CHURCH crawling is all the rage, as one man ably demonstrates in a considered canter around some of Herefordshire’s smaller but no less endearing places of worship.

While admiring and reverential about the collection, ‘Churches of the Marches’, John Kinross, whose book receives the blessing of Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Richard Frith, provides compelling descriptions and humorous asides.

A member of the Friends of Friendless Churches, his trawl around 38 lesser-known county churches –the Welsh borders, Shropshire and Cheshire are also included – is sprinkled with little adventures: being shown around a holy space by a dog, discovering a carved merman with an umbrella, or even cat-flaps fitted into pews.

No stranger to churches, Mr Kinross is a lay reader, and even takes services in his own parish when clergy are thin on the ground.

His previous books have studied castles and churches, and he acknowledges his wife’s ability to navigate him through unsignposted lanes in pursuit of ecclesiastical treasures.

Just over the border at Cwmyoy, the author admits to seasickness climbing the steep chancel steps – St Martin’s has some crazy angles as a result of a landslide – and in a Quaker meeting house he was given a guided tour by a dog. At Colva, he and his wife were met by sheep in the churchyard, and went on to inspect Victorian diarist Kilvert’s church and a 17th century ‘abracadabra charm’ for dealing with witchcraft.

St Peter and St Paul’s at Weobley has three statues harking back to a medieval love triangle. Lord Mowbray shared the same wife, Lady Agnes, with Sir Walter Devereux. Walter died at Pilleth in 1402 (the famous battle won by Owain Glyndwr), and Agnes married Mowbray. “It looks as if one rector has divided poor Agnes in half,” Mr Kinross notes.

In Shobdon church “strange cat-flaps” in the pews aroused his curiousity.

“Apparently these were for Bibles to stand in and wardens could tell at a glance who was missing.” At Llandinabo, the screen – one of the best in the county – includes mermen. “One looks as if he has an umbrella,” he writes.

His favourite church in Herefordshire – and the most difficult to find –Margaret’s in St Margaret’s parish with its “slightly to the right” bell turret once had a shuttered window from times when a sporty vicar enjoyed playing energetic bouts of fives.

The book does not claim to be a latter-day Pevsner guide, but it does provide a tantalising invitation to follow John Kinross’s alluring trail.

*Churches of the Marches by John Kinross is published by Amberley at £14.99.