Alnwick Castle

Lisa Hull’s 2008 Understanding the Castle Ruins of England and Wales: How to Interpret the History and Meaning of Masonry and Earthworks, published by McFarland & Co, begins with a thoughtful commentary about Alnwick Castle in England’s northeast, principal seat of the Dukes of Northumberland. Alnwick is a stately old fortress and was used as a backdrop for some scenes in the Harry Potter films, which have made it famous the world over. When I called last month, a family of adult Spaniards were seen getting changed into Potter costumes and photographing themselves at this shrine to Rowling’s imagination. Images in these and other movies tell us what a castle ‘ought’ to look like, even when most of our national stock of castles are ruinous and unused. Castles which lack Alnwick’s lofty towers and intact gatehouses, some of which may be more interesting historically and architecturally, become into disappointments and let downs, hardly worth the bother of seeing.

I once took a friend to Fountains Abbey, a place with which he was unfamiliar but suitably impressed. The problem is that he now compares each other ruined abbey with Fountains, a competition which few sites can win. This is the Alnwick principle.

I know some who think Salem Chapel is a wonderful church. When one does a little digging, it is clear that former churches have disappointed them, and that, in contrast, we are the best things since sliced bread. Likewise, some are wont to talk about their ‘old church’ in which things were invariably done better, and which the amateurs at Salem would do well to take heed and do likewise. What we are used to colours our perception of the present. It might do us all more good to read about the churches of the New Testament than to remember with rose-tinted glasses the churches of our youth or the horror stories from the outfit down the road. The New Testament congregations had problems (immorality, persecutions, false teachers, charismatic chaos, backsliding) but they also demonstrated perseverance under pressure, hospitality, love of scripture and apostolic instruction. The 'church' we want is currently located in heaven, so look up, not down, or across; do not seek perfection on earth, but neither tolerate nonsense, laziness or chicanery.