The Vicars of Oakham

The Vicar Boards at All Saints Oakham

Two large inscribed boards at the west end of All Saints church list the vicars of the church from 1227 to the present day (figure 1). This list matches those found in church guides written over the last 100 years and date back to the primary research found in a 1903 article in the Rutland County Magazine and Historical Record of 1905. Whist this list is quite comprehensive, a more detailed resource is now available – the The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd) which contains information from a wider variety of sources than were available in 1905. In this post we look at the information that can be obtained from this database about the life and times of Vicars of Oakham for the period 1540-1835 – roughly corresponding to the top half of the second board in figure 1.

Figure 1. The Vicar boards at All Saints Church

The database listing

A listing of the Vicars of Oakham from the database is given in Table 1 below. The table gives the names and the year and type of the event recorded. The hyperlinks on the names link to the information held in the database of the career that particular person, both at Oakham and elsewhere, and the hyperlinks in the “View” column link to details of the particular event recorded. The types of event are as follows.

Appt (Admission) – Definition not clear
Appt (Collation) – Candidate appointed by the Bishop as Patron, combining presentation and institution
Appt (Institution) – Appointment of the candidate to the living by the Bishop
Appt (Licensing) – Appointed with a Bishop’s license
Appt (Presentation) – Patron presents the candidate to the Bishop
Disp (Dispensation) – Some variation of normal practice
LibC – Liber Cleri – Name found in Visitation records
Subsc – Subscription to various oaths
Vac (Death) – Vacancy caused by death
Vac (Resignation) – Vacancy caused by resignation

Archbolde , Willimus	1561	Appt (Resignation)	Vicar	View
Tarte , Thomas	1561	Appt (Institution)	Vicar	View
Bartlett , Johannes	1565	Vac (resignation)	Vicar	View
Thyckpennye , Thomas	1565	Appt (Institution)	Vicar	View
Peachie , Willimus	1596	Appt (Institution)	Vicar	View
Greene, Johannes	1609	Appt (Presentation)	Vicar	View
Peachie , Will	1629	Disp-App	Vicar	View
Tyd , Richard	1644	Appt (Admission)	Perpetual Vicar	View
Wright, Abraham	1662	Subsc	Vicar	View
Wright, Abraham	1664	Libc	Vicar	View
Warburton, John	1691	Appt (Collation)	Vicar	View
Warburton, John	1736	Vac (Death)	Vicar	View
WIlliams, John	1736	Appt (Institution)	Vicar	View
Williams , John	1777	Libc	Vicar	View
Williams , John	1782	Vac (Death)	Vicar	View
Williams , Richard	1782	Appt (Institution)	Vicar	View
Williams , Richard	1806	Vac (Death)	Vicar	View
Williams , Richard	1806	Appt (Institution)	Vicar	View
Williams , Richard	1806	Vac (Death)	Vicar	View
Williams , Richard	1806	Disp (Dispensation)	Vicar	View
Williams , Richard	1815	Vac (Death)	Vicar	View
Finch , Heneage	1815	Disp (Dispensation)	Vicar	View
Finch , Heneage	1815	Appt (Institution)	Vicar	View

Table 1. The Vicars of Oakham from The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd)

Not only does the database list the Vicars of Oakham, but also those who were curates or licensed preachers, and these are shown in Table 2. The intermittent nature of this listing suggests that this list is far from complete. Indeed the database also lists curates in the associated parishes of Egleton, Barleythorpe, Langham and other chapels, who were probably under the oversight of the vicar of Oakham.

Gooche, Nathaniel	1612	Appt (Licensing)	Preacher	View
Chamberlain , Jacob	1639	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Warburton, Charles	1722	Appt (Appointment)	Curate	View
Holwell, Benjamin	1725	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Stokes, Charles	1728	Subsc	Deacon	View
Stokes, John	1728	Subsc	Deacon	View
Smith , William	1776	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Smith , William	1777	Libc	Curate	View
Orme ? , Thomas	1777	Libc	Curate	View
Currie , John	1783	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Barton , Matthew	1808	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Jones , John	1816	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Macfarlane , Robert	1821	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Breynton , John Henry	1821	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Foxton , George Lardner	1825	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Philpot , William Doveton	1833	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View
Heaton , George	1834	Appt (Licensing)	Curate	View

Table 2. Other ministers at Oakham from The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd)

In what follows we delve deeper into the database to learn more about the clergy named in the above tables.

Reformation, counter Reformation and the Elizabethan settlement (1540 -1596)

Henry VIII died in 1547, and was succeeded by his son Edward VI (1547-1553). In his reign the Protestant Reformation took hold, with the publication of the 1549 Prayer book in English. The situation rapidly changed when his sister Mary (1553 to 1558) came to the throne, with the Catholic Counter Reformation. This period was a time of turmoil for the church, with loyalties tested amid persecution and martyrdom. The situation stabilised when Elizabeth I came to the throne, with a return to Protestantism, but acceptance, if not approval of catholic worship as long as it was carried out discretely.

George Daddley, who appears on the board for 1528, does not appear in the database, presumably because all the information about him precedes 1540, the start date for the database. The first vicar recorded in the database after that date is William (Willimus) Archebolde who resigned in 1561. He was Vicar of Blakeskey from 1551 and presumably resigned at some time after that to take up the position at Oakham. He was also Vicar of Bugbrooke from 1560 to1561 and Vicar of Kislingbury 1559-1568. How he fared in the reigns of Edward and Mary is unknown – but he at least survived to the reign of Elizabeth. He was succeeded at Oakham by Thomas Tarte in 1561. Tarte presumably resigned after two or three years and was succeeded by John (Johannes) Bartlett (again not on the board) who himself resigned in 1565. This rapid turnover of clergy then came to an end with the appointment of Thomas Thyckpennye, who had been a curate at North Luffenham from 1562, who remained in post until 1596.

The Stuarts, the Civil War and the Restoration (1596-1691)

Over the course of the seventeenth century, the stability achieved under Elizabeth was to be lost under the Stuart Monarchs and during the Civil War and the Commonwealth. Again, this would result in far reaching disruption to he life of the church, with conflict between the episcopal Church of England and the Presbyterian parliament. However for the first 40 years of the century there was a sense of stability, with only one, long serving vicar, William Peachie. His career is well documented in the database.

Father Thomas and born in Essex,
Matriculated as a Pensioner at St John’s, Cambridge , Michaelmas 1582
B.A. 1586-7; M.A. 1590; B.D. 1597. Fellow, 1590
Ordained Deacon and Priest on the same day in 1591
Vicar of Exton, Rutland, 1592-6.
Vicar of Oakham, 1596-1643
Father Thomas buried at Oakham in 1602
Rector of Burrough-on-the-Hill, Leics., 1628-43.
Died Oct. 6, 1643, aged 78. M.I. at Oakham.
Father of Josias (1617), John (1620) and Samuel (1614).

Early in his incumbency, a report of a Visitation suggest the church was in poor repair.

The seats on the south aisle are all broken in the bottom and neither paved nor boarded. Pavement in the east and north aisles broken. The chancel and the chapel on the north side neither plastered nor whited…Two bell wheels broken but being mended. The communion table unfit. The linen cloths very old. The north door in decay

Peachie was buried in the chancel, with a plain gravestone, with the following inscription (The History and Antiquities of the County of Rutland, James Wright, 1684)

Subtus jacet Venerab. Vir Guil. Peachie S.T.B. quondam Coll. D. Joh. Cant. Soc. nuper bujus EcclesiaVic. Morum innocentia satis laudatus, in arte concionandi Versatiss.
Quator Trium, Insignum Theologor, Pater Soror
Qui OJob. 6.
Non tam morbo confectus, quam vivendi tedio lassatus, placide expiravit.
Dom. 1643.
Etat. 78.
Residentia, 47.
Noli vexare Quiescit.

The gravestone no longer exists. The English Translation is as follows.

Beneath lies the Venerable. Rev William Peachie S.T.B. formerly of the College of St John, Cambridge. Recently the Vicar of the Church. His innocence of morals is highly praised, he is skilled in the art of preaching.
Four Three, Insignia Theologian, Father Sister
Job 6
Not so much worn out by illness, as worn out by the tedium of life, he expired peacefully.
Died 1643
Age 78
Residence 47
Don’t bother him. He’s resting.

Peachie thus survived through the reigns of James I and Charles I, but by the time of his death, the Civil War was underway and the relative peace of the first half of the century shattered. In this context one can perhaps appreciate the world weariness expressed in the inscription. It may also be that Peachie would have been required to sign the Solemn League and Covenant – a Presbyterian document of 1643 to which all those appointed to livings were required to subscribe. There are other indications in the record that his tenure was not wholly without incident. The records indicate that in 1609 John (Johannes) Green was presented to be Vicar of Oakham by the Patron, King James. No further details are known, and this may simply be a mistake in the original record or the transcription to the database. But it might indicate some sort of conflict over the living. Then in 1612, Nathaniel Gooch was licensed as a Preacher in the parish, having been ordained deacon and priest in 1607. What this role was in relation to Peachie is unknown, and Gooch is next found in the record as being appointed Vicar of Twyford in Leicestershire in 1630. Neither Green or Gooch are on the Vicar’s board. Further to these appointments, in 1639 James Chamberlin was appointed curate of the Parish and Preacher throughout the Diocese of Peterborough. He had been a curate and preacher at Kirkby Mallory, Earl Shilton Chapel from 1633. Again what his role was in relation to Peachie’s is not clear. The record shows him again at Kirkby Mallory, Earl Shilton chapel in 1662 after the Restoration. Again, as a curate he does not appear on the Vicar’s board.

We have little information on the next vicar other than his name – Richard Tydd, who was appointed in 1644, by when the conflict between Bishops and Presbyterians for control of the church was underway. His incumbency only lasted a year and it might be that he too was required to sign the covenant, but refused to do so. The next incumbent was one of the most consequential of the period under study – Abraham Wright. Details of his career can be found on a Wkipedea page, an obviously AI written Grokipedea page, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Rutland Record 8, 1988. The latter is most succinct and is reproduced below.

WRIGHT, Rev. Abraham (1611-90) Oakham’s notable Vicar, Abraham Wright, was born in 1611. He became a Fellow at St John’s College, Oxford, in 1632 and, in 1636, when Archbishop Laud, a former President, came with King Charles 11 and the Queen to open the new Library, it was Abraham Wright who read his own poem of welcome, later contained in “Parnassus Biceps”. During the same visit, he acted before the Royal Visitors in “Love’s Hospital”. Earlier, he had written a comic interlude, which he called “The Reformation”. Later, he published his own Sermons, including one which he preached at his own Ordination, and another given before the King. Other writings include an essay in praise of Strafford. In 1645, Wright was offered the living of Oakham by William Juxon, his President when he went up to Oxford, and by now Bishop of London but, because he could not accept the interregnum requirement to take the covenant, he was not instituted until 1660. Instead, he was active in Peckham and St Olave’s, Hart Street. When 1660 came, he was offered the Chaplaincy to the Queen of Bohemia, the new King’s sister. However, he refused this and other offers of high preferment and chose to come and remain in Oakham until his death in 1690. He married twice. His first wife bore him James, the writer of The History and Antiquities of the County of Rutland, towards which Abraham Wright provided the cost of two plates, including one of the windows of a former hall of the Hospital of St John and St Anne. As a disciple of Juxon, and as seen in some of his writings, Abraham Wright was a Laudian and, as such, insisted on ceremonial, belief in the Sacraments and the dignity of the Priesthood.

Some of his publications can be found on the web – for example “A practical commentary or exposition upon the Pentateuch” and “A Commentary on the Psalms“.

Again there seems to have been problems with the church fabric in the latter part of Wright’s incumbency, perhaps partly due to neglect during the Civil War. From the Victoria County History 1935.

In 1681 an order was made on Mr. Abraham Wright, vicar, and Mr. Burton, tenant of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, to pave the chancel and repair the ceiling, seats and windows; and on the churchwardens to remove the rubbish out of the churchyard, repave the church alleys throughout, repair the seats and the roof and glaze the windows, rebind the Bible, provide a new Common Prayer Book, plaster and whitewash the vestry, provide a covering to one of the pewter flagons, a carpet for the Communion table of fine green or purple broad cloth, to repair the beam in the middle aisle over the minister’s pew and to take away the seats in the middle aisle.

Figure 2. The Abraham Wright Memorial

The memorial to Wright still exists on the west wall of the north transept (Figure 2). It is the only monument in the church written in Latin.

P. M. S.
Prope jacet corpus venerabilis
Abraham Wright M.A. quondam hujus Ecclesia Vicarij
nata Londinensis, eruditione Oxoniensis,
olim Collegij d. Johan Baptista
in celebeuima ista Academia Socij.
qui nons die Maij
Salutis Christianæ 1690
ætatis sua 79,
Vicariatus 30, pie et tranquille expiravit
Beati mortui qui in domino moriuntur,
amodo jam dicit spiritus ut
requiescant a laboribus suis.

The English Translation is as follows.

P. M. S.
Near lies the body of the venerable
Abraham Wright M.A., formerly Vicar of this Church
born in London, educated in Oxford
formerly of the College of John the Baptist
in that celebrated Academic Society
who died on the 1st of May, 1690
aged 79
Vicar for 30 years, in piety and tranquillity.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord
from now on the Spirit says
that they may rest from their labours.

The other “vicar” that deserves further mention is the one who replaced Wright during the Civil War and Commonwealth – Benjamin King (1545-1660). His name, unsurprisingly, does not feature on the Vicar’s Board. After the Restoration he was ejected from the living at Oakham, one of six in Rutland to suffer that fate. But he seems to have remained in the area. From the Victoria County History.

In 1672 a licence was granted to Benjamin King, who had been intruding minister at Oakham during the time of the Commonwealth, for Presbyterians to meet at the house of Matthias Barry at Oakham. King had two daughters, one of whom married Vincent Alsop, usher of Oakham School and later an eminent minister in Westminster; the other married Robert Ekins, the first minister in the Northgate Barn.

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (1691-1835)

The eighteenth century again saw two long incumbencies – John Warburton from 1691 to 1736, and John Williams from 1736 to 1782. Curates become more common (or they are recorded more diligently) with six in total recorded during these incumbencies.

After the death of John Williams, his place was taken by his son Richard. He had been ordained deacon in 1771 and priest in 1772, a was curate of Stapleford in Leicestershire and vicar of Skillington in Lincolnshire from 1772. He was vicar of Oakham from 1782 to 1806 – a relatively short incumbency of only 24 years! He in his turn was succeeded by his son, another Richard, whose was ordained deacon and priest in 1801 and 1802. He was a curate in his father’s parish from 1801 until he succeeded him in 1806. In addition he was Usher at Oakham School from 1802-10. curate of Langham from 1801,vicar. of Enderby with Whetstone in Leicestershire from1803-15 and domestic chaplain to George Finch,9th Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham of Burley House from 1806 to 1815 (the patron of the church, and thus the one who presented him to the living). Only two curates are recorded during the incumbencies of the two Richards.

A monument to all three Williams is still in place in the north transept of the church and is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. The Williams memorial

The final vicar in the period of the Clergy of the Church of England dataset is Heneage Finch, grandson of Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Aylesford (History of the Finch Family, Brayan I’Anson, 1933) and a distant relative of George Finch,9th Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham mentioned above, the patron of the living. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1812, and was curate of Harpsden before moving to Oakham in1815. He was also Rector of Great Weldon from 1812 to 1819 and Domestic chaplain to William Legge, 4th earl of Dartmouth and Viscount Lewisham from 1815. He was another long serving vicar and died in post in 1865. It was during his incumbency that the church was restored by Gilbert Scott in 1858. Before that, as can be judged by Scott’s report, the church was again in a very poor state of repair. Indeed a lecture of 1860 that describes the pre-Restoration state of the church mentions

….that old ladies sat in church with their umbrellas up, and the pulpit to the last was in mourning for George III…

It would seem that Heneage Finch was content to let the status quo prevail and had to be urged (or one might say shamed) to let the restoration take place. In the end he contributed £200 to the overall contract cost of £4400. George Finch contributed £800.

More on the Nave Arcade carvings at All Saints Oakham

In a recent post I have described the exhibition “A sermon in stone” at All Saints Oakham which features photographs of the 13^th century nave arcade capitals. That exhibition builds on work set out in an earlier blog post. The carvings feature biblical, classical and folklore themes and between them appear to tell the salvation story from the fall of Adam and Eve to the resurrection of Jesus and beyond. In this post I include a photograph and brief discussion of a carving that didn’t feature in the exhibition, as it was felt to be too badly damaged.

Figure 1. Making faces and praying

Most of the carvings are around the capitals on the pillars in the nave arcade, but two are actually on the chancel arch at the same height as on the arcade. Both have been damaged at some point it the past by the installation of a rood screen. One of these features in the “Sermon in Stone” exhibition – that on the north side of the chancel arch of jesters making faces above the pulpit with a more serious praying figure looking into the chancel (figure 1). The other, on the south side, was thought at the time to be too damaged to include. However when a high resolution photograph was taken (by Richard Adams who took all the photos for the exhibition) it was found that there was considerable detail remaining – see figure 2, which shows a lion like figure, in an oak leaf surround.

The question then arises as to whether or not this carving has any meaning in the overall salvation theme of the carvings. It is clear from the overall arrangement that those carvings on the north side represent the dark side of salvation history – the fall, the devil, temptations to sin – and those on the south side the light side of redemption and restoration – the eucharist, angels and evangelists, the annunciation and crowning of the Virgin. The jester on the north side fits into this theme quite well, as displaying a range of unredeemed human qualities, and on this basis one would expect the figure on the south side to represent something more positive. Now in scripture, the symbolism of a lion is nearly always negative, as a creature that attacks and destroys, except in one place in the book of Revelation where Jesus is described as a lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5.5).

Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals

So perhaps in this carving we perhaps see a representation of Jesus, identified as the Lion of Judah, sat on the throne of God in heaven. This would be appropriate in its position as next to the capital that shows the crowning of the Virgin and the Harrowing of Hell, which are also eschatological themes. But, as ever with these carvings, this identification must be quite speculative.

They exceed in meanness even what is usual in country churches

In his report to the committee overseeing the restoration of All Saints church in Oakham in the late 1850s, Gilbert Scott wrote

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

A few years earlier, Baron Stephen Glynne in his church notes had written in a similar, if somewhat milder, vein.

Altogether the interior is not so well kept as it deserves to be. The pews and galleries are shabby and the whole dirty and untidy.

In this short note we present some information contained in the history of the church in the Rutland County Magazine published in 1903 concerning the internal arrangement of the church before the 1858 restoration. In particular Figure 1 shows the arrangements of the pews as sketched by Rev. C. A. Stevens, superimposed on the ground plan of the church – the interior fittimgs so disparaged by Scott.

Figure 1. Box pew arrangements in All Saints church – from the Rutland County Magazine of 1903

For those who know the orderly front facing bench pews in All Saints today, the arrangement shown in the figure will appear very odd. Box pews (for which a rent would have been charged) fill the nave, extending into the Trinity chapel, the Chancel and the Lady Chapel and would have been occupied by the wealthier members of Oakham Society. The sides would have been 3 or 4 feet high and they would have afforded a degree of privacy. As an example of how they might have appeared, see the pictire of eighteenth century box pews from Inglesham church in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Georgian Box pews – St John the Baptist, Inglesham.

The lack of geometric regularity and uniformity in Figure 1 is clear, indicating that this arrangement developed over the years, as new pews were added and old ones removed or adapted. The hoi polloi would have been housed in the free sittings in the double deck gallery at the west end of the church.

The focus of the church was also very different from today. The red square gives the location of the pulpit, the clergy desk and the church clerk’s desk – which are in the centre of the nave, adjacent to the pillar with the Green Man capital. The pulpit is surrounded on all sides by pews, some of which, but by no means all, would have enabled worshippers to face the preacher and vice versa. Unfortunately no indication of how the chancel is laid out is given, but presumably the altar was at the east end as now.

The function of the pews and the names of those families that rented the pews are shown on the figure, but the writing is too small to easily read at the scale shown here. From west to east in the nave we have

Servants; Hough; ??; Butt / Poor; Clerk; Desk; Ades; Vicar; Catmose; Wood; Brown; Rawlings

In the north transept we have, again from west to east

Wellington; Vicar’s servants

These are presumably names of parishioner families. A final point of interest is the location of what is almost certainly the font, within the blue square. This stands in the middle of the central aisle at the west of church, which is in many ways much more liturgically sensible than its current position, tucked away amongst pews on the north side of the central aisle.

The Holy Family with angels

The painting of the Holy Family shown below has hung in the Vicar’s Vestry at All Saints church in Oakham for many years, and has, until recently, never been properly identified. Recent expert advice suggests it is a late 18^th / early 19^th century copy of a composition by Francesco Albani of between 1608 and 1610. It is believed that it was produced by a workshop in Italy, or perhaps the Netherlands, to satisfy the demands of those on the “Grand Tour” for devotional works. Whilst thus not of any great value, it thus does have an interesting back story.

After a composition by Francesco Albani, paint on metal, late 17th / early 18th century

It’s detailed provenance is not known, but a difficult to read caption on the painting frame (below) has the inscription

“Presented to Oakham Church in memory of Harry Ellingworth”.

The Ellingworth family were prosperous shopkeepers in Oakham in the late 19^th and early 20^th century, and a number of them were named Harry. The most significant of these seems to have been a Harry Ellingworth who was a Town Crier in Oakham in 1881.

Painting in frame (with window reflections)

Interestingly a number of similar copies of the painting can be traced – either painted in Albani’s workshop or elsewhere (see below). The details vary, but the basic composition is the same. The market for such paintings was clearly buoyant.

Print of the original by Francesco Albani housed in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. 1608-1610

Dulwich Art Gallery
Holy Family by Studio of Francesco Albani
1610-60

The painting shows a somewhat weary and pensive looking Madonna in a red dress with a dark blue shawl, The Christ child sits on a golden cushion on her lap, partly surrounded by a blue sheet. Joseph looks on from the right, with an open book in front of him, that seems to be placed on a stone chest or altar or perhaps a tomb. It may be that the directions in which the Madonna and her husband are pointing is of some iconographic significance – Joseph, in his contemplation of scripture pointing upwards to God, and Mary, with the Christ child on her lap, pointing down to earth, the direction, if that is an appropriate word, of the incarnation. Two angelic figures look on from the left. There is a figure carved on the stone chest, that, from the original, appears to be some sort of Bachannalia, with wine being poured out for small dancing child like figures. Again there may be some iconographic significance here with a representation of Christ’s blood being poured out at the Eucharist. The mixture of biblical and classical themese seems to have been common at the period of the original composition.

Oakham adverts 1932

Recently I have come across a number of old Church Guides and Histories for All Saints Church in Oakham- from 1932, 1972 and 1980. PDFS of these can be found on the History and Heritage page of the church website. There comes a time of course when old guides and histories become historical documents in their own right, revealing how the church was thought of and communicated at the time of writing, and in their description of their contemporary activities, give an indication of the nature of the church’s worship and other activities. This is particularly true of the 1932 guide – The Story of Oakham Church, School and Castle by the then vicar, A. Edward Fraser. In what follows I post just a few pages from this this guide – the adverts it contained for local businesses that paid for its publication. These are given below, and I suspect that Oakham readers will find them of considerable interest.

All Saints Oakham Flower Festival 1996

In 1996, All Saints church in Oakham, organised a flower festival. Some photographs from this event were deposited in the church safe for safe keeping, and I have recently come across these whilst searching the safe for other items. It seems to me that these photos are well worth sharing – both for the flower displays but also for the glimpse they give of the church from 30 years ago. Pleas click on the photos below for larger versions of the pictures. The colours aren’t marvellous – they can only be as good as the prints – but they will be of interest to some.

An ancient solar alignment in Oakham?

Preamble

In a post “A possible Anglo-Saxon church group at Oakham in Rutland” from May 2024, I noted that All Saints Church in Oakham, and Our Lady’s Well to the north east were on what could be a mid-summer sunrise / mid-winter sunset solar alignment. I went no further than simply noting this, and didn’t speculate further about what it might imply. One always needs to be cautious about such alignments – they can be simple coincidences, and, if they are being looked for, can be found in the most unlikely places. For example from Borrowcop Hill in Lichfield, possibly an ancient burial mound, there was until recently a perfect alignment with the medieval spires of Lichfield Cathedral and the cooling towers of Rugeley power station, the latter sadly now demolished, which can hardly be of ancient origin. That being said, a reader of the May 2024 post sent me some further information that suggests that a cluster of Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age remains have been found to the north east of Our Lady’s well that could also be on the same alignment. Looking at this further, I realised that several kilometres to the north east of that, and again on much the same alignment, we have Alstoe Mount, another historic monument. These are all shown on the Ordnance Survey map extract of Figure 1 below. The nature of this possible alignment, along the axis of the mid-summer sunrise and mid-winter sunset is discussed further in this post.

Figure 1. The possible alignment. The sites are shown as red circles – from the south west to the north east these are All Saints church in Oakham, Our Lady’s Well, the historic monuments and Alstoe Mount.

The sites

All Saints church, Oakham

All Saints Church is Oakham (Figure 2) is a twelfth century church with thirteenth to fifteenth century additions. Internally it is pure Victorian, having been restored by Gilbert Scott. However it almost certainly stands on the site of an Anglo-Saxon church, and a church in Oakham is mentioned in the Domesday book. A compendium of historical information is given on the church website.

Figure 2. All Saints Oakham and Oakham Castle (photograph by the author)

Our Lady’s Well

Our Lady’s Well is a historically well-attested pilgrim site to the north east of All Saints church – see Figure 3. To quote from Leicestershire and Rutland’s Holy Wells by Bob Trubshaw from 2004;

Our Lady’s Well was once famed for curing sore eyes – providing that a pin was thrown in first. In 1291 indulgences could be obtained by visiting Oakham Church during its patronal festival and, for a price, joining a pilgrimage to Our Lady’s Well. In 1881 it was visited by the future Queen Alexandra. The well is to the north-east of the town, in a somewhat overgrown area between the Cottesmore road and a modern housing estate (NGR SK:866095).

It’s current condition is no better, and it is now impossible to access the well, in an overgrown plot of wasteland, which seems a shame.

Figure 3. Location of Our Lady’s Well from the 1880 Ordnance survey Map (All Saints church is at the bottom left, and the well at the top right.)

The Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age monuments

The material I was sent concerning the Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age monuments came from “Land off Burley Road Oakham, Vision and Delivery Document” produced by Pigeon Investment Management with regard to a proposed hosing development. Figure 4 is taken from that document and shows the location of Our Lady’s Well and the relevant monuments.

Figure 4. The Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age monuments (from Land off Burley Road Oakham, Vision and Delivery Document)

The monuments are listed as follows, where the numbers are those on the Historic England National Heritage list.

MLE5587 – Possible Mesolithic site west of Burley Road
MLE5592 – Late Iron Age/Roman site west of Burley Road
MLE5593 – Bronze Age burial, west of Burley Road
MLE5594 – Neolithic pit circle site west of Burley Road

Alstoe Mount

The substantial mound of Alstoe Mount (Figure 5) is described on the Ordnance Survey map as a Motte and Bailey. That is almost certainly not true. It was probably the Moot location for Alstoe Hundred. Details of the mound and the surrounding deserted village are given in the Historic England list entry.

Figure 5. Alstoe Mount (photograph from Historic England by Alan Murray-Rust, 2016)

The possible solar alignment

A current mid-summer sunrise / midwinter sunset direction from Oakham is 47.5 degrees east of north (from SunCalc). However obtaining a precise value to compare with the possible alignment shown in Figure 1 is difficult for two reasons. Firstly the actual direction of sunrise and sunset has varied over the millennia – and as things stand, we have no date for which a calculation can be made. This change is however small – of the order of 0.2 to 0.5 degrees. Also the apparent direction from any point depends upon the precise topography of the horizon over which the sunrise / sunset is observed – and as we know nothing about the observation point or the direction of observation, this is again not possible to specify. This again results in an uncertainty of around 0.5 degrees. So all we can probably say is that we are looking for an alignment of 47.5 +/-1.0 degrees east of north.

The actual directions between All Saints Oakham and the other sites is as follows.

Oakham to Our Lady’s Well – 46.3 degrees
Oakham to Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age monuments – 47.1 degrees
Oakham to Alstoe Mount – 47.8 degrees

Again there is uncertainty here – particularly in the specification of the precise site at Our Lady’s Well of any structure that might have been visible from All Saints, and similarly the precise position of any relevant structure in the monument field. The location point for All Saints (taken as the centre of the building) could be around 10m to the east or west. This can have an effect of the bearings of Our Lady’s Well and the monuments by around 0.25 degrees. Considering these uncertainties the above bearings and a sunrise / sunset direction of 47.5 degrees seem broadly consistent, and thus there does seem to be some evidence for all four sites lying along a solar alignment of some significance.

But there is another issue – that of elevation. A cross section along the proposed alignment is shown in Figure 6. From this it is clear that Alstoe Mount would not be visible from Our Lady’s Well or from the Monument field, and would only just be visible from All Saints if any observation platforms that existed there and at Alstoe were raised off the ground by a metre or so. Beacons however would have been visible.

Figure 6. Section through the proposed alignment (from Google Earth Pro.).

Discussion

So what does the above analysis lead to. Firstly I think there is plausible (but far from conclusive) evidence for a mid-summer sunrise / mid-winter sunset alignment, at least between the Monument field / Our Lady’s Well and All Saints, and possibly between Alstoe Mount and All Saints. but the available evidence gives us no chronological information as to when the alignment might have been of significance. Our Lady’s Well is first mentioned in the late Middle Ages and All Saints and Alstoe Mount can only be said to become of important in the pre-conquest period. There is no evidence at all, except in the monument field, for the other sites being important in the Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age. So in my view it is probably better to stop at this point – acknowledging that there may be a solar alignment, but not taking speculation any further. The boring, cautious approach I guess, but I don’t think there is much more to be said.

All Saints Oakham blogs and presentations – a compilation

Some summer reading and viewing – a compilation of some of my recent blog posts and a presentation on the history and heritage of All Saints church in Oakham.

Blog posts

The memorials of All Saints Oakham. Photographs and brief descriptions of the wall mounted memorials at All Saints church in Oakham (May 19^th 2025)

From Oakham to Mandalay . The story of a young curate from Oakham and his brief service as a missionary in Burma before his early death (April 29th 2025)

Kinetic Water Power – some odd words on a memorial in All Saints Oakham led to some interesting findings about how church organs were powered at the start of the 20^th century (25th April 2025)

The Harrington Bequest. Two posts that consider the bequest of Anne, Lady Harrington in 1616. Part 1- The charity, Part 2 – Oakham Parish Library (31st March 2025)

The chancel and chapels of All Saints church Oakham – Gilbert Scott’s legacy. A post looking at some aspects of the restoration of All Saints Oakham in 1858 (November 5^th 2024)

A time to mourn, and a time to dance – the All Saints season through the ages. The recording and transcript of a talk given at All Saints Oakham on 31/10/24 (November 3^rd 2024)

The 1858 Restoration of All Saints church in Oakham. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Three linked posts giving the transcripts of press reports of the restoration and re-opening of All Saints church in 1858, including the condition report by Gilbert Scott (October 9^th 2024)

The good, the bad and the grotesque – the decorated capitals of All Saints church in Oakham. An examination of some wonderful medieval stone carvings in Oakham Parish Church (3^rd February 2024)

For more see https://profchrisbaker.com/ecclesiastical-studies/ecclesiastical-blog-posts/

Presentation

A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to mourn and a time to dance – the All Saints season through the ages. The video of a talk given at All Saints Oakham on October 31st 2024

Oakham and Rutland blogs – a compilation

For some summer reading – a compilation of some of my recent blog posts on ancient and more modern Oakham and Rutland history.

The street topography of early Oakham. A post that considers how the street of Oakham and the surrounding areas might have been configured in the Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods (December 8^th 2024)

Public Transport in Oakham from the 1960s to the present. A blog that looks how road and rail transport in and through Oakham has developed and degraded over the last 60 years. (November 15^th 2024)

Oakham roofs. A photo blog simply showing the upper floors and roofs of the buildings on the north side of the High Street in Oakham. For no other reason than I like roofs. The history is implicit rather than explicit (July 23rd 2024)

Commemorating the 1000th Anniversary of the birth of Queen Edith. An address / sermon delivered by me at All Saints Oakham on March 10th 2024, at a Choral Evensong during the Queen Edith Festival (11^th March 2024)

Rutland – an enigmatic history – a further speculative consideration of three oddities about the early history of Rutland (2^nd February 2024)

Rutland and the Hwicce Some further thoughts on the County of Rutland and its association with the Hwiccan tribe of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire (30^th December 2023)

The Origin of Rutland – some speculations on the early history of the area where I now live (2nd December 2023)

For more see https://profchrisbaker.com/historical-studies/rutland-history/

The Morris memorials in All Saints Church in Oakham

Pulpit and window

Memorials in churches can be in some really odd places. I recently noticed a brass plaque almost at ground level on the base of the pulpit at All Saints in Oakham. Even sitting on the floor in close proximity I was unable to make out much of it, but by taking some photographs and enhancing the contrast, I was able to get the image on the right. This reads

To the Glory of god and in remembrance of Charles Knowlton Morris, who was born at Oakham March 18 1841 and died there April 4 1905. This pulpit was erected by his widow Judith Emily in accordance with his wish expressed during his lifetime.

The name rang a bell in my mind – there is a very similar dedication on the stained glass window in the south transept.

To the glory of God and in remembrance of Charles Knowlton Morris who was born at Oakham 8th March 1841 and died there 4th April 1905. This memorial is erected by his widow Judith Emily.

Window memorial dedication

Charles Knowlton Morris

So who was this Charles Knowlton Morris? He turned out to be quite easy to trace through the historical record. He was born in 1841, the son of Clarke and Francis Morris (nee Hare) of Catmose Street in Oakham, one of at least six children. Clarke Morris was a brewer in Northgate in Oakham. Two of his sons – William Clarke Morris and Charles Knowlton Morris took over the business after Clarke’s death in 1857. The brewery moved to Cross St / New St in 1866 and in censuses and trade directories, the business is usually described as Morris’ Rutland Brewery, and they were also listed as coal, salt and seed merchants at the railway station wharf. William Clark died in 1895 and it appears that the business passed directly to his brother. The Reredos and Marble flooring in the chancel at All Saints were donated by Charles in memory of his brother in 1898.

Charles married late in life, in 1898 aged 57 to Judith Emily Tiptaft, the daughter of a Northamptonshire farmer, who was seventeen years his junior. There were no children. Charles died on 4/4/1905, leaving a very considerable business and effects worth £19448. The business was sold off by auction fairly soon after his death. It is described in the Grantham Journal of 25/11/1905 as consisting of the brewery in New Street, and nineteen public houses in Oakham and the surrounding area. Those in Oakham included the Railway Hotel on Station Road, the Roebuck Inn on Church Street, the Bell Inn on Catmose Street, the Royal Duke Inn on West Road, Oakham, the Angel Inn on Northgate Street, and two off licenses, the Rutland Arms in New St and the Britannia Inn on Northgate Street. The estate was bought for £28,250 by Warwicks & Richardsons Ltd, Newark. Brewing ceased in 1907, but Warwicks continued to use the name Morris Rutland Brewery on Guiness bottled in Newark until 1962.

The dedication service

On 6/9/1896 at a service at All Saints church in Oakham, a new pulpit and stained glass window were dedicated to the memory of Charles. These are described at length in the Grantham Journal of 8/9/1906 as follows.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oakham,_All_Saints%27_church,_S._transept_window_(39714446545).jpg

The window composed of three long lights, surmounted by beautiful tracery, and is now the best of the many fine windows in this Church. The stained-glass design is governed by the architectural features, which are typical 14th century work, demanding small subjects and canopies. The subjects are nine in number, massed in rich deep colours, all contributing to the design of three bands running laterally through the tall lights in the window, and are set off by the intercepting canopies, which are soft, and display a silvery effect. Incidents in the life of our Lord with which all are familiar are represented, and portray, respectively, ” Endurance,” “Love,” ” Fortitude,” “Humility*,” “Principle,” “Charity,” ” Innocence,” Sympathy,” and “Justice.” These help to illustrate, in their appropriateness, the beautiful life of Charles Knowlton Morris, whose memory they will perpetuated.…..……. Flowers and birds are delicately introduced as emblems, and the Past Masters’ jewel .and badge of the Vale of Catmos Lodge (No. 1265) of Freemasons are shown a small shield at the foot of the centre light.

The apex of the window contains the dove, and rays emanate from it into the surrounding side lights, and disappear behind the finials of the canopy, which runs out from main design below. The window was designed and executed by Mr. Dudley Forsyth, 335, Finchley-road, Hampstead, London

The new pulpit, as detailed on the inscription panel at fulfils wish expressed by the late Mr. Morris during his lifetime. It is in the Gothic style, and has been carefully designed so as to harmonise with its surroundings. The steps and the stone base by which the pulpit is supported are green Chilmark stone. A large moulded corbel, springing from the base, carries the pulpit, which is, in shape, five sides octagon. The material used is Austrian oak, slightly tongued, in order that it may resemble the existing oak fittings in the Church. Each side of the octagon is divided into two panels, the lower part of each carved, the upper part pierced; and care has been taken vary the design of the carving, as avoid monotony and give interest work. The cornice which crowns the pulpit is variously carved to represent the of the Passion of our Lord. The balustrade to the steps is similarly treated panels, and the whole, including the brass memorial tablet, reading-desk, and black fittings, has been designed Messrs. Forsyth and Maale, architects, of London, and carried out for the pulpit by J. P. White, of Bedford, and for metal work by Messrs. J. Elsley, of London.

Later years

Judith Morris must have spent a considerable part of her inheritance on these monuments to her husband. She was later to marry Dr Henry Drew in London in 1922. She died in 1945 at the age of 87. Pictures are available of her here and here, although an Ancestry subscription will be required to access these.

After her death in 1945 we read in the Leicester Evening Mail of 16/3/1945

Under the will of the late Mr. Charles Knowlton Morris, a former Oakham brewer, the vicar and churchwardens of Oakham receive a legacy, following the death of his widow, Mrs, Judith Emily Drew. of Leadenham House, Braunston Road. Oakham, to provide pensions for members of the Church of England. The sum is £3O annually. to provide three £l0 pensions for three poor persons of good character of the age of 85 and upwards residing in the town, and being members of the Church. It will be called the “Morris Gift.”

So it can be seen that much of what can now be seen at the “business” end of the church – around the altar where the Eucharist is celebrated, and the pulpit where sermons are preached was donated by the Morris family. Now the late 19th century was a time when the Teetotaller movement was very strong in reaction to the obvious ill effects of excess alcohol consumption, mainly on the poor. But clearly the Church of England in Oakham had no scruples about accepted considerable donations from a brewer. But, even in this more moderate age (at least in terms of alcohol consumption) the fact that Sunday services take place on structures funded by the receipts of nineteen public houses in Rutland might manage to raise a few eyebrows.