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Heathfield Church HistoryA Guided Tour of Heathfield Church, Somerset The Churchyard Cross The cross has been scheduled as an Ancient Monument since 1976, and is similar to the one at Broadway, near Ilminster. The estimated date of 1275 is the same date as tile fragments found in the churchyard (Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society Volume 124 page 129). Churchyard crosses have been called ‘the only memorial to the dead’ before gravestones came into vogue (after all, our own earliest gravestone is dated 400 years later). The headless figure dressed in medieval costume may be a Prior of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in London (previous patrons) or a representation of St John the Baptist (church patron saint). An angel holding a shield is below. It is probable that the missing top of the ‘cross’ was an oblong shape of stone showing on one side the crucifixion and on the other side, Mary and the infant Jesus. It could have been officially vandalised on three separate occasions in history:
WELCOME The FONT of 1869 has been termed Modern Perpendicular. Before 1869, a marble font stood here (although marble fonts are not old); after 1869 the marble font was used as a garden urn at Heathfield Rectory – though we know its fate was to be sold in an antique shop in Staplegrove Road, Taunton! The oak cover has been subjected to a liming process and may belong to the previous marble font. The design of the original primitive font is unknown: it was removed in 1841. 120 people are reputed to be able to sit in comfort within these walls: 25 children used to be accommodated on small bench pews in the belfry. EIGHT HAND BELLS belong to the church, they were purchased about 1903. There are two chalices: the Cornish chalice of 1841 and its plate, and the Elkington chalice of 1914 (?) and its paten. A christening shell also belongs to the church. The first surviving register is dated 1698 (surviving is an apt word for our earliest register which was "carefully rescued from the rubbish heap by the present respected Vicar " i.e. the Revd. Edward Popham Spurway). However, parish registers were not compulsory until 1598 so it’s the first hundred years of names we’ve lost (it must be said of course that at least 500 years of names are totally lost if the church had been functioning since before 1100). A traumatic date in the church’s history was 1869 when a major Victorian restoration took place initiated by an Edward (Rev'd E B C Spurway) and carried out by an Edward Ashworth (the Devon architect and artist). It has been said that what Cromwell designed to leave, the Victorians – unwittingly – finished off! John Betjeman satirised these often vandalic over-restorations in a marvellous poem called ‘Hymn’ in 1932. Previously there was a ‘new pewing and painting’ project carried out in 1841: money raised amounted to £127 -11s -1d. The ROOF is a wagon type and has four small carved roof bosses. Most Bath stone WINDOW tracery and glass are of 1869, so-called Late Decorated style. The BELFRY had a gallery for the bell ringers and the orchestra (violin, bass viol, clarinet, circa 1780’s – 1840’s), but this was removed in 1869 so the ringers now stand at ground level. This gallery was approached by a flight of steps outside, and three red bricks visible from the churchyard probably mark the doorstep. The BELLS are five in number, recast in 1898 by Mears & Stainbank, London (the Whitechapel Bell Foundry). On the 23 rd December 1898, Bishop Kennion of Bath and Wells re-dedicated the restored tower with its five new bells hung in their new oak cage. We know that the original dates of the four: 1657, 1716, 1794, 1796 and the fifth bell must have been added sometime after 1835. Two bells had been recast at Bridgwater in 1794-7 for £21. Encircling the waist of the Treble Bell is the inscription ‘Ringers of Somerset. Per E Salsbury & A Moore 1898’ and on the Tenor Bell ‘Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace’. In 1899, a former Heathfield miller-turned-farmer, John Greedy, told of how he heard that when Heathfield had only 3 bells and Oake only 2, the ancient Heathfieldians said the bells called "Who’ll help we? Who’ll help we?" and the Oake bells would reply "We two! We two!" Church services then must have gone on simultaneously. The NAVE There is a print of The Madonna del Granduca by Raphael (the original is in the Pitti Gallery, Florence) probably hung there by the High Churchman, the Revd O L Williams (1916-1932). He also placed the Stations of the Cross round the nave and set up a statue of the Madonna in the south chapel. There is a glazed terracotta plaque of our patron saint, St John the Baptist, by the font. It is the work of one of the Florentine potters of the Cantagalli family during the late 19th century (see their mark of the blue cockbird on its foot). The head was copied from a sandstone relief in the Bargello Museum, Florence, by Desiderio da Settignano (1428-1464). In Somerset, 27 churches are dedicated to St John the Baptist. Legend has it that churches so dedicated have a step down at the entrance to the church to indicate his stepping down into the water to baptise or to show his humility. Opposite you was a North Aisle. It was completely sheared off in the 1869 renovation; one can see this from the irregular masonry lines in the north outside wall. This resulted in redundant stone which was used in building the vestry. The wall tablet to Thomas Cornish is worth reading. It is interesting to speculate on Sarah’s medical condition. The little south window seems to have a stylised ‘trinity tree’ in its lattice work. On the belfry wall, there is a First World War Memorial Tablet of bronze embedded in local stone: it was erected in 1922 at a cost of £23 6s 0d. Box pews were here until 1841; they were taken down to Heathfield Rectory when painted deal ones were installed: these in turn were thrown out in 1869 when pitch pine pews were built in. Gas lighting was installed in the building in 1951, and electricity in 1979. The warrior saints window is interesting in that Robert Spurway is buried at sea: he died from appendicitis on board ship returning from South Africa. How many of our 1,500 dead died from diseases that present no problem at all now? The window was dedicated on 4th December 1901 and had been made by Powell of Whitefriars at a cost of £45. On this date the oak litany desk and the front cover were also dedicated (the font ewer had originally cost £1). The hymn and psalm board were made of local oak in 1981, fashioned from a redundant 150 year-old pew. The churchwardens’ staves (1979) have oak shafts and, from our own churchyard tree, mitres of English yew. The tile floor was laid in 1869, a floor of boards was there before. The brass lectern came into the church in 1893. The so-called SOUTH CHAPEL may have been an aisle with two bays, there is a suggestion that the great arch was made out of two arches. Its south window has a maple leaf, blackberry and pine cone motif. See the cleft chipped out up on the left-hand side of the great arch? That is where a part of the top of the lost CHANCEL SCREEN slotted in. Let the ‘Somerset County Herald’ of 1900 tell the whole sad story - On 29th April 1907 the new ‘Positive’ ORGAN was dedicated, followed by an inaugural recital by Harold Jeboult, "also violin and vocal music". It was placed right up by the chancel’s south doorway (this is why the keyboard is strangely on its side) usurping ’Cider’ Cornish’s wall tablet which was fitted into the wall down by the font. This organ had cost £135, and in July 1925 it was overhauled and restored, again in 1929 it was overhauled and the bellows renewed. During the summer of 1951, the organ was repaired and rebuilt at a cost of £129. It is encased in pine – an easily worked wood beloved of the Victorians. The organ electric blower and the organist’s light were installed in 1980. The CHANCEL was rebuilt in 1841. The chandelier was brought into the church in 1914. The red pine choir stalls were made in 1869. The gold carpet came to the chancel in 1977. The processional cross appeared in 1980. on 9th May 1915 a dedication took place of the oak Priest’s Stall given by Mrs Sprurway in memory of her late husband, the Revd E P Spurway. The present PULPIT was created in 1841 by the Revd T M Cornish from carved oak fragments from the dismantled screen: its original position is unknown but its present site was chosen when the stand and stairs were made for it in 1869. The Victorian framework is heavily over stained. It has been pointed out that the carved panels have an amateur finish and it would be nice to know if they were the work of Heathfieldians themselves. One can see a French fleur-de-lis (appropriate 1154-1216) only, foxglove, acorns, tree and stylised flowers. (See the framed story of the 1595 monument – try getting a faculty for that now! One can see the gravediggers’ pickaxes and shovels, and it’s tempting to identify red roses of Lancaster.) On this spot during the years 1503 – 1502, "a discrete priest" had "to syng and say" praying for the souls of Alexander Hadley (died 1480), Alice Hadley nee Durburgh, and their son John. The south window, the oldest, is full of stylised oak leaves. The SANCTUARY - the east window is probably early Victorian, certainly not medieval: it casts reflections and "when the sun shines though OLD glass there are NO coloured reflections cast". The present wooden altar – a ‘communion table’ of stained oak – was made and erected here in 1869. The unusual four posted ‘English Altar’ was erected by the Revd O L Williams in 1916. The brass Calvary cross appeared in the church in 1893. The tiles (wall and floor) date from the 1869 upheaval. The credence shelf was inset in 1984. The communion rails are of natural oak. In 1531, we know the Church had an "All Souls Light", a lamp kept burning for the sake of all souls. In 1532 James Hadley of Withycombe left 5s to the "high aulter of Hethefeld" and 6s-8d " to have my name apon the masboks". The VESTRY The vestry of 1869 (kept locked) was a completely new addition, and has always been poor structurally. It is floored with old tombstones prised out of the chancel floor during the 1869 restoration, now we shall never know where the bodies lie. . . . . retracing one’s steps to the porch . . The comparatively modern main door is of pine wood. The porch was restored in 1869, though a hollowed-out wall stone can be seen on the right of the door, perhaps the remains of a holy water stoup (the use of holy water in church services in 1548). Judging by the old beams visible on the outside of the porch, there was originally a room on the first floor above the porch, perhaps a storeroom for vestments and equipment. GOING OUTSIDE Looking at the church you will see it is built of red sandstone (this was invisible before 1869 because it was covered with white roughcast). The age of the present building is unknown, however there must have been a religious building on this site since at least the 1270’s (i.e. the date of the cross and the tile fragments). In the Minchin Buckland Priory ( Durston) Cartulary is a reference to the Church of All Saints at Hedfeld (period AD 1174 – 1191), this may have been down by the mill at a now extinct village centre. Indeed there is also the following entry in the Buckland Cartulary, dated some time in the 1100’s (but the writer of this guide cannot make head or tail of it!) ‘Gift by Hugh of Wirecestre to the holy house of the Hospital of Jerusalem and to the church of Hethfeld of all his moor which is between the water which flows to his mill and the water of Hethfeld next the moor of the church of Hethfeld as far as the east side of the moor of the church of Hethfeld. This gift he makes for the health of his soul and the souls of his wife and his children and all his ancestors and successors, in free, pure and perpetual alms.’ In a certain light, one can make out two much weathered incised crosses on high stones of the wall of the south chapel. Each stone seems to have been a tombstone at one time and the incisions both represent embellished Crosses of Lombardy. The tower had a clock in the 1860’s. The number of Heathfield dead amongst whom you are standing could be as high as 1,500 if a burial ground since 1250, with a parish population averaging150 coming to rest in sequence. The earliest named burial in the churchyard is that of WILLIAM WITHIE whose will is dated 1531. Beside the altar window is the gravestone of HUGH FOURACRE who was one of millers of Heathfield in the 18 th century. A serving churchwarden – he was, according to his contemporaries in his earlier days, well on the way to becoming a "Tyrannical King of the Parish". Under a Scots Pine is the grave of a former Heathfield farmer and butcher, JAMES NEWTON. He is the great-great grandfather of the famous singer and film star OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN. Under the Wellingtonia tree is a marble obelisk over the CORNISH FAMILY plot: two Revd Cornishes served Heathfield church for almost 70 years. By the main gate is the SPURWAY FAMILY burial area; two Revd Spurways served Heathfield church for nearly 60 years. These two clerical families at Heathfield Rectory (down in the valley near Dollings Glebe Farm) brewed exquisite cider for probably 128 years (1786 to 1914). Their cider is the ancestral stockpot of the former Taunton Cider Factory at Norton Fitzwarren. There is a legend that the cider profits enabled the church to be restored in Victorian times. Despite the over-restoration in 1869, it apparently did need it, for Edward Jeboult said in the 1860’s "this church is in the neglected state so general about 50 years ago. It reflects little credit on the parishioners". THE SCHOOLROOM This was probably enclosed within the boundary of the churchyard, was built about 1850 by the Revd T M Cornish for the parish children, but it had ceased functioning by 1875. It had been supported by voluntary contributions. Since that time it has been used on and off by parish meetings, Sunday schools, and jumble sales; It is now derelict. It is believed that the usual medieval CHURCH HOUSE used to stand on the north side just inside the farm’s upper barnyard. Church Houses were the first ‘village halls’. Ours was certainly in existence up to 1787. There is a shallow cistern set in the ground in the south-west corner, permanently dry now, built about 1898 for grave-vase water.
HEATHFIELD CHURCHYARD TREES
HEATHFIELD CHURCH PATRONS
Advowson The right of nomination or presentation to an ecclesiastical benefice. An advowson is held by a patron, who may be an individual or institution, clerical or secular. The patron presents the candidate to the appropriate Bishop for institution and induction, though the nomination may be refused. An advowson is a form of property which may be bought, sold or given away and is subject to civil law. An advowson appendant is one annexed to a manor or estate, an advowson in gross is in the gift of an individual. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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