All Saints Church – fraggle ~ rocking a camera across the Universe

Newcastle Upon Tyne ~ September 2019 ~ 1

January 26, 2020January 21, 2020Posted in Adventures, architecture, Church, Fuji, Fujifilm X100F, Georgian era, History, medieval, people, photography, UncategorizedTagged All Saints Church, fraggle, Fujifilm X100F, history, Newcastle Upon Tyne, photography, Tyneside, UK40 Comments

We actually had a sunny day back in September last year, and Sophie wanted to go to an open day at All Saints Church in Newcastle. So off we went on the metro, but before we get to the pictures, we must do

The History Bit.

The current All Saints Church stands on the site of a previous medieval church called All Hallows, founded between 1150 and 1190. It is the only elliptical church building in England, a Grade 1 listed building, and the third tallest religious building in Newcastle. The original church was pulled down at the end of the 18th century after architects had reviewed the old church and found “That this decayed building cannot be repaired but at as much expense as building a new one. If one part is taken down the rest will follow. The south wall was in danger of falling by the pressure of the roof; one of the pillars of the steeple had considerably shrunk, and the steeple itself inclined to the south. The stone of the groined arches under the bells was decayed, the timber and bells in great danger of falling in, the stone in several windows decayed, the walls were rotten, and the lime had lost its cement and become almost dust”. David Stephenson, a renowned North East architect designed the new building, and after a couple of adaptations, the new building was completed in 1796, having cost £27,000. Unfortunately in demolishing the old church most of its old monuments, windows, and other interesting relics were not preserved; they either perished or were carried away during the operations.

Interesting factoid (1):- During the Civil Wars (1642–1651) when the Scots captured Newcastle, they commenced, in their fanatical zeal against Popery, to deface the religious monuments. They began at ST.Johns church and destroyed the font there, as fonts tend to be the first thing you come across in a church, and on seeing this, Cuthbert Maxwell a stonemason of Newcastle, got to both All Saints, and St.Nicholas and hid both the fonts before the Scots could get to them, replacing them after The Restoration. The one in St Nicholas is still there, but when the old All Saints Church was demolished the font there was given to given to Alderman Hugh Hornby, an enthusiastic collector of antiquities. It is now housed in St.Wilfreds church in Keilder. Will be going to photograph that at some point I think.

In January 1802, a 30 yard section of the churchyard wall collapsed. Coffins and their contents fell into Silver Street. Repairs to the wall and a nearby house cost £249, 12s and 1d (just over £8000). The church went through restorations in 1881, and remained a church until 1961, when it was deconsecrated.

Interesting factoid (2):- In July 1854, John Alderson, the Beadle of the church, was found guilty of opening graves and stealing the lead from the coffins. According to the Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury, Alderson broke open “no less than five vaults”, reporting that “nine leaden coffins enclosing shells in which dead bodies were deposited had been forcibly removed”. Alderson, along with his wife and mother, faced 18 months imprisonment. His bell-ringer and accomplice, Hewison Marshall, received 12 months. Alderson became known as “Jack, the bad Beadle”. (thanks to Icy Sedgewick)

In 1983-84 it was turned into offices/auditorium as the Town Teacher initiative. Following that, it was used by the Royal Northern Sinfonia before their move to The Sage, Gateshead in 2004. The Church of Saint Willibrord with All Saints used it for a while and it has also hosted musical events. Over the winters of 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 flood damage was caused by blocked roof drains leaving the building in a state of semi-disrepair. In 2015 it was placed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register. In 2019, the local congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales signed a 150-year lease for All Saints. After a comprehensive restoration project, worship services as All Saints Presbyterian Church began in October, 2019.

When we arrived at the heritage open day in September we were, or at least Sophie was, thinking we would see the restoration complete, and would have a tour of the whole place. But it didn’t happen that way. We got there and waited for the first group to be taken round, and then a gentleman gathered those of us waiting our turn and off we went. The outside of the building had a lot of scaffolding and fencing around it, not very photogenic so I took a picture of this couple waiting with us instead

and the young church people helping out.

Inside we stood in the main auditorium and were talked to by one of the Presbyterian people about what they were doing. I took some pictures of the interior.

Think there’s an altar table under the cloth.

Tantalising glimpse of the upstairs and lovely woodwork at the rear exit.

And that was that. Had the talk, walked through the lower part and shown out the rear exit. Quite disappointing really. It must be all finished now as they started doing services the following month.

refs:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints%27_Church,_Newcastle_upon_Tyne
http://www.icysedgwick.com/all-saints/
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/newcastle-historical-account/pp302-322

So onwards ever onwards, Sophie had spotted an interesting building roof whilst travelling on a train at some point and we went off to find it, it couldn’t be far she thought. We’ll pause here, but stay tooned for our intrepid travels through Newcastle next time.

The Shillington Church Report

September 8, 2015Posted in Church, medieval, photographyTagged All Saints Church, Church, fraggle, Fuji XT1, medieval, Shillington6 Comments

During the Scarecrow Festival we came across All Saints Church, which as well as being a beauty, has a really great view. The church stands on a hill of domed chalk, and is built of ironstone (an iron rich sandstone with a mineral giving a greenish colour which darkens to brown on exposure to light). It has been a place of worship for over 1000 years, with the present building dating from 1400 with only minor changes.

We met the vicar while we were there and asked to take photo’s, he showed us some of the interesting stuff.

Firstly a few of the church’s pillars have graffiti on, not modern as they resemble medieval drawings and have been there since anyone can remember, but no-one knows what they mean or who did them.

Tantalising mysteries!

He also pointed us to the crypt, which is thought to have held a relic, but no-one knows what that was either!

That’s well old English, and I can just about make out ‘Here lyeth Thomas..’ but that’s it!

Back upon the main hall there are some beautiful stain glass windows

and simple ones too..

The chancel and nave are separated by a rood screen..common to late medieval churches

The ceiling was amazing..

and the light throughout the church was lush..

Outside there was a graveyard..

and the view was spectacular. The fuji has a panorama setting so I tried it out..

but I also turned to portrait pano, which whilst it doesn’t encompass as much, seems better to me..

so that’s the end of my visit down South, it will be winter when I get back there, or at least late autumn, so it was nice to have blue sky days.

laters gaters

😉

The York Report 4~ a miscellany

June 9, 2015July 11, 2015Posted in Church, Fuji, History, medieval, photography, uncategorisedTagged All Saints Church, Clifford Tower, fraggle, Fuji XT1, Holy Trinity Church, St Michael Le Belfrey church, York6 Comments

I have a few odds and sods to post that don’t fit into one category, so here they are,

Firstly I forgot to take a shot of the outside of our hotel, but did think the light fixture in our room was very funky.

Also we had mood lighting in the bathroom lol, they were blue LED’s and looked very pretty.

You can see part of the old city wall here, and this is the exact place Princess Margaret, who was Henry VIII sister, entered York on her progress up to Scotland, after she was married by proxy to James IV in 1503.

Booth Bar was the main gate we entered the city through on the short walk from our hotel, and stone men look down upon you. There are 4 bars of York, I already showed Micklegate Bar in my previous post here.

on our first day we stopped for a coffee and sausage roll and sat down in a little square between two buildings, there were gravestones fastened to the wall, this one struck me for the date, and the Latin.

All Saints, such a beautiful church, it dates from the 14th century, but there has been a church on this site for even longer. The earliest mention was in the Domesday Book (1086), and an Anglo-Saxon grave cover, dating from the 10th century, is the earliest evidence for a burial ground. One tradition even claims that All Saints was built in 685 AD for St Cuthbert.

The elegant lantern on top of the tower is visible from many parts of the city. It was built around 1400. Throughout the mediaeval period, the light was kept burning at night to guide travellers into the city through the wolf-infested Forest of Galtres to the north.

The beautiful glass of the huge 14th century west window depicts the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The pulpit, with its sounding board to reflect and amplify the preacher’s voice, dates from 1634.

HW-29 — All Saints, The Pavement Church.

Clifford Tower has a long and bloody history, the original mound of Clifford’s Tower, with a timber structure at the top, was constructed by William the Conqueror in 1068 as a statement of his power over the region. This building stood for just over a century before being burnt down in one of York’s bloodiest and tragic moments, when, in 1190, 150 Jews were massacred on the site.

Between 1190 and 1194, it was repaired at great expense, and the mound was raised to its present height. The second timber structure was destroyed (this time by a gale) in 1245, and then when we were at war with the Scots, Henry III ordered the tower to be rebuilt and strengthened, this time in stone. After being decimated by fire, wind, and even water (the castle sunk into the moat causing the walls to crack in the 1350s) the next challenge came from a very unlikely source – the castle’s jailer, Robert Redhead. In 1596 he began demolishing the tower and selling the stone as building material ‘for his own profit’. He was only stopped after prolonged protests by the city council. It later became a garden ornament (albeit a large one) until it was incorporated into the extensions of York’s prison in 1825. Over the centuries the tower has regularly been threatened by demolition or neglect and yet still it stands, a proud, if somewhat decayed, monument to York’s turbulent and bloody past. Why Clifford’s Tower? The name may well be a reference to the fact that Roger de Clifford was hanged at the tower in 1322 for opposing Edward II, or to the Clifford family’s claim that they were the hereditary constables of the tower.

Another building that I can’t remember what it was!

These unassuming, plastered timber-framed cottages with pantiled roofs date from 1316 when a deed was granted for their construction in the Holy Trinity Church grounds. They are the oldest row of houses in York and one of the earliest examples in England of the medieval ‘jettied’ houses, whose upper story protrudes – or ‘jetties’ – outwards above the lower part. Built within the ancient churchyard with a separate house for the Chantry Priests the rental income, a considerable sum of money, funded the church’s maintenance and contributed to the Chantry endowment costs on a regular basis.

Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, stands in a small, secluded, leafy churchyard, with the Minster towering behind. To visit, you pass through an 18th-century archway tacked on to buildings that served as artisans’ workshops in the 14th century. The building dates chiefly from the 15th century, but has features from its foundation in the 12th century right up to the 19th century.

The east window especially has marvellous stained glass that was donated in the early 1470s by the Reverend John Walker, rector of the church.

St Michael-le-Belfrey is the only church in York to have been built in the 16th century and is the largest pre-Reformation parish church in the city. Guy Fawkes the infamous Gunpowder Plot conspirator, lived in nearby Petergate and was baptized in this church. An enlarged page from the church register recording his baptism is displayed inside the church. There was a service just finished when we went in with loads of people having coffee, so I didn’t get any good photo’s as it was a bit embarrassing!

Well that’s enough for this post, still loads more to come though so stay tuned 🙂

laters gaters

😉

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