Chelmsford Srinivasa Perumal Temple

We were both overjoyed to visit Chelmsford Srinivasa Perumal Temple at Hatfield Peverel this Saturday. The visit was entirely an accident, as we were on our way to source antique furniture for a commission in the City of London, but we were stopped in our tracks by the sight of the Victorian-era building's Rhenish Helm roof.

Rhenish Helm roofs are spires made by meeting four rhombic sections of roof between four gables, meeting as a spire. They were used extensively in Anglo-Saxon England and the Frankish Rhineland in the Romanesque period of architecture (centred on the eleventh century). Our research reveals how this iconic style was intended to reference the rhombic dodecahedron: a sacred form which can tessellate 3D volume, making it an allegory for a harmonious society. The way they can stack either looking like a chessboard or honeycomb (depending on the angle) tells us to see diversity in our unity.

Another aspect of our research is how garnet crystals naturally form rhombic dodecahedra, and we believe this is why the Anglo-Saxon civilisation favoured gold and garnet jewellery, such as in the seventh-century Sutton Hoo Mound 1 burial treasure, and the Staffordshire Hoard. From Dr Sue Brunning's research at the British Museum, we know that many of these garnets came from Rajasthan and Sri Lanka. This is a connection spanning over 1400 years.

We were delighted to share this fresh research at the Hindu Temple, with the priests and community. Originally the building was a Christian church, and its Rhenish Helm tower spire showed everyone who passed by on The Street (which was the route of the Grand Tour of England popular in the seventeenth to the beginning of the twentieth century) the virtues of Essex. This important civic and spiritual monument was saved by the Hindu community, who have retained the historic exterior and made a truly beautiful temple interior in which we felt both the joy and the solemnity of divinity. The central shrine, we were told, was the first Hindu stone shrine to be assembled by an Englishman. We would like to express our thanks for the warm hospitality and happy fellowship we felt sharing our research insights at the Temple, learning also about many of the deep and ancient connections across our traditions.

James W is proud to serve on the Board of the Essex Cultural Diversity Project, and we discussed the possibility of potential future events to celebrate the combination of our newly researched ancient cultural and spiritual connections, and also the wonderful reunion of these kindred, harmonious passions in the Temple's preservation of this most meaningful of spires at Hatfield Peverel.

BYRGA GENIHT is the trading name of BYRGA GENIHT LTD,
registered in the UK, company no. 14729339, VAT no. 437140905.
Registered address The Willows, Fell Mill Lane, Honington, Warwickshire CV36 5AD

This website does not use cookies. We never use AI-generated content of any kind or workflow automation.