St. Benet's

When we are fortunate enough to have a holiday on the water (whether canal, river or broad) and we have boarded our boat, we seldom set foot back on land other than for essential supplies, making the most of the pleasures of being afloat.

We do on occasion, make an exception to the rule. Recently on a visit to the Norfolk Broads we stopped off at the remains of St Benet's, a once substantial medieval Abbey whose origins are thought to precede the 9th century. Little remains of it now, beyond the lower structure of the gatehouse and a few wall sections of other buildings.

During the 19th century a mill was built on, and into, the remains of the gatehouse presumably due to the stability of the ground at that point despite it's proximity to the river. It looks somewhat surreal, almost as if it had been teleported from elsewhere and someone got the docking coordinates slightly wrong, the conical mill materialising within the fabric of the gatehouse.

Despite it being little more than ruins, St Benet's is still a place of pilgrimage to many, a modern oak cross standing in the place of the Abbey's high altar . Even though I follow a very different spiritual path, I could still sense the ambience of my surroundings. I was glad we stopped for a visit.

                                                         Old pepper pot
                                                   On Norfolk's table top
                                                       In gatehouse ruin 
                                                             Enshrined
                                                   Their weathered walls 
                                                             Entwined.
                                                 Limestone, flint and brick,
                                                             Crumbled,
                                                  By time's uncertain hand,
                                                             Humbled.
                                                      Yet a place to many,
                                                              Exalted.

                                                                       ~*~

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