dot fifty yards up the beck.

Instead, I’m blipping a different view of Holy Trinity Church, Chapel Stile. My afternoon walk took me on a footpath across a field which leads to the road on which the church stands, a little way above the village. On arrival I lifted the latch on the ancient wooden church door and slipped inside, where it was cool, quiet and so peaceful.

And almost immediately my eyes filled with tears. This lovely church has recently been downgraded to a chapel of ease, now only holding services at Easter, Harvest and Christmas, and for baptisms, weddings and funerals. There was a time when its congregation was so big the church had to be enlarged to its present size, but now there are very few residents left in the village, and most of the housing stock is let to holidaymakers. We have attended many services there, and seen several Vicars come and go, and I felt quite overwhelmed with sadness as I stood facing the altar. This holiday is proving very bittersweet, knowing as I do that it will probably be the last time we will be able to come to our beloved Langdale.

On one wall inside the church there are memorials to those from the Langdales who served in the first and second world wars, with many familiar Cumbrian surnames featuring on both of them, suggesting that some local families probably lost relatives in both world wars. 

The church also houses the famous Millennium Tapestry, which was designed and embroidered by women and school children from the parish. It is arranged chronologically and shows the story of the valley from glacial times to the present day and beyond. 

On the wooden board listing the previous curates and, later Vicars, of the church is the name Owen Lloyd. He was the nephew of William Wordsworth’s brother, Christopher. The church has a gravestone in the churchyard for Owen Lloyd, engraved with a poem specially written by William Wordsworth for it. Another noteworthy gravestone is that of George Macaulay Trevelyan, the eminent historian. (I remember my school history book was written by him!)

One other feature of the church which makes it extra special is that its clock is known as “Big Ben’s country cousin” because it’s a scaled down version of the London one.

All in all, it’s a dear little place of worship in a very beautiful corner of England and it will always hold a very special place in my heart.