Lots of autistic folks have particular pursuits, from artwork to TV characters. In my case historical past has all the time been a very intense particular curiosity of mine. Visiting historic websites is without doubt one of the issues I do to settle my nervousness.
Visiting historic websites offers me a greater sense of latest locations. In addition they generally present a type of consolation for me once I’m making an attempt to familiarize yourself with feeling comfortable with new sights and noises.
Different occasions, I’ll admit it may be overwhelming for me, particularly when visiting in style huge historic websites. Personally, I can get simply overwhelmed by an excessive amount of noise and too many individuals.
Nonetheless, I’m fortunate to stay in a rural city surrounded by wealthy histories and small native historic websites. Considered one of these is Cross Kirk throughout the historic city of Peebles within the Scottish Borders.
Over the centuries, the positioning of Cross Kirk has been related to miracles. Picture © Robyn.
As a younger child I had visited Peebles and frolicked by the River Tweed many occasions however by no means as soon as been to the outdated kirk smash. I made a decision to embark on a quest from my hometown to Peebles by myself for the primary time.
Earlier than the journey
As an autistic individual, travelling to a city you haven’t been to in years was a bit bit terrifying and it was particularly daunting making an attempt to navigate round Peebles to seek out Cross Kirk.
As I usually do for any new place I’m going to, I did lots of analysis beforehand. I looked for instructions, journey info and pictures of Cross Kirk to assist ease my nervousness. This included, after all, researching every little thing and something on the historical past of Cross Kirk, as researching is my particular curiosity.
As a historic city friary, it’s not a historic web site I might usually select to go to. Nonetheless I realised as a smaller web site in a quiet space you will get very near the kirk smash which excited me.
I made a decision to go to as near the positioning opening as I may on a weekday morning to verify it was as quiet because it might be once I visited. And I made certain to select a day with good climate to keep away from being drenched whereas on web site.
Cross Kirk church in Peebles.
Cross Kirk is true within the coronary heart of a residential space in Peebles, hidden away amongst the homes down some very slim streets and much away from the busy loud Excessive Avenue. It might have been straightforward for me to overlook amongst the bushes if not for its large looming tower which greeted me as I approached the positioning’s gate. As I had hoped, the positioning was quiet with the one different customer – a neighborhood man and his very fluffy canine – sitting amongst the kirk ruins.
Sensory web site
The kirk itself is a mix of smash and a few well-preserved partitions. Though the tower is at the moment underneath conservation, it’s a constructing you’ll be able to really get a sense for.
Sure textures have been a no-go for me since I used to be younger. Nonetheless, the sensation of stone wall and its irregular bumps underneath my fingertips has been very grounding for me. And I used to be in luck as a result of, to my sensory delight, mainly the whole thing of Cross Kirk is fabricated from stone in several sizes and styles.
Memorial plaque to Clement Bryce Gunn. Picture © Robyn.
I spent lots of my time on the positioning in the primary a part of the kirk. It has been roofless since 1784, however is a really spacious enclosed space. The small pebble stones underneath my sneakers would crunch and jingle, the mushy calls of birds chirping and the enormous bushes swaying within the wind, as I moved round to take some pictures. Admiring the looming tower above me and the plaque on a facet wall devoted to a neighborhood previous historian and conservator of the positioning.
I spent lots of my time taking some pictures of the positioning. I loved discovering smaller particulars amongst the enormous construction. One element specifically was the knight’s helmet above one of many doorways into the kirk. And likewise taking within the sheer dimension of the remainder of the kirk. It had largely disappeared way back and is now marked within the floor by its foundations. I attempted to think about what the kirk would have regarded like even three centuries in the past, earlier than the cloisters had disappeared.
This carving of a knight’s helmet is perhaps an emblem linked to the Trinitarian monks who based the church. This holy order campaigned for the discharge of Christian Crusaders captured by Muslim forces within the Holy Land. Picture © Robyn.
Indulging my creativeness
To me and my creativeness as I left the positioning, the kirk felt extra like a small fortress quite than a friary with its towering partitions and massive heavy stones jutting out of each nook of the smash. It felt like a fortress too from the best way locals within the city appear to assemble across the web site. Cross Kirk is quiet however it’s not an unsettling silence. You get a greater sense of its historical past from the best way native folks nonetheless select to go to and use its house. Though maybe at present it’s used much less for religion worship and extra getting out right into a inexperienced house with a little bit of historical past.
Reflections
If there’s one factor I cherished visiting Cross Kirk as an autistic individual, it was attending to really feel for a historic web site with out a lot of folks, noise and limitations in the best way.
Picture © Robyn.
It felt very intimate and calming to have the ability to be up near a historic constructing and to really feel, see and contact one thing that locals within the space have been related to for hundreds of years. It made me recognize extra that while huge historic castles are actually cool and enjoyable, generally the smaller quieter extra rural websites are simply as thrilling and fascinating. There’s all the time a historic web site good for everybody to go to.
Concerning the writer
Robyn is a 22 12 months outdated French/Historical past graduate who likes spending their time creating artwork, studying comics and researching LGBTQ+ histories. In addition they spend lots of their free-time volunteering for YoungScot, LGBT Well being & Wellbeing and being vocal about LGBTQ+ points. Since graduating college, Robyn has been on an autistic journey of self-discovery after burning out academically and has spent the final whereas therapeutic by way of connecting with different late-diagnosed autistic LGBTQ+ younger folks.
Robyn is a part of the Historic Scot Youth Discussion board managed by Younger Scot and HES. Learn the Historic Scot Youth Discussion board: Closing Report and Youth Motion Plan.
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