A visit to St Edith's, Coates by Stow in Lincolnshire. An untouched medieval church with rood loft
Vložit
- čas přidán 23. 08. 2024
- I this video we visit the beautiful Norman church of St Edith at Coates-by-Stow, ten miles north of Lincoln. The church is particularly rewarding as it has a rare thing, a medieval rood screen complete with its rood loft. From the untouched interior you can really get a sense of what it would have been like to visit a small rural church aroun c.1500.
I can almost smell the ancient scent of the lovely little church. Teddy is a darling. You, a lucky daddy.
Wonderful, thank you! Here we get a glimpse of all that was lost.
One of my favourite churches and such a contrast from Stow minster. these tiny Lincolnshire churches in remote manorial locations are such gems.
So nice to see a small church that managed to avoid the excesses of the English Reformation, retaining much of its medieval character.
It is extraordinary that it survived as it does.
I visited this little church a few years ago and remember being enchanted. I need to revisit, your video here has pointed out detail I was ignorant of at the time. My fathers family was from around this part of Lincolnshire so all the more interesting.
I just discovered your channel today. What a fantastic find! Although I’m American I do have strong British roots on both sides of my family. The art, architecture, religion and culture of my ancestors have fascinated me since I was a child. Your channel combines these interests in one place. How wonderful is that? I will be visiting here often. Best wishes from a new devotee.
That is very kind and welcome to the channel - I'm so pleased you have found it. There is so much more to come so keep coming back. The hope is that there are uploads more than once each week.
Thank you, Allan, that was really beautiful. And great to see Teddy enjoying himself roaming the countryside with his Daddy discovering new places. Who is St Edith? Haven’t heard of her before. Dina
He'd brought his new camera with him and was busy snapping away. St Edith was an Anglo-Saxon princess, daughter of king Edgar who spent her short life at the royal monastery at Wilton in Wiltshire in the middle of the tenth century. She was appointed Abbess at thirteen and died in her mid twenties.
The photo in this link, of a reconstructed late medieval church at St Fagan's open air museum in Cardiff, gives you some idea of how Coates church might have appeared when all the original colour and rood were intact. www.flickr.com/photos/vitrearum/51360420437/in/photolist-2mfGCwj-2mfCAo7-2mfBsTY-2mfxzGG-2mfBsP4-2mfxzCi-2mfxzDv-2mfBsQr-2mfxzxZ-2mfCAtn-2mfxzz2-2mfFcm5-2mfGCAc-2mfBt2i-2mfGCxS
Fabulous. Thankyou.
Nicely done again sir.
How fascinating! :)
What a fabulous wee boy you have. Such a handsome and well behaved little lad.
Dr. Barton, would it be possible to present a video examining the historical beginnings / development and purpose of the rood, Iconostasis and altar rail?
Thanks for your comment. Absolutely John, I am going to do one in the next month or so on the development of the rood and the icon screen - they have a common origin and develop for independent reasons at much the same time. The altar rail should be a separate one, as it would be interesting to explore the post-Reformation attitude to screens and rails in England.
What a fantastic survival. An intact rood screen! I wonder how it survived the reformation & Victorians? Many thanks for posting Allan.
My pleasure - it survived became the location is so remote.
It’s such a shame that between the Dissolution of the Monasteries and Edward VI’s wrongheaded desire to obliterate anything considered remotely “Popish” so much of the beauty of these old churches were either demolished or else removed/painted over. This tiny church shows us what was missing in so many other parish churches. Sometimes it pays to be tiny, obscure and out of the way!
Lovely, just lovely!! So sad and cruel that the Crucifix was ordered removed and the sacred i mages effaced. I wish i could get a closer look at the face of the Mother of God above the Rood gallery.I love those diminuitive spiral stairs!!.There is a shield in the center of the Rood screen. Are there markings on it? How did St. Edith’s manage to survive almost untouched by the reformation? Bless you for the work you are doing, to enable others to discover this beauty and history . I have offered 3 Ave Maria’s for you and your family🌹
Thank you very much indeed - I greatly appreciate your prayers. It is just awful - have you seen my other video on the Ragged Remnant, all about the remaining rood crosses from medieval England. Thousands were destroyed, four remain. I think this church only survived unscathed because it is in a remote area.
Anybody buried here? Wonderful video thank you!
What a sweet little boy Teddy is.
Very interesting and wonderful to see the original rood loft.
Sad to see all the images lost - has anyone tested for surviving wall paintings under the reformers white lime wash?
I don't think they have, there might be great treasures under it.
I can't see the date on the Cooke monument but there is a Bryan Cooke of Wheatley, mayor of Doncaster in 1630. The family were Royalists in the Civil War. They moved to Owston after the Restoration and got the title of baronet. Sir Henry Cooke married a Diana Butler of Coates in 1683.
1653 - so the very same Bryan. His son Henry (later 2nd baronet) married Diana Butler, daughter and heiress of Anthony Butler of Coates. It seems Bryan died while visiting them.
@@allanbarton Thank you! I have an interest in the Davies-Cooke family of Owston as they have good memorials in Owston church including one by Chantry so this jumped out at me.
Brings back happy memories of my visit there Allan. Must go again - it's on the way to Norfolk from Leeds.
It is a really wonderful little building. If you find yourself in that neck of the woods do pop in, it would be lovely to see you.
Loved this tour. Amazed to see the memorial for Bryan Cooke. Was he one of the Cooke family of Owston I wonder?
Magnificent
what a bijoux church
How amazing that the screen survived as model for these screens. Are you a retired Anglican priest?
Twenty five years off retirement, but I am an Anglican priest, though not paid by the church.
Excellent! Not sure about rood lofts being used for storage. And a ladder would have been sufficient for maintenance. The fact that so many have elaborate access stairs built into a wall suggests that they really were used for the deacon to sing the gospel high up to the heathen of the north...
There's lots of evidence that they were very much multi-functional spaces. We know from the Lincolnshire rising in 1536 that at Louth Church the rood loft was the church treasury. In larger churches they were certainly used for the proclamation of the liturgical gospel. I'm not convinced in smaller examples that makes much sense given the practicalities of getting up the stair in vestments. I know from first hand experience the constraints of wearing alb and dalmatic.
Hope you visit Stow Minster!
I will, I use to work there. I baptised two of my children there.
Surely the first Antiquarian to mention the Red Arrows?
I have a question about the chandalier-shaped object hanging from the ceiling in the sanctuary/chancel of the church. Is that a peristerium? They were used in medieval churches before tabernacles were the norm.
No sound for me
That's a shame, I checked and it is working.
Thanks Allan, just checked and it’s working this time. Don’t know what happened.
Really enjoying your channel, playing through them chronologically but taking my time, wonderful!
@@dannyharvie7700 I'm glad it is working fine and that you are enjoying the channel. St Cuthbert has dodgy sound I'm afraid, but it was my first video and I was struggling with the technology.