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Scenes from the history of the church
A lecture given by David Parsons
Welcome. The plan for this evening is that I shall talk for about 40 minutes, and then I shall give you the draft of the new church history booklet. We shall have refreshments and a chance to look at the display boards, and perhaps the booklet. Then we shall gather again for 15 minutes of questions, comments and discussion. I am going to fill in the background by talking about the earliest archaeology, history and legends, and then I shall pick out some of the colourful and impressive characters who have been involved with this church. To those who heard my talk to the Street Society, repeated to the U3A, I apologise for some repetition.
You are sitting where it all started. Not just the church in Street, but the community itself. Just clear of the river Brue, which in those days did not keep in well-mannered fashion to narrow banks but spread over a boggy area, was this piece of ground, founded on clay, just waiting to be inhabited - a typical setting for iron age people to live in.
Who first lived here we do not know. What we do know is that a gold coin dating to pre-Roman times, to the years just before the birth of Christ, was found by gravediggers in this churchyard. It bore the name Corio, who was a king of the Dobunni tribe, with his capital in Gloucester, towards the end of the first century B. C. Gold coinage was issued as a status symbol. You didn't use gold staters for going down to the wheelwright to get your chariot repaired. This suggests that whatever settlement was here was a high status one.
When the Romans came, they, or Romanised Britons, also settled here. They left remnants of their pots and pans. There were crude, locally produced jugs. There were slightly better pots from a little further afield. There was black burnished ware from the New Forest. There was a huge mixing bowl, perhaps 2 feet across: that makes me think of a hotel, catering for more than just a family. There was high quality so-called Samian pottery from Germany or Gaul. The settlement on this spot was included in the great trading network of the Roman Empire. A road ran close by, crossing the Brue about 100 yards this side of the present Pomparles bridge. It was excavated in 1920 by Arthur Paul, and still shows up as a crop mark in exceptionally dry summers like 1986.
It would be nice to think that there was some religious shrine here, even in those days, but there is no evidence of it.
Last year during TrinityFest we heard from Charles Hollinrake about the LAN, the circular or oval enclosure that became our churchyard. These features were all built at about the same time, in the mid 6th century. Ours had a ditch and bank surrounding it, which were replaced by a wall only, I believe, in the 19th century.
From the LAN comes the earliest name of our settlement, Lan-to-kai, the LAN of St Kay. Who he? Mr Hollinrake has provided this overview:
No Life, or vita, of Kea survives in Cornwall or Wales but a Latin one was written in Brittany at an unknown date by Maurice, vicar of Cleder. It states that Kai, or Kenan, surnamed Coledoc, was born in Britain of noble parents called Ludun and Tagu. He became a priest and a bishop, but resigned and lived as a hermit in Wales at Ros-ene, situated by an arm of the sea called Hildrech and near the castle of Gudrun - residence of the wicked prince Theoderic. Kea cured Theodoric of a disease and was given land to build a monastery. Later he disembarked from Landegu for Brittany and built a second monastery at Cleder. After failing to bring about peace in the British civil war between Arthur and Modred, he died on the first Saturday in October and was buried at Cleder. His tomb could still be seen in a chapel in the cemetery (in the 17th century).
It is possible that Kea visited this spot and founded a small Christian community. Otherwise it is hard to find a reason for the place to have been called after a rather obscure saint. But if Kea was contemporary with King Arthur, who, if he existed, would have been a 5th century figure, defending civilisation after the Romans left in AD 410, the LAN was established perhaps 100 years after the saint's visit.
Mention of King Arthur brings us to St Gildas. He, too, is said to have had a hand in making peace between Arthur and King Malvas, who had kidnapped Guinevere. I have included a new translation of the Life of Gildas in the history booklet. The relevant part for us is that, after spending some time as a hermit on Steepholme or Flatholme, Gildas was driven to the mainland by pirates, and first joined Glastonbury Abbey, then became a hermit again on this very spot. Here is the relevant passage:
"The most religious Gildas, gaining permission from the Abbot, clergy and people of Glastonia, desired once again to take up the life of a hermit by the river bank close to Glastonia. He was able to carry out his wish. He built there a church in honour of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, in which he fasted and prayed unceasingly, dressed in goatskin, giving a blameless example of good living and religion. Holy men from distant parts of Britain came to visit him, a man who deserved such visits. He gave them counsel, and as they returned home they would recall his encouragement and advice with exultation.
"In the end he fell ill. His illness grew worse, and he called the Abbot of Glastonia to him. He begged him, with much piety, that when he had ended his life's course his body should be taken to Glastonia Abbey, which he loved dearly. The Abbot gave his word. Gildas asked worthy men to carry out his wishes. While the Abbot grieved and wept copiously because of what he had heard, the most holy Gildas, very ill, died. Many people witnessed the fragrant angelic splendour around the body, the angels forming an escort for his soul. After a tearful commendation had been made, the frail body was carried by fellow monks to the abbey, and with great grief and due honour was buried in the middle of the pavement of St Mary's church. His soul went to its rest, and rests now. It will rest eternally in heavenly rest. Amen."
The trouble with this account, which was written in the 12th century, is that it imagines Glastonbury as it was in the writer's lifetime, a prosperous and powerful place. In the 5th century it may not have existed at all. The earliest Christian remains date from the late 6th century. But if we remove Glastonbury from the story, we have Gildas moving from an island hermitage that had become too dangerous, straight to an inland spot by the Brue.
Gildas, our 12th century author Caradoc tells us, wrote his History of the Kings of England in Glastonbury. He may well have written it in Street. If so, the earliest history of England written by an Englishman was written where you are sitting. It is not a very good history. In fact, the historical sections of Gildas' work are more like sermon illustrations. As someone has pointed out, he includes only one date, and that one is wrong. But the great historian of the English Church, the Venerable Bede, relied on our Gildas.
I have not yet completed a translation of Gildas' work, but I hope to do so. Here, to go on with, is my translation of his description of Britain. He is writing, remember, not so long after the Romans had left; there was still a vague memory of the good times when Samian pottery and other luxuries came across the Channel, and Roman towns had not yet fallen:
"The island of Britain lies almost on the western edge of the world. On the so-called divine yoke-pole of the whole world it is poised, like the balance on weighing scales, almost equally far from the north and south poles. It is 800 miles long, and 200 across, except where various promontories stick out further, surrounded by Ocean's curving bays and inlets. In fact Ocean is like a defensive fortification for the island, encircling it with an extensive, you might almost say impassable, moat, in every direction except the south, where one can sail to France and Belgium.
"The mouths of two major rivers, the Thames and the Severn, stretch out like arms towards continental Europe. In the old days luxury goods used to come by ship through these river mouths. Britain is also blessed with lesser rivers. It boasts 28 cities, and a number of castles with walls and towers, battlemented gates and dwellings, strongly built stuctures that extend upwards to a menacing height ...
"Britain has broad plains and hills situated in pleasant areas, suitable for rich cultivation. Its mountains are exceptionally well suited to the alternate pasturing of animals. The flowers beneath your feet grow in a wide variety of colours, and provide a pretty picture, like different kinds of jewels worn by a chosen bride. The land is well watered. There are sparkling springs, their abundant waters rushing over snow-white gravel. Shining brooks snake along with a gentle murmur, and to anyone who reclines on their banks they hold out the promise of sweet sleep. Pools pour forth a cool torrent of living water."
Could Gildas have been sitting here, looking out towards the Brue and the Tor on a sunny May morning as he wrote those words?
It is certain that this church was dedicated to St Gildas in the 16th century.
So far, apart from the writings of Gildas himself, we have had only archaeology and much later writings to rely on. Now we have contemporary documents, or copies made of them. I am going to rush through the next few centuries with their aid.
In AD 680 Abbot Hemgisel persuaded his Bishop, who lived far off in Winchester, a man called Heddi, to grant him the land called Lantocai, which is now called Legh, 3 hides (nearly 500 acres). It was one of the very earliest pieces of land to be owned by Glastonbury Abbey. This was the Street churchyard, possibly the home of a small religious community, and the three hides had probably been given to the community by a British King. Now the community was going to be put under the Abbot of Glastonbury, and the kings Centwine and Baldred consented, and King Caedwalla confirmed the gift; he signed the document by making a cross, as illiterate people have done ever since. Kings had more important things to do than learn to read and write. Under Glastonbury it remained for more than 800 years.
There is a document, but scholars believe it is a later forgery, dated 725, in which Street is listed among the Seven Churches that belonged to Glastonbury alone, and were not under the Bishop of Bath and Wells. If the document is genuine, then we know that the church in Street existed in the 8th century; if it is a 12th century forgery, then at least we have confirmation that the Street church was there shortly after Domesday Book.
This is what Domesday Book has to say about our village. I am using the translation in the Penguin edition:
The church itself holds LEIGH [Lower Leigh, Mid Leigh and Overleigh, in Street]. TRE it paid geld for 4 hides. There is land for 10 ploughs. Of this 2 hides are in demesne. 1 of these was thegnland, yet it could not be alienated from the church. In demesne there are 4 ploughs with 1 slave: and 7 villans and 10 bordars with 5 ploughs. There are 35 acres of meadow, and 30 acres of pasture and 6 acres of woodland. It is worth £10.
To unpack this Domesday entry I shall quote from the new history book:
The great survey of the whole country organised by the Normans in 1086 tells us a great deal about Street.
First it tells us that the name was no longer Lantokai but Lega (in Latin) or Leigh (English for woodland clearing), the name still used for parts of Street, Middle Leigh and Overleigh. This may indicate the growth of Street from the original lan to a group of very small settlements, Lower, Middle and Upper Leigh.
Then it tells us that Leigh belonged to Glastonbury Abbey, and that before the Norman conquest - TRE means 'in the time of King Edward' - it paid geld or land tax on 4 hides, enough land to support four households.
Half the ploughland belonged to the lord's 'home park' or demesne.
Of the inhabitants, the seven villans (villagers) were of higher status than the 10 bordars (hut-dwellers) and the single slave. They may all have had families, which could have brought the total population to about 50.
For comparison, Walton paid tax on 30 hides, and had 27 villans, 12 bordars and 4 slaves. It was worth £15 to Street's £10.
More documents give us glimpses of Street in Norman times:
Glastonbury Abbey burned down in the 1190s. Abbot Henry de Sully surveyed the abbey's possessions after the burning of the building, and the clergy here were Peter the Priest in Walton and Ralph the Chaplain in Street. Incidentally, the present road between Street and Glastonbury was built at this time to allow blue lias stone from the quarries in Street to be taken to Glastonbury to help in the rebuilding.
What about church buildings? In about 1200 Savaric, who was made the first Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury and moved the bishop's house from Bath to Wells. He took possession of Glastonbury by armed force. He, we read, gave the revenues of Street Church and its chapels to Glastonbury Abbey, for alms and the support of the poor. The 'chapels' would have included Walton.
In 1238 Michael of Amesbury, Abbot of Glastonbury, held a survey and found that along with Street's two millers and 4 'virgaters' (small landholders), Jordan de Legha, Roger son of Margaret and his brother William, and Martin of Mere, there was Walter the chaplain. The other people mentioned had to work on the Abbot's fields, as well as paying rent, but Walter the Chaplain was excused the work, and just paid 3s rent a year. If he was the parish priest, he may have enough to do already.
I turn now to another individual and his story.
The first is John Channel, who died around 1260. In those days the clergy made much of their living from their land, as farmers. John Channel used part of his land to build an enclosure, or pound, for keeping stray animals in. When I was a student in Cambridge they had a pound for stray bicycles. If you were unfortunate enough to have your machine taken to the pound, you had to pay a fine to get it back. So it was with the owners of the stray animals. They had to pay John Channel to get their animals back. The Abbot of Glastonbury, like rich men before and since, did not like to see even a little bit of his rightful revenue taken by a poor priest, and before a new priest was appointed to Street and Walton, he set up an inquest panel, which found that John Channel could rightly hold animals for just two days, and after that he should have taken them to the Abbot, who would pocket the fines.
Before going on to the next colourful Rector of Street, we have to record a very important event that took place 10 years after John Channel's death, the building of the present church.
Of course there had been church buildings here before 1270. But what was built in 1270 still remains, at least in part. The chancel windows are very likely from the original building. The vestry is very much later. There was once a doorway in the opposite wall, now filled in. You can see it from the outside. The narrow nave came a bit later, in the early 14th century. While you enjoy refreshments, compare the narrow window on the south wall of the chancel with the window by the pulpit. They are both very simple examples, but one is Early English Style. The other is Decorated. So is the East window "with Fine reticulated tracery derived from the windows of the Lady Chapel at Wells", say Michael McGargvie. From the Decorated period are the piscina, a stone basin for washing the holy vessels used during Mass, and the two sedelia, seats for the clergy, recessed into the south wall of the chancel.
Michael McGarvie has this to say about the chancel roof: "The chancel of Street Church must originally have been stone tiled, which accounts for the massive open timber roof. This is 15th century and of an unusual, although rather coarse, design. No element which could add strength is omitted. The chancel roof repays study: it is a good combination of practicality and good looks, giving strength while presenting a handsome, ornamental, almost heraldic appearance."
I would add that the recent refurbishment, with redecoration and lighting, have drawn our attention to these ancient features of the church. Visitors look at the great 15th century beams in a way that they did not before.
The church was very new, certainly unfinished, when we received our royal visit. (my 18th great grandfather) King Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, had carried out a campaign in Wales the year before, but in 1278 he came in peace to Glastonbury, bringing his beloved wife Queen Eleanor. Edward and Eleanor had been married when he was 15 and she was 10, and they were inseparable. Her death in 1290 drove him to such grief that he had crosses erected at every place where her body lay on its return to London, including finally Dear Queen Cross, Cher Reine Cross or Charing Cross. It is not surprising that she came with him to Glastonbury, and, when the Abbot would not allow the King to hold assize in Glastonbury itself, that she came with him to this building. All we know of the visit is that one man had his case postponed to another occasion. It is interesting that in those days, as now, this building was not used only for worship, but for other community activities.
We could linger over other important meetings held here in church, like the discussions between the Bishop of Bath and Wells and the Dean of Wells, accompanied by Chancellor, Treasurer and eight canons, in 1321, when William Gasselin as Rector played host.
We could mention the visit in 1331 of King Edward III and his Queen Philippa to Glastonbury, after which, and after receiving many gifts from the Abbot, he declared that Street and six other churches should remain under the Abbot's sole power, not the Bishop's. We could notice how Pope John XXII confirmed the King's declaration, speaking of the Capella de Walton dicte ecclesie de Street annexa. Street was known in the highest circles.
But it is time to consider John Lax.
In 1448 John Lax alias Chestre was appointed Rector of Walton and Street. He was a colourful character, but does not seem to have done much for Street and Walton. He fell out with one of his influential parishioners, as Dr Dunning told the story to an early meeting of the Street Society, and just before Easter 1450, when everyone in the parish had to visit the confessional, Lax was worn out hearing confession after confession, and with great relief locked the church and set off home, when this parishioner came up and set his dog on him. The only weapon Lax had was the hefty church key, and he was able to defend himself with that; otherwise he might have been killed. Lax was a lawyer, and he wanted to leave parish duties and get on with his studies at university. Pope Nicholas V, no less, gave him leave to be absent from his parish to study. Like many students today, Lax got distracted by other matters and did not make progress with his studies. (29 Henry VI) He claimed to be too busy because of work that King Henry VI, the extremely pious but politically ineffective young ruler, and 'certain other Lords of the Realm' required him to do for them. The Pope in 1453 granted him three more years away from his parish. It was a tense time in English history. Henry VI was going through a period of insanity, and his wife Margaret of Anjou had a son, Edward, on 13th October that year. War between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians was looming. What with bad relations in the parish and dodgy politics in the country, Lax left for Rome.
While still officially Rector of Street and Walton, he held the post of abbreviator of papal letters, and he obtained permission to hold two other benefices as well as Street. He collected yet more parishes while he travelled on the Pope's business, including the Rectory of Beccles in Suffolk, where I was once curate.
But in 1459 he fell out with a powerful Roman cleric, and in the legal disputes that followed it emerged that he had never been priested - indeed, he had never even been admitted into one of the lower orders of clergy. He lost most of his money and had to sell his house in Rome to pay his debts. Naturally he was thrown out of the rectory of Walton and Street. He died in 1466 as Master of the Collegiate Church of St Edmund, Salisbury.
John Lax moved in exalted company, and for a time at least became rich. But there had been a running dispute between Lax, and three other Rectors of Street and Walton, and successive Abbots of Glastonbury, about tithes, the ten per cent tax that had to be paid to the Church. But to what part of the Church? Should they go to the Abbot or to the Rector? It was a question of parish boundaries. Nowadays the only people who worry about parish boundaries are couples wanting to be married in a particular church. Do they live within the parish boundary or not? If you were a priest in the middle ages, parish boundaries could seriously affect your wealth.
The dispute was settled only after Lax's death. In May 15 1470: After due consideration and for the sake of peace for themselves & their successors the Abbot and Convent agree with William Bockett, the Rector, to making the following composition:-
The Abbot and Convent and their successors, to have the tithes of the Park, woods and Est and West Stretemore.
The Rector and his successors to have the tithes of 2 meadows and closes called Avensclose and Rowclose to the east of the Park and of 2 pastures and closes called Newman' closes adjoining the said 2 meadows on the east.
And here's the bit that I find fascinating:
The Rector of Strete, present and to come, to have for every year during which he continues resident in his Cure and Church or, at least, for a term of 3 years continuous or discontinuous personal residence, 10 cartloads of fuel in and of the woods and places in the neighbourhood of the Rectory in Walton, of which six shall be of "Hardewoode" and the other 4 of "vnderwoode". If the Rector is non-resident, for such year of non-residence he and his chaplain shall have 3 cartloads (2 of hardwood and 1 of underwood). He may take in a cartload as much as 8 oxen together can draw.
The Rector may also have the right of pasture for 8 oxen and one bull in the Abbot's pasture, from the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross to the Feast of the Exaltation of the same, for an annual payment of £3 to the Abbot and Convent.
So the Rectors of Street lived on tithes, fuel from the woods around, and their own farm animals.
I shall pass over events which must have had a great impact on this church, the Reformation and the dissolution of Glastonbury Abbey, and services in English. I will just note that one sign of the change brought by the Reformation is the fact that Rectors from Henry Slocombe (1578) onwards were usually graduates, which at that time in England meant having studied at Oxford or Cambridge. The pre-Reformation emphasis had been on their priestly authority to celebrate the Mass. The Reformed Rector was expected to be able to expound the Bible and to be, as the Prayer Book puts it, a "discreet and learned minister of God's Word".
From the time of William Sowth MA, who became Rector in 1579, comes the only really old brass memorial in the Parish Church. I am sure that you have noticed that when the raised floor was installed in the chancel, a small glass panel was added so that the brass can be viewed, although it is hard to make out the words. It tells a story that must have been all too familiar. Margaret Parrys, from Chard, was married at the age of 15 to Thomas Dyer of Street, spent the next ten years bearing six children, one of whom died, and then herself died in childbirth.
Walter Raleigh is a famous name. The great Sir Walter's nephew became Rector here in 1635. This is from the Parish Church records: Upon the xxiii day of October Anno Dni 1635 Walter Ralegh instituted into the p'sonage of Streate to be toke quiet and peacable possession of the church of Streate aforesaid, with all the right members & appertenances thereto belonging in the presence of
Tho. Close, clerke Tho. Smyth, clerke Thomas Helliar and others.
Upon the 22nd of November 1635 Mr. Walter Ralegh instituted into the p'sonage of Streate, subscribed all the 39 Articles of religion agreed upon in the convocation (1562) in the pish church of Streate in the time of divine service and gave his dasyned assent and consent therunto in the p'sence of the whole congregation witnesses there unto
Tho. Clyfe clerk Tho. Smyth clerk Tho. Rush Thomas Hellier and many others.
How nice to have a nephew of the great courtier and sailor Sir Walter Raleigh living in Street! He soon became Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles I. He took his Doctorate of Divinity the year after he became Rector of Street. Except that he didn't live in Street. He was vicar of Chedzoy already, and he also held the livings of Wilton S. Mary, Elingdon and Wroughton in Wiltshire. He was appointed Dean of St Burian, and then Dean of Wells, all while being Rector of Street. As far as we can tell, he lived in Chedzoy, and had a house in Wells. Then the Civil War came, beginning just outside Street. Early in August 1642 a Royalist force of about 80 horse moving from Wells towards Burrow Bridge to bar the crossing of the Parrett, met and defeated a body of Parliamentary recruits of more than 600 men at Marshall's Elm, Street. Seven Parliamentarians were killed on the spot, and eighteen died later from wounds. That was the first fatal skirmish. The Battle of Edgehill did not take place until October.
Raleigh was ejected from his living, and compelled to fly to save his life. He was, however, taken prisoner at Bridgwater. Confined first for some years at Banwell, he was ultimately removed to his own house at Wells. There he was placed under the custody of a shoemaker, who added to his ability in leather the quality of being an inveterate and hasty Roundhead. He treated him with gross cruelty, and in the end stabbed him because he refused to show him a letter he had written to his wife.
We must hurry on. A few more Rectors.
Joseph Glanvill, the philosopher, who had been chaplain to Sir James Thynne, the patron of the living, became Rector in 1672. Born in Plymouth in 1636, he was educated at Exeter and Lincoln colleges, Oxford, where he graduated as M.A. in 1658. After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 he was successively rector of Wimbush, Essex, vicar of Frome Selwood, rector of Streat and Walton. In 1666 he was appointed to Bath Abbey; in 1678 he became prebendary of Worcester Cathedral, and acted as chaplain in ordinary to King Charles II from 1672. He died at Bath in November 1680.
Glanvill, the Book of Street tells us, "was a great scholar and original thinker, a Fellow of the newly formed Royal Society and Chaplain to Charles II. He is described as being 'of a quick, warm, spruce, gay fancy'. Glanvill's great interest was witchcraft, on which he became an authority. His book, Saducismus Triumphatus or Full and Plain Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions, was a best-seller, so bought up that not a copy was to be had in all London and Cambridge."
His views on religious groups like the Quakers, who arrived in Street about this time, may be guessed by this quotation:
"The union of a sect within itself is a pitiful charity; it's no concord of Christians, but a conspiracy against Christ; and they that love one another for their opinionative concurrence, love for their own sakes, not their Lord's."
Timothy Redman became Rector in 1684. He, too, found the Quakers a problem, but for practical rather than philosophical reasons. The Quaker farmers of Street refused to pay the tithes due to the Rector, which constituted a large part of his income. Redman in 1705 gave a few glimpses into church life at that time. His income was 'above £30'. Walton church kept Whit Sunday as its dedication festival. Street, which he called the 'mother church' kept Trinity Sunday as 'the great festival of that parish.'
The 18th century was calm by comparison with the centuries of Reformation and Civil War.
Baldwin Malet, Rector from 1718 to 1758, came from a family that date back to the Conquest. William the Conqueror ordered a Malet to give King Harold a decent burial. They built the big house at St Audries. Baldwin Malet was also Vicar of Doulting. As a member of a wealthy family, it may have been he who presented in 1726 our Communion silver. Some was presented to Street church, and similar vessels to Walton. They have the inscription:
Tri Uni Deo to God, Three in One
in usum fidelium for the use of the faithful
in ecclesia parochiali in the parish church
de Strete / de Walton of Street / of Walton
In 1730 Baldwin Malet built a gallery at the back of the church
Thomas Thurlow, who was Rector for just three months in 1769 and 1770, was brother of the Lord Chancellor, later Baron Thurlow. He came from Norfolk, and nine years later became Bishop of Lincoln. He died in 1791 as Prince-Bishop of Durham, leaving his body to the pioneering surgeon and anatomist, John Hunter.
In 1777 the first four bells were hung. The smallest of these has the inscription: 'My treble voice makes hearts rejoice.' The others were added, two in 1805 and 2 in 1903. There is room for two more, apparently. We haven't long if we are to keep up the custom of adding two roughly every century!
The church tower, by the way, was originally lower than it is. If you look carefully you will see the difference in the stonework above and below the string course. The extra height was added in the 15th century.
Josiah Thomas, from Herefordshire, at the end of the century, remained Rector of Street and Walton until 1820. He wrote poetry and prose, including, The Book of Street tells us, "A Poetic epistle to a Curate, Strictures on Subjects relating to the Established Religion and the clergy and Remarks on some Popular Principles and Notions. In I817 he was appointed Archdeacon of Bath, and died soon after the accession of George IV 'having just attended a Levee to pay his respects to his new Sovereign and caught cold on the return journey. A monumental inscription commemorates him in Bath Abbey."
By this time Street was growing. There were 540 inhabitants in 1800. As Clothier and the Clarks set up their businesses, more workers were needed.
In 1823 Lord Bath, the patron of the living, appointed his son, 26-year-old Lord John Thynne, Rector of Street and Walton. He arrived, it seems, with Anna, his new and very beautiful Irish bride. The medieval rectory in Walton was too small for them and for the eight children they had while in the parish, and they built a bigger house, as well as a house in Street for curates.
Seeing the growth of Street, Lord John enlarged the church, beginning in 1826, by demolishing the medieval north wall and adding a north aisle. John Ralphs, a surveyor from Warminster, was responsible for the design. During the building's enlargement, not completed until February 1834, ". . . . the remains of an ancient chapel or hermitage were found. ...". Unfortunately, the construction of the aisle saw the destruction of an original doorway on the north wall of the nave, which was described as ". ... a curious doorway which, if genuine, appears to be of very early date being very high and very narrow . . ." We have a sketch of this curious doorway, which reached almost to the roof.
Later, in 1843, ". . . the interior of the Church of Street was rearranged and beautified according to the designs of Benjamin Ferrey, Esquire, of Bedford Street, London, diocesan architect." The work was comprehensive, involving new plastered ceilings, new roofs, stone parapets and new windows. The south porch, which had been recently used as the vestry, was reinstated, with a new vestry constructed on the south side of the chancel, while the sanctuary was paved with encaustic tiles by the leading ceramics firm of Herbert Minton and stained glass was inserted into the windows. New pews, complete with kneeling stools, books boards & ornamental ends, were ". . . arranged according to ancient order.. .." and the ".. . .unsightly pews in the chancel" where the farmers used to sit - box pews, I should guess - were replaced with open seats. A new pulpit and reading desk were added, the walls painted with text and the font relined in lead.
At one period the pulpit was by the main door, behind you, and some at any rate of the pews faced south.
The Rector's work was not only in Street and Walton, though he spent more time in his parish than many of his predecessors. At the coronation of Queen Victoria, "the Dean being dangerously ill, Lord John Thynne, a prebendary of Westminster, officiated in his place."
The Rector was a sincere man and took his duties seriously. In 1831 he founded a National School at 21, High Street; that same year he supported, with James and Cyrus Clark, a Temperance Society to combat the prevailing drunkenness; in 1833 he founded a Friendly Society to provide medical care for its members.
Lady Thynne took a special interest in training girls for "spheres of usefulness".
Some years before resigning from Street and Walton, the Rector was appointed Sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey and spent more time in London, where Anna established the first marine aquarium in England in the Abbey cloisters. The work in Street was left to curates.
Two of the curates were remarkable men, and with them I finish.
Nathaniel James Merriman was the third son of Thomas Merriman, an attorney and banker, who served as Town Clerk for 20 years and was twice Mayor of his town, Marlborough. His elder brothers both followed their father in his occupations of lawyer and banker, and as Mayor of Marlborough. Nathaniel was sent to school in Winchester, and then went up to Oxford, where he became a lifelong friend of William Gladstone.
He married Julia Potter at the age of 30 and that same year moved with his bride to the house in Street High Street, now part of Clarks, which the Rector had bought for the use of the curate. There he stayed from 1840 to 1848, endearing himself to his flock with his earnest Christian faith, generosity and open friendliness. A 19th century Street man tells us that his was "a name still fragrant to those who remember his kindly and well-disposed nature."
Wanting to understand his congregation better, he "became desirous of learning how to make boots and shoes, and notwithstanding the busy life lived, found time to do so. Esau Whitnell, a boot or shoe maker taking work from the factory, readily accepted the offer of his services, when spare time could be found in which to sit on the seat and learn the secrets of the art of St Crispin."
The year after their arrival, Nathaniel and Julia had their first child, and named him John Xavier. This native of Street became the last Prime Minister of Cape Colony, before the Union of S. Africa.
An example of the problems Nathaniel had to deal with in Street was this: Ann and James Hooper had declared their intention of going to Bristol to be married. The curate wrote to the Archdeacon:
"She is the widow of his father's late brother (his aunt). I have the admission of the parties themselves that they are bent on this incestuous marriage".
Nathaniel and Julia were not well off, but gave generously to charity. The Book of Street notes: "When giving £10 towards Irish famine relief he chose the Quaker fund, as he knew the money would be shrewdly invested, dining off horse beans twice a week in order to give more."
He had a heart for mission, a love which he shared with a fellow-curate, Charles Lowder, of whom more later. They both had South Africa in mind, but only Merriman succeeded in working there. In 1847 he offered his services to Bishop Robert Gray, the first Anglican bishop appointed to the colony, and was appointed the first archdeacon of Grahamstown, with the task of supervising the Anglican Church in the entire eastern region of the Cape Colony.
The whole of the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony comprised an Archdeaconry in charge of Mr. Merriman, that "man of God, one of the most heroic, self-denying, and devoted sons of the English Church," as Bishop Gray wrote of him. He was wont, because he could not afford to do his visitations otherwise, to do his journeys on foot, tramping along in Veldschoens made by himself, with a servant and a pack-horse. On this occasion he had left Grahamstown on November 5th, and on Christmas Eve returned home, having in the seven weeks travelled about 800 miles.
In his journal he writes:
On Sunday I officiated and administered the Holy Communion to about 7 persons in the little school room, just below the Didima berg, and to my very great joy my Kaffir attendant, into whose heart I had by this time wound myself, presented himself among the communicants, bringing at the same time his certificate or quarterly ticket from the Wesleyan community of which he is a member. As this is to the best of my belief the first Kaffir that has ever communicated with the English Church, which he did unsolicited and uninvited by me (I had simply informed him on the road that I was going to the Winterberg to celebrate the communion and was carrying the vessels over my shoulder, as he was carrying my few clothes), I could not but call to mind the Bishop's words to me at Protea, viz, that there seemed to be a special grace attending the first celebration of the sacraments in any place. This was the first time I believe that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper had ever been celebrated on that mountain. Sincerely do I trust that this first fruits of that interesting people may be the earnest of an abundant harvest of them in our communion hereafter. Though if it be so we shall have cause to say of them, as must be said in this instance, "other men have laboured, and we have entered into their labours
This single circumstance I thought abundantly rewarded my going on foot instead of on horseback. For I should never, unless by walking, have had sufficient communication with Wilhelm to win his confidence. Nor should I have had the opportunity which I enjoyed of going and sitting for an hour occasionally in the Kaffir kraals, getting friends at least with the little children and women, drinking their sour milk (which it is useful to learn to like) and very generally concluding by reading to them a Psalm from the Book of Psalms in their own tongue, to which they invariably listened with very devout attention. Nor could I, except by walking, have stopped to pluck and admire the very beautiful flowers with which the bush is at this time full, as well as the splendid bulbs for which the Winter-berg is famous, many of which were still in bloom.
"Never a seeker after office, Merriman finally accepted in 1870 the deanery of Cape Town and in 1871 was elected bishop of Grahamstown. A year later he was elected to succeed Archbishop Gray but declined.
"He died as the result of a carriage accident near Grahamstown on 16 Aug. 1882.
Merriman Park and the roads near it are named after this remarkable curate and his remarkable son.
The other remarkable curate of Lord John Thynne was Charles Fuge Lowder (1820-1880). He arrived in Street in 1843 fresh from an Oxford that was seething with excitement. John Henry Newman (writer of Praise to the Holiest in the height) was inspiring young men to a deeper spiritual life and to High Church forms of ritual. Lowder was strongly influenced by Newman, and found two congenial souls in his High Church Rector, Thynne, and his earnest fellow curate Merriman.
He served in Street and Walton for only a year, and acted as tutor to the Rector's son, but his talks with Merriman helped set the course of his life. Merriman made him long to go as a missionary to Africa, as he himself was going to do, but Lowder could not abandon his family. His father's bank had failed while he was up at Oxford, and he had to help mend the family's broken fortunes.
What the people of Street made of him we do not know. He was "a poor preacher with a difficult manner". He "was weak in imagination, he had no aesthetic taste or skill. His strength lay in logic and courage." Children liked him most, even though he did not teach them particularly well.
After Street, he went to Axbridge, and "Lowder got the spiritual charge of the neighbouring workhouse, and set to work at once to teach the older paupers and to improve the schools. He was remembered in his first parish as 'the kind young gentleman who used to come and see us very often, and who said the prayers in church every day all by himself.'"
He went up to the slums of London where, after years of struggle, and of opposition by people violently against the 'popery' of his services, he founded the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, and raised the funds by 1862 to build St Peter's, London Docks, of which he became vicar.
His work during the cholera outbreak eventually made his position secure, and by the time he died in 1880 he had become a heroic figure, whose funeral was attended by some three thousand people.
He has been called "one of the earliest and greatest of that line of Anglo-Catholic priests who brought incense and hope to the east end of London." He was the first Church of England priest to be called "Father", a tribute to his care for his flock during the cholera epidemic. He is commemorated, according to the Church of England Book of Common Worship, on 9th September.
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Saturday 04th of July 2009
