St Mary's Church (Whitby)
The 12th century St Mary's Church is an Anglican parish church of the Church of England in Whitby , a historic port town on the North Sea coast of Yorkshire in England. The church has been listed as a Grade I structure on the National Heritage List for England since 1954 . The steps leading to the church ( “the Church Stairs” , “199 Steps”) and the “Donkey Road” running parallel to them are also listed as Grade I buildings .
"There was a full bright moon, with heavy black, driving clouds, which threw the whole scene into a fleeting diorama of light and shade as they sailed across. For a moment or two I could see nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St Mary's Church and all around it. "
history
The year 1110 is recorded as the start of construction on St Mary's. Until 1540 it belonged to Whitby Abbey ; after the Benedictine monastery was abandoned as part of the dissolution of the English monasteries , St Mary's Church became the parish church. The church was originally built with a single nave and expanded as Whitby's population grew. The west tower and the chancel were added in the 12th century, and the transverse halls were built in the 13th century . At the beginning of the 18th century, the expansion reached its present form. In 1905 the church was restored, installing white, arched windows and replacing the roof. On this occasion, window openings were also added in the roof. The interior of the church was expanded mainly in the early 18th century. In order to get more seating that had to be paid for, galleries were built in, some of which can only be reached through outside entrances, so that today there is space for up to 2000 people in St Mary's. Burials in the churchyard took place until the 1860s.
description
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The St Mary's Church is located on the east cliff ("East Cliff") Whitby and is over listed church steps ("199 church steps") as well as the Donkey Road , which are listed as a group since 1954 and as Grade I buildings are listed. They lead up the cliff from Henrietta Street. The 199 steps were first mentioned in 1370, but were replaced by stone steps in the 18th and 19th centuries. Donkey Road runs parallel to the right of the stairs; it was originally a dirt road and was mentioned in 1780 when a carriage used the path up to the abbey. The current stone pavement dates from the 19th century. Both paths are said to have existed since the first monastery was founded around the year 657.
In January 2013, after days of rain, several landslides occurred, which partially destroyed the historic cemetery. Centuries-old bones were torn several meters into the valley in the landslide.
With its low tower, the Norman church looks very compact and is not very spectacular from the outside, but has a handsome south portal. It has been rebuilt and enlarged so often over the centuries that not much has been left of its original shape, the porch and many other elements are of Gregorian origin. However, the tower and doorway are still Norman.
Inside, too, there are some quite interesting characteristics:
On the one hand the three-story pulpit from 1778, which has built-in hearing traps in 1843, so that the hard-of-hearing wife of a former pastor could enjoy his sermons. Also noteworthy are the Elizabethan altar and the galleries on each wall. In 1819 the roof was re-covered by ship carpenters who installed skylights there, reminiscent of cargo hatches.
The seat of the town's most respected family, the Cholmley family, was built right in front of the choir arch so that they could enjoy the best view of the service and have both pastor and congregation in view. Some of the other pews date from the beginning of the 17th century and were often rented by families who had their names put on the pews. The individual families sat in box stalls that were separated from one another by walls . However, there are also benches - right in front of the pulpit that read "For strangers only".
Cædmon's Cross
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Cædmon's Cross is a memorial in honor of the first old English poet known by name, Cædmon , who lived in Whitby Abbey in the 7th century . The monument was inaugurated in September 1898 and stands in the church's cemetery.
The approximately 6 meter high cross is made of sandstone and stands on a pedestal, in which, as part of the inauguration, a sealed bottle with silver coins, a photograph of Queen Victoria , names of donors for the memorial and the text of the sermon that was held on the occasion , was admitted. The monument consists of a shaft with two wide and two narrow sides on which there is a cross. The shaft and cross are decorated with reliefs . The broad side facing the abbey bears four reliefs showing Christ, King David with a harp, Hilda , the abbess of the monastery and finally Cædmon herself as a shepherd. Below is a text board with the text
“To the glory of God, and in memory of Caedmon, Father of English sacred song. Fell asleep hard by AD 680. "
. On this side, the cross shows the Lamb of God and the evangelists with their symbols in its center . On the other broad side there is a raised Celtic knot pattern and a dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit . Four scholars who worked in the abbey in Cædmon's time are depicted along the shaft. Below are the first nine lines from Cædmon's Hymn, the work that was transmitted to him in a dream, in English. The two narrow sides of the monument each show symbols of paradise, such as a rose, birds and an apple tree. In addition, the text of the creation hymn Cædmon was set in its original language, Old English . It appears on one side in runic characters and on the other in a Celtic uncial script .
literature
- Alison Binns: Dedications of Monastic Houses in England and Wales 1066-1216 (Studies in the history of medieval religion; Vol. 1). Boydell Press, Woodbridge 1989, ISBN 0-85115-521-9 .
- David Knowles , R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales . 2nd edition Longman London 1994, ISBN 0-521-11230-3 (EA London 1971).
- Roy Midmer: English Medieval Monasteries (1066-1540). A summary . Heinemann, London 1979.
- Nikolaus Pevsner : Yorkshire. The North Riding . Penguin Books, London 1992, ISBN 0-14-071029-9 (EA Harmondsworth 1966).
- Bram Stoker: Dracula . Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 1993, ISBN 3-458-32786-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ St Mary's Church on the North Yorkshire Historic Environment Record. North Yorkshire County Council entry on Heritage Gateway.
- ^ Whitby's Parish Church on the Whitby Museum website .
- ^ Churchyard . Database entry of St Mary's Church at the Church of England .
- ^ Church Steps and Donkey Road on the North Yorkshire Historic Environment Record. North Yorkshire County Council entry on Heritage Gateway.
- ↑ Eleanor Harding: Dracula church where it's raining bones! Debris from cliff-top graves falls on town after landslide . In: MailOnline from January 9, 2013.
- ↑ St Mary's Church . Monument entry at Historic England
- ↑ Sharon Artley: 1898. Cædmon's Cross, Whitby. In: Janet Cochrane (Ed.): The History Tree. Moments in the Lifetime of a Memorable Tree. North Yorkshire Moors Association, Whitby 2018, ISBN 978-0-9565779-5-5 . Pp. 75-78.
Coordinates: 54 ° 29 ′ 20 ″ N , 0 ° 36 ′ 35 ″ W.