The Essay: Churchcrawls in Solitude

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The Essay: Churchcrawls in Solitude: Illington, Norfolk

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Illington, Norfolk

Churchcrawls in Solitude

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Diarmaid MacCulloch explores his life and work through five of Britain's historic churches

Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch introduces us to the art of the ‘churchcrawl’ and takes us to Illington in Norfolk to visit one of Britain's historic churches.

At the end of the first lockdown in September 2020 the Oxford Professor of History, Diarmaid MacCulloch, sought sanctuary in his favourite hobby 'churchcrawling', which he defines as the relentless pursuit of churches of all shapes and sizes just for the fun of it, “like a pub crawl, only with churches”.  It’s been his passion since his early childhood growing up in a rectory in rural Suffolk. In five essays, Diarmaid MacCulloch takes us on journeys around some of Britain's ancient and atmospheric churches to help us get lost in the history, art and personality of these churches as well as digging deeper to reflect on his own experiences of “a historian’s life, measured out in churches.”  

In his first essay, Diarmaid introduces us to the art of the ‘churchcrawl’ and he recalls a very particular journey, when he made a dash from his home in Oxford to Norfolk and Suffolk in early September 2020.  “It reminded me of the purposeful silence of lone churchcrawling; my two-days' conversation was with buildings and with myself.” He visited 35 medieval churches in just 36 hours, including to the medieval church of St Andrew at Illington in Norfolk for the second time in his life. The first time he visited in 1966, St Andrew was neglected and unloved, and he has “never forgotten its sadness”.  Today Diarmaid finds a “silent welcome” at the church, which is in a much better state than it was half a century ago. 

Produced by Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 3
Photo credit: Chris Gibbions

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