QUEST TWENTY THREE: DAY FOUR: 

  • ST MARY’S THE VIRGIN CHURCH: STAINDROP

ST MARY’S THE VIRGIN CHURCH: STAINDROP:  This day was to prove to be our most significant to date with many pieces of the quest jigsaw puzzle falling into place. The meanings and purpose of the past, present and future were to be revealed in the here and now; but yet as always only those meant to know will have heard the whisperings…. The church was full of very significant artifacts which were very relevant to our quests and to the teachings of The Priory as a whole. The metaphysical world simply collides with the mundane world here with some very wonderful and magical occurences revealed… It is of no further suprise that there are many Templar and Masonic features prominent about the church.

 

St Mary’s Church Staindrop from the outside, showing the ‘Eastern Star’ sundial above the porch, a good indication of more to come….

 

Nestled in the valley between Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle on the main A688, Staindrop has been described as “quite simply one of the prettiest villages in County Durham.” It stands as one of the gateways into Teesdale, with its long village greens making it a typical rural Durham village. The village is also one of great antiquity with some evidence of neolithic activity, but it gained importance in the time of King Canute when he gave his manor at Staindrop and its surrounding ‘appendages’ (hamlets and houses) to the newly founded priory at Durham Cathedral in 1031. The church itself stands at what was once the Easternmost end of the village next to the Langley Beck, just past the magnificent Raby Castle, which we had visited a couple of days previously. More on the history via these links:-

http://www.stmarysstaindrop.org.uk/Staindrop/History.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staindrop

 

Above are some general views of the interior of the church showing the beautiful architectural and artistic features within. <click on photos for a larger view>

The shield on the font is depicted showing the cresent moon and the Sinclair Cross, the shield or plaque on the wall depicts the alignment of two families (two bloodlines), the church records records a ‘Ford’ (my bloodline and lineage), the close up of the window shows the ‘merkaba’ a familiar ‘Knight Templar symbol, the kneeling pads show the Neville Symbols and the window (possibly) shows the ‘Three Mary’s’.

Let Karl show you around and take you on a tour of his own family bloodline; explaining in full all the ‘family connections’ and the ‘Templar/Masonic/Priory’ symbolism which abounds within the church.

ST MARYS CHURCH: STAINDROP

 

 

To see all the Neville Family tombs in detail, as mentioned in the video and read the historical writings please click on each image to enlarge

 

 

For me personally a most ‘magical’ discovery was seeing with my own eyes the appearance of what looked like a ‘moon’ or ‘sun’ on the church floor with clouds scurrying past; a perfect disc formed by the rays of the sun through the centre of the red rose in the window above. Directly underneath was what apeared to be the ‘all seeing eye’ but i could also see a ‘square and compass’. At a certain perfect point in time an alignment will occur… a snippet of this is in the video above.

There is so much more to this vast universe than our human existence or our human perception of it.

The ladder of knowledge is there for all to climb.

Happy in acceptance am i when i discover that what i once thought i knew was nothing more than human illusion…

Please feel free to contact us if you are curious to find out much more about our quests; on an England; on a history you thought you knew….

“the Keeper of Scrolls” August 2017