Following the White Rabbit..

Most of us will be familiar with the White Rabbit in the story of Alice in Wonderland but apparently he was not the first famous white rabbit.

This rabbit I discovered yesterday was sculpted in the mediaeval church of St Mary’s in Beverley, Yorkshire and thought to be the inspiration for the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll’s story. The little rabbit represents one of the pilgrims who travelled this ancient pilgrimage route. You can see the little satchel he is carrying on his way.

I love that these mediaeval stone masons had a sense of humour and engraved this quirky little character. I wonder if they could imagine their handiwork still being here over a thousand years later to encourage other pilgrims.

It’s so inspiring to me to visit these mediaeval churches and think of their history and all the worship and praise and prayers offered up over the years. They took hundreds of years to build and decorate so elaborately with each intricate detail.

The people who started the building works would not have seen or enjoyed the finished work or saw how their part was woven into its finished glory but started nevertheless. That’s inspiring.

Yorkshire is of course rightly famous for its beautiful Minster in York but there is also another beautiful Minster in Beverley which is worth a visit as well.

Yesterday, the Ukrainian Church were holding a service in the Minster for one of their Saint days. It was really touching to see these refugees from Ukraine worshipping and being able to practise their Christian faith and being welcomed to do so in the Minster. It must have been bitter sweet for them as I am sure they would rather be celebrating the Saints day in Ukraine in peace rather than refugees from war in the UK.

As you have probably guessed by now, we had our own little pilgrimage on our way home from holiday and also took the opportunity to stop in Lincoln which also has a beautiful cathedral. If you look closely you can also see a bride and groom in front of the church. It was just the two of them enjoying their moment.