New book on Minchinhampton church

 

The truncated spire of Holy Trinity church in Minchinhampton may be a familiar landmark in these parts, but how much do locals know about the rest of the church? A new book by Stroud archaeologist Chiz Harward reveals the rich history of this often over-looked, but highly significant Cotswold church.

The south transept and truncated spire of Holy Trinity

The book is the result of several years of archaeological fieldwork and research triggered by a major reordering (refurbishment) of the church which involved taking up the pews and floors to install under-floor heating and fit a new stone floor to designs by Antony Feltham King of St Anne’s Gate Architects. The church commissioned Chiz, who specialises in church archaeology, to research the church and investigate alongside Nick Miles Building Contractors. 

Excavations revealed traces of the medieval church with finds including inscribed designs of window tracery, fragments of memorials, coffin handles, graves and tombs, but Chiz says that it was when the excavated evidence was linked to old documents that the history of the church really came to life. ‘The documents, plans, paintings and records combined with the finds and the standing building to tell the complex story of the church and the people who built it, ran it, and worshipped there.’

The nave under excavation, scale 1m

After the chancel, nave and aisles were demolished in 1842 the builder -a man named Shepstone- wrote a description of the medieval church he demolished; those details helped Chiz reconstruct aspects of the Norman church, and the comprehensive rebuilding of the church in the early 14th century when local patrons competed to leave their mark with some audacious Decorated Gothic architecture. ‘We all know the spire and its coronet, but it is the south transept, built to commemorate John and Lucy Ansley in 1330, that is the jewel of the church and one of the finest pieces of Decorated architecture in the region. The rose window, the stone roof and scissor vault, and the heavily buttressed walls was a piece of absolutely first-class groundbreaking architecture’.

The Decorated wheel window of the early 14th century south transept draws its inspiration from Old St Paul's cathedral

 

That 14th century church was Catholic, its new chapels dedicated to saints and the souls of wealthy benefactors, its walls echoing to the mass and richly decorated with statues and altar hangings, but there is also evidence for the Reformation two hundred years later with the traumatic ebb and flow of Protestant and Catholic faith seen through the purchases of simple sundries such as candles and incense, wine and books.  

Late 16th century 'textura quadrata' text painted on wall plaster

‘We found fragments of wall plaster painted with text, from the punctuation we could see that it was written in English, not Latin, and stylistically dated to the later 16th century when the church was Protestant; when we looked in the Churchwardens’ Accounts there was a reference to an Adam Painter being paid 4 shillings for painting the Ten Commandments on the walls in 1594. Were those fragments painted by Adam?’

By 1842 the church was in poor repair and philanthropic lord of the manor David Ricardo had the church largely rebuilt by architect Thomas Foster, who designed Whiteshill and Brimscombe churches, and remodelled Rodborough and Chalford churches. Holy Trinity was rebuilt just as the Gothic Revival was getting going, but was really a late Georgian Gothick design -a letter from eminent Gothic Revival architect William Burges was disparaging of Foster’s work and lamented the loss of so much medieval fabric; Burges rebuilt the chancel with a double-plane east window echoing the tracery of the south transept's wheel or rose window, adding some much-needed 'bling' to Foster’s austere Perpendicular.

Burges' stunning double plane tracery in the east window

 

After the latest building campaign the church is now warm, bright and used. The new book is to be launched with a celebration at the church on 17th May, with a talk on the church by Chiz Harward and an update on the latest project -the restoration of the stained glass. Books will be available to purchase on the night.

‘If the sign of a successful church is a busy diary then trying to find a slot for the book launch shows that the recent refurb has made Holy Trinity a truly successful church, used every single day by different groups, and open every single day to worshippers and visitors. It’s been absolutely fascinating to work here and get to know the church so well’.

And the spire? Well it seems that after many years of problems, with numerous bills to surveyors, builders and leadworkers, the spire was finally reduced in 1563, giving the church its distinctive profile. 

‘Your Church Newly Built…’ a History of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, by Chiz Harward is published in April by Hobnob Press, copies are available from Holy Trinity church, bookshops, Hobnob Press and online retailers.

Gloucester Cathedral medieval dig nominated for national archaeology award

A series of key discoveries made during work at Dulverton House in Gloucester by a local archaeologist have led to the work being nominated for a prestigious national award.

 

The project, which has been nominated in the ‘Best Rescue Archaeology Project’ category in the online public vote for magazine Current Archaeology, has revealed a fascinating history dating back to the 12^th Century. Refurbishment work to create a new Sixth Form centre for The King’s School meant that archaeologists from Gloucestershire specialists Urban Archaeology were given the chance to literally peel back the layers of history, dismantling internal walls and digging trenches for new services and floors.

Lead Archaeologist Chiz Harward says ‘Working on Dulverton through Lockdown was certainly challenging; most archaeologists work on buried remains but here we had a 3-D puzzle both above and below ground. It required a lot of care to unpick and make sense of a very complex history. When we turned up the place was a complete rabbit warren, tiny rooms, partitions everywhere, all chipboard, fire doors and gloss paint. We all kept getting lost! Peeling off those layers was like releasing the history, allowing the buildings to breathe and tell their story.’

Dulverton House and the Infirmary Arches at Gloucester 

 

 

Finding the chapel of St Bridget 

One of the buttresses of the 12th century chapel of St Bridget (scale 0.5m)

Part of that story was of the chapel of St Bridget, it had long been thought that three old stone buttresses embedded within Dulverton House might be remains of the chapel, consecrated in October 1184 by the monks of St Oswald’s abbey, the chapel passed to St Peter’s abbey (now the cathedral) in 1216 when St Peter’s expanded its precincts north to Pitt Street and was described by 13th century chronicler Gregory of Caerwent as a ‘cell for infirm monks’. Excavation and recording work, tied to detailed examination of old plans and records, some dating back to the 13th century, showed that the south wall of St Bridget’s survived within Dulverton House, and that the chapel had later formed the eastern end of St Peter’s Infirmary -the ‘hospital’ for old, infirm and resting monks whose ruined arches survive to this day. 

Reconstructed cross-section of the Infirmarer’s Lodging (built c1320) and adjacent St Bridget’s chapel (1184)

 

Complex history of 14^th century Dulverton House revealed

Dulverton House started life as a large ‘T’ shaped stone building with an undercroft and first floor, built as a lodging for the Infirmarer, the senior monk at St Peter’s abbey (now the cathedral) who ran the Infirmary. On the first floor, accessed by a timber external stair, was his chamber, reception hall and garderobe (toilet); an eastern cross-wing formed a private chapel with a large Gothic east window and plaster vaulted ceiling, whilst a western cross-wing may be guest accommodation. The building was constructed around 1320, at the same time as the Abbot’s Lodging, part of a widespread change in monastic life where senior officials started to increasingly live in their own accommodation within the precinct. 

Chiz Harward said ‘I’ve worked on sites at the cathedral for several years, but this was an amazing opportunity to really understand a surviving monastic building and tell its story right through from construction to the present day. We didn’t know what we would find next: a Jacobean baluster, a medieval oil-lamp, or a complete early 14th century oak doorframe. It was quite extraordinary.’ 

 

Monastic diet: eels, suckling pigs and...blackbirds?

The excavation and building works revealed how new wings were gradually added to the Lodging as it developed into a sprawling complex of rooms around a central courtyard. A timber-framed kitchen range with a large stone fireplace was added around 1475, bones from the floor show that the Infirmarer and his guests dined on a wide range of fish including Congar eel, whiting, cod, gurnard and plaice. Mammal bones included rabbit and hare, but also bones from a suckling pig, a popular delicacy slaughtered at 2–6 weeks. Chicken and red grouse bones were found, but there were also four-and-twenty blackbird bones -although whether they were baked in a pie is unclear. 

Senior Archaeologist Chiz Harward recording different phases of the kitchen fireplace

 

The house of the Third Prebend

When Henry the Eighth dissolved the monasteries, St Peter’s Abbey was saved from destruction by its conversion to a cathedral, and the site was inhabited by one of the Prebends, or College of Canons, who ran the cathedral. The medieval building would have looked increasingly outdated compared to the smart new brick houses appearing around the precinct, and in the Georgian period new sash windows were added, the inside was ‘squared up’ and fashionable new wallpapers hung on the walls -one of the designs is similar to one found at Jane Austen’s house, Chawton. The building was increasingly run down by the mid-19th century when large parts were rebuilt, including many of the external walls, but a remarkable amount of the medieval building survived. 

Layers of wallpaper: from 18th century to 20th century woodchip

 

The physical traces of personal beliefs

As well as uncovering the medieval building, the archaeologists found tiny details suggesting the beliefs of the people who worked at the site, the faces of medieval carved figures had been hacked off in the Reformation or English Civil War, whilst burnt ‘taper marks’ left on the timberwork, and a set of six tiny pentangles scratched into plaster, were all probably left to ward off evil and protect the building.

Early 14th century carved man supporting the undercroft axial beam, his face has been hacked off in the Reformation or English Civil War, and he has been scorched with ‘taper burns’ to 'ward away evil'

Six tiny pentangles (highlighted in red) incised into the plaster of Dulverton House(scale in 10mm increments)

From boarding house to Sixth Form Centre

Dulverton House was taken on by The King’s School in 1957 as a boarding house and now houses the Sixth Form Centre; the recent refurbishment has stripped away many of the later additions and revealed, once more, the medieval form, detail and history of this remarkable survival.

Headmaster David Morton, commented, “We always knew it was going to be an ambitious project to transform a Grade II* listed building with small, tired spaces into a modern, spacious, state-of-the-art Sixth Form Centre, and the challenge was made even greater because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, under Chiz Harward’s methodical, expert work, the history of the building came to life and staff and students were fascinated to hear the stories as they unfolded”.

The undercroft, restored to its open, medieval layout (Photo The King's School)

The project is nominated in the ‘Best Rescue Archaeology Project’ category in the online public vote. Chiz said ‘The Current Archaeology Awards highlight some of the very best archaeology projects carried out in the UK, and it is fantastic that the team’s hard work is being recognised, and that another aspect of Gloucester’s history is being showcased’.

·         Details of all the nominated projects and how to vote can be found on the Current Archaeology website where there is a feature article on the site https://archaeology.co.uk/vote.