In 1611, Johannes Kepler first proposed that the most efficient way to stack cannon balls was in a pyramid. This method was used to stop them from rolling around a ship's deck. To prevent the bottom layer from moving under the other balls, a metal plate was made from brass (to prevent rusting) with round indentations, called (for reasons unknown) a 'monkey'.
At Stratford-le-Bow in London is a large, Victorian monument to the Christian martyrs of that place who were burnt to death for the truth of the gospel and their rejection of Rome’s deceit. Stratford has a large, international railway station and a busy high street, but most nonchalantly pass this object which commemorates those men and women ‘of whom the world was not worthy’:
Braemar Avenue Baptist Church at Wood Green in the London borough of Harringay is a rather striking building. Its construction of 1907 almost elicited some excitement in the dry paragraphs of his official, historic listing, which describes it as
Rough white flint rabble with proud black pointing; and dressing of intensely red brick and terracotta
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Was the house aflame, or was it just the battery alerting me to its own demise? The latter, thankfully, and it had courteously waited till 8am when I was already up and about.
The Church of St Brandon in County Durham sits in the shadow of its larger neighbour, the castle. Nevertheless, its ancient walls and vintage tower suggested an interesting interior. This was certainly the case but now how we expected.
