Monday 4 July 2011

Death by shooting... and a Lorimer church

Click to enlarge

Plumpton, a small village in Cumbria, has this intriguing memorial stone set in the wall. I took this pic in 2005, when it was in a field wall. The field has since been built over with a new small housing estate but the memorial still stands.

Here is the history of the memorial and the tragic shooting of Constable Joseph Byrnes by "three hardened London criminals" in 1885:

http://www.plumptonvillage.co.uk/history1.html

Also a surprise is the local church, a small gem by Lorimer built in 1907. It was supposed to have been larger but the benefactor ran out of cash.

http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/plumpton-wall-st-john-the-evangelists-church.htm

Internally it is very finely crafted and certainly worthy of a visit:

The Church of St John the Evangelist at Plumpton Wall is a good modern (1907) building by Sir Robert Lorimer, with sharply battered walls, and a pele-like tower. The interior furnishings, and the windows by William Morris & Co and Powells of Whitefriars, are of a uniformily high standard.


Nem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumpton,_Cumbria