Chapter XI: Part 11

There is now a chapter of twenty-four honorary canons, of which body there is nothing to say except that perhaps its members are more honorary than is usually the case; sixteen of them have taken the names of the old prebends for their stalls, and the other eight are called after places in the diocese. It seems a pity, perhaps, that the old names have been taken, for there is really no connection whatever between the old body and the new.

The little town does not grow very fast, but it is in no sense old-fashioned, the advent twenty years ago of a lace factory giving the place a modern appearance and helping to keep it up to date. There is also a silk mill and a flour mill and large nursery gardens to give employment to the people.

It is impossible to close this chapter without one word of regret that Southwell, and indeed all Nottinghamshire, remain divorced from the ancient ties with the archbishopric of York. When the present archbishop visited Southwell, in June 1909, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the building of the nave, he expressed the same regret; for, as he said, in the very place where his long line of predecessors had worshipped and ruled and dwelt, he was himself only present by the sufferance, willingly granted, it was true, of his brother of Canterbury. He hoped that some day he would come again in his own right and not as a stranger, but as a metropolitan visiting one of the dioceses which formed part of the province over which he ruled. It is to be hoped that when Nottinghamshire is made into a separate diocese, as the needs of the Church will soon demand, that it will be restored to its old province of York and once more acknowledge the overlordship of the archbishop of the northern see.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE SPIRES

BY HARRY GILL

“And O, ye swelling hills and spacious plains!
Besprent from shore to shore with steeple towers,
And spires whose silent finger points to heaven;”

--WORDSWORTH.

The word steeple is generally applied to a lofty tower intended to contain a peal of bells, and especially to a tower surmounted by a spire.

The origin of the word spire is obscure; presumably it is a survival of the Anglo-Saxon word “spir,” a spike or stalk, and it is now used to denote the upper portion of a steeple when it shoots up to a point.

It would be presumption to claim any special distinction for the spires of Nottinghamshire. They are not to be compared in size or grandeur with those of the neighbouring county of Lincoln, or with the beautiful spires to be found in the Nene valley, where the “tower roof” is said to have originated. Still they are not devoid of interest, and one example (Newark) is held to be one of the finest spires in the kingdom, while in no other district of equal area can the development from one type to another be traced more easily than in the hundred of Rushcliffe, in the south of the county.

The existence of a spire pre-supposes two important conditions: (1) A well-trained band of masons; (2) a local supply of suitable stone; for in the Middle Ages the architecture of a district was influenced greatly by its geology; and, at any rate while the art of spire-building was in its infancy, we may almost add that a third condition was essential--the existence of a tower large enough and strong enough to support a superimposed spire, for in many of the early examples the tower is much older than the spire.

If we take a map of the county and place a mark wherever a steeple was built, we shall see how sporadic the art of spire-building was. Where stone of a suitable kind was to be obtained, there we shall find spires; an extensive cluster in the south, with a trail northward along the outcrop of the Keuper marl; a group of five spires in the magnesian limestone district around Mansfield; isolated examples along the banks of the Trent and Soar, where river-borne stone could be obtained; while the hundred of Bassetlaw, comprising large tracts of flat marshy land in the north of the county, may fairly be said to have been spireless, for only two medieval spires stand to the north of Tuxford, and both of these belong to a late period of architecture.

The blue lias limestone of the county, sometimes used for rubble walling in towers, was quite unsuitable for spire-building, and therefore the earliest spires are to be found on the skerry belt, wherever “water-stones” of good quality could be obtained; Tuxford, Maplebeck and Gedling were the principal quarries, while fairly good stone was obtained from the bank in the vicinity of Bunny and Gotham.

As facilities for transport increased, we find that the millstone grit from Castle Donnington and south Derbyshire was used in the southern portion of the county, and Lincolnshire oolite in the eastern portion. The tradition of river-borne stone having been used still lingers in Trentside villages; and even as late as 1742 one of our local artists shows the method of haulage then in vogue, where five men are seen on the towing-path, harnessed to a small boat.[80] (Horse haulage was not sanctioned by Act of Parliament until the middle of the eighteenth century.)

It is difficult to determine when spire-building first started in this country, for lightning, storm, and fire have destroyed every trace of the timber and shingle spires which prevailed before stone was adopted as the more suitable material.[81]

The origin of the spire grew out of the necessity for roofing the tower in some form. The simplest and most natural kinds of roof were the “pyramid” and “saddle-back.” The early Saxon churches, especially in districts exposed to the attacks of the Danes, each had a strong tower for defensive purposes, and this was invariably crowned with a pyramid. This type of tower roof was continued during the Norman period. The ancient towers at Halam, Flintham, and Fledborough still retain the original form of pyramidal roof, although in each instance they are modern restorations; and this applies also to the western towers at Southwell Minster. The ivy-mantled tower at Walesby is the only ancient tower in the county with a saddle-back roof; but this, again, is not the original work. Sometimes the pyramidal roof was set diagonally, thus forming a four-sided gable spire. We have only one example of this type remaining in England, at Sompting in Sussex, although it is still quite common in the Rhenish provinces.

As time went on, the churches were gradually enlarged to meet increasing needs; chancels were extended, aisles were thrown out necessitating the introduction of clerestories, and thus the tower, once the dominant feature, was dwarfed and made to look quite inadequate. It was natural, therefore, that the tower should be raised, when it not infrequently happened that the old roof was discarded, and a new type of “tower-roof,” a tall, tapering spire, was erected in its place, not only to keep out the weather, but designed as an ornamental feature to give dignity and importance to the whole fabric. At Bradmore, for instance, where only the steeple remains,[82] and that in a ruinous condition, the building periods are quite clearly marked. The lower stage of the tower, built of local blue lias limestone with skerry dressings, is the original steeple; this was raised by the addition of another stage, of a superior kind of workmanship, built of cleansed ashlar in large and regular courses of millstone grit, and this stage was eventually finished with a parapet surmounted by a plain octagonal spire of fourteenth century type.

The _stone_ spire first made its appearance late in the twelfth century, and became fully developed by the end of the fourteenth century. At first it took the same form as the discarded timber structures;[83] a stone corbel-table took the place of the dripping eaves, and from this rose a plain octagonal pyramid, the oblique faces being brought out to the square at the base with a plain splay. There is only one example of this non-lithic form of spire in Nottinghamshire--that at Gotham. To facilitate comparison, I have made a sketch of it side by side with a typical spire of timber and shingle. An Early English tower, 18 feet square, in three diminishing stages, without buttresses of any kind, stands at the west end of the nave. The walls are 3½ feet thick, finished with a corbel-table, from which a spire springs without the intervention of parapet or pinnacles. The spire is square on plan to begin with, but quickly assumes an octagonal form, the oblique faces being brought out with a plain splay above the squinches, which consist of well-formed pointed arches of one order. There are two tiers of lucarnes or spire lights in each cardinal face, with an orb and weather-cock as a finial at the summit. About twelve years ago the masonry was repaired and pointed, the upper portion of the spire, from just above the splays to the summit, being taken down and rebuilt in its original form. A peculiarity of this spire is that the stonework is left rough and irregular within, probably due in part to the fact that the local skerry or waterstone, of which the whole steeple is built, is very tough and difficult to work, and in part to the inexperience of the early builders. Speaking generally, spire walls are as truly worked within as without, and as the skill of the masons increased, the thickness of the masonry was reduced on account of the weight, until the utmost limit was reached. The beautiful spire at Louth (Lincs.), which rises to a height of 294 feet from the ground, is only 10 inches thick in the lower portion and 5 inches thick in the upper portion.

Kirkby-in-Ashfield has a spire similar to the one at Gotham, but it is modern, having been entirely rebuilt fifty years ago.

All through the thirteenth century and well on into the fourteenth century the broach spire was common. Instead of a splay, the angle between the square of the tower and the octagon of the spire was covered by a hood in shape a half-pyramid, now popularly called a _broach_, although originally that term was applied to the whole spire, and not to a part of it only. Whereas the earlier spires exhibited the constructive principles of the carpenter, this was essentially the mason’s method of covering the squinches; and so characteristic of masoncraft is it that to this day, whenever the broach form is used to stop a plain chamfer, either in woodwork or stonework, it is always called a “mason stop.”

BURTON JOYCE. NORMANTON-ON-SOAR.

WOLLATON. EDWINSTOWE.

_From photographs_ by Mr. H. GILL.]

One of the finest specimens of a broach spire in the county is at Normanton-on-Soar. It has a bold corbel-table in place of the plain dripping eaves, carved knots at the apices of the broaches, two tiers of lucarnes, and a distinct, though not too pronounced, entasis--all characteristic of the thirteenth century type. The tower belongs to the Early English period, and is built of rubble (blue lias limestone), with dressings of local skerry. The spire also is built of local skerry, but it is a later addition. It rises direct from the corbel-table, and assumes a graceful outline as it soars above the crossing of what once was a fine cruciform church, now, alas, despoiled of some of its original character, but still forming a very pleasing picture, especially when viewed from the opposite bank of the river Soar.

NORMANTON =ON= SOAR

Fig. 5.]

At Ratcliffe-on-Soar a further development in the evolution of spire design may be seen. An Early English tower (_c._ 1200) was surmounted a century later by a broach spire of similar construction and material to the one at Normanton-on-Soar, but with this difference, that here an attempt was made to overcome that sense of bareness and weakness which is so apparent in an ordinary broach spire. This was accomplished by carrying up each angle of the tower above the springing of the broaches, so as to form a base for an octagonal pinnacle; and it is interesting to notice that each pinnacle is a miniature of the spire which rises in the midst.

This innovation was intended not only to give weight and strength at the angles, but to overcome the abrupt appearance caused by the change from the square form of the tower to the octagonal form of the spire, and it is an interesting example in the transition from the “pathless” spire to the fully developed type having a pathway all round, with parapets between the pinnacles to mask the junction of the spire and tower.

The three spires--Gotham, Normanton-on-Soar, and Ratcliffe-on-Soar--standing in close proximity to each other, thus form an interesting study in the development of spire design.

Before proceeding to the consideration of spires with parapets, it may be well to give a brief enumeration of the remaining broach spires in the county.

_Willoughby-on-the-Wolds._--Similar in all respects to Normanton-on-Soar. Recently restored.

_Burton Joyce_, (_c._ 1300) is a typical illustration of a broach spire. The tower, 17 feet square, well buttressed in the lower stage, stands in the usual position at the west end of the nave, surmounted by a spire of good proportions with well-designed dormers on each cardinal face just above the dripping eaves, and lucarnes near the summit. Each angle of the spire was emphasised just above the broaches by a boldly carved knot of foliage--the forerunner of the crockets of a later style--but these are now damaged and worn, and the spire has in consequence lost much of its beauty. It nevertheless stands as a pleasing example of a steeple suitable for a village church. The building material was obtained from the quarries at Gedling, close by.

_Maplebeck._--A very good bed of skerry was quarried here. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the church has a spire. This is similar to the one at Burton Joyce.

_Mansfield Woodhouse._--This steeple was built to replace a timber spire which was burnt down in 1304. A curious effect is produced by a cluster of unpierced gablets which form a corona near the summit of the spire. The dormers, which stand out boldly from the dripping eaves on each cardinal face of the spire, are well designed and characteristic of the period.

_Holme_ (_Newark_) has a small, stumpy steeple, built of Lincolnshire oolite, in the fifteenth century, with broaches and spire lights after the manner of an earlier period.

_Edwinstowe._--This steeple, which forms a conspicuous landmark for miles around, has been the subject of much controversy regarding its design and its antiquity. Obviously, to make a good polygonal spire, the tower top from which it springs should be four-square; but in this instance, as in many others where the spire has been built upon a tower which was not originally intended to receive it, the width of the tower from east to west is greater than the breadth from north to south, and consequently the spire becomes an irregular polygon. The spire at Edwinstowe was built in the latter half of the fifteenth century upon a tower of twelfth or very early thirteenth century work. At first sight the spire appears to belong to the same period as the tower; the angle shafts in the peculiar arrangement of square pinnacles which are set upon the broaches may easily be mistaken for Early English work, but a more careful scrutiny reveals the fact that the merlons in the quasi-parapets have the mouldings mitred and returned on the sides as well as on the top--a sure indication of a later date. There are dormers at the springing to correspond with the pinnacles, the upper portion of the spire being quite plain, excepting that each cardinal face is pierced with a quatrefoil near the summit--a further indication of late date. Judging by the character of the work, I think it is probable that the spire was commenced after the completion of the north aisle, late in the fifteenth century, but it did not survive completion long, for in 1679 the parishioners sent a petition to King Charles II. asking for “£200 or 200 decayed oaks which are unfit for ship timber,” from the royal forest of Sherwood towards the cost (£300) of repairing “the Body of the Church,” which was “extremely shaken and in a very ruinous condition,” occasioned by the fall of the steeple, which about seven years ago “was beaten down by thunder.” The upper portion of the steeple at any rate, probably from the pinnacles upward, thus appears to be seventeenth century work. The blind arcades in the upper stage of the tower are the original belfry windows, which were built up when the spire was added. The oak beams of the old tower roof are still in position, and appear to have been utilised for hoisting up materials. The structural expedient for spanning the corners of the tower to suit the shape of the spire, and known as “squinches,” consist of concentric pointed arches in two orders, with a corbel stone and lintel in addition. All the masonry, both inside and outside the spire, is magnesian limestone most carefully worked. A very tall lancet window in the west face of the lowest stage of the tower is probably unique in that it is divided almost equally in height by a transom. The spire was struck by lightning forty years ago, which once more necessitated the rebuilding of the top portion.

SQUINCHES

EDWINSTOWE]

_Misterton._--This steeple is sometimes described as belonging to the Early English period, but the statement is incorrect, as the spire has no claim to antiquity. The porch at the extreme west end of the south aisle gives entrance to the church through the tower--a very unusual arrangement. The tower and other parts of the church are built of fine grained magnesian limestone from the Roche Abbey district. The lower part of the tower formed the steeple to an earlier church. It was raised in the Decorated period to a high tower with parapet and pinnacles. The upper portion of the tower was damaged by lightning, and when it was rebuilt (1847–48) a broach spire of inelegant proportions was added. The ancient appearance of this spire is due to the fact that it is built of brown Yorkshire stone, in contrast with the white Roche Abbey stone used in the construction of the tower.

_Gedling._--This steeple is one of the earliest examples we have of a tower and spire of the same date. It was built about 1320, and although it now has battlements and a pathway all round, I think it should be classed with the broach spires. It is probably unique by reason of the remarkable entasis, which is not an “almost imperceptible swelling,” as the dictionaries have it, but a swelling so pronounced as to be almost a distortion. The builders of old understood the value of an entasis for correcting optical illusion, and either made the sloping sides of their spires slightly convex or, at a later time, produced the same effect by running crockets up the angles and making them larger, or of greater projection, in the centre and diminishing them as they neared the base and the summit (as at Louth); but here we have a divergence from the straight line of 24 inches, and what is more remarkable still, the cardinal faces of the tower _buttresses_ have also a similar curve. This is not due to settlement or defective building, for the whole structure stands as true and firm to-day as it did nearly 600 years ago.

In design and workmanship Gedling differs from any other church in the county, and I can only suggest that it is the work, not of local masons, but of craftsmen from some other part of the country, probably the Nene valley. The whole of the stone was obtained from the local quarry, which lies about three-quarters of a mile to the north of the church--now a tree-grown hollow on the western side of the lane leading up to Mapperley Plains. The stone, which is very tough, has been used in blocks of enormous size. The tower, 24 feet square, stands to the north-west of the church, and is only engaged in part with the north aisle. This unusual position, which has the advantage of enabling the tower to be well seen to its full height, is due to the fact that the road passes close to the south-west angle of the church in an oblique line and trends away to the north-west. The walls of the tower, 5 feet thick, are carried up in three stages to a height of 90 feet and heavily buttressed. A newel staircase, 2 feet 4 inches wide, occupies the north-west angle. It is worthy of note that this staircase stops at an internal platform before the leads are reached, and gives access to the bells only. To reach the pathway, it is necessary to cross the bell frames and pass through a small doorway on the north side. This fact alone is not conclusive, but it should be further noticed that the parapet is not continuous, as we should expect if it was coeval with the tower, but embattled; the merlons are low and thin, the pathway very narrow, and the appearance altogether is very unusual and suggestive of the work of a later period. A careful examination of the work at the base of the spire, which rises to a height of 180 feet from the ground, leads me to think that this steeple was originally a pathless one, and that the cardinal faces sprang from the top of a corbel table; but for some reason--perhaps for purposes of observation or to facilitate repairs--the lower part of the broaches and the sloping faces were afterwards cut away and parapets introduced. A horizontal moulding runs round the spire 8½ feet above the leads. The workmanship below this moulding is inferior, and the angles of the spire, which are beautifully moulded, do not “line” with the work above, in some cases by inches, which proves clearly to my mind that an alteration of some kind has taken place since the spire was built. There are no pinnacles to emphasise the corners, although the appearance of the steeple would be greatly improved by them. Tradition says that pinnacles were once in evidence, but they could only have been small and insignificant, judging by the smallness of the stools. There are canopied niches at the apices of the broaches, each designed to contain a sculptured figure in the attitude of prayer. The north-east niche is now tenantless. The north-west figure is worn beyond recognition; that on the south-west represents a lady, and that on the south-east a warrior. In consequence of exposure to the weather for 600 years, nearly every trace that might lead to the identification of these figures has been obliterated. It is still possible, however, to discern indications of chain mail on the armour of the warrior, and this is quite in harmony with the suggested date of erection.

Spire-building reached its highest perfection in this county in the middle of the fourteenth century, when the steeple of the parish church at _Newark_ was completed (_c._ 1356). The lower portion of the tower was built about 1230, but it was left unfinished until a century later, when a celebrated school of masons, who had done much good work in the neighbourhood, after completing the church at Grantham, came to Newark and carried the tower up to its full height, enriched with niches and sculptures and crowned with a lofty spire having moulded angles, four tiers of spire lights, slender broaches with carved knots at the apices, and a continuous perforated parapet between lofty angle pinnacles, which are pierced to allow for a pathway all round the base of the spire. Rickman says: “This spire deserves peculiar attention.... On the whole, perhaps, there are no specimens superior in composition and execution, and few equal.” It is built of Lincolnshire oolite, and stands engaged at the west end of the church, which comes close up to the pavement and can best be seen in its full height as it closes the vista down one of the narrow streets of the town. But whether viewed from this point or from the market-place, or from the surrounding fields and lanes, it cannot fail to charm the beholder by its gracefulness and beauty.

_Bingham._--Although this steeple is not so graceful as the one at Newark, it impresses by its solidity and strength, and is worthy of very careful study. It stands at the west end of the church, and consists of an Early English tower, having walls 5½ feet thick, chiefly built of local skerry, surmounted by a decorated broach spire of pleasing outline, having a pronounced entasis and three tiers of spire lights. The upper stage of the tower is pierced on each face with two two-light windows, having deeply recessed mouldings, arched heads, and finished with a corbel table, constructed in such a way as to suggest that a perforated parapet (probably similar to those at Newark and Thoroton) was anticipated, although it was never put on. The corbel table consists of masks with ball-flower ornaments, and carved foliage between them. The ball-flower predominates, and it is interesting to notice the irregularity in the width of the spaces between the corbels; in most cases two flowers suffice, while in others three are barely sufficient. Two of the pinnacles are mutilated sculptures of bishops in eucharistic vestments; they stand out conspicuously against the sky at the north-west and south-west angles of the massive tower. It is probable that in their original state the pinnacles were intended to represent the four Evangelists, but those at the north-east and south-east have been replaced by finials of Decorated types of foliage. The lancet window in the buttress on the western face of the tower is a very effective feature when seen through the tower arch from within, being recessed with splays more than 8 feet deep.[84]

_Whatton-in-the-Vale._--This steeple differs from its neighbour at Bingham, in that it stands above the crossing of a cruciform church.[85] In all other respects there is a great similarity. It was rebuilt in 1870–71, as nearly as possible on the original lines, and with the original material. The foundation is Norman work; the tower Early English, with plain parapet and pinnacles; the spire is Decorated, but obviously it is not high enough to be quite effective, in comparison with the broad tower on which it stands.

_Thoroton._--This church was struck by lightning on 27th April 1868, and the tower and spire was thoroughly restored the same year. The tower consists of three stages, and is finished with a continuous parapet of open quatrefoils, supported on a bold corbel table. The faces on the corbels are all awry, as though they were distorted with pain. This has led to the facetious remark that the figures represent the Ryemouth family, but I think it is more probable that, if any meaning were intended, they are a memento of the Black Death, which had decimated the county only a short time before this steeple was built. Within the parapet a graceful spire rises, with three tiers of spire lights arranged in a pleasing manner on alternate faces of the spire. On the western side of the tower there is a fine ogee canopied niche, with fragmentary remains of the sculptures it once contained--a very unusual feature in this district. The steeple belongs to the Decorated period. It is built with rubble willing, of blue lias limestone, and dressings of skerry in the older parts, mixed with Lincolnshire oolite.

With the advent of the fifteenth century, the art of spire-building became more general. As the knowledge of constructive principles increased, spires were made lighter in appearance; the springing was hidden behind a parapet, lucarnes were sparingly used or omitted altogether, and thus was evolved the plain tapering spire of slender proportions so familiar in villages, not only in this county, but scattered all over the land, and apparently all built from one design.

_Wollaton_ may be taken as an example of this type. The church is built with large blocks of sandstone of a rich yellow tint, quarried in the neighbouring parish of Trowell, the only place in the county where carboniferous limestone was obtained. The steeple is carried on arches on the north and south sides, though the reason for this is not now apparent. As the western face of the tower abuts upon the roadway, it is possible that the public footpath once went underneath the tower, or it may have been that the arches were made to admit of processions round the church without going outside the consecrated area. The steeple belongs to the late Decorated period. The tower is finished with an embattled parapet, which projects slightly beyond the wall line. The spire is slender, and springs well within the parapet, having only one tier of small spire lights, which scarcely break the sloping lines of the spire. Unlike all other spires in the county, with the exception of Keyworth and Car Colston, the finial in this case is a weather vane, and not the familiar weather-cock.

The following is a complete list of similar spires:--

_Attenborough._--Early fifteenth century. Steeple built of
millstone grit.

_Barton._--Early fifteenth century. Steeple built of
millstone grit.

_Cotgrave._--Early fifteenth century. Plain octagonal spire
without lucarnes, built of millstone grit.

_East Leake._--Fifteenth century spire on Early English
tower. Built of millstone grit.

_Epperstone._--Fourteenth or early fifteenth century
steeple, built of local waterstone. The top portion of the spire
was renewed in 1820 with Mansfield stone.

_Holme Pierrepont._--Fifteenth century. Built of Gedling
stone.

_Lowdham._--Late twelfth century tower, originally
detached; fourteenth century spire.

_Mansfield_ (St. Peter’s).--Norman tower (two stages).
Belfry stage and parapets fourteenth century; spire later.
Magnesian limestone.

_Stapleford._--Tower, _c._ 1250. Parapets and spire
fifteenth century. Local skerry.

_Sutton-in-Ashfield._--Steeple commenced in 1390–91,
completed 1399 by the donor, John de Sutton, Mayor and Member of
Parliament for Lincoln. Local magnesian limestone.

_Sutton Bonington_ (St. Michael’s).--Steeple fifteenth
century. Castle Donnington stone.

_Tuxford._--Early English tower in lower part, upper
portion and spire _c._ 1357. Skerry.

_Weston._--Repaired 1910.

_Wysall._--The tower is built of local lias limestone, mixed with bands of skerry. The walls are nearly four feet thick, with buttresses at the angles. The battlements and spire are of cleansed ashlar. The spire, carried on corbelled squinches set low down in the tower, looks very weak and dilapidated, and this is accentuated by the pierced spire lights fixed high up on the sloping sides, and by the battered weather-cock at the summit. There is no staircase, the belfry being reached by a climbing ladder fixed within the tower. The striving after plainness and lightness had reached its limit when this spire was built.

_Nottingham_ (St. Peter’s, _c._ 1400) might well have been included in the foregoing list, if the spire, as it now stands, was in its original condition, but unfortunately it has been denuded of the crockets which were once a conspicuous feature. These crockets were cut off by a man named Wooton, of Kegworth, who was engaged to repair the spire in or about 1825.[86] The father of the man who committed this gross vandalism was not only a noted spire builder and repairer, but he was also a crank, for when he had finished his task of restoring the spire at Kegworth, “resting on his airy perch at the summit, he played some tunes on the French horn, while the villagers looked up in awe and listened to the music of the spheres.”

_Bunny_ has a steeple similar to St. Peter’s at Nottingham, built of millstone grit with crockets at the angles. These crockets are too small to be really effective, and those near the top and on the exposed angles to the north and east have perished to a considerable extent.

_Balderton._--The upper part of the tower and spire was added in the fourteenth or early fifteenth century. It is evident that the work here was influenced by the beautiful work at Claypole, just over the border, in Lincolnshire. The crockets on the spire give it quite a Lincolnshire appearance, while the tower is of the usual Nottinghamshire type, with embattled parapets and corner pinnacles.

_West Retford._--This crocketed spire of beautiful design and proportions was built of skerry (locally called Tuxford stone) during the latter half of the fifteenth century. It will be noticed that the upper part of the belfry stage assumes an octagonal form immediately above the louvres, the angle buttresses being carried up vertically so as to form pinnacles with gabled and crocketed heads. Behind each main pinnacle a small bar of stone is carried over in the form of a flying buttress until it reaches the face of the spire, whence it is again carried up vertically in the form of a slender buttress or inner pinnacle, and enriched with crockets. This treatment is very characteristic of the period, and although it produces a graceful effect it is quite useless from a constructional point of view, and indicates that the decline in Gothic architecture was at hand.

_Scrooby._--A spire similar in outline and principle to that at West Retford, but without the crockets, was built at Scrooby of stone from Roche Abbey. These two spires form a class by themselves. They are the only medieval spires in the northern part of the county, and appear to have been built at the same period and by the same band of masons.

THOROTON. KEYWORTH.

CAR COLSTON. UPTON.]

_Keyworth._--A steeple unique in design and construction still remains to be noticed. It is a well-known fact that a steeple was sometimes used as a beacon for the guidance of travellers by land or sea. For instance, Boston “Stump” has long been a landmark for mariners on Boston Deeps and for travellers on the broad fens. Keyworth has a steeple traditionally said to have been used as a beacon to guide parishioners home over the trackless lands (enclosed since 1797). Standing on a crest of the Wolds, it is certainly a conspicuous object for miles around, and it may well have been used on occasion for the display of signals in time of national peril; but a careful examination has failed to disclose any trace of a beacon fire or light ever having been used, and probably the term “lantern” tower which is now generally applied to it is solely due to the peculiarity of the design. The tower was built at the west end of the church, the walls on the north and south sides being carried on pointed arches. The subsequent extension of the north and south aisles so as to enclose the tower thus enabled the whole of the west end of the church to be used as a schoolroom, and it was so used until 1820. The tower is 17 feet square at the base, with flat buttresses at each corner, panelled and gabled in a manner quite unusual in this district. There are indications that the parapet was originally embattled, but the merlons and pinnacles were removed some time during the past century. Within the parapet rises a smaller tower 11 feet square, with a stone pathway all round it 2½ feet wide, composed of large “through” stones, laid across the top of the main walls. (No lead is used.) These “through” stones project over the walls, and are long enough to form a corbel table outside and an over-sailing course inside to carry the walls of the lantern. About six feet above the pathway the lantern takes an octagonal form, the squinches consisting of two plain over-sailing courses in each angle, covered with a stone which may originally have been a low broach, but it is now worn almost level by exposure to the weather. The octagonal lantern is finished with gargoyles and an embattled parapet, and surmounted by a short stone spire. Each cardinal face of the lantern is pierced with two louvred openings, 3 feet high by 9 inches wide in the octagonal part, and four openings 3 feet high by 11 inches wide in the lower part, the pathway round the spire being reached from the belfry through one of these on the north side. The openings are very unusual in character, being plain rectangles without mouldings or cusps, but as they occur just above the bells, and are louvred, they were undoubtedly intended to let out the sound. The walls are built of millstone grit from the Castle Donnington district, backed in with local rubble, blue lias limestone, skerry, and in some places with brick. It is difficult to determine the date of erection. The detail of the upper portion seems to indicate an earlier period than the lower portion, which obviously could not be the case, and the whole fabric suggests a French origin. Probably 1400 is an approximate date.

_Car Colston._--The lower stage of this tower was built in the Early English period with rubble walls of lias limestone and dressings of local skerry. In the fifteenth century it was raised to be a lofty tower with parapets and pinnacles, and surmounted by a low octagonal roof or spire of Ancaster stone of very unusual form, and unlike any other spire in the county.

_Upton._--At Upton there is a fifteenth century tower with a cluster of eight pinnacles round the parapet, and a large crocketed pinnacle--an incipient spire--set in their midst on the crown of the stone barrel vault which forms the roof of the belfry. The effect of this is peculiar rather than graceful, and the method of construction is unsound in principle, for, as might have been expected, the great weight of the spirelet has caused the vaulting to spread and push the tower walls out of the perpendicular.

There is a diminutive steeple at Cossall of the ordinary fifteenth century type. This church was entirely rebuilt in 1842.

The spire at Scarrington was rebuilt and the tower restored in 1896. The description given by Sir Stephen R. Glynne in 1866 still applies: “The tower is Decorated, rather heavy, and has flat buttresses which may be Early English.... The belfry windows are large but mutilated. The parapet is plain, the spire octagonal without ribs, having two tiers of spire lights set in the same sides.”

Several ancient steeples have been entirely destroyed, and only records remain. The old church at Hoveringham had a parapeted spire. Radcliffe-on-Trent had a Decorated tower and a tall, graceful, crocketed spire. The crocketed spire of old St. Nicholas’ church, Nottingham, was destroyed during the Parliamentary wars. The original parish church at Flawford had a handsome spire steeple which was demolished in 1773. Ruddington church, which was once a chapel to Flawford, was rebuilt in 1887, the stones of the old spire being re-used. Kingston-on-Soar had a small spire previous to rebuilding, when it was replaced with a square tower. The steeples at Carlton-on-Trent and Grove are modern erections.

VANES.

“Lo, on the top of each aerial spire,
What seems a star by day, so high and bright,
It quivers from afar in golden light;
But ’tis a form of earth, though touched with fire
Celestial, raised in other days to tell
How, when they tired of prayer, apostles fell.”

--_Lyra Apostolica._

The summit of the spire was generally finished with a vane of the familiar chanticleer form--emblem of vigilance, watchfulness, and prayer. In only three instances in the county has this custom been departed from. Wollaton, Car Colston, and Keyworth have weather vanes in the form of an arrow. The one at Keyworth has only quite recently supplanted the original weather-cock, which is still retained in the church. It was formed out of two sheets of copper cut to shape and riveted together. It is no unusual thing to find an inscription or date engraved on the brass or copper plates of which the vane is composed and the hollow body of the bird filled with corn.

* * * * *

It may perhaps seem strange to mention botany and ornithology in connection with church steeples; yet strange as it may appear, some splendid botanical specimens have made the church steeple their home--not only mosses and lichens, but wild flowers in profusion. The rue fern flourishes on the steeple at Holme; a cluster of very fine harebells adorns the steeple at Gedling; the ivy-leaved toadflax, wallflowers, polypody fern, and many other small specimens may be found growing on the sunny side of many an ancient steeple; while at Wysall large elderberry trees are actually growing all round the spire.

In addition to flocks of starlings, pigeons, jackdaws, swifts, and other familiar birds that live upon the church, a cormorant once chose to make its nest at the summit of Newark spire, and during the same summer (1893) a crow found a nesting-place in the iron corona at the top of a turret in Nottingham. At Upton a chamber in the upper part of the tower has been used as a dovecote. The ledges and nesting-holes all round the walls are still in perfect condition, and give a good idea of the interior of a medieval columbarium.

THE LOW SIDE WINDOWS OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

BY HARRY GILL

The term “low side windows” is now generally used to denote the peculiar openings which are to be found in the walls of ancient churches, generally, but not always, in the chancel; sometimes on the north side, more frequently on the south side, and occasionally on both sides, commonly known by the name of “leper windows.”

The popular idea concerning them is that they were made to enable persons stricken with the dreadful disease of leprosy--painfully prevalent in England when these windows were first introduced--to attend the service of the Mass and to receive the solace of Holy Communion at the hands of the priest without entering the church. Apart from the fact that the leper was looked upon as a dead man and never allowed to mingle with his fellows, a very cursory examination of the openings will prove that they were utterly unsuited for such a purpose. The height above the ground in some cases, and the great thickness of the wall in almost all cases, would have made it very difficult for the priest to administer the sacrament in this way; nor would it be possible for any one standing outside the church to see through them to the altar, to the images on the rood-loft, or to any essential feature within the church. There is only one instance in the county (at Laxton) where the altar might possibly be seen through the opening. In this case the window is near the east end of the south wall of the chancel. The reason for this position is obvious. When the chancel was rebuilt (_c._ 1400), aisles were thrown out on either side to form sepulchral chapels for the lords of Laxton: the south side was for the superior lords--the Everinghams, and the north side for the Lexingtons. These chapels extend to within 7½ feet of the extreme east end, and in the middle of this space the wall has been pierced by a small window 18 inches high, 3½ inches wide, which looks straight towards the end of the altar; but as the opening is rebated for a shutter and the sill is 5½ feet above the ground, it is not likely that it was intended for the view.

A systematic survey of all the low side windows in the county has led me to the conclusion that they were not all made for one and the same purpose, and in order to determine their use it will be necessary to notice their position and size, and especially the section of the jambs, which in some cases have a wide rebate which indicates that the openings were originally fitted with an oak shutter, while in other cases they were rebated for glass in the ordinary way; and further, the shuttered openings will be found to be plain rectangles, while the glazed openings are arched and cusped. The fact that the shuttered openings have all been “stoned up,” points to the fact that they were used in connection with some ceremony which went out of use at the Reformation; while the glazed openings were intended simply to give light, and therefore remain unaltered. It will be convenient to deal with them under two separate headings: (_a_) shuttered openings; (_b_) glazed openings.

COSTOCK. HAUGHTON.

_From photographs by_ Mr. H. GILL.]

(_a_) _Shuttered Openings._--The earliest examples I have noticed in the county belong to the thirteenth century. In some instances the string moulding beneath the window sills was “stepped” so as to allow the sill at the west end of the chancel to be brought down to a lower level; the lower portion of this elongated window was divided from the upper portion by a transom, thus forming a rectangular opening (Flintham). In other instances the string moulding and sill are carried through level and a small independent opening formed in the wall space immediately below the window (Stanford-on-Soar). In either case the opening was fitted with a shutter made to open inwards and hung with iron bands and hooks. In many instances the hinge hooks and catches are still _in situ_, notably at Costock, where, until sixty years ago, the shutter was intact. It is certain that these shuttered openings were not introduced for the purpose of giving light; it is equally certain also that they were not intended either for lychnoscopes or hagioscopes, for it is impossible for the Easter sepulchre or the altar to be seen through any of them, except the one at Laxton before referred to. So far as I know, the only documentary evidence which throws any light on the question is contained in a letter written by Richard Bedyll to Thomas Cromwell in the reign of Henry VIII.: “and we think it best that the place, wher thes frires have been wont to hire uttward confessions of al commers at certen tymes of the yere, be walled up for ever.” This quotation may seem on the face of it to favour the confessional theory, but we must remember that it was specially written concerning a monastic church, and only bears upon the question, so far as parish churches are concerned, in that it tells of the way they had in those days of dealing with an object for which there was no further use; it was “walled up” and “that use foredoen for ever.”

An example of the openings to which this letter would apply may be seen in the Galilee porch at the west end of the large cruciform church at Melton Mowbray (Leicestershire), partly built (1300–1325) and controlled by the Cluniac monks attached to the great priory of Lewes, who had a cell here; while fourteen chantry priests were installed only two miles away at the rectory close by the leper hospital at Burton Lazars. With such a supply of priests at hand, it may well be that this porch, containing four shuttered openings, all conveniently placed as regards height and position, was used “for uttward confessions of al commers at certen tymes of the yere,” _i.e._ at Easter, Whitsuntide, Christmas, and during the patronal and dedication festivals.

But these special openings bear no relation to, and must not be confused with, the openings in parish churches. If they were actually used as confessionals, they only prove that the medieval workman knew how to meet the necessities of a case in the most convenient way, and it would be a libel on his intelligence to suppose that the openings to be found in parish churches were the best means he could devise for communicating lepers or confessing penitents.

The fact that the shuttered openings were all built up with stone, proves that they were used for some purpose that was discontinued when the Reformation was completed; not confession, for that did not cease at once, but something in connection with the office of the Mass.

If we look through the inventories of church goods made in the reign of Edward VI. (1552), we shall find in almost every case an account of bells that were used for various purposes.

Hucknall--It. ij hand bells, j sacring bell.
Itm in the stepell, iij small bells.

Bingham--It. iiij belles and ij hande belles.

Whatton in the Vale--Itm iiij belles in ye styple.
Itm ij hand belles.
Itm one lytle saunce bell.

Sometimes the position of the bell is given:--“j little bell in the churche called the Saints bell, the sacringe bell in the hie chancell.”

Regarding the use of these bells, the “instructions” issued by the bishops are very precise:--

“At the Elevation of the Eucharist, when it is lifted up, let
the little bell first be rung.”--Bishop of Lichfield, 1237;
Bishop of Worcester, 1240.

“The parishioners shall not irreverently incline at the
Elevation of the Body of Christ, but adore with all devotion and
reverence; wherefore let them be first warned by ringing the
little bell, and at the Elevation let the great bell be thrice
knolled.”--Bishop of Exeter, 1280–1292.

I am disposed to think that all the shuttered openings in parish churches were made for the purpose of ringing the sacring bell, and I would like to draw attention at this point to two facts which help to confirm this opinion:--

(1) Corroboration of dates.

(_a_) At a time when the Church, as a result of
the Pope’s interdict (1208–1214), lay dormant,
neglected, and moribund, the Friars
came (1222–1224), and by their zeal and
influence kindled a revival which lasted
until the Black Death (1349) decimated
their ranks, when the tone of the clergy
began to decline. 1222–1349

(_b_) All the shuttered openings in the county were
made between 1225–1350

(_c_) The instructions as to ringing the sacring
bell in the chancel were all issued between 1224–1300

(2) A peculiar example.

Beneath the sill of a large two-light fourteenth century window in the chancel at Dersingham, Norfolk, there is a panel, 24 inches by 22 inches, and 43 inches from floor to sill, pierced with four quatrefoils. It certainly was never intended for light; nothing can be viewed through it, and the detail is much too intricate for any substance to be passed through the apertures. Any one familiar with the “sound holes” which are so characteristic of East Anglian belfries, cannot fail to be struck with the similarity between them and the little panel in question, which I suggest is also a “sound hole,” intended to indicate the place of the tinkling bell in the “hie chancell,” just as the larger panels indicate the place of the tolling bell in the high tower.

The wide internal splays to all the shuttered openings now under consideration, is evidence that the intention was for sound to go out rather than to enable any one to look in, either to watch the lights upon the altar (the church doors were always open save during divine service), or for any other purpose; nor can they have been for the purpose of showing a light to scare evil spirits away, for the medieval mind always imagined that evil spirits came out of the north, and by far the larger portion of the openings are on the south side; while the dial markings, so frequently found on the jamb between the priest’s door and the low side window, and said to be connected with it, will prove upon examination to be more recent in date, and to be dial markings and nothing else. I have found them on the south side of all ancient churches that are built of soft grained stone, but seldom on the harder and coarser grit stones.

It may fairly be asked why, if the purpose of these openings was to enable the sacring bell to be rung effectively, are they not to be found in every ancient chancel. The church at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, for instance, has no low side window, while the church at Flintham, only a little earlier in date, has one on either side of the chancel. The explanation is that the purpose could be achieved in various ways. Early in the fourteenth century when screen building set in vigorously, the rood-loft offered a convenient alternative position for a ringer with a little hand bell.[87] A bell cote or turret at the junction of the roofs of the nave and chancel, or near the porch, a bracket or beam projecting from the wall of the tower on which a bell was suspended, were all expedients variously adopted, the only essential being that the ringer, wherever he was stationed, should have an uninterrupted view of the high altar; and I think it will be found that not all the hagioscopes were made to allow an exalted personage to view the elevation of the host without the necessity of leaving his private pew, but in most cases they were made to enable the bell-ringer to see the altar and give the signal. Wherever a low side window and a bell cote are found in the same church, it will invariably be discovered that the bell cote is a later addition, and superseded the window.

Shuttered openings may be seen at the following churches:--