Gaulby Goose
Monday, December 8, 2008
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Gaulby (or Galby, depending on who you read) is a tiny east Leicestershire village 'on the summit of the Marlstone uplands in beautiful unspoilt country' as W.G.Hoskins has it in his Shell Guide. Less than a mile away from the probably more visited early gothic revival church in Kings Norton, Gaulby has the equally fascinating St. Peter. Overshadowed somewhat by its more illustrious neighbour rebuilt by John Wing, this church was restored by the architect's father for the same squire William Fortrey in 1741. Inside, the contemporary pews and pulpit were ripped out in a 1960 act of vandalism, but the exterior remains virtually untouched. A limestone and ironstone tower is topped-out with such extraordinary exuberance that even Pevsner was moved to called it 'a display of the craziest pinnacles' in his Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland. The top photograph is Gaulby on a hot July early evening, the bottom was taken yesterday in uncompromising bright afternoon light and extreme cold. We had been in the Fox and Goose just over the fields, where every Sunday a dish of well-salted goose fat roasted spuds and black pudding is banged down on every table. We were therefore amused to find a 1701 gravestone under Gaulby's big churchyard tree that was dedicated to someone blessed with the name 'Goosey'. A good afternoon for a gander round a churchyard.
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