Skulferatu #6 - Polwarth Church, Greenlaw, Berwickshire

 

Polwarth Church

I remember this church from my childhood, as I walked out to it a few times with my Grandpa.  He worked in one of the nearby villages and would check on the church every so often to make sure all was in order.  Back then the key was kept above the main door so that anyone passing by could pop in to shelter or pray.  Useful when it was pouring with rain outside.  As a kid I was always fascinated by the two barred windows at the back of the church.  Sitting at ground level these windows gave a view into the crypts below, where on a good day, if you got your head into just the right position you could see some of the coffins inside.  Grandpa always said he would get hold of the keys for the crypt and show us down there, but never did.  No doubt if he had I would have been disappointed, as I was hoping to see stacks of skeletons everywhere rather than just and a few more crumbling coffins.

 

The first records of Polwarth Church are from 1242 when the Bishop of St Andrews, David de Bernham, consecrated the church and dedicated it to St Mungo.  The church was almost completely rebuilt in 1703.

 

In 1683, Sir Patrick Hume hid for four weeks in the crypt at the church after being implicated in the Rye House Plot. This was a plot to assassinate King Charles II and his brother.  His daughter, Grizel (Lady Grizel Baillie), smuggled him food while he was in hiding.  Hume and his family then fled to the Netherlands only returning to Scotland after the Glorious Revolution when King William of Orange took the crown in both England and Scotland.

 

The church closed in 2004 and was sold off by the Church of Scotland.  It is now privately owned.

Front view of Polwarth Church

Gravestone in the Churchyard

View of two coffins in the crypt

The Berwickshire poet, Robert McLean Calder (1841 to 1895) wrote a poem about the church and its congregation.  It is far too long and a little bit dull to quote in full, so here is one verse for your delectation –

 

What a quiet spot is the auld kirk-yaird,

That is a' thro' the week deserted,

Except when some mourner's wail is heard

By the grave o' some dear departed!

E'en noo on this joyous Sabbath morn

Nae jarrin' noise to the ear is borne,

For the talk is as meek as the faces worn

When they gang to the Kirk at Polart.

 

The full poem can be found at –

http://scotstext.org/roughs/robert_mclean_calder/robert_mclean_calder.asp

The Skulferatu that accompanied me on this trip was placed into a gap in the drystone wall at the back of the churchyard.

View from back of churchyard

Skulferatu #6

Skulferatu #6 left in gap in drystone wall

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are: Latitude 55.738498, Longitude -2.399870.

Map of location of Skulferatu

The Skulferatu Project

I often go walking, either in my locality or on trips and travels around the UK.  On my walks I like to explore the places I am passing through and will often end up on paths with no idea of where I’m going or what I’m going to find.  Mostly I find dead ends or industrial estates, but sometimes I find real gems of places.  These places need not be beautiful or even of any historic significance, as I have often found inspiration in the decay of old industry, in the brittle stone of crumbling graveyards or the low hum and concrete landscape of a nuclear power station.  However, sometimes it is good just to lose yourself in the beauty of nature - on a beach, on a cliff walk, in a woodland, on a moor or up in the hills and mountains.

 

During the time of the Covid 19 pandemic, I got to thinking about the places I have walked around and the places I have visited.  Many times, I have picked up a pebble or a shell or something else as a memento of that place, as many others do.  What do I leave of myself in this landscape though?  Nothing other than the passing shadow of my having been there.  But how often is what we leave behind us the toxic trash of the brief time we enjoyed in that place?  The plastic water bottle, the crisp packets, the sandwich wrappers, the juice cans, etc.  The detritus we are all use to seeing on our beaches and in our beauty spots.  I wondered if there was a way I could leave behind a little of myself, something I had made, something neutral that would become part of that landscape, decay back into it, or even become a memento for someone else who had visited that spot.  I then came up with the idea of leaving behind something made of clay.  Something small and unobtrusive.

 

I was pondering on what I could make, especially given my limited skills, while I was out for a walk along the coast.  My route took me past an old church and there I wandered through the graveyard.  Many of the graves dated from the sixteenth century.  As I wandered around, I noticed that several had very primitive carvings of skulls on them that were really nothing more than an oval head, two round holes for eyes, a triangle for a nose and a line for the mouth.  Even I could make something that basic.  Thus, the idea for the Skulferatus was born.

Skulls decorating gravestones at Cramond Kirk and Melrose Abbey

The Skulferatus are all made of clay using a few simple implements to create the eye sockets, nose and mouth.  I experimented with a few looks and found the one pictured below worked the best. 

Skulferatu design

Batch 1 of Skulferatus left to dry

 

Once made the Skulferatus were left to dry before being fired in a kiln at 1200℃.  This hardens the clay and means they are now basically stone.

To be fired the Skulferatus were placed, rather aptly, inside a head by Ronnie Fulton.

 

A Skulferatu after being fired in the kiln.

 

Now that the Skulferatus have been created I will be occasionally leaving them at places I visit.  When I do this, I will take a photograph of the area, a photograph of the Skulferatu and a screenshot from Google Maps, showing the location it was left.  These photographs, along with the GPS coordinates will be posted on this blog and also on Instagram.

 

Thanks to Esther Cohen and Ronnie Fulton from Tantallon Arts and Crafts Studios https://tantallonstudios.com for providing support in creating the Skulferatu pieces.

All articles and photographs on this blog are copyright of © Kevin Nosferatu, unless otherwise specified.