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BB2208
: Seeking Saint Sunday
Wednesday
23rd February 2022
We
arrived at Levens Hall just in time not
to have coffee and cake. It was not
yet open. That meant we could go walking
with a clear conscience. We’d call
in the café on our return. First
we had a pilgrimage to undertake.
Mick
was with us. He’s a member of TV Mike’s
other walking group and, from time to time,
the two sets have joined forces though last
time out it was a challenge for Martin and
me to keep up with them. Hopefully
we would perform better today.
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Mick
was anxious for us to learn
what he had discovered about
Saint Sunday.
I
had a vague memory of Saint
Sunday being a translation of
the Spanish name Santo Domingo,
the founder of the Dominican
monks.
Would
we discover more, I wondered,
as we walked through Heversham
and its church?
What
I did discover was that the
church is dedicated not to Domingo
but to Saint Peter and that
you can now make donations by
tapping your card against a
reader.
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No
more excuses that I would but I haven’t
got any cash on me. After all, who
goes out without some form of card these
days?
We
climbed the hill to the Heversham Head trig
point then diverted west to the Millennium
Pillar. If you want to know more about
it, see the report of an earlier visit-
BB1128
: Heversham Head and Mhor
On
the other side of the Head we turned north
and waded through the flood.....
.....to
Hincaster where the small triangle of grass
has a big round stone atop a round plinth.
Uncle Google couldn’t find much to say about
it other than it had probably been brought
down by glacier from Shap.
A
little further on is the Hincaster canal
tunnel where the barges used to pass through,
powered by humans pulling on a fixed rope
whilst the horses took the less strenuous
route up and over the dual carriageway and
the train lines although I doubt if either
would have been much of an obstacle in the
18th century.
At
the other end of the tunnel, a length of
canal has been restored, although not quite
joined to the next section which does actually
see a barge occasionally.
Between
them is a bench which made a great place
to eat our butties and also to WhatsApp
Tony about what we were doing. He
responded asking “Why do you have days like
that when I'm not there?” Usually
he says something ruder.
I
was contemplating a reply when it occurred
to me that there was another Saint Sunday,
a female megalomartyr. Isn’t that
a great word? It means a martyr to
whom particular veneration is given. Her
Greek name is ΑΓΙΑ ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ
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Kyriake
had been martyred during the
reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian
who had revoked the legal rights
of Christians.
A
magistrate of Nicomedia wanted
Kyriake to marry his son but
she refused, telling him that
she was betrothed to Christ.
As
a result, he denounced her to
the authorities as a Christian.
She
was then tortured for her refusal
to worship the Roman gods and
eventually beheaded.
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I
wondered to which saint Mick was referring
when he stood up from the table and announced
it was time to go and see what had happened
to Saint Sunday. We walked a short
way along the towpath then down some steps
to where water was gushing through a tunnel
under the canal. There was a stone
footway but the stream had covered that
as well. We explored to see if we
could wade through to the other end but
gave up as it was too dangerous.
“What
is this strange place to which you have
brought us, Mick?” we asked. He just
shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “It’s
the new tunnel for Saint Sunday’s beck,”
he explained. “I wanted you to see
it.”
He
was right, it was an interesting detour
but now we had to return.
Our
route took us through the beckside hamlet
of Stainton. Thought. Was that
a corruption of what was once called Saint’s
Town?
Another
question tested us. Exactly what model
of car was under these wraps? Can you tell?
A
little later we climbed a surprisingly steep
little hill then passed through fields to
Crosscrake School and across the maize maze
fields (it’s easy at this time of year).....
.....
to the footbridge over the railway. This
is a great place to stop and watch the steam
trains pass by. But none today, just
modern trains in smart livery.
Soon
we reached the very familiar territory of
the northern reaches of the waterless Lancaster
Canal. In Levens Park, the River Kent
was most definitely not waterless. The
aftermath of storms Arwen and Dudley was
obvious by the number of trees that had
been brought down.
Equally
obvious was that the outing would end in
the Levens Kitchen café as we had
promised, where Mick kindly treated us to
coffee and cake.
But
just which was the Saint Sunday whose beck
we had visited remains a mystery.
Don,
Wednesday 23rd February 2022
Bonus
Pictures from Mick
Comitibus:
Don,
Martin, TV Mike, Mick
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