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Newsletter
No. 9
Spring
2003
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Dear Friends,
In this issue we
look back at last Summers Heritage Open day, and forward to some new
developments in the restoration of the church. I'm also very grateful to
Fr Richard for the fascinating review of other medieval churches now in
use by the Roman Catholic church, produced here as a 'Special Supplement',
plus the second in our 'Friends of the Friends' series.
Last September the national Heritage Open Day had the theme of
'Young people'. To mark this, Friends of St Mary's got together
with the Young Archaeologists Club and Cricklade Museum to host
an investigation of the gravestones and commemorative monuments
in and around the church. The day was a great success, and many
thanks are due to Katy Whitaker from the YAC, and John Samways
from Cricklade museum for bringing it all together.
The
focus of the day was on teaching the skills of investigative
recording to the YAC members (ranging in age from around 8 to 14
years) and some significant discoveries were made. For example,
they re-discovered the gravestone pictured here. Though probably
not in its original position, it is the oldest in the
churchyard, and had not been previously recorded. It
commemorates Thoma[s?] Blakwell, who 'departed this life the
20th May 1676'. Background research at the National Monuments
Record Centre in Swindon
revealed, in the Wiltshire Record Society’s recent
facsimile reprint of Sir Thomas Philips 'Monumental Inscriptions
of Wiltshire' (1822), a list of memorials inside |
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the
church, prior to the 1860's century restoration. In addition to
the Painter family memorials, still in place in the chancel
beneath the east window, these included 'On a wood frame in West
end of South aisle' a memorial to Richard and Ann Skillin who
died in 1712 and 1738, and Mary their daughter who died aged 8
in 1714. A verse includes the following lines:
'…You
that are young prepare to dye
I
was young & near this place do lye'
No
trace of this memorial, or another memorial to William Leetch
(d. 1727) recorded by Philips on ‘a flat stone in the body of
the church’ now remain.
Further
information on the Young Archaeologists Club is available from
Katy Whitaker on 01793 414833 |
Friends of the Friends: Seymour
Aitken
As
well as raising money and organising events, the Friends of St Mary's is
there to celebrate the contribution made to the upkeep of the church
over the last twenty or so years by many individuals.
Seymour and Louise Aitken have, over the years hosted many Friends
events at their home and gardens in Cricklade High Street, a stone’s
throw from the church. Here Seymour recalls the last twenty years
involvement with St Mary’s.
“On
moving to Cricklade in April 1980, we soon became aware of the beautiful
little Church of St. Mary's across the street and the sad condition of
its fabric, also the desire of St. Sampson' s PCC to find an alternative
use for it, although occasional services were still being held there. We
took it upon ourselves to sweep up plaster that had fallen from the roof
and to polish brasses, and at festivals, such as Christmas, my family
decorated the church.
There
was a developing interest in St. Mary's from the Catholic congregation
based in the former Baptist Chapel in Calcutt Street when they became
faced with a repair bill of some thousands of pounds. At about the same
time the Cricklade Historical Society and Town Council recognised that
building as a potential site for a new museum in place of the cramped
location in the old Town Weighbridge office. Next to the chapel was a
small derelict site which could be sold, thus potentially benefiting the
Town, the Historical Society and the Roman Catholic congregation. There
was much discussion but no action. During the autumn of 1982 the Bishop
of Bristol, accompanied by the Archbishop of Bordeaux, expressed an
interest in visiting Malmesbury Abbey and St. Mary's in Cricklade. The
Vicar, the Rev. Ken Withington, was unable to welcome this delegation
and asked me to do so. My wife was at a meeting in London that day, so I
spent the morning sweeping the floors and benches in the church,
polishing brasses and scraping moss from the flags between the gate and
the porch. In the afternoon I settled down with Larousse to mug up the
architectural terms that would enable me to give the Archbishop a guided
tour in French.
He
arrived in gathering gloom around 16.00, looking bemused as he walked up
the path alone. The Bishop, his attendants and the Archbishop's retinue
soon appeared, but were either exhausted or beyond communication after
spending the afternoon en tour. Having quickly accomplished my
description of the reason for the church' s dilapidation -blaming
Concorde seemed a matter of mutual Anglo-French concern - I addressed
the gathering of about 20 people, welcoming them and making a
presentation to the Archbishop of a small print of the Norman cross.
When this was greeted with polite applause I got carried away: I
presented the church key as well. In the best tradition of delegation he
handed it to Father Eamon McGlinchey. That evening it was placed on the
altar at a service in Prior Park's chapel, and the uncertainty of St.
Mary's future was resolved.
My
family has had associations with St. Mary's in marriage ceremonies and
has been privileged to host its garden parties and other events. I was
able to offer advice to Father Eamon when he had "little
problems" as the building was being refurbished in 1983. Thus a
connection with Brook House has been maintained that had, in the past,
included reuse of panelling from the house in the furnishing of the
church. What a pleasure it is to be associated with its rejuvenation!”
Seymour
Aitken January 2003
Fundraising update - ENTRUST
The
focus of fundraising at the moment for the Friends
is on grant applications. At present the steering committee is
working through the process of registration with ENTRUST, a regulatory
body set up by the government to administer the distribution of funds
raised from a special tax imposed on landfill operators. Registration as
an ‘environmental body’ will allow us to apply for grants from this
source. The funds available
are considerable – in the tens of thousands of pounds range – and
our objectives fit well with the sort of work that ENTRUST has funded in
the past, the committee is hopeful that the long process of registration
will be well worth it.
Extraordinary General Meeting called
The
next meeting of the Friends steering committee will in fact be an
Extraordinary General Meeting, open to all members on the 11th
March, at St Mary’s church. You
should all have received a letter from Bernadette explaining the need
for this – we have to amend our constitution slightly to clarify our
not for profit status. This is a requirement of ENTRUST registration
(see above), and hopefully is a simple change that will command support
from all of us. Please do use the voting forms included with the letter
to indicate your preference.
Forthcoming
events:-
Mid-Summer
Our
main fundraising event for this year will be held to coincide
with the Cricklade Festival (14th to 22nd
June). We have provisional plans for an evening event on 20th
June, to follow on from the success of last years summer
evening concert. We’ll need help with the planning and
organisation of this, so if you’ve been hesitant about helping
out before now is the time to step forward!
Heritage
Open Day
The
Friends will, once again be taking part in this years Heritage
Open Day – a national scheme supported by English Heritage to
present buildings of historic interest to the general public.
This year the weekend of 12th
to 15th September for heritage open days. Details
will be available nearer the time, and on the Heritage Open Day
website at http://www.heritageopendays.org/
Both
events need your support! |
A new crucifix for St Mary’s
Fr
Richard has acquired for St Mary’s a rood (crucifix) for St Mary’s,
which now hangs above the Norman chancel arch. In former times this
location would have been the main visual focus for the congregation, and
was traditionally the site of a painting, such as a ‘Doom’ or Final
Judgement, which often featured the figure of Christ. Fr Richard
provides the following notes on the origin of this splendid addition to
the church:
“The
oak Rood above the Chancel arch was carved by Patrick Conoley of
Hartpury in 1960 when he was working for R.L. Boulton & Sons of
Cheltenham. It was commissioned for
the Chapel of the Annunciation at Lechlade where it hung behind the
altar until the closure of the chapel in 1998. Patrick Conoley is a
sculptor with over fifty years of experience and since 1965 he has
worked as a free-lance sculptor and has completed over 300 commissions
in wood, stone and marble including a carving of St Thomas of Canterbury
at Fairford. The small wooden crucifix in the Sanctuary was carved in Oberammagau and presented to
the church by Dorothy Foreman of Purton”
Fr
Richard has been compiling further information on the specifically
Catholic furnishings of the church. You can find further information on
the recently updated Friends of St Mary’s website at
http://welcome.to/friendsofstmarys.
Follow the link in the site ‘Table of Contents’ to ‘Church
Furnishings’.
North
chapel development
Fr
Richard reports...
This
year is the 1400th Anniversary of the meeting of St Augustine of
Canterbury with the Celtic Bishops in 603. One of the believed sites for
this meeting is of course at Latton/Down Ampney and the tradition
influenced the choice of the patron for the Catholic Church in Cricklade
from 1955-1983 (The present Museum).
I
am arranging for a Solemn Mass to be celebrated at St Mary's at 7pm on
Tuesday 27th May (Feast of St Augustine of Canterbury) to commemorate
the event. The preacher will be Rev Dom Austin Gurr O.S.B. Parish Priest
of St Gregory's Parish, Stratford-on-Avon. He is a keen Church historian
and a member of the Benedictine Community of Douai Abbey. I am hoping
that we can arrange a visit to the site of St Augustine's Oak and
Lertoll's Well during the afternoon of that day.
Now
that the Organ has left the North Chapel we could call this area St
Augustine's Chapel and perhaps consider commissioning a stained glass
portrait of him for the east lancet window. The window could both
commemorate the historic meeting and celebrate our former church.
An
application has been made to the HCC for a faculty to carry out the work
on the arch taht leads into the North chapel. We are hoping to be able
to remove the wooden support. The meeting is on Thursday 13th March, and
full details of what we propose are published in the Church porch.
Now
that the Town Council has assumed responsibility for the care of the
churchyard it is drawing up a scheme to carry out major tree surgery.
There is also a plan for a small sub-committee formed made up of
members of the Town Council's Community and Leisure Committee, a rep
from St Mary's and John Hickman the Churchwarden of St Sampson's. I have
invited Morton Outram to represent St Mary's on this committee and he
has kindly agreed.
With
every blessing,
Fr
Richard
|
Friends
of St Mary's Church Newsletter - Special Supplement - St Mary's Cricklade
- so its not unique!
St
Mary's Cricklade
-
so it is not unique after all!
It
was a very special occasion when the ancient church of St James
the Great at Postlip was re-opened for Catholic worship in 1891.
The building was constructed during the reign of King Stephen as a
chapel-of-ease to the great Benedictine Abbey at Winchcombe. It
fell into disuse at the Dissolution and although there is evidence
for a seventeenth century restoration it is most likely that it
was never used for Anglican worship. At the time of the Postlip
estate being acquired by Mr and Mrs Stuart Foster the chapel had
been used as a sheep pen for many years and much of the roof was
missing. Even though the location of the chapel is very isolated
the re-hallowing certainly caused something of a stir.
Cardinal
Manning was too ill to attend the service but he wrote in a letter
to Mr Foster, - “I should
be very glad to come and share your joy in restoring the old
chapel to Catholic worship, if it were in my power. But for many
months I have not left the house, and I am within a few weeks of
my eighty fourth year, so that I think I shall never again make a
journey, except the last. Twice already I have been present at the
return of two old sanctuaries – St Thomas at Northampton (sic)
and St Etheldreda in London. They are signs of the turn of the
tide. There can be no doubt that the heart and will of England,
once so hostile, if not friendly yet, nevertheless has no
malevolence against the Faith of our fathers.”
This
theme was taken up by the preacher, Dr Sullivan who, in outlining
the story of the chapel, added “But a change came over the land, the old Faith was cast out, the
altars were overturned, and this little chapel shared the fate of
the rest. And now it was sharing also in the resurrection and
restoration of the English Church.” At the conclusion of the
celebration ‘the Te Deum was sung in thanksgiving to God for the
signal favour granted to the Church in England, of receiving once
more, and dedicating to His service, one of the ancient temples of
the old days of Catholic faith in our country.’
Today
the little chapel situated in a sparsely inhabited valley, and
tucked behind Cleeve |
Hill
in Gloucestershire, is virtually forgotten. Mass is celebrated
there monthly during the summer and on a couple of occasions we
have taken groups of parishioners from Fairford there on
pilgrimage. During the late 1980’s/1990’s I formed a group of
Friends, which flourished for some years. As a result of this
interest the church was restored. Sadly there is still no obvious
pastoral role for the building and some would argue that this
little Norman chapel would make an ideal candidate for vesting in
the care of the Historic Chapels’ Trust.
What
of the other churches
that Cardinal Manning spoke of? The story of St Etheldreda’s
Church in Ely Place, London, is known to many of you. It is surely
one of the best-loved churches in central London with a
flourishing weekday ministry conducted by Fr Kit Cunningham and
other members of the Rosminian Order. Having been carefully
restored after wartime bombing, it still offers an atmospheric
liturgical environment brought alive by excellent music. St
Etheldreda’s has had a complex history, having been the chapel
of the Bishop of Ely, both Catholic and Anglican, until 1772 and
finally being leased to Welsh Episcopalians before it was
purchased for use as a Catholic Church in March 1874 at a cost of
£5,000.
It
was only after the sale that the Welsh learned that the property
had passed into Catholic hands. “Well, Sir,” said the Welsh clergyman, “I am sorry to have lost the old place, but this I will say: if we
were to lose it, I am glad it has passed into your hands, for you
will appreciate its beauty and, I have no doubt, restore it in a
way we should never do.”
On
St Etheldreda’s Day 1876 Cardinal Manning celebrated Mass in the
undercroft chapel, which had been restored before the main church
above. Later in the day, Fr Lockhart rejoiced that “for
the first time for three hundred years the old Gregorian tones of
the Latin Mass had been heard within walls in which their sound
had been unheard for centuries.”
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“On Sunday June 22nd,
1879, the eve of the feast of St Etheldreda, clergy, choir and
congregation assembled as usual in the undercroft chapel. After
the Litany of the Saints had been intoned the relic shrine (of St
Etheldreda) was removed from its temporary resting place behind
the side altar and carried in procession to the church above,
which was then sprinkled with holy water and the prayers for the
Reconciliation of a Desecrated Church were recited by Fr Lockhart
by special authorisation from the Cardinal; the tabernacle and
sacred images were blessed and the cortege went down again to the
undercroft to escort the Blessed Sacrament to its ancient home. On
the morning of the following day, the bell, sole protestant
instrument of cult to survive the change in Obedience, rang for
High Mass.”
The
church in Northampton,
spoken of by Cardinal Manning, was actually dedicated to St John
the Baptist and St John the Evangelist rather than St Thomas. It
was one of the few remaining medieval buildings in the Borough. It
was built in the twelfth century as a hospital to care for
pilgrims and the sick. During the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) a
Royal Charter was granted to the master and his brethren who
tended travellers. The hospital would have had a similar role to
the Hospitals of St John in Cricklade and Lechlade. During the
Reformation the property passed to the king but eventually in 1872
the site was sold to the Midland Railway Company. Five years later
Dr Amherst, the Bishop of Northampton, bought the chapel and
domicile for £2,500 and eventually it was opened on 19th
August 1882 by Cardinal Manning. By this action Dr Amherst saved
the remaining medieval building and preserved it for religious
use. In more recent years the floor of the medieval domicile was
removed to make a larger church and the old chapel was retained as
a Lady Chapel. This was followed by a programme of restoration
work, which was completed in July 1969, at an approximate cost of
£17,000.
In
1990 the decision was made to close this Grade I listed church and
this was met by a storm of protest from conservationists and
others. Fr Kenneth Payne, the then Administrator of the Cathedral
spoke of three factors leading to the closure of the church. “The
chapel is in a very awkward area, with a main road around it,
there is a very small congregation (six to twelve on weekdays and
rising to sixty on Sunday); and the upkeep of the building would
be too costly”. He added, “The
church is not in the business of restoring |
buildings. We must prioritise
our pastoral need”.
At
the time I actually wrote to the Catholic Herald asking the
question: “what has gone
wrong in Northampton?” “Surely,”
I added, “this town centre
place of worship could have a brighter future… such a small
building cannot be that costly to put in order. As a Grade 1
listed building it is surely eligible for substantial grant aid.
While the congregation is fairly small at present there is no
reason why a more flexible usage cannot be found. There is the
possibility of combining a smaller liturgical area with a
Christian coffee shop, book room or resource centre. I am
confident that I am not alone in saying that I would be prepared
to subscribe to a national appeal to save this interesting
building as a Catholic place of worship. Perhaps even now this sad
decision can be reversed if funds can be found.”
In
the event the church was closed and disposed of and, as Fr Payne
later wrote in reply to my letter, “the lack of money available was the least significant reason for the
decision taken”. One cannot help noting the difference in
attitude between that of our forefathers who delighted in
reconciling medieval places to Catholic usage and contemporary
Catholic leaders who are prepared to make the tough decision to
dispose of them! Gavin Stamp, the architectural historian, summed
this up quite bluntly when he said at the time: “The Roman
Catholic Church has no mechanism for looking after redundant
churches, and they are just left to rot. It has an atrocious
record in this field.” Mr Victor Hatley, a Northampton local
historian, added: “It is
deplorable that such an important building is allowed to pass out
of religious hands without some provision for its future”.
Another
medieval Catholic church
to have experienced a similar fate to Northampton is the Chapel of
St James at the old Bartestree Convent, near Hereford. This
medieval chapel started its life attached to Old Longworth manor
house and it was most probably built around 1400. After the
Reformation the chapel fell out of use and the manor house
buildings became part of a farm. By the seventeenth century the
chapel was used for cider making and it was later used as a barn
until its restoration. Robert Biddulph Phillips was a convert to
Catholicism and in 1851 he decided to restore the chapel as a
place of Catholic worship and to erect an adjoining presbytery. In
1864 Phillips went on |
to
found Bartestree Convent which is situated some distance away but,
in the same year, he died and was buried in the Longworth Chapel.
Eventually it was decided to rebuild the Longworth Chapel at
Bartestree Convent and this was done in 1869/70. The result has
been described as ‘not an identical copy of the medieval
building but a Victorian reinterpretation which used much of the
original material’. The architects Edward Welby Pugin and
Benjamin Bucknall have been involved with the nineteenth century
building work at Bartestree.
The
chapel has several Perpendicular windows and a fifteenth century
doorway. Inside the chapel there is a memorial brass, in memory of
Robert Biddulph Phillipps who died in 1864, which records details
of the story. ‘He restored this ancient domestic chapel and
built the adjoining presbytery, with the wish and intention that
here the Holy Sacrifice should again be offered in perpetuity for
the living and the dead. All you who come within these walls
remember this wish and say a prayer for him whose works we trust
do follow him’. With the closure of the convent the little
chapel now stands derelict and is waiting to be restored by the
Historic Chapels Trust.
The
chapel at Salmestone Grange, in Kent, is another example of a
medieval church disposed of by the Catholic Church. The property
was acquired during the 1930’s by the monks of St Augustine’s
Abbey at Ramsgate and has been described as one of the
best-preserved and most interesting examples of monastic granges
in Europe, having been used as a rural retreat by the Abbot and
monks of St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury. Today it is set in
beautiful, tranquil surroundings to the west of Margate. The
chapel itself was consecrated in 1326 and then fully restored in
the 1950’s. In recent years it was alienated from the Abbey at
Ramsgate and its chapel is now used as a non-denominational
location for marriage ceremonies.
To
this list we can also add the little Norman chapel of Our Lady of
the Meadow, at Dode near Gillingham in Kent. This is one of a
group of medieval churches that came to the notice of George
Matthews Arnold, a Catholic financier and antiquarian, who served
for eight terms as Mayor of Gravesend during the first quarter of
the twentieth century. Dode is a deserted village situated in a
remote valley, one and a half miles south of Luddesdown. The
chapel is two celled, consisting of a Norman nave and a
straight-ended chancel of |
coursed
flints. The building was restored in 1905/6 but not a single
dressed stone has remained. Sadly this fascinating little building
was disposed of by the Catholic Church in 1992 and is now
maintained as a private chapel used for all sorts of different
kinds of religious worship.
My
list has not ended.
The oldest centre of Catholic worship in the north of England was
sold in about 1990 having been leased to the Catholic Church for
many years by the Forestry Commission at an annual rate of £2
(twice what we pay the Anglican Diocese of Bristol for St
Mary’s, Cricklade!) This tiny chapel, situated in a medieval
Northumberland pele tower, had served as a chapel to the Catholic
Family of Selby who settled at Biddlestone, near Alwinton, in
1272. Now an isolated building, the Biddlestone chapel once
adjoined Biddlestone Hall, the demolished home of the Selbys. In
about 1820, when the family was rebuilding Biddlestone Hall, they
repaired the remains of the tower and constructed the upper chapel
over its undercroft. This meant that this former place of Catholic
worship was erected on what is probably a fourteenth century tower
basement. The Catholic Church declined the opportunity
to purchase the chapel from the Forestry Commission
“because there are very few Catholics in this area”.
Fortunately since 1997 it has been vested in the Historic Churches
Trust so it is still accessible to the public.
On
a much happier note
there is a number of medieval churches which are cherished as
Catholic places of worship. The ancient chapel of the Blessed
Trinity at Stonor has been used continuously for Mass since 1349.
The chapel of St Amand at East Hendred has had a similar history.
St Leonard’s Chapel at Hazlewood Castle, in the West Riding of
Yorkshire, was built in 1286 to replace an earlier one and
Catholic worship has been carried on here virtually unbroken for
nine hundred years. In 1970 the twelfth century Chapel of St John,
in the Keep of Berkeley Castle, was re-opened by Major John
Berkeley for Sunday Mass.
Religious
communities have medieval places of worship at Caldey Island and
St Peter’s Grange at Prinknash, in Gloucestershire. At Caldey
there is both the Catholic Parish Church of St David and the Old
Priory and St Illtud’s Church. In 1339 the then Bishop of
Worcester gave permission for Mass to be celebrated in an oratory
at Prinknash but it was not until the early 1520’s that the
present chapel was built by Abbot William Parker of |
St
Peter’s Abbey in Gloucester. When the Abbey was surrendered to
the king the grange at Prinknash passed into private hands and by
1628 the chapel was described as being in a ruinous condition, a
part of the wall having fallen down. The chapel was eventually
restored by Sir John Bridgeman who, in 1629, had it consecrated by
the Bishop of Gloucester. This was to be of interest three hundred
years later when the Benedictine community from Caldey Island
arrived to take possession of the Prinknash property. Could a
Roman Catholic religious community use a chapel which had been
consecrated for Anglican worship? The situation was resolved and
the beautiful chapel, with its sixteenth century glass depicting
the nine choirs of angels, has been used by the community ever
since.
Another
medieval church belonging to a religious community is at Hengrave
Hall in Suffolk. From the seventeenth century until 1887 members
of the Catholic Family of Gage owned the property. A few yards
from the house is the ancient church with its curious round Saxon
tower. This little church was built towards the end of the
fourteenth century, though there are traces of an older Saxon
church, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Having been
altered and restored sometime before 1540 a Lady Chapel was added
to the building. In 1589 it ceased to be a parish church and
instead became a family mausoleum. In more recent years the old
church served as a private chapel until 1952 when Hengrave became
the property of the Assumption nuns who brought their boarding
school for girls, from Kensington Square. The community and pupils
then used the Church for worship until the school was closed in
1974. Today it is known as the Church of Reconciliation and
services of all denominations are held there as well as the common
worship of the Hengrave Ecumenical Retreat and Conference Centre.
Within the Hall there is also an Oratory which contains a window
of early sixteenth century glass with 21 lights of Biblical
scenes, perhaps almost as perfect an example of the period as can
be found in the country.
We
must not forget the religious communities that have returned to
ancient sites, some of which were eve associated with their orders
before the Dissolution. These include the Benedictine nuns at
Minster Abbey in Kent, The Carmelites at Aylesford in Kent, the
Benedictine monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, and the Augustinians
at Clare in Suffolk. In recent years offers have been made |
to
return Blackfriars in Gloucester to the Dominican Order and
Greyfriars in the same city to the Franciscans but nothing has yet
come of either proposal.
Three
interesting sites that have been acquired by Catholic religious
orders are the Old Palace at Mayfield, in Sussex, New Hall in
Essex and Buckden Towers in Huntingdon.
Before the reign of Henry VIII Mayfield was the residence
of the Archbishops of Canterbury. Archbishop Reynolds built the
great hall about 1325 although Archbishop Islip (1356-1366) built
the greater part of the then palace and enlarged the great hall.
Seventeen Archbishops are known to have visited the palace from
1274-1530. After the Reformation the house passed out of church
hands and in 1740 the great hall of the old palace was dismantled
and fell largely into ruins. In 1863 a group of children from the
convent school at St Leonards, founded by Cornelia Connelly, came
for a picnic among the ruins. Later the site was given to her
order, the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and the Old Palace was
rebuilt as a school. By July 21st 1865 the work was
completed and Mass was celebrated in the great hall which had
become the school chapel. Another ancient palace now owned by a
religious order is the former Tudor Royal Palace of New Hall near
Chelmsford where the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre have run for
over 350 years what is the oldest independent Catholic girls’
school in England. Since 1957 the Claretian Missionaries have also
occupied Buckden Towers, the medieval residence of the Bishops of
Lincoln. During the nineteenth century the Catholic Church of St
James in Reading was built within the ruins of the former
Benedictine Abbey and the Church of St Mary was built by the Weld
Family in the grounds of the former Cistercian Abbey at Bindon in
Dorset.
Other
important medieval Catholic churches include the National Shrine
of Our Lady of Walsingham, Padley Chapel and the Chapel of Our
Lady of Mount Grace in North
Yorkshire.
The Slipper Chapel, or Chapel of St Catharine of Alexandria at
Houghton, was acquired by Miss Charlotte Boyd , a convert to the
Catholic Church, who in 1904 thoroughly repaired it at her own
expense, and built nearby a small house for a priest to live in.
The restored chapel was then given to the Benedictine community at
Downside who eventually handed it over to the Diocese of
Northampton. Bishop Youens decided to make the little chapel a
rallying point of the devotion to our Lady of Walsingham and to
this end he |
erected
a shrine of Our Lady. Eventually a new sacristy and a second
chapel were provided and the whole complex was consecrated by
Bishop Youens on 8th September 1938. The origin of the
chapel is unknown. It belongs to the elaborate late decorated
period of architecture, with a suggestion of the Perpendicular,
and since the Decorated style persisted in East Anglia after it
had been abandoned elsewhere, we cannot date it earlier than 1380.
It is quite small measuring only 28 feet 6 inches by 12 feet 5
inches and after the Dissolution it was a cottage for many years.
At
the beginning of the fifteenth century, in the parish of
Hathersage, in the County of Derby, on the north bank of the River
Derwent, stood the Manor House of Over Padley. Today, all that
remains of this once splendid Manor House are ruins with the
exception of the ancient domestic chapel, which was built over the
Gate House. In the sixteenth century this chapel became associated
with the Fitzherbert Family, who were Catholic recusants, together
with a number of Catholic martyrs, including Ralph Sherwin,
Nicholas Garlick, Roger Ludlam and Richard Sympson. The work of
restoration and the laying bare of the old foundations was begun
in 1933, and it was on August 24th of that year that
the original altar stone of the chapel was discovered. In 1946
Monsignor Hargreaves wrote, “The chapel still stands in which
Mass was said at the risk of the lives of priest and people, a
lasting monument to their constancy of faith, which, but for them
and others like them, would have been extinguished in this land.
Through the centuries their spirit has lived on, and now, after
more than three hundred years, Mass is once more said in this
chapel where they prayed so fervently that they and their children
should remain faithful.”
The
Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Grace, situated high on the Hambleton
Hills above the ruins of the medieval Carthusian monastery, was
built in about 1515 and returned to Catholic hands during the
1960’s. The ancient medieval shrines at Knaresbrough, and
Holywell also continue to draw present-day Catholic pilgrims. The
tiny chapel at Knaresborough is dedicated to Our Lady of the
Cragge and is carved out of solid rock. It was made in 1408 in
thanksgiving for the escape of the son of John the Mason. Half of
a mile away is the Cave of Saint Robert of Knaresborough. Both of
these came into the hands of the Trustees of the Catholic Parish
in 1922. 1n 1908, at the time when the Anglican Church purchased
the ruins of Glastonbury |
Abbey,
an attempt was made to purchase it for the Catholic Church but the
bid was unsuccessful. Two other ancient sites which have been
acquired and where churches have been built amid ancient ruins
include St Branoc’s at Braunton in North Devon and the
Passionist Retreat of St Non which is situated on the cliffs near
to St David’s.
In
the context of the Dode Chapel I spoke of a clutch of medieval
Catholic Churches in Kent. These include the Chapel of St
Katherine at Shorne near Gravesend; and St Mary’s Denton. St
Katherine’s Chapel is a fourteenth century flint chapel banded
with stone on the north side. It was nearly doubled in length
during the fifteenth century but, as a chantry chapel, it was
suppressed in 1545 by King Edward VI. For three hundred years it
served as a malthouse before George Arnold purchased it in 1897
and restored it. The chapel now has a nineteenth century tiled
roof and gabled ends but inside there is a double sedilia and
piscina. Like Bartestree, it has served as a convent chapel. St
Mary’s Church at Denton was originally the parish church of
Denton before the fourteenth century and then, having fallen into
ruins at the time of the Reformation, it was rescued and rebuilt
in 1901. It was opened as a Catholic Church in 1940. It is built
of flints with a tiled roof and much of the nave and chancel are
twelfth century although little medieval work is actually visible
from the outside.
The
Chapel of St Edmund at Dover is another interesting example. When
St Richard of Chichester visited the Maison Dieu at Dover in 1253
he was asked to consecrate this little chapel to St Edmund of
Abingdon who had been his friend and patron. The little chapel,
one of the smallest in England, had been erected in a cemetery.
Three days after the consecration St Richard died and his Requiem
was celebrated in the little church that he had consecrated. From
1544 the chapel ceased to be a place of worship and was given a
secular use. Artillery shells destroyed two shops that were hiding
the chapel in 1943, thankfully leaving the chapel itself
untouched. Attempts to get the building scheduled as an Ancient
Monument failed in 1963 and it was destined for demolition, but
was saved at the last moment.
In 1965 Father T.E. Tanner, the Catholic Parish Priest of
Dover, collected enough money to purchase the site and the
restored chapel was re-consecrated for worship by the Archbishop
of Southwark in 1968. In
1974 a non-denominational trust was set up to oversee the upkeep
of it and now it is a loved |
place
of pilgrimage where Mass is celebrated every Saturday morning.
Finally
there is a number of medieval churches that have passed into the
hands of the Catholic Church having been declared redundant by the
Church of England. One of the best known is the Church of St
Leonard at Malton, Yorkshire, dubbed ‘The Crown of Ryedale’.
It was originally established as a chapel of ease for the nearby
Gilbertine Monastery but became an Anglican Church from the time
of the Reformation until 1966, when it was decided to discontinue
services there because of the rising cost of maintaining a church
badly in need of restoration and repair. A notice on a blackboard
was placed in the porch of the church. It read as follows: “This
church is no longer in use, but please pray that it may have a
future worthy of its great past”. Five years later it was
legally transferred to the Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough as a
completely free ecumenical gift.
Today
St Leonard’s and St Mary’s is an active Catholic Parish
Church. Rather like at our own St Mary’s Church in Cricklade,
costly restoration work has been undertaken. During the winter of
1984 the spire was struck by lightening and the resulting damage
necessitated the replacement of the whole structure – a task
that brought with it a substantial debt to the parish. A
post-renewal survey subsequently revealed the fact that remedial
work to the tower was both urgent and essential. The work of
re-facing the tower upwards of the belfry was carried out during
1988/9 at a cost of £50,000. This was added to the previous
outstanding sum and brought the debt for refurbishment to a
staggering £88,000. Further to this, during 1989/90 the interior
of the church was re-ordered, new lighting was installed; the
heating system was converted from oil to gas, and a specially
designed wrought iron screen was fitted to delineate the Blessed
Sacrament Chapel. In more recent years a presbytery and parish
centre have been erected in the immediate environs of the church.
Besides
St Mary’s Church, Cricklade, another church leased to the
Catholic Church by the Anglican Diocese of Bristol is the Priory
Church of St James and the adjoining Church House situated in the
very heart of Bristol. The Church is all that remains of what was
once a large and prosperous Benedictine priory founded in 1129 by
Robert, Earl of Gloucester and under the jurisdiction of
Tewkesbury
|
Abbey.
Church House, which adjoins the north aisle of the church, may
well have its origins in the dormitory of the original twelfth
century priory. The church was fully restored in the early
1990’s by the Little Brothers of Nazareth and it has become a
centre of Eucharistic Adoration and, within the grounds of the
church, Walsingham House has been erected to provide a ministry to
men and women who are chemically dependent. Langport in Somerset
is an example of a redundant medieval church being generously
offered by an Anglican diocese but not accepted.
There
is also a number of medieval churches which have unusual Catholic
links. Various medieval Anglican Churches have within them chapels
belonging to Catholic families and examples occur at Arundel,
Sussex, Spetchley in Worcestershire, the Bardolf Aisle at
Mapledurham, East Hendred, and at Oxburgh in Norfolk
In
addition to the above there are now numerous medieval Anglican
Churches that are being used regularly for the celebration of
Mass. In Clifton Diocese these include Bruton, Bishop’s Cleeve,
Highworh, West Harptree, Bishop’s Lydiard and many others. It is
very heartening that Catholics and Anglicans can share their joint
heritage in this way and organizations such as the Wiltshire
Historic Churches Trust help us to share the joys and burdens of
maintaining this rich heritage for future generations.
Fr
Richard Barton, Fairford, Gloucs
January
2003
|
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St
Edmund’s Chapel Dover- A Visitor’s Guide |
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