every picture tells a story...

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stuck
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every picture tells a story...

Post by stuck »

...but in this case it's perhaps more that the picture prompted a story.

The town of Great Malvern somehow retained it's Victorian gas light street lamps long after everywhere else had switched to electric lights. Even today, some of these gas lamps are still in use along the paths through the church yard of Malvern Priory. As you'd expect the church yard has many trees in it so as you walk those paths it can seem a bit like walking in a wood lit by gas light.

There is a door in the east end of Gt Malvern priory. On the inside of the door there is an inner porch. Today that porch is half timbered, half glazed but if it were fully timbered it would look a bit like a wardrobe.

Put all that together and if you were to exit the church by passing through that wardrobe then the view that greets you could make you think you have stepped from our world into the world of Narnia.
IMG_1273_4web.jpg
CS Lewis never said that this view was his inspiration for how the children in the story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe entered Narnia but Lewis did attend Malvern College and often visited Gt Malvern in his later life. Bearing in mind also that the story is allegorical, Narnia is Aslan's country and Aslan is a Christ-like character and that this view greets when you pass beyond the altar of the church, then you can see why the locals like to think it did inspire Lewis.

Ken
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Last edited by stuck on 02 Aug 2021, 10:37, edited 1 time in total.

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HansV
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Re: every picture tells a story...

Post by HansV »

Lovely!

I briefly saw a dog's face:

Dog.png
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Re: every picture tells a story...

Post by jstevens »

I don't see the dog. My guess it was barking up the wrong tree. :grin:
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Re: every picture tells a story...

Post by BobH »

Surely those bright, round orbs are fe-lion!
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John Gray
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Re: every picture tells a story...

Post by John Gray »

Ken: I presume you are referring to the inner porch of GMP, just before the steps down into the rear of the nave? Next time I'm there I will check on your wardrobe theory! (I go there for concerts infrequently...)
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stuck
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Re: every picture tells a story...

Post by stuck »

John Gray wrote:
01 Aug 2021, 19:17
...I presume you are referring to the inner porch of GMP, just before the steps down into the rear of the nave?...
No. I'm talking about the small inner porch on the door that's at the east end of the church, underneath the east window. If you open this PDF file:
https://www.greatmalvernpriory.org.uk/s/CMP-Iss-3-1.pdf
and scroll to page 24 there is a plan of the Priory. It shows the door in the wall behind the altar.

Does this help?

Ken

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John Gray
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Re: every picture tells a story...

Post by John Gray »

Thank you - I don't think I've been that far down the east end...
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stuck
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Re: every picture tells a story...

Post by stuck »

The porch door and outer door weren't open so I wasn't able to actually pass through the wardrobe but it was easy enough to nip outside and stand on the steps on the outside of the door that you can see in the plan, to take the picture of what you'd see had you exited the building via that door.

Ken

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John Gray
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Re: every picture tells a story...

Post by John Gray »

By the time I get to visit next time, I ought to be able to view it from all possible angles!
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