成人快手

At the end of the first lockdown in September 2020 the Oxford Professor of History, Diarmaid MacCulloch, sought sanctuary in his favourite hobby 'churchcrawling', which he defines as the relentless pursuit of churches of all shapes and sizes just for the fun of it, 鈥渓ike a pub crawl, only with churches鈥�. It鈥檚 been his passion since his early childhood growing up in a rectory in rural Suffolk. In five essays, Diarmaid MacCulloch takes us on journeys around some of Britain's ancient and atmospheric churches to help us get lost in the history, art and personality of these churches as well as digging deeper to reflect on his own experiences of 鈥渁 historian鈥檚 life, measured out in churches.鈥�

In his first essay, Diarmaid introduces us to the art of the 鈥榗hurchcrawl鈥� and he recalls a very particular journey, when he made a dash from his home in Oxford to Norfolk and Suffolk in early September 2020. 鈥淚t reminded me of the purposeful silence of lone churchcrawling; my two-days' conversation was with buildings and with myself.鈥� He visited 35 medieval churches in just 36 hours, including to the medieval church of St Andrew at Illington in Norfolk for the second time in his life. The first time he visited in 1966, St Andrew was neglected and unloved, and he has 鈥渘ever forgotten its sadness鈥�. Today Diarmaid finds a 鈥渟ilent welcome鈥� at the church, which is in a much better state than it was half a century ago.

Produced by Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for 成人快手 Radio 3
Photo credit: Chris Gibbions