April 1060 A.D. Christ Church Priory, Dorset, UK—Founded before 1060; Manor & Church Granted by Henry I to Richard de Redvers and Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon
April 1060 A.D. Christ Church Priory,
Dorset, UK—Founded before 1060; Manor & Church Granted by Henry I to
Richard de Redvers and Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon; Augustinian Canon
Regulars, 1150, by Petition of Hilary, Bishop of Chichester and Richard de
Redvers, Bishop of Winchester; Dissolved 28 Nov 1539; Granted to Joseph Kirton,
1545; Church of Christ in Parochial Use
in Diocese of Winchester
Christchurch Priory
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Christchurch
Priory is an ecclesiastical parish and former priory church in Christchurch in the English county of Dorset (formerly in Hampshire). Christchurch Priory has been described in the
21st century by a broadsheet as 'the least appreciated of the Great Churches
of England', referring to its membership as one of 32 churches to have met
eligibility for the Greater Churches Group. It is the longest parish church in the country
and is larger than 21 English Anglican Cathedrals.
Contents
Early history
The story of Christchurch Priory goes back to at least the middle of the 11th
century, as Domesday says there was a priory of 24 secular canons here in the reign of Edward the Confessor. The Priory is on the site of an earlier church
dating from 800AD.[1] In 1094 a chief minister of William II, Ranulf Flambard, then Dean of Twynham, began the building of a church. Local
legend has it that Flambard originally intended the church to be built on top
of nearby St. Catherines Hill but, during the night, all the building
materials were mysteriously transported to the site of the present priory.[2] Although in 1099 Flambard was appointed Bishop of Durham, work continued under his successors, and by
about 1150 there was a basic Norman church consisting of a nave, a central tower and a quire extending eastwards from the crossing. It was during this period that another legend originated, that of the
miraculous beam, which was to change the name of the town from Twynham to the
present day Christchurch.
Twelfth to fourteenth
centuries
In 1150 Baldwin de Redvers, Lord of the Manor of Christchurch and Earl of Devon replaced the secular minster with anAugustinian priory. The de Redvers continued in their
patronage of the priory for 150 years, until in 1293, Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Devon, (the last of the de Redvers line) sold her
eastern estates to Edward I for about £4000. By this action, Christchurch
became a Royal Manor which meant that in 1303 it was required to
provide and man a ship to aid the King's campaign against Scotland.
In 1330 Baron William de Montacute was granted the manor by Edward III and thus became the 1st Earl of Salisbury (Second Creation).
In the 13th century there
was a frenzy of building: the nave aisles were vaulted, the clerestory was built, the Montacute Chapels replaced the
Norman apse in the north transept and work began on the North Porch, notable for
its unusually large size. One of the chapels became the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, although the current building mostly dates from
the 18th century.
Although there is no
documentary evidence relating to a central tower, the massive piers and
arches at the corners of the transepts seem to indicate provision was made
for one. A central tower would have been consistent with a Norman conventual
church.[3]
Fourteenth to sixteenth
centuries
Work continued in the 14th
century. The nave roof reached its present height no later than 1350 and
towards the end of the 14th century work on the Lady Chapel was started. It was completed in the early 15th
century and its pendant vaulting is thought to be the first of its kind in
England. Also in the 15th century, the original quire was replaced and
extended so that it joined onto the new Lady Chapel. This may have been as a
result of the Norman tower collapsing, but this is not certain. What is
certain is that the tower was rebuilt between 1470 and 1480. The Draper and
Salisbury chantry chapels were completed by 1529. By this time, the church
looked much as it does today.
Christchurch Priory Cartulary
Much of what is known about
Christchurch between the Norman Conquest and the mid-14th century comes from
the Christchurch Priory Cartulary, which contains copies over 1,300 of the
monastery’s most important documents. Most of it was written by just two
clerks, one completing more than half before a second concluded the task in
1372. Further amendments and updates were added in the following decades.
The existence of the
cartulary in the Priory library was recorded by John Leland shortly before the Dissolution, but its whereabouts in the decades after 1539 are uncertain. Almost a
century later it was in the library of Sir Robert Cotton, a notable collector of medieval manuscripts. In
1753 the Cotton library collection was acquired by the newly founded British Museum, but the Christchurch Priory Cartulary was
thought lost until it was discovered in an old cupboard in a garret of the
Museum in 1837. It is today held in the British Library, where it is still catalogued by Sir Robert
Cotton's filing system: Cotton MS Tiberius D.vi.
Efforts to translate the
whole Cartulary began in the late 20th century, but not until 2007 was this
task completed by Katharine Hanna and published by Hampshire County Council.[4]
Miraculous beam
The legend of the miraculous
beam dates to the early 12th century. The story is that a beam was found to
have been cut too short when it was hoisted into place. This would have been
embarrassing for the carpenters since the wood was expensive and would be
difficult to replace. There was however a mysterious carpenter who had worked
and eaten alone. The day following the discovery, when the carpenters
returned they found the beam was in place and it now fitted. The unknown
carpenter was never seen again, and the story came to be that it was Jesus Christ who had intervened. The church became Christ’s
Church of Twynham in commemoration of the event.[5] In time the town became Twynham-Christchurch and
eventually shortened to Christchurch. The beam can be seen today and is
located in the Priory’s Ambulatory.
Misericord
The Priory has 39 misericords, which dating from three periods: 1250, 1350 and
1515. They show a mixture of mythological and folklore scenes, some of which
appear to have been derived from Aesops fables. There are also some showing religious
iconography, such as the emblems of St Mark and St Matthew.
Dissolution
On 28 November 1539, John
Draper, the last prior of Christchurch, surrendered the priory, and it was dissolved. Prior Draper was granted a pension of £133-6s-8d and the use of
Somerford Grange for life.
The conventual buildings of
the priory were pulled down soon after the dissolution. The King had intended
to demolish the church as well as the conventual buildings, but in response
to a plea from the townspeople, supported by Prior Draper, he granted it,
together with the churchyard, to the churchwardens and inhabitants of
Christchurch to be used as the parish church in perpetuity on 23 October
1540, a grant that was confirmed on 12 February 1612 by James I.
Post-Dissolution
After the Dissolution a
corporation known as 'The Sixteen' was formed which became responsible for
the temporal and ecclesiastical affairs of the parish, with the vicar and churchwardens being the principal officers.
In 1788 Gustavus Brander gave the priory a pipe organ, which was installed on the quire screen. It was
removed in 1848.
In 1819 lath and plaster vaulting was installed in the nave, but a year
later the vaulting of the south transept was found to be unsafe and had to be
dismantled. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries extensive repairs were
carried out, which included the insertion of tie-rods in the tower and the
underpinning of the nave and south choir aisle walls in 1906. In 1912 a new
floor was laid in the nave consisting of 6" of concrete, an inch of fine
cement and wooden blocks on top.[6]
The War Memorial Chapel was
dedicated in 1922.
Modern history
In 1976 Highcliffe Castle donated the glazing of the window in the south
nave aisle, which had come originally from Jumièges Abbey in Normandy. The window depicts the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Anne.
In 1999 a window celebrating
the 900th anniversary of the priory was installed, which shows a starry night
in which the Cross of Christ dominates, surrounded by a pattern of circles,
the symbols of Eternity and Perfection, and the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ. Christchurch Priory, as its
website puts it, is 'a living church' with daily services of matins and evensong, as well as being open every day except Christmas for visitors.
In the 21st century The Times described it as 'the least appreciated of the
Great Churches of England'.[citation needed]
Bells
The Tower in which the 12 bells hang.
The Priory has a ring of 12
bells plus a 6th flat. The Bells are rung twice on Sundays and Monday nights
and for extra services.They are in the Key of D and the largest one (Tenor)
weighs 30cwt (1½ Tons). The two oldest bells in the ring were cast in 1376 by John Rufford.
Brief History
Seven bells were recorded at
the time of the dissolution of the Monasteries, and two of these were removed when the priory
church became parochial in 1540. In 1633 this heavy five was converted into a
lighter six by removing the tenor, recasting the 4th and adding two trebles.
In 1755 Abel Rudhallaugmented the ring to eight, and John Taylor & Co rehung the bells in a ten bell frame in 1885,
replacing the 3rd at the same time. The bell they cast for Christchurch came
out flat, and so a bell originally intended to be the 4th of a new ring of
eight for The Saviour, Bolton, was supplied instead. It is interesting to
note that the 1885 Taylor bells from The Saviour have now been transferred to
St Peter's, Bolton, where they are the back eight of the present ring of
twelve there.
Despite a ten bell frame
being installed at Christchurch in 1885, it was not until 1904 that the ring
was augmented, the trebles being cast by Llewellins & James of Bristol.
In 1931 the 6th was replaced, with the old bell (cast in 1663 by William
Purdue III of Salisbury) being retained in the bellchamber. In 1932 the ring
was augmented to twelve, with the 1904 trebles of ten being removed from the
ring and placed, with their fittings, on a stand in the bell chamber and two
new bells being cast to replace them. The old 6th of ten was scrapped in
1976, and in the same year the metal from the 1904 trebles of ten was used
towards the casting of a flat 6th, with the inscriptions from the two bells
being copied onto this. The new bell was cast and hung by Taylor's. More
recently, in 1991, Whitechapel Bell Foundry overhauled the fittings and replaced the gudgeons and bearings.
Framework and Fittings
The front four bells, the
flat 6th and the 8th were cast with flat tops. The 5th and 6th have cable
patterned canons, the 7th angular canons, and the remaining bells have had
their canons removed.
The frame is of timber, and
is basically that installed by Taylor's in 1885. A new foundation of RSJs was
inserted beneath the frame in 1932, and two timber pits, which now contain
the treble and 3rd, were added to the East side. A single cast iron lowsided
pit for the flat 6th was added on the south side in 1976. The additions of
1932 and 1976 were both carried out by Taylor's.
The fittings are rather a
mixture. The four trebles and the flat 6th have Taylor fittings contemporary
with them and consisting of cast iron headstocks, ball bearings, traditional
wheels, stays and sliders.. The back eight have timber stocks, presumably
dating from either 1885 or 1904, traditional wheels by Llewellins & James
and dating from 1904, and traditional stays and sliders. The bells were
rehung on ball bearings by Taylor's in 1932, and the gudgeons and bearings
were replaced by Whitechapel in 1991. There is also an Ellacombe chiming
apparatus, which was installed by Llewellins & James in 1904.
Music
Choir
The choir at the priory
consists of a boys choir, a girls choir, and a men's choir. The standard of
music at the priory is truly wonderful, singing at all religious festivals.
The ranks for the boys choir goes like this: probationer - full choir member
(given surplice) - light blue medal - dark blue medal - red medal - deputy
(green medal) - head boy (green medal).
Organ
On 17 July 1999 a new pipe
organ was dedicated and installed in the south transept. It is an extensive
rebuild by Nicholson of Worcester of the previous organ, weighing around 20 tonnes, with nearly 4,000 pipes, some of which are from
the original 1788 organ. The new organ cost in excess of £500,000, of which
£373,000 was provided by the Arts Council from the National Lottery Fund.
Organists
·
Henry Holloway 1933–1936
·
Geoffrey Tristram 1949-1979
·
Clive Harries 1980–1983
·
Roger Overend 1983–1986
·
Martin Schellenberg 1986-1995
·
Geoffrey Morgan 2002–present
Directors of Music
·
Geoffrey Tristram 1949-1979
·
Martin Schellenberg 1986-1995
·
Andrew Post 2001–2009
·
Hugh Morris 2009–present
Girls Choir Music Directors
·
Cathy Lamb 2005-2007
·
Mary Goodman 2007–present
Assistant Organists
·
Michael Andrews
·
Mark Hammond
·
Sean Tucker 1992–1994
See also
Gallery
Photocrom
print, 1890-1900
Christchurch
Priory from Wick, across the River Stour
Christchurch
from Wick Fields, showing the full length of the Priory building.
References
3. Jump up^ Heath, Sidney (1915). Beautiful England - Bournemouth, Poole
and Christchurch. London, Glasgow & Bombay: Blackie and Son Ltd.
p. 51.
4. Jump up^ Hanna, Katharine (2007). The Christchurch Priory Cartulary. The Castle, Winchester, SO23 8UJ:
Hampshire County Council.ISBN 1-85975-761-8.
6. Jump up^ Taylor, Christine (1994). Christchurch a Pictorial History. Shopwyke Manor Barn, Chichester,
Sussex: Phillimore and Co. Ltd. pp. plates 95–99. ISBN 0-85033-901-4.
7. Jump up^ Taylor, Christine (1994). Christchurch a Pictorial History. Shopwyke Manor Barn, Chichester,
Sussex: Phillimore and Co. Ltd. p. plate 15. ISBN 0-85033-901-4.
External links
April 1060 A.D. Christ Church Priory,
Dorset, UK—Founded before 1060; Manor & Church Granted by Henry I to
Richard de Redvers and Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon; Augustinian Canon
Regulars, 1150, by Petition of Hilary, Bishop of Chichester and Richard de
Redvers, Bishop of Winchester; Dissolved 28 Nov 1539; Granted to Joseph
Kirton, 1545; Church of Christ in Parochial
Use in Diocese of Winchester
Editor.
“Christchurch Priory.” N.d. http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/UK/Britain_South_and_West/Christchurch_Priory/Christchurch.htm. Accessed 30 Dec 2014.
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