Parish Mysteries

All parishes have their mysteries.

Sometimes it's a question of who built something or added something to the church. Sometimes it's when a particular priest was incumbent or if he really was at all. Sometimes it's about peculiarities of the graveyard.

Or it might be something spiritual or something that's believed to be 'spooky'.
The great Black Dog, 'Shuck', of East Anglia, with his saucer shaped green eyes, is still said to prowl some churchyards and sites of ancient gallows in this region, as he does Norfolk and Suffolk - but in Essex he is said to be;
'a kindly hound who helpeth travelors along the way'.

From time to time we're going to put forward some of our 'mysteries' for the congregation, visitors or browsers to consider.

Read on!

St. Andrew's stained glass windows include one depicting resurrection day according to the Gospel of John - John 20:12.

"She saw two white-robed angels sitting at the head and the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying."

Neither John's gospel nor any of the others mention the three red orbs that are above the tomb in the top panel of this window.

Various suggestions have been made such as a representation of the Trinity, a heavenly sign to compare with the star at Bethlehem or even a secret sign with some meaning in the parish!

It has never been uncommon for masons, glaziers, plasterers and builders to leave some sign or mark to celebrate their work. Indeed, St. Andrew's has a coin imbeded in the plasterwork of the chancel wall.
That's why one parish member suggested that the glazier was also a pawnbroker!

But what is this sign?

Answers or suggestions to Laurie Gaymer please.

There is a lovely postcard picture of the old St. Peter's church - the 'temporary iron church' bought by Rev. Causton and erected in 1899 in Dane Street.

The picture shows the church amazingly heavily decorated for Harvest Thanksgiving with a vast array of flowers and vegetables and ..... a preacher at the lectern.

But who is the preacher?

It can't be Rev. Calston because he died before the first Harvest Festival in his 'new' church. It certainly is prior to 1920 when the move to the present St. Peter's took place. It's not Rev. Sweeney (or so his ex-housekeeper said) and anyway he didn't become the Rector until 1936.

It isn't a good enough picture to easily produce a clear image but what we have appears to show a mature but not elderly gentleman with a monacle in his left eye. He appears to be wearing a dog-collar but that doesn't mean for certain that he's one of the two possible Rectors of the period.

So who is it?

Answers or suggestions to Laurie Gaymer please.