August 10th.—
We went to the Isle of Man, a few weeks ago, where Sophia and the children spent a fortnight. I spent two Sundays with them.
I never saw anything prettier than the little church of Kirk Madden [Kirk Braddan] there. It stands in a perfect seclusion of shadowy trees,—a plain little church, that would not be at all remarkable in another situation, but is most picturesque in its solitude and bowery environment.
The churchyard is quite full and overflowing with graves, and extends down the gentle slope of a hill, with a dark mass of shadow above it. Some of the tombstones are flat on the ground, some erect, or laid horizontally on low pillars or masonry. There were no very old dates on any of these stones; for the climate soon effaces inscriptions, and makes a stone of fifty years look as old as one of five hundred,—unless it be slate, or something harder than the usual red freestone.
There was an old Runic monument, however, near the centre of the churchyard, that had some strange sculpture on it, and an inscription still legible by persons learned in such matters. Against the tower of the church, too, there is a circular stone, with carving on it, said to be of immemorial antiquity.
There is likewise a tall marble monument, as much as fifty feet high, erected some years ago to the memory of one of the Athol family by his brother-officers of a local regiment of which he was colonel.
At one of the side-entrances of the church, and forming the threshold within the thickness of the wall, so that the feet of all who enter must tread on it, is a flat tombstone of somebody who felt himself a sinner, no doubt, and desired to be thus trampled upon. The stone is much worn.
The structure is extremely plain inside and very small. On the walls, over the pews, are several monumental sculptures,—a quite elaborate one to a Colonel Murray, of the Coldstreamn Guards; his military profession being designated by banners and swords in marble.—Another was to a farmer.
On one side of the church-tower there was a little penthouse, or lean-to,—merely a stone roof, about three or four feet high, and supported by a single pillar, beneath which was once deposited the bier.
I have let too much time pass before attempting to record my impressions of the Isle of Man; but, as regards this church, no description can come up to its quiet beauty, its seclusion, and its every requisite for an English country church.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Atholl Family Monument: The "tall marble monument" is the Lord Henry Murray Obelisk, a memorial to the younger brother of the 4th Duke of Atholl.
- Colonel Murray Memorial: Inside the church, there is an elaborate wall monument to the Honourable Richard Murray (son of Lord Henry Murray), who was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Coldstream Guards and served under the Duke of Wellington.
- Ancient Stones: The churchyard is famous for its collection of Viking Age Runic crosses and carved stone slabs, which Hawthorne noted near the centre of the yard.
- The Penthouse: The "little penthouse" or lean-to Hawthorne described was the Bier House, where the parish bier was kept.
- Unique Threshold: The flat tombstone forming the threshold of a side entrance remains a notable feature of the building's "plain" and "picturesque" character
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