View from the Pier

This picture was taken in the town of Arundel, in southern England, where the college I attended had a campus for many years.  My husband and I went to school together and he spent a semester here, so it was, in fact, a walk down Memory Lane for him, and to some extent, for me, by association.

This shot is of a detail of the parish church of St. Nicholas, built in 1380.  I sought to capture the ghostliness of the figure carved into the column’s capital.  The disembodied head from the distant past, floating and almost transparent, seems to disappear into the subdued gray and beige of the building.  But the expression he wears speaks to me, from across the centuries–I recognize him, that look.

We went on to visit Arundel Castle, which traces its history back even farther, to 1068.  It has descended directly from 1138 to the present day, carried by female heiresses from the d’Albinis to the Fitzalans in the 13th century and then from the Fitzalans to the Howards in the 16th century. 

The Castle has been open to the public seasonally for more than 200 years and is home today to the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk and their children.  Their presence is visible as we toured the estate’s magnificent rooms.  Under ancient portraits of their ancestors, candid photographs of the present-day Howards grace tabletops.  While walking down a flight of stairs, we heard raucous laughter from behind the closed doors of the family’s private quarters.  From a turret, we observed adolescent boys furiously pedaling their bikes down the gravel drive of an immense courtyard, leaving a trail of dust that rose behind them and disappeared.

I was reminded of my own ferocious energy at that age, of my own band of brothers, our neighborhood fiefdom, and grinned.

I love those moments of connection, whether occurring through someone close to me, or inspired by art, or via a memory conjured up by circumstances.   I’m now attuned to look for me and my history in you and yours.  As a practice, it not only can trigger fond recollections–it can provoke powerful insights, and open me up to greater tolerance and compassion. 

That is the message of this James Joyce quote for me.  And lest some see irony in an English scene being captioned with a citation from a Jesuit-educated Irish Catholic…there have been two cardinals and a saint in the Howard family, and Arundel Castle is home to the Catholic Fitzalan Chapel.

For more info related info, check out:       

http://www.arundelcastle.org/_pages/03_visitor_info.htm

http://www.stnicholas-arundel.co.uk/history.html

http://www.jamesjoyce.ie/detail.asp?ID=19

http://www.nec.edu/news/new-england-college-readies-for-homecoming-2009