06 July 2010 by Tristan Gooley
Churches are well worth a minute of navigational inquiry. The church itself is likely to show a preference for an east-west alignment, with the altar at the eastern end. But the fact that they are often old buildings that have been left exposed to the elements for long periods, without incessant redecorating or even cleaning, yields other interesting clues in the form of lichens, algae and mosses.
Gravestones tend also to be aligned east-west also, so that the dead are ready when ‘the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised’. Any exposed stone that faces east or west will receive a mixture of sunlight and shade. Consequently they typically display a mixture of lichen types, as in the gravestone in this photo, in the graveyard of St Giles church in the quiet West Sussex village of Graffham.
On this gravestone there are a preponderance of gold and…
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Tags: algae, churches, churchyard lichens, finding direction, graffham, moss, moss and lichen growth, st giles, west sussex |
15 January 2009 by Tristan Gooley
We all see a lot of lichens, but we pay them little attention. They are not endowed with classical beauty and yet their absence can make places distinctly less attractive. What we think of as a typical English country church and yard might look closer to an unsightly modern development than we cared for, if it were not for the long, slow, determined influence of the lichens. Village churchyards form very good habitats for lichens: the choice of stone, the fresh air and the general lack of decorating or other surface tinkering makes for a happy lichen home.
It is their fussiness that can help us deduce direction as one type of lichen is unlikely to favour two sides of anything equally, whether it is a rock, tree or mound of earth. Some find their heaven on the shaded north side of churches, others seek paradise on the west side…
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Tags: churchyard lichens, lichen longevity |
