Waving Wheat and Wobbly Churches
by Brian Damerell
Part Two
Having started researching into the possible links between churches, cathedrals and crop circles by searching through my memory-banks, I soon found myself up against a brick wall. There are books available on church details, photographs, loose floor plans (by which I mean that they are quite detailed but mostly un-dimensioned) but I found nothing to convince me that I was possibly on to something. I pursued a line following the cathedral builders and their art throughout Britain and Europe and one piece in the jigsaw kept resurfacing and I began to wonder whether I was looking hard enough into the subject as a whole.
The recurring detail was money.
Cathedrals were not built in one operation. Come to that, neither were churches. A site would be chosen; usually a site with significant connotations and a building would be erected for the purpose of worship. However meaningful the building became there came a time when, in the eyes of the trustees, (to put it into modern parlance) the building was deemed to be not fit for its original purpose. There would be a change of heart, or more decoration would be desired, or even a partial rebuild. If the money was not available at the time it could be that part of the church would be torn down and rebuilt when funds were available, sometimes many years or even a century or so later.
This could be the time when a slight mis-alignment may occur. If the building is a long one, it is possible, only possible, that a change in the supporting bedrock takes place, forcing the builders to take a second look at the layout! This is all hypothesis but you only have to look at York Minster’s massive structure built in a very marshy area to appreciate some of the local difficulties in finding sound footings.
I contacted English Heritage and the National Trust on the subject of ‘wobbly’ churches etc. but received a negative response from the first and no response from the second.
Then, as in all research, we had a breakthrough.
Quite by chance whilst in conversation with a couple of friends the subject came into discussion. The husband and wife team sat quietly and listened and then she said, “… they are called ‘weeping chancels’”. I asked all the relevant questions about roof alignments and the answer was positive …’weeping chancels’ they were.
When I conducted a Google search on the Internet I found several instances of this feature and I decided to include the appropriate description the church at Saxmundham, Suffolk, from http://www.saxmundham.org/aboutsax/parishchurch.html
One of the most distinctive features of St John's is its weeping chancel. If you stand in the nave centre aisle and look towards the altar, you will notice that the Chancel is built at a pronounced angle to the nave. This is fairly common in churches built in the shape of a cross (cruciform) but is very rare in a church of this type. The main feature is not the angle, which is much greater than usual, but that it is to the South.
Other churches with weeping chancels incline to the North, representing Jesus on the cross with his head towards the penitent thief on his right Here it is to his left, signifying that Jesus died for the impenitent as well as the penitent. Saxmundham church is one of the few in Europe to have this feature.
So we now have an explanation as to the wobbly church syndrome but I leave it to the more spiritual researchers to figure out the connection with our favourite crop formations.
Watch out for further revelations on this subject. If anyone has any thoughts on this phenomenon please contact me. *
© Brian Damerell 2006
* Contact this website Andyfowlds@medwaycropcircle.co.uk