Today we celebrate Epiphany, and how we, like the Magi, ‘come from the East’ — a fact underlined by today’s constitutional.
The Saxon village of Wennington lies near the Thames Estuary in the ancient Kingdom of the East Saxons, inside Erkenwald’s Diocese of London. The present church dates from after my family’s stint (having taken back to the sea pretty much as Alfred decreed the Navy into existence), but the nevertheless venerable structure holds signs of holding fast to the English Mysteries, as can be seen in its excellent square and poised square flushwork.
Following this family pilgrimage, we took a turn around Belhus Park nearby, viewing the wood and the ice, perceiving the tenacity of the local wildfowl, and contemplating the poetics of the winter season.
