St Michael's Church, Kirkby Malham

St Michael's Church in the Yorkshire village of Kirkby Malham is a fine medieval lady who sits serenely in her arcadian setting. Inside, she is roomy and light, and has served Malham well for a thousand years. There are associations here with General John Lambert, one of Cromwell’s finest warriors. As a result of this puritan connection, or perhaps the Reformers a little before, a series of empty niches are to found in a number of the pillars.

These would once have housed popish statues of saints to which the superstitious faithful would pray, genuflect and leave offerings. General Lambert and his predecessors would have swept all this away, putting the statues in the bin and leaving the niches empty. A Roman Catholic might decry this vacancy, but I rejoice in it. An empty shelf bereft of a distraction points us to the Living God, to whom no image could ever do justice.

The dearest idol I have known,

whate'er that idol be,

help me to tear it from Thy throne

and worship only Thee.

-William Cowper, 1773