REPTON CHURCH.
Repton Church is built on the site of the Anglo-Saxon Monastery, which
was destroyed by the Danes in the year 874. It was most probably
built in the reign of Edgar the Peaceable (959-975), as Dr. Charles
Cox writes:—“Probably about that period the religious ardour of the
persecuted Saxons revived ... their thoughts would naturally revert
to the glories of monastic Repton in the days gone by.” On the ruins
of the “Abbey” they raised a church, and dedicated it to St. Wystan.
According to several writers, it was built of stout oak beams and planks,
on a foundation of stone, or its sides might have been made of wattle,
composed of withy twigs, interlaced between the oak beams, daubed within
and without with mud or clay. This church served for a considerable time,
when it was re-built of stone. The floor of the chancel, supported on
beams of wood, was higher than the present one, so the chancel had an
upper and lower “choir,” the lower one was lit by narrow lights, two of
which, blocked up, can be seen in the south wall of the chancel. When the
church was re-built the chancel floor was removed, and the lower “choir”
was converted into the present _crypt_, by the introduction of a vaulted
stone roof, which is supported by four spirally-wreathed piers, five feet
apart, and five feet six inches high, and eight square responds, slightly
fluted, of the same height, and distance apart, all with capitals with
square abaci, which are chamfered off below. Round the four walls is
a double string-course, below which the walls are ashlar, remarkably
smooth, as though produced by rubbing the surface with stone, water and
sand. The vaulted roof springs from the upper string-course, the ribs
are square in section, one foot wide, there are no diagonal groins, it
is ten feet high, and is covered with a thin coating of plaster, which
is continued down to the upper string-course. The piers are monoliths,
and between the wreaths exhibit that peculiar swell which we see on the
shafts of Anglo-Saxon belfry windows, &c.
The double string-course is terminated by the responds. There were
recesses in each of the walls of the crypt. In the wall of the west
recess there is a small arch, opening into a smaller recess, about 18
inches square. Many suggestions have been made about it: (1) it was a
“holy hole” for the reception of relics, (2) or a opening in which a lamp
could be kept lit, (3) or that it was used as a kind of “hagioscope,”
through which the crypt could be seen from the nave of the church, when
the chancel floor was higher, and the nave floor lower than they are now.
There are two passages to the church, about two feet wide and ten feet
high, made from the western angles of the crypt.
A doorway was made, on the north side, with steps leading down to it,
from the outside, during the thirteenth century; there is a holy water
stoup in the wall, on the right hand as you enter the door.
For many years it has been a matter of dispute how far the recesses in
the crypt, on the east, north, and south sides, extended. Excavations
just made (Sept. 1898), have exposed the foundations of the recesses. The
recess on the south side is rectangular, not apsidal as some supposed,
it projects 2 ft. 2 in. from the surface of the wall, outside, and is
6 ft. 2 in. wide. About two feet below the ground level, two blocks of
stone were discovered, (each 2 ft. × 1 ft. 4 in. × 1 ft. 9 in.), two feet
apart, they rest on a stone foundation. The inside corners are chamfered
off. On a level with the stone foundation, to the south of it, are two
slabs under which a skeleton was seen, whose it was, of course, cannot be
said. The present walls across the recesses, on the south and east, block
them half up, and were built in later times.
The recess on the east end was destroyed when a flight of stone steps
was made leading down to the crypt. These steps (there are six of them)
are single, roughly made stones of varied length, resting on the earth,
without mortar. When the flight was complete there would have been
twelve, reaching from the top to the level of the crypt floor.
The steps would afford an easier and quicker approach to the crypt and
church, but when they were made cannot now be said.
The recess on the north side was also destroyed when the outer stairway,
and door, were placed there, probably, as before stated, in the
thirteenth century. On the outside surface of the three walls, above the
ground level, are still to be seen traces of the old triangular-shaped
roofs which covered the three recesses, and served as buttresses to
the walls. Similar “triangular arches” are to be seen at Barnack, and
Brigstock.
The eastern end of the north aisle is the only portion of the ancient
transepts above the ground level. During the restorations in 1886 the
foundations of the Anglo-Saxon nave were laid bare, they extend westward
up to and include the base of the second pier; the return of the west-end
walls was also discovered, extending about four feet inwards.
Over the chancel arch the removal of many coats of whitewash revealed an
opening, with jambs consisting of long and short work; a similar opening
to the north of it used to exist, it is now blocked up.
The _Early English Style_ is only represented by foundations laid bare
during the restoration in 1885, and now indicated in the north and south
aisles, by parallel lines of the wooden blocks, with which the church
is paved. In the south aisle the foundations of a south door were also
discovered (see plan of church). To this period belong the windows in the
north side of the chancel, and in the narrow piece of wall between the
last arch and chancel wall on the north side of the present choir. There
were two corresponding windows on the south side, one of which remains.
All these windows have been blocked up.
The _Decorated Style_ is represented in the nave by four out of the six
lofty pointed arches, supported by hexagonal columns; the two, on either
side, at the east end of the nave, were erected in the year 1854.
The tower and steeple were finished in the year 1340. Basano, in his
Church Notes, records the fact—“Anᵒ 1320 ?40. The tower steeple belonging
to the Prior’s Church of this town was finished and built up, as appears
by a Scrole in Lead, having on it these words—“Turris adaptatur qua
traiectū decoratur. M c ter xx bis. Testu Palini Johis.”
A groined roof of stone, having a central aperture, through which the
bells can be raised and lowered, separates the lower part of the tower
from the belfry.
The north and south aisles were extended to the present width. The
eastern end of the south aisle was also enlarged several feet to the
south and east, and formed a chapel or chantry, as some say, for the
Fyndernes, who were at one time Lords of the Repton Manor. A similar,
but smaller, chapel was at the east end of the north aisle, and belonged
to the Thacker family. They were known as the “Sleepy Quire,” and the
“Thacker’s Quire.” Up to the year 1792 they were separated by walls
(which had probably taken the place of carved screens of wood) in order
to make them more comfortable, and less draughty! These walls were
removed in 1792, when “a restoration” took place.
The square-headed south window of the “Fynderne Chapel” composed of
four lights, with two rows of trefoil and quatrefoil tracery in its
upper part, is worthy of notice as a good specimen of this style, and
was probably inserted about the time of the completion of the tower
and spire. The other windows in the church of one, two, three, and four
lights, are very simple examples of this period, and, like the chancel
arch, have very little pretensions to architectural merit, in design at
least.
The _Perpendicular Style_ is represented by the clerestory windows of two
lights each, the roof of the church, and the south porch.
The high-pitched roof of the earlier church was lowered—the pitch is
still indicated by the string-course on the eastern face of the tower—the
walls over the arcades were raised several feet from the string-course
above the arches, and the present roof placed thereon. It is supported
by eight tie-beams, with ornamented spandrels beneath, and wall pieces
which rest on semi-circular corbels on the north side, and semi-octagonal
corbels on the south side. The space above the tie-beams, and the
principal rafters is filled with open work tracery. Between the beams
the roof is divided into six squares with bosses of foliage at the
intersections of the rafters.
The south porch, with its high pitched roof, and vestry, belongs to this
period. It had a window on either side, and was reached from the south
aisle by a spiral staircase (see plan of church).
The _Debased Style_ began, at Repton, during the year 1719, and ended
about the year 1854. In the year 1719 a singers’ gallery was erected at
the west end of the church, and the arch there was bricked up.
In the year 1779 the crypt was “discovered” in a curious way. Dr. Prior,
Headmaster of Repton School, died on June 16th of that year, a grave was
being made in the chancel, when the grave-digger suddenly disappeared
from sight: he had dug through the vaulted roof, and so fell into the
crypt below! In the south-west division of the groined roof, a rough lot
of rubble, used to mend the hole, indicates the spot.
During the year 1792 “a restoration” of the church took place, the church
was re-pewed, in the “horse-box” style! All the beautifully carved oak
work “on pews and elsewhere” which Stebbing Shaw describes in the
_Topographer_ (May, 1790), and many monuments were cleared out, or
destroyed. Some of the carved oak found its way into private hands, and
was used to panel a dining-room, and a summer-house. Some of the carved
panels have been recovered, and can be seen in the vestry over the south
porch. One of the monuments which used to be on the top of an altar tomb
“at the upper end of the north aisle,” was placed in the crypt, where it
still waits a more suitable resting-place. It is an effigy of a Knight
in plate armour (circa Edward III.), and is supposed to be Sir Robert
Francis, son of John Francis, of Tickenhall, who settled at Foremark. If
so, Sir Robert was the Knight who, with Sir Alured de Solney, came to the
rescue of Bishop Stretton in 1364, and is an ancestor of the Burdetts, of
Foremark.
The crypt seems to have been used as a receptacle for “all and various”
kinds of “rubbish” during the restoration, for, in the year 1802, Dr.
Sleath found it nearly filled up, as high as the capitals, with portions
of ancient monuments, grave-stones, &c., &c. In the corner, formed by
north side of the chancel and east wall of the north aisle, a charnel,
bone, or limehouse had been placed in the Middle Ages: this house was
being cleaned out by Dr. Sleath’s orders, when the workmen came upon the
stone steps leading down to the crypt, following them down they found the
doorway, blocked up by “rubbish,” this they removed, and restored the
crypt as it is at the present day.
During the years 1842 and 1848 galleries in the north and south aisles,
extending from the west as far as the third pillars, were erected.
[Illustration: Plate 4.
Repton Camp. (F. C. H.) (Page 3.)
Repton Church. (Before 1854.) (Page 22.)]
In 1854, the two round arches and pillars, on either side of the
eastern end of the nave, were removed, and were replaced by the present
pointed arches and hexagonal piers, for, as before stated, the sake of
uniformity! Thus an interesting portion belonging to the ancient church
was destroyed. The illustration opposite was copied from a drawing done,
in the year 1847, by G. M. Gorham, then a pupil in the school, now Vicar
of Masham, Bedale. To him our thanks are due for allowing me to copy it.
It shows what the church was like in his time, 1847.
In 1885 the last restoration was made, when the Rev. George Woodyatt
was Vicar. The walls were scraped, layers of whitewash were removed,
the pews, galleries, &c., were removed, the floor of the nave lowered
to its proper level, a choir was formed by raising the floor two steps,
as far west as the second pier, the organ was placed in the chantry at
the east end of the south aisle. The floor of nave and aisles was paved
with wooden blocks, the choir with encaustic tiles. The whole church
was re-pewed with oak pews, and “the choir” with stalls, and two prayer
desks. A new pulpit was given in memory of the Rev. W. Williams, who died
in 1882. The “Perpendicular roof” was restored to its original design:
fortunately there was enough of the old work left to serve as models for
the repair of the bosses, &c. The clerestory windows on the south side
were filled with “Cathedral” glass. The splendid arch at the west end was
opened.
The base of the old font was found among the _débris_, a new font,
designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, (the architect employed to do the
restoration), was fixed on it, and erected under the tower.
Since that restoration, stained glass windows have been placed in all the
windows of the north aisle by Messrs. James Powell and Sons, Whitefriars
Glass Works, London; the one in the south aisle is also by them. The
outside appearance of the church roof was improved by the addition of an
embattled parapet, the roof itself was recovered with lead.
In 1896 all the bells were taken down, by Messrs. John Taylor, of
Loughborough, and were thoroughly examined and cleansed, two of them, the
5th and 6th (the tenor bell), were re-cast, (see chapter on Bells).
The only part of the church not restored is the chancel, and we hope that
the Lord of the Manor, Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe, Bart., will, some day,
give orders for its careful, and necessary restoration.
INCUMBENTS, &c. OF REPTON.
Jo. Wallin, curate. Temp. Ed. VI.
1584 Richard Newton, curate.
1602 Thomas Blandee, B.A., curate.
” John Horobine
1612 George Ward, minister
Mathew Rodgers, minister
1648 Bernard Fleshuier, ”
1649 George Roades, ”
1661 John Robinson, ”
1663 John Thacker, M.A., minister.
” William Weely, curate.
1739 Lowe Hurt, M.A.
1741 William Astley, M.A.
1742 John Edwards, B.A.
1804 John Pattinson.
1843-56 Joseph Jones, M.A.
1857-82 W. Williams.
1883-97 G. Woodyatt, B.A.
1898 A. A. McMaster, M.A.
[Illustration: Plate 5.
Plan of Repton Church. (F. C. H.)
Plan of Repton Priory. (W. H. H. ST. JOHN HOPE, Mens et Del.) (Page 25.)]