RAMBLES ROUND
THE OLD
CHURCHES OF
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
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RAMBLES ROUND THE
OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
PLATE I
(Frontispiece)
P/i<)tt'il>"/'/i l>y II . II. Ti'inkim^on
OLD GOTHIC CHALlCli
HESWALL
RAMBLES ROUND
THE OLD CHURCHES
OF
WIRRAL
BY
CHARLES W. BUDDEN, M.D.
AUTHOR OF
"THE BEAUTY AND INTEREST OF WIRRAL."
"THE WAY OF HEALTH." ETC.
Illustrated by 24 photographs and drazvings
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY THE
Rev. CANON BROOKE GWyNNE,M.A.
RURAL DEAN OF WIRRAL.
LIVERPOOL
EDWARD HOWELL. LTD.
1922
D/4
C6pB65
^0 Mv iFat tier.
INTRODUCTION.
There can be no doubt that Wirral
exercises a charm upon all sorts of people.
On the Dee-side, especially, it possesses
a beauty all its own. It is also rich in
Ornithology and Botany. Nor is it with-
out historic interest, partly owing to its
proximity to one of the most famous and
ancient cities in England — Chester. It
was also the high road, for many
centuries, for troops passing to and
from Ireland.
But the Author of this book, has, I
believe, struck out a new line. He has
given us a detailed account of most of the
Wirral Churches. Ijovers of Architec-
ture will find, in these pages, much to
attract them. It is extremely probable
that many of the sites of our Churches are
of very ancient date. We have ample
proof of the existence of Saxon Churches
vii.
%
Introduction.
at Nesto7i, Bromborough and West
Kirby. One archaeologist, of consider-
able authority, believes that some of our
sites are even older than the Saxon period,
and that there is reason to suppose that
ancient British Churches were in existence
here, in Wirral, before the Saxons came.
Place-names are notoriously difficult to
solve, but there appear to be names in
Wirral of distinctly British form.
There are, perhaps. Cathedrals abroad
which may be more beautifxd than our
own, but the Parish Churches of England
are unique in Eurojye. For strength,
picturesqueness, and architectural beaiity,
they are unsurpassed. They also have
another interest for us. The Parish
Churches were ever the centre of the
social, as well as the religious, life of the
people. Dr. Budden has presented this
double picture with discrimination, know-
ledge, and skill.
As the writer pens these words, he is
looking out upon a Tower which saw the
dawn of the Reformation. Its bells rang
in celebration of the wondrous victory
over the Spanish Armada. They rang
for Trafalgar and Waterloo, and this same
Tower has housed the bells which, but
viii.
Introduction.
lately, rang for the victorious close of the
greatest war known to History. What
stones these stones of our old Churches
could tell (could they hut speak) of human
life — its joys and sorrows, its achieve-
ments and its tragedies! Within these
walls what prayers and praises have been
offered, century upon century!
In addition to much interesting inform-
ation on the Church Furniture of Wirral,
the Author has given us, out of his
full knowledge, a great deal of inform-
ation concerning the customs and legends
of our Churches and Parishes. The hook
is illustrated hy excellent photographs,
and also hy some fine drawings hy the
Author himself.
We believe that this unpretentious
volume will appeal not only to Church-
men, but also to many others who feel
that the nch legacy, bequeathed to us by
our common ancestors, is a common
heritage.
The excellent Bibliography attached to
each chapter will he a great help to those
who desire further knowledge. It is to
be hoped that every Church will be fur-
nished with a copy of this Book, for the use
of both parishioners and visitors.
ix.
Introduction.
I believe that Dr. Budden has succeeded
in writing a hook which is not only inform-
ing and interesting to the present
generation, but one which will be of con-
siderable value to the Wirral historians of
the future.
C. BROOKE GWYNNE,
Rural Dean of Wirral.
X.
PREFACE.
The kind reception accorded to the
publication of the " Beauty and Interest
of Wirral " has led me to believe that the
present little manual, dealing with the
particular beauty and interest of the old
Parish Churches in the Peninsula, may
supply a further want and prove to be a
useful companion volume to the first. As
Francis Bond says in one of his works,
" This book should be pleasant to read,
for it has been pleasant to write." It
grew, in fact, out of a perusal of his
wonderful series on our English churches,
for it seemed to me that one might well
attempt to do on a small scale for Wirral
what he has done so magnificently for our
whole country ; and T was the more em-
boldened to make the attempt because, in
all his writings, there is only one brief
reference to Wirral. The soil therefore
was almost virgin.
At the end of each chapter in the pre-
xi.
Preface.
sent volume is placed a Bibliography which
serves not only as an acknowledgment of
the sources from which much of the
material has been gathered, but as a guide
to a further study of the subjects dealt
with. With few exceptions all these
books are to be found in the Public
Library, William Brown Street, Liver-
pool, and in the Bishop's Library,
Diocesan Church House, South John
Street, Liverpool.
The arrangement of the chapters re-
quires notice for it is not an arbitrary one.
On the contrary I have indulged in a little
symbolic fancy. Thus, after the first and
second chapters which are devoted to
the evolution and architecture of the
churches to be considered, the third deals
with the " Bells" which summon us
thereto. The next gives an account of
the " Churchyard," beginning with the
Lychgate and concluding with the church
porch, and chapter five then follows natur-
ally with its theme " Wirral Church
Dedications," since it establishes the
sanctity of the buildings we are about to
enter. But, as anciently no unbaptized
person was permitted within a church,
chapter six deals with " The old Fonts of
xii.
Preface. ^
Wirral," and traces the evolution of bap-
tismal customs ; while chapter seven is in
natural sequence since it contains an
account of the pulpit, the vehicle of relig-
ious instruction, and the pew, the vessel
of its reception. Chapter eight has as its
title " Old Bibles and Books in Wirral
Churches," so that it is in harmony with
chapter seven. Still following our system
of Christian development we arrive at the
stage of full church membership, when the
individual is at an age when the Sacrament
of the Lord's Supper may be received, and
so the next few chapters deal with the
Altar and its environment, trace the evolu-
tion of the symbols and facts of Holy
Communion, and give the local colour of
the Chancel and Sanctuary. Chapter
thirteen is devoted to an account of
Heraldry in Wirral churches, and because
heraldic panels and hatchments were not
hung upon the church walls until after
burial, such a topic is most suitably dealt
with at the close of the volume. Lastly
we come to chapter fourteen, " Stained
Glass in Wirral Old Churches," surely a
fitting epilogue since, through the medium
of this form of art, we are given a pictorial
summary of the Christian life.
xiii.
Preface.
I wish to thank the following for
valuable assistance : the Rev. Canon C.
Brooke Gwynne, m.a., Rector of West
Kirby and Rural Dean of Wirral, who has
not only written the Introduction to this
volume but has kindly revised the M.S.
The Rev. W. T. Warburton, m.a., Vicar
of Hoylake; the Rev. P. F. A. Morrell,
B.A., Vicar of Burton ; the Rev. Canon T.
H. May, m.a., late Rector of Heswall ; the
Rev. J. Nankivell, b.a.. Vicar of Stoak ;
the Rev. J. M. New, m.a.. Vicar of Back-
ford ; C. J. Tottenham, Esq., Librarian,
Bishop's Library, Liverpool; John Hard-
ing, Esq., Librarian, Mayer Free Library,
Bebington ; Alexander Reid, Esq., and
W. H. Tomkinson, Esq., the last two
gentlemen having been responsible for the
majority of the photographic illustrations.
CHAS. W. BUDDEN.
Hoylake, September, 1922.
XIV.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Growth of the Old Parish
Churches of Wirral 1
The evolution from a wattle and daub structure
to stone buildings — Collegiate churches — Rise of
the Parish church — Growth of the present stone
buildings — West Kirby Parish Church — Ancient
relics at Neston — The Church at Burton — Shot-
wick past and present — Eastham — ^The architec-
tural history of St. Andrew's, Lower Bebington
— Woodchurch and its symbolism — The evolu-
tion of the Lady Chapel — Ancient Wirral
chantries — Chantry priests and their duties.
CHAPTER H.
The Architecture of Wirral Old
Churches 25
Rickman's classification of architecture — Nor-
man work in Wirral — Examples of Early
English architecture — Wirral church spires —
Decorated Gothic styles in Wirral — The Towers
of Wirral— The Perpendicular Order in Wirral
churches.
CHAPTER HI.
The Bells of Wirral 40
Bell-hunting as a sport — Wirral Bell inscrip-
tions — The Baptism and Consecration of bells —
The destruction and loss of bells — Tuning bells
— Hanging church bells — The art of ringing —
Ancient ringing customs — The Passing bell.
XV.
Contents.
CHAPTER IV.
The Old Churchyards of Wirral 61
Lychgates — Strange burial superstitions — Burial
in woollen — Sports in churchyards — Church ales
— Sundials in Wirral churchyards — Churchyard
crosses — Yew trees and their significance — The
church porch — The Holy water stoup at Wood-
church.
CHAPTER V.
Wirral Church Dedications 82
Origin of the custom — Ancient dedicatory ritual
— Reasons for particular dedications — St. Brid-
get — St. Bartholomew — St. Peter — St. Helen —
St. Mary— The Holy Cross— St. Nicholas— St.
Michael — St. Lawrence — St. Oswald — St. And-
rew — St. Hilary.
CHAPTER VI.
The Old Fonts of Wirral 101
Harsh treatment of ancient Fonts — The evolu-
tion of the Rite of Baptism — The symbolism of
Fonts — The Norman Fonts of Wirral — Gothic
Fonts in Wirral — Font Covers, their origin and
use— The position of Fonts in Wirral churches.
CHAPTER VII.
Old Pews and Pulpits in Wirral
Churches 116
Rush bearing — Origin and evolution of pews —
Pew allocations — Churching pews — The old
pews of Shotwick — Minstrel galleries in
churches — The history of the pulpit — Sermons of
olden days — Three decker pulpits in Wirral.
xvi.
Contents.
CHAPTER VIII.
Old Bibles and Books in Wirral
Churches 137
The Breeches Bible at Upton — The King James
" Black Letter " version at Backford — Chained
books — Foxe's Book of Martyrs — Bishop
Wilson's Bible.
CHAPTER IX.
The Altar in Wirral Old Churches 150
The Lord's Table — Tomb-altars — Destruction of
altars— Position of the altar — Altar rails — The
evolution of the Rercdos — Altar ornaments —
Altar lights.
CHAPTER X.
Old Plate in Wirral Churches 162
The evolution of the Chalice — Pre-Reformation
plate — Cruets — Patens — Chrismatoria — Flagons
—Spoons — Pyxes — Paxbredes — Fate of sacra-
mental vessels at the time of the Reformation —
The Restoration of the cup to the laity — Domes-
tic communion vessels — The old chalices of
Wirral.
CHAPTER XI.
Chancel relics in Wirral Parish
Churches 1
The Easter Sepulchre— Tlie Piscina— The Cre-
dence — The Aumbry — The Sedilia.
xvii.
Contents.
CHAPTER XII.
Old Wood-carvings in Wirral
Churches 187
Sanctuary chairs — Chancel stalls — The Miseri-
cords of Bebington — Animal symbolism — The
Physiologus — The Pelican — The Eagle — Eagle
Lecterns — The old fiddler's desk at Shotwick —
Chancel screens — Alms boxes — the evolution of
the church offertory.
CHAPTER XIII.
Hatchments and Heraldic Panels
in Wirral Churches 204
Origin of the custom of hanging Hatch-
ments in churches — The Randle Holme family —
Derivation of Arms — Origin of the Crest —
Classification of Coats-of-Arms — The Shield —
The Helmet — The Torse — Supporters — The
Scroll — The language oi Heraldry — The art of
Blazoni-y — The Marshalling of Arms — The
Royal Arms in Wirral Churches.
CHAPTER XIV.
Stained Glass in the Old Parish
Churches of Wirral 228
The history of stained glass — The production of
colours — Destruction of stained glass — Modern
glass painting— The stained glass in West Kirby
^The windows of Heswall Parish Church — The
Burne-Jones windows at Neston — The Frampton
windows at Backford — Kempe's work at East-
ham — Stained glass in Bebington, Bidston and
Woodchurch — How to view stained glass
windows.
Index 247
xviii.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FACING
PLATE PAGE
I. Old Gothic Chalice, Heswall
{frontispiece)
II. Ancient Stone Carvings, Neston
Parish Church lo
III. Interior of Bebington Church.. 29
IV. Norman Window, Woodchurch.... 30
V. Perpendicular Doorway, West
KiRBY 38
VI. Stoak Church 43
VII. Sepulchral Cross, Burton 73
VIII. Norman Doorway, Shotwick yj
IX. Holy Water Stoup, Woodchurch 79
X. St. Oswald's, Backford 94
XI. Norman Font, Bebington no
XII. Old Parchment, Heswall 123
XIII. Interior of Shotwick Church .... 134
XIV. Bible Desk and Chain, Burton 146
XV. Elizabethan Chalice, Stoak 168
xix.
List of Illustrations.
FACING
PLATE PAGE
XVI. Pewter Tankard, Shotwick 170
XVII. The Shotwick Chalice 172
XVIII. Chancel Chair, Backford 185
XIX. Chancel Chair and Misericords,
Bebington 191
XX. Perpendicular Stall End,
Woodchurch 193
XXI. Alms-Dish, Backford 201
XXII. Bread Board and Misericord,
Bebington 202
xxiii. Heraldic Panel, Stoak Church 220
XXIV. BURNE-JONES WINDOWS, NeSTON... 24O
XX.
CHAPTER I.
THE GROWTH OF THE OLD
PARISH CHURCHES OF
WIRRAL.
" No soulless pile is here of mere hewn-
stone.
Such as in Egypt's deserts lonely stand,
Reared hy sad captives from a conquered
Ian d,
Cursing their tyrant's gods, doubting
their oivn.
This rose not to the sound of bitter groan
And the thong cracking in the driver's
hand,
At some stern Pharaoh's arrogant com-
mand,
That royal dust might turn to dust alone.
Above their red-roofed homes, their busy
mart,
The fruitful cornfield and the daisied sod.
Where they had loved and wrought, and
played, and wept.
Our sires, with joyous song and grateful
heart,
Lifted this fair thank-offering to God;
Then with his blessing in its shadow
slept."
J. J. Cresswell.
I
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
ONE of the charms of Wirral old
churches is that of their picturesque-
ness ; the more telling in that it is
*' unstudied, unconscious and spontan-
eous." It has been described as
fortuitous, never designed ; for these
old churches were never built in the
form in which they now stand. They
were evolved. They grew with the
development of the parish, as at West
Kirby ; they grew with the increase in
the number of altars or chapels for altars,
as at Eastham. They grew, like plants,
in all directions. Nave grew and chancel
grew. Says Francis Bond in his chapter
on the growth of the English Parish
Church, " It burst out to the north, and
the south, and the east, and the west. It
gathered on its flanks annexe after
annexe, some large, some small ; some of
one shape, some of another, each bigger
than its predecessor ; nay, after repeated
change of suits, they sometimes put in a
new boy. There was no end to the haps
and chances that might come upon a
church that went on being used, it might
be, for a thousand years."
*' If we wish to think," says Mr. Fer-
gusson Irvine, " of the beginning of one
2
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
of our parish churches, we must at once
put from our minds any picture resem-
bling what we constantly see to-day : a
church rising in a few months, complete
in all its parts, nave, chancel, transepts,
even to clerestory and tower. In its
place we must conjure up a vision of a
little wattle and daub structure, standing
in its croft beside the village, hardly so
large as and possibly not unlike one of
the smallest thatched cottages of our
country-side, in which, perhaps, not ten
men could kneel, but large enough to
cover the altar and to shield the sacred
elements from rain and storm. This is
the tiny germ, and as the village grows
and prospers, the villagers add a loftier
and better building at the western end,
and the little thatched hut becomes a
chancel and the new part the nave. But
still all is wood, wattle, daub and thatch.
Years, it may be centuries, pass, until
from over the seas comes some travelled
son of the hamlet, who in Normandy has
seen men rear houses of stone, as his
fathers had done of wood ; and he and his
fellows go up to the hill, and there with
their woodcutting axes, hew the rough
sandstone into a semblance of square
3
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
blocks. And if you look at some of the
earliest masonry in our churches, you will
still see the broad wound made by the
axe, before our English forefathers learnt
the use of the chisel. Thus the building
becomes more permanent, rough but
sound and good. And as year by year
England is drawn more and more into
contact with the larger world across the
sea, the skill and knowledge of the men
who work in stone become more wide-
spread, and the buildings more elaborate
in detail, until, in Eadward's time, the
Norman masons travel in bands up and
down the land, rearing structures, some
of which we have with us to-day.
Then the Conquest. And the new
lords, with some of their new-found
riches, build grand piles, like St. John's
in Chester, and many another massive
monument. And the grandsons are not
content simply to follow in the footprints
of their fathers, but develop the details,
and the work becomes more ornate ; and
one day a builder sees the beauty of the
pointed arch, and others follow. So that
we have to-day not the creation of a single
mind and the effort of a year, but the
accretion of a millennium and the count-
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
less efforts of thirty generations ; and thus
one feels there is truth in saying, ' That
church was not built, it grew.' "
To understand this growth, one must
dive deeply into history. Now we are
familiar with the fact that to-day we have
two main types of churches, viz., the
cathedral and the parish church, but in
mediaeval days up to the time of the
Reformation there was a special class of
church built for Peroetual Adoration.
JL
Instead of having one daily service, as
was generally the custom in the parish
churches, there was, in these, a long round
of services by night as well as by day.
Such churches were not primarily
intended for congregational use. The
daily programme, on the contrary, was
usually carried out by monks, particularly
those of the order of St. Benedict, but
some of these churches were served by
priests.
Of this type one example stands to-day
in ^Virral, viz.. Lower Bebington church.
This was what was known as a
"collegiate church," that is a parish
church where it was desired to maintain
the daily round of services in use in a
cathedral or monastic church. In such
5
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
cases the church was made " collegiate "
by adding to the parish priest
other priests or colleagues forming
collectively a " collegium " or college
where the officiating clergy lived in a
common clergy house and had a common
table and a common income. The head
of the establishment was generally called
the master, and his associates " socii
capellani " or chaplain fellows, and the
number was often twelve chaplains to the
one master, symbolic of our Lord and
His twelve Apostles.
But a difficulty arose as to the
admission of laymen to the services, and
particularly of the manner of summon-
ing them thereto. For the chaplain
fellows would be called by special bells
ringing at all hours of the day and night
which were of no use to the laity who
did not wish to attend matins at 1 o'clock
in the morning. They wanted bells for
other purposes, such as weddings,
baptisms, funerals, curfew, etc. The
collegiate members, however, were
averse to the bells being used for these
purposes, and though, in some cases, two
sets of bells were installed, it was
generally found more convenient to allow
6
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
the laity to build churches for themselves.
And so parish churches began to multiply
and develop in Wirral as in other parts of
England, though, in this connection, it is
noteworthy that in Wirral the only
independent churches were those at
Heswall and Woodchurch, all others
being under monastic rule.
At first these parish churches were very
small and consisted only of a diminutive
nave and chancel, then, as more space
was needed, aisles were added or transepts
built. The latter were generally for
private use and had probably no symbolic
purpose. They were furnished with an
altar, and used as a private chapel for the
founder and his family. As a rule the
north side was chosen for the first exten-
sion, and it is to be noticed in most Eng-
lish churches that the northern transept is
usually the larger of the two when a
second has been added. The presence of
an altar can be determined by the
survival of a niche for a piscina as at
Woodchurch.
In Wirral the addition of chancels seems
to have been more favoured by private
donors than transept building, as is seen at
Eastham where a chancel was erected by
7
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
the Stanley's of Hooton, and since made
over by them to the parish with reserva-
tion of the right of burial there. The
nave was also frequently lengthened to
accommodate more people. In such case
the extension was generally towards the
west rather than towards the east, prob-
ably so as to provide a baptistery. In
Wirral the position of the western towers
has prevented this, and most of our
churches show a lateral extension by
means of aisles, or an enlargement of the
chancel. This latter has happened at
Bebington where the chancel is much
later than the south aisle. Alterations
of this kind were, of course, lengthy
undertakings and, as services could not
be interrupted, means had to be found
for the congregation still to enter the
building, and for building materials to be
transported to and from the site of the
alterations. In the chancel of Lower
Bebington church, at the north side of
the altar, stands a small blocked-up door-
way, the origin of which is obscure. It
is possible that this was a passage way
for the workmen when the chancel was
being built. A som.ewhat similar blocked
doorway exists on the north side of the
8
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
chancel wall at Woodchurch. At the
same time it must be admitted that
several authorities consider the Bebington
doorway to be a remnant of an old
sacristy.
Taking now each of the old parish
churches in turn it will be of interest to
observe their historical development.
Thus in West Kirby the foundation is
Saxon, but the oldest part existing to-day
is late Norman of about the year 1150.
In those days the church appears to have
consisted of a nave, one aisle, and a
chancel. The next re-building was about
1315 when the chancel was extended to
its present size. In 1470-1480 the south
aisle was added, then in the xvnith
century all the interior was gutted and
the building reduced to the chilling
respectability of a Quaker meeting house.
From this period of reaction, however,
the church seems to have recovered com-
pletely for to-day it is over rather than
underfilled with ecclesiastical ornament.
The oldest parts of the fabric now to be
seen are the remains of a Norman column
by the churchwarden's pew on the north
side, the chancel, and the tower.
At Heswall the church has been so
9
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
entirely rebuilt that, save for the tower,
an architectural study does not afford so
much interest to the ordinary observer,
but when we come to Neston we find
some extraordinarily interesting survivals.
Not that the general fabric has much for
the archaeological student, for, with the
exception of the tower, which is probably
late xivth century, the building was
demolished in 1874, and replaced by the
present edifice. But at that time there
were discovered some remarkable stone
carvings which date from Norman or even
Saxon times. Two of the fragments
which now lie at the west end of the nave
appear to have been portions of the shaft
of a cross (Plate No. 2). The lower
and larger one is skilfully decorated on
one side in intertwined double bands,
and the other side bears the figure of a
priest in a chasuble pointed at the bottom.
Both hands are raised above the head.
One hand is holding something which may
be the bottom of a chalice : the stone is
broken here ; the other holds what looks
like a double cord with something at the
ends. One authority suggests that it
may be a bucket, and if so it might
symbolise baptism, for crosses were
10
PLATE II.
Pliotoiirtttili.hy W.lt, Tonikinson
AXC IKXT STONK C AU\ INCiS
NESTON PARISH CHURCH
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
sometimes erected at wells where baptisms
were held, and buckets are found on other
old crosses in Cheshire. Another
supposition is that it is a cord with tassels,
while Canon Brooke Gwynne considers
that the priest is represented as holding
in one hand the chalice and in the other
the paten, and that the " rope " is really
a pair of shears emblematic of the priest
being married. The other piece of the
cross has a carved figure of a winged
angel. In the belfry, built into the wall,
is part of the shaft of a second cross bear-
ing a design of two mounted knights
fighting with spears. In this church
too, are other ancient stones of great
archaeological value which are placed
against the west wall.
Coming next to Burton, of Norman or
Saxon foundation, there are to be seen
in the porchway several Norman capitals
which appear to be relics of the original
building, but of the fabric which stands
now, the oldest part is the Massey Chapel
with its early English window. The
masonry here is at least as old as 1380.
The church was extensively repaired in
1554, and rebuilt in 1720, as the fabric
was then in a very ruinous state. The
II
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
following account from an old MS.
reveals the condition of the building at
that time.
" Some years since the upper part ol the Steeple ol tha
Parish Church of Burton was taken down, and the bells
taken out the better to preserve the same ; yet by reason
of its great Antiquity the said Church is now become so
ruinous, that it gives way outwards from one end of ye
Church to the other; and the Arch between the Church
and Chancel is so rent that the walls will not support itt ;
the Steeple also is crack'd in several Places from top to
bottom, and all the four sides of it so shattered that some
of the stones are ready to fall out."
It was accordingly rebuilt and now
comprises a square embattled tower, nave,
chancel, and north aisle, the rebuilding
being commemorated by an inscription
over the door of the porch, which reads
as follows : —
" John Gregory, John Pickance, Thomas Barrow, John
Robinson, Trustees, 1721; John Morfltt, Mason; William
Cross, Carpenter."
Shotwick Church is of even greater
interest. The record of Domesday
shows that there was a church here, as at
Burton, possessed by the secular canons
of St. Werburgh, Chester, at the time of
the Norman invasion, and the doorway
can be dated from that period or earlier.
Ormerod states that the main portion of
the church was rebuilt in the xvth
century and it appears to have changed
12
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
very little since those days. John Owen,
" Old Mortality," visited Shotwick about
1850, and described it then in the follow-
ing words : —
" This church is in a very secluded
situation, and is one that has not suffered
from modern restoration ; but on the
other hand it is suffering from neglect,
and I suppose it will remain so until it is
past repair, when it will be pulled down
and everything that gives it an interest
will be swept away. What a chance
there is here for an active churchwarden
to do his duty in attending to timely
repairs and arresting the progress of
decay which must be surely going on in
its present neglected condition The
present roof covers both nave and aisle,
but formerly it appears to have been
double ; for the nave retains its own roof
timbers, which are of the simple hammer-
beam [type] ; the aisle has the same, the
arches dividing them. The wall above
the arches is only carried up to the spring-
ing of the roof timbers, so that the inner
slopes of the principals are entirely free
of the roof ; uprights or king posts rest-
ing on the wall just mentioned in some
measure support the roof."
13
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Fortunately Mr. Owen's pessimism has
not been borne out by fact, and the fabric
is to-day well cared for, the church being
restored in 1871. About ten years ago
the floor level was lowered and the bases
of the columns exposed, the original pav-
ing being replaced.
Stoak Church has also been restored,
almost too completely. The Tudor roof
remains and the old xvth century
tower. At Backford the evolution of
the fabric affords a more welcome study
for the antiquarian. Here, as at West
Kirby, a considerable part of the old
chancel remains, dating, probably, from
1280, the period of the three-light lancet
east window. The windows in the south
wall are later and belong to the Perpen-
dicular order. The nave is modern,
though much of the old stonework has
been used over again in the reconstruc-
tion. It is of special interest in that
local stone has been used for new work,
each column being a monolith.
When we come to Eastham, we find
some very complete survivals. Here the
foundation is Norman, and to this period
the font belongs, together with some of
the masonry in the north wall of the
14
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
Stanley chapel. Though Eastham is
mentioned in Domesday Book it was not,
at that time, a distinct parish, nor had
it a chm-ch ; it lay in the parish of Brom-
borough. In 1152, however, Eastham
became distinct and was given, as well as
Bromborough, by Earl Randall of
Chester, to the Abbot and Convent of
St. Werburgh, as a compensation for the
ills he had done that house. A few years
previously this Earl had built a church at
Eastham, dedicated to St. Mary, which is
spoken of as a chapel to Bromborough,
where stood St. Barnabas', the mother
church. Both parishes remained in
possession of the monastery until the dis-
solution, in the reign of Henry Vlllth,
when they were conferred upon the Dean
and Chapter of the new bishopric, who
are still patrons of the livings, though
the manors have long passed into other
hands. The tower, chancel, and south
aisle at Eastham are xivth century
work; the north arcade is Early English,
and the south wall Perpendicular. The
spire was rebuilt in 1751.
But the most glorious architectural
survival in Wirral is at Lower Bebington,
and here the development of a church is
15
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
better seen than anywhere else, as so
much of the original structure still exists.
It was remodelled in the xivth century,
but it retained its old plan so that the nave
to-day is the old north aisle of the
Norman church, and almost the whole of
the south wall is Norman work. The
greater part of the original fabric is, of
course, lost, but there is documentary
evidence to prove that there was a church
in 1093, and Domesday mentions a priest
there under the Manor of Poulton.
Tradition says that it was called ' ' the
white church," a name given in early
days to churches built of Storeton stone.
The chancel and part of the south aisle
of the present building are late Perpen-
dicular, but exceptionally good work for
the period.
Mr. Fergusson Irvine says of this
church : " It has been suggested, and with
some show of reason, that the Abbot of
St. Werburgh, who owned the advowson,
becoming alarmed at the dissolution of
the smaller houses in 1535, hastened to
lay out the surplus funds of the abbey in
church extension, lest their existence
should tempt the rapacious Henry; and
this was one of the churches which he
i6
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
commenced to rebuild. This blow,
however, fell before he was able to com-
plete the work, and so the rebuilding
terminated abruptly; and if you will go
round to the south exterior wall of the
church you can see exactly where the new
work ceases ; and in the interior it is
shown by a curious temporary arch in the
arcade, which breaks off at a slight angle
from the old Norman work to meet the
late pillar, since the church was being
widened and raised as the rebuilding pro-
ceeded.
Whether the suppression of Chester
Abbey was the cause of the cessation in
rebuilding or not it is difficult to say, but
it is abundantly clear that some one com-
menced early in the xvith century to
rebuild the church from the east end, and
for some cause was not able to finish. It
is also clear from the large number of
different masons' marks on the new work,
that a perfect army of men must have
been employed on the rebuilding."
Woodchurch is the last church in
Wirral in which the architectural develop-
ment can easily be traced. Here the
lateral growth of the nave southward is
very evident, the north wall being the old
B
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Norman work. The name, of course,
suggests that the first building was of
wood, but of that, naturally, not a trace
remains. The lateral extension took
place in the xvith century.
One fact emerges prominently in the
study of church evolution, and that is that
much of its symbolism has been added and
was not in the mind of the original
builder. Particularly is this so, for ex-
ample, in regard to the cruciform plan of
many of our English churches. There is,
of course, absolute evidence that many
churches were erected with intent to
symbolise the manner of the death of
Christ, for again and again the express
instruction is found that such and such a
church is to be built " in modum crucis ;"
yet the cruciform church is said to be the
exception rather than the rule, an observ-
ation which is certainly borne out in
Wirral, for not a single example occurs
amongst our old buildings.
But at Woodchurch there is that
curiosity of planning known as a " Weep-
ing Chancel," where there is a deviation
of the axis of the eastern limb of the
church to the north, a device often
thought to be symbolic of the fact that
i8
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
Our Lord, when dying upon the cross,
bowed His head to the right shoulder.
Modern archaeologists tend to discount
this explanation, and affirm that such
deviations are simply examples of the
builders' failure to secure true alignment
during such alterations to a church as the
rebuilding of chancel or nave. In some
churches the deviation is indeed so slight
as, for example, at West Kirby, that this
theory is plausible, but in the case of
Woodchurch it seems too marked for this
to be the case. Francis Bond records that
the architect of a church at Metz, built
between 1371 and 1409, in which there is
a pronounced deviation of axis, " ashamed
of having made his work so crooked, died
of grief and distress." One may be per-
mitted to express the pious hope that the
deviation at Woodchurch w^as intentional,
and that the architect neither merited nor
attained so sad an end.
An early Christian church being nearly
all nave must have been planned for con-
gregational worship, but, as saintly relics
came to be collected, certain churches
became known as Pilgrim churches, and
in such cases special architectural arrange-
ments had to be made for the reception
19
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
of the pilgrims who came to view these
sacred deposits. Chapels, therefore,
came to be built on to the church for this
purpose, though there were gradations in
sanctity so that not every saint was
deemed worthy of an altar. But of the
various chapels thus erected those dedi-
cated to the Blessed Virgin always took
pre-eminence, and in the greater churches
where the service of the Blessed Virgin
grew in splendour, the Lady Chapels
came to be of great size and importance.
So also in parish churches there came to
be added Lady Chapels, a custom surviv-
ing to-day in several Wirral churches. It
is to be noted in this connection that the
side chapel in Heswall is dedicated to St.
Peter.
Another annexe to many churches con-
sisted of chantries where masses were said
for the dead. Thus the organ chamber
at Woodchurch appears to be a converted
chantry ; when the cell of St. Hildeburgh
on Hilbre Island was abandoned, the last
monk was drafted to West Kirby as
chantry priest ; and there is abundant
evidence that the church at Lower Beb-
ington was provided with chantries.
Intra-mural burial was, of course, com-
20
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
mon then, the prevalence of the custom
being due to the desire that masses of
Requiem should be said for the repose of
the soul of the deceased. Ordinarily, in
mediaeval days, if a poor man died a mass
was said for him by the parish priest, but
a rich man would leave money for masses
to be recited continually, or he might join
a guild which would ensure this being
done. Thus at Louth there was a guild
of St. Mary which found a chaplain to
celebrate mass every day in honour of the
Blessed Mary, " both for the brethren and
sisters of the same guild and for their souls
after their departure from this light, and
for the souls of their parents and friends
and of all the faithful dead," and some-
times private individuals would leave so
much money as would provide a perpetual
chantry. At the suppression of the
monasteries there were some 2,000 such
chantries in England.
People, too, starting off early in
the morning for a long day's travel
liked to hear mass first, so that it was not
unusual for a testator to direct that his
chantry priest should say what was called
*' Morrow Mass " at 4.0, 5.0, or 6.0 a.m.
These chantry priests were appointed
21
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
specially for the purpose of saying mass,
the parish priest more rarely officiating,
and their salary ranged from about £5 per
annum, a sum equivalent to about £75
at the nominal value of the English
sovereign to-day.
But the chantry priest had other duties
besides those of reciting mass, and in
some respects he fulfilled the function of
a modern curate, save that he had an
independent status, a separate endow-
ment, and a freehold for life, none of
which could be interfered with by rector
or vicar. Thus the chantry priest was
directed to give assistance to the parish
priest in hearing confessions, or in bear-
ing the viaticum to the sick ; or perhaps
the choir was inefficient, and the chantry
priest might be directed to act as choir-
master, or he might even be needed as
schoolmaster. Thus in 1514 the Earl of
Derby founded a chantry in Blackburn
church, and directed that the chantry
" shall keep continually a free grammar
school, and every Saturday and holiday he
shall sing the Mass of Our Lady to note,
and every quarter day he and his scholars
shall sing a solemn dirge for the souls
aforesaid." And in the vast moorland
22
GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
parishes of North Yorkshire, such as
Halifax and Helmsley, where the inhabit-
ants of the remote hamlets were provided
with chapels of their own, the chantry
priests were sometimes directed to take
the services. So that, when all chantry
endowments were at last confiscated, it
was not an immixed blessing : the parson
lost his curate, services had to be greatly
curtailed in number and dignity, choris-
ters lost their choirmaster and the
grammar-school boys their master, the
hamlets lost their chaplains ; and nobody
was apparently the better for it except
Edward Vlth. It was in 1529 that
Parliament made it illegal to charge for
Mass or the Requiem, and in 1545 that
the incomes of chantries were confiscated ;
and after the death of Queen Mary the
chantry chapel passed away for ever from
the English church.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
CHAS. ALDRIDGE : The Priory of the Blessed Virgin
and St. James, Birkenhead (Trans. Hist.
iSoc. Lane, and Ches.)
FBANCIS BOND : Introduction to English Church
Architecture. The Chancel oi! English
Churches. Gothic Architecture in England.
CHAS. D. BROWN : The Ancient Parish of West Eirby.
(Trans. Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches.)
23
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
EDWARD W. COX : The Architectural History ol
Bebington Church (Trans. EUst. Soc. Lane.
and Ches.). Birkenhead Priory (Wirral
Notes and Queries).
H. J. GRAHAM : The History ol the Church at Neston.
SYDNEY HEATH : Our Homeland Churches and how
to study them. The Romance of Symbolism.
W. FERGTJSSON IRVINE : Notes on the Ancient Parish
of Bidston (Trans. Hist. Soc. Lane, and
Ches.) Notes on the Parish Churches of
Wirral (Ibid).
ISABEL TOBIN : The Parish of Eastham.
A. H. THOMPSON : The Historical Growth of the
English Parish Church.
W. MASON AND A. W. HUNT: The History and
Antiquities of Birkenhead Piiory.
24
CHAPTER II.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF
WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES.
" The architect
Built his great heart into these sculptured
stones,
And ivith him toiled his children, and
their lives
Were builded, with his own, into these
walls
As offerings unto God."
Longfellow.
ANYONE who visits a great cathedral
church is aware that the building in
which he stands is assigned to different
periods in history, and that archaeologists,
and others versed in matters ecclesiastical,
can determine the period to which any
part of the building belongs by an examin-
ation of its architectural style. The nave,
for example, may be Norman ; the chan-
25
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
eel, Perpendicular; the Lady Chapel,
Modern, and so on. As a rule, in such
churches, a guide is to be found who has
some knowledge of these things, or who
at least has memorized certain facts, and
he will often " fire off " a perfect fusillade
of verbiage to which a crowd of sightseers
pay a reverent, if unintelligent, attention.
And it is because the present writer has
so often himself been one of this common
multitude that he ventures to give such
information concerning the architectural
modes exhibited in the old churches of
Wirral as will enable those who visit them
to examine and recognise some of the
essential features of those styles for them-
selves. As an aid to this study there are
standard classifications of architecture
which will form a basis upon which to
work, though modern architects tend to
deprecate these classifications as being
inelastic and too definite ; for a tabulated
list of styles may be presumed to pre-
suppose a definite demarcation which, in
point of fact, does not exist. One style
gradually evolved into its successor, and
successive architects naturally embodied
in their work the experience of those who
had preceded them. Nevertheless such
26
ARCHITECTURE OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
classifications have their vahie so long as
they are received with caution, and
treated as guides rather than laws. The
following is an example : —
RICKMAN'S CLASSIFICATION.
NORMAN : William I to Stephen, 1066-1154.
TRANSITION NORMAN : Henry II, 1154-1189.
EARLY ENGLISH GOTHIC : Richard I, to Henry III,
1189-1272.
DECORATED : Edward I, 11, III, 1272-1377.
PERPENDICULAR : Richard II to Henry VII, 1377-1486.
TUDOR : Henry VIII to Elizabeth, 1485-1600.
Applying now such a system to the old
churches of Wirral, we must begin with
the Norman style, for though several of
the churches boast a Saxon foundation it
is doubtful if any authenticated Saxon
work is now to be seen above ground.
But of Norman work there are a number
of interesting examples, notably the Nor-
man chapel at Birkenhead Priory, the fine
old south doorway of Shotwick parish
church, the ancient low-side window in
the north side of the chancel in Wood-
church, the Norman columns of Lower
Bebington Church, and the Norman
fonts at Lower Bebington, Eastham, and
St. Luke's, Poulton,*and these examples,
• This Font was originally in St. Hilary's Church,
Wallasey.
27
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
with others, when examined in detail, will
reveal many of the special characteristics
by which Norman architecture is recog-
nised.
The arch is perhaps the most distinctive
feature of this style. It is semi-circular
and, in the case of Shotwick, decorated
with a form of ornament of which the
Norman builders were very fond, viz., the
** Chevron " or zig-zag. This decoration
is also seen round the Norman fonts at
Lower Bebington and St. T^uke's,
Poulton. The latter also exhibits another
very favourite Norman decoration, the
" cable," so called because it resembles
a twisted rope. The typical arch is seen
again in the deeply splayed window in
Woodchurch. These windows were little
better than slits, and were covered, some
have supposed, with oiled linen. Others
affirm that the Normans used glass and
even stained glass at times, and in the
wonderful copy of Norman work in I^ord
Leverhulme's church at Thornton Hough,
the windows contain glass which is said
by many experts to be an accurate replica
of Norman glazing.
The circular Norman column and
cushioned capital with chamfered abacus,
28
PLATE III.
Pliotounii'li /" " • H. Toiiil^iiison
NORMAN rOLlMNS. CAPITALS, AND ARCH
BEBINGTON
(Note Perpendicular window to left of column)
ARCHITECTURE OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
as seen in Lower Bebington church, are
also distinctive of the period. In larger
or more ornate buildings the Normans
decorated their columns with great zig-
zag incisions, and these are exemplified
in the Thornton Hough copy, but there
are no examples in Wirral of the clustered
column, such as is seen in the wonderful
Norman work in such cathedrals as
Norwich or Ely. Norman cushioned
capitals are also seen in the porchway of
Burton church. They were dug up in
the graveyard and afford a convincing
proof of the great antiquity of the founda-
tions.
But Norman workmanship has other
distinctive features besides the round
arch, the typical ornaments and the
circular columns. The Normans con-
ceived buildings on a large scale. Their
walls are great solid constructions of
immense thickness, so that their arches
are deeply recessed. Their columns
appear to possess a strength of circumfer-
ence almost out of proportion to what
they have to carry. The Normans, too,
seemed afraid to pierce their walls with
many or large windows, as is well seen
in the old north wall of the nave at Wood-
29
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
church, which is early Norman, and in the
south wall of the nave in Lower Bebing-
ton church. Both these walls have been
pierced by later workmen, but the size
of the original windows can be gauged
from the small low-side window in the
chancel at Woodchurch. Nevertheless
all this strength is sometimes more appar-
ent than real, for these massive pillars and
walls were often filled with rubbish, and
the inferior mortar which the Normans
used occasioned the fall of many of their
buildings.
A very complete study of the Norman
style can fortunately be obtained from
the exquisite reproductions of this
architectural mode in Thornton Hough
Congregational Church, already referred
to. Another very excellent copy can be
seen in the parish church at Hoy lake, and
a third, an example of Norman arcading,
at the west end of the nave in Neston
church. It is said that the old architects
did not copy, and that to their fidelity to
their own period and style we owe our
ability to date the various portions of
buildings which have survived. One can-
not help wondering, therefore, if our
modern copies of historical types may not
30
PLATE TV.
Iioiii till oiitliiuil I'fii-ilrtiii'iinj l>\ llie Author
Ol.l) NORMAN WINDOW
Willi FRXCiMKNT OF WIIKI-I. CROSS
woonciirKcii
ARCHITECTURE OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
prove a source of bewilderment to
ecclesiologists of future generations.
Gothic architecture, being later than
Norman, is met with much more fre-
quently in Wirral, though of early
Gothic there is very little. The term
" Gothic," of course, is used rather
loosely to cover the whole mediaeval age,
but architecturally the Gothic period
covers those styles in which the pointed
arch predominates. This form of arch
made particular headway in England.
Its origin is obscure. One theory is that
it was the result of the intersection of two
round arches, such as are so commonly
met with in the late Norman work, and
formed the model for the arcading on the
parish church at Hoylake ; while a more
poetic imagination has seen the original
conception of Gothic architecture in an
avenue of trees. The pointed arch was
known, however, to the East long before
it appeared in this country, having been
found in cisterns and tombs in Egypt and
Arabia, dating from centuries before the
Christian Era.
A second characteristic feature of
Gothic work was in the arrangement of
mass. The Normans, as has been seen,
31
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
were fond of great strength and big
stones. The Gothic masons employed
small stones, and aimed at delicate
traceried effects with rich ornamentation,
which developed ultimately into mar-
vellous stone filigree work. But it took
several centuries before these refinements
were possible, and in the simple and
insignificant lancet windows in the south
aisle of Lower Bebington church we see
the dawn of a new movement.
In these windows there are two lights
under each dripstone, and the head of the
window is pierced with a single opening.
This shows the beginning of that window
tracery which became so ornate in later
Gothic. It is, however, in the narrow
pointed arch and in the length of window
that we recognise the Early English style.
The deeply splayed window in the spire
at Eastham, reminding us of the Norman
low-side window in Woodchurch, exhibits
the transition from Norman to Gothic
which Early English architecture so often
reveals. Early English windows are also
seen in the Massey chapel at Burton, and
in the chancel of Backford church.
Probably the most beautiful feature of
an early Gothic church is the spire which,
32
ARCHITECTURE OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
soaring above town or hamlet, affords a
prominent landmark : '* Star-high and
pointing still to something higher."
This feature is seen at Eastham and
Lower Bebington churches, which possess
the only old spires in Wirral. Architects
say that spires are not difficult to build,
as scaffolding can be placed both inside
and outside, and the stones are laid in
horizontal beds as in a wall ; nevertheless
as one looks up to the capstone of one of
these steeples he cannot help feeling
impressed by the venturesomeness of
those old builders. No wonder that
when a spire was finished there was great
rejoicing. " This year (1515)," writes
an old chronicler, "the weathercock was
set upon the broach, there being there
present the parish priest, with many of his
brother priests, hallowing the said
weather-cock and the stone that it stands
on, and so conveyed unto the said broach.
And then the priests sang TE DEUM
LAUDAMUS with organs. And then
the churchwardens gart ring all the bells
and caused all the people there being to
have bread and ale. And all for the love
of God, Our Lady, and All Saints."
Doubtless the parishioners of Bebing-
33
c
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
ton and Eastham held a similar fete when
their spires were completed. Both are of
broach type. " These," says Francis
Bond, " are indigenous and peculiar to
England ; they are in fact nothing but a
stone version of that type of timber spire
which is to be seen at Bosham. It has
been held, indeed, that the timber broach
spire is copied from the stone one ; but it
is inconceivable that a stone mason could
have evolved out of his own brain such
a strange design as that of the broach
spire ; whereas the design of the timber
broach grew naturally out of structural
exigencies. The characteristics of the
stone broach spire are that it has
dripping eaves, and therefore no para-
pet ; that the squinches or concentric
arches inside the tower at its angles, which
support the oblique sides of the spire, are
covered with a broach or sloping pyramid
of masonry resting against the oblique
sides, so that normally it has no angle
pinnacles ; and that it has no dormer
windows at its base, but, instead, has two
or more tiers of spire lights. The object
of the spire lights is mainly decorative,
but they are of value in lighting the
interior of the spire and in ventilating it,
34
ARCHITECTURE OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
for stone as well as wood is better for
ventilation."
It will be noticed that the sides of a
church spire are often slightly curved so
as to swell out a little in the middle. This
is called " entasis," and is a device to
correct the appearance of a concavity
which would be produced by an absolutely
straight line. This architectural refine-
ment was familiar to the Greeks who, for
example, arched the horizontal lines of
the Parthenon in Athens, and also gave
an entasis to the columns. Sometimes
the same effect is produced by adding
small projecting gables, bands of carving,
or crockets, and these ornaments are often
seen upon spires.
The spire, though peculiar to Christian
architecture, is not now credited with any
symbolic origin, and it has neither secular
nor pagan tradition behind it. It was
unknown to the Greeks and Romans, nor
is it ever met with apart from religious
buildings. '' It has," says Sydney
Heath, "a climatic rather than a symbolic
origin. The pitch of the tower roof was
gradually steepened so that it could better
carry off the snow and rain so prevalent
in northern lands. The small and steeply-
35
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
pitched tower roof was a utilitarian
feature onlj:^ until the devotional art of
the xivth and xvth centuries caught
the idea, and developed it magnificently
into the beautiful and elongated spire that
has become so distinctive and suggestive
a feature of our Christian churches."
The period which followed the Lancet
or Early English type of Gothic was the
Decorated, which, in Sharpe's classifica-
tion, is subdivided into *' geometrical "
and "curvilinear," these terms being
derived from the form of the window
tracery. The geometric style was arrived
at by the study of figures arising from
circles, while the curvilinear is dis-
tinguished by traceries, formed by flowing
lines. Of this variety of architecture
Wirral possesses but little that is genuine,
though, in the beautiful church at
Thurstaston, we have a very perfect model
of the Decorated style, and it is really
there that it is best studied. Original
windows may be seen at Eastham, where
the east window of the chancel and the
west window of the tower belong to the
geometric order. The east window at
Thurstaston is curvilinear, while the east
window of the chancel at Lower Bebing-
36
ARCHITECTURE OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
ton exhibits the transition from the
Decorated to the Perpendicular style. At
Thurstaston, too, the Gothic system oi'
stone roofing is exquisitely copied. In
both churches the buttresses are typical.
They consist, as a rule, of two stages, each
division being sloped at the top to carry
off rain, and they are set in pairs at the
angles of the churches, at right angles to
each other. Later buttresses were set
singly and diagonally as in the Perpendic-
ular porch at Woodchurch.
The Perpendicular order or, as it is
also called, " Rectilinear " or " Tudor-
Gothic," is the last division of Gothic
architecture and is considered, chiefly on
account of the flattening of the arch, to
mark its decadence. The gradual widen-
ing of the arch is, of course, observed
from the Lancet period downwards. Of
this Perpendicular order there are several
fine examples in Wirral, and it is one that
is simple to identify. The flattened or
"four-centered" arch is its chief
characteristic, and is seen very typically in
the chancel of Lower Bebington church,
in the windows of both aisles in Eastham
church, in the south porchway of Wood-
church, and in most of the tower doorways
37
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
in Wirral, where the arch is enclosed in a
square head formed by the outer mould-
ings with a hood mould of the same shape,
the spandrels being filled with Tudor
ornament. The typical Perpendicular
buttresses of the porch at Woodchurch
have already been referred to. Such
buttresses were often terminated with a
small crocketed pinnacle, and this feature
is well demonstrated in the fine church at
Port Sunlight, so that, just as the Nor-
man style may be studied at Thornton
Hough, and the Decorated Gothic at
Thurstaston, so the Perpendicular order
may be seen in its perfection at Christ
Church, in Lord I^everhulme's model
village.
But almost more typical than buttress
or arch in the Perpendicular order is the
window, which is instantly recognised by
its vertical muUions, carried right up to
the window head and, in the case of
absolute Perpendicular work, by the use
of a horizontal transom, while the window
tracery instead of being filled with curved
bars of stone is subdivided by rigid
vertical forms which suggested the term
** Rectilinear," as given in Mr. Sharpe's
classification.
38
PLATE V.
Pliotoiiruph h\ the Autlwr
I'l:rim:xi)I(1 i.Au doorww
WEST KJRBS' CHIRCII TmWKR
ARCHITECTURE OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
The square tower at the western end
of many Wirral churches is another Per-
pendicular feature, and is met with in
West Kirby, Neston, Stoak, Wood-
church, Backford, Bidston, Heswall, and
Shotwick. Each of these towers has a
castellated parapet, which is a distinctive
ornament, while several of these towers,
notably that at West Kirby, are further
decorated above the uppermost string
course with the typical Perpendicular
arcading, seen also very perfectly round the
chancel walls of Lower Bebington church.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
F. C. BEAZLEY : Notes on Shotwick (Trans. Hist. Soc.
Lane, and Ches., 1914).
FRANCIS BOND : English Church Architecture. Gothic
Architecture in England.
EDWARD COX : The Architectural History of Bebington
Church. (Trans. Hist. Soc. Lane, and
Ches., 1897).
J. C. COX : The English Parish Church.
JAMES FERGXTSSON : History of Modern Architecture.
SYDNEY HEATH : Our Homeland Churches.
W. FERGUSSON IRVINE . Notes on the Parish
Churches ol Wirral.
W. FERGUSSON IRVINE AND F. C. BEAZLEY :
Notes on the Parish ol Woodchurch. (Trans.
Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches., 1901).
T. G. JACKSON : Modern Gothic Architecture.
J. T. MICKLETHWAITE : Modern Parish Churches.
T. S. ROBERTSON : The Progress of Art in English
Church Architecture.
39
CHAPTER III.
THE BELLS OF WIRRAL.
Behold my uses are not small,
That God to praise Assemhlys call;
That break the thunders, wayle the dead,
And cleanse the aire of Tempests bred;
With jeare keep off the Fiends of Hell,
And all by vertue of m,y knell.
From the " Golden Legend."
BELL-hunting has been described as
an interesting form of sport, and a
pursuit not without its dangers. This
statement will probably come as a surprise
to the average reader who has, very likely,
never considered a church from this point
of view. But listen to a description of the
difficulties of belfry climbing by an enthu-
siast : " The rungs of the ladder worn out,
the very baulks rotten, the steps of the
newel staircase so abraded by the tread of
40
THE BELLS OF WIRRAL
centuries as to be almost non-existent,
perilous in the extreme to life and limb ;
the belfry resembling nothing but a
guano-island on the coast of Peru ; fre-
quently containing cart loads of sticks,
straws, and other rubbish brought in by
birds for their nests. The air-fauna com-
prises jackdaws, starlings, sparrows ;
sometimes a pair of barn owls, occasionally
domestic pigeons. The invertebrates will
demonstrate their presence the ensuing
night by keeping the explorer awake ;
while everything — bells, stocks, frame,
floor — will be white with the deposit of
guano."
Another ardent bell hunter writes of
even greater adventures : "In many a
tower," says he, " there is no stone stair-
case, and the bells have to be reached by
a succession of crazy ladders, planted, it
may be, on equally crazy floors. Or again
there is no ladder at all, and one has to be
brought from a long distance and reared
with difficulty, perhaps through a narrow
doorway or among beams which hinder
it from reaching the trapdoor. When
there is no tower, but only a turret, the
difficulties are greatly increased, especially
if the only means of access are ladders
41
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
placed outside." And a third speaks of
having negotiated '* a vertical ladder of
appalhng height."
But fortunately there is much that is
interesting about church bells that can be
appreciated without emulating either the
Alpine climber or the steeple-jack, and
the aim of the present chapter is to pre-
sent some of these details to the general
reader so that he may be spared the un-
healthy excitement of steeple climbing,
and the mortification of finding that he
has ruined a suit of clothes. For, after
all, bells, unlike children, are intended to
be heard rather than seen, and, though
bell founders are at some pains to decor-
ate their bells, this would appear to be
dictated more by traditional usage than
by the desire to please archaeologists, for
the old bells were probably all cast under
monastic supervision and these, being
often dedicated to saints, were inscribed
with some intercessory prayer. After
the Reformation such custom was for-
bidden, but the practice of adorning bells
with some pious phrase continued, and is
still in vogue.
Many of the these inscriptions are of
great interest. At West Kirby there is
42
PLATE VI.
Pliotoarath by the Author
STOAK CHURCH
THE BELLS OF WIRRAL
a peal of eight bells, one of which was pre-
sented by Mr. John Glegg, and on that
there was inscribed his name, with the
comment '* A good Benefactor." That
was in 1719 ; but in 1850, as the bell was
cracked, it was recast and it now bears the
more mundane inscription of the founders,
" Bathgate and Wilson, 1854." Hes^yall
bells were also recast, the originals dating
from 1627. Original bells are found at
Backford, where there are five which date
from 1714, one bearing the inscription,
" ILtt none ht in anger.
Wt tntvt casit hp aaicfjarb ^aunbers."
Stoak, however, has the distinction of
possessing the oldest bells in Wirral.
There are three there bearing the follow-
ing words and dates : —
" ^ob jsabe l^is! Cfjurcfi, our lling anb
aaealme, 1631."
" ^ob siabe Wi Cfjurcfj, 1642."
"(gloria in CxcelfiujS, ?^.?i., 1615."
In the latter case the founder's Latin
seems at fault. The letters H.B. are con-
sidered to designate Sir Henry Bunbury,
one of the distinguished family so long
associated with the parish. Quaint
inscriptions are found on some of the bells
in other parishes of Wirral.
43
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
At Eastham are the following : —
1. " 129[t)cn tue ring toe stoectlp fiing."
2. " 3 to tfjc cfjurcf) tfje libing call,
iSnli to tl)E grabe 3J siuntmon alL"
Burton amongst its peal of six bells
has : —
1. " l^ing out black fiin,
Jf air peace ring in."
2. " $eace anb goob neigfjbourfjoob."
3. " ^rogperitp to tlje Cfjurcfj o£ Cnglanb."
4. " ^rosiperitp to tfiijf ^arisJf)."
At Shotwick there is a peal of three
bells, on one of which is expressed the
pious wish :
" STesius! be our Speeb."
Bromborough, however, leads the way
in elaborate bell inscriptions, the peal of
eight (all modern) being adorned by the
following verses composed by the rector,
the Rev. E. Dyer Green.
1. "^ijen tfje tull ring itjf tuneful boice
£!f)all raise,
Xet me be first to leab tlje call of praise."
2. " #labsome toe peal from out tfje Cfjurclj's
totoer,
Ko #ob's great glorp, anb Wi lobe anb
potoer."
3. "tEo toorsfjip bulp ?|eaben'S iaimigljtp
ILorb
0m stoeetest cfjoirs unite toitt one accorb."
44
THE BELLS OF WIRRAL
4. " WBi\}tn tjjebbcti lobe mafeeg ttoo as; one abibe
t^Jjeir joj> toe siijare, anb spreab it far anb
toibe."
5. " Jf rom ittersiep'g banfess gounbs! iort\) our
gacreb glee,
ginb courts! responfiibe ecijoesf from tbe
Bee."
6. " ^loft are toe, but loftier points; tlje gpire,
Wt^at, fjeabentoarb, man s;f)oulb rais;e \)i&
ijeart's; bes;ire."
7. " iWap eberp sitrain nxelobious; toe outpour
^tir all toljo tear, ^ob's; soobne^S to
abore."
8. " (Gloria in Cxtelsiig."
Number eight is a very common bell
inscription.
The bells at Woodchurch and Lower
Bebington are all modern, but those at
Bidston have an interesting history, for
five of the peal of six were recast in 1868
from three older bells, one of which was
said to have borne the inscription,
" ^ancti (J^stoalbi."
And it is on the strength of this tradi-
tion that the church bears its present
dedication. Phillip Sully, in his "Hun-
dred of Wirral," says that this bell was
brought from Hilbre in 1536, and that it
originally came from the parish church of
St. Oswald, in Chester.
45
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRllAL
The bells of Neston are also dis-
tinguished for a curious history or tradi-
tion, for the story goes that the old bells
were intended for a church in Wales, but
the Welsh churchwardens could not pay
for them and they were ferried over
to Neston. In an old inventory of
the church at Neston, in the second
year of Edward VI, which is pre-
served in the Mayer museum, at
Lower Bebington, there is an entry
" Itm iii bells in the steeple," and in the
inventory of the next year this is altered
to " a ringe of ii bells." Probably one
of the three had been melted down to make
cannon in the time of Henry VIII, for
this was a common fate for bells. In
1724 the Neston people decided to get a
set of six bells from Abraham Rudhall, of
Gloucester, who was providing Burton
with a peal, and four of these bells are
still in use. They bear the following
inscriptions : —
1. " ^cace anl) goob neigljbourfjoob.
^. 3S,., 1731.'*
2. " ^rofiJperitp to ^ii S^ariii).
^. aa., 1731.'^
3. " ^rojfperitp to tftc Cfjurcfj of €nglanb.
a *l., 1731."
" la. aaubfjall of <glouKS(ter ca«t ni aU, 1731."
46
THE BELLS OF WIRRAL
The custom of engraving a name upon
a bell is said to have originated with Pope
John XIII, who consecrated a bell and
gave it the name " John." The baptism
of bells was certainly in use from very
early times, and it appears that the
sponsors of bells were often people of
quality, while the officiating priest was of
high ecclesiastical rank. Thus at St.
Lawrence, Reading, in 1499, the church
wardens record that they paid 6/8 for the
hallowing of the great bell named
"Harry," Sir William Symys and
Mistress Smythe being godfather and
godmother.
The ritual of consecration was elaborate.
The service began with a Litany and a
series of antiphonal psalms. Then the
bell that was to be blessed was washed
with holy water containing salt, wiped
with a towel and anointed with holy oil,
seven times on the outside and four times
on the inside. The bell was then incensed
and hung. After such an imposing cere-
mony a very considerable amount of
sanctity naturally attached itself to a
church bell, and the idea soon arose that
the bell had certain miraculous powers.
One of these was the ability to quell
47
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
storms, a belief referred to in the " Golden
Legend." Bells were also supposed to
drive away evil spirits, both of disease and
moral offences. It is therefore no matter
of surprise that we have records of bells
being rung in times of storm and tempest,
but the frequency with which churches
have been struck by lightning or blown
down by gales would appear to discredit
this superstition. Thus Heswall church,
Stanlaw Abbey, and Wallasey church
tower were all destroyed by lightning,
storm, or fire, though in the first case, the
actual tower escaped.
Protection of the spire and the bells
from lightning is now secured by means
of a conducting rod, usually of copper,
but the mediaeval builder employed a
different method. In 1315 a new cross,
well gilt, was set on the top of the spire
of Old St. Paul's, London, with great and
solemn procession, by Gilbert de Segrave,
Bishop of London, and relics of saints
were placed in it, *' in order that the
omnipotent God and the glorious merits
of His saints, whose relics are contained
within the pommel of the cross, might
deign to protect it from danger of
storms." At Salisbury, while making
48
THE BELLS OF WIRRAL
some repairs in 1762, the workmen found
a cavity on the south side of the capstone
of the spire, in which cavity was a leaden
box, enclosing a second box of wood,
which contained a piece of much decayed
silk or fine linen, no doubt a relic placed
there to avert lightning and tempest.
Many bells have, of course, been lost,
and, because bell-metal can be melted
down and re-used, it happened that large
numbers of bells were confiscated at the
period of the dissolution of the monas-
teries. Indeed, after the church plate
and the lead on the roof, bells were re-
garded as the most valuable asset. The
metal, as we have seen, was used particu-
larly in the manufacture of cannon, until
it was brought home to the authorities
that bell-metal was being exported for
this purpose. Steps were therefore
taken, in the reign of Henry VIII and
Elizabeth, to check the destruction of
bells, by a proclamation stating that
" some patrons of churches had prevailed
with a parson and parishioners to take or
throw down the bells of churches or
chapels and to convert the same to their
private gain," and forbidding the practice
under pain of imprisonment.
49
D
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Bell-metal is an alloy of copper and tin,
and it is said that in olden days people
were so proud of their church bells that
they not only contributed money for their
casting, but also metal household utensils.
Stories of silver tankards and the like
being put in to give a " silvery tone,"
are, however, discredited, it being stated
that silver would mar the tone, not im-
prove it.
A good tone is, in fact, very difficult to
secure, and the tuning of the bells affords
many opportunities for the exercise of
skill. The modern method of tuning is
first to cast the bell more thickly than
required, so as to keep the note sharp,
and then plane off shavings from th^
interior by means of steam power until
the right pitch is obtained. If a bell tone
is too flat, it can be raised by paring off
the edge of the rim, but, as this impairs the
tone, it is considered better to recast the
bell. In olden days bells were tuned with
a hammer, chisel, and file, and there were
men who went about the country tuning
bells, sometimes passing weeks in a belfry
chipping and modulating every bell till
all were right. For, if the ring is to be
quite satisfactory, each bell must not only
50
THE BELLS OF WIHRAL
be in tune with the other bells of the peal,
but the various tones of the individual bdil
must be in tune with one another, for the
bell tone is really a chord, i.e., a harmony
of several notes, and to get this tone per-
fect is the highest triumph of the art.
Dr. Raven mentions that Bilbie of
Cullompton, Devon, a famous founder in
the early part of the nineteenth century,
committed suicide because he failed to get
a ring of bells in tune.
When a bell had been cast and tuned
and, in ancient times, baptized, it had to
be hung. For this purpose the early
churches seen to have favoured central
towers, but it is probable that a long
period elapsed before parish churches be-
came possessed of bell towers. Few are
earlier than the xivth century, and the
majority are much later. In Wirral, the
steeples of Eastham and Lower Bebington
churches are the oldest, and after them
come the common western towers of the
xivth and xvth centuries or Perpendic-
ular period, viz., Stoak, Backford,
HeswalKWest Kirby, Shotwick, Wallasey
(the old tower), and Bidston : Burton
church tower and the old one at Thurstas-
ton are later.
51
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Within these towers the bells are sus-
pended in a timber framework, which was
kept as far as possible clear of the walls,
the idea being that the oscillation of the
bells when they are swung, as well as the
sound waves, might shake and disintegrate
the tower masonry. The vibration is
indeed strongly felt with a large peal and
may be too great for the strength of the
building as, for example, in Chester
Cathedral, where the tower cannot stand
the full peal. In this case the bells were
raised a considerable number of feet above
their original level, and it is very likely
that the centre of gravity of the tower has
been thus disturbed and the damage,
which is now being investigated and re-
paired, occasioned thereby. Modern
bells are suspended in iron frames built
firmly into the walls.
The art of campanology has in the pro-
cess of years reached a very high state of
perfection, and the ringing of a peal in-
volves a degree of knowledge and skill that
would surprise the majority of people.
With a small number of bells there are, of
course, very few changes possible, four
bells only yielding twenty-four possible
combinations, but six bells give 720, and
52
THE BELLS OF WIRRAL
eight bells 40,320, and with twelve bells
the possible variety of changes is stupend-
ous. An old bell-ringer informed the
present writer that with twelve bells it
is possible to ring 24 changes to the min-
ute, and that at this rate it would take 38
years to exhaust all the possible changes,
but H. B. Walters, in his " Church Bells
of England," says that at the rate of two
strokes a second it would take 91 years be-
fore all the possible combinations were
exhausted. Neither of these programmes
can be put to a practical test, but
Ellacombe, in his " Bells of the Church,"
gives particulars of some surprising feats
in change-ringing. Thus in 1868 eight
members of the Ancient Society of College
Youths occupied the belfry of St.
Matthew's Church, Bethnal Green, and in
nine hours and twelve minutes rang a peal
of Kent treble bob major consisting
of 1.5,840 changes. The men were locked
in the belfry, and did not cease ringing
from 8.45 a.m. until the peal was finished.
This record was, however, surpassed in
1872, when at Earlsheaton, near Dews-
bury, in Yorkshire, a true peal of Kent
treble bob major, consisting of no less
than 16,608 changes, was rung in nine
53
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
hours fifty minutes. In the ringing
chamber of West Kirby Parish church
there are framed several interesting
records of bell-ringing by the local band.
The uses and varieties of bells were once
greater than they are now. Thus in
mediaeval times a small bell was used at
the solemn service of the Mass, when
three strokes were sounded as the choir
sang the first three words of " Sanctus,
Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus
Sabaoth," and the bell was accordingly
called the ** Sancte " or " Saunce " bell.
It was rung not only to warn the illiter-
ate congregation there present to make a
solemn acknowledgment of the doctrine
of the Trinity, but also that those who
could not come to church might bow the
head.
A little later in the service came the
Elevation of the Host, when again a bell
was rung. This was called the " Sac-
ring " or the " Sackering " bell. Two
such bells figure in the inventory of the
monastery of Stanlaw at the time of the
Dissolution. The use of such bells was
forbidden in the reign of Edward VI,
who issued the following injunction, " all
ringing and knolling of bells shall be
54
THE BELLS OF WIRRAL
utterly forborne at that time (Litany,
Mass, etc.) except one bell in convenient
time to be rung or knolled before the ser-
mon." Sermon bells carried on for a
considerable period after this, and indeed
would appear still to survive in certain
parishes, though not in Wirral. The
practice of ringing the sermon bell, how-
ever, came to have a very degenerate
significance. Thus at Louth it was called
the " Leaving-off " bell, because it
warned the servants that the mistress was
leaving church, and that it was not safe
after that to stand gossiping in the streets.
At Watford a bell used to be rung after
morning service " to give notice to gentle-
men's servants to get their master's
carriages ready." In some places it was
called the " Pudding " bell, because the
cooks took advantage of it to dish up the
Sunday dinner in readiness for the return
of the family from morning service. At
Tingrith, Bedfordshire, it is still rung
immediately after morning service, and it
is called the " Potato " bell, because on
hearing it the cook puts the potatoes in
the pot for boiling.
" In many parishes," says Mr. Wal-
ters, " a ' Gleaning ' bell used to be lung
55
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
during Harvest, either in the morning
only, or both morning and evening. The
usual hours were 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. ; but
it was sometimes rung at 6 or 7 a.m., or
at 5 or 7 p.m. Its object was to serve as
a signal for the time when gleaning might
begin, and when it must terminate ; this
was to give all — weak and old or young and
active — a fair start and an equal chance.
Under modern agricultural conditions
gleaning has in many parts of England
become a thing of the past, and it is now
only in the corn-growing districts of the
south and east of England that a ' Glean-
ing ' bell is ever heard."
In feudal days tenants had both to grind
their corn in the manorial mill and to bake
their bread in the manorial oven. In
some parishes an " Oven " bell used to be
rung, to give warning that the manorial
oven was heated and ready for use.
In Neston Church registers there is
each year an item of 8/-, with an allow-
ance of 5d. for 1-lb. of candles, " for
ringing the 8 o'clock bell." This Curfew
Bell is still rung at Neston from October
to March each year, but with this excep-
tion, the church bells of Wirral are only
regularly tolled for services and funerals.
56
THE BELLS OF WIIIRAL
In connection with the latter custom there
is an extraordinarily interesting history.
The practice began in mediaeval days,
when a person who fell grievously sick was
attended by the priest, who, with book
and candle, proceeded to the sick bed lest
the patient should die, " unhousell'd, dis-
appointed, unanel'd," and the "House-
ling " bell, which is sometimes mentioned
in the inventories taken at the time of the
Dissolution, was a hand-bell carried in the
procession and rung when the Eucharist
was borne to the sick person, that every-
one might be warned of its approach and
pay proper reverence thereto or offer
prayers for the sick or dying person.
Then came the custom of the tolling of
the church bells as the sick man actually
lay djang. This was called the " Passing "
bell or the " Soul " bell. It was rung
at all hours of the day or night when the
critical time of death arrived, and its pur-
pose was to encourage the pious to pray
for the soul that was passing on its way.
Shakespeare, for example, notes this bell
in the first act of Henry IV :
" His tongue
Sounds ever after as a sullen knell,
Remembered knolling a departed friend."
57
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
But a difficulty arose when an appar-
ently dying person recovered, and doubt-
less, too, the psychological effect of a sick
man hearing his own passing bell and
dying of pessimism had its influence in
abolishing the practice.
When death did come, the death knell
was rung, and it is curious that this bell,
which originally had as its object the en-
couragement of prayers for the dead,
should have been the one that has survived
in the Post-Reformation church. The
procedure of ringing the death knell varies
in different parishes, but most commonly
8x3 strokes are given at the death of a
man, 3x2 for a woman, and 3x1 for a
child. It is said that the three strokes for
a man have reference to the Holy Trinity,
and the two for a woman to Our Saviour
born of a woman. Originally rung at the
exact moment of death, the death knell
has now lost something of its significance
by being rung at a later hour. In early
days the funeral peals might go on for
thirty days, a period symbolic of the
mourning for Moses and Aaron, which is
stated to have lasted that time. The Rev.
J. J. Raven refers to one John Baret who
made provision in his will to have a 30 days'
58
THE BELLS OF WIRRAL
peal rung for him, and he adds, " The
neighbours must have been heartily sorry
for John Baret's death before his Trental
was over, especially as the tune was limited
to five notes."
Just as bell hunting has attracted cer-
tain archaeologists to-day, so in the olden
days bell-ringing was once an extraordin-
arily popular pastime which vied with
hunting and cock-fighting in favour, so
that ringing societies were formed in
almost every town and village, bands tour-
ing the country ringing bells in one
another's belfries, and performing won-
derful feats of precision and endurance.
Some of this enthusiasm has evaporated,
but much survives, enough at least to say
that England mav still deserve the title
of the*' Land of Bells."
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
WILLIAM ANDREWS : Inscriptions on Bells.
S. OHEETHAM : Art. " Bells " in Smith's Diet, of
Christian Antiquities.
DOWNMAN : Ancient Church Bells in England.
T. F. THISELTON DYER : Art. " Bells and Belfries "
in Church Lore Gleanings.
H. T. ELLACOMBE : Bells of the Church.
H. J. GRAHAM : A History of the Church in Neston.
59
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
FLORENCE PEACOCK : Art. •' Church Bells " ia
Curious Church Gleanings.-
W. C. ASHBY PRITT : An account ol Wallasey (Trans.
Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches., 1891).
J. J. RAVEN : Bells of England.
H. B. WALTERS : Church Bells of England.
ECCLESIOLOGY. GENT. MAG. 1894 : Art. " Anti-
quity of Church Bells and Towers."
WIRRAL NOT^S AND QUERIES : The Bells of Wirral,
1893.
6o
CHAPTER IV.
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS
OF WIRRAL.
" What an image of peace and rest
Is this little church among its graves,
All is so quiet."
Longfellow.
THE L3^chgate — the gate of the dead,
or, as it is also called, the " corpse
gate ' ' — is seen at the entrance to several
of the old churchyards in Wirral, namely,
West Kirby, Thurstaston, Backford,
Eastham, and Woodchiirch, and in these
the standard form of such gateway is ob-
served, that is, a broad outspreading gable
roof designed to shelter those who accom-
pany the bier as the priest performs the
introductory part of the burial service. In
days gone by a curious superstition
attached itself to these gates, which was
that the spirit of the last person interred
6i
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
in the churchyard hovered round them
and conveyed the new arrivals to the
grave. This belief, which still survives in
places, has actually occasioned free fight-
ing in the case of double burials, each party
claiming the privilege of burying its dead
first, and so obtaining the porterage of the
ghost. It was also regarded as a bad omen
for a bridal couple to pass through the
lychgates, a superstition which lingered
in Cheshire until recent days, if, indeed,
it does not still obtain in this county.
Another superstition, which still holds
sway, is the aversion to being buried on
the north side of the church. The origin
of this repugnance is said to have been
the notion that the northern part was
appropriated to the interment of un-
baptized infants, excommunicated per-
sons, and suicides. Hence it became
generally regarded as the " wrong side of
the church." White, in his "Natural
History of Selborne," alludes to this
superstition, and says that the disinclina-
tion to be buried on the north side had led
to the overcrowding of the south with
graves. Francis Bond also states, in his
" English Church Architecture,'* that on
this account the extension of churches
62
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
was generally to the north rather than the
south so as not to disturb the burial
ground, but it is to be noted that in
Wirral, extensions have been southward
in several cases, as is shown by the north
wall of such churches being the oldest.
This is so, for example, in Shotwick and
Woodchurch, though not in the case of
Lower Bebington, so that it is, evidently,
not safe to generalise.
In the registers of the parish church of
Burton there occur the following en-
tries : —
" 1678 Joseph son to RaSe Lightfoot of burtoa was
buryed in Woolen the 16th day of Nov. 1678.
1678 Thos. Perry of Willaston was buryed in wool
the 25th day of Dec. 1678.
1679 Thos. son to Jonathan Willson of burton was
buryed without any linen the first day of May."
These extraordinary entries are relics of
a sumptuary law passed in 166G, ostensibly
for the encouragement of woollen
manufacturers and prevention of the
exportation of gold for the buying and
importation of linen. In 1667 the Act
directed that no person should " be buried
in any shirt or sheet other than should be
made of Wooll onely.*' It even pro-
hibited the use of linen bandages in the
laying out of the dead.
63
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
In 1668 the Act was made still more
stringent, stating '* Noe Corpse of any
person or persons shall be buried in any
Shirt, Shift, Sheete, or Shroud, or any-
thing whatsoever made or mingled with
Flax, Hempe, Silke, Haire, Gold or
Silver, or any stuff e or thing other than
what is made of Sheep's Wooll onely, or
be put in any coffin lined or faced with any
sort of Cloath or Stuffe or anything what-
soever that is made of any Materiall but
Sheep's Wooll onely, upon paine of the
forfeiture of five pounds of lawfull money
of England," etc.
Another section enacted that the clergy
were to keep a register of burials, and in
it to record affidavits that had previously
been made before a Justice of the Peace for
the county, or other persons authorised
by the Act, When the Act was broken,
half the penalty went to the poor of the
parish and the other half to the informer.
Usually, by arrangement, a servant of the
household, or someone whom the family
desired to receive the benefit, laid inform-
ation. The Act provided, however, that
persons dying of plague might be buried
without a penalty being incurred, even if
linen were used. In section nine it was
64
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
directed that " this Act shall publiquely
be read upon the first Sunday after the
feast of St. Bartholomew every yeare for
seaven yeares next following, presently
after Divine Service."
Affidavits had to be signed by the
minister who conducted the burial and by
a local Justice of the Peace. The certifi-
cate read as follows : —
I do hereby certify that came before
me this present day of and made Oath that
deceased was not put in, wrapt or wound up, or buried
in any Shift, Shirt, Sheete or Shroud made or mingled
with Flax, Hempe, Silke, Haire, Gold or Silver or other
than is made of Sheep's wool only or in any coffin lined
or faced with any Cloth, Stuff, or any other thing what-
soever made or mingled with Flax, Hempe, Silke, Haire,
Gold or Silver, or any other material but Sheep's Wool
only. signed and sealed, etc."
The Act was repealed in 1814, though
it had fallen into disuse long before that
period.
A more cheerful association of church-
yards is that of sport. In bygone years
it was a common practice for all sorts of
games to be regularly played in church-
yards, for just as the church M'as used
for many secular purposes, such as
the storage of wool and corn, so the
churchyards came to be regarded from a
secular as well as an ecclesiastical point of
view. Even dances and fairs were held as
65
IHE OLD CHURCHES OF WIKHAL
late as the beginning of the nineteenth
century, the north side of the churchyards
where there were no graves being selected
for the former of the two pastimes.
Cock-fighting, single stick, and wrestling
matches also took place regularly in the
churchyard after Evensong. A corre-
spondent to '* Notes and Queries " writes
that he remembers being told by an old
man that, as a boy, he played at ball in the
churchyard, and that the practice was
strongly disapproved of by the vicar who,
however, was not able to suppress it. But
the vicar gave orders that when he died
he should be buried in the place where the
boys played, and that an altar tombstone
should be placed on his grave, saying that,
though he had failed to stop the ball play-
ing in his lifetime, he would stop it after
his death : and he did so ! Nowadays we
find it hard to realise that the churchyards
of Wirral could have been so regularly
recognised as public playgrounds.
Associated with churchyard games was
the very important festival known as the
** Church- Ale " which, originally institu-
ted in honour of the church Saint, was
later often kept up for the purpose of rais-
ing funds for the church building. So
66
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
the churchwardens used to have brewed
regularly a considerable quantity of strong
ale, a custom which is said " led to a great
pecuniary advantage, for the rich thought
it a meritorious duty, besides paying for
the ale, to offer largely to the church
fund,"
This method of raising money is referred
to in the following stanza from Francis
Beaumont's " Exaltation of Ale,"
" The churches much owe, as we all do
know,
For when they he drooping and ready to
jail,
By a Whitsun or Church-Ale up again
they shall go,
And owe their repairing to a pot of good
ale."
But the practice, as might be imag-
ined, was the cause of much abuse, so that
by the canons of 1683 it was enacted that
"The Churchwardens shall suffer no
plays, feasts, banquets, suppers, Church-
ale drinking ... in the Church, Chapel,
or Churchyard."
A conmion feature of the old church-
yard is the sun-dial, and of these Wirral
possesses not a few. The majority of the
old ones date from the xvHith century.
67
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
That at Shot wick is dated 1767 upon the
dial plate, but 1720 is inscribed upon the
shaft, the church register recording that
the cost of " carving ye letters " was only
one shilling. A somewhat similar entry
occurs in the West Kirby churchwarden's
accounts recording the cost of changing
the position of the sun-dial and resetting
the plate, and again the items are in
pence. Recently the sun-dial was moved
a second time, and one wonders what the
bill was in these post-war labour-troublous
days. Backford, Stoak, Eastham, Hes-
wall, Burton, Bidston, and Neston all
possess old sun-dials, reminding us of the
way mankind has played with time.
Lovers of these relics deprecate too anti-
quarian an interest in such poetic
fragments of the past.
" If a husky- voiced antiquarian," says
Launcelot Cross in his " Book of Old Sun-
dials," "were to discourse upon a sun-
dial to some of the elect of his fraternity,
although it were in a green country
churchyard with the severe stillness of
nature around, the aroma of the motto
would instantly depart. The exhortative
words would remain, but — harsh to the
eye, cold to the ear — the spirit that gave
68
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
them life would be flown. The parting
genius would be with sighing sent. In
the bare, chilly room of a museum a sun-
dial lecture would be worse. The serious
grace or pious cheerfulness of the sunshine
gossip, tricked out in gauds of language
foreign to her original condition and pur-
pose, would be resolved into grotesque
jocoseness. No, in the first instance, the
only voice to be heard in the moment of
communion with the dial should be that
of the neighbouring stream, still musical
after a thousand years, or the lark's vesper
song in the blue above, ere it descends to
repose beneath the sod of the field. In
the other — dismantled and displaced — the
dial should rest in some dusky corner,
difficult of discovery, unvisited by any ray
of light ; and, if brought forth to its native
day, its own whisper alone should be
heard preaching to the hopes, the vanities,
and the destiny of man.
" No dial motto has a proper flavour
until its years exceed those of the Ameri-
can Republic. It must, at least, be
seasoned by a century of winters, have
slowly ripened between twice ten thous-
and summer and autumn suns. Its place
should be known of the generations of
69
THE OLD CHUllCIIES OF W IRKAL
butterflies and birds ; the creeping and
clinging mosses should be old, constant
friends. It is charms like these which
stimulate the motto-hunters to seek for
the dial in the village churchyards, near
yew trees dark with the glooms of four
hundred years, and in the lichened courts
of ruined halls ; in some Convent de la
Quieta, whose very name breathes repose,
and in the green and flowery silences of
ancient gardens. ' '
The sun-dial at Woodchurch has been
converted into a cross, this transformation
having been effected to celebrate the
Jubilee of Queen Victoria, but close ex-
amination reveals that this was really a
reversion to the original, for the base is
clearly of much greater antiquity than the
stem, and it is probable that the sun-dial
had usurped, in its turn, the position of
the churchyard cross. This cross also ex-
hibits a cavity in the steps on the east side,
which may be an example of the practice
of cutting such receptacles for offerings.
Such cavities, it is believed, were also
intended to hold water or vinegar for the
disinfection of coins in time of pestilence.
The churchyard crosses are usually
placed in the south side of the church, and
70
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
are often spoken of in history as Palm
crosses. " It was at a churchyard cross
that the out-door procession of palms,
having wended its way thither, would
always halt ; and the cross itself being
wreathed and decked with flowers and
branches, the Blessed Sacrament, so
solenmly borne in procession, was tempor-
arily deposited before it upon some
suitable throne, while the second station
was being made. This done the proces-
sion reformed and proceeded to the
principal door for the third station, before
passing again within the church."
A curious post-Reformation use for
churchyard crosses is quoted by Aymer
Vallance in " Old Crosses and Lych-
gates," " In ancient times when it was a
necessity to exterminate certain animals,
as foxes, wolves, etc., a reward was given
to those who captured these animals, and
it was usual to attach their heads to the
cross in the churchyard for the purpose
of valuing them. Generally the heads
remained on the cross for three church
services, and after that the reward was
given. For a wolf's head the same sum
was awarded as was given for the capture
of the greatest robber ; for (dog) foxes
71
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
2/6, and (vixens) 1/6." In the parish
registers of several of the Wirral churches
there are recorded the payment of such
sums as, for example, at Eastham : —
1698 For Hedgehogs 6s. per dozen
For Kites lOd., 4d., or 2d. each
For Foxes Is. each
Unfortunately the iconoclastic move-
ment of Puritan days resulted in the
destruction of many of the churchyard
crosses, so that to-day all that remain are a
pedestal and stump at Lower Bebington,
and the pedestal at Woodchurch. This was
the result of the passing of a Puritan Act
of Parliament, entitled " Monuments of
Superstition or Idolatry to be demol-
ished." This ordinance provided that
' ' all crosses upon all and every ....
churches or chappels or other places of
Publique prayer, churchyards, or other
places to any of the said churches ....
belonging or in any other open place, shall
before the day of November
(1643) be taken away and defaced, and
none of the like hereafter permitted in any
such church .... or other places afore-
said." Local committees were consti-
tuted for carrying out the orders of
Parliament. So it is that, save for the
72
PLATE VII.
From tin oiiiliiiitl Peifiirauiino hy the Author
OLD SEI'LLCIIRAL CROSS
BURTON
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
two churches mentioned, little remains
standing to-day of the old churchyard
crosses of Wirral.
Grave crosses have fared better.
Preaching crosses and market crosses
might fall into ruin, and roods and cruci-
fixes be wantonly destroyed, but the cross
carved in stone, or cut in stone above the
grave, is found in all ages. The most
primitive form of the grave cross in Brit-
ain was a rudely shaped pillar of stone
upon which the holy symbol was cut. At
a later date the stone itself was hewn,
more of less roughly, into a cruciform
shape. Flat stones engraved with the
sign and placed upon the grave were of
still later introduction. Of these Wirral
possesses several very fine examples,
though they have now been removed from
the churchyards and placed, for better pro-
tection, within the churches themselves.
At Burton there is a very fine sepulchral
cross buih into the wall of the porch. It
is believed to be at least 600 years old. A
very similar slab is seen in the Lady
Chapel of the Priory of St. Mary and St.
James, Birkenhead. It lies to the north
side of the altar, side by side with other
sepulchral crosses, one of which is the
73
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
tombstone of Thomas Rayneford, the last
Prior of Birkenhead Monastery.
The inscription on the latter is in Latin,
the following being a translation : —
"^tvt lietf) Ef)oma« i^apneforb,
fonmrlp tfje goob $rior of tfjisi l^ousc,
tofjo tilth ttje 8t!) ot iWap in tfje pear of
our Horb, 1473.
iHap ^ob be gracious to ftis; soul."
Other crosses of this type are seen in
the Charles Dawson Brown Museum,
West Kirby. They were dug up in the
environs of the church.
The original purpose of the finely carved
fragments of stone and crosses at Neston,
placed at the west end of the interior of
the church, is not known.
Most of the old churchyards of Wirral
are provided with the orthodox yew tree,
and one of these, namely that at Eastham,
is of immense antiquity. We are so
accustomed to the presence of a yew tree
in a churchyard that we are inclined to
regard it as almost a necessary occupant,
yet its position in consecrated ground is
due neither to statutory enactment nor to
ecclesiastical law. Some of its function
and origin has already been discussed in
the "Beauty and Interest of Wirral."
74
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
Amongst other uses for which the old
trees have been employed is that they
were the meeting place of the council of
the "Hundred," in which case the yew
tree at Eastham may sometimes have
usurped the function of the Wirral stone,
which stands at the corner of the Burton-
Willaston road as it crosses the old Chester
road. Seats were often placed under their
shade, as is evidenced by frequent entries
in the churchwardens' accounts. The
often mentioned statement, that yew tree
branches were carried in the procession on
Palm Sunday in lieu of palm or olive
branches, is borne out in the following
paragraph taken from Caxton's '" Liber
Festivals," 1483: —
" For encheson [reason] that we have
none olyue that berith green leef therefore
we take Ewe in stede of palme and olyue
and beren aboute in procession and so is
thys day callyd palme sonday."
The church porch may be fittingly con-
sidered in this chapter since it was
regarded in olden times as being outside
the building. Thus it was that baptisms
were originally carried out in the church
porch, as no unbaptized person was per-
mitted to enter the church itself. Later
75
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
the first portion of the ritual only was en-
joined to be conducted in the porch, and
the conclusion of the baptism performed
in the church. Marriages were treated
on the same lines, the phrase " taking a
wife at the church door " reflecting this
fact. Thus Chaucer says of the wife of
Bath :—
" She was a worthy woman all her live,
Husbands at church door had she five."
The concluding portion only of the
wedding ceremony was held before the
altar. As late as 1625 it is recorded that
Charles I was married by proxy to
Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII of
France, at the church door of the cathe-
dral of Notre Dame.
The use of the church porch for penance
has already been referred to in the
"Beauty and Interest of Wirral," and
need not be developed here. Suffice it to
say that the penitents, clad in a white
sheet down to the ground and carrying a
white wand, were required to resort to
the parish church porch, and there stand
from the second peal for morning prayer
until the reading of the second lesson,
*' beseeching the people that pass into the
church " to pray to God for their forgive-
76
PLATE VTIT.
/'^^0^
/'/lolouitip/i hy II . //. Tumkinson
OLD NORMAN DOORWAY
SHOTWICK
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
ness. Records of these practices exist in
the Bishop's visitation in connection with
Shot wick church. The porch also seems
to have carried with it some rights of
sanctuary.
All church porches are customarily pro-
vided with seats, but the need for this
provision was greater in the days before
pews and seats were introduced into the
church. In those days it was no small
undertaking to stand through a lengthy
service after, perhaps, an arduous walk or
ride, and pilgrims, as has been seen,
needed to refresh themselves with a cer-
tain amount of repose before they entered
the church. In those days, as now on the
continent, people would drop in for a
portion of the service, the present habit
of arriving punctually at the beginning
and staying till the end being compara-
tively modern.
In old English parish churches the
porch had many secular functions. When
a man was to be outlawed, it was in the
church porch that the first processes were
performed by the sheriff, and in the
present day custom of posting civic
notices inside church porches we have
a survival of the days when the porch
11
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
served the functions of an ancient " city
gate." Sometimes business transactions
were conducted in the porch as a guarantee
of good faith, just as the town cross was
intended to remind the buyers and sellers
in the public market of their christian
obligations of honesty and fair dealing.
Again, to give greater sanctity to an
agreement, it was often stipulated that it
should be executed in the church porch.
Francis Bond quotes the following inter-
esting examples of this in his " English
Church Architecture." In 1592 the
Vicar of Sonning, Berks., left a legacy to
each of his daughters, "to be paid in the
church porch." In 1462 John Lea
covenanted, on annual payment to him of
6/8 in the south porch of Market Har-
borough, to keep the chimes " in good,
sweet, solemn, and perfect time of
musick." In the diocese of St. Asaph,
the interest of £5 was left in 1712 for the
purchase of flannel for four old men and
women, who were to draw lots or throw
dice for it in the church porch. In the
south porch of Eye church, Suffolk, is a
stone ledge, which may be a dole table or
a counter on which payments of money
might be laid.
78
PLATE IX.
P/ioloiirtip/i l>y the Author
HOLY WATER STOUF
WOODCHURCH
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
In the porch at Woodchiirch there is a
recess to the right of the doorway, which
is the remains of a stoup for holy water.
The stoup or stock was placed there so
that worshippers, when they entered the
sacred building, might dip the fingers of
the right hand into the water and bless
themselves with the sign of the cross. As
the henedictio aquse usually took place
once a week, before Sunday mass, the
stoup was on that day refilled. In this
ceremony salt was first exorcised and then
blessed. The salt was then thrown into
the water "m inodmn crucis^^ and an-
other blessing was said over the two thus
mixed. In one of the articles of visit-
ation of Bishop Bonner, a.d. 1554, it is
asked *' Whether there be at the entry of
the church or within the door of the same,
an holy water stock or pot, having in it
holy water to sprinkle upon the enterer, to
put him in remembrance both of his pro-
mise made at the time of his baptism, and
of the shedding and sprinkling of Christ's
blood upon the cross for his redemption ;
and also to put him in remembrance that,
as he washes his body, so he should not
forget to w^ash and cleanse his soul, and
make it fair with virtuous and godly good
79
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
living ; and finally to put him in remem-
brance that, as water passeth and slideth
away, so he shall not tarry and abide in
this world, but pass and slide away as the
water doth."
The making of holy water was abolished
by the Reformers, and nearly all stoups
were destroyed, mutilated or blocked up,
but there is a survival of the making of
holy water in the service for the baptism
of children and adults, wherein the priest
prays " Sanctify this water to the mystical
washing away of sin."
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
WILLIAM ANDREWS : Art. " Burials in Woollen "
(Curious Church Oleanings).
WILLIAM E. A. AXON : Art. " The Church Porch "
Ibid.
T. N. BRUSHFIELD : Art. " Tew Trees in Church-
yards " (Antiquities and Curiosities of the
Church).
LAUNGELOT CROSS : Old Sundials.
T. F. THISELTON DYER : Art. " Churchyards "
(Church Lore Gleanings).
Art. " Church-ales and Rush-bearings "
(Curious Church Oleanings).
Art. " The Church Porch " (Church
Lore Gleanings).
THOS. FROST : Art. " Sundials " (Antiquities and
Curiosities of the Church).
E. HOWLETT : Art. •' Burial Customs " (Curious
Church Gleanings).
Art. " 0«mes in Churchyards " Ibid.
80
THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
P. F. A. MORRELL : Notes on Burton Parish Registers.
JOHN NICHOLSON : Art. " Concerning the Church-
yard " (Curious Church Gleanings).
FLORENCE PEACOCK : Art. " Concerning Crosses."
Ibid.
A. M. ROBINSON : The Birkenhead Priory Reparation
(Trans. Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches., 1903).
GEO. S. TYACK : " The Cross in Ritual Architecture and
Art."
AYMER VALLANCE : "Old Crosses and Lychgates."
8l
CHAPTER V.
WIRRAL CHURCH
DEDICATIONS.
*' Let us mount the church steps here,
Under the doorway's sacred shadoiv."
Longfellow.
THE object of consecrating a church,
according to Richard Hooper's
*' Ecclesiastical Polity," is two-fold; first
it declares that the building is no
longer private property but belongs to
God ; secondly, it signifies that it is to be
put to a divine use. Modern ecclesiologists
affirm that the dedication of a church is
equivalent to placing it under the protec-
tion of a particular saint, and that the
practice arose from the desire to secure
the intercession of one of the Court of the
Heavenly King on behalf of the parish and
its benefactors. Whatever the origin,
82
WIRRAL CHURCH DEDICATIONS
the custom of dedication is a very ancient
one, and the early Christians did but take
over a practice already indulged in by the
Hebrews, for the first, second, and third
Temples at Jerusalem were each dedicated.
The early Christian dedications were
only valid if performed by a bishop, and
though inferior clergy occasionally con-
secrated a church in emergency, such
action was condemned. The following
interesting ritual is quoted in Maskell's
** Monumenta Ritualia Ecclesia? Angli-
cananae *' : — " When any church is to be
hallowed, this order must be observed.
First of all the people must depart out of
the church, and the deacon must remain
there only, having all the doors shut fast
unto him. The bishop with the clergy
shall stand without before the church door
and make holy water mingled with salt.
In the mean season, within the church
there must be set up twelve candles burn-
ing before twelve (consecration) crosses
that are appointed upon the church walls.
Afterward the bishop, accompanied by
the clergy and people, shall go thrice about
the church without ; and the bishop, hav-
ing in his hand a staff with a bunch of
hyssop on the end, shall with the same
83
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
cast holy water on the church walls. And
the bishop shall come unto the church
door, and strike the threshold with his
crozier staff, and shall say, Tollite portas
(Psalm XXIV. 7).
Then shall the deacon that is within
say, Quis est iste Rex gloriae ? To whom
the bishop shall answer, Domintis fortis,
dominus fortis in praelio. At the third
time the deacon shall open the church
door, and the bishop shall enter into the
church accompanied with a few ministers,
the clergy and the people abiding still
without. Entering into the church, the
bishop shall say. Pax huit domui. And
afterwards the bishop, with them that are
in the church, shall say the I^itany. These
things done, there must be made in the
pavement of the church a cross of ashes
and sand, whereon the whole alphabet or
Christ's cross shall be written in Greek
and Latin letters.
After these things the bishop must
hallow another water with salt and ashes
and wine, and consecrate the altar.
Afterwards the twelve crosses that are
painted upon the church walls, the bishop
must anoint them with chrism, commonly
called cream. These things once done,
84
WIRRAL CHURCH DEDICATIONS
the clergy and the people may freely come
into the church, and ring the bells for
Having discovered the dedication of any
church, one is instantly faced with the
interesting problem as to the reasons for
the choice. This presents many difficul-
ties and at best can often only be guess-
work. No one, for example, appears to
know why the Parish church of Neston is
dedicated to St. Helen and St. Mary.
Compound dedications are not uncom-
mon, and the connection between the two
members is usually apparent. Thus many
churches are dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin and Child, and three churches in
England are dedicated to St. Helen and
the Invention of the Cross. Occasionally
the compound form is due to the union of
two parishes. Possibly that at Neston
was originally to St. Helen alone, and St.
Mary was added in order to obtain further
and more potent intercession.
In the case of Burton and Shotwick
Parish churches the geographical situation
has undoubtedly determined their dedica-
tion, for the former is dedicated to St.
Nicholas, the patron saint of ships and
sailors, reminding us that Burton was
85
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
once a port, while at Shot wick St. Michael
was chosen as a saint peculiarly protective
to places of military importance, for Shot-
wick Castle commanded the Dee fords.
St. Hilary's, Wallasey, is supposed to be
a memorial of that saint's successful war
against the Pelagian teaching, for tradi-
tion states that the church was founded by
St. Germanus of Gaul, who was sent to
Britain by Hilary to uproot the heresy in
this country. St. Bridget's, West Kirby,
is believed by some to owe its dedication
to St. Patrick, who founded churches in
Ireland, and naturally preferred to trust
to the intercession of one of his national
saints.* St. Hildeburgh's, Hoylake, which
is a modern church, is an example of tradi-
tional association, as the cell on Hilbre
was supposed to be dedicated to that saint.
It is open to question, however, whether
St. Hildeburgh is not a mythical person-
age.
* During the period of St. Bridget's fame, there was
considerable intercourse between Wales and Ireland.
This may account for the West Kirby dedication. It
may be mentioned that the Celtic Christians dedicated
their churches either to one of the Apostles or to
some local Saint. It is not improbable that St.
Bridget visited West Kirby. It should further be
noted that she was bom only five or six years before
the death of St. Patrick.
C. Brooke G wtnne.
86
WIRRAL CHURCH DEDICATIONS
Taking now the Wirral old churches in
turn, and considering the legends and
traditions which have gathered round the
names of certain saints, it will be found
an interesting study to seek in the fabric of
the several buildings reminiscences and
symbols of the dedication.
Thus in West Kirby church, over the
south choir in the chancel, is a three-light
window picturing Saint Bridget ; on the
left she is kneeling by a prie-dieu holding
a lily in her hand ; in the middle light she
kneels, while from the nimbus around her
there proceed flames ; in the right she
stands attired as a nun with a book in one
hand and a shepherd's staff in the other.
All three are traditional representations
of this saint. At one time a figure of St.
Bridget stood on a bracket at the east end
of the north aisle.
St. Bridget is remembered by 18 other
dedications in England besides that of
West Kirby, but in Ireland, of course,
her churches are almost numberless. The
virtues of this saint are unctuously set for-
ward in an ancient homily preserved in the
library of the Royal Irish Academy : —
" There hath never been any one more
bashful or more modest than that holy
87
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
virgin ; she never washed her hands or her
face or her feet amongst men ; she never
looked a man in the face ; she never spoke
without a blush. She was abstinent,
innocent, generous, patient ; she joyed in
God's commandments ; she was steadfast,
lowly, forgiving, charitable. She was a
consecrated vessel for keeping Christ's
body ; she was a temple of God ; her heart
and her mind were a throne of rest for the
Holy Ghost. Towards God she was
simple ; towards the wretched compas-
sionate ; her miracles and wondrous deeds
like the sand of the sea ; her soul like the
sun in the heavenly city among quires of
angels and archangels, in union with
cherubim and seraphim, in union with all
the Holy Trinity, Father and Son and
Holy Ghost. I, the writer, beseech the
Lord's mercy through St. Bridget's inter-
cession. Amen."
Many similar stories of saints exist
which deprecate the married state and
praise virginity, a phase in the history of
the church which has been suggested as an
intentional stimulus for the recommend-
ation of clerical celibacy. Thus it is
related of St. Bridget that she was so
beautiful that all men desired her. She
88
WIHRAL CHURCH DEDICATIONS
therefore prayed that her beauty might be
lost, and a distemper falling upon her
caused the loss of an eye. But when she
received the veil the lost eye and the old
loveliness both returned.
Thurstaston church is dedicated to St.
Bartholomew, but so little attention has
been paid thereto that the building does
not appear to contain a single emblem of
him. A niche over the north doorway
stands empty, and it is to be presumed
that the architect originally intended it to
contain a figure of the saint. The large
number of 165 churches in England are
dedicated to St. Bartholomew, though he
plays so small a part in Biblical history.
It has been suggested that the reason for
his popularity rests in the numerous
legends concerning his relics, as half the
churches on the continent in the Middle
Ages seemed to boast some relic of this
Apostle, and an arm was brought to
Canterbury by Anselm as a genuine
fragment.
Heswall Parish church is now dedicated
to St. Peter, though there appears to be
some doubt as to the original dedication,
which was lost in 1879 when the church
was re-built. Harold Young, in his
89
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
'* A Perambulation of the Hundred of
Wirral," states that it was a compound
dedication to St. Peter and St. Joseph of
Arimathea, these two being associated
traditionally with missionary work in
England. There are no suggestions of
the latter dedication in the church now,
but the side chapel is called the chapel of
St. Peter, and its windows represent
scenes in the Apostle's life. There is also
a small statue of St. Peter under a bracket
on the left hand side.
As has already been noted, the Parish
church at Neston carries the compound
dedication of St. Helen and St. Mary.
The former has a large number of dedi-
cations in the country, but no other in
Wirral, though that of the Holy Cross at
Woodchurch is an allied dedication ; for
St. Helen was the reputed discoverer of
the true cross, and the 3rd of May is set
aside in the Roman calendar as " Inventio
Crucis " to celebrate the day. It is stated
that Helen cut off a large portion
of the cross and sent it to Rome,
where there was built to receive it the
famous church of St. Croce. In
America numerous places bear the name
90
WIRRAL CHURCH DEDICATIONS
of Vera Cruz, because their churches
were believed to have contained frag-
ments of the True Cross.
Of the authenticity of this discovery
there is much doubt, but many facts are
known about St. Helen, derived, for the
most part, from the history of Eusebius,
a contemporary. St. Ambrose states that
she was an innkeeper's daughter, and this
was the general belief. Be this as it may,
Constantius, the nephew of the reigning
Emperior Claudius, met her and married
her, this resulting in the birth of a son who
became Constantine the Great, the first
Christian Emperor of Rome. For his
mother the Emperor showed the greatest
honour. She was styled Augusta and
Imperatrix, and gold coins were stamped
bearing her image. Eusebius states that
'*she seemed from her tender years to
have been taught by the Saviour Himself,"
and that, though nearly eighty years of
age, she " had a youthful spirit and the
greatest healthiness both of body and of
mind." Her visit to Jerusalem is histor-
ical, and while in Palestine she founded
the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
History records that she was a noble and
gracious woman, and worthy of canonis-
91
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
ation apart from her reputed discovery of
the cross.
Dedications to Mary, the mother of our
Lord, are the most numerous of any in
England, reaching the extraordinary total
of 2,335, this including the various titles
accorded to her such as " The Blessed
Virgin," ''Our Lady," " St. Mary, the
Virgin," etc. These are found at Birken-
head Priory, where there is the compound
dedication to the Blessed Virgin and St.
James ; at Neston and at Eastham. But,
as emblems of the Virgin Mary are to be
found in many churches not dedicated to
her, the search for symbolic treatment of
the building has not the same interest.
It may be sufficient, therefore, to state
that she is usually represented wearing a
blue robe, a veil the emblem of virginity,
and carrying a lily as the emblem of purity.
The name of St. Nicholas, to whom
Burton church is dedicated, is rich in
legendary ornament. He was born in
Panthera, a city of Lycia in Asia Minor,
in the third century, the son of rich
Christian parents. He is the patron saint
of mariners, children, of Russians, and of
wolves. Indeed it is stated that on St.
Nicholas day (Dec. 6th), wolves will not
92
WIRRAL CHURCH DEDICATIONS
touch the most tempting and harmless
creature, and that they spend the night in
such devout meditation that it is safe to
tread upon their tails ! St. Nicholas gave
lavishly the wealth which he inherited
from his parents, and there is a story that
in Lycia there was a nobleman with three
daughters, so poor that he was about to
send them forth to earn their bread by a
life of shame. But one night Nicholas
threw a purse of gold through the window,
and with this dowry the poor nobleman
procured marriage for the eldest daughter.
A second night Nicholas again threw a
purse of gold, and with this the second
daughter was dowried and married. So
also with the third daughter. Thus, St.
Nicholas is represented by three purses
carved on the choir-master's desk in Bur-
ton church. He is further pictured in the
left light of the east window, holding a
book on which rest three purses, and there
is still another representation of him
painted on a board and hung upon the
tower wall within the nave.
St. Michael appears to have been
ignored by the architects or restorers of
Shotwick church, and at Backford the
dedicatory saint is apparently held in no
93
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
greater esteem. But St. Oswald has two
churches in Wirral, Backford and Bidston.
In history St. Oswald was associated with
St. Edwin, each being slain by Penda, the
heathen king of Mercia. St. Edwin was
the first Christian king of Northumbria;
it was his Queen Ethelburga who brought
with her from Kent St. Paulinus as her
chaplain. In 627 King Edwin was
baptized in the church of St. Peter, York,
the first York Minster. In 636 he was
defeated and slain by Penda. His suc-
cessor, King Oswald, was one of the
greatest and best of all kings we have had
in England, to be ranked with the French
St. Louis and our own Alfred. He fell
in 642. His skull was preserved at
Lindisfarne.
At Bidston this patron saint is por-
trayed in a window at the west end of
the south aisle, and in a finely executed
wood carving in the central panel of the
pulpit.
Stoak church is dedicated to St. Law-
rence, who was a deacon of Rome and was
martyred in 258 a. D. by being broiled to
death. On this account representations
of this saint usually show a grid-iron.
Very little is known of him, but tradition
94
PLATE X.
P/iotoomp/t hy the Author
ST. OSWALD S, BACKFORD
(Notice Early English E;i.sl WiTulovv)
WIRRAL CHURCH DEDICATIONS
affirms that he was an administrator of
charities of the metropolitan church. He
appears in ecclesiastical history for only
three da5^s of his life. It was in the year
258, when there arose the persecution
under the Emperor Valerian. One of
the victims of this persecution was Sixtus,
Bishop of the Roman church, who was
arrested as he sat teaching in the ponti-
fical chair. St. Lawrence, who stood near
as a pupil, cried " Whither goest thou O
my father without thy son and servant?
Am I unworthy to accompany thee to
death ? Shall the priest go to the sacrifice
without his attendant deacon? " Thus
Lawrence parted from his master, tradi-
tion stating that he went his way
distributing money to the poor so openly
that he was brought up on the accusation
of possessing concealed wealth. Gather-
ing a crowd of the poor together, he
replied, " These are the churches' riches."
This bold defiance of the Roman prefect
resulted in his being tortured by roasting
over a slow fire. It is said that, in the
middle of this torture, he taunted his
persecutors, crying " I am done enough :
now turn and eat me." Thus died Law-
rence, the Stephen of the Western church.
95
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
There are no emblems of St. Lawrence
to be seen now at Stoak.
St. Andrew has always been a very
popular dedication, and Lower Bebing-
ton church is but one of 637 in this
country which are dedicated to him, a mark
of favour due more to the legendary
material that has gathered round his name
than to the Scriptural narrative. The
story goes that, after the gift of tongues
at the feast of Pentecost, the Apostles
drew lots to decide the places to which
each should be sent, and it fell to the
lot of St. Matthew that he should
go to Wrondon, or the City of Dogs,
whither he departed. There he was cast
into prison and sentenced to be executed
at the expiration of thirty days, but dur-
ing his imprisonment the Lord Christ
appeared to him and promised to send St.
Andrew to his succour.
Twenty-seven days afterwards, Our
Lord called St. Andrew and his compan-
ions and took them away in a ship, the
crew whereof consisted of Christ Himself
and two angels. They landed at Wron-
don and proceeded to the prison, where
the jailors fell dead, with the result that
St. Matthew and the other prisoners were
96
WIRRAL CHURCH DEDICATIONS
liberated, and immediately translated to a
mountain where St. Peter awaited them.
Meanwhile in the city the escape of the
prisoners was discovered, and lots were
cast to find the guilty person, who was to
be slain and eaten for food. But, instead
of the victim decided upon, his son and
daughter were substituted, and led off to
the place of execution where St. Andrew
met them, and by the exercise of prayer
prevented the sacrifice. The Apostle was
then denounced by the devil, arrested, and
put to torture, but the same night his
wounds were healed and the city inun-
dated. St. Andrew then escaped ; the
floods ceased, and the dead were restored
to life ; the father of the two victims and
the executioner being swallowed up alive.
This outrageous legend came from the
imagination of one Leucius Charinus, but,
though it was declared heretical by Pope
Gelasius as early as the vth century, the
story had gripped Christendom and re-
sulted in the extraordinary popularity of
the saint as a protector of churches.
The figure of St. Andrew occupies a
niche on the north side of the altar at Beb-
ington church ; the niche is ancient, but
the statue is modern. It is of particular
97
o
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
interest to note that on St. Andrew's day
the figure of the saint is illumined by
the sunlight through a high window in
the south wall of the chancel, a window
placed there apparently for that purpose,
a wonderfully poetic and beautiful symbol.
St. Andrew is traditionally represented as
an old man with a long flowing beard,
holding a cross saltire.
The last of the old churches to be noted
is St. Hilary's, Wallasey. Originally
Hilary was a layman, an official attached
to the court of the provincial governor in
Poitiers. He was married and had one
daughter. He was made Bishop of
Poitiers, 383 a. d., and he was chosen not
only on account of his piety, but because
of his strong defence of the Catholic Faith
against the Pelagian form of the Arian
heresy. This heresy concerned itself with
the relationship of the Son to the Father,
and so widely was it diffused that people
of that day talked of little else. Thus
Dean Stanley, in his " History of the
Eastern Church," quotes Eusebius : —
" Bishop rose against Bishop, district
against district. So violent were the dis-
cussions that they were parodied in the
pagan theatres, and the Emperor's statues
98
WIRRAL CHURCH DEDICATIONS
were broken in the public squares in the
conflicts which took place. The common
name by which the Arians and their
system were designated (and we may
conclude that they were not wanting in
retorts) was the maniacs, the Ariomaniacs,
the Ariomania : and their frantic conduct
on public occasions afterwards goes far to
justify the appellation. Sailors, millers,
and travellers sang the disputed doctrines
at their occupations or on their journeys :
every corner, every alley of the city was full
of these discussions — the streets, the mar-
ket places, the drapers, the money
changers, the victuallers. Ask a man ' how
many oboli,' he answers by dogmatis-
ing on generated and ungenerated being.
Inquire the price of bread, and you are
told ' The Son is subordinate to the
Father.' Ask if the bath is ready, and
you are told ' The Son arose out of
nothing.' "
Hilary was banished by an ecclesiastical
council to Phrygia, the precise reasons not
being clear. He was in exile for a little
over six years. It has been questioned
whether the Wallasey dedication to St.
Hilary is genuine, and the point has been
raised as to whether the present name is
99
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
not a corruption of St. Eilian, the Welsh
Pilgrim saint. In the church at
Wallasey, St. Hilary is represented in the
mid light of the first window of the north
aisle carrying a book and treading on a
serpent. This is his traditional represent-
ation, the serpent symbolising the Arian
heresy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
FRANCIS BOND : Dedications of English Churches.
J. BBOWNHILL : Ancient Church Dedications (Trans.
Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches., 1902).
FRANCIS ARNOLD FOSTER : Studies in Church
Dedications or England's Patron Saints.
EDWARD HXTLME : Symbolism in Christian Art.
E. GELDART : Manual of Church Decoration and
S3rmbolism.
SMITH AND WACE : Dictionary of Christian Biography.
E. S. FFOULEES : Art. Consecration off Churches in
Dictionary of Christian Antiquities.
W. E. SCUDAHORE : Art. Patron Saints. Ibid.
100
CHAPTER VI.
THE OLD FONTS OF WIRRAL.
" Pater Nosier, Ave Maria, Criede
Leren ye childe yt is nede."
An Ancient Font Inscription.
WHEN one looks upon the ruins of an
old house, such as that at Poole, or
upon some ancient relic such as Thor's
stone, Thurstaston, the most somnolent
imagination is stirred by the thought of
the past associations, and it is the habit of
most observers to colour what they see
with reminiscences of those stirring scenes
and incidents which they believe to have
been enacted on the very spot upon which
they stand. Yet the present writer ven-
tures to suggest that the same poetic or
historic imagery is rarely pictured by
those who look upon an old church font.
If the font be a genuine antique, the keen
archaeologist condescends to describe it
lOI
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
in some learned paper. If it is very
beautiful in design and craftsmanship, the
artist is willing to add his quota of praise.
But there, for the most part, the matter
ends, and the interesting local colour with
which most fonts may be painted remains
unheeded.
Even ecclesiologists seem to have paid
comparatively little attention to fonts,
while the carelessness with which these
venerable relics are cast into the church-
yard, the rectory garden, or even the rub-
bish heap, testifies to the unmerited
obloquy they have received. Thus the
old Norman font at Wallasey oscillated
for several generations between the church
interior and the rectory garden. The
font at Neston suffered similar treatment ;
at Thurstaston an old font of uncertain
date has stood for years in a lonely position
in the churchyard, where it is permitted to
usurp the lowly functions of a plant pot ;
and in the grounds of the Abbey Manor,
West Kirby, there was found a font which
probably came from the parish church and
seems to have been used as a drinking
trough.*
• This font is being removed to the Charles Dawson
Brown Museum, West Kirby.
C. Brooke Gwynne.
102
THE OLD FONTS OF WIRRAL
This very common and regrettable
treatment of fonts leads one to enquire
how it is that the reverence usually paid to
church fabric and furniture has been
denied to this particular ornament.
It is, of course, to be expected that the
harsh treatment meted to all ecclesiastical
things at the time of the suppression of
the monasteries would have been extended
to fonts. They, like the images, crosses,
and so forth, were exposed to the icono-
clastic fury of the Puritans, who further
showed their contempt by wilful desecra-
tion comparable to the historic attempt of
Caligula to sacrifice swine upon the altar
of the Temple of Jerusalem. Thus at
Yaxley, in Huntingdon, and in St. Paul's
Cathedral the Puritans baptized colts in
the fonts, while at Lostwithiel, Cornwall,
a horse was brought to the font and
christened " Charles " in contempt of His
Sacred Majesty.
These outrages read painfully to us now,
yet there was some extenuation for the
offences committed, since they were a
protest against the abuses of the pre-
Reformation church. History also re-
cords the destruction of at least one font,
that at Marden, in Kent, which was
103
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
demolished by the rector of Staplehurst to
prove the courage of his conviction that
" Infant baptism was a delusion and a
snare contrary to Scripture and the cus-
tom of the English Church." But no
such pleas can be urged in extenuation of
the ill treatment accorded to many fonts
in our own day. It is, of course, argued
that the old fonts were never consecrated,
but only the water that they contained,
though there are records existing of the
actual consecration of certain fonts as, for
example, that in Oxford Cathedral.
The fact is that the rite of baptism has
depreciated in importance since the days
of the primitive church. The early bap-
tisms were for the most part adult, a fact
which in itself lent a peculiar seriousness
to a rite that might be the first step on
the "crimson road to martyrdom."
Consequently the ritual was made
specially momentous in its detail. The
catechumen was first stripped naked to
symbolise the nakedness of Christ upon
the cross. Then followed a preliminary
anointing, after which there was semi-
immersion of the body, plus triple immer-
sion of the head. The laying on of hands
was then performed ; then the forehead,
104
THE OLD FONTS OF WIRRAL
ears, nostrils and breast were anointed.
The catechumen was next clad in the
white robes of purity and regeneration, in
preparation for the Eucharist which
followed. Afterwards, in white robed
procession, the whole body of baptized
Christians filed into the adjoining church.
Baptism did not originally take place
in a church. The baptism of Our Lord
Himself was in the Jordan. Philip
baptized the Ethiopian by the road side
(Acts viii. 38), Tertullian says that St.
Peter baptized in the Tiber, and the early
Christian missionaries baptized in streams
or lakes or even in the sea.
Many baptisms among the first Roman
converts occurred in the bathrooms of
private houses, and the early baptisteries
appear to have been modelled upon
Roman thermx. Doubtless open air
baptisms were more convenient in the days
when great numbers of converts were
baptized at any one time, but there was
also the feeling that baptism was the rite
of initiation into the church, and that no
uninitiated person should be allowed to
enter its holy precincts. This is the
reason why the early baptisms were con-
ducted in the church porch.
105
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Then gradually, the practice of infant
baptism increased, and by the vmth
century this had become the rule. Thus
in 789, pre-occupied with the peril in
which children appeared to stand who were
not baptized, the Emperor Charlemagne
ordered that all infants should be baptized
when one year old, and for this purpose
fonts were placed in churches. In Eng-
land a canon of the year 960 required that
baptism be not delayed after the thirty-
seventh day from birth, and from the xith
century infants were baptized within a few
days of birth.
An inevitable change naturally took
place in regard to the Church's attitude
to the rite. It was no longer felt to be
the most momentous epoch in the life of
the individual, and in importance it be-
came secondary to the Eucharist. Francis
Bond says " Of a function of such rare and
exceptional occurrence the Church could
make but little. On the other hand the
Eucharist could be pressed, and was
pressed, into daily use. Every day for
hundreds and hundreds of years the
Catholic Church has celebrated the sacri-
fice of the Body and Blood of Christ ;
daily celebration of the Mass is still of
io6
THE OLD FONTS OF WIRRAL
obligation to every priest of the Roman
Catholic Church ; so it was also in the
English Church before the Reformation.
It was on this solemn rite, then, far more
than on that of baptism, that the church
relied as a means to bring its people to the
worship and contemplation of God. For
this reason also the one rite waxed in im-
portance, the other waned — it could not
be otherwise."
With the steady increase in the custom
of infant baptism the great baptismal
piscina ceased to exist, and the font took
its place. But for a considerable time the
font reflected the piscina, and the earliest
types were simply tubs. Such is the shape
of the font at Burton, this font probably
being a copy of an older one. Then it
became common to mount the font on a
pedestal, a course obviously dictated by
convenience. For, when an adult came
to be baptized, it was easy for him to step
into the piscina and for water to be poured
over his head, but in the case of infants
a low font meant an awkward stooping
posture for the priest.
The font at Lower Bebington repre-
sents one of these early pedestal forms,
though it is considered by some archseo-
107
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
legists that the pedestal is not so old as the
bowl. After that, the Gothic modes
resulted in the more beautiful shapes that
are seen in the xnith, xivth and xvth
century fonts at Shot wick, Neston and
Woodchurch respectively. It is indeed
surprising that so many fonts escaped the
destruction of the Reformation days, for
many a churchwarden of that period
endeavoured to prove the soundness of his
Protestant principles by smashing the font
and substituting a basin for it, so that the
practice of such substitution had to be for-
bidden. Thus Elizabeth in 1561 directed
" that the font be not moved from the
accustomed place, and that in Parryshe
churches the Curates take not upon them
to conferre Baptisme in Basens but in the
font customablye used." During the
Commonwealth fonts were frequently re-
placed, and many a parish register records
such an entry as "bought a bassin to
cristen the children which cost three
shilling sixpence." But with the Restor-
ation the font came into its own again.
The attempt to attach an elaborate
symbolism to the design of fonts is now
deprecated. Thus the octagonal font,
such as those at Shotwick and Wood-
io8
THE OLD FONTS OF WIRRAL
church, was stated to embody the fact that
our Lord rose from the grave eight days
after the crucifixion, and doubtless the
emblems of the Passion which surround
Woodchurch font would give colour to
this view in the eyes of many people.
Another theory is that, since the old world
and the first man were created in seven
days, the new world of grace and regener-
ation and the new man must have been
created on the eighth day, of which facts
the eight-sided font is the outward sym-
bol. Circular fonts again are held to
symbolise the idea that in baptism imper-
fect man is made perfect. But so many
six or seven-sided fonts, and oval fonts
exist, as well as other forms, that none
of these theories are now regarded as
tenable.
The surviving fonts in Wirral may now
be described in detail, placing them as far
as possible in the order of their antiquity.
Of these Eastham would appear to come
an easy first, as it has been pronounced by
some experts to be possibly even pre-Con-
quest in date. Fonts would appear to
have existed from the ixth century,
though not in churches, and such as are
believed to survive are of the type of that
109
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
at Eastham, circular and without orna-
ment.
The font in Lower Bebington church is
believed to be coeval with the Norman
work of the south wall and nave arcade of
the building. The bowl is circular and
made of white stone, with a fillet below
the rim bearing a row of small open depres-
sions, the remainder of the circumference
being occupied by six plain panels of un-
equal size. The pedestal is an octagonal
cone.
Wallasey font is a massive circular bowl
made of local stone, and having an incised
arcading round the sides of round-topped
arches. Above is a dog-toothed mould-
ing, and below a cable. This font is of
early Norman date. Like the church it
has suffered harsh treatment, for in 1760
it was turned out into the rectory garden,
where it remained till 1834, when it was
restored. But a new font was given to
the church in 1856, and the old one sent
back to the garden, whence it was salved
thirty years later by Canon Gray. Of
this font Mr. Fergusson Irvine says that
it so closely resembles the one at Eyam,
in Derbyshire, that one is tempted to
believe that they were cut by the same
no
PLATE XI.
Phnt.iiJ'iit'lt 1'^ >!'■//■ Titinkiiiion
NORMAN FONT
BEBINGTON
THE OLD FONTS OF WIRRAL
mason. This font has now been placed
in St. Luke's church, Poulton, the parish
having been divided. It stands in the
baptistery at the west end and is mounted
on a new pedestal. At the back of the
bowl there is seen a place filled in with
new stone. This repairs a gap made by
Cromwell's soldiers, who knocked out a
piece of the bowl in order to use it as a
drinking trough for their horses, and pro-
vide a place for the animals' necks.
Burton font is of recent date, but it is
of a style similar to the xith century
Lincolnshire fonts. In one corner of the
churchyard of Heswall parish church there
is a xiiith century font of a sundial pat-
tern, and another xiiith century example
is found at Shotwick.
Woodchurch and Neston possess xvth
century fonts. The former is by far the
finest, though it can hardly be said to
deserve the extraordinary eulogium be-
stowed upon it by William Mortimer, in
his " History of the Hundred of Wirral,"
where he states that it is " almost unique,"
and that "there are not more than two
others in the kingdom of greater antiquity
or more expensive design." It is true
that this font is the only one of its kind in
III
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Wirral, but even so it is by no means the
oldest, as we have seen. The bowl of the
Woodchurch font is of the usual octagonal
pattern, supported at each of its angles by
a quaintly carved angel with outstretched
wings. The stem is sculptured with em-
blems of the Passion, namely, a flagellum,
a cross, a crown of thorns, pincers
and nail, and a mallet. These do not
complete the emblems of the Passion
which include the ladder, the thirty
pieces of silver, the dice-board and
the dice, the seamless robe, the cock, the
spear, the sword, the pillar and the
scourges, the hammer, the goblet of vine-
gar, the fist that buffeted Him, the ewer
used by Pilate, the cup of wine and myrrh,
the lantern, the lance, a rope or chain for
the deposition of the body, winding sheet,
and spices in a vase.
Of the old font in the churchyard at
Thurstaston, Dr. Ellis says, "It is im-
possible to determine the age of this ugly
specimen ; the narrowness of the bowl
in proportion to its height is probably an
indication of its being post-Reformation
in date."
Wirral fonts do not boast any extra-
ordinarily beautiful covers, nevertheless
112
THE OLD FONTS OF WIRRAL
the latter have some intrinsic interest.
The origin of the cover is perfectly well
known, and arose from the need to protect
the hallowed water from being used for
illicit purposes, for the consecration of
the water involved a lengthy ritual, includ-
ing such symbolic acts as the pouring of oil
over the surface of the water in the form of
a cross, the plunging into the water of two
lighted tapers, and its insufflation by the
bishop. And so the hallowed water was
allowed to remain in the font for a con-
siderable time, and was not changed for
each baptism as now.
But, unfortunately, the superstition
of the mediaeval age occasioned the use of
this water for magical purposes, so that it
was frequently stolen. Thus in 1236 the
Archbishop of Canterbury ordered that
fonts were to be kept locked under seal,
because the hallowed water was used in
magic, and in the first English Prayer
Book it was ordered that "the water in
the Fonte shall be chaunged every moneth
once at the least." It was the business of
the parish to provide both font and cover,
and in the locks which are attached to such
old fonts, as those at Eastham and Beb-
ington, we see the survival of these
113
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
customs and beliefs. Such covers were
usually of oak, and varied in design from
simple lids to the most ornate canopies.
A Gothic font cover of considerable age is
seen at Burton.
It was the custom in later days to place
the font in the nave, usually in the neigh-
bourhood of the south doorway, which
thus came to be known as the " christen-
ing door." Before the Reformation the
first part of the baptismal service was
actually carried out in the church porch,
and both the Sarum and the York Manuals
begin the baptismal office with the rubric
' ' First the child shall be carried to the
doors of the church." Then the service
began by the priest inquiring of the nurse
the sex of the child. After certain cere-
monies, the infant was invited into the
church with the words ^' Ingredere in
Temphim Dei ut habeas vitam aeternam
et vivas in saecvla saecvlonim. Amen " ;
after which the little catechumen was
carried to the font for actual baptism.
Tn the first Prayer Book of Edward VI
(1594), the ancient custom was still main-
tained. The rubric directs that " then
the Godfathers, Godmothers and people
with the children must be ready at the
114
THE OLD FONTS OF WIRRAL
church dore . . . And then standing
there, the prieste shall aske whether the
chyldren be baptized or no. If they
answere No. then shall the priest saye
thus : Deare beloved, forasmuche as all
men bee conceyved and borne in sinne,"
etc. At the conclusion of the first part of
the service (which included the signing
with the sign of the cross, and the reading
of the Gospel and exhortation) the priest
was ordered to '' take one of the children
by the right hande, the other being
brought after him. And cuming into the
Churche towarde the fonte saye : The
Lord vouchsafe to receyve you into his
holy household," etc. It is of interest
that the font at Burton once stood at the
east end of the church in the Massey
chapel.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
FKANCIS BOND : Fonts and Font Covers.
SAMUEL CHEETHAM : Art. " Fonts " in Diet, ol
Christian Antiquities.
JOHN W. ELLIS : The Mediaeval Fonts ol West Derby
and Wirral. (Trans. Hist. Soc. of Lane, and
Ches. 1901).
J. C. COX AND ALFRED HARVEY : English Church
Furniture.
DARWELL STONE ; Holy Baptism.
KATHERINE A. WALKER : An Introduction to the
Study of English Fonts.
CHAPTER VII.
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS IN
WIRRAL CHURCHES.
" A bedstead of the antique mode,
Compact of timber many a load,
Such as our ancestors did use
Was metamorphosed into pews;
Which still their ancient nature keep
By lodging folks disposed to sleep-"
From Swift's " Baucis and Philemon."
IN early days, when Wirral churches
were first founded, pews had not come
into existence, and the worshippers stood
or knelt on a hard damp floor of clay or
stone, though a stone bench in some in-
stances might be against the north, south
and west walls. The porch, however, was
always provided with seats so that those
who came from a distance might enjoy a
rest before service.
ii6
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
Later came the introduction of straw
mats for kneeling purposes, and we know
that straw and rushes were very generally
used for " strawing " the church. But
the custom of strewing straw and rushes
on the floor continued long after the intro-
duction of pews in order to assist cleanli-
ness, for roads in olden days were none
too good, and the worshippers must have
brought a good deal of dirt into the build-
ing. ,
West Kirby church registers record the
practice of rush bearing in that parish.
It was a festival which was attended by no
small amount of merry-making and rejoic-
ing. Various ways of celebrating this
event occurred in different counties of
England, and that of Cheshire has been
described by a correspondent of "Notes
and Queries " as follows : — "A large
quantity of rushes — a cartload — is collec-
ted, and, being bound in the cart, are cut
evenly at each end, and on Saturday even-
ings a number of men sit on the top of
the rushes, holding garlands of artificial
flowers, etc. The cart is drawn round the
parish by three or four spirited horses
decked with ribbons, the collars being
surrounded with small bells. It is
117
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
attended by morris-dancers fantastically
dressed ; there are men in women's clothes,
one of whom, with his face blackened, has
a belt with a large bell attached round his
waist, and carries a ladle to collect money
from the spectators. The party stop and
dance at the public house on their way to
the parish church, where the rushes are
deposited, and the garlands are hung up to
remain till the next year."
The custom of rush bearing ceased at
West Kirby in 1758.
"The term 'pew,' or *pue,'" say
Charles Cox and Alfred Harvey in their
"English Church Furniture," "origin-
ally meant an elevated place or seat, and
hence came to be applied to seats or en-
closures in churches for persons of dignity
or officials. But it is only of compara-
tively recent times that the term has gained
an almost exclusively ecclesiastical use.
Milton used the word to describe the
sheep-pens of Smithfield, and Pepys
applied it to a box at the theatre. Nor
was pew always used to denote a separate
or private seat or enclosure in connection
with churches even in pre-Reformation
days. Thus John Younge, of Heme, by
will of 1458 gave ' to the fabric of the
ii8
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
church of Heme, viz., to make seats called
puyinge x marks.' Nevertheless the
word 'pew,' in its church signification,
was for a long period assigned exclusively
to an enclosed seat. The earhest known
use of the term occurs in the famous poem
of the Vision of Piers Ploughman, c.
1360. Wratthe, in his confession, says
that he was accustomed to sit among wives
and widows shut up in pews, adding that
this was a fact well known to the parson
of the parish.
* i^imong topess anb ttJobetDcs;
3Jcf) am phJoneD geetc
l^parrobeb in puhacsf
tlTfjc parsion i}im fenotoett)/ "
" Yparroked " means shut up or enclosed.
Sermons in early days were very brief,
and the most that was attempted would
be little moral discourses. Yet the con-
gregation proved themselves restive even
under these, so that we find Bishop Bent-
ham in his Visitation articles directing the
people " not to walk up and down in the
church, nor to jangle, babble or talk in
church time, but give diligent attention to
the priest; " and, even long before the
XV th century writers record the irreverent
behaviour of the people who lolled about
119
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
and leaned against the pillars and walls —
as well they might if the services were
long.
Then arose the age of domestic comfort,
and the necessity for seats in churches
became pressing. The clergy had already
allowed certain wealthy benefactors to
occupy the chancel stalls (for the choir was
seated from very early times), and it
naturally became difficult to determine
who should be excluded. Then movable
benches and seats were gradually intro-
duced into the nave, though the poorer
people still went on standing. But it was
not thought convenient to have the whole
church seated, for the building was used
during the week for storing such com-
modities as wool, grain, etc. Thus the
Rev. J. A. Sparvel-Bayly, writing in
1896, says that an ancestor of his, who was
a churchwarden, was once consulted by a
non-resident Incumbent, who expressed
a not unreasonable wish to perform service
in the church of his parish. The church-
warden was obliged to reply that the
people would have had much pleasure in
seeing their rector among them, but the
weather had been unsettled over the har-
vest and the church was full of his wheat !
120
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
The oldest pews in Wirral are at Shot-
wick, great square enclosures once fitted
with locks and keys, as in Pepys' day,
when he wrote : —
" Dec. 25th, 1661. In the morning to church, where at
the door of our pew I was fain to stay, because the Sexton
had not opened it."
Perhaps some of these pews at Shot-
wick were even reserved for dogs which
followed the residents at the Hall to
church, and for which in post-Reforma-
tion days such provision was sometimes
made. People in those spacious times
treated church-going in a very different
spirit from that which now is encouraged.
The pews of the rich were even known to
be fitted out as rooms with fire places, and
curtained off completely from the rest of
the congregation, for sermons by this
time had become long and apparently
wearisome, and a discourse of several hours
duration was not exceptional. Indeed the
distinction between poor and rich too
often received an unwholesome emphasis
in church, and the arrangement of pews
for parishioners being worked on a social
system, created much bitter feeling and
occasionally even produced open warfare
in the parish. Disputes over questions of
121
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
precedency were even carried into the law
courts, and there exists a record of a
Cheshire quarrel between two families as
to "which should sit highest in the
church, and foremost go in processions,"
the following being the judicial decision
given by twelve of the ** most auncyent
men of Astbury " : — *' that whither of
the said gyntylmen may dispend in lands,
by title of inheritance, ten marks or above
more than the other, that he shall have the
pre-eminence in sitting in the church and
in going in procession, with all the like
causes in that behalf."
At a synod at Exeter, the follow-
ing order was made : — " We have heard
that the parishioners of divers places
do oftentimes wrangle about their seats
in church, two or more claiming the same
seat ; whence arises great scandal to the
church ; and the divine offices are sore let
and hindered. Wherefore we decree that
none shall henceforth call any seat in the
church his own, save noble persons and
patrons. He, who for the cause of
prayer shall first enter a church, let him
select a place of prayer according to his
will."
In Heswall church there is a curious old
122
l> -
PLATE XII.
i
t ,
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Pliotoortth^i l>y "• H. Toiiikinson
OLD PARCHMENT
HESWALL
SHOWING PEW AI-LOCATIONS
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
parchment printed in Black Letter show-
ing the pew allocations in 1780. In those
days men and women did not sit together
in church — a mode still advocated by cer-
tain parties to-day. The sexes, for
example, were separated at Neston when
the church was pewed in 1711, and the old
records of Bishops' Visitations contain
many instances of parishioners being
brought up for non-compliance with this
rule. Thus a certain Mr. Loveday was
presented in 1620 for sitting in the same
pew with his wife which, ** being held to
be highly indecent," he was ordered to
appear; but failing to do so *' Mr. Chan-
cellor was made acquainted with his
obstinacy." Many curious notices of
separation of sexes, and the restriction of
pews for women, occur in the old parish
documents, and a distinction was even
made between married and unmarried
women. There is a case recorded of a
young woman named Hay ward, in the
Diocese of London, " that she, beinge a
young mayde, sat in the pewe with her
mother to the great offence of many rever-
ent women ; howbeit that after I, Peter
Lewis, the vicar, had in the church privat-
lie admonished the said young mayde of
123
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
her fault, and advised her to sit at her
mother's pewe dore, she obeyed ; but now
she sits again with her mother." These
customs probably owe their origin to
Eastern influence.
Formerly in many churches there was a
" churching pew/' an institution which
gave rise to amusing incidents. Thiselton
Dyer, in his "Pews and their Lore,"
relates of two dashing young unmarried
women journeying from London by coach,
who were compelled by some accidental
cause to spend Sunday at a village on their
route. In the pride of their beauty and
finery they made their way to church and
selected the most conspicuous pew near
the pulpit. But they soon wished them-
selves elsewhere, when the clergyman
began reading the " Churching service "
of the Church of England, and they were
still more chagrined when they were asked
to pay the customary fee for this service.
Another story is related by the Rev. F.
G. Lee in " Notes and Queries." " In
a church near Oxford," says he, " which I
once served as curate, there was a special
pew, capacious and high, at the entrance
of the church, where only women
worshipped who desired the office of bene-
124
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
diction. One Sunday afternoon, three
Oxford undergraduates, arriving during
Evensong, hastily took their places in
this particular pew, when, according to
custom, towards the close of the service,
the parson (who was short-sighted),
looking up and seeing the pew occupied,
immediately proceeded ' to church '
these visitors, to the consternation of the
congregation."
Note should be taken at Shotwick of the
fine old canopied oak churchwardens' seat
at the west end of the nave. The inscrip-
tion on the front reads : —
3Rotjcrt Coxfion : J^aims! Gilbert :
CJjurcf) : Wiatritni : 1709
Jlenrp : Cotnin : Will : ^j^untingbon :
16 Cfiurci) : WBiathtnH 73
R. Coxson was a yeoman of Great Saug-
hall. James Gilbert was a Chester
chandler, who was granted the freedom of
the city in 1702. Will Huntingdon was
a small farmer. Of Henry Cowin there
appears no record. The pews at Stoak
are of the same period, but they have been
cut down and now present a modern
appearance. At Burton the original pews
form a fine oak panelling round the nave.
Something of the same sort has been done
125
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
at Shotwick, where the woodwork behind
the altar is from the old minstrels* pew
which stood in the place of the present
organ.
Church worship must have had its
picturesque days when the choir was
led by an amateur orchestra. It is
pictured delightfully by Washington
Irving in his inimitable " Sketch
Book." Describing Christmas service,
he writes, "The orchestra was in a small
gallery and presented a most whimsical
grouping of heads, piled one above the
other, among which I particularly noticed
that of the village tailor, a pale fellow with
a retreating forehead and chin, who played
on the clarionet, and seemed to have
blown his face to a point ; and there was
another, a short pursy man, stooping and
labouring at a bass-viol so as to show
nothing but the top of a round bald head,
like the egg of an ostrich. There were
two or three pretty faces among the female
singers, to which the keen air of a frosty
morning had given a bright rosy tint ; but
the gentlemen choristers had evidently
been chosen, like old cremona fiddles,
more for tone than looks; and as several
had to sing from the same book, there
126
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
were clusterings of odd physiognomies,
not unlike those groups of cherubs we
sometimes see on country tombstones.
The usual services of the choir were
managed tolerably well, the vocal parts
generally lagging a little behind the instru-
mental, and some loitering fiddler now and
then making up for lost time by travelling
over a passage with prodigious celerity,
and clearing more bars than the keenest
fox-hunter to be in at the death. But the
great trial was an anthem that had been
prepared and arranged by Master Simon,
and on which he had founded great ex-
pectation. Unluckily there was a blunder
at the very outset ; the musicians became
flurried ; Master Simon was in a fever,
everything went on lamely and irregularly
until they came to a chorus beginning
* Now let us sing with one accord,' which
seemed to be a signal for parting com-
pany ; all became discord and confusion ;
each shifted for himself, and got to the end
as well, or rather as soon, as he could,
excepting one chorister in a pair of horn
spectacles bestriding and pinching a long
sonorous nose, who happened to stand a
little apart, and, being wrapt up in his
own melody, kept on a quavering course,
127
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
wriggling his head, ogling his book, and
winding all up by a nasal solo of at least
three bars duration."
In the church records of Eastham, of
the date June 11th, 1764, there occurs a
reference to these days and customs.
" Being Monday in Whitsun week at a
legal vestry meeting for settling the
churchwardens' accounts it was afterwards
agreed that there be an instrument called
a Bassoon bought for the use and assist-
ance of the singers in the Parish."
Great dissension followed this decision,
and for some time the parishioners
appeared inclined to resist this impetus to
their musical education, but at last, some
months later, the entry is made showing
that the Bassoon was bought for six
guineas. It was played in the church,
with a bass-viol and a clarionet, to lead the
singing till some 80 years ago. In 1892
the Bassoon was still in existence. At
West Kirby parish church the musical
instruments in use up to 1807 were violin,
flute, bassoon, hautboy, and violoncello
In some churches what was called a
** vamping " trumpet was employed to fill
in quantum sufficit. The imagination
shudders at the very thought of it ! At
128
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
Shotwick the old fiddler's desk is now used
as a lectern.
The use of the pulpit in religious wor-
ship dates back to great antiquity, and,
though the Reformed church made much
of the sermon, preaching had been in
vogue from earliest times, though the
scholarship exhibited in the pulpit was
often of a very inferior order, for many
of the mediaeval priests and monks were
illiterate. The Dean of Salisbury, for ex-
ample, in 1220 made a searching visitation
of the parishes on the prebendal estates
which pertained to the Dean and Chapter,
and one chaplain, being examined upon
the opening words of the Mass,
Te igitur clementissime pater rogarmis,
gravely suggested that the word Te
was governed by Pater because the
Father governed all things ! Neverthe-
less the value of preaching and instruction
from church pulpits was strongly empha-
sised in the religious manuals of pre-
Reformation days.
But, in addition to this use of the pulpit
in mediaeval times, it was a place of read-
ing of the Bede Roll — a list of names for
whom the prayers of the people were
asked. For the due reciting of the Bede
129
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Roll, the parish priest usually received a
.gratuity of about four shillings.
The pulpit was also made the vehicle of
public information, and to some extent
supplied the place which newspapers
occupy to-day. Thus, within a short
period of Edward Ill's reign, instructions
were forwarded to the clergy as to the
line they were to take with regard to the
dread felt before the battle of Crecy, the
reports of a treacherous attack on Calais,
the alarm as to the presence of the
Spanish fleet before the battle of Win-
chester, and the crowning glory of
Poictiers.
That Wirral pulpits played their share
in such announcements is interestingly
borne out in the registers of Neston parish
church, where the vicar was enjoined to
give warning to all whose names appeared
on the muster roll to have their weapons
ready in case of an attack by the Spanish
Armada.
" With the Reformation," says Francis
Bond, " came about a great decline in
preaching. Sermons became such a
rarity that the term * Sermon Bell ' was
currently applied to a special bell which
informed the parishioners when a sermon
130
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
was about to be delivered. In the days
of Edward VI there were very few licensed
preachers; eight sermons were to be
preached annually in every parish church,
but four of these were to attack the Papacy
or to defend the Royal Supremacy. It was
still worse in the following reign. So
much alarm was felt lest the sermon should
exalt Geneva on the one hand, or Rome
on the other, that the Elizabethan Injunc-
tions of 1559 provided that four sermons
were to be preached during the year, and
that homilies were to be read on the other
Sundays. Preachers' licences were most
sparingly granted. An Elizabethan
clergy list of the whole of the diocese of
Lichfield towards the end of the Queen's
reign enumerates 433 beneficed clergy,
whilst out of this number only 81 — or less
than a fifth — were licensed to preach.
There can, indeed, be no doubt that there
was far less preaching during Elizabeth's
long reign than during any other reign
from the Conqueror down to the present
time."
Then came the inevitable swing of the
pendulum, when sermons were not only
plentiful but inordinately long, a two
hours' discourse being considered by no
131
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
means too much. The time was then
kept by means of an hour-glass fixed to
the pulpit. Nor did the congregation
necessarily complain. On the contrary
Macaulay says of Burnet, Bishop of Salis-
bury, that he was often interrupted by
the deep hum of his audience : and when,
after preaching out the hour-glass, he held
it in his hands, the congregation clamor-
ously encouraged him to go on till the sand
had run off once more.
The mediaeval pulpit was clearly in-
tended to be a centre of attraction, for the
best of sculpture and of carving was often
employed in its construction, often with
vivid colourings. Even the Puritan re-
action gave way in this respect and, though
they objected "strongly to bright col-
ours in vestments, altar cloths, and even
to painted glass, and desired to reduce the
House of God to a dreary greyness, they
apparently found it impossible to reduce
everything to neutral tints, and gave way
in the case of pulpit hangings and
cushions. It was easier to do this, as the
pulpit exalted preaching — the most
human part of the service. Bishop
Stubbs, when writing about seventeenth
century pulpits, says, with satirical hum-
132
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
our, * the cushion seems to have been an
object of special devotion.' The most
absurd sums were not infrequently paid
for this decking of the pulpit, and matters
even went so far as to make the neglect of
this adornment an ecclesiastical offence."
When the sermon came to occupy a
more prominent place in public estima-
tion, the pulpit naturally grew in
importance. Monstrous galleries were
reared round the church, the nave was cut
up like a modern cattle market into so
many closed pens or pews, and the whole
place was arranged for comfortable hear-
ing rather than for devout worshipping.
The people ceased to take much part in
the service, except as listeners, and prayer
and praise were left to the parson and
the clerk. Then it was that the " Three-
Decker " came into being. In the lowest
of the three pulpits sat the clerk, monoton-
ously mouthing the responses to the
prayers read by the parson in the second
pulpit just above his head. At the close of
the duet, the latter, donning black gown
and bands, ascended to the * 'Upper-deck"
to deliver his sermon of an hour or more.
'* This hideous abomination in the way
of ecclesiastical arrangements," says the
133
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Rev. G. S. Tyack, " generally stood in
the centre of the church, towering like
Babel up to heaven, and completely shut-
ting out the altar from sight, proclaiming
itself the only feature of importance in
the house of God. Happily it is now as
thoroughly a thing of the past as the anti-
quated war ships from which, in derision,
it was named ; if examples of either now
exist, they are curiosities only."
One remains in perfect preservation at
Shot wick. It stands in the aisle against
the north wall, and appears to have been in
the church since 1812, for in that year
there is an entry in the churchwardens'
accounts " taking the old pulpit to
Chester, and fetching the new Ditto
Ditto." The former pulpit, prior to
1706, stood " adjoining to the corner of ye
south chancel and ye south wall of ye
church," so that it was " scarce visible and
the words of the minister scarce audible to
those who sit in the north chancel, but if
the same (with the reading desk) be
remov'd and plac'd near the Dormant
Window in the North Wall of the Church,
it will be more decent to the place, more
convenient and commodious to the con-
gregation."
134
I'LATE XIII.
I'lioloiJrtil'li hy Alt'MinJfr Kfid
INTKRIOR OF SHOTWICK cniRCn
SHOWING THRIil':-l)K( KKK lULl'll AND
CHURCH WARDKNS ' IM.W
OLD PEWS AND PULPITS
Thus went the old churchwardens'
report. A commission was therefore
issued by the Bishop of Chester in 1706 to
'* James Hockenhull, Esq., and John
Basnet, yeoman, churchwardens, with
others, to remove the pulpit as well as to
take down ' all such Seates or Pewes as
are now irregular and ununiform, and to
make them anew and uniform.' "
At Stoak church an old three-decker
pulpit is still used, though so altered as
to be unrecognisable, for the upper of the
three portions has been detached and
mounted by itself. There were also
three-deckers at Burton and Eastham
some sixt}^ years ago, as well as one at
West Kirby where it stood in front of the
altar rails in ungainly mass. It was
removed in 1788.
It is curious to note that occasionally
these pulpits were mounted on wheels.
One of these is noted by John Wesley in
his Journal (Aug. 15th, 1781). He re-
marks that the custom was to shift the
contrivance once a quarter so that all the
pews faced it in turns.
135
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
7. C. BEAZLEY : Notes on Shotwick. (Trans. Hist.
Soc. Lane, and Ches., 1914).
J. A. SPARVEL-BAYLY : Art. " Pews of the Past "
(Curious Church Gleanings).
CHARLES D. BROWN : The Ancient Parish oi West
Elrby. (Trans. Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches.,
1885).
J. CHARLES COX : Pulpits, Leotems and Organs.
J. CHARLES COX AND ALFRED HARVEY : English
Church Furniture.
T. F. THISELTON DYER : Church Lore Gleanings.
Art. " Pews and their Lore."
FRANCIS SAUNDERS : Wirral Notes and Queries, 1892.
GEORGE S. TYACE : Art. <' Pulpits " (Antiquities
and Curiosities ol the Church).
136
CHAPTER Vni.
OLD BIBLES AND BOOKS IN
WIRRAL CHURCHES.
" That Sacred Book which long has fed
our meditations."
iWordsworth.
THE oldest Bible in Wirral is at Upton
church, a copy of the Genevan
version, commonly known as the
*' Breeches Bible," because of the transla-
tion of Genesis iii. 7, the Genevan Bible
reading " breeches " where the Author-
ised Version reads " aprons." * This
rendering, however, is not peculiar to this
Bible ; it is to be found in the Wycliffe
version, where the verse reads, '* And
whan yei knewen yat ya were naked ya
* NOTE. A " Breeches Bible " dated 1599 is also to be
seen at the " Memorial Church," Liscard.
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
sewiden ye leves of a fige tre and madin
brechis " ; and also in Caxton's *' Golden
Legend " where the line occurs, " toke
figge leuis and sewed them togyder for to
couere theyre membres in maner of
brechis."
The Genevan Bible was the offspring of
the Marian terror, when many notable
Protestants fled for safety to the con-
tinent. Among the many places there
which offered protection and hospitality to
the English exiles, was the Lutheran city
of Frankfort, but the spirit of intolerance
affected even this stronghold of Protest-
antism, and there arose a bitter quarrel
among the fugitives over the matter of
the revised English prayer book of 1552.
The Conforming party were prepared to
abide by the ceremonial requirements of
the book as it then stood, but the Non-
conformists, under the leadership of John
Knox, scented popery and superstition in
every page and declined to accept it.
Finally, in 1555, there occurred an open
rupture, and the Knox faction shook off
the dust of Frankfort from their feet and
betook themselves to the more congenial
atmosphere of Geneva, " The Mecca of
the Reformed Faith." It is to these
138
OLD BIBLES AND BOOKS
seceding Calvinists, the source of the anti-
sacramental movement which deepened
eventually into Puritanism, that we owe
the Genevan Bible, a version which had so
wonderful a success that no fewer than
160 editions passed into circulation.
This popularity was largely due to the
adoption of Roman type instead of the
Black Letter, in which all English Bibles
had previously been printed, and to the
division of the chapters into verses, which
superseded the older method of placing
letters of the alphabet down the sides of
the page. Apparently though, some of
the sales, at least in Scotland, were en-
forced, J. R. Dore stating that the Privy
Council passed a law " that each house-
holder worth 300 merks of yearly rent,
and all substantious yeomen and burgesses
esteemed as worth £500 in land and goods,
should have a Bible in the vulgar tongue,
under the penalty of £lO," i.e. double the
price at which the book was authorised to
be sold and four times that at which it
could be bought. To enforce this enact-
ment, searchers were appointed to go from
house to house throughout Scotland, and
each householder was required to produce
a Bible or pay the penalty. And, as it
139
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
was found that Bibles were made to do
duty for more than one house, the
inquisitor was granted a warrant " to re-
quire the sicht of their Bible, gif they ony
have, to be marked with their own name
for eschewing of fraudful dealing in that
behalf." Yet in spite of this pressure
many people " incurrit the payne of the
act " rather than purchase one.
The title of the Genevan Bible is as
follows : —
contepneb in I tfie olb anb ^etoe |
Wtatamtnt \ Cransilateb accor I bing
to tfjc Ctirue anb ^ttkt, anb conferreb
toitf) ti)e btat trans(lation£( tn btber£(
language£i I Wiit\) moutt profitable
anno i tationff bpon all tttt tarb
places;, anb otder ti|ing£; of great |
importance asi map appear in tfje
CpifStle to tfie reaber |
Jf care not, sitanb sftil. anb be^olbe |
tf)e sialuacion of tfie Horb, tti^ict) tie toil
fifjetoe to pou tfjisi bap."
These "annotations" ultimately be-
came the cause of great controversy.
They were certainly very prejudiced, as
might be expected in a Calvinistic public-
ation of that age ; for example Revelation
ix. 3 (locusts that came out of the bottom-
140
OLD BIBLES AND BOOKS
less pit) is explained as meaning "false
teachers, heretics, and worldly subtil pre-
lates, with Monks, Friars, Cardinals,
Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, Doc-
tors, Bachelors and Masters of Arts, which
forsake Christ to maintain false doc-
trine! " The note to II Chron. xv. 16
again has a political bias. The verse in
the Authorised Version reads : " And also
concerning Maachah the mother of Asa
the king, he removed her from being
queen because she had made an idol in a
grove : and Asa cut down her idol, and
stamped it, and burnt it at the brook
Kedron," and to this the editors have
naively added the comment *' Herein he
shewed that he lacked zeale for she ought
to have died," that is to say, King Asa
should have murdered her. It was this
feeling that culminated in the execution
of Charles I. The Genevan Bible con-
tains also four pages of an almanac, with
woodcuts over each month illustrating the
seasons, as follows : —
"STanuane tH^^ifi monetf) fisureti) tt)e beatf)
of tf)e hobie.
Jf ebruarie tE.'^ii momtt fith^ta ax tloittt.
idarcije ^otoe barip anb pobtoare.
iSlpril Heabe tfje itockta to f iellie.
ilflape Wiaikt tiie Uuing iitUiesi.
141
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
BTune ^fftaxt tte sif)tpt,
Julie iWabe fjape
augusitc 3Reape Come,
^eptemiier Wimt ot binebage.
October tE^iUt t^e grounbe.
^uemiire ^ije litltm make ijeup c^ere.
Becembre ^Un moneti) feeepetfi men in
ijoujfe."
At the end of II Maccabees is a list of
proper names chiefly found in the Old
Testament, from which readers are ex-
horted to choose names for their children.
This list is headed : —
" Whereas the wickedness ol time, and the blindness of
the former age hathe bene suche that all things altogether
bene abused and corrupted, so that the very right names
of diuerse of the holie men named in the scriptures bene
forgotten, and now seme strange vnto us, and the names
of infants that shulde euer have some godlie aduertise^
ments in them, and should be memorials and marks of the
children of God receiued into his householde, haue bene
hereby also charged and made the signes and badges of
idolatrie and heathenish impietie we have now set forthe
this table of ye names .... partly to call back the godlie
from that abuse, when they shal know the true names of
the godlie fathers and what they signifie, that their child-
ren nowe named after them may have testimonies by their
verie names that they are within that faithful familie
that in all their doings had euer God before their eyes ..."
Then in the list are to be found such
extraordinary names as the following : —
Ahasueros, Artahshaste, Beraiah, Casel-
uhim, Dositheus, Eleadah, Elichoenai,
142
OLD BIBLES AND BOOKS
Gazabar, Hanameel, Jephunneh, Keren-
trappuch, Mahazioth, Noadiah, Pedahel,
Retrabeani, Sabteca, Tanhumeth, Vopsi,
etc. Vopsi however is quite good !
The second oldest Bible in Wirral is an
early edition of King James' version,
which is at Backford. The origin of this
version was as follows : At the Hampton
Court Conference between the Church
Party and the Conforming Dissenters,
held January 16-18, 1604, it was decided
that a new translation of the Bible should
be made, and the resolution was proposed
by Dr. Reynolds, the leader of the Puritan
party, in which he " moved His Majesty
that there might be a new translation of
the Bible, because those which were
allowed in the reign of Henry VIII and
Edward VI were corrupt and not answer-
able to the truth of the origin." King
James answered that he did not consider
any English translation satisfactory, but
the worst of all the versions was the Gene-
van, some of the notes of which were
'* very partial, untrue, seditious and
savoured of dangerous and traitorous con-
ceits."
The copy at Backford was printed by
Robert Barker of London in 1617, and is
143
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
an early edition of King James' version
in large folio, printed in Black Letter.
The title is :—
"'tKtiellolpiBible' contepmng tfie ©lb
^egtament, anb tfje Mtto : ^ctolp ttmi-
lateb out of tfje original Wtmsatsi: anb
taiitt) ttie former ^ransilattonst btUgentlp
compareb anb rebts(eb, bp W maitsititi
s(pectal Commanbement iUppointeb to be
reab tn Ci)urci)e£(. iimprtnteb at Honbon
hp S^ohtvt ^Barker, printer to tbe Htng'st
JHofiit excellent illaiesittesf iSnno Bom.
1617."
The words are printed within a woodcut
(so frequently seen also in the Genevan
Bible) of the twelve Apostles on the right
hand, with large pictures of Saints Mat-
thew, Mark, Luke and John engaged in
writing. On the left are the twelve tribes
with their tents and armorial bearings.
The Agnus Dei is below the sacred name,
and the Dove above it. It has 68 pages of
preliminary, the prayer book, etc., coming
after the dedication and preface. There
is an error in the text which is character-
istic, viz., Jeremiah xviii. 3, where there
is *'whelles" for "wheels." Unfortun-
ately several pages have been stolen from
this copy, and for this reason it is kept in
a glass case where it lies open at the title
144
OLD BIBLES \SD BOOKS
page of the New Testament, which can be
read by visitors and need not therefore be
repeated here. The Bible at Backford is
of further interest because it is chained.
The custom of fastening books to their
shelves was formerly an important feature
of many church libraries. The practice
appears to have become common after the
injunctions given by Edward VI to the
*' Clergie and the Laitie," in 1547, in
which they are ordered " to provide within
three months after the visitacion, one boke
of the whole Bible of largest volume in
English, and within one twelve month
after the said visitacion, the Paraphrasis of
Erasmus, the same to be sette uppe in
some convenient place within the
churche." This injunction was repeated
by Queen Elizabeth in 1659, and, al-
though nothing was mentioned about
chains, it seems probable that the church-
wardens adopted this plan for the pro-
tection of their property. Later it was
quite common for benefactors to leave
their libraries to churches on condition
that they were chained. To-day the
books that remain chained are but few and
are chiefly confined to the Bible, Erasmus'
Paraphrase, Jewel's Apology, and to
145
E
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Foxe's Book of Martyrs. The last book is
at Burton, though it is now detached from
the chain and desk upon which it once
rested together with a Bible which has
since been lost.
The desk at Burton to which these
volumes were fastened stands with the
remains of the old chain against the wall
of the north aisle. It is of oak. These desks
are now rare, for, " as printing gained
ground and books obtained admission to
even the humblest of homes, a chained
book became an anachronism, and no
wonder that the stands to which they were
attached became so much useless lumber,
especially as such stands rarely if ever con-
sisted of ornamental or carved woodwork.
As early as 1622, an enlightened bene-
factor left a number of books to be stored
in the parish church of Rep ton, Derby-
shire, provided they were not chained, but
lent according to the discretion of the
minister and wardens. By the close
of the seventeenth century the custom
of chaining books came almost to an
end."
Foxe's Book of Martyrs now occupies a
secure place in the vestry at Burton, where
it shares company with an old Bible that
146
PLATE XIV
I'loiti nil oiiijiiiol I'fi.'iiiaii'inij hy llie Author
BlBLli DKSK AND CHAIN
BURTON
OLD BIBLES AND BOOKS
belonged to Bishop Wilson containing
notes in his own hand-writing.
John Foxe was born at Boston, Lincoln-
shire, and was educated at Oxford, where
he became a fellow of Magdalen College,
remaining till 1545, when he left on
account of his strong Protestant views.
He was ordained a priest in 1560 and
became Canon of Salisbury in 1563. He
is chiefly famous as the author of the work
known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, which
greatly influenced the progress of Protes-
tantism in England, and was consequently
bitterly opposed by the Roman Catholics.
The book was printed in 1562-63 by
John Daye, of London. The copy at
Burton has unfortunately lost its title
page, but John Daye's name appears at
the end of the volume. It is a first
edition, printed in Black Letter, and
bound in leather with brass corners.
There is also the brass attachment for the
chain.
The original title page read as follows :
'"€\)t ^ctti anb iHonumentcjf ol
Wf^tfit ILatttv anb perilous! ©apetf
toucfjing matters of tfje Ctjurcfj tofjercin
are comprefienbtb anb bi£(a)bereb tfje
great |3er£(ccution fjorrifalc (ITroublefi!
tbat fjabe been torougbt anb pvattisth bp
147
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
tiit 3BiOmisifit S^ttlattsi stpectaUpe in tbin
j^ealme ot €nglanb anb ^cotlanb from
tfie peare of our Horb a tiioufiianbe to tf)e
time mita) presient s^ttjereb anb colecteb
atsothn to ti}t true Copies; anb Witpt-
ingesf certif icatorie as toell of tf)e parties;
ttemsielbesi tiiat ^uffereb, anb alio out
of ti)e liisiiiop's! SSitqiittvi toiiic^ toere
tfje ©oers; thereof bp Jfoljn Jf oxe."
The last old Bible to be noted is Bishop
Wilson's copy, which now rests in the
vestry of Burton church. Bishop Wilson
was a native of Burton where he was bap-
tized on December 25th, 1663. In 1698
he was appointed to the vacant See of
Sodor and Man. Known as *' good
Bishop Wilson," he was remarkable for
his piety, his charity and his courage. He
carried out his episcopal duties with a
thoroughness unusual in his day, and he
is noted as a writer of many theological
works, one of which upon the Holy
Eucharist is still authoritative. He also
published portions of the Bible in Manx,
and the Notes which appear in the Bible at
Burton may have formed part of the
original manuscript of that celebrated
work.
148
OLD BIBLES AND BOOKS
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
W. BLADES : Books in Chains.
J. CHARLES COX : Art. " Desks for Chained Books "
(Pulpits, Lecterns and Organs).
J. S. DORE : Old Bibles.
T. F. THISELTON DYER : Art. " Church Libraries
and Books in Chains " (Church Lore
Gleanings).
H. W. HOARE : Our English Bible.
P. 7. A. MORRELL : Notes on Burton Parish Registers.
J. PATERSON SMYTHE : How we got our Bible.
149
CHAPTER IX.
THE ALTAR IN WIRRAL OLD
CHURCHES.
" L'autel Chretien est una table et un
tombeau."
Fleury.
FROM Pagan times the altar has ever
been regarded as the most essential
feature in religious worship, and so true is
this of the Christian church that it has
been affirmed that the church fabric itself
is really an accessory of the altar, and in
its primary function but a shelter for it.
Yet the early Christians would appear not
to have used an altar, but to have gathered
round a table when they celebrated the
" Lord's Supper," for it is recorded by
tradition that, when St. Peter arrived in
Rome, he celebrated his first Communion
at a three-legged table, brought from the
150
THE ALTAR IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
dining-room of the palace, and it is a fact
that there are several representations in
the catacombs of a table of this kind. For
a considerable time indeed the early
Christians continued to receive the Euch-
arist at a wooden table, and in the wooden
altar of the Greek church to-day we have
the Eastern survival of this custom, a sur-
\'ival symbolised by the communion table
of the Free Churches at the present time,
and by the old communion tables used as
altars in certain Anglican churches.
But the present Anglican form of altar
is not wholly based upon the " Lord's
Table " of the early Church. It will be
recalled that the Romans who persecuted
the first Christians did not carry that per-
secution to the point of violation of the
bodies of the dead, and the burial places of
converts were not molested. Thus there
arose the practice of holding secret
religious meetings in the catacombs where
safety was more or less ensured, and at
these meetings the sarcophagus of some
martyred saint formed a convenient table
for the celebration of Holy Communion.
Says Francis Bond, " Just as the wooden
table was connected in loving memory by
the early Christians with many genera-
151
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
tions of good Christian people living
peaceably in their habitations, so the stone
altar called to mind hurried, secret, peril-
ous communions of Christians of Rome
down in the noisome gloom of the cata-
combs, lit only by flickering lamp or torch,
before the altar-tomb of him whose fate
might at any time be theirs." Thus it
was that the author of the great " Histoire
Ecclesiastique " said that the Christian
altar was both a table and a tomb.
From about the fourth century to the
period of the Reformation stone altars
definitely replaced the first wooden tables,
but in the reign of Edward VI the latter
were ordered to be restored, and in 1550
the council ordered Ridley, Bishop of
London, and other bishops " to cause to
be taken down all the altars in every
church and chapel, and instead of them a
table to be set up in some convenient part
of the chancel, within every such church or
chapel." But the order was certainly not
carried out everywhere, for in the Injunc-
tions issued by Queen Elizabeth in 1559 it
is definitely stated that " in some other
places the altars be not yet removed."
Before then, however, a great number of
altars had already perished ; for instance,
152
THE ALTAR IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
in Lincolnshire, the returns to Edward
VI 's commissioners report that one altar
slab was converted into a kitchen sink,
another into a fireback, another into a
cistern-bottom, a fourth into a hearth-
stone, a fifth into a bridge over a brook,
another into a stile in the churchyard,
while a seventh was converted by a parson
into a pair of steps for a staircase. At
Backford there is an oak chest the lid of
which was once the " Mensa " of an altar.
At any rate the wooden communion
table became a feature of the Reformed
Church, and with this change and the
violent reaction of that period against
high sacramental views, there grew up the
practice of sitting at the communion table
in domestic fashion, many tables being
provided with leaves or other methods of
extension, so that a large or small gather-
ing could be accommodated. Gradually,
however, this came to be regarded as
showing a lack of reverent devotion, and
kneeling desks were interposed between
the seats and the table, while com-
municants, who were not able to find a
place thereat, knelt in the chancel, though
not at any altar rails. Thus Bishop
Montague in 1639 published the following
153
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WmRAL
directions : *' That the communicants,
being entered (into the chancel), shall be
disposed of orderly in their several ranks,
leaving sufficient room for the priest or
minister to go between them, by whom
they were to be communicated one rank
after another, until they had all of them
received." The table, it is to be noted,
did not stand as now against the east wall
of the chancel, but was turned and placed
in the middle of the choir, or even the
nave, so as to stand east and west.
Probably it remained against the south
wall when not in use.
With the accession of Laud to the
Archbishopric of Canterbury in 1633,
what were then the "High Church'*
views were promoted with vigour. Laud
directed that the communion table in all
churches and chapels should occupy the
same position as the ancient altar, and he
further insisted that it should be railed
in. This stopped the practice of placing
the table in the nave for Holy Commun-
ion, and had the further advantage, which
must read strangely to us now, of keeping
dogs out, for the people were accustomed
to bring these animals into church with
them.
154
THE ALTAR IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
But Laud's reforms savoured too much
of Papacy in the eyes of the Protestant
Party, and in 1643 he was tried for en-
deavouring to "alter the Protestant
religion into Popery," in order to " sub-
vert the laws of the kingdom; " and for
these alleged crimes he was beheaded.
In 1643, Parliament was supreme, and
passed an Act " for the utter demolishing,
removing, and taking away of all monu-
ments of superstition and idolatry," and
doubtless many altar rails were then
destroyed. Where, however, the Eliza-
bethan practice of moving the communion
table backward and forward to the nave
was retained, there could not have been
rails of any kind.
But, whatever the reason, many
churches were apparently without rails as
late as 1704. The tendency, however, to
put them up increased after the Restor-
ation in 1660, and, when this was done,
they were placed in a straight row in front
of the sanctuary as to-day, and not aroimd
it as in the Laudian or Puritan fashion.
To this period of history belong the fine
Jacobean altar rails at Burton and Stoak,
the oldest in Wirral.
The altars of the primitive church had
155
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
no reredos, and its appearance dates only
from the time when episcopal seats and
choir stalls were established in front of the
altars. Towards the end of the eleventh
century the altar was not pushed back
against the east wall, but there was erected
upon it a movable reredos. Nevertheless
it would appear to have been the custom
for the early Christians to paint a cross or
other symbol behind the altar, and the
modern reredos is undoubtedly a develop-
ment of this tradition. The term to-day,
however, is used loosely and may mean
either the embroidered hangings at the
back of the altar, or the actual altar back,
or even the step which is occasionally
found at the back of the altar slab.
At first, in great cathedrals, only the
minor altars were fitted with a reredos,
but in our parish churches the difficulties
which attended the fixing of one to the
High Altar did not exist ; though, if the
east window were built sufficiently low, the
stained glass formed a natural reredos.
This is the case, for example, at
Woodchurch. Many archaeologists con-
sider that this mode was preferred
to all others and, after that, the most
popular method was to suspend a hanging
156
THE ALTAR IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
of some textile fabric at the back of the
altar from hooks in the east wall. During
the Middle Ages this was changed with
every change of the sacerdotal vestments,
so as to conform to the colour require-
ments of the ecclesiastical seasons. In the
xivth and xvth centuries the sculptured
reredos became very common, a popu-
larity stimulated by the introduction of
alabaster, which was first worked near
Chellaston in Derbyshire, and this beauti-
ful stone is still a favourite and can be
seen very finely carved in the modern
reredos in Thurstaston church. In Bid-
ston Parish church there is a reredos of
mosaic executed by an Italian artist named
Salviati, and representing Da Vinci's
painting of "The Last Supper."
Mosaic has been for centuries a favourite
medium for ecclesiastical decoration, due
not only to its elasticity and beauty, but
to its durability, for mosaic is practically
imperishable.
In ancient times nothing was placed on
the altar but the altar cloths and the sacred
vessels containing the elements of the
Eucharist. "A feeling of reverence,"
says Martene, "permitted not the
presence of anything on the altar except
157
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
the things used in the Holy Oblation."
Hence there were no candlesticks on the
altar, nor any images or pictures. Even
in the ixth century we find Leo IV limit-
ing the objects, which might lawfully be
placed on the altar, to the shrine contain-
ing relics, or perhaps the codex of the
gospels, and the " pyx " or box in which
the Host was reserved for the viaticum of
the sick. Not even was a cross placed
thereon for the first eight centuries unless
during Celebrations. Flowers, however,
appear to have been used as early as the
vith century.
The burning of lights upon or near the
altar is a custom taken over, like so many
other ecclesiastical acts, from Pagan
religion, and used in Christian worship
with a changed symbolism. The practice
vvould appear to have begun not earlier
than the ivth century, an early reference
to it occurring in the records of one of the
Spanish ecclesiastical councils, where it is
decreed that " wax candles be not kindled
in a cemetery during the day, for the
spirits of the saints ought not to be dis-
quieted.'* In the time of Saint Jerome
we first hear of lights being used for
church decoration on festivals, "the
158
THE ALTAR IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
bright altars crowned with lamps thickly
set/* and from this point the transition to
ceremonial use was but a step.
Moreover, the fact that the early per-
secutions often compelled the Christians
to celebrate the Lord's Supper in secret,
at all hours of the night and in caves and
catacombs, made an artificial light
essential, and the necessary lights of one
age became the ceremonial lights of the
next. So in the viith and vmth centuries
we find the bishops preceded by acolytes
bearing candles before the reading of the
gospel, but they were extinguished for
the Celebration, a reminiscence of the days
of danger. When extinguished, they
were placed behind the altar, a practice
which naturally paved the way for altar
lights.
In the chancel of Lower Bebington
church and in the Lady Chapel are to be
seen several stone brackets built into the
walls. These were for lamps. They
were used up to the time of the suppres-
sion of the chantries in the reign of
Edward VI, a small endowment for keep-
ing a lamp burning before the altar being
confiscated by the crown at the same
time.
159
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
These lights originated about the vith
century, history supplying such incidents
as the story of a hermit of that period,
who, when about to visit any holy place,
used to set a candle before the picture
of the Blessed Virgin, trusting to her to
keep it burning until he returned. In
715 Germanus, Patriarch of Constanti-
nople, writing to another bishop says : —
" Let it not scandalize some that lights are
before the sacred images, and sweet per-
fumes. For such rites have been devised
to their honour . . . For the visible lights
are a symbol of immaterial and divine
light, and the burning of sweet spices of
the pure and perfect inspiration and ful-
ness of the Holy Ghost." In 787 the
second council of Nicaea gave its sanction
to the practice, already popular, by a
decree that ' ' an offering of incense and
lights should be made in honour of the
icons of Christ, of angels, of the Blessed
Virgin, and other saints."
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
FRANCIS BOND : The Chancel of English Churches.
EDWARD W. COX : The Architectural Hist, of Bebing-
ton Church. (Trans. Hist. Soc. Lane, and
Ches).
l6o
THE ALTAR IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
J. CHARLES COX : Art. " The Lights of a Media val
Church."
J. CHARLES COX AND ALFRED HARVEY : English
Church Furniture.
ALEXANDER NESBITT : Art. " Altars " (Diet, of
Christian Antiquities).
WILLIAM EDWARD SCUDAMORE : Art. " Ceremon-
ial Use of Lights " (Diet, oi Christian
Antiquities).
GEORGE S. TYACK : Art. " Altars In Churches "
(Curious Church Customs).
I6l
CHAPTER X.
OLD PLATE IN WIRRAL
CHURCHES.
*' The cup, the cup itself, from which our
Lord
Drank at the last sad supper with His
own,
Arimathaean Joseph, journeying brought
To Glastonbury, where the winter thorn
Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of our
Lord.
And there awhile it bode; and if a man
Could touch or see it, he was heal'd at
once.
By faith, of all his ills. But then the
times
Grew to such evil that the holy cup
Was caught away to heaven and dis-
appeared."
From Tennyson's " The Holy Grail."
162
OLD PLATE IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
THE most beautiful and essential
member of any collection of church
plate is the Chalice, the cup in which the
wine is consecrated at the celebration of
Holy Communion, and from which the
comnmnicants drink. At first these cups
were those used in every day domestic
life, and probably no special sanctity was
accorded them. That used by our Lord
at the Last Supper was, in all likelihood, a
small bowl, possibly of brass, without
handles, and held from below when drink-
ing, poised on the tips of three fingers in
the way shown on the ancient sculptures.
The very earliest chalices seem to have
been made of wood, for Pope Zephyrinus
(a.d. 197-217) issued an edict forbidding
its use and in favour of glass, and the
employment of wood was again declared
illegal by several provincial councils of the
vmth and ixth centuries. In 847-855
both wood and glass were prohibited
though the latter continued in popular use
to a much later date. Pewter appears to
have superseded glass, for we are told of
St. Benedict of Aniane (circa. 821) that
the vessels of his church were at first of
wood, then of glass, and that at last he
ascended to pewter. Bronze was used in
163
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Ireland, a very exceptional metal. It is
said that the Irish monks refused silver
because of the tradition that St. Colum-
banus was accustomed to use bronze in
memory of the bronze nails with which our
Lord was nailed to the cross.
At what period in the Church's growth
the form of the chalice became definitely
ecclesiastical is not known. The ultimate
exclusive use of the word " chalice " to
denote the Eucharistic cup has led to the
supposition that the classical form was that
specifically called " calix," a cup with a
shallow bowl, two handles and a foot, and
of large capacity on account of the num-
ber of communicants. The double
handles were of use for passing the vessel
round like a loving cup. Then the first
alteration was the omission of the handles,
so that the chalice took the form of a large
hemispherical bowl, with a round foot and
a knob on the stem for security in holding
it. At this stage in its evolution it
appears to have been the custom for the
priest to hold the chalice while the com-
municants sucked the wine through a
silver tube. In the xnth century the
chalice was marked with a cross to show
which side the priest held towards himself.
164
OLD PLATE IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
The foot of the chalice was at first circular,
but as the custom developed of laying the
chalice on its side on the paten to drain
at the ablutions during Mass, the circular
base disappeared in favour of hexagonal
feet.
English communion plate to-day
usually consists of the chalice, the paten,
and the flagon, but in pre-Reformation
times the articles were more numerous
and included, in addition, cruets for wine
and water, spoons, pyxes or ciboria, pax-
bredes and chrismatories. The pre-
Reformation vessels were small because
the wine was consumed only by the cele-
brant, and as water was always mixed with
the wine, the cruets were used in pairs,
one being labelled A (Aqua) for the water,
and the other V (Vinum) for the wine.
These cruets were superseded by flagons
after the reign of Edward VI. Spoons
were used for adjusting the quantity of
wine used at Mass and for the removal of
foreign bodies such as insects, pieces of
cork, etc., that might find their way into
the wine. The pyxes or ciboria were
boxes for the reservation of the Eucharist.
The paxbrede or osculatorium was a tablet
used in the Middle Ages as an object to be
165
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
kissed at the altar in substitution for the
fraternal kiss of peace. It was introduced
into England about 1250.
In the first prayer book of Edward
VI the rubric directs that, before
the communion takes place, the priest
shall say : — " The peace of the Lord
be always with you," to which
the clerks respond : — " And with thy
Spirite." It was at this point the priest
kissed the Pax, and when he had done so
it was passed round the congregation for
each one to kiss, this act having reference
to the simple precept of the early
Christians " Salute one another with an
holy kiss."^ Thus by the medium of the
Pax the priest and the congregation gave
one another the holy kiss of peace. The
use of the Pax was retained at the begin-
ning of the Reformation in England, and
enforced by the Ecclesiastical Com-
missioners of Edward VI in the following
terms : — " The clerk shall bring down the
Paxe, and standing without the church
door, shall say loudly to the people, ' This
is a token of joyful peace which is between
God and men's conscience ; Christ alone is
the peace-maker, which straightly com-
mands peace between brother and brother.
i66
OLD PLATE IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
And as long as ye use these ceremonies so
long shall ye use these significations.' "
The disuse of the Pax in the English
church, and (except in special cases) in
the Roman Catholic church, is said to be
due to the jealousies which arose among
individuals as to who was to have it first
to kiss, a case actually being reported of
a communicant breaking it in pieces over
the clerk's head, causing streams of blood
to flow, this in confirmation of a threat on
the previous Sunday when the aggressor
had declared : — " Clarke, if thou here-
after givest not me the Pax first, I shall
breke it on thy head! "
Chrismatories were boxes or caskets
containing three covered pots for holding
the three varieties of anointing oil, viz.,
the Sanctum Chrisma (Holy Cream), the
oleum Infirmorium (for the last unction
to the sick), and the oleum Catechumen-
orium for anointing at Baptism.
Patens were at first of very great size,
sometimes weighing as much as twenty
and thirty pounds. They were in use
from the earliest times for the purpose
of administering the Bread, and they show
the same variety in material as has been
noted in the case of the chalice. The
167
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
present form of paten, which serves the
double purpose of a plate and a cover for
the chalice, arose from the necessity of
protecting the cup from poisoning. This
subject is developed in dealing with the
Credence.
Pre-Reformation plate is very scarce to-
day, as the greater part was confiscated in
the reign of Edward VI, *' because the
king had neede of a masse of mooney,"
and this confiscation was followed by the
destruction of almost every object con-
nected with the ritual of the church on
which there was anything of the nature of
a graven image. A short respite from
this iconoclasm occurred in the reign of
Mary, but the destruction was continued
in the Elizabethan period, chalices
particularly being destroyed, because they
were too small for the use of the laity
from whom the cup was withheld in the
pre-Reformation church. Thus in the
reign of Edward VI, commissioners were
appointed to visit each county and enquire
whether there remained in the churches,
*' any images, offerings, candlesticks,
shrines, coverings of shrines, or any other
monument of idolatry, superstition and
hypocrisy" and if so, to destroy them.
i68
PLATE XV.
I'liotoiixil'h by tlif AutliLT
ELIZABETHAN CHALICE
WITH PATEN CC)\ER
STOAK
OLD PLATE IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
It was in this same reign that the cup was
restored to the laity.
At the end of Edward's reign the plate
possessed by each church consisted simply
of one silver chalice and a paten, the latter
also serving as a cover for the cup. These
vessels, like those of the early church, were
largely drawn from domestic sources, any
suitable cup being used, so that the
patterns of these early post-Reformation
chalices are of the greatest possible variety.
Even surgeons' bleeding bowls were some-
times used, perhaps with symbolic intent.
Towards the end of the reign of Charles I
a feeble attempt was made to standardise
the chalice, but this was not really effected
on any scale until the early years of Queen
Victoria, when the Gothic revival began.
From that time chalices have been made
more or less on the pre-Reformation
model, though very much larger as be-
fitted the use by the laity.
With the restoration of the cup to the
general congregation, there naturally
arose the need for a large vessel to contain
the wine which would be consumed where
there were many people partaking of
Holy Communion, and, just as domestic
vessels were at first used for the chalices,
169
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
SO ordinary tankards of any material were
employed for this secondary purpose.
But in 1603 the canonical law required
that the wine be brought to the com-
munion table in a " clean and sweet stand-
ing pot or stoup of pewter, if not of purer
metal." Many of the old flagons that
are used now were employed not only for
communion wine but also for ' ' church-
ales " and for serving hot spiced drinks
at funerals, as well as for sundry local
festivities.
Of such type is the old Cromwellian
tankard at Shotwick. It is dated 1685 ;
but in this connection it must be remem-
bered that dates on church plate are often
misleading, the date sometimes referring
not to the year of manufacture, but to the
date of the gift of the plate to the church.
Many articles of church plate, therefore,
are far older than their inscriptions. In
some cases old plate has been renovated.
This has occurred at Heswall, where there
is a Jacobean chalice with the inscription :
" tEW teas mabe neto anb enlargcb at
tfie expense of iWrfii. dllesg of <gapton
1739."
It was probably the old chalice that had
been in use in the church for centuries.
170
PLATE XVI.
Plwtoarat>h by If. II. Toiuktnson
OLD PEWTER TANKARD
SHOTWICK CHURCH
OLD PLATE IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
About the same time this family pre-
sented the silver paten to Heswall church.
It is inscribed :
**3rtie gift of ?!iaaiUiam ^Icgg €«(j.
to tfie $arisif) of l^estoaU in €itsiitivt
1740."
There is also a flagon :
" ^f)c gift of ^fjoebe toife of l^icfjarb
Babenport of Calbarp €^q. to tf}t
^arisfjionerfi of J^estoall in tfje Count?
of €i)tiif)ivt in tfje pear of our 3Retiemp=
tion X736."
But the treasure of Heswall church is
the beautiful old Gothic chalice, a photo-
graph of which is reproduced in these
pages. Its date is unknown. It bears
the inscription :
"3n bear memorp of mp ^obcfjilb
€lsiit Jgrocfelebanb, 3J, Cbbiarb 3^ae,
babe gifaen tbifi! olb Jianisb Cbalice to
tbe Cbapel of ^t $eter at l^t^aU,
built bp ber jFatber anb iHotber ; 29tb
^obember 1893."
At Burton the old plate is lost, tradition
stating that it lies buried somewhere in
the churchyard, a common effort of con-
cealment in the iconoclastic days of the
Reformation. The present plate is late
171
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
xviiith century and was the gift of
Richard Congreve in 1809.
According to the inventory of church
goods in Wirral in the reign of Edward
VI, 1549-1550, Shotwycke "had one
chales," but, unfortunately, it seems to
have been lost or stolen in the Civil War,
for on the 22nd December, 1665, the
churchwardens were presented in the
ecclesiastical court, *' because there were
no vessels for the Communion." The
present chalice is regarded as unique. It
is 5f inches in height, the bowl being 3j
inches in diameter at the top and bearing
the inscription :
" STotn ^alt WBiUiam ^xiitot
Ct)urcf)toarben£( o! tfje ^artsfi) of
^fjottDicfe 1685."
The pewter flagon has the same inscrip-
tion as the chalice.
Another beautiful survival in Wirral is
the Elizabethan chalice at Stoak, now too
frail to be used, but treasured at the time
of writing in the local bank. Both these
chalices are pictured in these pages. At
Stoak, too, is an old silver paten presented
to the church in 1772 by John Grace of
Whitby.
At Backford the plate in use is modern,
172
PLATE XVII.
f'liolot/riil'/i h\ W. II. Toinkiiison
THE SHOTWICK CHALICE
OLD PLATE L\ WIRRAL CHURCHES
but the church also possesses two Georgian
chalices of heavy goblet pattern.
At Bebington there are two beautiful
old chalices of nearly identical design,
though one is very much larger than the
other. The bigger of the two bears the
date 1737, and the inscription : —
" STofjn 0xttn WBiiiimm ^tanlep
Ct)urci)toartien£f."
The smaller is believed to be the older.
It bears no date or names, but on the
bowl is engraved the monogram I.H.S.
within a radiating sun.
At Woodchurch is a fine old silver
chalice with the inscription round the
rim :
" tCfje Communion Cup of ?E2ioolicf)urcf)e,
?S!Killiam |!^all stomas; Couentrte
Cturcfttoarlienfi 1625."
Lastly in the Parish of Overchurch,
usually known as Upton, there is in the
present church the chalice that came from
the old Norman building that stood near
the Upton Moreton road, an account of
which has already been given in the
*' Beauty and Interest of Wirral." This
cup was presented apparently by the
second son of Peter Bold of Upton, who
173
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
died October 25th, 1605. It bears upon
the bowl the coat of arms borne by the
Bold family and an inscription :
"Carolu2! Polb, lainsi ietxi i@olb be
^ton armisere bebit Ijunc caltcem
ttdtfiit ibibem eobem tempore bebtt
iUisf Jiibliam 1618."
Accompanying the chalice is a small paten
with the letters C.B. engraved upon the
base with a graceful rope work pattern.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
CHAS. JAMES JACKSON : History of English Plate
Ecclesiastical and Seciilar.
BEGINALD THSELFALL BAILEY : Medisval Paz.
F. C. BEAZLEY : The Overchurch Chalice. (Trans.
Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches., 1912). Notes
on Shotwick. (Ibid 1914).
FER6USS0N IRVINE AND F. C. BEAZLEY : Notes on
Woodchurch. (Ibid 1901).
FRANCIS BOND : The Chancel of English Churches.
Mgr. DUCHESNE : Christian Worship, its Origin and
Evolution.
ALFRED JONES : Introduction to the Church Plate of
the Diocese of Bangor.
ALEXANDER NESBITT : Art. " ChaUce " (Diet, of
Christian Antiquities).
Art. " Plate " (Encycl. Brit.).
174
CHAPTER XI.
CHANCEL RELICS IN WIRRAL
PARISH CHURCHES.
" Habeamus ergo cur am
Circa Christi sepulchuratn
Vigilando noctibus ;
JJt, cum secum vigilamus,
In aeterno valeamus
Auspiciis celestibus."
An Ancient Hymn.
THE survivals of ancient times belong-
ing to the chancels of the old parish
churches of Wirral include the Easter
Sepulchre, the Piscina, the Credence, the
Aumbry and the Sedilia. The first of
these is found in at least one of our
churches, namely Neston, where a small
example was lying recently as a detached
stone by the font, though the original site
of the masonry must have been the chan-
175
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
eel. Three forms of the Easter Sepulchre
seem to have been in use in mediaeval days,
of which the most common was a tempor-
ary structure of wood. These would
naturally suffer easy and complete destruc-
tion at the time of the Reformation. A
second type was an altar tomb, and the
third, the one surviving to-day in Wirral,
a special structure of masonry built with a
flat slab and a low arch, in imitation of the
ledge on which the body is laid in a
Hebrew rock-hewn tomb.
The ceremonies of the Easter Sepulchre
go back to the vinth century and continue
up to the time of the Reformation and
even a little later, for they were revived
under Queen Mary, though finally sup-
pressed in the reign of Elizabeth. The
ritual attaching to the Sepulchre was
elaborate, the essential act being the con-
veyance of the cross thereto and the laying
of it in the Sepulchre with great devotion.
Upon the cross was placed the figure of
our Lord and upon His breast again the
Sacrament of the altar. Lights were
then set up, the watching of which was a
very solemn event. It is thus described
by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, ll.d., f.s.a.,
" The perpetual lamp before the Sacra-
176
CHANCEL RELICS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
ment was taken down and affixed to a
stand (often of considerable magnitude
and beauty) in front of the Sepulchre.
Other lights were frequently kindled at the
same place, and the Sepulchre was
solemnly watched from the time of its
erection until the dawn of Easter, when
the Host was placed upon or over the altar.
This watching of the Sepulchre was a paid
service usually done by two men, probably
serving in watches alternately, and entries
for their payment occur in almost every
known churchwarden's book of pre-
Reformation date. This watching had its
utilitarian advantage as well as its symbolic
signification, for it became customary to
offer a great number of tapers to be burnt
before the Sepulchre, so that it would be
necessary to have someone on the spot
night and day, for fear of fire, and to see
to the frequent extinguishing or renewal
of these smaller lights.
On Easter Eve the perpetual light that
had been removed to the front of the
Sepulchre, and all other lights there, or
that might perchance happen to be any-
where else in the church, were solemnly
extinguished. The hallowed or holy fire
was then kindled in the church porch by
177
II
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
means of a crystal or burning glass, if the
sun was bright, and, if not, by a new flint
and steel. This fire was blessed by the
priest, and from it was first kindled the
great Paschal Candle, and afterwards the
perpetual lamp, and other lamps or
candles in the church according as light
was required. The devout had let their
hearth fires die out at home, and hastened
to the church to obtain fresh light from
the hallowed fire for their renewal.
The immense size of the Paschal Candle
has often been explained ; in some of our
cathedral and abbey churches it was
simply colossal, the one for the abbey
church of Westminster weighing 300 lbs.
Fifteen pounds was a usual weight for one
of our smaller English country parish
churches.
This great taper, which was placed close
to the altar, was always burnt in English
churches throughout the octave of Easter,
at matins, mass and vespers, and some-
times it appears to have kept alight con-
tinuously, and down to Holy Thursday.
At the same time that the Paschal candle
was made, the font taper was usually con-
structed. It was solemnly conveyed
down the church at Easter, and seems to
178
CHANCEL RELICS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
have been placed in a locker by the font,
to be ready for ceremonial use at baptisms
throughout the year."
In addition to this solemn ritual there
was also performed a '* Resurrection
Play," an account of which is given by
Bishop Trollope as follows : —
" Three canon deacons, robed in
dalmatics and amices, having on their
heads women's attire, carrying a little
vessel, come through the middle of the
choir, and hurrying with downcast looks
towards the Sepulchre, together say,
* Who shall roll away this stone for us? '
This over, a boy dressed in white, like
an angel, and holding a wand in his hand,
says before the altar, * Whom seek ye in
the sepulchre? ' Then the Marys answer,
' The crucified Jesus of Nazareth ' Then
says the angel, ' He is not here, for He is
risen ' ; showing the place with his finger.
This done, the angel departs very quickly,
and two priests in tunics, from the higher
seat, sitting within the sepulchre, say,
' Woman, why weepest thou? whom seek-
est thou?' The third woman answers
thus, ' Sir, if thou hast taken Him hence,
tell us.' Then says the woman, showing
the cross, ' Because they have taken away
179
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
my Lord.' Then the two seated priests
say, ' Whom seek ye women? ' Then the
Marys kiss the spot and afterwards go
forth from the sepulchre.
In the meantime a priest canon, repre-
senting the Lord, in alb and stole, holding
a cross, meeting them at the left corner
of the altar says, ' Mary,' which as soon as
she has heard, she falls quickly at His feet,
and with a loud voice says, ' Rabboni.'
Then the priest, restraining her, says,
' Touch me not.' This over the priest
appears again at the right hand corner of
the altar, and says to those passing across
before the altar, ' Hail, fear not.' This
done he hides himself; and the women
hearing this, gladly bow before the altar
turned toward the choir, and sing the
verse, ' Hallelujah ; the Lord hath risen.
Hallelujah.' This done the archbishop or
priest before the altar with the thurible
says aloud, ' We praise Thee, O Lord.'
And thus the office is finished."
The Piscina is a drain built in the south
wall of the chancel, so that the water used
for various ablutions at the altar passes
through the wall or the floor into consec-
rated ground. It was styled indifferently
i8o
CHANCEL RELICS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
" piscina," " lavacrum," " sacrarium "
or " lavatory." It was not intended for
the washing of hands, for that was usually
done by the celebrant in the vestry
before the service, but for the sacramental
vessels.
At the altar the simplest form of the
ablutions was the pouring of water over
the fingers of the celebrant, using two
bowls, and this water was afterwards
deemed particularly efficacious as a
medicine for fever. In the Ponti-
fical Mass four sets of ablutions were
performed. Even then it is by no
means certain that the piscina was used,
but rather that it was reserved for the
chalice which was always rinsed at the altar
with wine and afterwards washed at the
piscina with water. Pope Leo IV, about
850, directed that a place was to be pro-
vived near the altar for the disposal of the
water used for the ablution of the vessels
and for the priest's hands after Mass. In
the xiiith century the preliminary washing
of the priest's hands before the canon of
the Mass was enjoined, and hence came
about the two drains and basins, side b\^
side. But in the xivth century the
custom became general of the celebrant
i8i
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
drinking the ablution ; hence the reversion
to the single drain.
In old Wirral churches several piscinas
are seen to-day, the most perfect example
existing at West Kirby where the bowl
is beautifully made of red marble, pierced
in the centre for the drain. At Backford
there is also one in the chancel, but the
bowl has been replaced by a stone ledge,
on which stands a small reading desk. At
Bebington there are two piscinas, one in
the south wall of the chancel covered by a
four-centred moulded arch, and another at
the east end of the south aisle. At Wood-
church one stands in the south aisle wall.
The presence of these niches is proof that
altars at one time stood near them.
" The low Latin term * credentia,' "
says Francis Bond, " and the English
* credence ' were originally applied to a
side table or sideboard, on which vessels
and dishes were placed ready for being
served at table. Thus Jewell, in 1611
says : * While the Pope is sitting at the
table, the noblest man within the Court
shall be brought to the Pope's ' credence '
to give him water.' Ecclesiologically it
signifies the small side table or the shelf
182
CHANCEL RELICS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
on which the Eucharistic elements are
placed previous to consecration. Thus
Prynne in 1646 says : ' Lo here in this
place and chapel you have a credentia or
side table.' The derivation of the word
is clearly from the Latin * credere.'
But it is a long cry from the Latin
' credere ' — to trust or believe to
* credentia ' — a side table. The link
is to be found in the precautions that
used to be taken in order that a
man might trust his meat and drink at
table, and not only at table, but at the
altar too. For not even the wine in the
chalice was always safe. Bower says that
in 1055 a sub-deacon put poison into the
chalice while Pope Victor II celebrated
Mass, and that he was only saved, because,
by a miracle, he was unable to lift up the
chalice. Nor has it been always safe in
modern times. In 1877 the Archbishop
of Quito is said to have been poisoned by
strychnine, and there was another case in
France in 1879, where many persons
suffered from arsenic mingled with the
sacred wafer by a confectioner.
'' In the Pontifical of Pope Leo IV,
who died in 1522, those who tested
the elements are called ' credentiarii.'
183
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Martene says that he had himself wit-
nessed the same rite in the chm'ch of St.
Dennis, when a Bishop celebrated, in the
solemn anniversaries of the Kings of
France. To this day at Pontifical Mass
at St. Peter, tables are placed in the pres-
bytery, and the wine and water are first
tested by the Pope's butler, and again by
the principal taster, a Bishop, with his
face turned towards the Pope.
" Therefore, both in the hall and in the
church, it was desirable to have a tester or
taster, or, as he is called in Italian, a
' credenziere.' This credenzer tasted
the food and drink placed on a side table
on the dais of the hall ; and a side table
similarly placed in the chancel of the
church was also called a ' credence,' and
was used for similar purposes. That
this is the process by which the
meaning of ' credentia ' has developed
from ' trust ' to ' side table ' is clear
from the words of J. Russell, who writing
in 1460 says : ' Credence is used, and
tasty nge for drede of poseynge.' "
An old credence ledge is to be seen at
Burton built into the chancel wall. Fre-
quently a slab was placed over the piscina,
for the architecture of these niches was
184
PLATE XVIII,
Pliotooruph by It . //. Tomkm.wn
CHANCEL CHAIR
Made frum the original Jacobean altar rails
WITH AUMBRY
BACKFORD CHURCH
CHANCEL RELICS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
often identical. Nor can the absence of a
drain be accepted as proof of a credence,
for some piscina niches were supplied with
basins placed upon the stone ledge.
An Aumbry was a cupboard in the wall
near the altar, and was used for various
purposes. One of these was the reserv-
ation of the Sacrament, according to the
recommendation " Upon the right hande
of the highe aultar, there should be an
amorie either cut into the wall or framed
upon it, in the whiche thei would have the
sacrement of the Lorde's Bodye ; the Holy
Oyle for the sicke and Chrismatorie, alwai
to be locked."
The Aumbry was also a convenient
place for the priests' vestments, for saintly
relics, or, in later times, for parish
registers and accounts. The word is
derived from the Latin " armarium "
meaning a cupboard or chest. Only one
survival is seen in Wirral to-day, viz., at
Backford, where there is a small recess at
the west end of the south chancel and
evident signs of the place where hinges
were affixed for the door. It was not
customary to ornament aumbries, which
185
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
seems curious seeing that they sometimes
contained the Reserved Elements.
The Sedilia, the plural of " sedile,"
were seats placed on the south or
** Epistle side " of the altar for
the celebrant and others while certain
portions of the Mass were being sung by
the choir. Generally there were three
and they were reserved for the cele-
brant, the deacon and the subdeacon,
though at West Kirby there appear only
to have been two. In Shotwick vestry, in
the south wall, is a plain rectangular recess
which is considered to have been a single
sedile, which is more uncommon still.
Triple sedilia are seen in several of the
Wirral old churches.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
FRANCIS BOND : The Chancel ol the English Churches.
J. CHARLES COX : Art. " The Lights of a Mediaeval
Church." (Curious Church Gleanings).
J. CHARLES COX AND ALFRED HARVEY : English
Church Furniture.
EDMUND VENABLES : Art. " Easter Ceremonies."
(Diet, of Christian Antiquities).
H, F. FEASEY : Ancient Holy Week Ceremonial.
J. E. VAUX : Church Polk Lore.
J. W. LEGO : English Church Customs.
GEORGE CLINCH : Old English Churches.
l86
CHAPTER XII.
OLD WOOD-CARVINGS IN
WIRRAL CHURCHES.
" It is not less the boast of some styles that
they can bear ornament, than of others
that they can do without it; but we do
not often enough reflect that those very
styles, of so haughty simplicity, owe
part of their pleasureableness to con-
trast, and would be wearisome if uni-
versal. They are but the rests and
monotones of the art; it is to its far
happier, far higher, exaltation that we
owe these fair fronts of variegated
mosaic, charged with wild fancies and
dark hosts of imagery, thicker and
quainter than ever filled the depth of
niidsummer dream; those vaulted gates,
trellised with close leaves ; those window
labyrinths of twisted tracery and starry
light; those misty masses of multitudin-
ous pinnacle and diademed tower; the
only witnesses, perhaps, that remain to
us of the faith and fear of nations."
Ruskin.
187
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
WITHIN the chancel of most old
parish churches, and Wirral is no
exception, there are generally to be found
seats or stalls exhibiting a considerable
richness and beauty in their wood-carvings,
and the question naturally arises for whom
were these elaborate seats made and who
sat in them-
There were three places of honour in
the old chancels, and in each case that
place was to the right, in accordance with
Psalm ex. 1, " Sit thou on my right
hand," and because the Creed records that
the Son " sitteth on the right hand of God
the Father Almighty."
Thus the order of precedence was first
the right hand, or north side of the altar ;
second the seat to the right on the south
side of the entrance to the chancel through
the choir doorway ; and third the extreme
right to the east or nearest the altar of the
south row of stalls. In the sanctuary, the
Lord Christ was conceived to be in real,
corporeal presence, face to face with His
people. His right hand to the north, His
left hand to the south. In the sanctuary,
therefore, within the altar rails, the place
of honour was on the north, and to this day
when a Bishop visits a parish church his
i88
OLD WOOD-CARVINGS IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
chair is placed north of the altar. When
a Bishop is not present, the Incumbent of
the parish has the right to occupy this
seat. That at Backford is illustrated in
these pages. It was made from the old
altar rails which were in the church 300
years ago. Other sanctuary chairs deserv-
ing of special notice are at Lower
Bebington and at Burton.
The most important seats in the chancel
apart from those in the Sanctuary are the
stalls, reserved originally for the clergy,
the laity being rigorously excluded. In
a council about 683, however, exception
was made in favour of the Roman
Emperor, though St. Ambrose gained
great applause for denying this privilege
to Theodosius. But it was a perilous
thing to exclude emperors, and what had
to be conceded to them was naturally
claimed by princes, and what in turn was
conceded to princes was promptly claimed
by nobles. Thus in Scotland in 1225 an
episcopal order allowed king and nobles
to stand or sit in the chancel. In 1240 in
the diocese of Worcester this permission
was extended to lay patrons, and from
that time onwards more and more con-
cessions were made, until at last any good
189
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
churchman was permitted to sit in the
chancel.
The next step was the admission of
women ! Tradition and usage made this
a more difficult matter, for as early as
367 A.D. the Council of Laodicea had
passed a canon that women ought not to
come near the altar or enter the sanctuary
where the altar stood, and the rule held
good with but few exceptions for many
centuries. Thus in 1625, Charles I of
England wrote, " In my own particular
opinion I do not think . . . that women
should be allowed to sit in the chancel,"
and traces of this feeling survive even
to-day.
But, if certain stalls were reserved for
the people of consequence, the most im-
portant function which they came to fulfil
was the accommodation of a surpliced
choir. Not every parish church, however,
could afford the elaborately carved stalls
granted for the use of patrons or clergy,
and therefore many of the choir members
had to sit on forms. At the time of writ-
ing there is an old oak form and railing in
the garden of the West Kirby parish
church, which may have fulfilled some
such function as this. The special stalls
190
PLATE XIX.
Photoorahli by ft'. //. Toiitkinson
2.
1. CHANCEL CHAIR, BEBINGTON
2. MISERICORDS, BEBINGTON
OLD WOOD-CARVINGS IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
which remain at Lower Bebington are
reminiscent of monastic days. They date
from the first half of the xvth century,
though they have suffered a certain
amount of reconstruction, the capping
being modern. These three stalls belong
to the class known as '' misericords."
The history of misericords is a very
interesting one. In the primitive
churches the chief posture permissible dur-
ing the services was that of standing, and
at prayer they stood with uplifted hands.
Even when the custom of kneeling at
prayer was introduced, sitting was forbid-
den in church. But this practice bore
hardly upon the old and enfeebled. A
monk in mediaeval times spent a great part
of each day in worship. Seven offices had
to be recited daily : Matins with Lauds,
Prime, Tierce, Sect, Nones, Vespers, and
Compline ; and, in addition to these, there
was at any monastic cathedral or collegiate
church the celebration of High Mass, at
which the whole community had to be
present. Especially did the Sanguinati
find the task of standing so long beyond
their strength. These were monks who
had recently had their blood let, a routine
monastic discipline. So some relaxation
191
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
of this severity became necessary, and
" leaning staffs " or " reclinatoria " were
introduced. Such are still used in the
Eastern church, where the services are
very long. (The present author once
stood through an entire service, which
lasted from 9-30 p.m. to 2 o'clock in the
morning).
Yet strict disciplinarians, such as St.
Benedict, condemned these concessions,
and required that the reclinatoria should
be laid aside, at any rate during the read-
ing of the Gospel. Then a later indul-
gence permitted the seats to be made so
that they could be hinged back, very much
in the manner of our modern theatre
stalls, while on the under side were fixed
small ledges which would give some sup-
port to the clergy as they stood in their
stalls, and yet favour the erect posture.
This concession was called a " Miseri-
cordia " or "Act of Mercy," and the seats
became known as "misericords" or
" indulgence seats." And, because these
misericords came into contact with the
least dignified part of the human body, the
subjects carved upon them were rarely
sacred. For the most part these carvings
are pictures of the daily life and thought
192
PLATE XX.
>^:Z^
w
ri '-4 %' >V l\ H [^ Wh
I
I '^ !■-_
From till oniiiniil Peii-ilnni>iiia by the Author
PERPENDICULAR STALL END
WITH PELICAN HEAD
WOODCHURCH
OLD WOOD-CARVINGS IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
of the common people. Not a few are
satirical.
Of the three misericords in the chancel
of Bebington church, one represents a
dolphin, and a second a pelican feeding her
young. Both subjects are very common in
this connection. The dolphin is a figure
taken from Greek mythology- It was
spoken of as " the most royal of those that
swim." Its function was that of bearing
the soul across the sea of death to the
island of the blest.
The pelican symbol has a particular in-
teresting history, based on the natural fact,
that when the bird plumes her feathers,
a crimson spot appears upon her beak.
This being presumed to be blood, gave rise
to the belief that the female fed her young
with her blood ; and later to the idea that
by her blood she could restore them to life
after they had died. Thus St. Augustine,
in his Commentary on Psalm cii. 6, "I
am like a pelican in the wilderness," says,
** The males of these birds are wont to kill
their young by blows of their beaks and
then to bewail their death for three days.
At length, however, the female inflicts a
severe wound on herself, and letting her
blood flow over the dead young ones,
193
N
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
brings them to life again." And so it
came about that "the pelican in her
piety " came to symbolise Christ's Pas-
sion, since from His side flowed the blood
which redeemed from death the children
of men. Thus a hymn of St. Thomas
Aquinas speaks of our Lord as a Pelican :
" Pie Pelican, ]esu Domine
Me i7nmundum munda : Tuo Sanguine.'*
Dante, too, calls Christ " Nostro
Pelicano."
Animals, fishes, reptiles, and birds have
for centuries had a special place in the
emblematic significance, and a complete
system exists in an ancient work called the
'' Physiologus " or "Naturalist." It
was compiled by an Alexandrian Greek
from a great variety of sources, and
doubtless embodied much of the priestly
wisdom and esoteric science of ancient
Egypt. The early Christian apologists
seem to have been extraordinarily fond of
this kind of literature, which served their
purpose as an application of the supposed
facts of natural history to the illustration
and enforcement of moral precepts and
theological dogmas. The book went
through many editions and emendations,
and became extremely popular in the
194
OLD WOOD-CARVINGS IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
Middle Ages, so that probably no book
except the Bible has ever been so widely
diffused. It has been translated into
nearly all the principal languages from the
year a.d. 496 to the present time, and
allusions to it are found in sermons and
sacred songs, in devotional works and
doctrinal treatises, and in secular and
erotic poetry, as well as in the wood carv-
ings of our churches.
The " Physiologus " begins with the
lion as the king of beasts, and from that
point onward deals in arbitrary order with
every animal, bird, reptile, fish, actual or
legendary, and points out moral and
religious parallels. Thus it states of the
eagle, whose form is so frequently used for
the lectern, that, when it has grown old
and its eyes liave become dim and dark-
ened, it flies upward towards the sun until
it has scorched its wings and purged away
the film from its eyes ; then it descends to
the earth and plunges three times into a
spring of pure water. Thus it recovers its
sight and renews its youth.
The eagle, so it is also said, can gaze at
the bright sun without blinking, and is
accustomed to carry its unfledged young
on its wings upward and to compel them to
195
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
look upon the shining orb ; those that can
do so with open and steadfast eyes it rears,
but discards the others and lets them fall
to the ground. " Here," says the
Physiologus, " the sun represents God the
Father, upon whose face Christ can gaze
undazzled by His glory, and to whom He
presents the children of men who claim to
have been born of Him ; those who are
able to stand before God and to look upon
the light of His countenance are accepted,
while the others are rejected."
Aristotle relates that the upper beak of
very old eagles grows so long as to prevent
them from eating and causes them to die
of hunger. In the Greek version of the
Physiologus of the twelfth century the
author adds that, in order to remedy this
evil and to avert this danger, the eagle
breaks off the superfluity of its beak
against a stone, a statement which is
adduced by homilists and exegetists to
prove that the rock of salvation is the only
cure for the growth of carnal-mindedness,
and the sole means of preventing spiritual
starvation ! And it is to this curious lore
that we owe the Eagle lectern so com-
monly seen in our churches to-day, and of
which a particularly fine example of the
196
OLD WOOD-CARVINGS IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
Perpendicular order exists at liOwer Beb-
ington. Other finely carved lecterns of
the eagle type are at Backford and Stoak.
The eagle was the favourite choice right
through the Middle Ages as an emblem
wherewith to crown the lectern used for
gospel reading purposes. Some of the
Fathers regarded it as typical of the resur-
rection (Psalm ciii. 5).
The eagle is also the special symbol of
St. John the Divine, because the Evange-
list dwells specially in his Gospel and
Revelation on the glory of the Sun of
Righteousness. Strange to say, this sym-
bol did not excite the ire of vandal
Protestants as did the sight of the cross or
crucifix, and, when the monks flung their
valuable brass eagles into the nearest pond,
as they did in several instances, it was for
the object of cheating the commissioners
of some of their spoil, and not through fear
of the lecterns being mutilated or des-
troyed. There was a revival of the use of
eagle lecterns in the xviith century, but
more especially after the Restoration of
the church and king. The surviving
specimens are chiefly of the xvth and
early xvith centuries.
An interesting lectern is in use at Shot-
197
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
wick. It is an old fiddler's stand, a relic
of the days when the choir was led by
fiddles, bassoons, and clarionets. A
ledge near the bottom of the stand shows
where the violoncello or bass viol rested.
In many churches the chancel screen
exhibits very beautiful carving. Its
origin is to be found in the old custom of
hanging a veil during Lent in front of the
altar, so as to cut it off from the rest of the
building during the forty days. This
solemn Lenten veiling was but the reflec-
tion of what had once been the more
primitive method of mysteriously shroud-
ing the place of the Sacramental Presence
from the main body of the church all the
year round ; and a use that had once pre-
vailed unceasingly became relegated to a
season of extra solemnity.
Finally a permanent screen, with a con-
venient door in the centre, took its place
to prevent undue intrusion into the
sanctuary.
Wood-carving has always been lavishly
bestowed upon screen work in our parish
churches, but unfortunately little that is
old now remains in Wirral. The destruc-
tion of screens in the Reformation period
198
OLD WOOD-CARVINGS IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
was due, not to any particular objection to
their presence in the church, but because
they were generally surmounted by the
Rood, and in the removal of the latter
the screens were often damaged beyond
repair. Such a screen once stood at Beb-
ington. At the present time the chancel
arch and side arches of this church are
filled with modern screen work, but the
wide piers of the chancel arch fortunately
retain indications of the screen which
formerly adorned the church.
The only other old screen in Wirral is
at Woodchurch. Nevertheless many of
the modern screens are very beautiful,
particularly those at Bebington and East-
ham, where they serve to
" Keep the charm of not too much,
Part seen, imagined part,"
and give an atmosphere of mystery and
beauty beyond. As Pugin, the great
architect, said, " The man who professes
to love Gothic architecture and does not
like screens is a liar."
At Thurstaston, which, as has already
been observed, is a copy of Mid-Gothic,
the screen work is of stone, a very uncom-
mon feature.
199
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Alms boxes are often adorned with
quaint carving, tliough Wirral cannot
boast anything of particular value in this
respect. The best perhaps is at West
Kirby. They are however of historical
interest. The earliest mention of the
use of boxes in places of worship for the
reception of the offerings of the wor-
shippers occurs in the second book of the
Kings of Israel, in which we are told that
" Jehoiada the priest, took a chest, and
bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it
beside the altar," from which it may be
inferred that it was intended for the
collection of offerings for the maintenance
of the temple. The provision of similar
boxes probably became usual in churches
at an early period in the history of the
Christian Church, the giving of alms for
the poor being so ancient a practice that
it soon became convenient to have
a receptacle for them. The period is as
yet undetermined when offerings for
sacred and charitable purposes began to be
collected from the people whilst assembled
within the walls of the church, nor is the
mode by which such collections were first
effected at all clear and well defined.
Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) ordered a
200
PLATE XXT.
Plu^loiiral'li h\ /)'.//. Tomkimon
ALMS DISH
RACKFORD CHURCH
OLD WOOD-CARVINGS IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
trunk to be placed in every church, to
receive alms for the remission of the sins
of the donors ; and Fosbroke says that
poor-boxes in churches are often men-
tioned in the xiith century.
But these money chests were for the
reception of free gifts made without per-
sonal application, and were altogether as
distinct in purpose as they were in form
from the collecting bags, dishes, and
boxes, which, in our time, have been
handed from pew to pew for the benevo-
lent to drop their coins into. '* When did
these erratic ecclesiastical receptacles
come into vogue? " is a question easier
asked than replied to. The first Reformed
Prayer-book of the Church of England
(1549) provided certain sentences of Holy
Scripture '' to bee song whiles the people
doo offer " during the Communion or
Mass. But no collecting of the alms by
wardens or clerk was contemplated, for a
rubric after the sentence says, " In the
meanetyme, whyles the Clerkes do syng
the Offertory, so many as are disposed
shall offer unto the poor mennes boxe
every one accordynge to his habilitie and
charitable mynde." Probably the con-
201
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
fusion that arose from the congregation
gathering round the fixed poor-box caused
this direction to be shortly repealed.
In the second Reformed Prayer-book
(1552), it is ordered that " Then shal the
Churche wardens or some other by them
appointed, gather the devotion of the
people and put the same into the pore
mens boxe." The rubric providing that
the alms were to be collected " in a decent
basin to be provided by the parish for that
purpose " by the wardens, who were to
*' reverently bring it to the priest," is only
of 1662 date. '' Latten or pewter dishes
or basins were the usual receptacles pro-
vided by the wardens for collecting
purposes " (Cox and Harvey).
Bread boards, on which loaves are
placed in several of our old churches where
these charities were or are still extant,
survive at West Kirby, Thurstaston, Beb-
ington, Eastham, and Woodchurch, and
exhibit interesting carving. They are
generally inscribed with the name of the
benefactor of the charity, and date from
the early xvinth century. The most
beautiful of these is in the tower Vestry at
Bebington, where are also to be seen
202
PLATE XXTI.
^^
51
<N
2.
OLD RRIvMI BOARD, HFRINTITON
MlS(-:RirORD, BEBINGTON
OLD WOOD-CARVINGS IN WIRRAL CHURCHES
several misericords and stall ends, which
some day may be built into some church
ornament and further beautify a building
which is already unique.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
FRANCIS BOND : The Chancel of the English Church.
Wood carvings in English Churches — Miseri-
cords, Stalls, Screens and Galleries.
J. CHARLES COX : Pulpits, Lecterns, and Organs.
F. H. CROSSLEY : Stall Work in Cheshire. (Trans,
Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches. 1916). The
Church Screens ol Cheshire (Ibid 1917).
H. SYER CUMMING : Art. " Old Collecting Boxes "
(Curious Church Customs).
E. P. EVANS : Animal Symbolism (Eccles. Arch.)
THOS. FROST : Art. Alms-Boxes (Antiquities and
Curiosities of the Church).
T. TINDALL WILDRIDGE : Art. Animals of the
Church in Wood, etc. (The Church
Treasury). Art. " Misericords " (Curious
Church Gleanings).
A. WOLFGANG : Ancient Screens in Cheshire and
Lancashire Churches.
J. T. PAGE : Art. " The Roodloft and its Uses."
(Curious Church Customs).
LEWIS ANDRE : The Chancel Screens of Parish
Churches.
GENT. MAG, ECCLESIOLOGY, 1894.
Art. The Eagle and Pelican of Church Reading Desks.
Art. Roodlofts and Screens.
203
CHAPTER XIII.
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC
PANELS IN WIRRAL
CHURCHES.
" Heraldry is so noble, useful, and enter-
taining a Science, that scarce any of
those Studies which are considered as
polite and ornamental, can lay a juster
claim to the attention of Noblemen and
Gentlemen. For it presents to their
view the Origin and Foundation of
those Titles and Dignities, which dis-
tinguish them from the rest of mankind ;
and serves not only to transmit to
Posterity the Glory of the heroic
Actions, or meritorious Deeds of their
Ancestors, but also to illustrate histor-
ical Facts, towards establishing their
Rights and Prerogatives'"
Porny.
THE word " Hatchment " is a corrup-
tion of the term " Achievement,"
both being heraldic expressions denoting
the emblazonment of the full armorial
bearings of any person. " Hatchment *'
204
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
is a comparatively modern term, though
the custom of carrying Coats-of-Arms
is of very ancient origin ; for it was not
until the xvith and xvHth centuries that
there arose the vogue of setting up the
actual shield of a deceased person in the
church of the parish to which he or she
belonged.
This custom appears to have begun by
carrying the ceremonial shields and
helmets in the funeral processions. Fox
Davies in his " Complete Guide to
Heraldry " says, " Immediately upon the
death of a person of any social position,
a hatchment of his or her Arms was set up
over the entrance to the house, which re-
mained there for twelve months, during
the period of mourning. It was then
taken down from the house and removed
to the church, where it was set up in per-
petuity."
This hatchment was generally a dia-
mond-shaped frame, painted black and
enclosing a copy in oils of the armorial
bearings of the deceased person, and
VVirral, in common with other parts of
England, contains several fine examples.
Some of these, such as those of the Bun-
bury family at Stoak, and that of the
205
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Congreve family at Burton, are treasured
as valuable historical relics, but there
appears to have been no obligation on the
part of the Incumbents either to consent
to the erection of such hatchments, or to
permit them to remain where they were
originally placed, and in some churches
they have been relegated to the choir
vestry or even to the coal house or rubbish
heap, though such contumely as the latter
does not seem to have overtaken any of
the Wirral hatchments that exist to-day.
Nevertheless, those at Stoak and Back-
ford, which are the finest in Wirral, had a
narrow escape from absolute destruction.
They were painted by members of the
Holme family of Chester, who were re-
nowned for their skill in the execution of
heraldic work. Three of the family all
bearing the name of Randle were specially
distinguished. Randle Holme, the first
(c. 1571-1655), was Deputy to the College
of Arms, and was Mayor of Chester in
1633, while his son Randle Holme, the
second (1601-1659), was Mayor of Chester
in 1643. His son, Randle Holme, the
third (1627-1704), was the author of a
large heraldic work now very rare, entitled
" An Academic of Armoury, or a Store
206
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
House of Armoury and Blazon," printed
at Chester. He was " Sewer of the
Chamber " in extraordinary to Charles II,
and Deputy to the College of Arms for
Cheshire, Lancashire, and North Wales.
It was this Randle Holme who was
responsible for the hatchments at Stoak
and Backford, but, because he assumed
certain duties which violated the rights of
the College of Heralds, he was prosecuted
by them at the suit of Sir William Dug-
dale, then Norroy King of Arms.
Randle Holme lost the suit, and Dugdale
had the satisfaction of visiting the churches
where Holme's work was exhibited, and
defacing the hatchments which he had
illegally painted. For reasons unknown,
this modern Ezra omitted to visit Stoak
and Backford, with the result, more satis-
factory to posterity, that Handle's work
there has been preserved. Afterwards
the quarrel was made up. Holme appar-
ently submitting to the authority of the
heralds, for he was appointed their deputy
as we have seen for Cheshire, Lancashire,
and North Wales.
The origin of Coats-of-Arms is lost in
antiquity, and grave and learned discus-
sions have arisen as to whether the practice
207
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
was the rule in Assyrian, Chaldean,
Egyptian, Greek, or Roman times. In
this country, the wearing of a distinctive
badge in battle or tournament became
necessary by reason of the introduc-
tion of the closed helmet, which hid
the face of the wearer and rendered him
unrecognisable even to his followers.
And so the knights of olden times wore a
decorated sur-coat of distinctive design, or
a device upon their shield, or a crest upon
their helmet, to establish their identity.
It is an interesting reflection that, in the
present utilitarian age, the army
" identity disc " is the modern counter-
part of the old heraldic ornaments.
But there was one essential difference
between the armorial bearings and the
identity disc, for, while every man of every
rank wore the latter, Arms were borne
only by gentlemen. The word " gentle-
man," of course, had a totally different
meaning in mediaeval days from what it
has now. Then there were but two
classes of society, landowners and the com-
mon people. Landowners had certain
military obligations. They held land on
condition that they produced a specific
number of men-at-arms as the sovereign
208
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
required, and they were in consequence
the " officers " of their followers. As
military officers they were obliged to carry
arms, and, as we have seen, this neces-
sitated the wearing of distinctive signs.
Thus Coats-of-Arms became the symbol
of the technical rank of gentility, and the
possession of Arms to-day is a matter of
hereditary privilege, one who can prove
descent from a bearer of Arms being per-
mitted to carry them, if he can support the
style and customs usual among gentle
people.
Naturally there have been attempts to
support Arms without proper title, and
this illegal assumption began at an early
date. In the reign of Henry VI a very
stringent proclamation was issued on the
subject ; and, in the reigns of Queen Eliza-
beth and her successors, the Kings of
Arms were commanded to make peram-
bulations throughout the country for the
purpose of pulling down and defacing im-
proper Arms, of recording Arms properly
borne by authority, and of compelling
those who used Arms without authority to
obtain authority for them or discontinue
their use. These perambulations were
termed Visitations.
209
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
The Crest, which is now associated with
a Coat-o£-Arnis, and which is its highest
part, had a separate and distinctive origin.
The word is derived from the Latin
*' Crista," signifying a " comb or tuft,"
such as many birds have upon their heads.
Fox Davies says, *' we must go back, once
again, to the bedrock of the peacock-
popinjay vanity ingrained in human
nature. The same impulse which nowa-
days leads to the decoration of the helmets
of the Lifeguards with horsehair plumes
and regimental badges, the cocked hats of
field-marshals and other officers with wav-
ing plumes, the Kepis of commissionaires
and the smashed hats of Colonial irregu-
lars with cocks' feathers, the hat of the
poacher and gamekeeper with a pheasant's
feather, led unquestionably to the " decor-
ation " of the helmets of the armoured
knights of old. The matter was just a
combination of decoration and vanity.
At first they frequently painted their
helmets, and as with the gradual evolution
and crystallisation of armory a certain
form of decoration (the device upon his
shield) became identified with a certain
person, that particular device was used for
210
HATCHxMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
the decoration of the helmet and painted
thereupon."
The precise significance of the crest
appears open to question, many asserting
that no one below the rank of a knight was
entitled to wear one, this statement being
based on the theory that the crest was not
worn in battle, but only in tournament.
The lesser gentry, being obliged to fight
in war, bore arms of necessity, but made
no pretension to the use of the crest, and
this mode appears to have been maintained
up to the xvth century. Thereafter the
granting of crests to ancient arms became
ia frequent practice.
There are eight main classes into which
all Coats-of-Arms may be divided. They
are as follows : —
1. — Arms of Dominion or Sovereignty,
which are borne by Emperors,
Kings, and sovereign states.
2. — Arms of Pretension are those of
territories to which a Sovereign or
Lord makes claim, although they
may be possessed by others.
Thus the Kings of England quartered
the Arms of France with their own from
the time when Edward III laid claim to
the crown of France until the year 1801.
211
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
3. — Arms of Concession, or as they are
sometimes called " Augmentations
of Honour," are either entire arms
or figures upon a previous coat
given by the sovereign as a reward
for special service. Thus Queen
Anne granted to Rear Admiral Sir
Cloudesly Shovel a chevron be-
tween two Fleur-de-lys and a
Crescent, to be placed upon his
shield to denote the victories he
gained over the French and Turks
respectively.
4. — Arms of Community are those of
cities, universities, societies, and
other corporate bodies.
5. — Paternal-arms, or Arms of
Families, form perhaps the biggest
group. They constitute the dis-
tinguishing mark of a particular
family, and no other person is
suffered to assume those Arms,
wrongful assumption being a pun-
ishable offence.
6. — Arms of Patronage, borne by
Governors of Provinces, Lords of
Manors, Patrons of Benefices, etc.,
as a token of their rights and juris-
diction.
212
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
7. — Arms of Alliance are those which
families take up and join to their
own to denote alliances they
have contracted by marriage.
Many examples occur in Wirral
churches, for instance the Birch-
Congreve hatchment in Burton
church, and the Bunbury Panels in
Stoak church where are exhibited
the combined Arms of Stanney,
Aldersey, Barton, Stalker, Bon-
ville, Skeffington, Oldbeiffe,
Stanhope, Childe, Malvell, Long-
villiers, Rodiford, Bunbury, etc.
8. — Arms of Succession are those that
are taken up by one who inherits
estates bearing arms. If the
legatee already possesses arms, the
new ones are impaled or quartered
with their own.
To these eight classes Porny naively
adds a ninth, which he calls " Assump-
tive Arms," *' such," says he, ** as are
taken up by the caprice or fancy of Up-
starts, who being advanced to a degree
of Fortune, assume them without hav-
ing deserved them by any glorious
action. This, indeed, is a great abuse
of Heraldry ; but yet so common, and so
213
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
much tolerated, almost everywhere,
that little or no notice is taken of it and
in process of time such Arms become
true marks of distinction."
Turning now to the component parts of
a Coat-of-Arms, we note that they may
consist of six figures : the crest, the torse,
the helmet, the mantling or lambrequin,
the shield, the supporters, and the scroll.
Of these the shield is the principal part, for
on it are depicted the particular signs and
emblems which the bearer carries, the
augmentations of honour which the
sovereign has conferred, the quarterings
inherited from families, the impalement
of marriage, and the different marks which
are expressive of cadency. The shape of
the shield is arbitrary and has no special
significance, save that the lozenge, or
diamond-shaped shield, is reserved for
women.
Surmounting the shield is the helmet.
The helmet was formerly worn as a defen-
sive weapon to cover the bearer's head,
and so it comes to be placed over a Coat-
of-Arms as its chief ornament. Helmets
are distinguished by their kind, form, and
position, those of sovereigns being gold,
214
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
those of princes and lords of silver
figured with gold, and those of private
gentlemen of polished steel. The first
three of these groups show the helmet
open, faced and grated ; an open face with-
out bars denotes a knight ; and the closed
helmet is for esquires and gentlemen.
Lastly, the helmet faces to the front for
royalty, and in profile for those below that
rank. Women, with the exception of
sovereignty, are not permitted to sur-
mount their arms with a helmet.
Surrounding the shield is often to be
seen ornamentation in the form of flowers
and leaves. These are relics of cloth
coverings which were worn by knights to
protect their heads from the weather.
Porny states that going into battle with
these coverings, they often came away
with them hanging about them in a ragged
condition, occasioned by the cuts they had
received, and that the more hacked they
were the more honourable they were
accounted. Fox Davies sees in this
*' Mantling " the primeval prototype of
the " puggaree," which the British
soldiers wear to-day over their helmets in
hot countries, a practice originating in the
Crusades.
215
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Between the helmet and the crest which
stands upon it, is the Torse or twisted
fillet. This is a relic of those favours
which ladies were wont in the days of
chivalry to reward a knight for valour.
Such a token would take the form of a
ribbon or handkerchief, which the knight
would twine round his helmet, so that,
just as the conventional slashings of the
lambrequin hinted at past hard fighting
in battle, so did the conventional torse
suggest past service to and favour of ladies,
love and war being the occupation of the
perfect knight of romance.
In the Royal Arms which are hung in
several of the Wirral churches, there are
the figures of the lion and the unicorn sup-
porting the shield. These are called
" Supporters " and are to be traced back
to the tournament days, when knights had
their shields carried by servants under the
disguise of lions, bears, griffins, etc.
They also held and guarded the escutch-
eons, which the knights were obliged
to expose to public view before the
lists were opened. In this country a
somewhat fictitious importance has be-
come attached to supporters, owing to
their almost exclusive reservation to the
216
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
highest rank. There can be no doubt that
originally they were in this country little
more than mere decorative and artistic
appendages, devised and altered from
time to time by different artists according
as the necessities of the moment
demanded.
The last item on a Coat-of-Arms that
remains to be considered is the scroll,
which is placed below the shield and on
which is written the motto. " Many
writers," says Fox Davies, *' have traced
the origin of mottoes to the * slogan,' or
war-cry of battle, and there is no doubt
whatever that instances can be found in
which an ancient war-cry has become a
family motto. For example one can refer
to the Fitzgerald * Crom-a-boo ' ; other
instances can be found amongst some of
the Highland families, but the fact that
many well-known war-cries of ancient days
never became perpetuated as mottoes, and
also the fact that by far the greater num-
ber of mottoes, even at a much earlier
period than the present day, cannot by
any possibility have ever been used for or
have originated with the purpose of battle-
cries, inclines me to believe that such a
suggested origin for the motto in general
217
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
is without adequate foundation. There
can be little, if any, connection between
the war-cry as such and the motto as such.
The real origin would appear to be more
correctly traced back to the badge.
A badge had nothing to do with battle,
but generally partook of the nature of
what old writers would call ' a
quaint conceit,' which people devised
as distinctions suggesting their family
name, history or aspirations. Just as at
the present time a man may, and often
does, adopt a maxim upon which he will
model his life, some pithy proverb, or
some trite observation, without any ques-
tion or reference to armorial bearings, so,
in the old days, when learning was less
diffuse, and when proverbs and sayings
had a wider acceptance and vogue than at
present, many families adopted for their
use some form of words. We find these
words carved on furniture, set up on a
cornice, cut in stone, and embroidered
upon standards and banners."
It is suggested, therefore, that it
is to this custom that we should
look for the beginning of the use of
mottoes. As a general practice the use
of mottoes in England did not become
218
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
common until the xvmth century.
Mottoes, too, are not hereditary ; no one is
compelled to bear one, nor is any authority
needed for the adoption of one.
So far this review of heraldic achieve-
ments has been very obvious and straight
forward, and, were there little more to be
learnt, the subject would be counted a
very easy one. The complexity of the
study rests with the enormous number of
devices which are borne upon shields, and
with the peculiar nomenclature of those
devices. For heraldry has a language of
its own which has come to us from
France, an ancient and interesting vocabu-
lary which has to be mastered, together
with the rules pertaining to arms, before
a shield can be " blazoned " or described.
Within these pages, for example, there
is reproduced a framed panel which hangs
upon the south wall of Stoak church.
This is described in an article in the
Transactions of the Historical Society of
I^ancashire and Cheshire, entitled " The
Monumental and other Inscriptions in the
Churches of Stoak, Backford, etc," by
Paul J. Ryland, f.s.a., and F. C.
Beazley, f.s.a., and reads as follows : —
" A frame decorated with rosettes and cross-bones, and
219
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
having cherubim at the corners. Arms : on a lozenge
Bunbury, with a crescent Sable for difference. On the
dexter side od the lozenge is a small shield, Sable, three
garbs Or within a bordure Argent (Birkenhead). On the
sinister side of the lozenge is a like shield quarterly, 1st
and 4th Argent 2nd and 3rd Gules, a fret Or; over all
a fesse Azure (Nor res)."
It is safe to assume that to the vast
majority of people such technical descrip-
tions are so much ** Greek," nevertheless
they may form a point from which a view
of heraldry may be obtained and an
interest in its study aroused. It is not of
course possible, nor is it within the scope
of the present writer to attempt a learned
dissertation upon that study. This little
manual is not intended for antiquarians.
It is an ordinary book written by an ordin-
ary person for ordinary people, and its
writer has no other aim than to present
in a readable form some of the many and
varied interests which attach themselves
to our old parish churches, and it is be-
cause he himself has so often fixed his
mystified gaze upon heraldic emblems that
he ventures now to illuminate those
mysteries with some of the light which he
has received.
It is to be noted, then, in the first place
that a shield always has a definite colour
which is called " the field," which con-
220
PLATE XXIII.
l'/iottUJ"i/^li />> " . //• Toiiikin.-.oii
iii:k \i 1 )i( r\Ni:i.
(Buiibury- 15iikpiilir;Ki -Noires)
SI OAK CllLKCH
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
stitutes the ground of the shield, and these
colours are given antique names. The
commonest in use are the following : —
Gold - which is called - Or
Silver
Red
,, Gules
Blue
,, Azure
Black
, Sable
Green ,,
Vert
Purple , , ,
, Purpure
On this field, plain, or divided by
partition lines, are placed the various
devices or " charges " to which the holder
of the Coat-of-Arms is entitled.
These devices are, of course, limitless in
number and variety, but, as a general rule
it will be observed that the older the
family the simpler is the device borne.
For obviously as Coats-of-Arms became
multiplied in the passage of the centuries,
it became increasingly difficult to differ-
entiate between them.
The earliest charges would appear to
have been suggested by the structure of
the shield. Ancient shields were often
made of leather stretched on a wooden
frame, and the shape of this frame with its
bars, cross-pieces, and struts can clearly be
221
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
seen in the " bars," *' bends," '* crosses,"
" pales," " chevrons," '* bordures," etc.,
which formed some of the oldest devices
used. Of other charges the represent-
ation of the lion is perhaps the oldest as
well as the most popular. Sometimes a
charge is a pun on the bearer's name.
Thus the Beeston family carry three bees
on their scutcheon, and the charge on the
Sylvester arms is a tree. Both these are
seen on the Stoak panels. They are called
" Canting Arms."
The Arms of a family can, of course,
only be borne by its head, but relatives
may carrj^ them, subject to certain alter-
ations, spoken of as " marks of cadency."
Thus the heir may support the paternal
arms if he places on the shield a device
called a Label.
Inni
The Label.
Second sons may carry a small crescent ;
third sons a star or "' mullet " ; fourth sons
a small bird called a " martlet," and so on,
and when these additions are observed
upon the field of any shield the fact is
noted as being " for difference." Thus
222
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
on the arms pictured there is a black
crescent to indicate that the bearer was a
second child, the lozenge shaped shield
showing her sex.
Many other marks of cadency are em-
ployed in heraldry, such as borders, parti-
tions lines, cantons, etc. The so-called
" Bar-sinister," believed to be a sign of
bastardy, is a misnomer. For a " bar "
in heraldry is a horizontal band which
crosses the shield, and being horizontal it
cannot, of course, be either right or left.
A be?i^-sinister, that is a band from the
top left hand corner of the shield to the
right base, may denote illegitimacy, but it
is not an inviolable rule. It is to be
remarked that the terms ** dexter " and
" sinister " apply to the right and left of
the shield as carried by the bearer, and not
as observed by anyone standing in front
of it.
When two or more Coats-of-Arms are
conjoined upon one shield it is spoken of
as a " Marshalling of Arms." There are
three leading methods of doing this,
namely by quartering, by superimposi-
tion, and by impalement, all of which are
exemplified in the hatchments and panels
hung up in the old Wirral churches.
223
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
The commonest method of marshalling
is by quartering. It is well seen in the
case of the Royal Arms which hang in
several of the churches, it being once the
custom to suspend them over the church
doorways as a token of loyalty. Originally
the English arms consisted of three golden
lions in profile upon a red shield, or, to
express it in heraldic language, " On a
field Gules three lions passant Or." At
the same time the Arms of France con-
sisted of a blue field powdered with golden
fleur-de-lys, and so when Edward III laid
claim to the French crown he " quart-
ered " the Arms of England with those of
France, that is to say the English shield
was divided by partition lines into four
quarters two of which showed the English
charges and two the French. This was in
1340-1405.
Then came the incorporation of the
Arms of Scotland and Ireland with those
of England, under the reign of James I.
The Scottish Arms consisted of a gold
shield on which was a red lion within a
decorated frame of the same colour, that
is to say " On a field Or a lion rampant
within a tressure flory and counter flory
both Gules." The Irish Arms were a
224
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
harp of gold on a field of blue, or, in
heraldic parlance " Azure a harp Or with
strings Argent." These shields were
then quartered with those of England and
France, thus making one of each on the
whole field. Other examples of quarter-
ing are well seen in the panels in Stoak
church.
Next came the occupation of the Eng-
lish throne by William of Orange and
Mary, who brought with them the Arms
of Nassau, " Azure powdered with billets
gold and a lion gold." But these were
not quartered with the English Arms, but
placed on a small scutcheon in the centre
of the great quartered shield of the Royal
Arms of the Stewarts. This arrangement
is called Marshalling by Superimposition^
and it was in use, in this case, from 1688,
the year of William's election, until 1702,
the date of his death.
Queen Anne succeeded William, but
being of the Stewart line she reverted to
the Arms borne by James I, Charles I,
Charles II, and .Tames II. Then in the
fifth year of her reign there was passed
the Act of Union with Scotland, and the
Royal Arms were altered. This time the
Arms of England and Scotland were
225
p
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
united by impalement and placed in the
iirst and fourth quarters of the shield,
France being deposed from the pride of
place it had held since 1405 and placed in
the second quarter. The Arms of Ireland
remained in the third quarter where they
were originally placed. This shield is
seen in the Royal Arms hung over the
doorway of Thurstaston church. Mar-
shalling by Impalement is also exemplified
in the Congreve-Birch hatchment on the
north wall of Burton church, and in the
Beverley-Birkenhead Panel in Backford
church.
With the accession of the Hanoverian
kings the Royal Arms underwent a
further change, and this time the ancient
title of King of France was abandoned,
and the French Arms disappeared for ever
from the English shield on January 1st,
1801. In Shotwick church over the north
doorway, now blocked up, there is a speci-
men of this style of the Royal Arms. The
painting is now very dirty, but the white
horse of the Arms of Westphalia can just
be seen. The date of this panel can be
fixed at 1714-1800, because the horse is in
the fourth quarter and the Arms of
France therefore occupy the second.
226
HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
After 1801 the horse appears on a super-
imposed scutcheon in the centre of the
great shield.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
F. 0. BEAZLEY : Notes on the Parish of Burton in
Wirral.
JOHN E. CUSSANS : Hand Book of Heraldry.
E. E. D0RLIN6 : Canting-Arms in Cheshire. Leopards
of England.
A. C. FOX DA VIES : A Complete Guide to Heraldry.
£. EDWARD HITLME : The History, Principles, and
Practice of Heraldry.
J. B. NEVINS : The Origin of Heraldic Terms.
GALE PEDRICE : A Manual of Heraldry.
HARE ANTHONY PORNY : The Elements of Heraldry.
JOHN RYLANDS AND F. C. BEAZLEY : The Monu-
mental and other Inscriptions in the
Churches of Sioak and Backford.
JOHN WOODWARD : A Treatise on Ecclesiastical
Heraldry.
JOHN WOODWARD AND GEORGE BURNETT : A
Treatise on Heraldry.
227
CHAPTER XIV.
STAINED GLASS IN THE OLD
PARISH CHURCHES OF
WIRRAL.
" Lord how can man preach Thy eternal
word
He is a bridle crasie glasse
Yet in Thy Temple then dost him afford
This glorious and transcendent place
To be a window through Thy grace.
But when thou dost anneal in glasse
thy storie
Making thy life to shine within
Thy holy preachers, then the light and
Glorie
More reverent grows and more doth
win :
Which els show waterish, bleak and
thin.
Doctrine and life, colours and light in
one
When they combine and mingle, bring
A strong regard and aw; but speech
alone
Doth vanish like a fearing thing,
And in the eare not conscience ring."
George Herbert.
(From an old window in West Kirby
church, dated 1632).
228
STAINED GLASS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
THE history of the manufacture of
stained glass is a very fascinating
one. Pliny, the Roman historian, gives
a picturesque theory of its discovery. He
says that a merchant ship once touched on
the coast of Syria, and the crew landed
near the mouth of the river Belus, on a
beach of fine white sand. " The ship's
cargo consisted of Natron, — a natural alka-
line crystal which was much used in
ancient times for washing, — and the crew
having lighted a fire on the sand used
lumps of it from the cargo to prop up
their kettle. What was their surprise
to find afterwards a stream of molten glass
running down from their camp-fire. In
this case the natron acted as a flux and
enabled the sand to melt in the heat of the
camp-fire, which, however, must have
been a very large and hot one." Yet,
this could not have been the true
origin of glass. The Chinese claim to
have used white glass of a very superior
quality upwards of 2,000 years before the
Christian era ; and, if we are to believe the
report that glass was used by them in their
astronomical instruments, we may be
quite sure it was of excellent quality
229
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
or it would have been practically worthless
for that important purpose.
Whether or no the Chinese made lenses
of glass may be somewhat uncertain, but
we know for a fact that the Egyptians
made glass beads and jewels no less than
5,000 years ago. These jewels were of
many colours, which were incorporated
into the material itself, that is to say,
actually stained glass. Later, we find that
the Greeks made glass in imitation of
onyx, agate, and some of the rarer kinds of
marble ; whilst the Romans also discovered
a way of making a dark coloured glass from
which they cut cameos. Then came glass
for various patterns, shapes, colours, and
uses, and also very beautiful glass mosaic
for wall decoration. They did not, how-
ever, glaze their windows, though the
Romans were at an early date in the habit
of setting small panes of glass in bronze,
copper, and even leaden frames, possibly
for the purpose of mirrors.
St. Jerome and others of the early
Fathers allude to painted glass, but prob-
ably these references are to medallions of
glass with figures painted upon them
which have been found in Greek excava-
tions. The first coloured glass windows of
230
STAINED GLASS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
which there is any record seem to be those
in Sta, Sophia's, Constantinople, pieces of
coloured glass set in heavy leads, and
resembling the class of work used for
mosaic decoration in the same building.
This was in the vith century, and was as
far as stained glass in the East ever got,
the art henceforward developing in the
West, finding in the church, that refuge
of civilisation, the shelter it needed for its
evolution. The exact date of the oldest
stained window glass is not known, but by
the xiiith century the monks had become
very busy with this work, executing many
beautiful examples despite the poverty of
their tools.
The most marked feature of this early
glass work was the vast amount of lead
employed in the construction of the
painted windows, because each colour
required a separate piece of glass for its
representation, as many as sixty some-
times occurring within a square foot
of border, yet so cleverly arranged
is the leading that at a short dis-
tance it is quite unnoticeable, and simply
serves to emphasise the pattern. It is to
be borne in mind that the leads in use in
early times, for the purpose of bringing
231
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
the various pieces of glass together, were
very narrow, not more than ^\ of an
inch in width, and very different in this
respect from the leads in use up to within
a comparatively recent date.
The beauty of stained glass is not, of
course, destroyed by the presence of these
black lines of lead and iron, on the con-
trary it gains enormously, for large pieces
of unrelieved colour are trying to the eye,
and the continual contrast of the metal
work enables one to appreciate the
brilliance and colour of the glass.
" All the early coloured glass with the
exception of ruby," says Philip Nelson,
*' was formed of pot-metal glass, i.e. glass
coloured throughout its substance by the
addition to clear white glass of various
mineral oxides. Ruby glass, upon the
other hand, was merely a ' coated glass,'
i.e. clear glass with a varying thickness of
ruby glass superimposed, and was pro-
duced after the following fashion : — the
workman, first having formed thereon a
suitable mass, he then dipped it into a pot
of ruby, and proceeded to blow the glass
and spread it out into a sheet in the usual
manner. By this means a sheet was pro-
232
STAINED GLASS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
duced, consisting mainly of clear glass,
with a thin coating of ruby.
This exceptional method of manu-
facture was rendered necessary, because a
sheet of glass, of ruby throughout, would
appear black even in the strongest light.
The colour of ruby glass is due to the
addition of copper oxide to clear glass, but,
owing to imperfections in productions, the
ruby glass of early times was very streaky
in character, a circumstance which rend-
ered it more suitable for artistic effects.
Probably the most remarkable variety
among the colours of early glass is its
wonderful blue, which, in its deeper
shades, resembled the sapphire. This was
largely used, as was also ruby, for the
ground work of early paintings, the
former, however, being employed more
frequently.
Deep blue glass owed its colour to oxide
of cobalt, its wonderful quality being
probably due to the presence of arsenic, an
impurity frequently met with in cobalt
ores. In its lighter shades, this blue
occurs somewhat rarely, and then usually
only in draperies.
Turquoise blue also occurs, though not
frequently ; it was formed from copper and
233
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
was most often used in foliage work and in
draperies. The early greens varied very
considerably in tone from a bright emerald
to a dull olive, the former tint being
formed from copper, the latter from iron.
Purple brown occurred with very consider-
able variations in depth, and was formed
from manganese either alone or in com-
bination with iron ; in its darker shades it
occurred in draperies, whilst in its paler
it formed the somewhat unsatisfactory
flesh tint prevalent in early times. Yellow,
which was derived from iron, was rather
brassy in quality; it was used in foliage,
borders, and in personal ornaments."
At the time of the dissolution of the
monasteries a great deal of stained glass
was wantonly destroyed, partly in the
iconoclastic movement which threw over
other forms of Church ornament, and
partly for the sake of the lead work. In
those days ancient glass could be had for
the asking.
Turning now to review stained glass
windows in the old churches of Wirral, we
first note that of old glass there is very
little. In the porch at Woodchurch, and
in the east window, are some ancient
234
STAINED GLASS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
fragments ; in the east windows at Shot-
wick are some small pieces inset into the
upper portion of the lights, which give
some idea of the beauty of the old colour-
ing ; and in the vestry at West Kirby is a
curious, though not beautiful, window
dated 1632.
But of modern art there are many fine
and interesting specimens, and these may
be described briefly in geographical order :
St. Bridget's, West Kirby.
The east window is particularly note-
worthy not only for the beauty of its glass,
but for the extraordinary design of its
tracery. It is said to be of the same style
as many that stand in the monastic ruins of
the south of Ireland, and that there is only
one other church in England, namely,
Shifnal, Staffordshire, having a window
with similar tracery. The window has
five lights, each containing four figures.
They are as follows : —
The centre light. Our Lord's Ascen-
sion, St. John the Baptist, Ceadda, Our
Lord Crucified.
To the extreme left, St. Stephen,
David, Isaiah, St. Oswald.
235
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
To the left of the central light, St.
Peter, St. Augustine, Noah, Mary the
Mother of Our Lord.
To the right of the centre, St. Paul, St.
Cecilia, Moses, St. John the Beloved
Disciple.
To the extreme right, St. Mary
Magdalene, St. Jerome, St. George, and
St. Wer burgh.
The north wall of the nave is pierced by
some very fine windows executed by
Kempe. That next to the organ bears
the following inscription : —
"tE^ot^eglorpof ^obanb in affectionate
memorp of ^tnvp ^tU tnfio hitij ^ob. 2nb
1891 : anb of Jfraiucfi ^ell fjis; totfe to^o
bieb STan. lltij 1878, anb of eit^abetfi
€uUii lieU tiietr baugtter tofio bteb ^pvil
26tf) 1890 tttd toinboto ii bebtcateb."
It is a two-light window. On the right
is St. Simon, to the left St. Ambrose with
bishop's mitre and crozier.
In the middle of the north wall is an-
other two-light window, representing St.
Richard, Bishop of Chichester, and St.
Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary. The
former is usually represented with a chalice
at his feet ; the legend states that he fell
once during the celebration of Holy
236
STAINED GLASS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
Communion, and that the wine was
miraculously retained in the cup which he
held. St. Elizabeth is pictured charitably
pouring out water in relief of suffering.
Below the window is the inscription : —
"Wit prap j>ou rememtjer €U^at)ctl|
Jiiarton tofjo cntercb into resit STan. 27tf),
1890, to tofjofie bear mentor? i^Ureb anb
€aen ilSarton of Calb|> iltanor tabe caus(eb
tt^ii toinbotD to be mabe."
To the left of the north doorway is a
three-light window picturing St. Patrick,
St. Monica, and St. George. It bears the
dedication : —
" ^0 tf)e glorp of ^ob anb to tte iSelobeb
memorp of George be Hanbre 4$lacbona anb
Cli^abet^ iWacbona tis! toife of Hilbre
Housie in tfjis $ans!b» tbe fatter anb
motijer of jaieben priesits! of tlje Cfjurcf) of
Cnglanb anb Srelanb, tfjisf toinboko in
trecteb bp tbeir cfjilbren anb granb cljilbren
ia.5©. 1892."
Lastly should be observed the window
to the right of the north doorway, put up
in memory of Charles Dawson Brown.
It represents St. Matthew with inkhorn
and book; St. Peter with the keys; St.
Luke with book, pen, and a winged
ox ; and St. Andrew with his typical saltire
cross.
237
the old churches of wirral
St. Peter's, Heswall.
There is some good stained glass in this
church. The great east window of five
lights is to the memory of the Rev. Mark
Coxon, vicar, and was erected by his
family. It depicts the crucifixon. Above
and beneath are medallions with half
figures of the Messianic Prophets : Moses,
Abraham, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah,
Micah, David, Solomon, and Hosea. In
the circular lights on either side are the
Angels of the Sun and Moon ; in the light
above, the crossed swords of St. Paul, and
the keys of St. Peter. In the large
circular light, the Sacred Shield and
around it the Implements of the Passion
(the ladder, dice, head-dress, crown, robe,
scourges, title, and the sponge and spear).
In the nave the most noteworthy
windows are the following : —
In the north aisle a two-light window
dedicated to Thomas and Catherine Thor-
burn. The figures are those of St.
Thomas and St. Catherine respectively,
the former with a book and spear, the
latter with a sword, pen, book, and the
wheel which is emblematic of her torture.
Also in the same aisle a two-light
window dedicated to Henry Boyd and
238
STAINED GLASS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
Margaret his wife, representing St.
Michael and St. George. At the west
end of the church beneath the Tower,
where are the Glegg monuments, is a very
fine three-light window bearing the
inscription : —
"Gibing tftanbsf to ^ob for tfie bear
memorp of iWarp ^beline ^votWhank,
elbesft cf)ilb of ^f)onta£( anb iitarp $etrena
ISrocfeleiiank, toto toas; born 20t}) of S^an.
1868. anb feU asleep 2nb iHap 1888.
tt)i£: toinbotD ii bebtcateb/'
The three figures in this window are of
St. John the Baptist in the centre light,
St. Augustine on the left, and St. Ethel-
bert on the right.
In the chapel dedicated to St. Peter are
three beautiful windows picturing episodes
in the Apostle's life.
St. Helen's and St. Mary's, Neston.
Here are four exquisite windows by
Burne-Jones and William Morris, three in
the north wall, and one, perhaps the most
beautiful of the set, in the south wall of
the nave. The three-light window at the
east end of the north wall is dedicated to
David Russell, m.d., and pictures Enoch,
David, and Elijah. The middle of the
239
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
three windows is to Reginald Bushell, and
represents St. Paul standing beside the
Athenian altar to the " unknown God,"
and St. Thomas carrying a carpenter's
square. The third window in the north
aisle commemorates John Gaitskell Chur-
ton. This and the one in the south aisle
are symbolic representations of the
Virtues. The figures of Justice and
Humility, which are in the south aisle, are
said to be among the most perfect designs
ever executed by Sir Edward Burne- Jones.
St. Oswald's, Backford.
The best windows in this church are by
Frampton. Among these may be
specially noted the single-light window in
the south aisle picturing Our Lord as the
Good Shepherd ; the two-light window in
the same aisle, near the chancel, erected
by Elizabeth Blomfield, of Mollington
Hall, in memory of her sister ; and the east
window in the south aisle, a single light
picturing the Resurrection.
St. Mary's, Eastham.
In this church is to be seen Kempe's
best work, and of this the finest constitutes
240
PLATE XXIV
5:
73
o
Q
IS
o
a:
u
u
<
c
STAINED GLASS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
a wonderful series of the Old Testament
Heroes. They are arranged in chrono-
logical order under the title of Patriarchs,
Judges, Priests, Kings, and Prophets.
The first of this series is a two-light win-
dow at the west end of the north aisle.
It represents Abraham holding the roll
of the Covenant, and Noah carrying a
miniature ark. Below is the dedica-
tion : —
" 3fn l^onour of #ob anb tfje f aitf) of
tfiE ^atriarcfjs certain of tfje S^avisi\)ionexi
bebicatc tijis; toinlioto."
The second of the series is in the north
aisle, a three-light window picturing
Moses with the Table of the Command-
ments, Joshua in Armour and bearing the
device of the sun and moon upon his shield
(Josh. X. 12, 13), and Samuel with a Roll
of the Law and a horn of consecrating oil.
This window is dedicated as follows : —
" ^0 tf)c ^ratjfe of ^ob infjo vaiitt up
Subgefi for fiisf people, Moiti, Jogfjua
anb Samuel, anb in memorp of iWarp
Bucbtoorti), tofio hith ^ep. ls;t 1888,
ageb 75 tijii toinboto ii bebicateb."
It was the first window by Kempe to be
erected in Wirral.
The third in the series pictures Aaron
241
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Avitb his breast-plate, rod and censer,
Melchizedek with orb and sacrificial
vessels, and Zacharias in the official
priestly dress. Below is a tablet with the
following' inscription : —
" (Gibing tfjanfes to ^ob tDf)o Ijasf mabc
fenotun ti)t ILato of Sacrifice in Wi l^tititi,
0it\tl)i}thtk, ^aron, anti Hac^ariasf, anb
in memorp of Cicelp ^nnc anb Ifanc ?iirlcp
tfjtir sifitcr Josiepfjint Ctambrcs! bcbicatcs
ttjis; tDinboU) ^M 1889."
The fourth window in the set represents
the three principal kings of the Old Testa-
ment : David, Solomon, and Hezekiah.
The first bears a psalter and harp ; the
second a sceptre and a book of wisdom ;
and the third, a sceptre and a sundial
(2 Kings XX. 11). It bears the simple
■dedication : —
"([Jibing glorp to tfje lling of llingsi
anb as a Ctanfe (J^ffering."
The last of the five windows pictures
the three great Prophets : Elijah, Isaiah,
and Daniel, and is dedicated in the follow-
ing words : —
*'tEo tf)c goobnesfsf of ^ob toi)o ijatfi
gpofeen unto u£! bp W^ ^ropfjets anb in
menujrp of W^ sferbant Clara, tfjc belobeb
toif c of ^tiomajf Henrp ISebington of tfjis!
$aris!i). Mth 28 Bcc. 1889."
242
stained glass in wirral old churches
St. Andrew's, Bebington.
The finest stained glass in this church
is to be found in the two grand
eight-light Perpendicular windows in the
south aisle. They picture the following
Biblical characters : Sarah, Hannah,
lluth, Esther, Mary (the mother of Our
Lord), Elizabeth, Mary of Bethany, and
Dorcas, in the one window ; and Abraham,
Moses, David, Elijah, Sts. Peter,
Matthew, Andrew, and John, in the
other. All the figures are canopied.
St. Oswald's, Bidston.
Three windows in this church should
be noticed. At the east of the south
wall is a two-light window painted in
the Burne-Jones style. In the middle
of the same wall is a representation of the
Adoration of the Madonna, executed
in something of the mediaeval manner ;
and at the west end of the same wall, a
two-light window representing St. Cecilia
and St. Oswald.
WOODCHURCII.
The old glass in the porch has already
been noted. The east window contains
243
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
some old fragments, set as ovals, which
were brought from a monastic church in
France. For the rest the finest window
is probably that by Kempe, to the left
of the main entrance, dedicated to the
memory of the Rev. George King, a
former Rector of Woodchurch, who died
March 7th, 1862, aged 81 years, and to
Catherine, his daughter. Punning on the
name, the artist has pictured the great
kings of the Bible, in six lights.
The present author cannot hope that
this selection of windows in Wirral will
meet every taste, for the just appreciation
of stained glass is difficult, and judgment
with regard to it more than ordinarily
fallible. There must inevitably be times
of day, for example, when the position of
the sun is not favourable to a particular
window. It often happens that glass is
seen under such conditions that the
brilliancy of the windows on one side of
the church is literally put out by a flood
of light poured in upon them through the
windows on the opposite side, and the best
of critics could not appreciate stained glass
under such circumstances. Experience
244
STAINED GLASS IN WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
naturally teaches one to make allowances,
but he can only judge what he has seen,
and it is only with the light shining
through a window that he can see its
colour or appreciate its effect. As a
matter of fact, we rarely see stained glass
at its best, for the effect of glass depends
upon the absence of light other than that
which comes through it, and every other
ray which penetrates into a building does
injury to the colouring. It is compar-
able to hearing a symphony only in
snatches, or as if a more powerful orchestra
was all the while drowning the sound.
" Something of course of our appreci-
ation," says Day, " depends upon the
frame of mind in which we come to the
windows. They may be one of the sights
of the place ; but the sight-seeing mood is
not the one in which to appreciate. How
often can the tourist sit down in a church
with the feeling that he has all the day
before him, and can give himself up to the
enjoyment of the glass and wait till it has
something to say to him ? A man has not
seen glass when he has walked round the
church, with one eye upon it and the other
upon his watch, not even though he may
have made a note or two concerning it.
245
THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
You must give yourself up to it, or it will
never give up to you the secret of its
charm."
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
H. ARNOLD : Stained Glass.
LEWIS F. DAY : Windows.
MAURICE DRAKE : A History of English Glass
Painting.
PHILIP NELSON : Ancient Painted Glass in England.
ERNEST R. SUFFLING : A Treatise on the Art of
Glass Painting.
N. H. J. WESTLAKE : A History of Design in Painted
Glass.
HAROLD EDGAR YOUNG : A Perambulation of the
Hundred of Wirral.
STAINED GLASS IN ENGLAND : Gent. Mag.
Ecclesiology 1894.
T. H. MAY : Heswall Parish Church.
Printed by Saml. Hill and Sons (l'pool) Ld.
Liverpool
INDEX
PAGE
ALMS BOXES 200
Altar 150
At Backford 153
Cloths 157
Construction 152
Destruction of 155
History of 150, 151, 152
Lights 158
Ornaments 158
Rails 155
Architecture of Wirral Churches 25
EARLY ENGLISH 32
At Backford 14, 32
,, Bebington 32
„ Burton 11, 32
„ Eastham 15, 32
DECORATED 36
At Eastham 36
„ Thurstaston 36
NORMAN 27
At Bebington 15,28
„ Birkenhead Priory 27
„ Burton 11
Decoration 28
At Eastham 14, 27
Glass 28
At Hoylake 30
Neston 10, 30
Shotwick 12, 28
Thornton Hough 28, 30
West Kirbv 9
Woodchurch 27, 29, 30
247
INDEX.
PAGE.
PERPENDICULAR 37
At Backford 11
„ Bebington 15
Characteristics of 37
At Eastham 15
Towers 39
At Woodchurch 37, 38
Arms, Coats of 204
Aumbry 185
BACKFORD PARISH CHURCH
Architecture 14, 32, 39
Altar, Mensa of 153
Aumbry 185
Bells 43
Chained Bible 143
Chancel Chairs 189
Dedication 93
Hatchments 204, 206, 207, 213
History 14
Lychgate 61
Piscina 182
Sun-dial 68
Tower 39
Windows 240
Badge in Heraldry 2i8
Baptism 104
Early 105
Infant, Origin of 108
Ritual of 104, 114
Barker, Robert 143
Bar Sinister 223
BEBINGTON CHURCH
Architecture 27, 32, 37, 39
Bells 45
Bread Board 202
Chantry 20
248
INDEX.
PAGE.
Chancel 8, 159
Churchyard Cross 72
Communion Plate 173
Dedication 96
Font 107,110
Font Cover 113
History 5, 16
Misericords 191
Piscina 182
Spire 33, 51
Stalls 191
Windows ; 243
BedeRoll 129
Bells 40
Baptism of 47
Belfries 40
Casting of 49, 50
Consecration of 47
Hanging of 51, 52
Ringing of 52, 59
Sermon Bells 130
Superstition regarding 48
Tone of 50
Tuning 50
Uses of. Ancient 6, 54
Bibles, Chained 143, 145, 146
Bible. Bishop Wilson's 148
Bible, Breeches 137
BIDSTON PARISH CHURCH
Bells 45
Dedication 94
Reredos 157
Sun-dial 68
Tower 39, 51
Windows 243
BIRKENHEAD PRIORY
Crosses, Grave 73
Dedication 92
Norman Chapel 27
Tomb of Prior Rayneford 74
249
INDEX.
PAGE.
Bishops' Chairs i88
Bread Boards 202
Breeches Bible 137
Broach Spires 34
BBOMBOROUGH PARISH CHURCH
Bells 44
Foundation 15
Bunbury Family 205
Burials in Woollen 63
Burials on the N. side of a Church 62
BURTON CHURCH
Altar Rails 155
Architecture 32
Bishop Wilson's Bible 148
Burials in Woollen 63
Chained Bible 14&
Communion Plate 171
Credence 184
Cross, Ancient 73
Dedication 85, 92
Font 107, 111, 115
Font-Cover 114
Foxe's Book of Martyrs 146
Hatchments 206, 213
History 11
Norman Relics 29
Pews 125
Sun-dial 68
Tower 51
Buttresses, Gothic 37
CADENCY, MARKS OF 222
Campanology 52
Candles 158
Canting Arms 222
250
INDEX.
PAGE.
Chained Bibles 143, 145, 146
Chairs, Bishops' 188
Chahce 163
AtBackford 172
„ Bebington 173
„ Burton 171, 172
Destruction of Chalices 168
Evolution „ 163
Gothic Revival 169
AtHeswall 170, 171
Overchurch 173, 174
Restoration of, to Laity 169
At Shotwick 172
„ Stoak 172
„ Upton 173, 174
„ Woodchurch 173
Chancel Screens 198
,, Seats 188
Chantries 20, 159
Choirs in olden days 126
Christening Door 114
Chrismatories 165, 167
Church Ales 66
Churchyard Crosses 70
,, Games 65
Church Orchestras 126, 198
Churching Pew 124
Church Porch 75
Ciboria 165
Coats of Arms 204
Badges 218
Bar Sinister 223
Cadency, Marks of 222
Canting Arms 222
Classification of Arms 211, 212
Crest 210
Helmet 214
251
INDEX.
PAGE.
Illegal assumption of 209
Heraldic Language 220, 221
Mantling 215
Marshalling 223-226
Mottoes 217, 218
Origin of 207
Royal Arms in Churches 224
Scroll 217
Shield 214, 221, 222
Supporters 216
Torse 216
Collegiate Churches 5
Communion Table 150, 151, 153
Congreve Arms 206, 213
Credence 168, 182
Crest 210
Cross, The Holy 90
Crosses, Destruction of 72
,, Churchyard 70
Cross, Ancient Fragments of, at Neston 10
Cruciform Churches 18
Cruets 165
Curfew Bell 56
Curvilinear Gothic 36
DEATH KNELL : 58
Dedication of Churches 82
Origin of Custom 82
Reasons for 85
Ritual of 83
Dogs in Churches I2i, 154
Dolphin, Symbolism of 193
EAGLE LECTERNS 197
Eagle, Symbolism of 195, 196
252
INDEX.
PAGE.
Easter Sepulchre 175
UASTHAM PARISH CHURCH
Architecture of 14, 32, 33, 36, 37, 51
Bells 44
Bread Board 202
Chancel 7
Churchyard Cross 72
Dedication 92
Font 14, 109
Font Cover 113
History of 15
Lychgate 61
Musical Instruments, Old 128
Spire 33, 51
Stanley Chapel 7
Sun-dial 68
Windows 240-242
Yew Tree 74, 75
Entasis 35
FLAGON, COMMUNION 165, 169, 170
Font loi
At Bebington 107, 110
„ Burton 107, 111
Desecration of Fonts 102, 103
At Heswall Ill
„ Neston 108, 111
„ Poulton Ill
„ Shotwick 108
Symbolism of Fonts 109
At Thurstaston 102, 112
„ Wallasey 110
„ West Kirby 102
„ Woodchurch 108, 111, 112
Font Covers 112, 113
Foxe's Book of Martyrs 146
GENEVAN BIBLE 137
Geometric Order of Gothic Architecture 36
253
INDEX.
PAGE.
Gleaning Bell 55
Gothic Architecture {see Architecture)
Grave Crosses 73
HATCHMENTS {see Coats of Arms)
Helmet 214
HZSWALL PARISH CHURCH
Bells 43
Communion Plate 170, 171
Dedication 89
Font Ill
History 7
Pew Register 122, 123
St. Peter's Chapel 20
Sun-dial 68
Tower 39, 48, 51
Windows 238, 239
Hilbre 86
Houseling Bell 57
Koylake 30, 86
LADY CHAPELS 20
Lambrequin 214, 216
Lavacrum 181
Lecterns 195, 196
Lenten Veil 198
Liscard Memorial Church 137
Lights, Altar 158
,, Easter 177
Lord's Supper 150, 159
Lychgate 61
254
INDEX.
PAGE.
MANTLING 215, 216
Marshalling of Arms 223
By Impalement 226
„ Quartering 224
„ Superimposition 225
Memorial Church, Liscard 137
Misericords 191
Mottoes 217, 218
NE3T0N PARISH CHUJflCH
Architecture 30
Bells 46,56
Cross, Fragments of Ancient 10
Dedication. 85, 90, 92
Easter Sepulchre 175
Font 102,108,111
History 10
Sun-dial 68
Tower 51
Windows 239, 240
OFFERTORY, ORIGIN OF 201
* Old Mortality ' at Shotwick 13
Oleum Catechumenorium 167
,, Infirmorium 167
Orchestras in Church 198
Oven Bell 56
Overchurch Chalice 173
Owen, John 13
PASCHAL CANDLES 178
Passing Bell 57
Passion, Emblems of the 112
Paten 165, 167
Paxbrede 165, 166
255
INDEX.
PAGE.
Pelican, Symbolism of 193
Pews 116
Allocation of 121
At Burton 125
Churching Pews 124
Customs regarding 123
At Heswall 122
History of 116, 117, 118, 119, 120
At Shotwick 121, 125, 126
Physiologus, The 194
Piscina 7, 180
Porch 75
Port Sunlight 38
Poulton 27
Pulpit 129
In Puritan Days 132
At Shotwick 134
„ Stoak 135
Three-decker Pulpits 133
At West Kirby 135
Pyx 165
RANDLE HOLMES' FAMILY 206
Rectilinear Order of Gothic Architecture 37, 38
Reredos 155
At Bidston 157
„ Thurstaston 157
„ Woodchurch 156
Rickman's Classification of Architecture 27
Rood Screens 199
Royal Arms 224
Rush Bearing 117
SACRARIUM 181
Sacring Bell 54
256
INDEX.
PAGE.
Saint Andrew 96
St. Bartholemew 89
Bridget 86,87
Eilian 100
Helen 85, 90
Hilary 86, 98
Hildeburgh 86
Lawrence 94
Mary 85, 90, 92
Michael 86, 93
Nicholas 85, 92
Oswald 94
Peter 89
SancteBell 54
Saunce Bell 54
Screens 198
Scroll 217
Sedilia 186
Sermons 130, 131
Sermon Bell 55, 130
Sharpe's Classification of Architecture 36
Shield 214, 221, 222
SHOTWICK CHURCH
Architecture 27, 28, 51
Bells 44
Churchwardens' Pew 125
Communion Plate 170, 172
Dedication 85, 86, 93
Font 108
History 12
Lectern 197
Orchestra 126
Pews 121
Pulpit, Three-decker 133, 134
Royal Arms 226
257
B
INDEX.
PAGE.
Sedile 186
Sun-dial 68
Tower 51
Windows 235
SouJ Bell 57
Spires 32-35
Spoons 165
Stained Glass 229
Appreciation of 244
At Backford 240
„ Bebington 243
„ Bidston 94, 243
„ Burton 93
Colours 232
At Eastham 240
„ Heswall 90, 238
History of 229
AtNeston 239
„ Shotwick 235
„ Wallasey 98
„ West Kirby 87, 228, 235
„ Woodchurch 234, 243
Stanlaw 48, 54
Stalls, Origin of 189
STOAK CHURCH
Altar Rails 155
Bells 43
Communion Plate 172
Dedication 94
Roof 14
Hatchments 205-207, 213, 219, 220
Pulpit 135
Sun-dial 68
Tower 39,51
Stoup, Holy Water 79
Sun-dials 67
Supporters 216
Symbolism in Church Architecture 18
258
INDEX.
PAGE.
THORNTON HOUGH 28, 29
Three-decker Pulpits 133
THURSTASTON CHURCH
Architecture 36
Bread Board 202
Dedication 89
Font 102,112
Lychgate 61
Reredos 157
Royal Arms 226
Screen 199
Tower 51
Torse 216
Tudor-Gothic Architecture 37
UPTON
•137
WALLASEY PARISH CHURCH
Dedication 86, 98
Old Font from 27, 28, 102, 110
Tower 48, 51
Water, Ritual of Consecration of" 113
Weeping Chancels 18
WEST KIRBY PARISH CHURCH
Alms Box 200
Bells 42,54
Bread Board 202
Chancel 19
Chantry 20
Choir Seats, Old 190
Crosses, Ancient Grave 74
Dedication 86, 87
Font 102
History 9
Lychgate 61
Orchestra, Old 128
259
INDEX.
PAGE.
Piscina 182
Pulpit 135
Rushbearing 117. 118
Sedilia 186
Sun-dial 68
Tower 39, 51
Windows 228, 235-237
Wilson, Bishop 148
Windows {see Stained Glass)
WOODCHURCH
Architecture 17, 18, 27, 39
Bells 45
Bread Boards 202
Chancel 18
Chantry 20
Churchyard Cross 72
Communion Plate 173
Dedication 90
Font 108,111
History 7, 17
Holy Water Stoup 79
Lowside Window 27
Lychgate "1
Piscina 7, 182
Porch 79
Reredos 1^^
Screen 1^"
Sun-dial 70, 72
Tower "^
' Weeping ' Chancel 18
Windows 156,234,243
YEW TREES 74
260
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