The Church

West Bridgford Parish Church before alteration.West Bridgford Parish Church before alteration.

The most casual glance round the present church reveals that it is a composite building. It is made up of three distinct sections, of which the south side is obviously the old village church, while the two larger sections are modem extensions, built in an architectural style more or less similar to the original.

The masonry of the old church shows signs of frequent change and restoration, which make exact dating of its various features difficult, but it can be said with certainty that parts of the building belong to the early thirteenth century or even to the late twelfth. The priest’s door and the double square piscina and aumbry are Early English, to which period also belonged the three lancet windows in the north wall of the chancel, which survived until 1871. At the east and west end of the vestry until the "restoration” of that year were two two-light windows of Early English plate-tracery” undoubtedly taken at some previous date from an older structure. There still remains, in the west wall of the old aisle, a lancet window cut out of one piece of gritstone, which also may have been removed from its original position. During the thirteenth century there were two lancet windows giving light to the south side of the chancel, but these were replaced about two hundred years later by the present debased mullioned ones. The church would be small, dark and austere when this early part was built. The bare stone floor, covered with rushes and on certain festivals with fresh green foliage, was unencumbered with pews, while a stone bench would be available for the aged and infirm. Standing and kneeling were the normal postures at the popular service, the mass; the floor space needed to be clear, since the church was used as the normal meeting-place for the whole village; for parish meetings to elect churchwardens and to discuss communal affairs; for sacred entertainments like miracle and morality plays; and for local courts of law hearing cases of immorality and disputed inheritance. The walls at this period were somewhat lower than at the present day, a high-pitched roof springing from them with open beams, in the style of an ancient barn. There was either a small tower built in the Early English style, or, failing this, a gable-bell to remind the faithful in their homes or at work in the fields that the mass was being celebrated at the altar.

From about the middle of the fourteenth century there was a wave of great activity in church-building throughout the country. In some cases the elaboration of ceremonial demanded the extension of already existing structures; but the general tendency was towards beautification; and so marked was this, that the style of building and ornament which came into vogue has acquired the name of “Decorated” among students of Gothic architecture. One of the chief characteristics of the period was the brightening of churches by an increase in the size of the windows. Such developments are well illustrated in West Bridgford church, for the lords of the manor and their dependents, the churchwardens and villagers were not slow in adopting the new fashions. This applies to the nave in particular; for the responsibility for the fabric of the chancel devolved upon the rector alone; and one would expect development there to be slow, for financial reasons. The "flowing tracery” of the windows of the Decorated period is exemplified in the east window of the old south aisle and in two square-headed windows of three and four-lights respectively, taken from the old north wall in 1898, and now to be seen (partly restored) in the new choir vestry. The two other square-headed windows, both of three lights, on either side of the porch, are modem replacements (1871-2) of fourteenth century originals. To the same period belongs the southernmost of the twin-windows at the east end of the old chancel, though the stained glass, as in the other windows, is modern. The triangular window in the gable above the two east windows is typically “curvilinear,” but the tracery, like that in the northernmost of the pair below it, is a modem reproduction. The original tracery of this triangular window, of identical pattern, was removed as unsafe in the restoration of 1871-2, and may now be seen resting on one of the stone benches inside the porch. It is an interesting fact that the tracery of all the windows hitherto mentioned, was, in each case, cut from a single piece of stone, instead of being composed of pieces jointed together, after the more usual fashion of bar- tracery. The late Harry Gill traced the materials of all these windows to quarries in the district between Hucknall and Mansfield.1

We know that considerable alterations took place in the early years of the fourteenth century. This was the age of the foundation of chantries where priests might say masses for the souls of the founders. In some cases provision would be made in the bequest for education and the relief of the poor. It is clear that a side altar existed about this time in the old south aisle, for there is a piscina let into the wall, consisting of a double recess, formed by stone carving of the Decorated period which resembles plate tracery. There is no documentary evidence of the existence of  any such chantry, for though certificates of Edward the Sixth’s reign exist for Radcliffe, Clifton and Ruddington, they are missing here. Mr. Gill maintained that the founder of the chantry in Bridgford church was Johanna, widow of Sir Robert Luterell, the lord of the manor called among the barons to the parliament of 1295, but I have found no evidence to support this view.2  There is, however, a curious feature of the chancel which points to the fact that there were, at this time, two priests attached to the church. This is a sedilia, built into the south wall at the east end, near the high altar, composed of two seats of equal height, with Decorated carving in the spandrels of the "ogee” arches. It is the only example of its kind in the county, there being usually in large churches three graduated seats, the highest and easternmost for the celebrant at the mass, and the other two for the deacon and sub-deacon; in small churches there was usually one seat only. Whether the normal occupant of the second seat in this church was a stipendiary assistant priest or a chantry priest who was accustomed to assist the celebrant at the ordinary mass, one cannot tell, though the latter alternative is more likely. To take a nearby example, the provision of a priest for the chantry of Our Lady in St. Mary’s church, Nottingham, was "to maintain the services and to be an aid to the vicar, and partly to succour the poor”; the priest attached to the Amyas chantry in the same church was to assist in "God’s service.”3 The Luterells undoubtedly contributed a great deal to the church of West Bridgford at this period, and it is possible that they maintained a second priest at their own cost for such duties as these. There is no trace left of the stone altar which must have stood in this side chapel, and which was, in all probability, dedicated to Our Lady, since the church itself commemorated another saint. Indeed, the high altar itself has not survived in recognizable form, an oak Elizabethan table having taken its place. Mr. S. Dutton Walker, describing the church in 1863, noticed that in the floor of the south side of the chancel a "stone appears which has originally been the altar stone, and would formerly have upon it five crosses, typical of the five wounds of Christ.”4 This stone has completely disappeared in the course of the renewal of the floor.

There is a low canopied arch of fourteenth century design, now much restored, in the north wall of the new north chapel. It was moved from the north wall of the old chancel when the church was extended in 1898. Underneath it at the present time lies a cross-legged stone effigy, presumably of a knight, who is known locally as "The Stone Man.” According to the late J. T. Godfrey, writing in 1896, the arch in his day bore the inscription, now disappeared, “Christ is risen.”5 On this evidence, I should say that it was intended for an easter sepulchre, and not for the canopy of a founder’s tomb as the late Harry Gill suggested. This writer arrived at the conclusion that the effigy represented Sir Robert Luterell, mentioned above, who was a benefactor of the church, and who died in 1296 or 1297.6 But in the absence of a recognizable heraldic charge on the knight’s shield, and of all other tangible evidence, it is impossible, to my mind, to identify the figure, or even to say that it originally belonged to Bridgford church. All that is known of its history is that it was dug up by a farmer about 1800 when he was digging or clearing a cattle pond at the junction of Loughborough Road and Melton Road.7 For the greater part of the nineteenth century it stood in a field nearby, serving as a boundary-stone and as a gate-post, and so became badly worn. In 1893 it was removed to the churchyard, and five years later found its way into the church. If it does not belong to Bridgford, it may have come from Flawford church (demolished in 1773) or All Hallows, Adbolton, (demolished in 1746), or from the old Hospital of St. John in Nottingham.8

The porch was added about the middle of the fourteenth century, but since that time it has suffered much alteration. It has been suggested that the curious vaulted roof of the tower, obviously fitted in at some recent restoration, once formed the roof of the porch.

A little to the west of the present south entrance to the church may be seen, from the inside, a square-headed door, now filled in, which may have given access to a parvise, a little chamber over the porch for the purpose of lodging a priest overnight, or for the storage of church books and treasures. If there was such a room, there is no sign remaining of a staircase, and the original porch must have been much loftier than it is at present. The stone benches which still exist serve to remind us that in the middle ages civil business, like the payment of legacies, and parts of the baptism, marriage and burial services were conducted here. It is certain that at this time there was a holy-water stoup, filled every Sunday with newly consecrated salt and water, for the worshipper on entering to cross himself. There is no trace of this left in the normal place, one side of the inner arch of the porch.

A new font of plain design and octagonal in shape was placed in the church at this time; it probably stood just inside the south door, symbolical of baptism being the entry into the Christian life, and conveniently near the porch where the first part of the service was held. This font still bears the marks of the staples and hinges fastening the old lid, which has been tom away. Archbishop Edmund Rich of Canterbury ordered in 1236 that the fonts of English churches be kept securely locked—to prevent superstitious practices in connection with the holy water. The font in Bridgford church in all probability occupied its original position until the restoration of 1871-2.

Towards the end of the fourteenth century, about 1380 according to the dating of Mr. A. Vallance, writing in “Memorials of Old Nottinghamshire” (1912) the present screen was erected. The same writer suggests that the framework of the screen betrays the hand of a stonemason—“the character of the framework is that of a stone screen carried out in wood.” At all events, it was originally in the form of a rood-screen, consisting of the present carved oak screen, surmounted by a loft a few feet wide which bore the great crucifix, with the attendant figures of St. Mary and St. John on either side, and approached by a wooden staircase. The space between the platform or loft and the chancel arch would be filled with a wooden “tympanum,” forming a background to the rood, and the whole structure was richly coloured, in accordance with the practice of the middle ages. At festivals it was decorated, and lighted candles were placed along the loft ; during Lent veils were draped over the figures. Perhaps from time to time choristers and other musicians were accommodated here. This tradition was current even up to the restoration of 1871-2, when an old inhabitant told Mr. Phillimore that a 'singing-loft’ had been taken down as unsafe fifty years before. The screen, which is all that now remains, has been greatly restored at different periods. It consists of a trefoil cusped central arch, with four ogee headed arches on either side, the divisions of the fenestration and the wainscot coinciding. The wainscot, a little less than four feet high, has ‘Decorated’ tracery superimposed, but only that on the extreme north is original. In the north end of the concave moulding of the top horizontal beam, is a curious carved figure of a dog or a fox, with a bird it has caught or stolen.

About the same time as this screen was installed there was a widespread desire in England for still more light and loftiness in parish churches. In West Bridgford church, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the old arcade was removed, and a new one of early Perpendicular style built. On the south side it supported the raised wall of the nave, which was pierced by four two-light clerestory windows. On the north side the existing walls were made higher to take a similar group of clerestory windows. A careful scrutiny of the south side of the west wall, where the newer arcade meets it, will reveal traces of what may have been the original arcade, which by 1400 was over a century old. The three pillars and moulded capitals of the present arcade are octagonal, and the responds of the eastern and western arches are carved with grotesque faces, similar to those supporting the chancel arch, which was built at the same period. A new roof was constructed in the Perpendicular style, with its trusses resting on grotesque corbels. Externally a parapet with battlements was superimposed on the raised walls. A deeply incised groove on the eastern respond already alluded to, may have been cut to fix the beam of a parclose screen to partition off the chantry chapel.9

The parish church of the middle ages was literally ablaze with colour, and then. is no reason to suppose that Bridgford church was any different from her contemporaries in this respect. The splendour and colourfulness which distinguish theatres and ballrooms in these days belonged then to the church alone, and was dedicated to the glory of God. Heraldry was normally displayed in the shields of arms borne by neighbouring families. Biblical incidents were displayed in pictorial form on the walls and in the windows. Much of the stonework, now bare, was painted in colour and silver and gilt. Although no complete mural paintings or shields remain in Bridgford church, there have been found traces of pigment and fragments of plaster which survived the restoration of 1871-2, particularly on a stone in the west end of the south wall of the chancel, at the height of about six feet; whether this is very ancient or not cannot readily be determined. A great amount of this ancient art survived until that ill-advised restoration. The late W. P. W. Phillimore stated that when the new distemper was removed from the jambs of a lancet window in the north wall of the chancel in 1871: “on the western side was a large shield of early form outlined with a broad black line. It was in height 2ft. 8in., and 1ft. 9in. wide, and bore 'argent, five fusils gules, each charged with an escallop of the field.’ The fusils which were 17in. long were painted in vermillion, and the escallops were outlined in black . . The day after these particulars had been noted, this interesting painting was scraped off by the workmen.”10 The arms thus described were those of the Aslocton family, and it is interesting to note that John de Aslocton, junr. was instituted to the benefice of West Bridgford, 28th July, 1349 on the presentation of Sir Andrew Luterell.11

The colourful effect of the mediaeval church was further enhanced by the heraldic or sacred stained glass windows. Mr. Joseph Atkinson, who retired from the office of parish clerk in 1940, informed the present writer that a few fragments of the old glass were embodied in the new stained glass window at the east end of the old south aisle. A full account of what remained until the restoration mentioned above is given in a descriptive pamphlet on West Bridgford by Mr. Dutton Walker, dated 1863.12 In that year there was ancient stained glass in the three principal compartments of this same east window of the aisle. There was a figure, probably of Jesus, in “an attitude of benediction, the two forefingers of the right hand being open, and the others closed.” The figures in the other two compartments were probably St. John and St. Mary. Then the ‘most noteworthy’ specimen in the whole church was in the head of one of the windows in the north side of the nave “where the figure of Christ is given, likewise in the attitude of benediction. . . This figure, unlike the former we noticed, is seated, and upon a bench the front of which is shown in decorated panelling; a ‘nimbus’ or glory encircles the head and the face is bearded; the background is filled with foliage decoration.” Other windows were filled with stained glass "some of it heraldic and figuring shields with arms displayed upon them belonging to the family of Luterell.” It is known that the shield of the de Alfretons, borne by the Chaworth family, also appeared in one of the windows. All these relics of the middle ages were destroyed in the restoration.

1 Gill, “ The Church of S. Giles’, W.B., 1908, p. 4.
2. Trans. Thoroton Soc., 1915, p. 10.
3. Gasquet. Mediaeval Parish Life, p. 90.
4. Dutton Walker. "W. Bridgford and its Approaches," 1863.
5. J. T. Godfrey : Churches of the Hundred of Rushcliffe, p. 282.
6. Trans. Thoroton Soc., 1915, p. 10.
7. Capt. Matthew Barker : Walks around Nottm., 1835.
8. J. P. Briscoe : Chapters of Notts. History, p. 156.
9. The mutilation of some of the bases and capitals of the pillars was probably caused by the fixing of high box-pews at a much later date.
10. W. P. W. Phillimore : Notts. & Derbys. Notes and Queries. 1895.
11. Torre MSS.
12. Dutton Walker. Op. cit.