There are literally 1,000's of churches all over Britain and many have fallen into disrepair or been sold off to be turned into residential dwellings.
In front of the church is a war memorial.
This church, in the town centre of Chatteris is still in use and is a good subject for architectural photography; as is the memorial below. They are both prime examples of these kinds of structures.
I took this photograph a few weeks ago when the trees were still bare of leaves and it makes one think of the church being bereft of people.
The empty tree is a metaphor for the church these days. Virtually no one goes to church.
This photograph below is a war memorial commemorating the dead from this small farming town.
Just about every town in Britain has a memorial to the dead of the Great War to end all wars.
To the undying memory
of the Chatteris men
who gave their lives
in the great wars
1914 -1918
of the Chatteris men
who gave their lives
in the great wars
1914 -1918
The bare trees either side of the memorial remind us that many Dad's, Brothers, Sons and Uncles never returned. Lives cut short.
The 'Pals battalions' was a disastrous recruitment policy during the First World War where entire battalions were made up from men from the same family, village and town.
During the meat grinder style trench warfare at that time, almost the entire menfolk of a town or village were wiped out. Sometimes within days of reaching the front lines of the battles.
Today's post for @old-guy-photos #treetuesday photo competition and the #architecturalphotography initiated by @juliank.
My camera gear:-
Canon EOS 70 D Camera
Sigma 30 mm Lens
More in this series
Playing with filters
Trees in bloom
Leylandii
Bon-Sai
Lichens
Ancient Olive trees
| Category | (Architectural photography) |
| Camera | (Canon EOS 70D) |
| Exposure | (1/640) |
| f Stop | (f/11) |
| ISO | (400) |
| Lens | (Sigma 30 mm) |
I've never heard of pals battalions before @molometer. That explains a lot. But I can also see why people thought it was a good idea at the time.
Although many churches are being converted I'm glad they are not, at least, being raised to the ground.
The best conversions in my opinion are the ones that still give something to the community. One near us, for example, has recently been turned into a stunning health centre. I've not seen that before but it's been done reall well. 😊
The impact on these communities was long lasting especially in France where rural populations never recovered.
Good to see these old churches repurposed.
They could easily be converted to shelters for the homeless?
There are quite a few shelters for the homeless here and a number of initiatives to help people get off the streets.
But apparently its not that simple. I've a friend who works with the homeless and he says a number of people on the streets prefer to be there rather than in housing. They like the freedom. That's only one subset obviously.
This winter, I noticed that people were getting more organised. They'd choose one of the promenade shelters, for example, to sleep in, leave their stuff there during the day and then go back again and set up camp for night.
These things are always more complicated that they look at first glance I think.
Thanks for this important bit of history.
Just coincidence that it was memorial day but reminds us how wars just seem to be a constant issue with humans.
Thanks for the history lesson. @molometer
Those who forget their history are doomed to relive it.
World of Photography
>Visit the website<
You have earned 6.50 XP for sharing your photo!
Daily photos: 1/2
Daily comments: 0/5
Multiplier: 1.30
Block time: 2018-05-29T18:26:24
Total XP: 452.85/200.00
Total Photos: 71
Total comments: 39
Total contest wins: 0
Follow:
Join the Discord channel: click!
Play and win SBD:
Daily Steem Statistics:
Learn how to program Steem-Python applications:
Developed and sponsored by: @photocontests@fairlotto@dailysteemreport@steempytutorials @juliank
Beautiful!
Thank you. It is isn't it?
love to see your #architecturalphotography, good work my friend @molometer
Thank you for dropping in @rabeel
very good movie dear friend I @molometer, the movie was actually I really like it but I was afraid to see it because it was horrible, thanks my dear friend
Humans have done some terrible things to each other and they still do. When will we learn to live in peace?
Wow… I didn’t know that about the “pals battalions” – I’d never heard of heard of the policy. Tragic lack of foresight.
Yep it was a disastrous policy and affected millions of families as you can imagine. Over 7 million causalities.
Stunning photographs of the Church and Memorial. But it's so sad to realise how many died, often from the same family in the first World War battles - senseless waste and even now we don't really seem to have learned from it.
#thealliance #witness
You are so right @c0ff33a even with all these reminders of the futility of wars we still haven't learned the lessons of the past.