Church of St Mary the Virgin, Richmond
Church of St Mary the Virgin, Richmond | |
---|---|
Parish Church of St Mary, Richmond | |
Leeds | |
Archdeaconry | Richmond and Craven |
Deanery | Richmond |
Benefice | Richmond with Hudswell, Downholme and Marske |
Parish | Richmond with Hudswell (460359) |
Clergy | |
Vicar(s) | Martin Fletcher |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Designated | 1 August 1952 |
Reference no. | 1289814 |
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Richmond, is the
The patronage of the church was originally given to the monks of
The church and its surrounds are built on a hill that slopes down to the River Swale on the eastern side of the town.
St Mary's has been subjected to several renovations, most notably in the 19th century, and is now a
History
Originally, the Church of the Holy Trinity in Richmond town square was said to be the mother church of the parish as it was within the castle walls, but as the town and population increased, so Trinity became the daughter church of St Mary's. It is said that the distance between the two was only 1,000 feet (300 m).
The church was constructed on a slope which leads down towards a sharp meander in the River Swale known as Clink Pool, (named after the wooded bank on the north side of the river),[9] and across the river over Mercury Bridge, which was built in 1846 to afford an easy route into the town from the railway station.[10][11]
Parts of the nave and aisles date back to the middle of the 12th century, but the varied renovations have left a much altered church from what is believed to be a cruciform building originally.
Before The Reformation, the windows in the church displayed images from the scriptures, but these were later viewed as "superstitious" post-Reformation and so fell to decay or were replaced with ordinary glass.[20] Various additions to the church during the 15th century have led to the whole church being labelled as Perpendicular in its architectural style,[21] however, some other structures remain from the various alterations which have also seen the building labelled as Gothic.[22]
The twelve
Between 1858 and 1859, the church was renovated by Sir
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/St_Mary%27s_Church_%28Richmond%2C_Yorkshire%29_%2807%29.jpg/220px-St_Mary%27s_Church_%28Richmond%2C_Yorkshire%29_%2807%29.jpg)
In March 2017, the bells were replaced with modern castings and housed at the same height to make the bellringing easier and to safeguard the tower.[30] The three previous bells, cast c. 1500 and 1697, were replaced by eight new bells cast at the foundry of John Taylor & Co in Loughborough.[31] One of the old bells has been preserved in the belfry.[32] The Society of Bellringers of St Mary's Parish Church ring the bells in the church and are recognised as a teaching hub for the local area. The bells are rung in the town for special occasions; either local or national events.[33]
The organ was installed in the north chapel in 1811, and was replaced in 1912 with one built by Harrison & Harrison.[34] This second organ was completely refurbished in 2003.[12][35][36]
Regimental chapel
The church hosts the regimental chapel of the Green Howards, which has a service each spring for former members of the regiment.
The chapel and the interior of the church are adorned with memorials to members of the armed forces who either died in action or represented the Green Howards in some way (IE senior officers).[40] A stone tablet, set into one of the walls, commemorates the dead from 1916 to 1919 and is listed as the Yorkshire Regiment, which was how the Green Howards were sometimes known.[41][42]
Churchyard
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/The_Plague_Stone_in_St_Mary%27s_churchyard%2C_Richmond.jpg/220px-The_Plague_Stone_in_St_Mary%27s_churchyard%2C_Richmond.jpg)
The churchyard has the graves of two soldiers who died at Waterloo and of Robert Willance, a local alderman and draper.[43] Willance was out hunting in 1606 when his horse fell off Whitcliffe Scar with Willance suffering a broken leg and the horse dying.[44] Willance's amputated leg was buried in the churchyard, with Willance being reunited with his leg ten years later when he died.[45][46]
The graveyard also contains a plague stone (one of two in Richmond),[note 1] which marks the spot where the bodies of 1,072 people who succumbed to the Black Death between 1597 and 1599, were buried.[note 2][13][48] Another 700 people were buried as a result of a plague upon the town between 1644 and 1645, with 574 being buried in just six months alone.[49]
In 1816, the "boy-poet", Herbert Knowles, published his poetry entitled Stanzas in a Richmond Churchyard. Knowles had been a pupil at Richmond School, but died not long after his poetry was published.[50] In 1861, the Bishop of Ripon ordered that a tombstone be removed from the grave of a recent burial as it contained the Latin phrase Miserere mei deus, which, at the time, was contrary to what was allowed as it was viewed as a "Purgatorial text". The family were consulted and they refused to remove the stone, so the church authorities did it instead.[51]
At the north-eastern entrance to the churchyard is a high wall and railings which are
Richmond School
The original school (built c. 1392) was located on the eastern side of the churchyard, being listed on mapping from at least 1610.[53][54][55] It was moved across the road to a new site further west in the 1670s and was used for schooling until 2012.[56][57] The school and the church retained their connection with many former heads of the school having either burials, or memorials within the church grounds.[58]
Parish and patronage
The ecclesiastical parish of Richmond includes the church of St Michael and All Angels,
In 1137, Earl Stephen granted the "churches of Richmond" to St Mary's Abbey in York.
Clergy
Vicars incumbent at St Mary's are recorded as far back as 1250. Listings are taken from church records.[63]
Year | Incumbent | Year | Incumbent | Year | Incumbent | Year | Incumbent | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1250 | Peter Chaplain | 1465 | Oliver Bland | 1700 | Robert Booth | 1907 | Nevill Egerton Leigh[64] | |||
1316 | Nicholas de Kirkeby | 1473 | Robert Mason | 1705 | William Lupton•[65] | 1927 | Arnold Moon Sullivan | |||
1280 | William Clericus | 1554 | Edward Gretehead♦ | 1706 | Thomas Brooke[66] | 1940 | Sheffield G B Exham | |||
1317 | Thomas Sleight | 1568 | Thomas Ford | 1739 | Francis Blackburne†[67][note 3] | 1945 | William Stuart Macpherson‡ | |||
1318 | John Sleight | 1569 | Anthony Ford | 1789 | Thomas Leighton♦ | 1954 | Peter de la Poer Beresford-Peirse[note 4][69] | |||
1322 | Robert Bouges | 1573 | Nicolas Stonell | 1789 | Christopher Goodwill[note 5] | 1962 | David H Sillar | |||
1340 | John de Bek | 1582 | Edmund Sitheby | 1822 | William Barnes | 1974 | Christopher Norman Hessler White[71] | |||
1353 | Hugo de Frithby | 1585 | Anthony Jackson | 1838 | Robert Meek[72] | 1976 | Christopher Norman Hessler White[71][note 6] | |||
1366 | Robert de Akesgarth | 1620 | Thomas Rokeby | 1843 | Frederick Scott Surtees[73] | 1998 | Richard Cooper•[74] | |||
1369 | John Harwood | 1639 | George Fernly | 1850 | Lawrence Ottley†[75] | 2009 | John Chambers• | |||
1443 | Robert Eston | 1649 | Thomas Hill | 1861 | Richard E Roberts | 2017 | Martin Fletcher[76] | |||
1449 | Hugh Walker | 1658 | John Kearton | 1890 | William Danks‡[77] | |||||
1462 | Robert Mason | 1664 | Richard Godvalve | 1897 | Ludovick Stuart Robinson |
- † Died in office
- • Retired or resigned
- ‡ Became Archdeacon of Richmond during their incumbency
- ♦ Interregnum between incumbent and previous when dates are incorrect, period appears too long or records are incomplete.
Thomas Rokeby, incumbent from 1620, was subject to a visitation from the church authorities overseeing the Diocese of Chester.[note 7] They found that Rokeby was nonconformist in his preachings and in the services he was holding at the church. He was scolded over his actions with the deputation recording that "we have so dealt with him that he will not dare the like again in any kind."[79]
The incumbency of F Scott Surtees was marred by controversy; in 1845, he stated that the curate of the chapel of the Holy Trinity should swear his allegiance and reverence to Surtees, something which the curate disagreed with. A higher opinion was sought and the adjudicator found in favour of the curate.[80] Three years later, a resident of Richmond complained to the York Herald newspaper that he couldn't get his children baptised at Richmond as the curate of St Mary's and the curate of Holy Trinity were too busy. The complainant highlighted that Surtees was having a year off, for which his wage would be £600 per annum, whereas the two curates each received only £100. Surtees was accused of enjoying dolce far niente (doing sweet nothing), with the permission of the Lord Bishop.[81]
From 1 November 1897, when Ludovick Stewart Robinson was installed as the vicar at St Mary's, each successive vicar has also been the curate in charge of the Holy Trinity Chapel.[82]
Notes
- ^ The other stone marks a spot of a crossroads on the road between Richmond and Ravensworth, which housed a receptacle for vinegar (for cleansing) and the place where goods and food could be left for those isolating from the plague.[47]
- ^ Other sources state 1,050 deaths.
- ^ Blackburne died in 1787, the next listed incumbent is in 1789. However, he is listed as having served "eight and forty years" in the parish.[68]
- ^ Sometimes mistakenly written as Peter Beresford Perrso. The Beresford Peirses are from the area, usually near to Bedale.
- ^ Goodwill was previously the rector in charge of the Holy Trinity Chapel in Richmond between 1778 and 1789.[70]
- ^ In 1976, the Parish was amended from just Richmond, to the Parish of Richmond with Hudswell.
- Archdeaconry of Richmond still exists, but it is now part of the Diocese of Leeds.[78]
References
- ^ Historic England. "Parish Church of St Mary (Grade II*) (1289814)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
- ^ Speight 1897, p. 66.
- ISBN 978-1-84162-323-8.
- ISBN 1-85058-793-0.
- ISBN 1-896182-79-8.
- ^ Wenham 1958, p. 186.
- ^ Clarkson 1814, p. 156.
- ^ a b Butler 1990, p. 128.
- OCLC 37034390.
- ^ Historic England. "Mercury Bridge (1317112)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ "Disused Stations: Richmond Station". disused-stations.org.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ a b c "The borough of Richmond | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Genuki: RICHMOND : Geographical and Historical information from the year 1890., Yorkshire (North Riding)". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ Speight 1897, p. 60.
- ^ "Richmond: St Mary". www.achurchnearyou.com. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ "The story of a foreign species which is now part of the scenery". The Northern Echo. 5 March 2004. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ Clarkson 1814, pp. 160–161.
- ISBN 978-1-84383-374-1.
- ^ "Egglestone marble in York churches" (PDF). static1.squarespace.com. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
- ^ Clarkson 1814, p. 158.
- OCLC 37034390.
- ^ a b RCAA 2019, p. 60.
- ISBN 978-1-84383-659-9.
- ISBN 0-19-817164-1.
- OCLC 427472024.
- ^ Speight 1897, p. 61.
- ^ "Church News". The Blackburn Standard. No. 1, 317. Column F. 25 April 1860. p. 4.
- ^ Wenham 1958, p. 46–47.
- ^ Speight 1897, p. 63.
- ^ Copeland, Alexa (6 March 2017). "Fond farewell to historic bells at Yorks church". infoweb.newsbank.com. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ "The bells of Richmond fall silent after three centuries | The Diocese of Leeds, Church of England". www.leeds.anglican.org. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "St Mary's parish church bell restoration appeal". www.richmondbells.com. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Parish Church of St Mary, Richmond, North Yorkshire Richmond Bell Renewal and Preservation" (PDF). richmondbells.org. p. 2. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ "Catalogue of Harrison & Harrison Organs" (PDF). harrisonorgans.com. p. 26. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ Clarkson 1814, p. 165.
- ^ "St Marys Church Richmond > The Church > History". www.richmondhudswellparish.org.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-47385-796-4.
- ^ "Regimental Chapel, St Mary's Church". greenhowards.org.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ "Richmond: St Mary". www.achurchnearyou.com. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ "Yorkshire, the North Riding, 4". www.churchmonumentsgazetteer.co.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ "No. 28121". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 March 1908. p. 2157.
- ^ "St. Mary's Church - Yorkshire Regiment". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ Clarkson 1814, p. cxxiii.
- ^ Reid, Mark (20 October 2016). "Willance's Leap and Swaledale". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ISBN 1-85058-793-0.
- ISSN 0308-2199.
- ^ Historic England. "Medieval cross base known as Plague Stone, 750m WSW of High Scales (1014764)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
- ISSN 2516-5348.
- ISBN 9780954630010.
- ^ Speight 1897, p. 82.
- ^ "Removal of a tombstone by the order of the Bishop of Ripon". Jackson's Oxford Journal. No. 5, 639. Column A. 25 May 1861. p. 6.
- ^ Historic England. "Wall and Gates to Parish Church of St Mary (Grade II) (1131266)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ Clarkson 1814, p. 183.
- ^ Lloyd, Chris (28 March 2018). "Can you help save the historic old school at Richmond?". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ Wenham 1958, p. 47.
- ^ Wenham 1958, p. 48.
- ^ "Through the looking glass into Richmond school that may have inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland". The Yorkshire Post. 15 December 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ Clarkson 1814, pp. 167–183.
- ^ "St Marys Church Richmond > Home". www.richmondhudswellparish.org.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Dashboard for the parish of Richmond: w Holy Trinity w Hudswell in the Deanery of RICHMOND 460359" (PDF). leeds.anglican.org. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Genuki: ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY., Yorkshire (North Riding)". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ "Richmond: St Mary". www.achurchnearyou.com. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ "Genuki: Richmond parish:, Yorkshire (North Riding)". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
- ^ Wenham 1958, p. 201.
- ^ Butler 1990, p. 21.
- ^ Butler 1990, p. 130.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2513. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Baines, Edward (1823). History, Directory & Gazeteer, of the County of York. Leeds: Leeds Mercury Office. p. 513.
- OCLC 774632725.
- ^ Wenham 1958, p. 203.
- ^ a b "Deaths". The Church Times. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- OCLC 390874224.
- ^ "Folios 495-498b. To: The General Board of Health. From: Reverend Scott F Surtees". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Super Cooper". The Northern Echo. 26 September 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52263. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "Appointments". The Church Times. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
- Who's Who & Who Was Who (2020 online ed.). A & C Black. Retrieved 26 May 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Butler 1990, p. 27.
- ISBN 978-1-4438-3347-9.
- ^ Wenham 1958, p. 199.
- ^ "The Church and her Overworked Clergy". The York Herald. No. 3, 963. Column C. 23 September 1848. p. 5.
- ^ Wenham 1958, p. 205.
Sources
- Butler, L A S, ed. (1990). The Archdeaconry of Richmond in the eighteenth century : Bishop Gastrell's 'Notitia' --The Yorkshire parishes 1714-1725. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-06193-3.
- Clarkson, Christopher (1814). The history of Richmond, in the county of York; including a description of the castle, friary, Easeby-abbey, and other remains of antiquity in the neighbourhood. Richmond: T. Bowman. OCLC 1672927.
- Speight, Harry (1897). Romantic Richmondshire. London: E Stock. OCLC 252008733.
- Wenham, Leslie (1958). The history of Richmond School, Yorkshire. Richmond: Richmond Old Boys Association. OCLC 30230456.
- Richmond Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals (PDF). richmondshire.gov.uk (Report). Richmond: Richmondshire District Council. 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
External links
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