Kencot. St George s. Knights, Chivalry and Dedication

Transcription

1 St George s Kencot Knights, Chivalry and Dedication This guide is for the use of visitors to the church while in the church. After your visit please leave it for those who follow.

2 The tall, relatively thin walls of this church s nave indicate Saxon origins to the building although the recorded history commences with a Norman knight. Note the stone corbels protruding from high in the walls, unused now, but previously they supported roof beams. The Norman Period Robert D Oilly, the Norman knight who built the motte and bailey castle in Oxford and who had come over with William the Conqueror, was Lord of the Manor of Kencot, or Kencott, at the time of the Domesday Book in The important D Oilly family owned the manor for about 200 years. The D Oilly, or Oyly or Oilli, family came from an area near Caen in Normandy where many villages still bear the family name. The family seat may have been Ouilly-le-Vicomte, north of Liseaux. Robert and two brothers accompanied William the Conqueror. Roger d Ivry and Robert D Oilly, blood brothers & comrades in arms, built Oxford Castle in 1071 and founded St George s Church in the castle in Experts believe the church was used by the first nucleus of scholars which became Oxford university. As you enter Norman ( ) and Plantagenet ( ) history surrounds you. The Norman doorway is described as a fine 12th century roll moulded arch, with dogtooth ornament to imposts and frieze, on shafted jambs with cushion capitals. The Tympanum, inside the arch, has a carved relief of Sagittarius shooting a monster (close up on the next page). The Normans used signs of the Zodiac as Christian symbols and this might portray Christ s Harrowing of Hell. Some historians suggest it is connected with King Stephen ( ) who had Sagittarius as his personal emblem... but the D Oilly family were Queen Matilda s men!! Kencot 2

3 The roll moulding and frieze designs can be clearly seen, the carving of Sagittarius is a little worn by time but does merit some study. Careful study is again needed to find the Crusader Crosses (right) on the lefthand door pillar. Edward I carried out a census, called the Hundreds Rolls, to discover who should be knights and in 1291 he granted the tenth part of all Ecclesiastical property to fund a six year Crusade to the Holy Land. His knight Crusaders from Kencot carved one cross on the door pillar upon departure and a second upon return. Associations between Oxford and Kencot are many. Edith, the wife of the 3rd Baron D Oilly, also a Robert, founded Oseney Abbey in Oxford in1129; recorded arguments about the payment and leasing of tithes demonstrate that a connection between Oseney Abbey and Kencot continued at least until Note the decoration on the Chancel arch, left, as the band of sunk star Norman ornamentation to the side of the shafts and capitals, enlarged below, are similar to those in Westwell Church nearby. Westwell was the subject of a Papal decree of 1196 which confirms its age and form, proving it cannot be later than Similar design features, below, indicate the same age for Kencot. Kencot 3

4 The last Roger D Oilly was summoned to perform military service in person against the Scots in 1301 and on his death in 1309 the manor of Kencot passed jointly and singly through several families until the Black Death in 1349 caused ownership to revert to the King, Edward III, in But through all this time and onward to the 16th century no lord of the manor ever resided in Kencot. The 16th and 17th Centuries. The font is a 12th or 13th century, fluted bowl design, standing on a cluster of four pillars; again a similarity with the font design in Westwell church. The wooden cover is probably 17th century. Preaching was not a feature of medieval church life as the chancel was used for religious ceremony and the nave for communal activities ranging from social to commercial. Preaching and sermons became more a feature of church services from the late Gothic and Tudor period from 1500 onwards. This pulpit is Jacobean from the early 17th century on a later base made by a local craftsman in It has been suggested the original pulpit may have been the top part of a three decker with levels for the preacher, curate and clerk in one box pew, staircased structure. A lead insert is clearly dated 1641 and initialed MC. Kencot 4

5 The Quest to save a Roundhead. In the chancel this unusual wooden triptych memorial invites the story of Richard Colchester, one of the six clerks of Chancery (the London Courts) to be told. Amazingly the documents have survived together with affidavits confirming them. Richard did not live in Kencot but owned land in Westbury on Severn, the other side of Gloucester. In August 1643 Parliamentarian forces were besieged in Gloucester and Richard s brother was a lieutenant in the Parliamentarian army. Everyone predicted that Gloucester would fall to the Royalists. Richard Colchester left London to travel to his father s house, Hill Court, at Forthampton and left on 25th August 1643 to ride 20 miles to his own house at Westbury on Severn. He travelled a further 8 miles to meet his attorney, John Poole, to desire him to save his brother s life should Gloucester fall. Afterwards Richard rode the 30 miles to Kencot where he met his wife, Elizabeth, at Kencot Manor. Richard was now ill with the new disease, probably typhoid or cholera, and, in spite of 8 worth of treatment from the local physician, he died on 11th September 1643; he was buried in Kencot. Elizabeth paid a herald, Mr Knight, to make and erect the above funeral hatchment in Kencot church. Of the same era as the triptych above is the chest nearby in the chancel which was used for the parish records and treasures. These typically had three locks so that they could only be opened when the vicar and two churchwardens were all present. They were introduced by the Tudors after Henry VIII s death in Sources of information for this guide have been the current pamphlet for the church at the time of writing, AST Fisher s History of Kencot, and various further articles which have appeared in the Parish Pump and other publications. The assistance of Helen Squire is acknowledged for unlocking doors and providing explanations. Photographed and produced by Derek Cotterill Kencot 5

6 Consider the layout of this church. How did the church building evolve? The high thin nave walls indicate a Saxon origin; was it a one room church? A simple piscina (below) exists in the nave wall by the pulpit, this might support the theory. A more orthodox Early English piscina ( ), right, is to the right of the altar in the chancel, we know the chancel was rebuilt in the late 13th century. A square aumbry for storing dry items like bread and the church plate can be found on the left of the altar, another 13th century item. When the aumbry and piscina were in use in medieval times there would have been a heavy stone slab table, the Mensa, located in the centre of the chancel. Monks and priests would have knelt around the Mensa to receive the sacrament during regular communion services. The Mensa always had five consecration crosses, one in the centre and four at the corners. They were often buried under floors when the fashions in church services changed over the years; this Mensa was rediscovered in 1962 during a church restoration and is now set in the floor below the altar. Two or three consecration crosses are still visible. The nave is probably the oldest part of the church but its walls were raised in the early 16th century and two clerestory windows added in the south side. The typanum was carved by Latter Day Features. Sebastian Brooke who carved his first stone in art school in The new tympanum above the inside of the south At the time of this work, doorway celebrates the new millennium. 1999, he was employed in Oxford and was setting up his first studio at Miserden in the Cotswolds. He has since moved his studio to Monmouth. The tympanum design has the flag to commemorate St George and the lamb symbolises Christ, the Lamb of God. Sebastian Brooke had so much Millennium work in this area that this tympanum was finished and installed just days before the Millennium struck twelve. Kencot 6

7 The stone reredos behind the altar represents a more recent link with Oxford. It came from the church of St Martin s which stood on Carfax and was demolished in 1896 for road widening. Carfax Tower is all that remains of the church. The altar table was designed and made by Richard Fyson of Manor Farm, Kencot, and is English Oak decorated with inlaid motifs of grapes and wheat in ebony and boxwood. Look for the squirrel - the craftsman s symbol. It stands on the massive medieval Mensa, or altar table, which has been let into the sanctuary floor. The wooden altar table was given in 1962 in memory of a Kencot resident. The Bells and The Tower. There were three medieval bells in the tower but a rector lost one in 1778!!!!!! Three bells were cast about 1515 by William Culverden at the London Foundry in Whitechapel. They bear his mark of a cross and shield; the smaller bell also has an inscription these iii belles with the steple and porche of this church of Kencote been of the gyfte and coste of Robert Weston mercer of London and Margret his wyfe. In 1778 the Archdeacon s papers note that one bell is out Kencot 7 for repair, not repaired in 1833, broken in 1837, and lost in The theory is that the Rector, James Thorold, didn t record where it had been sent for repair! The oak bell frame is original. The Tower is Norman in origin but the curious side turret with sloping roof was added later.