St John's Parish Church, a photo from North Yorkshire, England

Photographer's Note

St John's Parish Church
Knaresborough, North Yorkshire

"It is believed that a place of worship has existed on the site currently occupied by St John's Church, for over a thousand years but the first mention of Knaresborough Parish Church appears in the records of Nostell Priory near Wakefield. This states that in the year 1114 King Henry I granted the "Church at Cnaresburgh" to the canons at Nostell. The church was originally dedicated to St.Mary and held that name until the Protestant reforms of the 16th century when it became the Church of St.John the Baptist.

Following the Scottish raid in 1318, the church fell into a dilapidated state and in 1328 the then king, Edward III honey-mooning with his young bride Philippa in Knaresborough, promised her that he would arrange the reconstruction of the church. Queen Philippa took a considerable interest in the restoration work and in particular, in the re-designing of the St.Edmund's Chapel, then St.Edmund's Chantry. It is not known exactly when the restoration work began and ended but throughout this period and during the Black Death in 1349, the townsfolk had the support of Queen Philippa who was often in residence in the castle. Philippa died in 1369 and her devotion to the town of Knaresborough and the church, was long remembered by the people and the church became known as the Queen's Church.

The bells were first hung in 1774 and the present clock was installed in 1884. The face carries St.Paul's phrase, "redeeming the time" and the exterior view from the north side shows the gargoyles and turret stair-way up the tower which is mainly late 12th century. The churchyard was landscaped in 1973 and many of the gravestones can be seen around the immediate area of St John's.

The Church of St.John the Baptist today has a lively and active community with regular services each Sunday and most days of the week. A strong choir tradition exists and youngsters from an early age may join and receive tuition. The bells are rung every Sunday before the 10.30 a.m. service by a dedicated team who encourage other teams to join them from time to time. The Sunday school is well attended with about fifty children on the register. There are groups such as Guides, Brownies, Rainbows, Mothers' Union, Homemakers and The Friends of St.John's who are all associated with the church."

See the interior of St John's in 360° panorama (courtesy of Vital Online Ltd)

Knaresborough online

snuggleaphagus, Marcelo_Almeida, Vagabond, Curioso, GrahamB, eza1701, sayzey, john_c, kebek, wilkinsonsg, elihesamian, nwoehnl, singuanti, premels, dsidwell, greghume1, npecanhuk has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

snuggleaphagus (4146) 2005-07-20 16:19

Hi Robi
The colors are glorious. I like the angle forst of all and then I concentrate on the interesting textures on the walls of the building and the differences created by the shadows. And then there is the sky in a most delicious and perfect blue, with beautiful clouds.
This is so very gorgeous.

leonorkuhn (16237) 2005-07-20 16:29

Hi Robi,
Great blue sky! Nice medieval church. Beautiful colours, sharp and lightness. Well done.
Leonor

Marcelo_Almeida (1044) 2005-07-20 16:38

Hello Robert,
Great perspective and DOF, wonderful colors.
Well done,
Marcelo Almeida

GrahamB (939) 2005-07-20 16:53

I like your tight framing here it gives the church a massive solid feel. Great colours especially the deep blue sky. Nice work.

Vagabond (5848) 2005-07-20 17:00

Very good picture with great composition and definition and saturated and strong colours ..

Curioso (9271) 2005-07-20 17:19

The framing may be too narrow but it creates a dynamic perspective so why not ? It's just I do not like to cut door ;)

Your polarizer created a fantastic background for the building and its beautiful stones. Great comment too !!!

quantabeh (5205) 2005-07-20 17:35

hello Robert,
great composition and excellent exposure. The colors appear well balanced, and well contrasted,
nice work

eza1701 (3345) 2005-07-20 18:13

Great photo Robi, good angle, sharp detail, strong contrasting colours and an excellent sky.

danyy (0) 2005-07-20 18:19

Bonjour Robi,
encore un petit chef d'oeuvre, un ciel qui va me rendre jaloux.
A mon avis, ces lieux sont magiques et permettent de faire de splendides photos.
Non, ce serait mettre en doute tes excellentes qualitйs de photographe.
Exposition parfaitte, couleurs saturйes juste ce qu'il faut, focus impeccable, rien ne manque, non...vraiment rien.

Compliments.
Daniel.

john_c (24666) 2005-07-20 23:16

Hi Robert,
You have achieved great clarity in this well balanced composition. It was obviously difficult to frame the entire structure, but it comes off very well. The sky nicely contrasts with the honey brown architecture - I love those warm stone colours seen in many parts of England. Interesting note and church interior as well. Great capture.
John

jjbach (9326) 2005-07-21 3:26

Hi Rob,
Excellent presentetion of the church. Very well captured from a low angle. Beautiful colours, lighting and beautiful dramatic sky. It's a great composition!!

Regards John

danby1 (3697) 2005-07-21 6:16

good shot rob, and another from your hometown? good POV and composition and nice light control, the bricks on the building really look nice! well done! a sucessful shot! :)

kebek (5438) 2005-07-21 8:04

Serwus Robert !
Excellent details of this majestic church. Fine composition in superb light. Very well done,
Mat

sayzey (2358) 2005-07-21 8:44

Wow Rob this is a perfect photo! The colours are superb! I love the contrast with the sky.

The details are great and with the lighting the shadows are amazing, well done!

Brilliant capture!

wilkinsonsg (8662) 2005-07-21 12:05

I like the tight framing and the stones colours and contrast, but is the sky just a little too dark blue? - it might be my monitor though ;)

elihesamian (26149) 2005-07-21 13:02

A great church shot,very informative and I must be Thankful for your preparing the note with this great shot.
Excellent sharpness and What a nice light controlling you did!
Nice and atrractive sky and beautiful contrast you reached,great POV and very well composed,Robert!
Indeed a fine work,nicely done!
Best Regards
M

nwoehnl (122) 2005-07-21 15:52

The special light and the fine polarized sky are certainly two elements that make this one sing, Robi. Very nice textures to be found in this goregous old edifice. Beautiful ochre and brown tones contrasting well with the sky.

singuanti (15250) 2005-07-21 21:08

Hi Robi, what a shot! This is textbook use of a polarizer. The pov and the sky both blow me away. Plus the textures are so ilfelike. I like it so much I'll make it a new favorite of mine. Awesome shot Robi!!

Gdouble (0) 2005-07-29 17:45

Very warm colours and a nice angle on this lovely church
Guy

premels (2400) 2005-07-31 6:11

The deep blue of that 'polarised' sky is amazing, Robert. The contrast with the warm ocher of the walls is very strong. The close point of view with some wide angle distortion works well here.

dsidwell (9783) 2005-08-04 16:38

Amazing light here, Robert! The dramatic point of view mixes with the lovely light to build a lot of grandeur here!

greghume1 (447) 2005-08-17 1:39

Hi Robi
Superb capture of the structure. The polarizer really makes the image pop. There is so much drama in the image that I'm not sure the perspective needs to be so strong. I posted a WS.

[workshop] [compare] +

Hellas (7123) 2007-08-30 5:46

Robert,
this is an attractive image! The POV is excellent as well as the contrast between the church and the clouds, thanks to the polarizing filter. The clarity is fine, too.
Thanks for sharing.
Fond regards,
Athanasios.

Photo Information

Copyright: Rob Janovski (robiuk) (10807)
Genre: МЕСТА
Medium: ЦВЕТНОЙ
Date Taken: 2005-05-23
Camera: Minolta Dimage 7Hi, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM, Microdrive CF+ 2.2GB, Jessops Circular Polariser
Exposure: f/8, 1/125 секунд
More Photo Info: view
Версия: Оригинальная версия, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2005-07-20 16:12
Избранное: 1 [view]