Holy solitude, that’s remote!
QUESTION Where is the world’s most isolated church? Britain has some stunning isolated churches. at one time there were 28 towns and villages in romney Marsh, a sparsely populated wetland in Kent and East Sussex. today, there are 17. the former town of Fairfield was once served by the beautiful 13th-century church of St thomas à Becket. now it stands alone in a field, the only access being by footpath across the marshes.
the highly ornamented italian Chapel on Lamb Holm, a small uninhabited island in Orkney, was built by prisoners of war during World War ii.
in 1943, two nissen huts were joined together and a team of italian PoWs, led by artist Domenico Chiocchetti, created a place of worship that is a work of art. it has been lovingly preserved and is still used as a chapel.
St Govan’s Chapel, Bosherston, Pembrokeshire, is perched halfway down a cliff beside what has long been revered as a holy well.
the vaulted chapel of local limestone was built over a cave and dates from the 13th century, though the site is thought to have been of monastic importance since the fifth century.
it is reached by a long flight of stone steps, the number of which is said to vary depending on whether you are ascending or descending.
Ronald Cooke, Gosport, Hants. tHE Bruder Klaus riffelberg Chapel is on the top of the riffelberg mountain in Switzerland and can be reached via the cog railway from Zermatt. it overlooks the Matterhorn.
Alan Parks, Headley Down, Hants. tHE British overseas territory of tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited island on Earth. it lies in the South atlantic Ocean, more than 1,500 miles from the nearest landfall, the coast of Cape town in South africa.
the population of 270 live in a single settlement called Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. this was named after Prince alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and second son of Queen Victoria, who visited the island in 1867. Despite its remoteness, it has two churches. St Mary’s is an anglican church, a squat building indistinguishable from any other on the island, which was built in 1923.
St Joseph’s, the Catholic church, was built in 1995/6 to replace a smaller church on the same site built in 1983. it has a larger spire than St Mary’s and a stained glass window.
Services are infrequent because there are strict rules on who can visit the islands and priests are allowed to serve for only a few months at a time.
Nicole McGhie, Loughborough, Leics. QUESTION Why is there a memorial to two airmen in Wolvercote, Oxford, dated from before World War I? tHiS monument at Godstow Bridge, on the north end of peaceful Port Meadow that sweeps up from Oxford, tells of not only tragedy, but also a surprising story about what appears to be undisturbed medieval countryside.
it commemorates a plane crash a few yards away on September 10, 1912, in which two royal Flying Corps pilots were killed. a wing collapsed as they prepared to land after a flight from Salisbury.
Observer Lt Claude Bettington, 30, and his pilot, 2nd Lt Edward Hotchkiss, 28, are also remembered in a plaque made of metal from the wreckage in Wolvercote’s parish church.
Lt Bettington is buried in Hunmanby, n. Yorks. He was engaged to Miss Dorothy Mitford, the eldest daughter of the village vicar. She had his coffin brought from Oxford for a full military funeral.
Heartbroken, she never married, but one of her sisters married her dead fiance’s brother.
Port Meadow’s connection with aviation began in 1910, only two years after Britain’s first aircraft took off.
the terminology was not yet fixed — there’s a charming diary entry by villager Harry Hastings for March 9, 1911: ‘the first Eoraplane came to Wolvercote.’
the deal between the imperial aero Club and the Freemen of Oxford to use the meadow paid £10 per annum for any damage to grazing through ‘the landing or starting [take-off] of aeroplanes thereon’.
in 1916, it became a base for the royal Flying Corps (rFC), which was the air arm of the British army before and during World War i.
a surviving photo taken from one of the planes shows a busy aerodrome with hangars, aircraft, accommodation and a road. But by World War ii, almost all traces of the aerodrome had gone and Port Meadow was once more a peaceful place where cattle graze. Benedict le Vay, author of Eccentric Oxford, London SW19. QUESTION Are there any places of worship other than mosques in Saudi Arabia? FurtHEr to earlier answers describing the severe restrictions on Christianity in the country, times have clearly changed in Saudi arabia.
My wife and i lived in Jeddah between 1963 and 1966 when it was a bit primitive, but we had a wonderful time.
the Saudis were always generous — especially at Christmas — and we received many gifts, including at least two turkeys each year.
Our first child was born in 1965 and that year we bought a 3ft silver Christmas tree from the souq. it still comes out every year with the rest of our decorations.
We visited Jerusalem in early 1966 where we met archbishop Campbell Macinnes, who accepted an invitation to visit Jeddah. He arrived a few months later, travelling on a passport that described him as a teacher.
He told me he had been seated next to the Grand Mufti of Mecca, whom he knew well. He conducted two services in private houses during his short stay.
James Taylor, Eastbourne, E. Sussex.