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Photographs by Andy Marshall
Holiness is in the the earth-song of the peeling paint and the arborescent echo from the fissured faces, and sanctity is in the rhythm of the truss, the pattern in the bracing and the un-mappable outpourings of human endeavour held within these walls.
What existed in the landscape as strata and outcrop has been quarried, squared, carved and reassembled into columns and arches. For a moment, here in the nave, the distinction between building and landscape begins to blur.
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A list of the most impactful monuments in my career as a photographer for your delectation and delight - and perhaps for you to visit one day this year?
I feel so guilty because being here doesn’t feel like work. It’s a joy to be in such a special place watching dedicated and talented people take care of something that means so much to the local community.
And then there’s Marta herself, and Ryan and Deb. At times, when I was photographing them, I lowered my lens and forgot my work for a while, in awe at the respect, reverence and devotion they had for the monument; for they know, that it is far greater than the sum of its parts.
Malmesbury is famously the burial site of the first king of all England: Aethelstan.
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