the communion set forth in 1547 as a temporary measure only, until other
order should be provided for the true and right manner of administering
the sacrament according to the rule of the scriptures of God, and first
usage of the primitive church. In this the term _altar_ is alone made use
of; but in the first Liturgy of King Edward the Sixth, published in 1549,
the altar or table whereupon the Lord’s Supper was ministered is
indifferently called _the altar_, _the Lord’s table_, _God’s board_.
Ridley, bishop of London, by his diocesan injunctions issued in 1550,
after noticing that in divers places some used the Lord’s board after the
form of a table, and some as an altar, exhorted the curates,
churchwardens, and questmen to erect and set up the Lord’s board after the
form of an honest table, decently covered, in such place of the quire or
chancel as should be thought most meet, so that the ministers with the
communicants might have their place separated from the rest of the people;
and to take down and abolish all other by-altars or tables. Soon after
this, orders of council were sent to the bishops, in which, after noticing
that the altars in most churches of the realm had been taken down, but
that there yet remained altars standing in divers other churches, by
occasion whereof much variance and contention arose, they were commanded,
for the avoiding of all matters of further contention and strife about the
standing or taking away of the said altars[216-*], to give substantial
order that all the altars in every church should be taken down, and
instead of them that a table should be set up in some convenient part of
the chancel, to serve for the ministration of the blessed communion; and
reasons were at the same time published why the Lord’s board should rather
be after the form of a table than of an altar, expressing however in what
sense it might be called an altar. In the second Liturgy of King Edward
the Sixth, amongst other important changes both of doctrine and
discipline, the word _altar_, as denoting the communion-table, was
purposely omitted.
The peculiar formation, frequently observable, of the old
communion-tables, seems to have originated from the diversity of opinion
held by many in the Anglican church, as to whether or not there was in the
sacrament of the Lord’s Supper a memorative sacrifice; for by those who
held the negative they were so constructed, not merely that they might be
moved from one part of the church to another, but the slab, board, or
table, properly so called, was purposely not fastened or fixed to the
frame-work or stand on which it was supported, but left loose, so as to be
set on or taken off; and in 1555, on the accession of Queen Mary, when the
stone altars were restored and the communion-tables taken down, we find it
recorded of one John Austen, at Adesham Church, Kent, that “he with other
tooke up the table, and laid it on a chest in the chancel, and set the
tressels by it[218-*].”
It appears that texts of scripture were painted on the walls of some
churches in the reign of Edward the Sixth; for Bonner, bishop of London,
by a mandate issued to his diocese in 1554, after noticing that some had
procured certain scriptures wrongly applied to be painted on church walls,
charged that such scriptures should be razed, abolished, and extinguished,
so that in no means they could be either read or heard.
In the articles set forth by Cardinal Pole in 1557, to be inquired of in
his diocese of Canterbury, were the following: “Whether the churches be
sufficiently garnished and adorned with all ornaments and books
necessary; and whether they have a rood in their church of a decent
stature, with Mary and John, and an image of the patron of the same
church?” Also, “Whether the altars of the church be consecrated or no?”
But in 1559, the first year of the reign of Elizabeth, many of the
injunctions set forth in the reign of Edward the Sixth, as to the mode of
saying the Litany without procession, the removal and destruction of
shrines and monuments of superstition, the setting up of a pulpit, and of
the poor-box or chest, which latter was however “to be set and fastened in
a most convenient place,” were re-established. By these injunctions it
appears that in many parts of the realm the altars of the churches had
been removed, and tables placed for the administration of the holy
sacrament; that in some other places the altars had not yet been removed:
in the order whereof, as the injunctions express, save for an uniformity,
there seemed to be no matter of great moment, so that the sacrament was
duly and reverently ministered; and it was so ordered that no altar should
be taken down but by oversight of the curate and churchwardens, or one of
them, and that the holy table in every church should be decently made and
set in the place where the altar stood, and there commonly covered, and so
to stand, saving when the communion of the sacrament was to be
distributed; at which time the same was to be so placed within the chancel
in such manner that the minister might be the more conveniently heard of
the communicants in his prayer and ministration.
[Illustration: Ancient Communion Table, Sunningwell Church, Berkshire.]
Many of the old communion-tables set up in the reign of Elizabeth are yet
remaining in our churches, and are sustained by a stand or frame, the
bulging pillar-legs of which are often fantastically carved, with
arabesque scroll-work and other detail according to the taste of the age.
The communion-table in Sunningwell Church, Berkshire, probably set up
during the time Bishop Jewell was pastor of that church, is a rich and
interesting specimen. Communion-tables of the same era, designed in the
same general style, with carved bulging legs, are preserved in the
churches of Lapworth, Rowington, and Knowle, Warwickshire; in St. Thomas’s
Church, Oxford; and in many other churches. Sometimes the bulging
pillar-legs are turned plain, and are not covered with carving: such occur
in Broadwas Church, Worcestershire; in the churches of St. Nicholas and
St. Helen, at Abingdon; and in the north aisle of Dorchester Church,
Oxfordshire. The table or slab of the communion-table in Knowle Church is
not fixed or fastened to the frame or stand on which it is placed, but
lies loose; and this is also the case with an old communion-table of the
sixteenth century, now disused, in Northleigh Church, Oxfordshire. In an
inventory of church goods, taken in 1646, occurs the following: “Item, one
_short table and frame_, commonly called the communion-table.” On
examining the old communion-tables, the movability of the slab from the
frame-work is of such frequent occurrence as to corroborate the
supposition that some esoteric meaning was attached to its unfixed state,
which meaning has been attempted to be explained.
Under the colour of removing monuments of idolatry and false feigned
images in the churches, much wanton spoliation and needless injury was
effected; and this to such excess that in 1560 a royal proclamation was
issued, commanding all persons to forbear the breaking or defacing of any
monument or tomb, or any image of kings, princes, or nobles, or the
breaking down and defacing of any image in glass windows, in any churches,
without consent of the ordinary. And in the same year, in a letter from
the queen to the commissioners for causes ecclesiastical, occasion is
taken to remark that “in sundry churches and chappells where divine
service, as prayer, preaching, and ministration of the sacraments be used,
there is such negligence and lacke of convenient reverence used towardes
the comelye keeping and order of the said churches, and especially of the
upper parte called the chauncels, that it breedeth no small offence and
slaunder to see and consider on the one part the curiositie and costes
bestowed by all sortes of men upon there private houses, and the other
part, the unclean or negligent order or sparekeeping of the house of
prayer, by permitting open decaies, and ruines of coveringes, walls, and
wyndowes, and by appointing unmeet and unseemly tables, with fowle
clothes, for the communion of the sacraments, and generally leavynge the
place of prayers desolate of all cleanlynes, and of meet ornaments for
such a place, whereby it might be known a place provided for divine
service.” And the commissioners were required to consider the same, and in
their discretion to determine upon some good and speedy means of
reformation; and, amongst other things, to order that the tables of the
commandments might be comely set or hung up in the east end of the
chancel, to be not only read for edification, but also to give some comely
ornament and demonstration that the same was a place of religion and
prayer[223-*].
An ancient table, apparently of this period, of the commandments painted
on panel, but in language somewhat abbreviated, is still hung up against
the east wall of the south transept of Ludlow Church, Salop[224-*].
By the articles issued by royal authority in 1564, for administration of
prayer and sacraments, each parish was to provide a decent table, standing
on a frame, for the communion-table; this was to be decently covered with
carpet, silk, or other decent covering, and with a fair linen cloth (at
the time of the ministration); the ten commandments were to be set upon
the east wall, over the table; the font was not to be removed, nor was the
curate to baptize in parish churches in any basins.
In the Visitation Articles of Archbishop Parker, A. D. 1569, we find
inquiries were to be made whether there was in each parish church a
convenient pulpit well placed, a comely and decent table for the holy
communion, covered decently and set in the place prescribed; and whether
the altars had been taken down; also whether images and all other
monuments of idolatry and superstition were destroyed and abolished;
whether the rood-loft was pulled down, according to the order prescribed;
and if the partition between the chancel and church was kept.
The latter inquiry is explanatory of the fact why, when the rood-lofts in
many churches were taken down, the screens beneath them, separating the
chancel from the nave, were left undisturbed.
By the injunctions of Grindal, archbishop of York, A. D. 1571, all altars
were ordered to be pulled down to the ground, and the altar stones to be
defaced and bestowed to some common use.
Pulpits of the reign of Edward the Sixth are rare, nor are those of the
reign of Elizabeth very common. The pulpit in Fordington Church,
Dorsetshire, of the latter period, is of stone, the upper part worked in
plain oblong panels; and a kind of escutcheon within one of these bears
the date 1592; the lower part or basement of this pulpit is circular in
form.
The richly embroidered and costly vestments and antependia or frontals, of
a period antecedent to the Reformation, were in some instances converted
into coverings for the altar or communion table, or into hangings for the
pulpit and reading desk. In Little Dean Church, Gloucestershire, the
covering for the reading desk is formed out of an ancient sacerdotal
vestment, probably a cope, of velvet, embroidered with portraits of
saints. The cushion of the pulpit of East Langdon Church, near Dover, is
made out of either an ancient antependium or vestment; the material
consists of very thick crimson silk, embroidered with sprigs, and in the
centre of the hanging are two figures supposed to represent the salutation
of the Virgin, who is kneeling before a faldstool.
We occasionally, though rarely, meet with ancient charity-boxes of a date
anterior to the Reformation: the churches of Wickmere, Loddon, and
Causton, in Norfolk, still retain such[226-*]. At the Reformation,
however, they were first required to be set up in churches. The ancient
poor-box in Trinity Church, Coventry, is an excellent specimen of the
Elizabethan era, and the shaft which supports it is of stone, covered with
arabesque scroll-work and other detail peculiar to that age; but most of
the old charity-boxes are of the seventeenth century.
[Illustration: Ancient Charity-box, Trinity Church, Coventry.]
Towards the close of the sixteenth century the practice of preaching by an
hour-glass, set in an iron frame affixed to the pulpit or projecting from
the wall near it, began to prevail; and in the succeeding century this
practice became quite common. In the churchwardens’ accounts for St.
Mary’s Church, Lambeth, occurs the following: “A. 1579, Payde to Yorke for
the frame on which the hower standeth,--..1..4;” and in the churchwardens’
accounts of St. Helen’s Church, Abingdon, is an item, “Anno MDXCI. payde
for an houre glass for the pilpit, 4_d._” In the parochial accounts for
St. Mary’s, Shrewsbury, A. D. 1597, is a charge “for removing the desk and
other necessaries about the pulpit, and for makeinge a thing for the hower
glasse, 9_d._” In Shawell Church, Isle of Wight, the old iron stand for
the hour-glass still remains affixed to a pier adjoining the pulpit; it is
composed of two flat circular hoops or rings, one at some distance above
the other, annexed or attached and kept in position by four vertical bars
of iron, and the lower ring has cross-bars to sustain the glass. In
Cassington Church, Oxfordshire, projecting from the wall by the side of
the pulpit, is an iron stand for the hour-glass, consisting of two
circular hoops or rings of iron, connected by four wrought iron bars,
worked in the middle; and across the lower ring or hoop is an iron bar or
stay. In High Laver Church, Essex, the iron stand for the glass still
remains, and is in fashion not unlike a cresset, having only one hoop or
ring encircling the top, and supported on four iron bars, which cross in
curves at the bottom. Many other churches might be enumerated in which the
stand for the hour-glass is still preserved; and the hour-glass itself,
together with its frame, is said to be retained in South Burlingham
Church, Norfolk. An hour-glass within a rich and peculiar frame, supported
on a spiral column, and apparently of the latter part of the seventeenth
century, is yet preserved in St. Alban’s Church, Wood Street, London.
[Illustration: Hour-glass Frame, Shawell Church, Isle of Wight.]
To the close of the sixteenth century the mode of pewing with open
low-backed seats continued to prevail; the ends of these seats were not
covered with tracery or arched panel-work, but were plain, though they
sometimes terminated with a finial. In the nave of Stanton St. John
Church, Oxfordshire, are some old open pews or seats, apparently of the
reign of Henry the Eighth, the backs of which are divided diamond-wise,
and form a kind of lattice-work, and the ends terminate in grotesque
heads. In Harrington Church, Worcestershire, are some open seats of plain
workmanship, bearing the date of 1582. The church of Sunningwell,
Berkshire, is fitted up with a range of open seats on each side of the
nave, without any ornament, with the exception of a large carved finial at
the end of each seat. In Cowley Church, near Oxford, are open seats of the
date of 1632, which have at the ends finials carved in the shallow angular
designs of that period. All these seats are appropriately placed, or
disposed facing the east, and none are turned with the backs towards the
altar[230-*]. About the commencement of the seventeenth century our
churches began to be disfigured by the introduction of high pews, an
innovation which did not escape censure; for, as Weaver observes, “Many
monuments of the dead in churches in and about this citie of London, as
also in some places in the countrey, are covered with seates or pewes,
made high and easie for the parishioners to sit or sleepe in; a fashion of
no long continuance, and worthy of reformation[231-*].” The high pews set
up in the early part of this century are easily distinguished by the flat
and shallow carved scroll and arabesque work with which the sides and
doors are covered. In the directions given on the primary visitation of
Wren, bishop of Norwich, A. D. 1636, we find an order “that the chancels
and alleys in the church be not encroached upon by building of seats; and
if any be so built, the same to be removed and taken away; and that no
pews be made over high, so that they which be in them cannot be seen how
they behave themselves, or the prospect of the church or chancel be
hindered; and therefore that all pews which within do much exceed a yard
in height be taken down near to that scantling, unless the bishop by his
own inspection, or by the view of some special commissioner, shall
otherwise allow.”
From a paper found among secretary Cecil’s MSS.[232-*], it appears that in
1564 some ministers performed divine service and prayers in the chancel,
others in the body of the church, and some _in a seat made in the church_;
and in the parochial accounts of St. Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury, A. D.
1577, is an entry “for coloringe the curate’s pew and dask;” but no public
notice of the modern reading desk, or, as it was called, the “reading
pew,” occurs till 1603, when, in the ecclesiastical canons then framed, it
was enjoined that besides the pulpit a fitting or convenient seat should
be constructed for the minister to read service in; and in allusion to the
reading desk, Bishop Sparrow, in his Rationale of the Book of Common
Prayer, observes, “This was the ancient custom of the church of England,
that the priest who did officiate in all those parts of the service which
were directed to the people turned himself towards them, as in the
absolution; but in those parts of the office which were directed to God
immediately, as prayers, hymns, lauds, confessions of faith or sins, he
turned from the people; and for that purpose, in many parish churches of
late, the reading pew had one desk for the Bible, looking towards the
people to the body of the church, another for the prayer-book, looking
towards the east or upper end of the chancel. And very reasonable was this
usage; for when the people was spoken to it was fit to look towards them,
but when God was spoken to it was fit to turn from the people.” And so he
goes on to explain the custom of turning to the east in public prayer.
In Bishop Wren’s directions it was enjoined that the minister’s reading
desk should not stand with the back towards the chancel, nor too remote
or far from it.
The double reading desk is still occasionally met with, as in East Ilsley
Church, Berkshire, where is a kind of double reading desk so that the
minister can turn himself either towards the west or south. In Priors
Salford Church, Warwickshire, is an old carved reading pew bearing the
date of its construction, 1616; and in St. Peter’s Church, Dorchester,
Dorsetshire, and in Sherbourne Church, in the same county, are reading
pews which evidently, from the style and the carved work with which they
are covered, were constructed in the early part of the seventeenth
century.
The enclosing of the communion table in the church of Stow, in the county
of Norfolk, by rails, about the year 1622, is noticed by Weaver, who
states that the vicar and churchwardens pulled down a tomb to make room
for the rail.
In Bishop Wren’s diocesan directions it was ordered that the communion
table in every church should always stand close under the east wall of the
chancel, the ends thereof north and south, and that the rail should be
made before it, reaching up from the north wall to the south wall, near
one yard in height, so thick with pillars that dogs might not get in.
But we find the situation of the altar or communion table, and the reason
of its severance by means of rails, more particularly noticed in the
canons entertained by the convocation held in 1640. In these (after an
allusion to the fact that many had been misled against the rites and
ceremonies of the church of England, and had taken offence at the same
upon an unjust supposal that they were introductive unto popish
superstitions, whereas they had been duly and ordinarily practised by the
whole church during a great part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and that
though since that time they had by subtle practices begun to fall into
disuse, and in place thereof other foreign and unfitting usages by little
and little to creep in, yet in the royal chapels and many other churches
most of them had been ever constantly used and observed) it was declared
that the standing of the communion table sideway under the east window of
every chancel was in its own nature indifferent[235-*]; yet as it had
been ordered by the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth that the holy tables
should stand in the places where the altars stood, it was judged fit and
convenient that all churches should conform themselves in this particular
to the example of the cathedral and mother churches; and it was declared
that this situation of the holy table did not imply that it was or ought
to be esteemed a true and proper altar, whereon Christ was again really
sacrificed; but that it was and might be called an altar, in that sense in
which the primitive church called it an altar, and in no other. And
because experience had shewn how irreverent the behaviour of many people
was in many places, (some leaning, others casting their hats, and some
sitting upon, some standing, and others sitting under the communion table,
in time of divine service,) for the avoiding of which and like abuses it
was thought meet and convenient that the communion tables in all churches
should be decently severed with rails, to preserve them from such or worse
profanations.
Communion rails carved in the nondescript style, almost peculiar to the
reign of Charles the First, are preserved in St. Giles’s Church, Oxford;
in the Lady Chapel, Winchester Cathedral; in the Church of St. Cross, near
Winchester; in the choir of Worcester Cathedral; and in Andover Church,
Hants: in which last instance the rails are composed of open semicircular
arches, supported on baluster columns, with pendants similar to hip knobs
hanging from the arches; but specimens of altar rails of a period
antecedent to the Restoration are not often to be met with, the reason for
which will be adduced.
By the canons of 1603 the churchwardens or questmen were to provide in
every church a comely and decent pulpit, to be set in a convenient place
within the same, and there to be seemly kept for the preaching of God’s
word. Carved pulpits set up between the years 1603 and 1640 are numerous,
and the sides are more or less embellished with circular-arched panels,
flat and shallow scroll-work, and other decorative detail in fashion at
that period; and not a few bear the precise date of their construction.
In the nave of Bristol Cathedral is a stone pulpit, ascended to by means
of a circular flight of steps; the sides are panelled and ornamented with
escutcheons surrounded by scroll-work, and it bears the date of 1624.
In Ashington Church, Somersetshire, is a pulpit with the date 1627.
In Bradford Abbas Church, Dorsetshire, is a fine carved wooden pulpit and
sounding-board, and on it appears the date 1632.
The date of 1625 appears on a fine carved wooden pulpit, the sides of
which are covered with semicircular-headed panels, in Huish Episcopi
Church, Somersetshire.
In one of the churches at Wells is a fine wooden pulpit, of the date 1636;
at the angles are columns of semi-classic design, fantastically carved;
the panels are curiously ornamented with figures in relief, and it is
supported on a stand composed of a square and four detached columns, above
which are represented a number of birds with large beaks; the
sounding-board over corresponds in design with the pulpit.
A very fine carved wooden pulpit, the sides of which are embellished with
circular-arched panel and scroll-work, with the date 1640, and a
sounding-board over, is contained in Cerne Abbas Church, Dorsetshire.
Many carved pulpits of this era have, however, no assigned date; they are
commonly placed at the north or south-east angle of the nave, but never
in the middle of the aisle, so as to obstruct the view of the communion
table.
The commandments were again, by the canons of 1603, ordered to be set upon
the east end of every church, where the people might best see and read the
same; and other chosen sentences were to be written upon the walls of the
churches in places convenient.
On the south wall of Rowington Church, Warwickshire, are sentences painted
with a border of scroll-work; the like also occur at Astley Church, in the
same county; and on the walls of Bradford Abbas Church, Dorsetshire, are
sentences of scripture painted in black-lettered characters within panels
surrounded by scroll-work.
By the same canons the churchwardens were required to provide, if such had
not been already provided, a strong chest, with a hole in the upper part
thereof, having three keys, of which one was to remain in the custody of
the minister, and the other two in the custody of the churchwardens; which
chest was to be set and fastened in the most convenient place, to the
intent the parishioners might put into it their alms for their poor
neighbours.
In the retro-choir, Sherbourne Church, Dorsetshire, is a poor-box with
three locks; and a carved poor-box, of the early part of the seventeenth
century, is preserved in Harlow Church, Essex. In Elstow Church,
Bedfordshire, are the remains of a poor-box of the same period. In Clapham
Church, in the same county, is an old poor-box, the cover of which is
gone, on which are the initials I. W., and the date 1626: this is fixed on
a plain wooden pillar near the south door; and in the south aisle of
Bletchley Church, Buckinghamshire, is an oak pillar or shaft surmounted by
a poor-box, with an inscription carved on it of “Remember the Pore,” and
the date 1637[240-*].
The communion tables of the early part of this century were not so richly
carved as those of the reign of Elizabeth, and in general the pillar-legs
were plain and not so bulging; but the frieze or upper part of the
frame-work, on which the table rested, was often covered with shallow and
flat carved panel and scroll-work, and sometimes with the date of its
construction.
In the church of St. Lawrence, at Evesham, the communion table bears the
date of 1610; and round the frieze is carved an inscription, stating by
whom it was given. In Cerne Abbas Church, Dorsetshire, is a carved
communion table, bearing the date of 1638. The communion table in Godshill
Church, Isle of Wight, is supported on four carved bulging pillar-legs;
and round the frieze, below the ledge of the table, is the following
inscription:
“Lancelot Coleman & Edward Britwel, Churchwardens, Anno Dom. 1631.”
In Whitwell Church, Isle of Wight, the communion table stands on plain
bulging pillar-legs; and on the frieze round the ledge is carved in relief
an arm holding a chalice, with the following inscription:
“I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the
Lord. Psa. 116. v. 53. Anno Dom. 1632.”
As the rubric of the church enjoined that at the communion the priest
should himself place the elements upon the holy table, the custom of
having a side table, called the credence table, for the elements to be set
on previous to their removal by the priest to the communion table for
consecration, was observed in some churches in the latter part of the
sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth century. Such table appears
to have been introduced in the reign of Elizabeth, by Andrews, bishop of
Norwich, whose model Archbishop Laud is said to have followed[242-*]; and
it originated from the πρόθεσις, or side table of preparation,
used in the early church; it was likewise, as we have seen, used at the
sacramentals of the church of Rome, and on that account was strongly
objected to by the Puritans.
[Illustration: Table, (temp. Charles I.,) Chipping-Warden Church,
Northamptonshire.]
In the chancel of Chipping-Warden Church, Northamptonshire, on the north
side of the communion table, is a semicircular oak table, apparently of
the reign of Charles the First, standing on a frame supported by three
plain pillar-legs, like those of the communion tables of the same period,
and enriched with carved arched frieze-work similar to the arched
panel-work on pulpits of the same period.
A plain credence table of black oak, which from the style and make was
evidently set up after the Restoration, still continues to be used as such
in St. Michael’s Church, Oxford, being placed on the north side of the
communion table.
The objections of the Puritans against many of the usages of the Anglican
church, and their refusal to conform to such under the pretence of their
being superstitious, had no slight effect in altering the internal
appearance of our churches in the middle of the seventeenth century, and
during the period their party had obtained the ascendancy, and had
succeeded for a while in abolishing in this country episcopal church
government; for among the “innovations in discipline,” as they were called
by the Puritan committee of the House of Lords in 1641, we find the
following usages complained of: the turning of the holy table altarwise,
and most commonly calling it an altar; the bowing towards it or towards
the east many times; advancing candlesticks in many churches upon the
altar, so called; the making of canopies over the altar, so called, with
traverses and curtains on each side and before it; the compelling all
communicants to come up to the rails, and there to receive; the advancing
crucifixes and images upon the parafront or altar cloth, so called; the
reading some part of the morning prayer at the holy table, when there was
no communion celebrated; the minister’s turning his back to the west, and
his face to the east, when he pronounced the Creed or read prayers; the
reading the Litany in the midst of the body of the church in many of the
parochial churches; the having a _credentia_ or side table, besides the
Lord’s table, for divers uses in the Lord’s Supper; and the taking down
galleries in churches, or restraining the building of galleries where the
parishes were very populous[244-*].
In August, 1643, an Ordinance of the Lords and Commons was published, for
the taking away and demolishing of all altars and tables of stone, and for
the removal of all communion tables from the east end of every church and
chancel; and it was prescribed that such should be placed in some other
fit and convenient place in the body of the church or in the body of the
chancel; and that all rails whatsoever which had been erected near to,
before, or about any altar or communion table, should be likewise taken
away; and that the chancel-ground which had been raised within twenty
years then last past, for any altar or communion table to stand on, should
be laid down and levelled, as the same had formerly been; and that all
tapers, candlesticks, and basins should be removed and taken away from the
communion table, and not again used about the same; and that all
crucifixes, crosses, and all images and pictures of any one or more
Persons of the Trinity, or of the Virgin Mary, and all other images and
pictures of saints, or superstitious inscriptions belonging to any
churches, should be taken away and defaced before the first day of
November, 1643: but it was provided that such ordinances should not extend
to any image, picture, or coat of arms, in glass, stone, or otherwise, set
up or graven only for a monument of any dead person not reputed for a
saint, but that all such might stand and continue.
By a subsequent ordinance, passed in May, 1644, it was prescribed that no
rood-loft or holy water fonts should be any more used in any church; and
that all organs, and the frames or cases in which they stood, in all
churches, should be taken away and utterly defaced.
Under colour of these ordinances the beauty of the cathedrals and churches
was injured to an extent hardly credible; the monuments of the dead were
defaced, and brasses torn away, in the iconoclastic fury which then raged;
the very tombs were violated; and the havoc made of church ornaments, and
destruction of the fine painted glass with which most church windows then
abounded, may in some degree be estimated from the account given by one
Dowsing, a parliamentary visitor appointed under a warrant from the Earl
of Manchester for demolishing the so called superstitious pictures and
ornaments of churches within the county of Suffolk, who kept a journal,
with the particulars of his transactions, in the years 1643 and 1644:
these were chiefly comprised in the demolition of numerous windows filled
with painted glass, in the breaking down of altar rails and organ cases,
in levelling the steps in the chancels, in removing crucifixes, in taking
down the stone crosses from the exterior of the churches, in defacing
crosses on the fonts, and in the taking up (under the pretence of their
being superstitious) of numerous sepulchral inscriptions in brass. Nor
did the churches in other parts of the country, with some exceptions,
escape from a like fanatical warfare; and, in this, many of our cathedrals
suffered most. But this was not enough: our sacred edifices were profaned
and polluted in the most irreverent and disgraceful manner; and with the
exception of the destruction which took place on the dissolution of the
monastic establishments in the previous century, more devastation was
committed at this time by the party hostile to the Anglican church than
had ever before been effected since the ravages of the ancient Danish
invaders.
But as to other alterations at this time effected. In January, 1644, an
ordinance of parliament was published for the taking away of the Book of
Common Prayer, which was forbid to be used any longer in any church,
chapel, or place of public worship. In lieu of this the “Directory for the
Publike Worship of God” was established: this contained no stated forms of
prayer, but general instructions only for extemporaneous praying and
preaching, and for the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the
Lord’s Supper; the former of which was to be administered in the place of
public worship and in the face of the congregation, but “not,” as the
Directory expresses, “in the places where fonts in the time of popery were
unfitly and superstitiously placed.” And at the administration of the
Lord’s Supper the table was to be so placed that the communicants might
sit orderly about it or at it; but all liturgical form was abolished, and
the prayers even at this sacrament were such as the minister might
spontaneously offer.
At Brill Church, in Buckinghamshire, the communion table, on an elevation
of one step, is inclosed with rails, within an area of eight feet by six
feet and a half, and a bench is fixed to the wall on each side; an
innovation made at this period, in order that the communicants might
receive the sacrament sitting. The communion table in Wooten Wawen Church,
Warwickshire, though perfectly plain in construction, is unusually long
and large, and appears to have been set up by the Puritans at this period,
so that they might sit round or at it.
To the removal of the communion table from the east end of the chancel may
be attributed the usage which, in the middle of the seventeenth century,
began to prevail of constructing close and high seats or pews, without
regard to that uniformity of arrangement which had hitherto been
observed; and many seats were now so constructed that those who occupied
them necessarily turned their backs on the east during the ministration of
prayer and public service. The erection of unseemly galleries, which have
greatly tended to disfigure our churches, was another consequence of the
innovation on the ancient arrangement of pewing.
After the Restoration the communion tables were again restored to their
former position at the east end of the chancel; and in Evelyn’s Diary for
1661-2, we find the change of position in his parish church thus noticed:
“6 April. Being of the vestry in the afternoone, we order’d that the
communion table should be set as usual altarwise, with a decent raile in
front, as before the rebellion.”
The altar rails were now generally restored, and in most instances we find
those in our churches to be of a period subsequent to the Restoration, as
the details in the workmanship evince. In the church accounts of St.
Mary’s, Shrewsbury, for 1662, we find a “memorandum that this year the
rayles about the communion table wer new sett up, and the surplice was
made.” In Wormleighton Church, Warwickshire, the altar rails have on them
the date of 1664; and the communion table, which is quite plain, is of
the same character and era.
But a return, after the Restoration, to the former usages of the Anglican
church was not made without great opposition; and accordingly we find
objections stated to the bowing to the altar and to the east, to the
preaching by book, to the railing in of the altar, to the candles,
cushion, and book thereon, to the bowing at the name of Jesus, and to the
organs as “popish-like music, and too much superstition[250-*].”
When the rood was taken down at the Reformation, a custom began to prevail
of fixing up in its stead or place, against the arch leading into the
chancel, the upper part of which was in consequence blocked up by it, and
facing the congregation, so as to be seen by them, the royal arms, with
proper heraldic supporters; but it does not clearly appear that this was
done in consequence of any express law or injunction to that effect,
though it may perhaps have served to denote the king’s supremacy. We
seldom, however, find the royal arms of earlier date than the Restoration,
in the twenty years previous to which they appear to have been generally
taken down. In Brixton Church, Isle of Wight, on some plain wooden
panelling between the tower and a gallery at the west end are the remains
of the royal arms, which, from the style in which they have been painted
with the rose and thistle, appear coeval with the reign of James the
First; they are surmounted by a crown, below which is an open six-barred
helme. These arms appear to have been removed from their original position
against the chancel-arch, and are now much mutilated. In the church
accounts, St. Mary’s, Shrewsbury, for 1651, is a charge of 1_l._ 8_s._
“for making the states armes.” In Anstey Church, Warwickshire, the arms of
the commonwealth, put up during the inter-regnum, were taken down not many
years back. The little church of St. Lawrence, in the Isle of Wight, still
retains the royal arms put up at the Restoration in 1660.
Excepting the rood-loft galleries, we have few galleries in our churches
of a period antecedent to the latter part of the seventeenth century. At
the west end of Worstead Church, Norfolk, over the west door, is a gallery
erected in 1550, at the cost of the candle called the Bachelor’s Light. At
the west end of the nave in Leighton Buzzard Church is a gallery erected
in 1634; and at the west end of Piddletown Church, Dorsetshire, is a
gallery with the date of its erection, 1635.
From about the period of the Revolution, in 1688, we may trace the
commencement of a custom, still partially prevailing, of setting up the
pulpit and reading-pew in the middle aisle, in front of the communion
table; so that during the whole of the service the back of the minister
was turned to the east, and the view of the communion table obstructed;
but we have not found any pulpit thus placed of an earlier period.
We still retain, in the Anglican church, the usage of placing two
candlesticks and candles upon the communion table, in compliance with the
injunctions of King Edward the Sixth, together also with an offertory
dish; of reading the lessons from the eagle desk, and of saying the Litany
at the litany-stool. These practices are, however, more particularly
observed in our cathedrals and college chapels than in our parochial
churches, in most of which they have fallen into desuetude.
To conclude, in the language of the synod held in 1640: “Whereas the
church is the house of God, dedicated to his holy worship, and therefore
ought to remind us both of the greatness and goodness of his Divine
Majesty; certain it is that the acknowledgment thereof, not only inwardly
in our hearts, but also outwardly with our bodies, must needs be pious in
itself, profitable unto us, and edifying unto others: we therefore think
it meet and behoveful, and heartily commend it to all good and
well-affected people, members of this church, that they be ready to tender
unto the Lord the said acknowledgment, by doing reverence and obeisance,
both at their coming in and going out of the said churches, chancels, or
chapels, according to the most ancient custom of the primitive church in
the purest times, and of this church also for many years of the reign of
Queen Elizabeth.
“The reviving, therefore, of this ancient and laudable custom we heartily
recommend to the serious consideration of all good people, not with any
intention to exhibit any religious worship to the communion table, the
east, or church, or any thing therein contained, in so doing; or to
perform the said gesture in the celebration of the holy eucharist, upon
any opinion of a corporal presence of the body of Jesus Christ on the holy
table or in the mystical elements, but only for the advancement of God’s
majesty, and to give him alone that honour and glory that is due unto
him, and no otherwise; and in the practice or omission of this rite we
desire that the rule of charity prescribed by the apostle may be observed,
which is, that they which use this rite despise not them who use it not,
and that they who use it not condemn not those that use it.”
[Illustration]
“... a bloodie crosse he bore,
The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,
For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead, as living, ever him ador’d:
Upon his shield the like was also scor’d.”
FOOTNOTES:
[154-*] Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. c. 6. Durantus, however, assigns a
different origin. “In veteri testamento non nisi lotus templum
ingrediebatur.” De Labro, seu Vase Aquæ Benedictæ, c. 21.
[156-*] “Ad valvas ecclesiæ,”--Ordo ad Faciendum Catechumenum, Manuale.
[156-†] Constitutions of Edmund Archbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 1236.
[TN-7]De Baptismo et eius Effectu.”
[158-*] It is much to be regretted that of late years many ancient fonts
have been cast out of our churches, and earthenware and pewter basins
substituted in their stead for the administration of the holy sacrament
of baptism: a practice not authorized by the Anglican church, but rather
condemned; for in the canons set forth by authority, A. D. 1571, it is
provided that “Curabunt (Œditui) ut in singulis ecclesiis sit sacer
fons, _non pelvis_, in quo baptismus ministretur, isque ut decenter et
munde conservetur.” And in the canons of 1603, after alluding to the
foregoing constitution, and observing that it was too much neglected in
many places, it is appointed “That there shall be a font of stone in
every church and chapel where baptism is to be ministered; the same to
be set in the _ancient usual places_.” In the orders and directions
given by Bishop Wren, A. D. 1636, to be observed in his diocese of
Norwich, we find it enjoined, “That the font at baptism be filled with
clear water, and no dishes, pails, or basins be used in it or instead of
it.”
[160-*] The 28th decree of a foreign council, that of Wirtzburgh, held
A. D. 1278, prohibits the fortifying of churches in order to make use of
them as castles.
[164-*] Anglice sermocinari solebat (Abbas Samson) populo, sed secundum
Linguam Norfolchie ... unde et pulpitum jussit fieri in ecclesia et ad
utilitatem audiencium et ad decorem ecclesie.--Cronica Jocelini de
Brakelonda, sub anno 1187.
[167-*] Cottonian MS. Titus D. xxvii. 10th sæc.
[167-†] “Crux que erat super magnum altare, et Mariola, et Johannes,
quas imagines Stigandus archiepiscopus magno pondere auri et argenti
ornaverat, et sancto Ædmundo dederat.”--Cronica Jocelini de Brakelonda,
p. 4.
[168-*] “Supra pulpitum trabes erat, per tranversum ecclesiæ posita, quæ
crucem grandem et duo cherubin et imagines Sanctæ _Mariæ_ et Sancti
_Johannis_ apostoli sustentabat.”--Gervasius de Combustione, &c.
[169-*] “Superest exponere, quod manus illa e nubibus erumpens indicet:
Quæ procul dubio omnipotentis Dei dexteram designat.”--Ciampini Vetera
Monimenta, vol. ii. pp. 22, 81.
[171-*] “In elevatione atque utriusque squilla pulsatur.”--Durandi
Rationale, lib. iv.
[171-†] In Yeovil Church Accounts, A. D. 1457, is an item, “_In una
cordul empt p le salsyngbelle ijd_.”--Collectanea Topographica, vol.
iii. p. 130.
[172-*] It is now in the possession of William Staunton, esq., of
Longbridge House, near Warwick.
[173-*] Durandus, in his description of a church, makes no mention of
screen-work, but observes, “Notandum est quod triplex genus _veli_
suspenditur in ecclesia videlicet quod sacra operit, quod sanctuarium a
clero dividit, _et quod clerum a populo secernit_;” evidently alluding
in the latter to the curtain extended across the chancel arch.
[174-*] “Item tunc stent in sedibus suis versa facie ad altare donec ad
_misericordias_ vel super _formulas_ prout tempus postulat
inclinent.”--Monasticon, 1st ed. vol. i. p. 951.
[180-*] The placing of more than two lights on the altar seems never to
have been practised in the churches of this country; at least I have not
met with any ancient illumination in which more than two are
represented.
[181-*] The cover of an ancient thurible of latten was lately discovered
in the chest of Ashbury Church, Berkshire: the lower part is of a
semi-globular or domical form, from which issues an embattled turret or
lantern in the form of a pentagon, which is finished by a quadrangular
spire; the sides both of the lantern and spire are partly of open work,
and round the domical part is inscribed _Gloria Tibi Domine_.
[181-†] A small ampulla of brass or latten, supposed to have been an
ancient chrismatory for the consecrated oil used in the sacrament of
extreme unction, has been within the last few years discovered in the
castle ditch, Pulford, Cheshire: this curious little relic is not more
than two inches high; the body is semi-globular, or bulges in front,
with a plain Greek cross engraved on it, and is flattened at the back;
and at the neck are two bowed handles, by chains attached to which it
appears to have hung suspended from the shoulders.
[182-*] Harding, in his controversy with Bishop Jewell, mentions “the
monstrance or pixe” as if one and the same article.--Defence of the
Apology, &c., p. 343.
[183-*] Quo finito sacerdos cum suis ministris in sedibus ad hos paratis
se recipiant et expectent usque ad orationem dicendam vel alio tempore
usque ad _Gloria in excelsis_.--MS. Rituale pen. Auc.
[183-†] This arrangement was different to that directed by the rubrical
orders of the Roman missals, on their revision after the council of
Trent, by which the celebrant was to be seated between the deacon and
sub-deacon: “In missa item solemni celebrans medius inter diaconum et
sub-diaconum sedere potest a cornu epistolæ juxta altare cum cantatur
_Kyrie eleison, Gloria in excelsis_, et _Credo_.”--Missale Romanum,
Antverpiæ, MDCXXXI.; Rubricæ Generales, &c. One of the queries published
by Le Brun, whilst composing his liturgical work, was, “Si le prêtre
s’assied au dessus du diacre et du soudiacre, ou au milieu d’eux.”
[186-*] Prope altare collocatur Piscina seu Lavacrum in quo manus
lavantur.--Durandi Rat. de Ecclesia, &c. In ancient church contracts the
term _Lavatorie_ was sometimes used for the Piscina, as in that for
Catterick Church. In the Roman Missal subsequent to the Tridentine
council the word _Sacrarium_ is used.
[187-*] At Alvechurch, Worcestershire, the custom prevails of the priest
washing his hands in the vestry before the administration of the
sacrament, and napkins are brought to dry his hands.
[189-*] “Il y avoit pour cet effet en chaque piscine, comme en peut voir
encore à une infinité d’autels, deux conduits, ou canaux, pour faire
écouler l’eau, l’un pour recevoir l’eau qui avoit servi au lavement des
mains, l’autre pour celle qui avoit servi au purification ou perfusion
du chalice.”--De Vert, Explication des Cérémonies de l’Eglise, vol. iii.
p. 193.
[190-*] In “Le Parfaict Ecclesiastique, par M. Claude de la Croix,” (a
curious work published A. D. 1666, and containing full instructions for
the clergy of the Gallican church, and an exposition of the rites and
ceremonies,) amongst appendages to an altar is enumerated “une credance
ou niche dans le mur a poser les burettes et le bassin,” p. 536. And in
another place, “au costé de l’Autel il y faut une petite niche à poser
les burettes et le bassin, et y faire un trou en facon de piscine a fin
que l’eau se perde en terre.” p. 568.
[190-†] “In cornu Epistolæ ... ampullæ vitreæ vini et aquæ cum pelvicula
et manutergio mundo in fenestella seu in parva mensa ad hæc
praeparata”--Missale Romanum ex Decreto, &c. 1631.
“Calix vero et alia necessaria praeparentur in credentia cooperta
linteo, antequam sacerdos veniat ad altare.”--Ibid.
[192-*] The earliest account of the sepulchre thus set up that I have
yet met with occurs in an inventory of church furniture, A. D. 1214, in
which is mentioned “_velum unum de serico supra sepulchrum_.”
[193-*] “Table” was a word used to express any sculptured basso relievo,
more especially that inserted in the wall over an altar.
[199-*] A series of coloured engravings from the paintings on the walls
of this chapel, which were evidently executed at the close of the
fifteenth century, was published in 1807 by the late Mr. Thomas Fisher.
[200-*] By an injunction set forth by royal authority, A. D. 1539, it was
ordered, “That from henceforth the said Thomas Becket shall not be
esteemed, named, reputed, and called a saint, but Bishop Becket; and
that his images and pictures thorow the whole realme shal be pluckt
downe and avoided out of all churches, chapel, and other places.”--Fox’s
Martyrology.
[209-*] The locality, character, and construction of the confessional in
our ancient churches are not yet clearly elucidated. Du Cange described
the confessional, “_confessio_,” simply as “cellula in qua presbyteri
fidelium confessiones excipiebant;” whilst according to De la Croix, in
his remarks on those of the Gallican churches in the middle of the
seventeenth century, “Les confessionaux doiuent estre à l’entrée des
Eglises, et non pas auprés des Autels, ny dans le Chœur, ny en lieu
caché, et tousieurs vne ouuerture pour écouter le Penitent, avec vn
treillis de bois ou autre estoffe, et vn volet pour le fermer, quand on
écoute de l’vn des costez ouuert.”
[210-*] The tabard or heraldic coat worn over the body armour, and still
worn by the heralds on state occasions.
[211-*] “Our churches stand full of such great puppets, wondrously
decked and adorned; garlands and coronets be set on their heads,
precious pearls hanging about their necks; their fingers shine with
rings set with precious stones; their dead and stiff bodies are clothed
with garments stiff with gold.”--Homily against Peril of Idolatry.
[215-*] In the injunctions given by Bishop Ridley, in the visitation of
his diocese A. D. 1550, occurs the following: “Item that the minister in
the time of the communion, immediately after the offertory, shall monish
the communicants, saying these words, or such like, ‘Now is the time, if
it please you, to remember the poor men’s chest with your charitable
alms.’”
[216-*] Dr. Cardwell, in his editorial preface to the reprint of the two
Books of Common Prayer set forth in the reign of Edward the Sixth,
observes, “The communion service of the first liturgy contained a prayer
for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine, and a
following prayer of oblation, which, together with the form of words
addressed to the communicants, were designed to represent a sacrifice,
and appeared to undiscriminating minds to denote the sacrifice of the
mass. Numerous, therefore, and urgent were the objections against this
portion of the service. Combined with a large class of objectors, whose
theology consisted merely in an undefined dread of Romanism, were all
those, however differing among themselves, who believed the holy
communion to be a feast and not a sacrifice, and that larger class of
persons who, placing the solemn duty upon its proper religious basis,
were contented to worship without waiting to refine.”
[218-*] Fox’s Martyrology.
[223-*] In compliance with the queen’s letter, the following directions
were sent by the commissioners to the dean and chapter of Bristol:
“After our hartie comendaco̅n̅s.--Whereas we are credibly informed that
there are divers tabernacles for Images, as well in the fronture of the
roodeloft of the cath^l church of Bristol, as also in the frontures,
back, and ends of the walles wheare the com̅n̅ table standeth, for
asmoch as the same churche shoulde be a light and good example to th’
ole citie and dioc. we have thought good to direct these our lr̅e̅s
unto you, and to require youe to cause the said tabernacles to be
defaced & hewen downe, and afterwards to be made a playne walle, w^th
morter, plast^r, or otherways, & some scriptures to be written in the
places, & namely that upon the walle on the east end of the quier wheare
the com̅n̅ table usually doth stande, the table of the co̅m̅and^ts to
be painted in large caracters, with convenient speed, and furniture
according to the orders latly set furthe by vertue of the quenes ma^ts
co̅m̅ission for causes ecclesiasticall, at the coste and chardges of
the said churche; whereof we require you not to faile. And so we bed you
farewell. From London, the xxi. of December, 1561.”--Britton’s Bristol
Cath. p. 52.
[224-*] In the chancel of Bengeworth Church, Gloucestershire, is a table
of the commandments, with the letters cut in box-wood. This has the date
of 1591 upon it.
[226-*] These are engraved in vol. xx. of the Archæologia, and, from the
general style and mouldings, appear to have been constructed in the
latter part of the fifteenth century.
[230-*] The symbolical turning towards the east whilst pronouncing the
Creed is adverted to by St. Cyril. In the Apostolical Constitutions,
book ii. sect. xxviii., the attendants at public worship are enjoined to
pray to God eastward. The custom of turning to the east at prayer is
noticed by many of the early fathers of the church, and among them by
St. Basil, who remarks, “As to the doctrines and preachings which are
preserved in the church, we have some of them from the written doctrine;
others we have received as delivered from the tradition of the apostles
in a mystery. For, to begin with the mention of what is first and most
common, who has taught us by writing that those that hope in the name of
our Lord should be signed with the sign of the cross? what written law
has taught us that we should turn towards the east in our prayers?....
Is not all this derived from this concealed and mystical tradition?....
We all, indeed, look towards the east in our prayers.”--Basil, Epist. ad
Amphiloc. de Spiritu S. Whiston’s translation in Essay on the
Apostolical Constitutions.
[231-*] Funeral Monuments, A. D. 1631, p. 701.
[232-*] Printed in Strype’s Life of Parker. In the same paper the
communion table is noticed as standing in the body of the church in some
places, in others standing in the chancel; in some places standing
altarwise, distant from the wall a yard, in others in the middle of the
chancel, north and south; in some places _the table was joined, in
others it stood upon tressels_; in some the table had a carpet, in
others none.
[235-*] “The position of the table had now become the token of a
distinct and solemn belief as to the nature of the eucharist, and was
therefore treated as a question of conscience and an article of
faith.”--Cardwell’s Documentary Annals, vol. ii. p. 186, note. The
extracts given from the injunctions have been principally taken from
this work.
[240-*] The unostentatious and laudable practice of bestowing alms to
the charity-box has long fallen into disuse in most churches; but within
the last few years charity-boxes have been set up in some of our
churches, and this commendable custom is again gradually reviving.
[242-*] Neal’s History of the Puritans, vol. iii. p. 170.
[244-*] Cardwell’s Conferences, p. 272.
[250-*] Hickeringill’s Ceremony-Monger, (pub. 1689,) p. 63.
OXFORD: Printed by T. Combe, Printer to the University.--May 10, 1841
_Published by J. H. Parker, Oxford._
SECOND EDITION.
In the Press, with many additional Wood-Cuts,
A GLIMPSE
AT THE
MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE
AND
SCULPTURE OF GREAT BRITAIN,
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
By MATTHEW HOLBECHE BLOXAM.
THIRD EDITION, ENLARGED.
2 Vols. 8vo. 1_l._ 4_s._
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS
USED IN
GRECIAN, ROMAN, ITALIAN,
AND
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
Exemplified by Seven Hundred Wood-Cuts.
_Published by J. H. Parker, Oxford._
PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION.
A COMPANION TO THE GLOSSARY
OF
ARCHITECTURE,
FORTY PLATES ENGRAVED BY JOHN LE KEUX;
Containing Four Hundred additional Examples, with
descriptive Letter-Press, a Chronological
Table, and Index of Places.
PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION, IN 2 VOLS. 8vo.
SOME ACCOUNT
OF THE
DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE of ENGLAND
FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE
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BY R. C. HUSSEY, Esq.
Illustrated by numerous Engravings, from original
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MEMORIALS OF OXFORD.
BY JAMES INGRAM, D.D.
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THE ENGRAVINGS BY JOHN LE KEUX.
Transcriber’s Note
The following errors and inconsistencies have been maintained.
Misspelled words and typographical errors:
Page Error
TN-1 26 (fig. 5.). has an extra . following the )
TN-2 79 isuse should read disuse
TN-3 76, fn * ἴχθυς should read ἰχθύς
TN-4 104 rom should read from
TN-5 106 pannels should read panels
TN-6 156, fn † 1236. De Baptismo should have an open quote mark
before De
TN-7 192 each which should read each of which. The word “of” did
not print in the original text, although a space is present
for it.
The following words had inconsistent hyphenation:
wood-work / woodwork
zig-zag / zigzag
The following words had inconsistent spelling:
Botolph / Botulph
Higham Ferrars / Higham Ferrers
Sherbourne / Sherborne
Wooten Wawen / Wotten Wawen