THE SAXON MINSTER OF ST. MARY

The magnificent Lincoln Cathedral is well known but how many people know that there is a Minster in Lincolnshire which is recognised as the Mother Church of Lincoln Cathedral ? Just eleven miles North/West of Lincoln, on the A1241, stands the Old Saxon Minster of St. Mary which dates back to roughly 975 AD and was possibly built on the site of an earlier wooden building. In 1054 Leofric and Godiva (everyone will know of Lady Godiva of Coventry) urged on by Bishop Wulfwig re-founded the Minster and then in 1091 it was again re-founded as an Abbey by Bishop Remigious after it had been described as a ruin. Within five years though, the Minster had become one of the largest Parish Churches in the Country. At a later date there were various renovations and alterations to the building and a 13th Century broken limestone cross was found, together with skeletons, in the 1990s.

Today, more renovations and restorations are needed if the Minster is to survive and fortunately there seems to be a dedicated group of people who are doing just that.








St. Mary's has the tallest Saxon arches in Europe.




The Early English Font in the Minster has a number of Pagan carvings around it such as a dragon and a Green Man and is also notable for standing on nine supporting columns










In another section of the church, the wall has been defaced by graffiti - but WHAT graffiti !!! A sketch of a Viking ship has been scratched onto the wall possibly by an invader who reached this part of the country by sailing down the River Trent in the 10th Century.

In the photographs below, one of them is of the wall itself but with the ship very hard to see and in the other I have tried to show just where the ship is but I don't for one moment think that my interpretation of the sketch is correct in every detail - a lot of it was guess work. You may have a better view of this, or in fact, any of the photographs in this blog, by clicking on the image. Once you have finished looking at the larger version then click on the return arrow at the top of your screen.




There are so many beautiful things to see in the Minster, such as this candelabra....


....or this lecturn.....


......and this pulpit beside which is a plaque with the following inscription on it.

+IN MEMORY OF EDMUND H. HASKINS, RECTOR OF THIS PARISH OF STOW WHO DIED OF SMALLPOX CAUGHT IN MINISTERING TO HIS FLOCK MARCH 2 1877 THIS PULPIT WAS RESTORED FROM WHICH FOR 12 YEARS HE PREACHED GOD'S WORD. +I HAVE NOT SHUNNED TO DECLARE UNTO YOU THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD.


The plaque below states - THIS PIER, BEARING MARKS OF FIRE, HAS BEEN LEFT UNRESTORED THAT IT MAY TELL THE HISTORY OF THIS ANCIENT SAXON CATHEDRAL OF LINDSAY, BURNT BY THE DANES AD.870 AND CALLED BY THE TRADITION OF THE COUNTRY 'THE MOTHER OF LINCOLN MINSTER'.



Part of the 19th Century ceiling with the Altar and the stained glass windows above it.

The Saxon shelf and statues in the south transept.









The ladies of Saxon England were renowned for their skills in needlework and from the embroideries I saw during my visit, the present day embroiderers are well up to the standard of their predecessors.




The old carved pews have what appears to be old gravestones between them.


What a magnificent place this is and all credit should go to the many men and women who have worked so hard over the centuries to ensure that it continues to be one of the great treasures of the United Kingdom....


.....and if a few of the parishioners in the past did not live up to the standard set by these people then there was always the whipping post just outside the church grounds.


The noticeboards inside the Minster tell of the work which is being done to ensure that future generations can see how men have glorified God in ages past.



St. Mary's has overseas connections, too, with the Pilgrim Fathers having worshipped here and the architect of the 19th Century renovations, John Loughborough Pearson, was also the architect of Brisbane Cathedral in Queensland, Australia.

Unfortunately I was not able to see the wall painting of Thomas A'Becket in the north transept because the ongoing renovations have made this part of the building dangerous but hopefully I will be able to visit this part of the country again when the work has been completed and fill in a few more of the gaps in what I have learned about this magnificent place of worship.

Below are listed a number of websites for those who are interested in a much more detailed history of St. Mary's Minster, the mother Church of Lincoln Cathedral.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stow,_Lincolnshire
http://www.stowminster.org.uk/history/History.htm
http://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/section.asp?catId=1165
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1EJR
http://www.stowminster.org.uk/friends/friends.htm
http://www.stowminster.org.uk/

LINCOLN CATHEDRAL

Surely, one of the truly great Gothic cathedrals of not only Britain but of Europe, too......and what a position on top of a hill looking out over and dominating the City of Lincoln. The Diocese of Lincoln originally stretched from the River Humber to the River Thames and the Bishop in charge of such a large Diocese was a very powerful man in Medieval times.

There have been many famous people associated with Lincoln Cathedral including John Smith of Pocohontas fame, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Christopher Wren (who built the Library) amongst others. One of the four signed originals of Magna Carta was housed in the Library but today it is kept in an old prison building within Lincoln Castle, just a few yards away from the Cathedral.

The majority of the photographs below were taken on my visit to Lincoln in 2005 with the final photograph taken last year on another visit.


This magnificent Cathedral dates from around 1072, shortly after the Norman Conquest, and while the Romanesque West Frontage has been retained, the majority of the Gothic building dates from the 12th/13th Century when St. Hugh of Lincoln was the Bishop with later generations adding some wonderful features to the building. I am proud to say that some of my family have worked on the restoration of the building. My great great grandfather and his sons in the mid 1800s were stone masons, cutters and sawyers. My father also told me that he carried me up the stairs to the top of one of the Towers when I was a baby.

At one time those towers were topped by spires and I was told many years ago that they had fallen down at the time of an earthquake around the 13th Century but during my research for this blog I have found information saying that the towers were toppled during a severe storm around 1545.










Being high on a hill, you can usually find that the winds blowing around the Cathedral are very strong indeed and there is the delightful story of one of the mischievous imps who loved to cause all sorts of trouble finding his way inside the Cathedral. When he wanted to leave, however, his leg was injured when the wind slammed the door closed on it and so there he sits into eternity nursing his bad leg way above the Angel Choir. One version also has it that the Imp had a partner and before ending up in Lincoln, the pair of them had put the twist into the spire of Chesterfield Cathedral. Another version of the legend can be found at
http://www.icons.org.uk/nom/nominations/lincoln-imp
- the Imp is used by the Lincoln Lacemakers who have him sitting nursing a bobbin lace pillow as their emblem and the football club also have him as their mascot.
You have to look very hard to find the Imp as he is only about 12 inches high but as you walk into the Angel Choir, look at the top of a column on the left hand side and may just see him perched above a bearded face.





The Chapterhouse of Lincoln Cathedral has the most wonderful acoustic properties with whispers being heard from one side by someone on the opposite side. It was here in 1301 that Edward I held a session of Parliament during which he declared his fourth son, Edward of Caernarvon, the first Prince of Wales - he went on to become Edward II.

Edward I married Eleanor of Castile when she was 10 years old and he was 15 but the first of their 15 children was born when she was 20. When she died approximately 8 miles from Lincoln, her heartbroken husband had her body embalmed and transported to London when she was buried at the feet of Edward's father, Henry III, in Westminster Abbey. The journey took 12 days and everywhere the coffin rested overnight, a cross was erected, a replica of one of them being known today as Banbury Cross. Another cross can be seen outside Charing Cross station near Trafalgar Square.








Some of the stained glass windows are absolutely breathtaking such as those below - the Deans Eye and the Bishops Eye




In 2005, the producers of a new film, The Da Vinci Code, had been refused permission to film in Westminster Abbey, so it was decided that the Cloisters here would be used instead.


As well as the main Altar, there are other small chapels within the building such as this Students Chapel, where Holy Communion is offered to the students of Universities, Colleges and Schools.





A number of tombs are within the Cathedral, two of them being those of Katherine Swynford, the Duchess of Lancaster (the wife of John of Gaunt, grandson of Edward III) and their daughter, Joan, the Countess of Westmoreland, the grandmother of Edward IV and Richard III. They had been side by side in a prominent position and surrounded with heraldry and brasses until Oliver Cromwell came to power.




When I visited the Cathedral in 2005 there was a magnificent display of wood carvings in the recesses along the North Aisle of the stages of the Crucifixion.

1. Jesus, a man of Truth, is condemned to death by the crowd through their government


2. The Truth is beaten and flogged, and roped to the execution beam.


3. He falls under pressure from without.


4. See the footnote.


5. He is helped by Simon of Cyrene.


6. He is helped by Veronica who wipes his face.


7. See Footnote.


8. Jesus, turning, said "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me but for yourselves and your children".


9. Under pressure from the crowd, he falls for the third time.


10. We strip him of his clothes.


11. Jesus is held down by the crowd as the tools of government drive in the nails.


12. He is executed on the cross.


13. The body of Jesus is held by his mother.


14. He is enclosed into his tomb.


15. Illumination, Awareness, Enlightment, Insight, Inspiration, Understanding.


As old as Lincoln Cathedral is, it's Mother Church, St. Mary's Saxon Cathedral, is close by at Stow, and this will be featured in the next posting in the Lincolnshire Blog.



Footnote : I had a good many other photographs of Lincoln Cathedral but unfortunately my camera malfunctioned and I lost a lot of them including the details of the fourth and seventh woodcarvings.