St Thomas the Martyr, Winchelsea, East Sussex
Posting shots of churches we have visited has shown me that my photography has improved now I don't use the ultrawide angle lenses, so many churches need a revisit.
And with the orchid season now at an end, nearly, it is time to turn to churchcrawling.
And the easiest non-Kent church to revisit was Winchelsea, just over the border in East Sussex, also gave us the chance to call in at the fishmongers in Rye for some smoked haddock.
After the early morning coffee and then the rush round Tesco, back home to pack it all away and for me to make bacon butties and another brew.
And then: go west.
Traffic is not so mad now, so it was easy to drive to Folkestone then up the motorway to Ashford, before turning off, past the inland border facility, then out onto the Marsh past Hamstreet.
West of Brookland, the road meanders about, bend after bend, crossing and recrossing the railway until we reach Rye.
We stop to buy the fish, then round the river, over the bridge and out the other side, five miles to Winchelsea, turning off to go up the hill under the old town gate, parking near the village shop.
Whereas Rye was already busy, Winchelsea was quiet, and just past ten meaning the church had just opened.
We walk across the large churchyard through the ruins of the tower and into the church, where the triple wide nave was lines on the north and south walls with fine wall tombs.
I photograph each on in turn, and the corbel heads on each too.
I rephotograph the fine windows too, as despite being modern, they really are on another level.
One or two people come in, a family of three last 30 seconds before the mother and teenage son leave.
After completing the shots, I go out to meet up with Jools so we can walk to the shop to have ice cream, and sit to eat them on a bench looking at the north wall of the church.
-------------------------------------------
The town was planned on a gridiron pattern with the church occupying a dominant two-acre site near the centre. It was planned on a grand scale and work started in 1288 to erect a magnificent Gothic edifice, with a chancel and choir, two side chapels, a central tower, transepts and a great nave.
Building stone came from Caen in Normandy, marble from the west of Sussex and timber rafters made of sound Sussex oak. Highly skilled stonemasons worked on the carvings which include handsome sedilia in the chancel and side chapel. Three effigies of polished marble – once thought to have been rescued from the church in Old Winchelsea – were placed on the north side in memory of an unknown warrior, his wife and son, possibly the Godfrey family.
The first of the two chantries on the south side was endowed in 1312 by Stephen Alard to contain a tomb of supreme workmanship in memory of Gervase Alard, Admiral of the Western Fleet, probably Stephen’s father. The stone effigy is in full armour with raised hands to enclose a heart and a lion crouching at the feet. Two large angels supported the double cushion on which the head rests. A marginal inscription promises fifty days of pardon for those who pray for his soul. The delicately carved arch of the recessed canopy springs from the heads of King Edward I and his second wife, Margaret. The tomb provided the background for Sir John Millais’ painting ’L’Enfant du Regiment.’
The second monument is of a later date, with the arch springing from the heads of Edward II and Queen Isabella, sometimes known as ‘the she-wolf of France.’ It is reputed to be the tomb of Stephen Alard himself, who became Admiral of the Cinque Ports and the Western Fleet.
The centre of each canopy is surmounted by the head of a Green Man, a prominent pagan figure, associated with tree worship from at least as early as 500BC.
In 1337, in one of the first skirmishes of the Hundred Years War, the new town of Winchelsea was attacked and badly damaged in a French raid. Eleven years later the town was struck by the Black Death, which carried off, among many others, the Rector of St Thomas’, John Glynde.
In 1359 the French returned with a force of some three thousand men, gaining entrance one Sunday morning through the New Gate. There was little resistance as the men of the town were away on a similar mission of destruction in France. The women and children sheltered in St. Giles’s Church, now lost, where many of them were butchered ‘without regard to age, sex, degree or order.’
There was a further French raid in 1360 and, in 1380, a powerful Franco-Castilian fleet arrived to ‘fire Winchelsea and the approaches of London’. It is likely that this raid resulted in severe damage to the original nave. Over the next 100 years further deterioration occurred, including the collapse of the tower and transepts. Only very limited restoration work was affordable, particularly as the wealth of Winchelsea was ebbing away with the sea. The church was blocked off at the west end of the choir and a new entrance porch added in Tudor times.
During the Sixteenth Century Reformation, Winchelsea’s Dominican and Franciscan endowments were confiscated and later pulled down, including the hospitals.
On the accession of Queen Mary in 1547, the rector Peter Danyell was deprived of his living and replaced by the Catholic Robert Jordan. Danyell was reinstated on the accession of Queen Elizabeth in 1559.
During these turbulent years the interior of the church fell into a deplorable state of repair, made worse by the decline of trade due to the silting up of the town’s harbour and, possibly, to damage by Puritan iconoclasts. By the 1660s the diarist John Evelyn wrote of the ‘forlorn ruins’ he found in Winchelsea.
By the eighteenth century John Wesley, who came to preach here, wrote of ‘that poor skeleton of Ancient Winchelsea with its large church now in ruins.’
long serving rector at the time was the formidable Drake Hollingberry who held the living from 1767 to 1822. During his incumbency a large Georgian rectory was built on the site of the old St. Giles’, with many of its stones going to build a new harbour wall at Winchelsea Beach. An ancient Saxon tower which stood in the churchyard was also demolished for this purpose.
During the Napoleonic Wars several different regiments were lodged in Winchelsea‘s Barrack Square. The Church Register records that 72 soldiers belonging to various regiments were buried in the churchyard during the Peninsular War (1808-14).
In the early years of the nineteenth century, the church had become so dilapidated that it was declared ‘almost unfit for public worship’, but in 1850 the perilous condition of the fabric was finally realised and extensive repairs carried out. Since that time a constant watch has been kept on the state of the fabric, both inside and outside the church.
The three windows in the south aisle are dedicated to the themes of Land, Air and Fire, and Sea. The work of Dr Douglas Strachan (1875-1950) they are regarded as some of the finest stained glass of the modern era. They were presented to the church as a gift from Lord Blanesborough of Greyfriars and dedicated in 1933 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of representatives of the Cinque Ports and the Ancient Towns.
The altar and retable in the Lady Chapel were also presented by Lord Blanesborough at this time as was the splendid organ above the west porch.
The windows on the south aisle were also designed and installed by Dr Strachan, including the beautiful east window which dominates the view of the church when entering through the west porch. The unusual window over the sedilia in the south wall commemorates the heroism of the crew of the Rye lifeboat, the Mary Stanford, who lost their lives while going to the rescue of another ship during a great storm in November 1928.
The clock on the north side of the tower was overhauled in Jubilee Year 1977 and again in 1998/9 when the beautiful dial was repainted. The cost was partly born by the Friends of Winchelsea Church, a voluntary organisation started in 1966 to raise money to help maintain the fabric of this beautiful church and to whom the parish owes a great debt of gratitude for the maintenance work that has been carried out in recent years.
winchelsea-icklesham-churches.org.uk/winchelsea/st-thomas...
St Thomas the Martyr, Winchelsea, East Sussex
Posting shots of churches we have visited has shown me that my photography has improved now I don't use the ultrawide angle lenses, so many churches need a revisit.
And with the orchid season now at an end, nearly, it is time to turn to churchcrawling.
And the easiest non-Kent church to revisit was Winchelsea, just over the border in East Sussex, also gave us the chance to call in at the fishmongers in Rye for some smoked haddock.
After the early morning coffee and then the rush round Tesco, back home to pack it all away and for me to make bacon butties and another brew.
And then: go west.
Traffic is not so mad now, so it was easy to drive to Folkestone then up the motorway to Ashford, before turning off, past the inland border facility, then out onto the Marsh past Hamstreet.
West of Brookland, the road meanders about, bend after bend, crossing and recrossing the railway until we reach Rye.
We stop to buy the fish, then round the river, over the bridge and out the other side, five miles to Winchelsea, turning off to go up the hill under the old town gate, parking near the village shop.
Whereas Rye was already busy, Winchelsea was quiet, and just past ten meaning the church had just opened.
We walk across the large churchyard through the ruins of the tower and into the church, where the triple wide nave was lines on the north and south walls with fine wall tombs.
I photograph each on in turn, and the corbel heads on each too.
I rephotograph the fine windows too, as despite being modern, they really are on another level.
One or two people come in, a family of three last 30 seconds before the mother and teenage son leave.
After completing the shots, I go out to meet up with Jools so we can walk to the shop to have ice cream, and sit to eat them on a bench looking at the north wall of the church.
-------------------------------------------
The town was planned on a gridiron pattern with the church occupying a dominant two-acre site near the centre. It was planned on a grand scale and work started in 1288 to erect a magnificent Gothic edifice, with a chancel and choir, two side chapels, a central tower, transepts and a great nave.
Building stone came from Caen in Normandy, marble from the west of Sussex and timber rafters made of sound Sussex oak. Highly skilled stonemasons worked on the carvings which include handsome sedilia in the chancel and side chapel. Three effigies of polished marble – once thought to have been rescued from the church in Old Winchelsea – were placed on the north side in memory of an unknown warrior, his wife and son, possibly the Godfrey family.
The first of the two chantries on the south side was endowed in 1312 by Stephen Alard to contain a tomb of supreme workmanship in memory of Gervase Alard, Admiral of the Western Fleet, probably Stephen’s father. The stone effigy is in full armour with raised hands to enclose a heart and a lion crouching at the feet. Two large angels supported the double cushion on which the head rests. A marginal inscription promises fifty days of pardon for those who pray for his soul. The delicately carved arch of the recessed canopy springs from the heads of King Edward I and his second wife, Margaret. The tomb provided the background for Sir John Millais’ painting ’L’Enfant du Regiment.’
The second monument is of a later date, with the arch springing from the heads of Edward II and Queen Isabella, sometimes known as ‘the she-wolf of France.’ It is reputed to be the tomb of Stephen Alard himself, who became Admiral of the Cinque Ports and the Western Fleet.
The centre of each canopy is surmounted by the head of a Green Man, a prominent pagan figure, associated with tree worship from at least as early as 500BC.
In 1337, in one of the first skirmishes of the Hundred Years War, the new town of Winchelsea was attacked and badly damaged in a French raid. Eleven years later the town was struck by the Black Death, which carried off, among many others, the Rector of St Thomas’, John Glynde.
In 1359 the French returned with a force of some three thousand men, gaining entrance one Sunday morning through the New Gate. There was little resistance as the men of the town were away on a similar mission of destruction in France. The women and children sheltered in St. Giles’s Church, now lost, where many of them were butchered ‘without regard to age, sex, degree or order.’
There was a further French raid in 1360 and, in 1380, a powerful Franco-Castilian fleet arrived to ‘fire Winchelsea and the approaches of London’. It is likely that this raid resulted in severe damage to the original nave. Over the next 100 years further deterioration occurred, including the collapse of the tower and transepts. Only very limited restoration work was affordable, particularly as the wealth of Winchelsea was ebbing away with the sea. The church was blocked off at the west end of the choir and a new entrance porch added in Tudor times.
During the Sixteenth Century Reformation, Winchelsea’s Dominican and Franciscan endowments were confiscated and later pulled down, including the hospitals.
On the accession of Queen Mary in 1547, the rector Peter Danyell was deprived of his living and replaced by the Catholic Robert Jordan. Danyell was reinstated on the accession of Queen Elizabeth in 1559.
During these turbulent years the interior of the church fell into a deplorable state of repair, made worse by the decline of trade due to the silting up of the town’s harbour and, possibly, to damage by Puritan iconoclasts. By the 1660s the diarist John Evelyn wrote of the ‘forlorn ruins’ he found in Winchelsea.
By the eighteenth century John Wesley, who came to preach here, wrote of ‘that poor skeleton of Ancient Winchelsea with its large church now in ruins.’
long serving rector at the time was the formidable Drake Hollingberry who held the living from 1767 to 1822. During his incumbency a large Georgian rectory was built on the site of the old St. Giles’, with many of its stones going to build a new harbour wall at Winchelsea Beach. An ancient Saxon tower which stood in the churchyard was also demolished for this purpose.
During the Napoleonic Wars several different regiments were lodged in Winchelsea‘s Barrack Square. The Church Register records that 72 soldiers belonging to various regiments were buried in the churchyard during the Peninsular War (1808-14).
In the early years of the nineteenth century, the church had become so dilapidated that it was declared ‘almost unfit for public worship’, but in 1850 the perilous condition of the fabric was finally realised and extensive repairs carried out. Since that time a constant watch has been kept on the state of the fabric, both inside and outside the church.
The three windows in the south aisle are dedicated to the themes of Land, Air and Fire, and Sea. The work of Dr Douglas Strachan (1875-1950) they are regarded as some of the finest stained glass of the modern era. They were presented to the church as a gift from Lord Blanesborough of Greyfriars and dedicated in 1933 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of representatives of the Cinque Ports and the Ancient Towns.
The altar and retable in the Lady Chapel were also presented by Lord Blanesborough at this time as was the splendid organ above the west porch.
The windows on the south aisle were also designed and installed by Dr Strachan, including the beautiful east window which dominates the view of the church when entering through the west porch. The unusual window over the sedilia in the south wall commemorates the heroism of the crew of the Rye lifeboat, the Mary Stanford, who lost their lives while going to the rescue of another ship during a great storm in November 1928.
The clock on the north side of the tower was overhauled in Jubilee Year 1977 and again in 1998/9 when the beautiful dial was repainted. The cost was partly born by the Friends of Winchelsea Church, a voluntary organisation started in 1966 to raise money to help maintain the fabric of this beautiful church and to whom the parish owes a great debt of gratitude for the maintenance work that has been carried out in recent years.
winchelsea-icklesham-churches.org.uk/winchelsea/st-thomas...