A photograph taken of St Mary's Church on a very foggy night on Friday 11th of December. The diffused light giving it an even more serene look and feel. This was taken from the a corner of St Mary's Square car park that over looks the river Hiz and Portmill Lane.

The iconic view of Hitchin is of this one above; The great eastern window of the chancel of the Church of St. Mary's built in c1450. When the High Altar was moved against the wall of the chancel in the 19th century, 4 feet of the great eastern window was lost. Imagine just how much more impressive this perpendicular style stainded glass window would have been with that extra length added!

Continuing the church theme this month, is the central part of the frieze behind the altar in the central nave of St. Mary's Church.  More of this frieze will be posted at a later date; as will the beautiful stained glass windows in the southern aisle and chapel

I took this photograph one day on the way to work early in the morning. It's as if the church were overlooking and protecting the Warner's Alms Houses and the market. The usual view is usually taken from wonderful The Triangle Cafe across to the War Memorial and the church's porch and tower. (A pretty view but it makes the church seem isolated and to do with death rather than with living and life) This was taken from Biggin Lane by The Biggin, through the market across to the church. It was strange to see no one in the market or teenagers hanging around, drinking alcohol as usual. A nice gentle, serene start to the day.

This aerial shot taken from the top of the tower of Hitchin's St. Mary's Church, illustrates well that the market area is in a 'hollow' between raised areas. What you can't see from here is that fact that The River Hiz runs through the middle of them and under the market. (Canalised sometime in the 1920s) From ground level, it is glaringly obvious that the designers of the more modern market (Moved many times around Hitchin) had no real thoughts of trying to fit it in to its surroundings; being concrete, brick and garish metal roofs. They could have designed it to 'echo' the church near it, the way that St Saviour's Cloisters do that were built in the 1920s-30s.

Much to the chagrin of the good citizens of the parish of St Mary's Church in Hitchin, graffiti has appeared (or I should say more has appeared) on the north door. This is not a modern or 'new' phenomenon at all. One should look at the pillars of the door frame on both sides, to see lots and lots of carved graffiti dating back to the 1960s, 1950s, 1930s; even back a hundred years. In churches all around the parishes of Britain, one will find similar graffiti (and going back to 1700 say) Things such as names, love tokens or just dates. The Romans did this too, as did the Egyptians, Greeks, Vikings et al. As the expression goes, 'There is nothing new under the sun'!

The beautiful south door of St Mary's Church in Hitchin shows just how the Iconoclasts did a 'good' job and destroyed nine statues that stood in the niches that are part of the doorway. However, they did not get the three figures at the very top. Presumably because they couldn't be pulled down or chiseled out. Just how much more imposing and beautiful would churches have been with all their statuary around and inside them; including the brightly painted walls with scenes of the saints and from the bible.

God or the Clergy didn't build Churches, rather, Masons did and evidence of the builders of St Mary's Church in Hitchin are everywhere inside and out. The major detectable traces are 'Masonry Marks' on the stone and the scaffolding holes called Putlog Holes. If freestanding scaffolding like today wasn't used, then the usual 'Cantilevered Scaffolding' (Or more commonly known as Falsework) was used. These Putlog Holes above, were where the scaffolding planking passed through the entire width of the wall. (As walls were erected inside and out at the same time, unlike today). When the work was finished, the planking was either pulled out or sawn off, flush to the wall.