Cockfighting in church
The village church at Knotting in
Bedfordshire was the scene of unseemly conduct back in the 17th
century, when the rector, churchwardens and several parishioners were caught cockfighting in the church on Shrove Tuesday in 1637. As a result, gates were erected below the
chancel arch to prevent any recurrence.
Knotting Church
The Hell Fire Club
The church of St Lawrence is
situated on a hill 600ft above the village of West Wycombe in
Buckinghamshire. On top of the church
tower is a curious golden ball, made
of wood and covered with a gilded fabric and large enough to seat at least ten
people inside. Former 18th
century Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Francis Dashwood who resided in the
village, was responsible for this strange addition to the church. It was he who formed the infamous ‘ Hell Fire
Club’ and they held card playing parties inside the ball. The very same group are also said to have
gathered in caves under the church and at Medenham Hall to practice black magic.
West Wycombe church
Both photographs © Copyright Dave Hitchborne and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
As I was unable to obtain a photograph when I visited I am grateful to Dave Hitchborne for the use of his Geograph photographs.
The buried statue
A statue commemorating Jane
Johnson, the young wife of Henry Johnson the dancing master of Nantwich in Cheshire , originally
stood close to the main altar of Bunbury church. Jane died 6th April 1741 aged just 24 years.
In the 1760’s, the then vicar was
‘so disturbed by the bulging udders of
Jane,’ that he had the statue removed and secretly buried in the
churchyard. It was re-discovered by
chance in 1882 and now stands proudly back inside the church, albeit at the
back.
Bunbury Church
Copyright 'big dutchman' to whom I am grateful for allowing me to copy his Panoramio photograph.
Jane Johnson
An old
sailor
A fine memorial also in the church at Bunbury tells
us that Sir George Beeston, 1499 – 1601 (102 years), served four monarchs. He was Admiral of the Fleet and Captained
The Dreadnaught against the Spanish Armada when he was 89 years old.
The disgraced vicar
The roofless ruin of the 12th
century church of
St Andrew stands
alongside the main street in Gullane, Lothian ,
Scotland . It is said that James V1 dismissed the last
vicar for smoking!
Gullane Church
A crooked vicar
Although the present parish church
at Holmfirth in West Yorkshire dates from
1777, it replaced a former church on the same site dominating this small
town. Adjoining the church is an ecclesiastical lock-up dating from 1597
and known locally as T’owd Towzer. (see lock-ups).
The Rev. Edmund Robinson, vicar in 1688
probably saw more of the inside of the lock-up than he wished because he was
caught ‘coining’, the crime of clipping or filing coins of the realm to make
counterfeit coins. He was convicted and
hanged at York .
The Parson’s Nose
A 600 years old carving on the
choir stalls in the parish church at Nantwich in Cheshire clearly depicts a fowl with a face in its rear end!
Apparently a medieval wood
carver had a disagreement with the parson of the time and produced this curious
carving for all to see. Hence ‘The
parson’s nose’.
The Parson's Nose
Military Might
Ripley Church
Bullet marks
‘NO POMPE, NOR PRIDE
LET GOD BE HONORED'
degenerating the rhyming inscription on the memorial praising Sir William.
Probably the only such cross in
the country, the base of a curious weeping
cross can be seen in the
churchyard of All Saints. Only the huge base remains, which is circular
and has eight niches spaced round it. The origins of this cross are obscure, but it
seems to have been connected with penitents and pilgrims and may date back to
the 2nd century.
THE LEVELLER'S
A poignant signature scratched on the lead lining of the font in Burford Parish Church recalls an incident of mutiny within Cromwell’s New Model Army. It reads :
‘ANTHONY SEDLEY
He was one of the supporters of 'The Levellers', a group of radicals who were crushed by Cromwell. On May Day 1649 the army had reached Salisbury on its way to Ireland when eight soldiers refused to go any further until their complaints were satisfied. They wanted a levelling of the ranks within the army and an end to Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland, as well as the considerable back pay owed to them. Several hundred troops ended up deserting, eventually meeting up with more comrades in Banbury. The upshot was that they were defeated by loyal troops and imprisoned in Burford Church, the only building in the area big enough to contain them. Three of their leaders were court martialled on the spot and sentenced to death. On the morning of 17th May the majority were taken up onto the church roof so that they could watch whilst Cornet Thompson, Corporal Church and Private Perkins were put against the church wall and shot.
Burford Church
Penance for murder
In the early 16th
century. Nicholas Brome was the owner of Baddersley Clinton House near Solihull in Warwickshire.
When he died he was buried just inside the south entrance to Baddersley Clinton church, standing up, which meant that people walked on his head. This was Brome's final act of pennance for killing a priest whom he had found 'in close contact' with his wife.
Brome had been pardoned by the King and also by the Pope, but was required to do penance for his crime which entailed good work in his community. Indeed he re-built the tower of Baddersley Clinton church and this is recorded by an inscription on the inside wall of the tower.
Baddersley Clinton Church
Buried standing up
Rebuilt the steeple
A finger pillory
Even people who misbehaved in
church were liable to be punished by the use of a nasty little ecclesiastical
device known as ‘ a finger pillory.’ The only one to survive can be seen in the
interesting church
of St Helen at
Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. Two
grooved beams came together to trap the miscreants fingers and. although the
grooves catered for varying thicknesses, the incumbent probably wasn’t given
much choice.
Finger pillory
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