Although a rule of ‘A Letter from England’ is direct personal experience, ‘Walpole Old Chapel’ is an exception. Never having been, it is, rather, a place I dream to go.
I heard about it in Alan Bennett’s latest volume of Diaries ‘Enough Said’, where he too seems to have stumbled upon this wonder quite by chance. Thinking it an ‘unassuming Yeoman’s cottage’ from the outside, inside he finds a hidden, non-conformist chapel dating back to the 17th century: ‘the wood pale and worn […] every detail perfect’. ‘Enchanting’ he concludes; finding himself astonished that ‘England can still furnish such remote and undiscovered places’.
Looking up this chapel, I find even more idiosyncrasy: Round arched windows cast light on the box pews, handmade, the timber taken from old ships – the central pilar of the chapel a ship’s mast!
I think of this first congregation then, sailing the religious tide of uncertain times; their prayers sent out like ships into the new morning.
