A church on Sunday

Not far north on Dargaville, on SH 12, closer to Mamaranui than anywhere else,  sits St Mary’s Anglican Church.   There is no name on the church or the gate. It stands surrounded only by open  farmland, with no village or town nearby.

My friend and I had set out to find as many old churches as revealed themselves to us, one way or another, either through enquiries made before we left or information gleaned along the way.  I’ve admired little country churches for a long time, these rural symbols of our past, of living that once was, when small communities banded together to build for themselves a small places of worship.

Sometimes they stand out, tall and majestic, most times they are tucked away up rough side roads, surrounded by bush.

 

As with nearly every church we discovered, the lawn at St Mary’s was neatly mowed.  Some of the churches seemed to be no longer used, some were in dire need of some maintenance,  either paintwork or plumbing, but it appears they still mean a lot to at least one person in their area. 

The need for attention detracted from the beautiful blue windows:

 

It was hard to see any inside detail from the photos taken through the blue but after a little playing more was revealed.  I love this photo with its eerie light.  Shows you what a camera can see when you just hold it up to a window and shoot.  

Standing in a corner by the roadside was this lovely simple wooden cross attached to an old tree stump.  We didn’t see anything quite like it in our travels.
 

The crosses on top of the church were also lovely and simple, and very attractive to moss.