# Medieval Parish Churches of England and Wales



## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

There are over 8,000 parish churches in England in which the fabric of the building is predominantly medieval. Most are buildings of historic interest rather than of any great architectural merit, a substantial minority however, have left England with a legacy of parochial buildings that is only surpassed by Italy and France. Some of the best churches such as Lavenham church and St Edmund, Southwold,both in Suffolk and St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, Fairford Church, Gloucestershire, which miraculously has retained all its medieval stained glass, are amongst the finest in Europe. The towers of the great 15th century Somerset churches have no equal in medieval parish church architecture anywhere in the world.

The majority of the population of England before 1350 were the unfree peasantry. Serfs tied to the land owned by the lord of the manor. In this deeply hierarchical society it was Christian doctrine that dignified the existence of the serf, in that it maintained all were equal in the eyes of god(although this didn't prevent the religious houses of the time selling and buying serfs like livestock) so in theory at least, within the confines of the parish church the serf and lord worshipped as equals. 
The church exacted a heavy financial burden on the peasant, the tithe was an annual tax of ten percent of income and these financial liabilties extended beyond the grave in the form of 'mortuary' whereon the death of a peasant the church would claim the man's second best beast, the first would go to the lord as 'heriot'


In 1997 I visited the Saxon church of St John, Esomb, County Durham. This humble little building, beautiful in its simplicity has stood almost unaltered since it was built in the 670's ! Since then I've visited around 300 medieval parish churches all over England. My favourite (sentimental reasons) remains the church of St Helen, Sefton, on the northern outskirts of Liverpool near where I grew up. In many ways this church is a typical medieval church. Founded by a Norman knight who fought alongside William the Conqueror and was then granted the manor of Sefton, his family remained lords of the manor there for 800 years.


The medieval parish church resonates with the history of the lives of the peasantry, but much more, the very fabric of these buildings seem to have absorbed the meditations, joy and grief of generations of worshippers. No other piece of ground or space is comparable to a medieval parish church in this respect.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The church of St Helen, Sefton, on the outskirts of Liverpool. There was a chapel on this site in the 12th century, nothing of which remains. The main body of the church is from the 1520's and the steeple the 1330's.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The beautifully carved screen from the late 1400's at St Helen's church,Sefton.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The carved bench ends at St Helen's date from the early 1500's and among the best in the north of England. Seating was only introduced into parish churches in the late 13thc, before that the congregation stood. When services were long parishoners would sit on the column base or or go lean on the walls, hence the the expression 'going to the wall'


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

Effigies of two knights. The one missing part of the leg is from the 1330's and is unidentified, the other is Sir William Molyneux and dates from the 1290's.


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## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

I particularly like the wood carvings in this church. I know the wood has aged, but I love the darkness of it. Very Germanic in my eyes ( although I'm no expert at all)


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## yubnub (May 3, 2010)

300 done!!! 7700 to go  Good start to the thread, looking forward to seeing more :cheers:


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

openlyJane said:


> I particularly like the wood carvings in this church. I know the wood has aged, but I love the darkness of it. Very Germanic in my eyes ( although I'm no expert at all)


Yes, oak turns black with age and becomes almost as hard as iron. The Black Forest in Germany has been renowned for its wood carvers for centuries. Great updates on your thread btw:cheers:


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

yubnub said:


> 300 done!!! 7700 to go  Good start to the thread, looking forward to seeing more :cheers:


Yes i know  Thanks.:cheers:


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Michael, Huyton, Liverpool

There's been a church on this site since 1189, although the earliest parts of the present structure , the tower and chancel, date from the early 1400's.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)




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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The finely carved screen from the 1480's.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

Alabaster effigy of a priest, John de Winwick, 1359.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Peter & St Paul, Leominster, Herefordshire

Herefordshire has some very fine parish churches and this is one of th best. Most built between the 12th and 14th centuries it has excellent Romanesque and Decorated Gothic detailing.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The 12thc west doorway with its finely carved figure capitals


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The west window and south aisle windows with their Geometric tracery,studded with ballflower ornament. This is typical detail of early Decorated Gothic around 1300, and these windows are superb examples of the period.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The interior , with its Norman arcading and 14thc roof.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Mary, Nantwich, Cheshire

Probably Cheshire's finest church. Built mostly in the 14thc mainly in the Decorated style with some Perpendicular work. The octagonal crossing tower its crowning glory externally, with superb choir stalls from the 1370's inside.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The lierne vaulting under the crossing.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The beautifully carved choir stalls with their canopies and misericords, 1370's


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

^^Thanks, that's appreciated:cheers:


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## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

You'll have to write that book soon, Golden Vision


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

^^That's a real compliment coming from you, Jane :cheers: If anyone has captured the genius loci of Liverpool it's you.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

This and yubnub's thread are really wonderful additions to this part of the forum. I enjoy your commentary as much as I love your pictures, although I think you are a bit too hard on the proponents of Picturesque Gothic.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

tpe said:


> This and yubnub's thread are really wonderful additions to this part of the forum. I enjoy your commentary as much as I love your pictures, although I think you are a bit too hard on the proponents of Picturesque Gothic.


Thanks, that's nice to know. I'm glad you're enjoying it and appreciate your feedback.:cheers:


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

All Saints, Childwall, Liverpool

All Saints Church was mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, although the only medieval parts of the church that remaon today are the chancel and part of the nave.

The Greater Liverpool area has 11 medieval churches and within a hour's drive of the city, in North Wales,Cheshire and Lancashire,are some very fine examples ,including, Lower Peover, Marton and Nantwich.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Oswald, Lower Peover, Cheshire


A beautiful setting for this church. The tower is from the 1580's, the nave early 1300's, the aisles were widened and the exterior heavily restored in the 1850's. The wooden, arcaded nave, is possibly the oldest example in Europe,dating from the early 1300's.

There's a tribute on the west wall of the interior of the church to the oak,of which the frame of the building is constructed.

Talk not of Syrian Cedar

Nor yet of foreign pine

And mention not the timber

Of any other clime

But see our native oak

In noble grandeur stand

The dread of every sea

The glory of our land.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The interior, with its oak arcades, possibly the oldest example in Europe.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St James & St Paul, Marton, Cheshire


Marton is a few miles south of Lower Peover, slightly later in date and unfortunately situated on the busy Congleton Rd. The church dates from the second half of the 14thc and has had less restoration than Lower Peover. The spire is of particular interest, very unusual in the north of England,more usually found in the south east, covered in oak shingles with original window frames.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The interior, as at Lower Peover, oak, fantastic !


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## yubnub (May 3, 2010)

Wow great update, I really had no idea there were such fine examples of half timber churches in the UK. Amazing they survived


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

^^Thanks. I'm pretty sure they're the only existing half-timbered churches in England,certainly pre-1500. There is Greensted church in Essex of course,reputedly the oldest wooden church in the world(9thc). Although, this really only consists of the two outer walls,no interior fabric and it has been so interfered with(yes, those Victorians again) that things become very complicated as regards age and original fabric.

I agree it's amazing these two Cheshire churches have survived, although I've a feeling it's maybe not that extraordinary in the context of half-timbered buildings being the Cheshire vernacular. I assume there would've been many more churches built like this in cheshire which haven't survived. Most people associate this type of building style with the 16thc or earlier, however in Cheshire and parts of south Lancashire it isn't unusual to half-timbering right up to the early 1700's. This wasn't due to a any shortage in local stone or the availabilty of brick but because it was the local style.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

Good to report, there are three more medieval half-timbered churches in England. Mattingley in Hampshire, Melverley in Shropshire and Besford in Worcestershire.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Mary, Whalley, Lancashire.


A church with Anglo-Saxon orgins although the present structure dates mainly from the 13th and 16th centuries. The tower, late 14th, aisle and clerestory 16th. The chancel south wall has five Early English lancets from the second half of the 13thc, internally the church is mostly late 13th. The churchyard has three 10thc crosses.

The furnishings are the glory of the church, especially the choir stalls with their canopies and misericords. These came from nearby Whalley Abbey at the dissolution of the monasteries during the Reformation in England in the 1530's.

The Dissolution

The 'Stripping of the Altars' during the Protestant Reformation in England ,left, not just parish churches but cathedrals and religious houses denuded of some of the finest English art and craftsmanship ever produced. Fantastcially carved screens and stalls with their misericords with ripped out in their thousands, many ending up as fire wood for fires to melt lead for church roofs. Similarly, wall paintings, even though most were quite primitive and not frescoes,simply painted on dry plaster, some were works of art. 
There isn't any doubt however about the loss of almost all the medieval stained glass in English churches, this is what one commentator says: " The wholesale destruction of medieval stained glass was the greatest calamity that has ever befallen English art" 

Horrendous as the destruction of religious art was, i can almost empathise with it. To the Protestant mind such things were unChristian and had no place in a house of God. The destruction of the relgious houses however is a different matter.

After the break with Rome in the 1530's there was a genuine threat of invasion from Catholic France and Spain to bring England back into the 'fold'.
Henry V11 needed funds to strengthen the country's coatal defences to stave off invasion. Advised by Thomas Cromwell that the source of funding should be the religious houses Henry saw an opportunity to increase his personal wealth at the same time. The Abbeys and Monasteries of England had amassed enormous wealth and many were actually owned by the French religious orders, this was the excuse Henry was looking for. At first he was reluctant to dissolve them aware of the important spiritual role they had in the nation. On finding the religious house had far greater wealth than his ersonal fortune he became covetous.

One of the main reasons Henry used as an excuse to abolish the monasteries was they were French owned and therefore presented a Catholic threat. The fact is the religious houses could've easily been brought in the Church of England. Henry was no Protestant miltant, he rejected Luther. The real reason the monasteries were dissolved, wasn't doctrinal ,probably not even political and most likely just sheer GREED.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

10thc crosses in the churchyard


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)




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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The nave looking east towards the chancel with its canopied stalls and misericords.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The choir stalls with their misericords(apologies for the picture quality)


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Oswald, Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

George Eliot described the church thus: " the finest mere parish church in the kingdom" Mostly dating from the 13th and 15thc's . It has a very fine spire and some excellent Early English work as well as superb monuments.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

A very good example of an unrestored doorway in the Early English style, around 1270.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)




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## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

I love the effigies. Did you get down to Bristol GV? ( I see you made it to Gloucestershire)


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

^^Thanks, Jane. No, I didn't get to Bristol. I went to visit some churches around Great Malvern and just over the Gloucestershire border(Kempley Church) I'm going to do a weekend break to include Bristol.:cheers:


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Mary and St Michael, Great Malvern, Worcestershire

' A Faire Fielde Ful of Folke '

St Mary and St Michael is set in the malvern hills, William Langland country and the setting for his 'The Visions of Piers the Plowman' one of the greatest poems of medieval England. In the poem are the early stirrings of the English Reformation, the debauchery of the clergy is contrasted with piety of the humble ploughman.

The views from the church of the surrrounding countryside won't have changed drastically since Langland wrote the poem in the 1360's.

' In somer seson whan softe was the sonne,

I shoop me into shrouds as a sheep weere,

In habite as a heremite unholy of werkes

Went wide into the world wondres to here.

Ac on an may morwenyge on the malvern hilles.......... ' :cheers:




The priory church at Great Malvern has been a parish church since the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530's. The church was founded in the 11thc and was monastic until its appropriation by Henry V111 during the Reformation. Henry, in a rare act of benevolence, sold the church to the townsfolk of Great Malvern for £20( he usually demanded around £300 for the churches he stole )

The church was largely rebuilt in the 1450's in the Perpendicular style. It is a beautiful building, the tower especially with its pinnacles and pierced parapet.
Great Malvern church has some of the finest medieval stained glass in the country, particularly the huge east window, also of interest are the medieval wall tiles, (the only medieval wall tiles in any British church) fine stalls and monuments.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The medieval stained glass including the magnificent east window


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The nave looking east with its Romanesque arcades.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The medieval wall tiles in the chancel, unique in the UK.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Mary, Kempley, Gloucestershire


Approaching Kempley church from the village along a narrow country lane the building comes into view from the west. Unobtrusive and secluded, this modest looking parish church is of international significance.

The nave and chancel date from the 1130's, the tower was added in the 13thc. The glory of the church is the frescoes. Medieval wall paintings exist in small numbers in British churches, probably a few dozen, medieval frescoes(paintings on wet plaster) are extremely rare in Britain, only a handful of churches possess them, Kempley has the earliest and the best.
Some frescoes survive in the nave at Kempley, the chancel however is like one huge canvass, here the walls and even the ceiling are adorned with paintings. The subject matter includes Christ and the Apostles, 'The Three Mary's of the Sepulchre' and a rare depiction of contemporary bishops.

The frescoes in the chancel date from the inception of the church in the 1130's, those in the nave from the 13thc. The open timber roof and doors have been tree-ring date to between 1130 and 1150, which makes them the oldest scientifically recorded in the UK.

The church is in the custodianship of English Heritage.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The nave and church roof, which is reputed to be the oldest in the UK, dating from the mid 12thc.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The chancel, one huge fresco from the 1130's, an incredible sight in a British church.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Michael , Ledbury, Herefordshire

St Michael dates mainly from the 12th and 13thc's. Notable for its detached north steeple, early 13thc windows with ballflower ornament and a fine Norman west doorway. The tower dates from the 12thc,the spire was replaced in the 18th.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The Norman west doorway with its zig-zag motif.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The 12thc chancel arcade with its distinctive portholes.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

14thc effigy of a Benedictine monk


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

St Cuthbert, Halsall, Lancashire, 17 miles north of Liverpool city centre

Set in the rich farmland country north of Liverpool St Cuthbert's is one of the finest medieval churches in the Liverpool diocese. Despite beig heavily restored in the 1870's the church still retains a lot of its medieval fabric. The tower dates from the 1400's, the spire the 1800's. The chancel is the oldest part of the church,1350's. Work had started on the rebuilding of the church in the 1330's but came to a halt with the onset of the Black Death. The church has some good medieval glass and 14thc stalls and misericords.


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The nave looking east


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

The chancel with its choir stalls and misericords


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

Early 16thc effigies


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

Vestry door, 1330's


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## the golden vision (Feb 26, 2005)

Stained glass from the 1400's


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