The Church Mouse
Issue 7.
From the editor I am sure that most of you will have realised by now that this is not a monthly magazine nor does it have any kind of regular schedule, so I think that I had better stop dating the issues. The last sentence has just reminded me of the vagaries of predictive text and auto-complete; apparently it thinks that I have been eating the issues. In other articles it insists that churches have Lucy Gates and that some churches have become monsters. The discoveries at St Mary-at-Lambeth makes one wonder what else lies undiscovered in and around our churches. I am sorry that this article is unillustrated, this because of copyrights. One tabloid newspaper reported that the coffins were found in a basement, another example of the ignorance of so many regarding the church. In the article about cathedrals and minsters there is no mention of what I consider to be an anomaly. Bath Abbey is not a cathedral in spite of there being a bishop of Bath and Wells; the bishop’s seat is Wells. Wells, as you probably know, is the smallest cathedral city in England. One of the problems of a publication like this is that news items seem to pile up and are in danger of being discarded because they are out of date. A couple of items are included in this issue and the next issue will devote a large amount of its space to news reports.
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The Church Mouse
Issue 7.
Church , minster or cathedral? . The mystery tour coach driver sounded a little bewildered as he announced our approach to Doncaster, “My information” he said, “tells me that one of the places to visit is the Minster, I always thought that it was a cathedral. *No, it's a church.” declared one of the passengers. I was at the back of the coach and kept my own counsel. This incident came back to mind a little while ago when a discussion arose in the Facebook pages of a Doncaster (my home town) local history group on the same subject, where I tried to clarify the terms. So, what are minsters and cathedrals? We are discussing the Church of England; Anglican churches in Wales and Scotland are slightly different. Church, of course, is more or less any place of worship Defining a cathedral is fairly simple, it is the principal church of a diocese where the bishop has his cathedra or throne. To add to the confusion, some cathedrals are also known as Minsters ( e.g. York Southwell.) As with so much in the church, we have to go back to mediæval times for an answer to the minster question. The first use of the term minster is found in 7th century royal foundation charters. Originally designating a community of clergy endowed by charter with the obligation of maintaining the daily office of prayer. Minsters declined in importance as the parish system developed from the 11th century, but the name continued to be used for a cathedral, monastery, collegiate church or parish church which had originated with an Anglo-Saxon foundation. Eventually it began to be used for "any large or important church, especially a collegiate or cathedral church". Some minsters live on in the name of the town (Axminster,Upminster and Leominster for example). “But why has our parish church become a minster?” is the question being asked by many. The industrial revolution saw large changes in population distribution and new dioceses and cathedrals were created to answer the need. We now live, I am told, in a 'post-industrial' society and the situation has changed once more. The “urban minster” is a late twentieth century concept of the Church of England to answer the perceived needs of this modern society and give the church a focal point in some areas. Over the last few years a number of large urban areas have had their principal church given the honorific title of Minster. An Urban Minster plays many of the roles of a Cathedral in a city or conurbation which has no Cathedral Church. Its ministry is not primarily to a geographical parish, but to the whole city or township.
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The Church Mouse
Issue 7.
St Mary-at-Lambeth. Amazing Discovery. ‘Remains of five 'lost' Archbishops of Canterbury found’ says the headline. The story is as sensational as the headline suggests. First of all let us have quick look at the church’s history. Few churches have had as chequered a history as St Mary-at-Lambeth the present church dates from the 12th century, but restored (rebuilt is probably more accurate) in the Victorian period. There has been a church on the site since a wooden church was built by Edward the Confessor’s sister Goda in 1062. The church was badly damaged during the Second World War and although brought back to life, factors such as population movement led to its decline. In 1972, the church was made redundant, stated to be due, in part, to its dilapidation. The Church Commissioners obtained the necessary consents for demolition, the altar, bells, and pews were removed. The church contains the tomb of John Tradescant, and Rosemary Nicholson on visiting it was shocked to discover the church was boarded up and about to be demolished. She established the Tradescant Trust, obtaining a 99year lease from the Diocese of Southwark, who continue to own the land. The Trust rescued and repaired the structure in one of the great architectural conservation projects of its time. The church is now the Garden Museum. Now for the discovery The story of the recent discovery reads like the opening of a Dan Brown novel or an Indiana Jones film. The discovery was not made by archaeologists but by builders renovating the building. Karl Patten, from the building contractors Rooff, said his team were exposing the ground, lifting e flagstones in the church's chancel(, when they uncovered an entry to what looked like a tomb. Using a mobile phone camera on the end of a stick they saw what they described as a 'golden crown’ on top of a large number of coffins. The Director of the Garden Museum Christopher Woodward received a call from the builders and immediately assumed something had gone wrong with the project. "But wow, it was the crown - it's the mitre of an archbishop, glowing in the dark” he said. A red and gold mitre was resting on top of one of the coffins - which were stacked on top of each other in a brick-lined vault. The coffins are being left undisturbed with a glass panel in the chancel floor for visitors to catch a glimpse. Christopher Woodward explained that the crypt had been a highly unlikely discovery. The church was located near the Thames and could be flooded, and the Victorians had already cleared out hundreds if not thousands of coffins when they remodelled the building in the 19th century. The fact that these burials are important persons makes it all the more amazing that they should be unknown and undisturbed. So who is down there? Not all of the burials have been identified but it seems that at least five archbishops are interred in this crypt. Mr Christopher Woodward of the Garden Museum is reported as saying: "This church had two lives: it was the parish church of Lambeth, this little village by the river…but it was also a kind of annex to Lambeth Palace itself. And over the centuries a significant number of the archbishops' families and archbishops themselves chose to worship here, and chose to be buried here." Nameplates identify two of the coffins - Richard Bancroft (Archbishop from 1604 to 1610) And John Moore (1783 to 1805) whose wife, Catherine Moore, also had a coffin plate. Richard Bancroft was the chief overseer of the publication of the Authorised or King James Bible – which began in 1604 and was published in 1611. St Mary-at-Lambeth's records have also revealed that a further three archbishops were probably buried in the vault: Frederick Cornwallis (1768 to 1783), Matthew Hutton (1757 to 1758) and Thomas Tenison (1695 to 1715). A sixth Archbishop Thomas Secker (1758 to 1768) had his internal organs buried in a canister in the churchyard. Also identified from coffin plates was John Bettesworth (who lived from 1677 to 1751) who was the Dean of Arches ( the judge who sits at the ecclesiastical court of the Archbishop of Canterbury.)
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The Church Mouse
Issue 7.
St Asaph’s Cathedral Extension
The Church in Wales has announced that work has started on a major extension and refurbishment to St Asaph Cathedral. The new facilities will include a tea room, community meeting rooms and toilets. Cathedral officials have also applied for funding for an interactive display to "show-off the many treasures" inside. The third of a million-pound project has been designed by Newtown based architects Darnton B3. Grosvenor Construction from Kinmel Bay are carrying out the work. Commenced in April, the project is expected to take about five months. Extensive archĂŚological excavation has taken place to ensure no ancient graves are disturbed by the work. The Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Reverend Nigel Williams, said it had taken a long time to plan and that the new tearoom and facilities will be a major boost for tourism to the city, encouraging coach companies to stop in St Asaph and visit the cathedral and local area,
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The Church Mouse
Issue 7.
Although I had seen the Georgian architecture from outside, walking through the modern doors at the foot of a lofty 16th century tower into the neo-classical glory of James Gibbs’ Derby cathedral was quite breathtaking. All Saints Derby is not the towering Gothic building that is normally associated with cathedrals, but a bright and attractive place of worship that is one of the smallest British cathedrals. Formerly the parish church, it did not become a cathedral until 1927. James Gibbs had previously designed two well known London churches, St Mary-le-Strand and. St Martin-in-the Fields. The church's features are contributed to by its history, for much of its existence it was a Royal Peculiar and the centre, as it still is, for much of the civic life of the town. It is this history that presents us with some unusual features. As a Royal Peculiar it had its own Consistory Court and on the North wall, dating from 1643 is the canopied seat from which the Archdeacon would conduct ecclesiastical legal affairs of the Court. The Council has a pew with iron-work which, although modern, reflects much of the other works in the building. The Mayor's pew has iron-work by Robert Bakewell who also fabricated the Rood Screen in 1730. The gate outside the West door is also by Bakewell, although this came from a house in St Mary's Gate to replace one that 'disappeared’ during road widening in 1870. I am not a great fan of modern glass art, although I have to admit that the two windows by Ceri Richards, at the east end of the aisles, do add colour. I am told that they represent the dedication of the church, All Souls and All Saints, but I personally struggle with the symbolism. They are the only coloured windows in the cathedral. There is a ring of ten bells, all more than 300 years old. Of particular note is the carillon which plays three times each day. Surprisingly, in spite of the rebuilding over the years, there are quite a number of old memorials. In the south aisle is an unusual wooden effigy thought to be Robert Johnson, who was Sub-dean in 1527. The most famous monument, to Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (1527-1608), better known as Bess of Hardwick. This is a large in black and white marble edifice with a coloured life-sized effigy of Bess herself A small exhibition is adjacent to her memorial . She, together with many of her family, is buried in the vault below. They include the scientist Henry Cavendish (1731-1810) Across the nave in the north aisle is an alabaster monument to John Lawe, another SubDean of the 15th century (we don't know when he died as, although there is a space for it, nobody thought to insert the date!) Before leaving the Cathedral I must mention the Peregrine Falcon Project. In 2005 it was discovered that a pair of peregrine falcons had taken up residence on the cathedral tower ( I suppose that it's better than having bats in the belfry). In 2006 a nesting platform was installed, and the birds nested there in April. The same pair have successfully reared chicks every year since then. The Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project aims to bring people a little bit closer to these amazing wild birds of prey. Webcams have been installed to enable the birds to be seen at close range without being disturbed by human contact. 5
The Church Mouse
Issue 7.
St Peter's, Monkwearmouth St Peter's, Monkwearmouth, is off the normal tourist trail yet is an Important part of the story of Christianity in England. This was part of the monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow where Bede got his education and spent most of his life. Bede called it “one monastery in two places” The building of St Peter's, probably England’s oldest stone Church, began in 674 and amazingly in spite of all its vicissitudes and of that building still exists as part of the present church. It also boasts of the oldest stained glass introduced by Bishop Benedict in the 7th century, not alas a complete window but only portions. I discovered that some of this glass is on display in the nearby National Glass Centre ( I understand that other fragments are on display in Sunderland Museum and at Jarrow). The stained glass windows in the North aisle and the east windows depict saints and are 20th century. Perhaps even more than many other monastic settlements it has had difficult times. A 9 th century raid by the Vikings was followed by destruction by Malcolm III of Scotland in 1070. A period of restoration followed until the Dissolution, when it became a parish church. I was then to note that what had clearly been a cruciform church had become more of a nave and chancel building by the addition of a North aisle, not as I first surmised a Victorian 'improvement’ but a 13h - 14th century development. The monastic buildings were sold of by the Crown and incorporated into Jacobean mansion which, together with many historic documents, was destroyed by fire in 1790. The impact of the industrial revolution was great decline in the building as coal ships docking nearby tipped their ballast, partially burying the church; the porch was also let entirely covered. In 1866, in that Victorian period of Church restoration a lot of work was carried out and was fully restored by 1875. The church has a number of objects and features of interest. The from the early period of the church's history are the 7th century carvings in the porch, the abbot's seat and clergy bench and an early consecration cross. When I visited, the ambitious project to highlight the origins of the monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow, was well under way. Over £1million of Sunderland City Council's capital investment programme will be invested in the landscaping, interpretation and other planned improvements. Walls have been built to outline the original walls of the monastery, taking buried archaeological remains and using them as a modern garden, as the official blurb says “replicating the monastic footprint and incorporating interpretive material”. There are extensive plans for the development of the gardens
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