Little Gidding

Guys: I've waited for literally years to visit Little Gidding. I know Little Gidding from the last section of the Four Quartets, though there are other reasons to know it. Myrrh and Gold and I named our much-loved apartment Little Gidding in honor of this chapel in the village of the same name in rural England.

So a priority of our visit to Cambridge, which is about 45 minutes from the towns of Little Gidding and Great Gidding and Steeple Gidding, was to drive to the chapel. Lawrence, Mrs. Lawrence, Ilana, Francisco and I drove out and made a day of it. (The two pictures above are of a little sacristy off of the main chapel--I love the stained glass saying and the tiny little room; you can just see the churchyard outside of the window.)

Here is the front of the chapel; I think that the kneeling rails are original, although they had been taken out of the church at one point.

About the chapel: Little Gidding was built in 1626 by Nicholas Ferrar as part of an Anglican community that he established there. King Charles 1 visited Little Gidding three times, including once when he sought refuge after defeat in a battle. George Herbert was friends with Nicholas Ferrar; in fact, Ferrar edited and published The Temple after Herbert's death. It also seems that metaphysical poet Richard Crashaw visited Little Gidding under Ferrar.

I guess that the eagle as lectern is an Anglican thing--it was also the lectern in several chapels at Cambridge.

You can see, by comparing the picture above with the picture below, that the original stained glass, depicting the crucifixion, has been replaced. I think that the original window was too heavy for the wall.

I think that this is Ferrar's coat of arms.

You can see Ferrar's tomb through the door. We also tried (and failed) to visit Clare College chapel to see it's Ferrar window (below). Can you see Little Gidding on the left?