Enclosed Enclosures

Today Nancy commented on how British people seem to relish enclosed gardens and courtyards, walled -in spaces where they can grow their flowers, drink their tea, and otherwise appreciate their unique existences. The villages in Scotland and England are honeycombed with such enclosures, and it seems to indicate something within their national "character", if there is such a thing.

         The Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is also honeycombed with  walled enclosures, passageways, sunken walkways, and multiple paths leading to the same destinations. Just finding the place is difficult, because the village of Walsingham, Brigadoon-like, does not appear on road maps, and the shrine itself, though occupying an area roughly equivalent to an American city block, consists of a ring of village buildings cobbled together to present an ordinary facade to the world. The shrine church, constructed of brick, lies entirely within the enclosure.

       The effect is of an enclosure within an enclosure within an enclosure, etc., like an infinite regress, or a maze. So many small chapels and altars in such a confined space creates an effect of miniaturising one's perception of the world, reminiscent of childhood dreams. The effect of this kind of psychic shrinkage is the reverse of what one experiences in the great cathedrals, with their soaring light-filled spaces. Yet both are somehow primal, like the contrast between a redwood forest and a cave.