This post simply shows some photographs that I have found amusing for one reason or another in the past, in the hope that others may also find them enjoyable. They have been collected over the last couple of decades, and I am afraid I don’t know the source of some of them, but if any reader can supply the missing information, I would gladly acknowledge the photographer, or remove the pictures if required.
In this series of three related posts, I present transcripts of the press reports concerning the re-opening of All Saints church in Oakham in November 1858. This is done primarily to make the source documents for that event available and easily readable, and there is no discussion of their contents. That will come later. The material is all found in the British Newspaper Archive and the archive OCR text forms the basis of the transcripts, although. As with any OCR text, this has needed considerable editing, which, as I am sure the reader will find, has been imperfectly done. The material presented in the three parts is as follows.
LECTURE AT OAKHAM. ON ” GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE,” by the RE V. CANON JAMES.
Last Wednesday afternoon, the Rev. Thomas James., M.A.- hon. canon of Peterborough, vicar of Theddingworth, and one the secretaries of Architectural Court of the Archdeaconry of Northampton—a gentleman extensively known as an accomplished ecclesiologist and erudite and painstaking antiquary—delivered a lecture at the Old Castle Hall of Oakham, on ” Gothic Architecture,” with especial reference to the history and arrangements of the Church and Castle Hall in Oakham. The lecture was for the benefit of the Oakham Literary Institute —a young but progressing association, having for its object the advancement literature, art, and science, and the improvement the humbler classes of society. The weather, unfortunately, was of the most dreary and cheerless character, heavy searching rain descending during the whole of the day. Notwithstanding this very material draw back, a numerous and fashionable audience assembled in the Hall at the hour announced for the lecture at three o’clock. Geo. Finch, Esq., of Burley Hall, the owner of the Castle, presided on this occasion, and amongst the ladies and gentlemen present we noticed the following :—The Rev. W. S. Wood, the Rev. T. Byers, the Rev. J. E. Prescott, the Rev. J. M. Wingtield, the Rev. H. Jones, the Rev. C. Palmer, the Rev. H. J. Biggs, the Rev. R. T. King, tho Rev. Scudamore, Lord Campden, – Barnard, Esq., B. Adam, Esq., R. Harvey, Esq., J. Morton, Esq., H. Samson, Esq., &c, &c. The Oakham brass band was in attendance, and intervals played selections of music.
The Chairman opened the proceedings by observing that they had met in that venerable fabric for the purpose of hearing a lecture from the Rev. Mr. James, on Archaeology, as more especially connected with the Church of Oakham and the Old Castle in which they were at that time assembled. The date of its erection, which they saw upon the wall, was, he believed, incorrect, the hall having, in all probability, been constructed about the time William Rufus. It was a remnant of time when the country, both as regarded laity and clergy, were intently interested in the Crusades to the Holy Land—at a time when the country groaned under the Norman tyranny, and the people were the victims of regal despotism and of feudal violence. that age, the custom was to wear long-pointed shoes, and as the people had a very peculiar art of interpreting Scripture, they connected the prevailing fashion with the text, that ” No man can add one cubit to his stature,” and during the reigns Kings Henry the Second and John, the populace were firm believers in the long-pointed shoes as having something to do with religion. (Laughter.) But, happily, these ages of darkness and superstition had long since passed away, and the country no longer trembled ‘neath regal tyranny or baronial oppression. (Hear, hear.) Civil and religious liberty now prevailed through the length and breadth our highly favoured land, and all that now remained visible of these dark ages were splendid specimens of architecture. He would only mention that four out of the possessors of the Castle in which they were assembled had been executed for high treason ; the first was the Earl of Kent, in the reign of King Edward the Third, the second, the Duke Buckingham, in the reign Richard the Third; of whose fate Shakespere had informed them when he w rote :
“The Duke of Buckingham, my lord. Then off with his head “
— a second Duke of Buckingham in the reign of Henry the Eighth; and the fourth, Lord Thomas Cromwell, beheaded in the year 1540. He could only say that he sincerely trusted that the present and future possessors might never meet with a similar fate. (Loud cheers.) He might go much further in referring to the history and associations of Oakham Castle, but he would not intrench upon the province so erudite and able lecturer as Mr. James, who was, he was quite sure, much better qualified interest them. He begged to introduce to the meeting Mr. James. (Loud applause.)
The Rev. T. James then entered upon a most elaborate, instructive, and interesting lecture on the character, progress, arrangement, and utility gothic architecture, divided as it were into two parts, the first being illustrated by references to the Castle of Oakham, and the second descriptions of the church which has been recently restored, and which is one the finest specimens of gothic architecture to be found among the churches of England. The Committee of the Oakham Literary Institute desire to publish the lecture in its entirety for the benefit of the society, and therefore, their request, we only present our readers with a brief outline of Mr. James’ paper. He commenced by observing at one of their architectural meetings, a gentleman had accosted him by the enquiry whether he was Mr. James the architect and of course he told him, as he now told them, that he was not Mr. James the architect or the architect either. He much regretted that in undertaking a subject of such magnitude his knowledge of it was so superficial ; and he might as well tell them at the outset that he should in the course of his lecture draw largely upon the researches which the eminent knowledge of his friends (Mr. Poole and Mr. Hartshorn) had enabled them to make ; and he did this with the more confidence because he should not think for one moment of placing himself on a level with those gentlemen. As its name implied, architecture was the mistress art. With the gentleman who addressed him as an architect, many believed that the name architecture was derived from its connection with arches; but this was not so, although it might be said to begin with the arch. In fact, there could be architecture without the span of the arch stretching from pillar to pillar. The lecturer referred to some diagrams illustrating the early and progressive styles architecture, commencing with the stones placed one” upon another as at Stonehenge, next the Saxon, then the Norman, and finally the Gothic. These styles he lucidly described and illustrated. He observed that the various styles of architecture, more or less, ran into one another. It was quite impossible for anyone to say —here the Norman ends, and here the Saxon begins. Our forefathers never paid attention to styles—they went on building, putting the very best materials they could find into the best possible forms, just the same as they used to write, without any regard to the rules of grammar. Mr. James then pointed out that the arches of the windows inside the Castle Hall were round, while outside they were pointed. Oakham Hall marked the transitional period in architecture. It was the site of a Royal Hall, for a hall at Oakham was mentioned when King Edward the Confessor made his survey. Referring to the remarks of the chairman, the lecturer gave some interesting details of the early possession of the Castle of Oakham. Of these he made special mention of Walcheline de Ferrars, a younger son the Earl of Derby, lo whom Henry II. granted the manor, and created Baron of Oakham. This same Walcheline de Ferrars was a bit of poacher and a bit of a roystjer, having displayed a fondness for hunting the Royal game, while many time he Old Hall in which they sat had been the scene of feasting and merriment. De Ferrars joined King Richard I. in his crusade to the Holy Land and was last heard of the romantic siege of Acre, where he died. Alluding to the fact that four possessors of the Castle of Oakham had been executed for treason, the lecturer said it was not at all improbable that more than these had been guilty of treasonable practices, although they were not perhaps detected
Treason doth never prosper. What’s the reason? When it doth prosper, Men don’t call it treason.
After describing the persons through whose hands the Castle of Oakham successively passed until it came into the possession of its present most worthy and respected owner, Mr. James said it had been supposed some that the Castle was a chapel to some great building, but that was a most erroneous impression, formed through a notion that the piers and arches were peculiar to ecclesiastical edifices. They were not so, the Gothic in olden times being the prevailing style for buildings domestic as well as ecclesiastic. Oakham Castle Hall regarded as the finest domestic room in England, and, in »’* probability, it was the finest part of the Castle. They must not suppose that the ancient Castle was fortified with keep, bastions, and towers, as in the neighbouring Castle of Rockingham. Oakham Castle never had any defensive works, except the outer wall. The entrance door in the hall, he observed, was not now in the proper place. It was mentioned in Wright’s History of Rutlandshire that the door was in the corner, but it had been removed to the centre of the building- At the end of the hall which he stood the King’s chamber, all probability, existed, and he had been told Mr. Heneage Finch that in dry summers—which, of course, this was not —traces of buildings were to be found on the west as well ** the east side. Mr. Heneage Finch had also told him that remembered a tower on the east wall, and there probably existed the postern which connected the Castle with the town. Mr. H. Finch also remembered a round tower on the westside. The lecturer next went on to describe the purposes for the hall had been used in olden times and gave a graphic word picture of what he supposed it to be in the days of Walcheline de Ferrars. There, in all probability, a sort of rough justice was administered the Baron, and there also the reveling and feasting took place. They must imagine the hall cleared of its present furniture, and substitute stout oaken benches for seats, with boards placed upon plain for tables, the only deviation from the arrangement being an arras of tapestry at the west end, where the lord sat. The windows were unglazed; the fire was placed on a raised platform in the centre of the hall, the smoke escaping by the windows after the fashion prevalent in the cabins of the Irish. In the evening the custom was to put wooden shutters to the windows, which it would be observed be admirably shaped for the purpose, and this they did at an early hour, showing that in those days they were supporters of the early closing movement. (Laughter.) The hounds crouched by their masters’ side, and their hawks perched above their heads. Here they quaffed wines from Greece and Cyprus and feasted upon lamprey and herring pies. The ladies and gentlemen sat at tables alternately, and it was the height of refinement then to eat off the same plate. (Laughter.) The only knife used was the claspknife, which the gentleman most likely took unsheathed from his girdle, and napkins would be in considerable request considering that large proportion of the food had to taken with the fingers. He (the lecturer) observed that it was well known that finger napkins were commonly used as early as the 13th and century. The chief Personages in those days sat at the upper end the table, and the humbler ones at the lower end—the salt cellar—which by way ought to spelled with the s and not the c—dividing the upper and under crusts of society. (Laughter.) He had thus endeavoured to introduce a few somewhat interesting details with the dry dish which he had to place before them; and determined to do so as soon as he knew he was to speak in hall, which was to them all so rich in association. (Applause)
The lecturer then proceeded to the more direct portion of his subject, pointing out on the diagrams the three styles of c architecture, viz., Early English, 13th century”; Decorated. 14th century; Perpendicular, 15th century. The first or early English arch they would observe was round, from one centre, the second or decorated arch, sprung from two centres; and the third arch he believed came from four centres- These styles were all to be found in the church of Oakham- enumerated the different parts of the church in which the three styles of Gothic architecture were observable, specially, remarking upon the pillar-shafts in the chancel, which were the 14th century, while the capitals and bases were Tudor work, at least 150 years later. The lecturer quoted some elaborate remarks of the Rev. A. Poole’s on this subject, as also an translation from the Latin, referring to the transfer of Simon de Langham (who was not very popular) from the see of Ely to Canterbury. About the middle the 16th century, strict attention to ecclesiastical architecture ceased, and modern commenced. People had their attention occupied in ways. Gothic architecture was essentially un-Romish in its character, and he believed there was only one church in Rom which affects this style. The great Papal Church of St. Peter’s at Rome is in the classic style of architecture, and not in the Gothic, to which it is totally opposed. If faith were judged by architecture, then it would be more proper to condemn St. Paul’s than Westminster Abbey, for the former was far more in the Romish style. (Hear, hear.) He then adverted to the arrangements of Oakham Church and congratulated the inhabitants on the good feeling they had manifested in the restoration of the church. They had now obtained a building most suitable for the proper and reverential worship of Almighty God. No square room could ever have been appropriate, or of half so much utility. They had a church of which they ought to be indeed proud, and any apology for a beautiful structure would very much like Bishop Watsons apology for the Bible. He contended that Gothic churches had tendency to produce devotional feeling in the hearts the worshippers. Alluding to the arrangements of Gothic churches, the lecturer said originally the porch of the church was intended for the unbaptised, the nave for the great body of the people, and the chancel for the clergy for the celebration of the Holy Communion; the upper part being the presbytery, and the lower part was apportioned to the choir. These churches were built in the form of the or the Greek cross, plans which he pointed out to the audience. minutely referred to the general arrangements and particular features in Gothic churches, ably associating his remark with Oakham church. He alluded to its condition before its restoration, and said in that respect its history was the history of nearly every church in the country. Pleasantly touching upon bygone days when it was said that old ladies sat in church with their umbrellas up, and the pulpit to the last in mourning for George III. Mr. James drew attention to two plans—one of the church before the restoration with its high boxed-up pews, and the other since its improvement, remarking that they had, indeed, much cause for thankfulness and congratulation at such a pleasing change. As they entered the church they would observe the font, emblematical of regeneration; at the east end the altar, devoted to tb second and higher sacrament, not shutout from the laity. reverently guarded the pulpit on the north or gospel side (called from the Gospel being read on the north side of the altar) not hiding the Communion table ; the Bible desk or lectern standing facing the people in order that all might hear the words addressed to them ; the Prayer desk more lowly as in accordance with the spirit of prayer, and not facing the as if the supplication was to them and not to God ; the congregation seated themselves in the nave in open and uniform seats that there should be no distinction in God’s house ; and so there might be no distraction all looked to the east, from where the Sun Righteousness arose. (Hear). And while on subject he might observe that the practice of placing the altar the east end of churches was copied from the Primitive and not from the Romish church. The altar in most Romish places of worship was placed at the west end, as at St. Peter’s Rome. Some slight divergence from the east was observable in the chancel of Oakham church, for which several reasons had been given, but they were not worthy of credence. The triple divisions of nave, chancel, and altar were still preserved but no rood screen now shut out the laity—it was open alike to all. (Applause.) It was held by some that the multiplied pillars in gothic churches were an obstruction to properly seeing what was going on, but he thought broken church induced feelings more reverential, more solemn, and more able for worship than would be produced by four square walls like a concert room. (Hear, hear.) In speaking of the costly decorations in Oakham church, the lecturer mentioned masks, &c, to be found there; and also, a very curious representation of a fox running away with a goose on its back followed the disconsolate goslings, and a man running after Reynard with a broom in his hand. All the carving in the church with one exception—which he had himself detected was of the 14th and 15th century. He mentioned that a cupboard in the eastern wall, behind the altar, which might have been used as a receptacle for relics, or for receiving the stoup of holy water which stood at the chancel door*. This receptacle was often confounded with the piscina, —which as they were doubtless aware of had a drain connected with it — used for washing out the chalice from the communion table. The tower of the church was what is called engaged tower from the fact of the east side being within the church. On the exterior there were figures in niches in the toner, which in days of fanatical excitement were rarely spared. The vestry was two storied, in all probability it was formerly used as the dwelling of an anchorite, that being a prevailing custom at one time. There was a similar instance of a two storied room attached to the church at Barnack, near Stamford. Of Gilbert Scott he must say that had carried out the work restoration in the most Conservative spirit, preserving thing interesting and valuable, clearing away only what was unseemly and unnecessary. The restoration committee did everything in their power to promote the work, and they the satisfaction of having their labours crowned with success. He had the more pleasure in speaking upon this subject, ‘ much as he was asked to take part in the work, which, the exception of his own church, afforded him more pleasure than any labour he was ever engaged in. (Applause.). There were yet a few matters to be done to place the church in finished state which they all desired to see-; and he felt sure that the energy and liberality of private individuals would not leave them long to wait. (Hear, hear.) Among other matters, he should like to see two official pews for the church wardens, who held a high and responsible office in the church (Hear, hear.) Oakham Church, as a whole, was very effective and beautiful, and there could be no better proof than that of its architectural excellence. The various styles in the combined to make one effective whole, and he quite with Mr. Scott that it ought not to be spoiled by superfluity ornamentation. (Hear, hear.) After some further observations, Mr. James concluded by reiterating the pleasure b received from being permitted to take part in the work restoring that noble church, which he regarded with unmitigated satisfaction.
The Rev. W. S. Wood (headmaster of Oakham Grammar School) as president of the Literary Institute, proposed a vote of to the Rev. Mr. James for his able lecture, and the vote was accorded with acclamation.
The Chairman, in announcing that the meeting was closed, expressed the great interest and gratification he had received from the lecture which Mr. James had just delivered to and for which they all thanked him so much. He (the Chairman) was glad Mr. James had set him right as to the date of the hall, which would be 1100. In the other remarks made relative to the hall, it appeared that he was in the main correct. Mr. James, to whose valuable and zealous labours in the work of restoring the church he could bear testimony, had given them a most complete history of Gothic architecture. – many valuable interesting details of that old hall and their noble church. He was very glad that its arrangements more after the Primitive than the Romish Church, although if the Papal church erred in no graver matters than its architecture, it would be well (Loud applause.)
The band then played the National Anthem, and the company left the hall.
* There is a similar receptacle in the east wall, behind the altar, in the parish church of Navenby by Lincoln.
In this series of three related posts, I present transcripts of the press reports concerning the re-opening of All Saints church in Oakham in November 1858. This is done primarily to make the source documents for that event available and easily readable, and there is no discussion of their contents. That will come later. The material is all found in the British Newspaper Archive and the archive OCR text forms the basis of the transcripts, although. As with any OCR text, this has needed considerable editing, which, as I am sure the reader will find, has been imperfectly done. The material presented in the three parts is as follows.
Amidst the numerous church restorations which have recently been made in this county and district, the one at Oakham is certainly one of the most complete and perfect every detail. The church had for some time past fallen into a sad state of decay, and the worthy vicar, the Rev. Heneage Finch, determined, with other friends, if possible, to restore the fabric throughout, besides giving more seat accommodation. The old fashioned, high-backed pews, and west end gallery having long proved inefficient for the requirements of the parish, it was determined once to remove them. After some delay, sufficient sum was raised by subscription to warrant the commencement of the work, Mr. G. Pinch having headed the list with the handsome sum of £1000, the Vicar and others also contributing largely.
The church itself is mostly in the Perpendicular style, having been built in the 15th century, and is considered to be the finest specimen of ecclesiastical architecture in the county. The roof had fallen into a fearful state of decay and has been thoroughly restored. The Chancel has had entirely a new roof, composed of English oak, very richly panelled in the Decorated style, and contains some very fine tracery. The groundwork of the altar consists of very fine traceried carved bosses, which has a fine appearance. The nave, aisle, and transept have also been entirely restored with English oak. The south chapel has an exceedingly beautiful ceiling in oak, enriched with moulded ribs and carved bosses intersections, with traceried panels. The whole of the roofs are covered with new lead, the old being entirely removed. The western entrance, which was formerly blocked up, only being used the ringers, is now made the principal entrance. The first stage of the tower has now a new ringing floor, and the bells, which are six in number, have been re-hung in new oak frames. Two of the bells have been re-cast by Mears, of London. A new clock is also in course of erection, by Dent, of London, which is to have two faces, one looking south and the other west, and is to strike the quarters. A new east window of five lights has been put into the chancel, glazed with diamond quarries of cathedral glass, with cast-iron saddle bars. The shafts of this window are of fine Derbyshire polished marble. The interior of the church has undergone a thorough reseating, open seats having (as before stated) been substituted for pews, whereby 300 additional free sittings have been gained for the poor. The seats are made of the finest wainscot oak, with moulded ends, having carved terminations. The low screen dividing the chancel from the nave, is also of oak, filled with open tracery, richly carved. The pulpit, which is also of oak, is supported by a bracketed pedestal, the panels being filled with rich tracery. The north and south screens, separating the aisles from the chancel, have very rich moulded tracery and embattled cornices. The stalls in the chancel, and reading desks are exceedingly rich in detail, having foliage, representing the holly, oak, vine, and hop, beautifully carved on the terminations. The altar-rail is also of oak, with lozenge-formed compartments, and the table itself is of massive oak, supported on six octagon shafts, richly moulded. The old South doors have also undergone a thorough restoration, according to their original features, and are of a very massive character. The West and North doors are of oak, framed in small compartments, covered with rustic bordering, with ornamental hinges, &c. The body of the church is laid with black and red Staffordshire quarries, and the chancel and sacrarium are paved with Minton’s encaustic tiles, from designs furnished by the Rev. Lord Alwyne Compton, and are exquisitely beautiful. The south side of the sacrarium is furnished with a credence table in Caen stone. The glazing is entirely new throughout the church, the windows being all filled in with cathedral glass of a light green tint, and of a small lozenge pattern. Ail the stonework has been thoroughly cleaned from whitewash, and brought to its original colour, as well as entirely restored. The old stoves have been done away with, and a new apparatus on the most approved principle of warming by water, has been erected by Messrs. Rosser, of Millbank-street, Westminster. The church is beautifully lighted with rich metal gas standards, of 20 jets each, the two chancel lights being extremely elegant in design and workmanship, every alternate burner forming a star. They were supplied by Messrs. Skidmore, of Coventry. The whole of the woodwork and carving has been done by Mr. Ruddell of Peterborough, in his usual style of excellence; and the masonry has been executed in a very superior style by Mr. Thomson, also Peterborough. Both these gentlemen were the contractors for St. George’s Church at Doncaster. The total cost has been between six and seven thousand pounds, the whole having been subscribed, with the exception of about £300. We had almost forgotten to mention that the old Norman font, which is evidently older than the present church, has been cleaned and restored, and refixed at the west entrance. The whole the work has been carried out under the direction that talented ecclesiastical architect, G. G. Scott, Esq., of Spring Gardens, London; and Mr. Geo. Clarke, clerk of the works of the Lichfield cathedra], has had the superintending of the works.
The re-opening of the church was fixed for Wednesday and Thursday last. Morning service commenced Wednesday, at 11 o’clock, when the church was filled a very large congregation, the admission up ten minutes to eleven being ticket only. At eleven o’clock a procession was formed from the new grammar-school to the church, in the following order:
Sexton
Choir boys
Choir
Committee
Churchwardens, Messrs. Davis and Ratcliffe
Clergy in gowns
Clergy in surplices – Rev. W. L. Wood, Rev. W. King, Hon. and Rev. A. G. Stuart, Rev. Thos. Yard, Rev. Heneage Pinch, and Rev. E. Meyrick Goulbourn.
The clergymen in the procession numbered about 50.
The choir of St. John’s church, Leicester, attended, and Herr Schneider, organist of St. John’s, presided at the harmonium, there being no organ at present.
Morning prayers were read by the Rev. W. Wingfield, assisted the Rev. R. Sorsbie, the Rev. W. J. Wood, the Rev. Heneage Finch, the Rev. J. R. Woodford, the Rev. A. 0. Stuart, and the Rev. T. Yard. The offertory was read by the Rev. J. R. Woodward.
Amongst those who were present we noticed the Hon. H. Noel and party, Hon. Colonel Lowther and party. Lord Wensleydale, Mr. George and Lady Louisa Finch, Sir John and Lady Trollope, Sir R. Sheffield, Edwd. Cayley, Esq. (Stamford), W. A. Pochin, Esq., W. Rudkin, Esq., W. Sharrard, Esq., J. Painter, Esq., Mr. Buftress(Wymondham),. Messrs. Wellington (Oakham), Hawthorn (Uppingham), the Rev. H. Finch (vicar). Dr. Goulbourn, Hon. and Rev. A. G. Stuart, Rev. Thos. Yard, Hon. and Rev. Leland Noel, Rev. Thos. James, Rev. J. R. Woodford, Rev. W. S. Wood, Bev. R. King, Rev. C. A. Stevens, Rev. C. E. Pritchard, Rev. Nowell Twopenny, Rev. C. H. Atlay, Rev. H. Wingtield, Rev. R. Sorsbie, Rev. J. W. Skevingham. Rev. J. H. Milne, Rev. G. E. Gillett, Rev. H. J. Rev. G. A. Poole, Rev. C. E. Prescott, Rev. J. H. Noyes, Rev. Lovick Cooper, Rev. S. E. Gretton, Rev. Si, G. Bellairs, &c.
The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Goulbourn. of Quebec Chapel, Loudon, from the 3rd chapter of Exodus, and the 5th verse “ Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” The rev. gentleman said, in the passage he had just read was wrapt up the doctrine of sacred places. Now, what was a sacred place – in what sense could one place be more sacred than another No doubt the popular answer would be, that wherever Christ was present was sacred. Now such a meaning would have the strictest sanction of scripture. It was true that the Lord Jesus was present in every Christian congregation, but was it not also true, that God was present in every district of the universe? Go where you would, you could not escape from Him; He was there. If he scaled the tops of the highest mountains or descended into the bowels of the earth. He was there also. If he took the wings of the morning and remained in the uttermost parts of the seas. He was there. God was present everywhere. How then did it come to pass that such passages as these harmonised with what had been said that his presence was limited to certain places? The answer was very simple. When God was spoken of present certain places. His manifested presence was meant. The definition of sacred place was, where God manifested Himself the eye of the body or the eye of the mind. The rev. gentleman then went on to speak respecting the consecration of churches. He said, as regarded the consecration of a building, it did not make it, it only recognised it as holy. Just the coronation of king did not make that person king, for he was king soon as the breath had left the body of his predecessor; it only made him responsible for his office. In the same way, when a church was consecrated it could only be used for sacred purposes, and the building was made sacred in the truest and highest sense of the word. The ordinary manifestation of the Divine Being was made in the Church. He would now turn to the extraordinary. He then instanced the appearance of the angel to Joshua, and Jacob’s vision, as extraordinary manifestations. But it was not accordance with our new dispensation that such manifestations should now be carried on; yet God manifested himself in Christ even now to the conscience and heart of the true Christian. This was a much higher manifestation than the preceding one. It was the manifestation of Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit which impressed the house of prayer with that sanctity which possessed. The rev. gentleman then went to refer to the practice that was required be adopted holy places under the old dispensation, The custom was to take off the shoes, on entering a sacred plane, to show allegiance to God; but the custom in our day was different. Instead of uncovering the feet, we uncover the head. The postures also should be distinctly preserved, standing and kneeling at the proper time. This should be attended by all, except those who are prevented by age or bodily infirmity. All communication with each other while in church should avoided milch possible. But the most important point of outward reverential conduct, was to join in the service in an audible voice. It was not at all proper to lay the burden upon few; but let them all join together seeing that the service of prayer and praise, in which they all had common interest, were properly carried out. Let it not thought that this class of duties were as trifling they might seem first sight. They rested upon the purest and most important principles. Man was bound to yield to God the homage of bis entire nature; and the homage of the body ought to be subservient to that of the spirit. But if they merely bowed the head, and had no corresponding feeing at the heart, It was the worst of mockeries. The rev. gentleman concluded bis sermon, of which this is the merest outline, by some observations respecting the restoration of the church. He said great advantages had been rained the alteration, and this above all others, that several hundred free sittings had been secured for the use of the poor by the substitution of open seats for pews. To see a church choked up with high pews, only occupied the higher classes, could not but be revolting to every right mind. But now the case was different; rich and poor could all worship together without any distinction. All grades ought to be on a level while in church. He was sure it must be highly gratifying to those persons who had subscribed towards the alterations, to think that they had been the means of contributing something towards affording greater accommodation for the population of the parish. But the same time there was a deficit on the restoration fund of about £300, which he hoped they would remove.
At the close of the sermon, a collection was made, and the handsome sum of £174. Is. 6d. obtained. At the afternoon service, the church was again filled with a respectable congregation. Prayers were read the Rev. M. Wingfield, Rev. Robt. Sorsbie, Rev. Timothy and the Rev. J. A very impressive sermon was preached by the Rev. Canon James, of Theddingworth, who took for his text the 11th chapter of St. Luke, and the 25th vers ” And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.” At the close, the sum of £31.7s 1 ½d was obtained.
Services were to be held yesterday (Thursday), and also next Sunday, but we have not been able to obtain the amount collected.
We might mention that every accommodation was provided for visitors, refreshments being set out the Agricultural Hall, which was thrown open for free inspection during the day.
On Friday night last, the committee, contractors, and workmen to the number of 60, supped together in the Agricultural Hall, Mr. B. Adam, solicitor, Oakham, presiding, supported by Mr. Wellington and Mr. Mortin. The usual loyal toasts were given, and the health of the Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese was very ably responded to by the Rev. W. S. Wood, head master of the Grammar School.
In this series of three related posts, I present transcripts of the press reports concerning the re-opening of All Saints church in Oakham in November 1858. This is done primarily to make the source documents for that event available and easily readable, and there is no discussion of their contents. That will come later. The material is all found in the British Newspaper Archive and the archive OCR text forms the basis of the transcripts, although. As with any OCR text, this has needed considerable editing, which, as I am sure the reader will find, has been imperfectly done. The material presented in the three parts is as follows.
ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH, OAKHAM.
THE RESTORATION of this Church, in which great and general interest has been shown, is now so near completion that the of November may fixed for the RE-OPENING. It is purposed, therefore (D.V.), to have Divine Service, on WEDNESDAY, November 10th, Eleven o’clock am., Morning Prayer, with Sermon by
THE REV. E. MEYRICK GOULBURN, D.C.L,
Chaplain in ordinary to Her Majesty, and Minister Quebec Chapel, London;
Three o’clock, p.m., Evening Prayer, with Sermon by
THE REY. CANON JAMES, M.A.
Rural Dean, Vicar of Theddingworth and Sibbertoft.
On THURSDAY, November 11th, Seven o’clock p.m., Evening Prayer, with a Sermon by
THE BEV. J. R. WOODFORD, M.A.
Vicar of Kempsford, Gloucestershire.
On SUNDAY, November 14th, Eleven o’clock, in, Morning Prayer and Holy Communion, with a Sermon by
THE HON. and REV. CANON STUART, M.A.
Rector of Cottesmore.
6.30. p.m., Evening Prayer, with Sermon by
THE REV. THOMAS YARD, M.A.
Rural Dean and Rector of Ashwell.
A Collection will be made each service in aid the Restoration Fund. A deficit of about £300. remains this; to meet which the sum raised these Collections the only resource available.
The presence and aid of all who take interest this important work is respectfully invited.
In order to secure accommodation for those who reside out of the town, admission until 10.50 a.m. on Wednesday morning will be by cards only; at 10,50 the doors will be thrown open.
Those who propose to attend, are requested to apply for as many Cards as they desire, to one of the Churchwardens ; or to any resident member of the Restoration Committee; or to the Secretary, the Rev. C. A Stevens.
Heneage Finch, Vicar
Rich. Davies, Churchwardens. William Ratcllff, Churchwardens
The Agricultural Hall will, by the kind permission of its managers, be thrown open to Visitors during Wednesday, the 10th November. Arrangements have been made for the supply of Refreshments there on the arrival of the Morning trains, and during the day.
For a considerable period the very filthy and dilapidated condition of the magnificent church of All Saints, at Oakham, was a subject for regret, not only to those who worshipped within its damp and dingy-looking walls, but to all admirers of Christian architecture. At length the noble sum of £800. was given through the Architectural Society of the Archdeaconry, by unknown donors, which originated the fund that has procured the restoration of the edifice, and which was re-opened for divine worship on Wednesday last. When there seemed to be no longer doubt respecting the raising sufficient amount for beautifying the church the services of Mr. G. G. Scott, the eminent architect, were sought, and after inspecting the fabric returned to London and drew up the following report, which he forwarded to the Rev. Heneage Finch, the Vicar.
I have made a careful survey of your parish church, with a view to forming an opinion as to the extent of the reparations and restorations which are requisite to putting it into a satisfactory condition, and as to the probable cost of the work. The church is, as you are aware a remarkably fine one. It is the work of several different periods, extending from the end of the 12th to the commencement of the 16th century. I have not been able to trace out the course of alteration and addition which has brought to its present form but may mention that its earliest feature is the inner doorway of the porch which is of the end of the 12th century. The next date are the interior of the porch itself and the lower parts of the south wall, with blank recess or window in the east side of the south transept, which are of the first half of the 13th century. Then come the corresponding parts on the north side, with the single pillars in both transepts. The chancel arch, and some minor portions, which are the beginning of the 14th: and the tower, with perhaps the pillars and arches, of the same, and some other portions, which are of the latter part of the same century; while the chancel and the clerestory, and probably the north chancel aisle, are of the 15th, and the south chancel aisle of the 16th centuries. Various, however, as are the dates of these different portions the church, they unite to forming a symmetrical and harmonious whole, having generally the aspect of a church of the 15th century.
In describing the present condition of the church, I will commence with the roofs. The roof of the nave (which pretty good roof in design, though constructed as to press somewhat severely upon the clerestory walls) is a very sad state of decay : one half of it was repaired some years ago, and means were taken to reduce the pressure upon the walls, It will be necessary to do the same throughout; but at the same time the roof will require thorough reparation. I fear that it will be found that a very large proportion of the timbers are decayed. These must be replaced with new oak, the boarding and lead renewed, and the whole restored to a perfect condition. The roofs of the nave aisles are ancient, and better condition than that of the nave itself, but require considerable repairs, and the lead and boarding must be re-laid. The roofs of the transepts have been repaired some thirty years since, and much of the timbers concealed by plastering. I would recommend the substitution of oak panelling for this, and such general repairs as may be found necessary. The chancel has a roof of modern date concealed by a flat plaster ceiling which cuts across the chancel arch. The same roof extends over the north chancel aisle, thus deforming the east end, by placing two divisions under one gable. The north aisle has most beautiful oak panelled ceiling, which happily conceals its roof from within. The south aisle of the chancel has modern roof, of the very meanest description, so that in the interior of the chancel and its aisles we have first a plain flat plaster ceiling to the chancel itself; then to the north aisle a beautiful oak ceiling, showing the manner in which the ancient builders treated their work; and on the south aisle the roof of modern hedge-carpenter, such as would disgrace a cart-shed.
The mode of treatment I would recommend would as follows. First, as the chancel roof has been originally of high pitch, would renew it in that form, and in a manner suited to the beauty of the church. Secondly, I would thoroughly restore the ceiling the north aisle, bringing the external roof to its original level Thirdly, I would put over the south aisle a ceiling corresponding in some degree with that on the north aisle. The roof of the porch and vestry would also require reparation. The walls of the church seem generally pretty substantial, but have suffered much from mutilation, and require careful reparation throughout. The cusps of the windows have nearly everywhere been cut out. The east window has been renewed on a most extraordinary design. Many of the mullions are shattered, and must be renewed, Generally, all mutilated and decayed parts must be renewed, the internal stonework cleaned, the plastering of the walls repaired or renewed as the case may be, the clerestory walls, which have been thrust out must be strengthened, the parapets reset where necessary, the pinnacles restored, and the whole rendered perfect and substantial The tower has either through settlement, or through the effects of lightening been somewhat split down its south-eastern angle, and has some few other defects. – These must be substantially repaired, and I would recommend the insertion of a tier of strong iron ties to prevent their re-appearance. The floor of the tower immediately over the church must be renewed, and the other floor and the bell timbers substantially repaired. Of the internal fittings I have but little to say. They exceed in meanness even what is usual in country churches. And there must be but one opinion about them – they must entirely cleared away, and the whole refitted in proper manner with good oak seats. There are numerous remnants of old screen work of very character, and some remains ancient seats. These will be useful guides in designing the new fittings The floors must almost entirely new. The doors must be new, excepting that to the south porch, which is ancient and ornamental, but requires restoration. The glazing should be renewed throughout, and stained glass introduced from time-to-time opportunity may offer. While these reparations are in hand, it would be very desirable that the church should be efficiently warmed.
I estimate the probable cost of the works as follows. Those connected with the church and tower with £2300; those to the chancel fabric £575 and fittings £225, (£800); those to the south aisle of the chancel, fittings £320, fittings £80 (£400); those to the north aisle of the chancel fabric £275, fittings £7L (£350): making in all about £3850. The above calculation is made on the supposition of everything being done the best manner, the roofs and the whole executed in a manner worthy of so fine a church, and need I hardly say that the church so restored would be a most noble and beautiful structure.
The above report was dated April 21,1857, and on the 30th of the same month the Vicar convened a meeting of the inhabitants and others interested the restoration and re-seating the church. Geo. Finch Esq. presided. Mr. Scott’s report having been read, the following resolution was passed “That this meeting having heard the report of Mr. Scott on the state of the parish church, and acknowledging the liberal offer of donations to the amount of 800L towards carrying it into effect, is of the opinion that thus opportunity should be taken advantage of and make an immediate and strenuous effort to restore the church to condition befitting its high purposes. A committee wan immediately formed. Mr. Scott was employed as architect and subscriptions to the restoration fund solicited., the Rev. C. A. Stevens accepting the arduous office of honorary secretary.
The call has been liberally responded to as the following subscriptions will show.
Geo. Finch Esq. £1000
Anonymous, £400
The Dean and Chapter of Westminster, £300
The Rev. Heneage Finch, the Vicar, £200
The late Wm Ades , Esq., £150
The Church Building Society, £150
The Marquis of Exeter, Lord Aveland, the honourable Colonel Lowther, Miss Jones, Miss B. Jones Mrs. Doria, Mrs. Bicknell, the Rev. Brown (Lyndon), the Church Building Society of the Archdeaconry of Northampton, and the Governors of Oakham Grammar-school and Hospital, £100 each
The Hon. G. H. Heathcote, the Rev. J. Jones (Burley), the Hon G. J.NoeL S. Parke, Esq. (Spalding), the Hon. and Rev. A. G. Stewart (Cottesmore), the Rev Thos. Yard (Ashwell), Mr. Adam, and Mrs. Hicks (Jermyn-terrace), £50 each
Messrs. Crowson and Sons, £40
Mrs-Fydell Morcott, £35L
Messrs. Eaton, Cayley, and Co., (Stamford) £30Major-General FludyeZr (Ayston), Col. Freer (Leamington), Miss Thompson (Ketton), Colonel and Mrs. Talbot Clifton, Mr. Hough, Mr. F. King, Mr. Mackinder, Mr. Clarke Morris, Messrs. Morris and Co., Mr. Samson, and the Rev. W. S. Wood, £25 each
The Rev. c. S. Elbcott (Whitwll), Chiselden Henson, Esq. (Cheltenham), Wm. Hopkinson, Esq. (Stamford), Mr. and Miss Hunt and friends (Clapton), F.J.Mould, Esq. (Brompton) the Hon. and Rev. Noel (Exton), the Misses Wingfield (South Luffenham), Mr. Dain, Mr. Churchwarden Davies, Mr. Hawley, Miss Mason, and Mr. Wellington, £20 each
H. W. Baker, Esq. (Cottesmore), and Ayscough Smith, Esq. (Leesthorpe Hall), £10 10s each
Miss Belgrave (Preston), the Rev. F. G. Burnabv (Barkestone), General Johnson (Wytham on the Hill), John Keal, Esq. (London), Thos. Lawrence, Esq. (Preston), the Rev D. Royce (Netherswell), Colonel and Mrs. R. W. Wood, Mr. Brown (Melton-road), the Rev. T. Byers, Miss Jane Layng, Mr. Morton (Egleton), Miss Mould, Mrs Rawlings, Mr. R. Simpson, the Rev. C. A. Stevens, Mr. Tirrell (Egleton), and Mr. S. C. Turner, £10 each
The Rev. Thos. Field (Cambridge), the Rev. G. H. Parker (London), Mr. Brown (Ashwell-road), Mr. Burn, Mr. Churchwarden Ratcliff and Mr. Thos. Shuttlewood, £5 5s each
The Rev. H. Applebee (Whissendine), the Rev. Canon Argles (Barnack), the Rev. C. Atlay (Barrowden), the Rev. Jas. Atlay (Cambridge). the Rev. the Master Catherine Hall, Edw. Conder Esq (London), the Hon. and Rev. K Cust (Belton), the Yen. Archdeacon Davys (Peterborough), Mrs. Decker (Lyndon), the Rev T. Dove Dove (Frome Solwood), the Rev. C. J. Ellicott (Cambridge), Mrs. Hayton (Kimbolton), the Rev. Canon James (Peterborough), the Rev. H. Jones (Greetham), the Rev. J. Pullein (Kirkthorpe), Wm. Sheild, Esq. (Uppingham), Mr. E. Wright (Melton), N. W. Wyer, Esq. (Bedford), anonymous, Mr. W. Burnett, Mr. Bell, .Mr. Bruce, Miss Butt Mr. D. Cooke, Mr. E. Cunnington (Barleythorpe), Mr. Furley, Mr. W. KeaL jun., Miss Emma Keal, Mr. S. and Mr. J. Tirrell (Egleton), and Mrs. Whyers, £5 each.
Of the £800 which formed the ground-work of the undertaking, £440 now appears in the subscription list as an anonymous donation, and £100 to each the names of the four daughters of the late J. E. Jones, Esq., of Oakham. The Earl of Gainsborough gave £125 to the fund: the north chantry belongs to his Lordship, and in consideration of the above donation the expense of its adornment will be paid out of the general fund.
For the execution the works several firms were solicited send in tenders, and that of Messrs. Ruddle and Thompson, of Peterborough was accepted, the amount of contract being £4400. In a few days afterwords the unsightly furniture was removed from the church, and the restoration proceeded with. In carrying out the undertaking Mr. Scott has strictly preserved every mediaeval detail; even the triangular lines over the tower arch which show gable form of the roof of the earlier church have not been allowed to be erased. He considers that such details show to some extent the history of the church. A portion of the capital the north pillar of the chancel arch was cut away to admit of the erection of the roodscreen, perhaps in the 15th century: the capital illustrated a subject from scripture, but there is not sufficient of the sculpture left enable Mr. Scott effect a faithful restoration he has left the capital in its mutilated form, believing that course be preferable to inserting that which would not be a simile of that chiselled the 14th century. Amongst the improvements effected are— the chancel is floored with Mutton’s encaustic tiles of a rich design, given by the Rev. Lord A. Compton; the aisles are paved with red and black tiles, in pattern ; the interesting Norman font has been removed and re-fixed; the parapet of the nave clerestory has been taken down and re-fixed; the chancel gable and that of the north aisle the chancel have been taken down and re-built; the debased east window has been replaced by a new one of five lights, having deeply sunk and moulded tracery and arches, with columns of polished Derbyshire marble and moulded caps and bases; the pillars, bases, caps, arches, and seats the south porch arcade have been restored; all the windows, cuspings, defective mullions, tracery, jambs, arches, etc. have been carefully restored; the windows have been reglazed with diamond quarries of cathedral glass; all the carvings have been scraped; the whole of the internal stone-dressings of the doorways and windows, pillars, and arches, including tower arches, corbels, stringcourses, quoins, and other dressings have had all the mortar, whitewash etc. taken off; the two galleries over the tower arch have been taken away, and the arch re-opened; and all the piscinas, lockers, tabernacles, etc. restored. The new seats are plain, low, and open: they are three feet high, the poppy-heads being richly carved, the design being similar to several seat ends found in the church before the restoration, and probably the first introduced here after the Reformation. On the seat ends are carvings from natural foliage, including the vine, oak, holly, ivy, maple, hop, thorn, convolvulus, filbert, fig, etc. The fronts of the seats are filled with tracery, having carved spandrils, Ac. The stalls in the chancel have moulded standards, with richly carved finials and arm rests of varied design, and moulded fronts and book rests. The octagonal pulpit is made of the finest wainscot, having traceried panels, the design being in perfect unison with the fittings. The screen (height 3 feet 4 inches) dividing the nave and chancel is formed of a series of trefoiled headed arches deeply moulded and sunk, the cornice being moulded and tilled with bosses. The two screens at the easternmost end, under archways dividing aisles from chancel, have rich tracery heads, supported by circular shafts and moulded caps and bases. The cornice is moulded and embattled, and enriched with carved bosses, the lower part being solid moulded framing. The altar rail and table are of wainscot, and in keeping with the other fittings. The roofs have been thoroughly restored in English oak. The chancel roof is entirely new, the ceiling of which is panelled, and takes the form of the pointed arch, having moulded ribs and carved bosses at the intersections, the part of the roof over the altar being filled with extremely rich wrought tracery. The whole of the roofs are oak boarded and leaded. The gas fittings have been supplied by Mr. Skidmore, of Coventry: the standards are of blue and gold, four of them being erected in the chancel. The warming apparatus has been erected by firm at Birmingham.
Mr. Dent. of the Strand, the maker of the great Parliamentary and other clocks, has been employed to make a clock for the tower of this church, the cost of which, with its erection, will be about £190. It will chime three of the quarters, but not the hour. The time will be ascertained from dials erected under the belfry windows, on the west and south sides of the tower. The design of the- hon dials is quite new: they are perforated throughout and might, with a little extra outlay, be adapted for illumination. The belfry contains six bells: two them have been recast by Mr. Mears of London. About the middle the 17th century peals of were re-introduced into churches to a very great extent. The most celebrated founder this part of the kingdom was Tobie Norris, of Stamford, and plate of bell metal in St George’s church, in that town, thus records the interment of his remains there “Here lieth the body of Tobie Norris, bell-founder.” On one of the bells in the tower of Oakham church is this inscription “Tobie Norris cast me, 1677. God Save the King, T. Meekings.” And on a larger bell, “Tobie Norris, 1677. G. Burton, A. Burton.” Another bell has this inscription ” Henry Perm made me, 1723. Francis Cleeve, W. M. Maidwell, churchwardens.” Many towers this district contain bells cast by Tobie and Thomas Norns, at Stamford, but the site of their foundry is not now known.
The subscribers to the restoration fund have the satisfaction of knowing that the committee secured the services of gentlemen eminent their calling to carry out the important work now on the eve of being completed. Mr. G. G. Scott, the architect, is one of the leading men the profession, his services being sought in most parts of the kingdom on the most important and extensive ecclesiastical edifices. The contractors, Messrs. Ruddle and Thompson, of Peterborough’, have carried out with satisfaction great undertakings at various cathedral and parish churches: they are now executing the extensive restoration at Higham Ferrers church, and only few days ago the contract entered into by them for the roofing and internal fittings at St. George’s church, Doncaster, for the sum of £10,259*., was completed. Messrs. Minton and Co., who supplied the flooring tiles, Mr. Mears, bell founder, who re cast two of the bells, Mr. Skidmore, of Coventry, who supplied the gas standards, and Mr. Dent, the manufacturer of the new clock, are firms known throughout the kingdom.
Wednesday last will be a “red letter day” in the history of the county town of Rutland. As early as six o clock the church bells reminded the inhabitants of Oakham that the anxiously looked for day had arrived when they were again to possess the privilege of worshipping their Maker in their own parish church. The Agricultural Hall was thrown open for the reception of distant visitors on their arrival, where a supply refreshments and good fires had been provided by direction of the committee. By 10 o’clock the workmen had ceased their labours; the committee of management were seen to be busily engaged; and the police were attendance to prevent the pressure of the crowd at the entrances. At half past ten the visitors began to assemble and were conducted to the seats by the committee. The clergy, in their gowns entered in procession. At ten minutes before eleven the doors were thrown open, when those who had not procured tickets were admitted, and the church was quickly filled.
At eleven the service commenced by the Rev. H. Wingfield reading the service for the day: the Psalms having been chanted, the Rev. R. King read the first and the Rev W P Wood the second lesson; the Litany was read the Rev. R. Sorsbia, the communion service by the Rev H Finch the Epistle for the day by the Rev. J.R Woodford, the Gospel by the Rev. C. Stuart, and the Creed by the Rev T Yard The sermon was preached by the Rev. E. M. Goulburn D.C.L., of London. The text was taken from Exodus iii 5. The sermon was eloquent and appropriate; and the choir (from Leicester) efficient and powerful. The church was well warmed and the arrangements excellent. The inconvenience experienced by the strong sun light through the cathedral glass during the morning service will, it is hoped, at no distant day lead to the introduction of stained glass, which is much wanted to subdue the light.
Amongst the congregation were Lord Wensleydale, the Hon. Calthrop, the Hon. Colonel and Miss Lowther, H. Lowther, Esq., MP. Geo. Finch, Esq., Lady Louisa Finch, the Misses Finch, John and Lady Trollope, Colonel R. and Mrs. Wood, the Hon Hy. and Mrs Noel. Miss Noel and friends, J. M. Wingfield Esq. the Misses Wingfield, H. Wingfield, Esq., the Hon. Evans Freke, Captain Doria, General Fludyer. Miss Fludyer, Mrs. Jackson, W. A. Pochin Esq and friends, Mrs. and Miss Baker, J. F. Mould, Esq. the Misses Arnold (Tinwell), W. Sheild, Esq., E. Cayley, Esq, R. de Capel Brooke Esq., Mr and Mrs. Barnard, Mr. and Mrs. Latham, Mrs. Whitchurch and friends, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison; the Rev. Hon. Leland Noel and family, Hon. A. Stewart and family, H. Fludyer, F. E. Gretton, W .J. Williams, C. Nevinson, Lovick Cooper, N. Twopeny, E. Cayley, H. Jones, S. Rolleston, W. Belgrave, H. Yard, C E. Prichard S. Walters P.J. E. Miles, T. Hoskins, M. Garrett, W. Metcalfe, J Noyes, W Ostler, F P Johnson, E. Brown, T. James J. R Woodford, W. S. Wood, T. Byers, R. King, R. Sorsbie J. W. Sherrington, G. E Gillett, G. A. Poole, W. Jay, H. J. Bigg c. A. Stevens, Prescott, T. Peake, T. Cooke, J. Beresford.
ln the afternoon the sermon was preached by the Rev. Canon James, Vicar of Theddingworth and Sibbertoft, from 11th chapter of Luke and 25th verse. The collections in the morning amounted to £174i 0s 6d and in the afternoon to to £31 7s. 1½d, total £205 7s 7½d.
The early hour at which the first train leaves Peterborough’ in the morning prevented many from attending the re-opening of the above church.
Over the decades I have sporadically and wholly unsystematically been a collector and hoarder of bus and train timetable booklets and leaflets, and despite a recent clear out, the collection still takes up significant shelf space. I have no real idea what to do with it, but it is interesting to look at and ponder. Recently I have become a user of the British Newspaper Archive, and I have just discovered that if you use the correct search terms then a whole load of bus and train timetables published in newspapers can be accessed and downloaded. The positive thing about this is that don’t further reduce my shelf space, although at the moment they are littering my hard drive rather badly. And whilst again, I have no real idea what to do with them, the early ones, from the nineteenth century, are, at least to me, really interesting. In this blog I will discuss just one set of such timetables, from the County Express newspaper that served the areas of Brierley Hill, Dudley and Stourbridge, from Saturday October 24th 1868. In particular I will focus on train services through Dudley station at that time, when there was a very extensive set of services and travel opportunities. Trains no longer serve Dudley of course, so this exercise is somewhat poignant. But first, I will consider Dudley station itself as it would have been in 1868.
Dudley station is very well described on the Disused Stations web site. In 1868 the track layout had taken on a form that was to continue to exist, with period revisions, for much of the next century. It was in essence two stations. On the west side, there was the GWR station on the former Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton line that ran from Oxford, through Worcester, Kidderminster and Stourbridge and on to Wolverhampton. On the east there was the LNWR station that was the terminus of the former South Staffordshire Railway from Burton, Lichfield, Walsall and Dudley Port and also the terminus of the LNWR Stour Valley Line that ran to Dudley Port and joined the main LNWR Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street Line. Each half of the station consisted of an island platform, with an overbridge connecting them with each other and with the main station entrance on the Tipton Road. There were extensive goods facilities for both the GWR and the LNWR to the north of the passenger station. The map in the figure below shows the station and the lines that pass through it in relation to the local network.
The County Express gives timetables for four distinct services that used the station in 1868.
I will consider each of these in turn, and try to describe the nature of the services, their frequency and journey times. But first there are two caveats that need to be made. Firstly, as can be judged by the example at the top of this post, the timetables on the scanned pdf of the County Express are not always easy to read, and this might lead to some minor errors in any numbers I quote, although the big picture will not be affected. Secondly, and more importantly, the timetables read as if some of the local services become through trains to long-distance destinations. I suspect that this might, in places, be hiding journeys where a change of train is required. I will try to highlight my uncertainties in this regard as they arise.
GWR London Paddington to Wolverhampton via Worcester
There were eleven southbound services that called at Dudley on this route on weekdays, and five on Sundays. The corresponding numbers for northbound services were thirteen and seven. Those going south called at some combination of Netherton, Round Oak, Brierley Hill, Brettell Lane, Stourbridge, Hagley, Churchill, Kidderminster, Fearnall Heath, Worcester and stations to Oxford and London; and those going north called at Tipton, Princes End, Daisy Bank, Bilston, Priestfield and Wolverhampton. These stations were not always at their final or current locations – for example Netherton was moved northwards when the Dudley to Old Hill line was opened in 1878 to be north of junction, and Stourbridge was moved south and renamed Stourbridge Junction when the Town branch was opened in 1879.
There were five weekday trains in each direction that ran through to Paddington, with most of the rest running to Worcester. Journey times were approximately as follows.
Dudley to Wolverhampton – 20 to 25 minutes
Dudley to Stourbridge – 30 to 40 minutes
Dudley to Worcester – 1 to 1.5 hours
Dudley to London Paddington – 4.5 to 6.5 hours
GWR Great Malvern to London Paddington via Birmingham Snow Hill
There were eleven trains from Dudley to Birmingham Snow Hill and beyond on this route on weekdays, and six on Sundays, with ten and six in the Great Malvern Direction. Those going to Malvern called at some combination of Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Worcester (and not the intermediate stations) and those going to Snow Hill and Paddington ran along the LNWR line through Dudley Port (not stopping) to Horseley Fields junction and then called at Great Bridge, Swan Village, West Bromwich, Handsworth, Soho, Hockley, Birmingham Snow Hill , Warwick, Leamington, Oxford and Paddington.
Five weekday services ran through to Paddington with 6 in the reverse direction, with the others terminating either at Snow Hill or Leamington. Some of the Malvern services terminated at one of the intermediate stations. Journey times were approximately as follows.
Dudley to Birmingham Snow Hill – 30 to 35 minutes
Dudley to London Paddington – 4 to 6 hours
Dudley to Stourbridge – 15 to 20 minutes
Dudley to Worcester – 1 to 1.5 hours
Dudley to Great Malvern – 1.5 to 2 hours
Thus, the times from London to Paddington were similar on both GWR routes. This route gave a much faster trip to Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Worcester as trains did not call at the intermediate stations. The Disused Stations site suggest that the particular utility of this route was that fast trains could be turned around at Dudley and thus ease potential congestion at Snow Hill.
LNWR Dudley to Birmingham New Street via Walsall
In the County Express this is referred to as the South Staffordshire Railway, (SSR) although by 1868 it was fully incorporated into the LNWR The SSR main route was from Derby to Birmingham New Street via Burton upon Trent, Lichfield and Walsall. The services outlined in the County Express were thus on the southern leg of the SSR and operated as stopping services from Dudley to Walsall and Walsall to Birmingham. The timetable implies that these were through services, although this would have required a quite rapid reversal at Walsall (perhaps a change of engines, or perhaps passengers were required to change). There were thirteen services form Dudley to Birmingham New Street on weekdays and four on Sundays, with thirteen and fivein the opposite direction. The trains called at Dudley Port, Great Bridge, Wednesbury, Walsall, Bescot Junction, Newton Road, Hampstead and Great Barr, , Perry Barr, Aston, Bloomsbury, Lawley Street and Birmingham New Street. Only about half the trains called at Lawley Street, Bloomsbury and the stations from Pery Barr to Walsall. The approximate journey times were as follows.
Dudley to Walsall – 25 to 30 minutes
Dudley to Birmingham New Street – 1 to 1.5 hours
The journey from Dudley to Birmingham was thus a lengthy one and probably not attractive, and the service was clearly aimed at serving local traffic between Dudley, Walsall and Birmingham.
LNWR Dudley to Birmingham New Street and London Euston Square via Dudley Port and Smethwick
This LNWR route is described as the Stour Valley Railway by the County Express. It gained its name from the original intention to extend it over the Dudley ridge into the Stour catchment to the south. This aim was abandoned quite early, and though it retained its name, it remained stubbornly in the Tame catchment. There were fifteen services from Dudley to Birmingham and London on weekdays and seven on Sundays, with fifteen and six in the opposite direction. Trains called at Dudley Port (via the loop at Sedgeley Junction), Albion, Oldbury and Bromford, Spon Lane, Smethwick, Soho, Edgbaston and New Street, and then onto Coventry, Leamington (via the LNWR Kenilworth loop), Rugby and Birmingham. Six weekday up trains continued to London, with the others terminating at either Birmingham or Leamington. Approximate journey times were as follows.
Dudley to Birmingham New Street – 30 to 40 minutes
Dudley to Leamington – 1.5 to 2 hours
Dudley to London Euston – 3.5 to 4.5 hours
The times from Dudley to both Birmingham and London were thus both very competitive with others.
The County Express gives details of some other services that it no doubt felt were of interest to its readers.
The table below shows the arrivals and departures at Dudley station on a weekday in 1868. It can be seen to be very busy, even without including the very numerous freight workings, with ninety three services in total from 6.30 in the morning till 22.55 in the evening. Note I use the modern form for specifying time, which has the advantage of being able to be used to calculate journey times using EXCEL.
| Company | From | Arrive | Depart | To |
| SVR | Birmingham NS | 06:30 | ||
| GWR | 06:40 | London Paddington | ||
| SVR | 06:55 | London Euston | ||
| SSR | 07:35 | Birmingham NS | ||
| GWR | 08:10 | Leamington | ||
| SVR | Birmingham NS | 08:13 | ||
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 08:05 | 08:15 | London Paddington |
| GWR | Birmingham SH | 07:55 | 08:15 | Great Malvern |
| SSR | Birmingham SH | 08:24 | ||
| GWR | Worcester | 08:21 | 08:29 | Wolverhampton |
| SVR | 08:45 | London Euston | ||
| GWR | Kidderminster | 09:10 | ||
| SSR | 09:15 | Birmingham NS | ||
| GWR | Kidderminster | 09:10 | 09:20 | London Paddington |
| SVR | 09:25 | Leamington | ||
| GWR | 09:30 | London Paddington | ||
| SSR | Birmingham NS | 09:34 | ||
| SSR | 09:50 | Birmingham NS | ||
| SVR | Birmingham NS | 09:53 | ||
| SVR | London Euston | 10:03 | ||
| SVR | 10:10 | Birmingham NS | ||
| GWR | Worcester | 10:32 | 10:33 | Wolverhampton |
| SSR | Birmingham NS | 10:35 | ||
| SSR | 10:45 | Birmingham NS | ||
| GWR | Honeybourne | 10:55 | 10:57 | Wolverhampton |
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 10:55 | 11:00 | |
| GWR | Great Malvern | 10:55 | 11:00 | London Paddington |
| GWR | Leamington | 10:46 | 11:00 | Kidderminster |
| SVR | 11:25 | London Euston | ||
| SVR | London Euston | 12:00 | ||
| SVR | 12:18 | Birmingham NS | ||
| SSR | 12:20 | Birmingham NS | ||
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 12:35 | 12:38 | London Paddington |
| GWR | London Paddington | 12:33 | 12:38 | Great Malvern |
| SVR | London Euston | 12:43 | ||
| GWR | London Paddington | 12:45 | 12:50 | Wolverhampton |
| GWR | Great Malvern | 12:45 | 12:55 | Birmingham SH |
| GWR | London Paddington | 13:33 | ||
| SSR | Birmingham NS | 13:35 | ||
| SVR | London Euston | 13:45 | ||
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 13:48 | 13:50 | Worcester |
| SSR | 13:50 | Birmingham NS | ||
| SVR | 13:53 | Birmingham NS | ||
| GWR | London Paddington | 14:14 | 14:17 | Wolverhampton |
| SVR | London Euston | 14:20 | ||
| GWR | Great Malvern | 14:14 | 14:23 | London Paddington |
| SVR | 14:30 | Birmingham NS | ||
| SVR | 15:00 | Birmingham NS | ||
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 15:02 | 15:04 | Worcester |
| GWR | London Paddington | 14:33 | 15:04 | Great Malvern |
| GWR | London Paddington | 15:20 | 15:24 | Wolverhampton |
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 15:20 | 15:24 | Worcester |
| GWR | Great Malvern | 15:20 | 15:28 | Leamington |
| SSR | Birmingham NS | 15:35 | ||
| SVR | London Euston | 15:50 | ||
| GWR | Stourbridge | 16:25 | 16:28 | Wolverhampton |
| SSR | Birmingham NS | 16:40 | ||
| SVR | 16:40 | Leamington | ||
| GWR | London Paddington | 16:35 | 16:44 | Great Malvern |
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 16:43 | 16:45 | London Paddington |
| GWR | Stourbridge | 16:23 | 16:45 | Oxford |
| SSR | 17:15 | Birmingham NS | ||
| SVR | 17:35 | London Euston | ||
| GWR | Leamington | 17:35 | 17:39 | Stourbridge |
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 17:35 | 17:40 | London Paddington |
| SVR | Leamington | 17:55 | ||
| GWR | 18:00 | London Paddington | ||
| SVR | 18:20 | Leamington | ||
| SSR | 18:30 | Birmingham NS | ||
| SVR | London Euston | 18:35 | ||
| GWR | Worcester | 18:40 | 18:43 | Wolverhampton |
| GWR | Birmingham SH | 18:40 | 18:45 | Stourbridge |
| SSR | Birmingham NS | 19:05 | ||
| GWR | London Paddington | 19:28 | 19:30 | Wolverhampton |
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 19:25 | 19:30 | Evesham |
| GWR | London Paddington | 19:24 | 19:30 | Great Malvern |
| SSR | 19:30 | Birmingham NS | ||
| GWR | Great Malvern | 18:38 | 19:40 | Birmingham SH |
| SVR | Birmingham NS | 19:40 | ||
| SVR | London Euston | 20:33 | ||
| SSR | Birmingham NS | 20:43 | ||
| SSR | 20:50 | Birmingham NS | ||
| GWR | Wolverhampton | 20:55 | 21:00 | Kidderminster |
| GWR | Leamington | 20:55 | 21:00 | Kidderminster |
| SVR | 21:10 | Birmingham NS | ||
| SVR | London Euston | 21:38 | ||
| GWR | Stourbridge | 21:55 | 21:57 | Wolverhampton |
| GWR | Kidderminster | 21:55 | 21:58 | Birmingham SH |
| SSR | Birmingham NS | 22:06 | ||
| SVR | Leamington | 22:30 | ||
| GWR | London Paddington | 22:33 | 22:36 | Wolverhampton |
| SVR | 22:45 | London Euston | ||
| SSR | Birmingham NS | 22:55 |
The information set out above causes me to reflect on why such a vibrant railway scene was swept away in the 1950s and 1960s, and has left Dudley as one of the largest towns in England without a mainline railway service. The immediate reasons are to be found of course in the post war situation of the 1950s and 1960s – the decline of old industries, and the increasing dominance of road transport – but it seems to me that the seeds of this decline were planted in the early days of the railways in the region. Firstly, in the early days, the movement of freight, and in particular coal and iron products, was as important to the railway companies as passengers. This led to the locations of railway lines primarily in areas where there was significant industrial activity, rather than in areas of habitation. And when these industries eventually declined, there wasn’t the reasonably affluent population base to continue to support the railway network as a passenger only system. Secondly, inter-company competition resulted in competing lines – and in particular duplication of major stations in Wolverhampton and Birmingham. Again, in a period of post industrial decline, there was bound to be rationalisation, and this rationalisation needed to provide for the remaining freight, express trains and passenger trains. The result of this, the development of spatially constrained two track Stour Valley line as part of the West Coast route, inevitably meant that local services, would be squeezed out for capacity reasons. And thirdly with regard to Dudley itself, its geography made it vulnerable – sitting on top of a north-south ridge that was best approached by railways along the ridge rather than from either side, which resulted in it being bypassed by the major east / west through lines, and left isolated when the downturn came. The only main line to pass through the town was that of the OWWR / GWR, which in reality was a series of linked local services, with the long distance journey times to London being too great to be competitive, at least north of Worcester.
Could things have been different? Perhsps with a more centrally and strategically planned railway system that might have been the case, and a sustainable pos-industrial railway might have emerged in the Dudley area. But that is an unknown – and governments have not always shown themselves as being able to think strategically, at least where railways are concerned. But perhaps there is hope for something better – for example see Andy Street’s ambitious (and probably unrealistic) plan for metro expansion in the graphic below – although the ludicrous costs and construction times of tramways in the UK need to be massively reduced if they are to reach their full potential. But that, as they say, is another story.
At the recent Bluff Body Aerodynamics Conference in Brimingham at the end of July / start of August 2024, there was considerable discussion concerning the simulation of tornado and downburst flow for the purposes of measuring structural loads. The current experimental methodology uses large scale tornado / downburst generators that have to be physically very large to have reasonable model scales, with either the whole downflow mechanism being moved across a model, or a model being moved beneath the generator. Such tests are complex and time consuming, the more so because to obtain reliable load statistics multiple tuns are required for each case considered with various tornado or downburst characteristics, building position and orientation relative to the core flow etc.
In the discussions of the various presentations, there was some talk of modelling local flow characteristics around building models, rather than modelling the complete flow field. After mulling over some possibilities for this, in this blog post I set out my preliminary thoughts on how such local simulations might be achieved. I have no access to labs or funding, so these ideas will be for someone else to take forward if they are thought to have merit.
The basic idea is as follows.
In principle there seems to be no reason why it should not be possible to simulate the necessary velocity and direction changes, but there are two issues that need to be investigated. Firstly, what exactly are the local wind velocity and direction changes at a particular point when a tornado or downburst passes over them, and secondly how rapid are these changes – are they possible to achieve at reasonable model scales. We address these issues in what follows.
There are a number of ways in which wind conditions experienced by buildings as tornados or downbursts pass over them can be specified.
Here we use the latter method (which will come as no surprise to those who know me!). Specifically we use the methods of Baker and Sterling (2017) and Sterling et al (2023). These give the equations for the three components of velocity, relative to the tornado / downburst centre, shown in Box 1. It is then assumed that the building is stationary as the storm passes over it and the overall horizontal velocity and horizontal and vertical flow directions calculated from assuming a vector sum of a steady wind velocity in the storm direction of travel and the velocity induced by the tornado / downburst (figure 1).
Box 1 Tornado and downburst equations
Figure 1. Co-ordinate system
Clearly the model requires a number of parameters to be specified. These have been taken from the data collation of Baker and Sterling (2019) (which was compiled to assess the adequacy of tornado vortex generators) and four conditions specified – for small, medium and large tornados and for a downburst of similar size to a medium tornado. The parameters for these cases are shown in Table 1. I make no claim as to the overall adequacy or otherwise of this method – as it stands it is simply a convenient tool with which to investigate the broad parameters of the problem, and other methodologies could be used to determine the wind conditions relative to a building.
Table 1. Tornado and downburst parameters used in calculation
Clearly the wind speed and wind direction changes experienced by a stationary building as a storm passes over them will depend upon the position of the building relative to the storm track. If the building is directly on the track, then some very rapid changes in speed and direction can be expected. This is shown in figures 2a to 2c for the large tornado case. The x axis is the time at full scale equivalent values as the storm passes over the building. The origin is at the point when the centre of the storm is directly over the building. As might be expected there is a very rapid change in the speed and horizontal direction as the vortex core passes over, and a very large change in vertical direction. Two points can be made, Firstly, in this region the model is at its least realistic as the sharp changes will be smoothed in reality by vortex wandering and viscous effects. However secondly, there will undoubtedly be large vertical flow direction changes as the core passes over, although perhaps not as high or as rapid as shown in figure 2, and the type of model simulation proposed here would be unable to simulate such changes and such simulations are probably not adequate close to the core. In what follows we thus confine our attention to two model positions, at one core radius either side of the vortex direction of travel where one would expect the simulation to be adequate..
Figure 2. Wind conditions experienced by building directly on the storm track as large tornado passes over
The results of this analysis are shown in figures 3a to 3d for the small, medium and large tornados and figures 4a to 4c for the downburst. The following points can be made.
Figure 3. Wind conditions experienced by building one core radius away from the storm track as large, medium and small tornados passes over
Figure 4. Wind conditions experienced by building one core radius away from the storm track as downburst passes over
The question then arises as to whether these predicted velocity and direction variations can be achieved in practice. As noted above the x axis on figures 3 and 4 is the full-scale time in seconds. If, say, a building model scale of 1:25 is adopted, which is broadly in line with current practice, and a velocity scale of 2:1 is used (ie the simulation velocities are half full-scale velocities, which seems practical), then the model time scale is 1:12.5 i.e. the model changes have to take place 12.5 times faster than the full-scale cases. If we take the modelling above as broadly correct in regard to the time scales of velocity and direction variations, then the horizontal direction and velocity variations for the large, medium and small tornados and the downburst takes place over periods of around 50, 30 and 10 seconds respectively, resulting in model times of 4, 2.5 and 0.8 seconds. For the direction changes, these time scales seem reasonable and should be achievable by a suitable mechanical system. However, for the velocity changes, that rely on moving air masses with significant inertia, the time scale required for the small tornado would represent a challenge. The vertical direction variations are over much smaller time scales in each case but could probably be achieved with a mechanical system to tilt the model, but probably not with a system that tries to deflect the moving air downwards or upwards.
Based on what has been set out above, it would appear that the type of local simulation described in this post has some potential. The use of such a simulation would be restricted however to medium and large storms, as the velocity changes for small storms would be difficult to achieve at model scale. Similarly, the conditions very close to the storm track, in particular the vertical velocity changes, are unlikely to be able to be adequately modelled.
However, I am now retired, with no access to either lab facilities or funding, so if such a simulation is to be further investigated, someone else will need to do it!
C J Baker, M Sterling (2017) Modelling wind fields and debris flight in tornadoes, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 168, 312-321 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2017.06.017
C Baker, M Sterling (2019) Are Tornado Vortex Generators fit for purpose? Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 190, 287-292, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2019.05.011
M Sterling, S Huo, C Baker (2023) “Using crop fall patterns to provide an insight into thunderstorm downbursts”, Journal of Wind engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics. 238, July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2023 .105431
On November 9th 2024 as part of the Black Country History Day to be held the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, I will be presenting (with help from Emma Purshouse) some of the poetry of the Black Country poet Jim William Jones, to illustrate the industrial, social and built environment of the region in the second half of the 20th century. Jones was a sharp eyed observer of his beloved Black Country and his poems give a deep insight into the area and its people over that period. This is a rather different way of “doing” history, but hopefully one that will both entertain and inform. I write below to give some brief details of his life and work, since this information is not generally available elsewhere.
J W Jones by CLEBAK, From Black Country Society Calendar collection 1976
Jim William Jones was born in Coseley on February 15th, 1923, and spent his childhood and school years there. After leaving school he began work with the engineering firm Joseph Sankey and Sons as a junior clerk. He was conscripted into the army at the age of 18 in 1941, taking part in the Normandy landing in 1944 and also serving in India and Ceylon, reaching the rank of Warrant Officer. After the war he returned to Sankey’s and was trained in works management, before leaving industry to join local government in 1955 where he worked in education administration, marrying Jesse Ralphs at Wednesbury in that year. He was a qualified teacher of speech and drama and a member of amateur dramatic societies, hosting a radio programme on Beacon Radio and working with the Black Country folk music group Giggetty. He had a strong Christian faith and was a gifted speaker and Methodist local preacher. He became a very well-known Black Country poet, both for his dialect poetry (Black Country ballads) and for his poetry in more conventional English. Some of these can be found in three small publications by the Black Country Society – “From under the smoke” from 1972, “Factory and Fireside” from 1974, and “Jim and Kate” from 1986, all sadly long out of print. He contributed numerous poems to the first 25 years of the Society magazine, the Blackcountryman from 1967 to 1992. He died in 1993.
Some of Jim Jones poems were included in a 1976 anthology “Widening circles” edited by Edward Lowbury. Following Jones’ death, Lowbury wrote an appreciation for the Blackcountryman (26.4, 1993). He acknowledged the humour and the pathos in the dialect ballads, which at the time of publication of “Widening Circles” he felt to be more successful than the poems in standard English. By 1992 however he had somewhat modified his views and concluded that his standard English poems were perhaps “nearer to the heart of poetry than the more immediately entertaining dialect ballads”.
In a much later Blackcountryman article (45.3, 2012) Trevor Brookes again writes in appreciation of Jim Jones, and in particular his dialect poetry, emphasising that as well as humour, they contained much that showed a profound understanding of people and their lives. He regretted that these were not easily available, being scattered across many newspapers and other publications, and not accessible to modern readers.
Personally, I first became aware of Jim Jones work in the early 1970s, when my mother gave me a copy of “From under the smoke” as a Birthday present. This little volume became a prized possession and has travelled around the country with me over the last 50 years, regularly read and re-read.
To enable others to either reacquaint themselves with his work, or to enjoy it for the first time, some of Jones’ poems have ben published in a short series of Black Country Society blog posts from 2022 that can be found at the links below.
The Blackcountryman poems of Jim William Jones Part 1
The Blackcountryman poems of Jim William Jones Part 2
The Blackcountryman poems of Jim William Jones Part 3
In addition, the Black Country Society has scanned “From under the smoke” and “Factory and Fireside” and these are available for members on the Society web site (password required). I have also produced a compilation of 33 of his poems that span the period from 1968 to 1992 – from “From under the Smoke”, “Factory and Fireside” and the Blackcountryman. This is again available to Society members on the web site. These three volumes will be available for purchase as pdfs from the Society online shop at some point in the near future.
Most, but not quite all, of the poems in the compilation are in standard English. Another volume could easily be produced containing a selection of his dialect poetry, but as Trevor Brookes noted, these are more scattered, and the collection of them would be a major task. Nonetheless it is perhaps something I will attempt in the future.
As I sit down to write this post, I find it hard to believe that there is anyone out there who will be interested in the ramblings that follow. But perhaps there are some from Pensnett who are as historically nerdy as I am……
In researching the history of Pensnett over the last few years, and in particular the history of the clergy of St Mark’s Church, I have come across mentions of a mission chapel in the Tansey Green area, but haven’t been able to find any further details or to locate where it was situated. There was another mission chapel in the parish of course, in Bromley, that is much better documented and had a long history. However, I have recently come across a 1949 history of the church by A Sergeant and L U Smith, written to mark its centenary (Dudley Archives LS9582/4B/21) . In that booklet there is the following little bit of information about the Tansey Green Mission Church.
In 1849 the village of Pensnett was much smaller than now, consisting of a straggling line of houses and small shops along the south side of the main road, with a few short streets leading off it to the south, The parish, however, comprised a much larger area, and in it there were two other villages or hamlets. One of these was Tansey Green, where some time about the 1860’s a small mission room was founded. No records exist of this mission apart from some notes in the Services register of the number of communicants. In the year 1888 they numbered 17 in all. Some old residents of the parish still remember the tiny mission room standing on a site on Dreadnought Road which has. now been excavated as a marl-hole, The Mission room itself was demolished some years before the turn of the century.
This short extract gives enough information to determine the location of the church. The three maps below show the Ordnance Survey maps from 1880, 1900 and 1910. Dreadnaught Road (or Nailor’s Row as it was known in the mid 19th century) can be seen extending from the bottom left of the figures to the junction with Tansey Green at the top right. The building which I think must contain the chapel is circled in red – there seems to be no other option. It can be seen to be in existence in 1880 and 1900, but by 1910, its location was the centre of what was presumably a marl hole for the adjacent brick works. This isn’t quite consistent with the extract from the history above, as the building is still shown on the 1900 map and had not been demolished by then. This could be due to the unreliable oral memories on which the 1949 booklet extract was based. or simply that the map details were slightly out of date.
Two further points can be made. Firstly the mission chapel was very close to the Shut End Primitive Methodist church (shown by a green circle), which had a a large local congregation – so perhaps there was some level of competition there between the established church and the non-conformists. But note that the congregation abandoned that chapel in 1896 due to mining subsidence and moved to a new location on Commonside and the building became a picture house – one of the earliest in the Black Country. Secondly the building that I have identified can also be seen, with a very similar shape and ground plan in the Fowler maps of 1822 and 1840, and is listed in the Directories to those maps as “house and garden“, owned by John Hodgetts Hodgetts-Foley and occupied by John Colbourne in 1822, and owned by James Foster and occupied by Thomas Bradley in 1840. It would thus appear that the Mission Chapel was simply a converted house or part of a house.
But beyond that there is very little to say, although I find it satisfying that I have at last been able to locate where the chapel was actually situated. I am still left wandering if this is of interest to anyone else at all!
First published on this site as a web age in June 2020, but republished as a blog post in august 2024 for consistency with other material.
The Tribal Hidage, that most enigmatic of early texts, begins its perambulation of the polities in Southern England with a reference to “the first (or original) Mercian lands” (Davies and Vierck, 2010). It is the purpose of this short essay to unpack this phrase, and to see if it is possible to arrive at a coherent description of what was the original Mercia in the early / mid seventh century when, it will be seen, I take the Tribal Hidage to have been composed. We begin by briefly considering some aspects of the Tribal Hidage itself and then move on to a discussion of what can be deduced about early “kingdom” boundaries in the period of late antiquity – although the nature of the different polities discussed may well be very different from one another – through a consideration of detailed reconstructions from studies of regional history, and through consideration of ecclesiastical diocesan boundaries. We then discuss what might have been the nature of this early Mercian kingdom, through a consideration of the likely transport networks in its confines, and considers the historical events surrounding its establishment.
Throughout, we will work with what seems to be the developing consensus that it is difficult to separate Anglian, Saxon and British kingdoms on a strict ethnic basis, and most of the polities discussed will be of an ethnic mix, although it is clear that in the period of late antiquity following the withdrawal of the Roman armies, there was an increasing Germanic cultural influence throughout England, perhaps involving a relatively small migration from the Anglian and Saxon homelands. Such an approach seems to be consistent with recent archeological studies, which shows no major discontinuities in agricultural practices or evidence of major warfare in the early settlement period (Oosthuizen, 2017), and with recent genetic studies that show a homogeneous genetic background across most of England, although a genetic boundary between England Wales is apparent, and second level genetic differences can be observed in the South West, and in South Yorkshire (Lesley et al, 2015).
In what follows, an essentially geographical analysis will be presented in an attempt to locate the original Mercia, based on the drawing of boundaries of different types – kingdom boundaries, diocesan boundaries and county boundaries. Most of these are not contemporary with the period under consideration, and there is an implicit assumption that these boundaries reflect underlying and ancient boundaries from late antiquity. Whilst others have followed this route it is a somewhat dangerous course and open (quite rightly) to significant criticism. Also of course the concept of a boundary between peoples may or may not have been of relevance in the period under consideration and this needs to be borne in mind in what follows. These points having been made, we will in what follows use two scales of maps that both show, as the basis for relating to current geography, the pre-1974 county boundaries (see figure 1 for the larger scale of map that will be used). These counties were first defined in the 10thcentury, and remained relatively stable up to the 1974 re-organisation, although there have been continual minor modifications to boundaries over the centuries. In the area shown in figure 1, this has particularly affected the boundaries of Worcestershire, which became fragmented as a result of transfers of property from secular to ecclesiastical ownership and vice versa, with detached areas in the surrounding counties. These areas are not shown in figure 1 for clarity. There is one region however where the pre-1974 boundaries are not shown – the county boundary between the south west of Staffordshire and Shropshire – where there was an early (12thcentury) loss of land from Staffordshire to Shropshire due to the actions of Earl Roger to consolidate all his holdings into Shropshire (Thorn et al, 1986). As this region is particularly pertinent to the discussion that will follow, the Domesday boundaries for this region will be shown in all the maps that follow.
Figure 2 uses this map to illustrate the river systems in the English Midlands – and in particular the Trent, Severn, Wash and Cheshire basins. It is clear that the county boundaries in general follow river basin boundaries. In the area of interest here, this is particularly the case for the Staffordshire / Cheshire, Shropshire / Cheshire and Staffordshire/ Shropshire boundaries. The southern Severn / Trent basin boundary is also coincident with county boundaries, except in the case of Warwickshire which sits across the watershed between them.
Figure 1. The base map, showing pre-1974 county boundaries and names
Figure 2 Rivers and county boundaries
(Only major rivers and tributaries are shown. The blue filled circles indicate riverine locations of importance to the argument that follows below.)
The Tribal Hidage exists today in a number of different manuscripts, which are set out and compared by Dumville (1989). It essentially consists of two lists of kingdoms / polities of various sizes, with hidages attached to each entity. The date of the original document is disputed, with dates from the 620s to the 780s suggested (Corbett, 1900; Hart, 971; Higham 1995). I find the approach taken by Higham (1995), who proposes date in the 620s, the most persuasive, although this does not appear to be the universal view of historians. He suggests that it is in origin a tribute list of Edwin of Deira, dating from 624/5. The primary list is effectively a list of tributes payable to him from what Higham terms the Midlands “Overkingship”, whilst the secondary list was added perhaps a year later to indicate the tribute from the Southern “Overkingship”. The level of hidage seems to be standardized to 7000 for county sized entities, and to multiples of 300 for smaller entities particularly in the region know as Middle Anglia around the Wash and the East Midlands. For the Southern Overkingship entries in the secondary list, there is clearly a punitive element, particularly with the 100,000 hides allocated to Wessex.
For the current purposes it is the order of the entries that is of most interest. The kingdoms on which most authors can agree are shown in figure 3 for both the primary (P) and secondary (S) lists. Original Mercia (P1 on the figure) is placed at the historic centre of the kingdom in south Staffordshire around Lichfield and Tamworth. A number of points arise from this figure.
Figure 3. Tribal Hidage. “Firm” locations of regions in the primary and secondary lists
(P1- Myrcna lands; P2 – Wocensætna; P4- Pecsætna: P5 – Elmedsætna: P6 – Lindesfarona mid Hæþfeldlande: P7 – Suþgyrwa: P8 – Norþgyrwa: P11 – Spalda; P13 – Herefinna : P14 – Sweordora P15 – Gifla : P16- Hicca: P18- Noxgaga: P19 – Ohtgaga; S1 – Hwinca; S2 – Cilternsætna; S6 – Færpinga; S9 – Eastwilla; S10 – Westwilla; S11 – Eastengle; S12 – Eastsexena; S13 – Cantwarena; S14 – Suþsexena; S15 – Westsexena)
The work of local historians in various parts of England, who have carried out detailed work on boundaries of sub-Roman, early Anglo-Saxon polities that enables the boundaries of these polities to be drawn in more detail than the Tribal Hidage allows, even though these are to some extent speculative. Here we consider the work of Higham for the Pecsaetna in the Peak (Higham, 1993), Breeze for Elmet in South Yorkshire (Breeze, 2002), Parker for Hatfield in South Yorkshire / North Nottinghamshire (Parker, 1992) and Bassett for the kingdom of Lindsay (Bassett, 1989), All of these authors would, I am sure, have significant caveats for their work, but taken together they form a useful set of data. The boundaries they identify are again shown on figure 4. Higham suggests that the area of the Pecsaete consist of the Cheshire Domesday hundred of Hamestan, the Derbyshire hundred of the same name, plus the Staffordshire hundred of Totmonslow. The area of Hadfield identified by Parker includes not only the area of south Yorkshire that is usually so identified, but also north Nottinghamshire. The boundaries of the Pecsaete and Hatfield are, on this basis separated by a thin strip of Derbyshire (essentially Scarsdale Hundred), and it seems likely that the territory of one or the other of them extended to fill the gap between them. We choose here to extend the region of the Pecsaete into this area, as it will be seen below that a significant diocesan boundary separates Derbyshire from Nottinghamshire. Elsewhere the region of Elmet identified by Breeze can be seen to border on the Pecsaete, and the area of Lindsey is, following Bassett, taken to include not only the pre-1974 Parts of Lindsey to the north of the River Witham, but also a similar sized area to the south.
Figure 4 Kingdom boundaries in the north Midlands
(red dotted line shows the region of the Pecsaetna assumed in what follows – the red chain dotted line ins the boundary identified by Higham; the green dotted line shows the region of Hatfield; the brown dotted line shows the region of Elmet; the purple dotted line shows the region of Lindsey – with the chain dotted line showing the southern boundary of the Parts of Lindsey)
Now let us move to the consideration of the boundaries of church dioceses, particularly in the English Midlands. Some historians have expressed doubt about how the known medieval boundaries can be extrapolated back to the seventh century, the period under consideration here. This is particularly true of those areas which fell within the Danelaw where a number of dioceses ceased to operate. Nonetheless, they are used here for two reasons – firstly the 10th century Midland county boundaries follow these diocesan boundaries in many places and this suggests that the latter predated the former, and secondly, in many parts of the Midlands, there seems to be no record of any historical events that could have led to boundary changes. This is indeed the approach followed by Hart (1977) in his consideration of the Tribal Hidage, although he did not follow this approach to its logical conclusion.
The Mercian diocese came into existence in 655, and in its early days it covered a large region across the English Midlands. The situation changed with the reorganization of Theodore of Tarsus (Archbishop of Canterbury 669-690), who created dioceses based on “kingdoms” – a Lichfield diocese reduced in size for Mercia, Hereford Diocese for the Magonsaete (676), Lincoln diocese for the kingdom of Lindsey (678), Worcester diocese for the Hwicce (680) and Leicester diocese for the Middle Angles (681) (Podmore, 2008). These dioceses, as they existed in the late Anglo-Saxon era, are shown in figure 5, together with the relevant county boundaries (Ordnance Survey, ??).
From this figure it can be seen that the Mercian diocese covers much of west Warwickshire, Staffordshire, part of Shropshire, Derbyshire and the “land between the Mersey and the Ribble”. Clearly as such it encompasses the areas listed in the Tribal Hidage as Wocensætna and Pecsaetna, as well as whatever polities existed north of the Mersey, which must thus have been incorporated into Mercia sometime between the compilation of the Tribal Hidage (in 625 if Higham’s argument is accepted) and the re-organisation of dioceses in the 670s.
Equally significant are those areas that are not part of the Mercian diocese. Firstly Nottinghamshire has been, from at least 956 when the church was re-established following the Danish conquests, part of the York diocese (Stenton, 1968). At this time the area based on the minster church of Southwell, which was granted to Oskytel, Archbishop of York by King Eadwig. It seems likely to methat this was simply are-establishment of the pre-conquest status quo. There is a local tradition that the area was first evangelised in the early seventh century by Paulinus operating from York. Thus, in ecclesiastical terms, Nottinghamshire looks to the north and the Humber, rather than to the Midlands and the diocese of Lichfield. Secondly, the counties of Leicester and Northamptonshire are in the Leicester (i.e. Middle Anglian) diocese. Hart, in his definition of the geography of Mercia, arbitrary labels this area as “outer Mercia” (Hart, 1977), an entity which has no historical context at all. The fact that it is regarded as being in Middle Anglia is consistent with the argument set out above that the Noxgaga and Ohtgaga should be located in this area.
Figure 5 Diocesan and county boundaries.
An attempt can now be made at locating the original lands of Mercia, about which the Tribal Hidage seems to revolve – see figure 6. The diocesan boundaries and boundaries of other kingdoms would suggest that this region included west Warwickshire, south Staffordshire and south and east Derbyshire. The main unknowns are the location of the northern and western boundaries. With regard to the northern boundary, this has been chosen to exclude the long neck of land between the regions of the Pecsaete and Hatfield, as identified by Higham and Parker, as this seems the more logical geographical boundary. The boundary shown in figure 6 thus forms the southern boundary of the Domesday Scarsdale Hundred. With regard to the western boundary, the logical place for this would be on the watershed between the Trent and Severn basins. This is followed by the western border of Staffordshire, except for Seisdon hundred in the south, where part of the catchment of the Stour, a tributary of the Severn, is included within Staffordshire and the Domesday county boundary was the River Severn itself. The boundary of the original Mercia is drawn to follow the Staffordshire boundary even in this region for reasons that will become apparent below. The original Mercia thus consists of the Staffordshire Domesday hundreds of Seisdon, Cuttlestone, Pirehill and Offlow (the latter containing Lichfield), the Derbyshire hundreds of Walecross, Appletree, Litchurch and Morleystone and the Warickshire hundreds of Coleshill, Bumblelow, Stoneleigh, Marton and Hunesberi. Many authors have pointed out that this region lacks natural boundaries or defensive positions of any sort, and this will be considered below. But at this point the reason for the name of the kingdom – the borderlands – becomes obvious if this area is considered in terms of the Roman Civitas, the broad areas of which are also shown on figure 7 (it is not being possible to draw these with any precision) together with an indication of the Provincial areas following the reorganization of Diocletian (Jones and Mattingley. 1993). There is coming to be agreement that throughout the fifth and sixth centuries there was some continuity in Civitas level government, at least in the west of England, either through Governors or through kings (Dark, 2000). On the presumption that something similar to these Civitas continued to exist in some form into the late 6thcentury, it can be seen that the original Mercia sat across the borders of a number of them – the Dobunni in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, who seem to have morphed into the Hwicce; the Cornovii in Shropshire / Chester, who became the Wocensætna, the Corieltauvi in Warwickshire / Leicestershire / Lincolnshire; the Catuvellauni in Northamptonshire / Bedforshire / Buckinghamshire, and, if it actually existed, Lutadorum in the Peak District, who can perhaps be identified with the territory of the Pecsaete. It would seem that Mercia took land from all of these and straddled the borders of each, and in doing so straddled the borders of at least three of the four late Roman provinces.
Figure 6. The original Mercia mapped.
Figure 7. The original Mercia and Civitas and Provincial regions
(Civitas names in black, Provincial names in green)
The point has often been made that the original Mercia, whatever its precise location, lacked natural boundaries. However this is probably a misconception. Figure 8 shows the original Mercia as identified above, together with the established Roman road network, which was usable well into Medieval times, and also some conjectural, but likely roman roads. This changes the picture of Mercia significantly. It can be seen that the centre of the kingdom at Lichfield / Wall sits on a major junction of roads, from where small bands suitably mounted and armed could reach all parts of the kingdom very quickly and could establish control over a wide area. Also at the borders there were at least the locations of Roman towns which could have acted as regional centres – Water Eaton to the west, Greensforge to the south west, Metchley to the south, High Cross to the south east and Derby to the north. Perhaps most importantly this network would also allow control of trade across the whole region – and thus control of major trading routes across England – Watling Street between High Cross and Water Eaton; Ryknield Streets between Derby and Metchley, as well as the northern saltways from Droitwich. To this road network, can be added strategic riverine locations at Sawley – the junction of the Trent, Erewash and Soar, and on the Severn at Quatford, which could thus control major river traffic flows. The latter is the major reason for suggesting that Seisdon hundred in Staffordshire was part of the orginal Mercia, as it gave control over the saltway at Greensforge and the roads to the borders and mid Wales, as well as access to the Severn at Quatford. This interpretation thus sees the original Mercia as very much a commercial enterprise as well as one in kingdom building.
Figure 8 – Communications networks
(blue indicates probably and possible Roman Roads; red indicates locations within the Original Mercia; green indicates major locations outside this area. Blue circles indicates the riverine crossings at Quatford (in the west) and Sawley (in the east)
Finally the question arises as to whether or not there is a historical context into which the above scenario could fit. Here there is little alternative but to use the evidence of the various chronicles and early histories, and which are open to serious challenges as to their veracity and utility. With that proviso, they are used and viewed as broadly reliable in what follows.
The third quartile of the sixth century was a time of expansion by the kingdom of Wessex, as illustrated in figure 9. In 568 a Wessex force led by Ceawlin and Cutha, defeated Aethelberht of Kent, and pushed him back towards his homeland. In 571, in a northern advance, Cuthwulf defeated British force at Bedcanford (usually taken as Bedford) taking control of a number of towns in that region. This was followed in 577 by the battle of Deorham, where three British kings were again defeated by Cuthwine and Ceawlin and three major towns taken – Bath, Glouccester and the capital of the Province of Britannia Prima, Circencester. Then for 584, for Anglo-Saxon chronicle reads
Ceawlin and Cutha fought with Britains at the place called Fethanleag and Cutha was killed, and Ceawlin took many townships and countless spoil and returned in anger to his own.
Here Cutha is a king in Wessex, and Fethanleag has been identified as Stoke Lyne near Bicester in north Oxfordshire – a few miles south of the southern border of Mercia shown in figure 6. Davies (1977) relates this to an entry for the next year in the Henry of Huntingdon’s Historia Anglorum which states
585 Beginning of the kingdom of Mercia, with Crida
If one can make that equation, this suggest that Cutha met his match in an essentially British force that stopped the northern expansion of Wessex, and that this force was led by Crida who then went on to establish the kingdom of Mercia as outlined above, and a dynasty in the form of Crida, Pybba and Penda. Note the partially British name of the latter, which strongly suggests a kingdom of mixed ethnicity. The dynasty was known as the Iclingas after the (perhaps mythical) ancestor Icel, and the Anglo Saxon Chronicle gives the names of his descendants before Crida as Cynewald and Cnebba. As noted by Myers there are a number of place names that reflect the name Icel across Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, and there is a concentration of names based on Pybba (Pedmore) and Penda (Pendford, Pinvin) in the Worcestershire / south Staffordshire area, suggesting the popularity of these names around there.
The nature of the original Mercia is however still elusive. It may be that Crida’s family of the 580s, simply took the region centred on Wall and held it by force of arms against the neighbouring polities. Dark would suggest that these polities were the remains of the sub-Roman Civitas system, which to the east were clearly (from the evidence of the small polities of the Tribal Hidage in the East Midlands) in the process of dissolution due to internal pressures, and perhaps also the pressure of migrating Saxons from the area around the Wash and the Humber; whilst in the west bureaucratic Civitas governments of the Dobunni and Cornovvii may well have been in their final sharp decline. This suggest the possibility (and it can be rated no higher than that) that the family and their followers were effectively foederatiemployed by these bureaucratic governments to resist the growing pressure of Wessex from the south and the chaos enveloping their eastern borders. If so, then their eventual subjugation by an expanding Mercia might suggest that this was ultimately not a good move.
In the early seventh century, there does seem to have been a break in the succession, and Bede tells us of another Mercian king – Cearl – who took the refugee and later Deiran King, Edwin, under his protection in around 605. Higham argues that he was the Midlands Overking at the time, able to resists the demands of Aethelfrith in Northumbria for the return of Edwin (Higham, 1995). The fact that Edwin was able to reach Cearl easily, and after Cearl’s death find refuge with Raedwald in East Anglia, strongly suggests that Ceorl’s activity was in the north midlands – perhaps in the south of Nottinghamshire which has been identified as an anomaly in diocesan terms. In this scenario, Cearl would have been of northern Anglian stock, but Bede would have referred to him as king of Mercia, because the region in which his power was centred was Mercian in Bede’s day. Taking this further one can perhaps see the primary list of the Tribal Hidage as a tribute list of Cearl, in which the punative 30,000 hides of the original Mercia reflected a recent takeover from the Icinglas dynasty that was not to prove permanent. It can also be speculated that Ceorl’s territory was that of the North Mercians mentioned by Bede, with the original Mercia being South Mercia. In taking over Ceorl’s territory, Penda would thus become the first king to “separate the Mercians from the Northumbrians” as also noted by Bede. But here we are in the realms of speculation, and his must be only one of many possibilities of the situation on the ground in the early seventh century.
Figure 9 Anglo Saxon Chronicle battles of the mid / late sixth century
Bassett S (1989) “Lincoln and the Anglo-Saxon see of Lindsey”, Anglo-Saxon England, 18, 1-32
Breeze A (2002) “The Kingdom and Name of Elmet”, Northern History, 39, 2, 157-171
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Dark K (2000) “Britain and the End of the Roman Empire”, Tempus
Davies W (1977) “Annals and the origin of Mercia” in “Mercian Studies” edited by Ann Dornier, Leicester University Press
Davies W, Vierck H (2010) “The Contexts of Tribal Hidage; social aggregates and settlement patterns”, Frühmittelalterliche Studien
Dumville D (1989) “The Tribal Hidage: an introduction to its texts and their history”, in: Bassett, S (ed.), The origins of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Studies in the Early History of Britain, Leicester: Leicester University Press, 225–230, 286–287.
Hart C (1971) “The Tribal Hidage”, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fifth Series, 21 (1971), 133-157
Hart C (1977) “The kingdom of Mercia” in Mercian Studies, edited by Ann Dornier, Leicester University Press, 43-62
Higham N (1993) “The origins of Cheshire”, Manchester University Press
Higham N (1995) “An English Empire – Bede and the early Anglo Saxon kings”, Manchester University Press.
Jones B, Mattingly D (1993) “An Atlas of Roman Britain”, Blackwell
Ordnace Survey (???) “Monastic Britain”, South sheet, 2nd edition
Oosthuizen S (2017) “The Anglo-Saxon Fenland”, Windgather Press
Leslie S and 18 other authors (2015) “The fine-scale genetic structure of the British population”, Nature 519, 309-314
Parker M (1992) “The Province of Hatfield”, Northern History, 28, 1, 42-69,
Podmore C (2008) “Dioceses and Episcopal Sees in England – A Background Report for the Dioceses Commission”, DC/R3
Pretty K (1989) “Defining the Magonsate” in: Bassett, Steven (ed.), The origins of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Studies in the Early History of Britain, Leicester University Press, 171-183
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First published on this site as a web page in April 2020, but format changed to post in August 2024 for consistency with other material
It has been noted by a number of authors in the past that in the vicinity of Lichfield, the ecclesiastical centre of the Mercian kingdom, there are a number of place names with pagan religious associations, and puzzlement has been expressed that such names were allowed to survive by the ecclesiastical authorities (Horowitz, 2005, p32). In this article, we consider these names further and identify a small number of other sites in the locality that may also have pagan religious connections. In so doing we are led to the tentative conclusion that Lichfield may have been a centre for pagan religious activity in the pre-Christian era, and the echoes of this activity, remain in place names and church dedications in the area. This suggestion goes some way to explain the rather odd comment recorded in an early life of St Wilfred, that he gave Lichfield to Chad for the site of his cathedral in 669, as it was suitable place for an episcopal see – in that it was already an ancient cultic site (Colrave, 1927). We begin in the next section by briefly considering the work of North (North, 1997), who investigated in particular the deity known as “Ing-Freyr”, for reasons that will become obvious in what follows. We then move on to a consideration of place names and church dedications in the Lichfield area. An attempt is then made to synthesise the findings, and to draw out their implications. Finally, further possible indications of cultic activity in the Lichfield area in the Roman / British era and before are briefly mentioned.
Through a detailed examination of the work of the Roman Historian Tacitus who described the worship of the Angles in southern Denmark in the first century AD; the much more recent Scandinavian myths recorded in Iceland around 12thand 13thcenturies; king lists from the early English kingdoms and a range of Old English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period, North arrives at the conclusion that the worship of the deity “Ing-Freyr” can be detected in England before the conversion. He argues that the cult of Ing-Freyr directly descends from that of Nerthus, who seems to have had the attributes of a sky god, in the early Roman era by the Angles in southern Denmark. Tacitus describes this as centring on a oxen hauled wagon procession of the god, either represented by an idol of by a nominee, around the tribal region, with the celebration of a marriage to the earth goddess Terra Mater, symbolised by copulation with local women or with a nominated female. This rite had obvious fertility aspects, and also seems to have involved the “death” of the God (either through the symbolic interring of the idol, or perhaps through human sacrifice) after the wagon tour, and his resurrection in the following spring. The suffix “Ing” can be found in a number of early Anglian king lists, indicating the persistence of the cult into the Anglo-Saxon era and can be traced through various Old English texts. Freyr simply means “Lord” and in the Nordic myths was the son of Njoror (the equivalent of Nerthus) and the brother of Freyja, who were all members of the Vanir, the old gods who were the losers of a cult war with the Aesir headed by Odin. The name Freyja simply means “Lady” and is widely regarded as a fertility deity, and also as a “psychopomp” who attended to the souls of the dead. In some myths she is identified with Frigg, the wife of Odin The concept of a dying and rising God has of course resonances with Christianity, and North, somewhat mischievously, writes
…the Angles, in particular, offered no resistance to Christianity and indeed failed to perceive the difference between the new religion and their own…. (North, 1997, 305)
However, whilst the cult of Ing-Freyr could clearly have played a part in the conversion of the Angles, ultimately for the Church there was the possibility of much confusion with the orthodox faith that was potentially very damaging. There is some evidence that the Church thus came to equate Ing-Freyr with the devil (North, 1997, 56-57, 325), and the cult was firmly suppressed. This was partly achieved through his replacement in king lists and names by Odin, an ambiguous figure, both a deity and a real or semi-mythical Swedish ancestor, but who was clearly not regarded as a threat to the church in the same way as Ing-Freyr[vi]. One of the attributes of Odin himself was that of the psychopomp.
Whilst the arguments of North are based on widely diverse sources, both in terms of content and date of composition, they are nonetheless cogently argued and present a convincing case that, in the pre-conversion era, the cult of Ing-Freyr could be found amongst the Anglian peoples of Britain. The implications of this for the Lichfield area will become clear in the following sections.
The name of Lichfield itself remains something of a mystery (Horowitz, 2005, p16). The early (medieval) understanding, based on the writings of Matthew Parris, a monk of St Albans, was that it carried the meaning “Field of the dead” and was the site of the martyrdom of Christians during the persecution of Diocletian from 284 to 305, with “Lich” being derived from the Old English word for body or corpse. Early spellings of the name however suggest that such an interpretation is at best debatable, and the accepted wisdom is that the name derives, through a complex system of intermediate forms, from the Celtic word that evolved into Letocetum (Wall) in the Roman era, and means the open place by the grey wood (Horowitz, 2005, p17). What the grey wood might be has however not been explained, although of itself it to some degree numinous, with perhaps some symbolic meaning and content relating to the dead or the supernatural.
If the name of Lichfield cannot be fully explained, other names in the vicinity are less ambiguous. There are two “Woden / Odin” names to the west – at Wednesfield (Horowitz, 2005, p566) and at Wednesbury (Horowitz, 2005, p565), with names that mean the open land dedicated to Woden, and Woden’s fortification respectively. A little way to the east, on Watling Street, we find Weeford – the ford of the idol or shrine (Horowitz, 2005, p29). Less certainly, in between Weeford and Lichfield, we find Freeford (Horowitz, 2005, p32) (Horowitz, 2005, 30), . Whilst this might simply mean free, or unrestricted, ford, a possible variant is Freyja’s ford, which, in view of the theories of North set out above, may well be of some significance. Weeford and Freeford were two of the five original (and quite possible pre-Domesday) prebends of Lichfield Cathedral, the others being Longdon and Handsacre to the west, and Stotfold or Statfold to the east.
However there are a small number of other sites that may have connections with pagan worship in the area. The first is the last of the five prebends just mentioned. Stotfold (Horowitz, 2005, p510) carried the meaning of (horse or oxen) stud fold. The horse itself had ritual significance in the Anglo-Saxon period, but it is the possible association with oxen that is clearly of significance to the current discussion. Also, just to the south of Freeford we find Ingle Hill (Horowitz, 2005, p336). Horowicz is not certain on the derivation of this, offering a rather tenuous connection with the Inge family who were apparently in the Lichfield area in the 18thcentury. The root however is exactly the same as Ingham in Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk (all regions of Anglian migration), which does seem to be connected to the deity Ing (Mill, 1991). We thus have the names Weeford, Freeford, Stotfold, and Ingle Hill all in close proximity, and whilst the derivations of all but the first are arguable, their geographical coincidence strongly suggests a connection with pagan ritual. All these places are also part of a large land unit that was eventually to become the Domesday manor of Lichfield, and then the large parish of St Michael’s Church on Greenville (James, 1998). Basset (1992) argues that this was actually a pre-Augustinian British Diocese, and whilst this may be possible, it may be simply a land unit that arose for different reasons. Finally, there is the possibility that one of the members of the Domesday Lichfield land unit, Tymmore (whose meaning has not been addressed by place name scholars) could refer to the god Tyr, the moor in question perhaps being Whittington Heath to the east of Lichfield (Morris, 1976). Place names thus suggest an unusual level of pagan activity or memory in the Lichfield area in the period from which the settlement names derive
Within Lichfield, there are three parish churches and the cathedral. Bede tells us that the latter was originally dedicated to St Peter and St Mary (Kettle andJohnson, 1970), but at least by Domesday, the dedication was to St Chad and St Mary. Thus the dedication was to the “Lady” of the Christians and to the chief apostle, and latterly to the major local holy man. The three churches are dedicated to St Mary, St Chad and St Michael. The first was a medieval creation for the planned town of Bishop Roger de Clinton in the 12thcentury. Of the latter two, the land unit evidence discussed by Basset suggests that St Michael’s is the older, and that St Chad’s parish was originally included within it (as were the parishes of St Mary’s and the Cathedral Close). In St Michael we have both the angel who threw the devil to earth from heaven, as well as the Christian psychopomp. The huge size of St Michael’s graveyard has frequently been pointed out, and whilst this size may be purely functional, it might nonetheless indicate early association of the area with the concerns of the dead (James, 1998).
Of the three prebends of Lichfield discussed above, Freeford and Stotfold have no chapels of their own and seem to have always looked to St Michael’s as the mother church. The church at Weeford is again dedicated to Mary. Away from Lichfield, there does not seem to have been an ancient church at Wednesfield, but at Wednesbury the hilltop church is dedicated to St Batholomew. Interestingly there are two other Bartholomew dedications in the vicinity – at Hints on Watling Street near Weeford to the east of Lichfield, and at Farewell to the west. Bartholomew is one of the lesser known of the disciples in biblical terms, but one of his traditions relates that he was martyred by being skinned alive. He is regarded as the patron saint of tanners, which is perhaps a tenuous connections with the ox wagon procession that is identified herein. He is also identified with Heracles, perhaps through a similarity of iconography, with Heracles holding the skin of the Nemean lion in a similar manner to Bartholomew holding his flayed skin (Crane and Lazzarotti, 2014), and through Heracles / Hercules to Balder, the dying / rising God of Norse myth, which is shown by North to be identified with Ing (North, 1997, 143).
Finally the church at Shenstone to the south of Lichfield, is dedicated to St John the Baptist, whose feast day is on midsummer eve. There is a long and proven European tradition of midsummer bonfires on hilltop sites (possibly where bones were burnt) that goes back to Roman times (Hutton, 1996), and the dedication to St John suggests that these occurred at Shenstone, and might go some way towards explaining the rather curious name (Horowitz, 2005, 488), which means “Shining Stone”. There are no obvious stones to which this could apply in the vicinity, but the name could conceivably apply to an idol illuminated by a bonfire.
At this point it would be easy to fall into wild speculation concerning the implications of all the above, and perhaps particularly on the route that might have been taken by an ox drawn idol bearing wagon. We resist that here and simply emphasise two major points. The first is that place name evidence strongly suggest that the region around Lichfield was the centre of a cult of Ing-Freyr, and perhaps Freyja, with some indications that the ancient wagon procession cult was at least remembered if not wholly practiced – the names of Freeford (Freyja’s ford), Ingle Hill (Ing- Hill), Weeford (Idol ford), Stotfold (Oxen or horse fold) and perhaps Shenstone (Shining Stone). This implies the early existence of both a fertility cult, with an annually dying and rising deity, and with a cult of the dead. The second point is that this cult seems to have been supressed in exactly the way that Pope Gregory recommended to St Augustine – to use and hallow the pagan shrines for Christian worship. The three pagan sites of Weeford, Freeford (which includes Ingle Hill) and Stotfold were eventually to become prebends of Lichfield Cathedral; the worship of the Lord Ing-Freyr and the Lady Freyja was replaced by the worship of Christ as mediated through the chief apostle Peter and the local holy man Chad, and “Our Lady”, the Virgin Mary. The pagan psychopomp Freyja was replaced by the Christian version, the Archangel Michael, who from the summit of Greenhill would proclaim the Christian victory over the Lord and Lady of the Vanir. Away from Lichfield itself, the fires at Shenstone, that perhaps used to illumine the travelling idol, became dedicated to St John, and whatever occurred at Wednesfield, Wednesbury, Hints and Farewell was neutered using the ambiguous name of Woden / Odin, and the rather dramatically martyred St Bartholomew. But the suppression was not wholly complete. Some of the names in the vicinity were too deeply ingrained in the local consciousness to be eliminated completely, and the association of Lichfield with both the cult of the dead and with fertility was to endure, through the long history of the graveyard at St Michaels, and through the Greenhill Bower respectively. Interestingly, and perhaps amusingly, as late as the 14thcentury the incumbents of the (once pagan) prebends of Freeford, Weeford and Stotfold still appointed chaplains to the three (Christian) city churches of St Mary, St Chad and St Michael (Greenslade, 1990).
In the above no attempt has been made to give chronological depth to the above suggestions and give suggested dates other than the firm one of 669 for the beginning of Chad’s episcopate. Place names and church dedications simply do not allow a precise chronology of the interaction between pagan and Christian worship to be developed. So we have simply set out the evidence that suggests that, in the pre-conversion period, there was a significant and identifiable pagan activity in the Lichfield area, that had both fertility and mortuary aspects, and was ultimately supressed, albeit far from effectively, by the Christian church.
We have concentrated above on the interface between Anglian pagan worship and Christian worship, potentially in the sixth and seventh centuries. However there’re a number of indications that the Lichfield area might have cultic past that goes back further than that. James (1999), based on the work of Morris (1989), argues that the church dedication to St Michael on Greenhill could have displaced an earlier cult of Mercury, who has many of the same attributes, including that of psychopomp. In turn this could be related to the cult of the Celtic / British deity Lugos, who again had the same attributes. Also, as noted above, Bassett (1992) argued that St Michael’s could have been the centre of a late Roman ecclesiastical diocese. How the various competing cultic sites of the Roman / British and Anglo-Saxon periods might have related to each other is not at all clear.
Going back still further, it is quite possible that Lichfield itself is part of a major solar alignment, with the Cathedral, St Chad’s Well, and the Bronze age site at Catholme all being on a midwinter sunset / midsummer sunrise alignment. The cultic implications of this are the subject of speculation is a related blog post.
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Engineering, history and ecclesiology 