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St Kenelm
ST KENELM'S PARISH CHURCH MINSTER
LOVELL, OXFORDSAINT KENELM
. ST. KENELM, a young
prince of the 8th century kingdom of
Mercia, was murdered in the Clent
Hills of Worcestershire. His body was
buried in a splendid shrine in
Winchcombe
Abbey. Minster Lovell Church is
one of seven dedicated to St.
Kenelm, spread over a wide area, on
the pilgrim roads to
Winchcombe. St. Kenelm's Feast Day
is 17th July. Minster Fete or
Feast was held on the Tuesday or
Wednesday nearest this date. And free
measures of home made rhubarb wine,
"Rhubarb Jerkum," were served
at the
"Swan". In 1431
A.D. WILLIAM 7th BARON LOVELL
settled in
old Minster and demolished the 12th
century house and church. He built a
new
mansion and Parish Church in 1450
A.D. THE PORCH is at the
north door of the Nave. The
recess over the door may have
contained a representation of God, the
Holy
Trinity; the recess to the left a
statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or
of
St. Kenelm. The recess on the east
wall was designed to hold a container
for
holy water. THE SOUTH
DOOR and the door to the steps up
the tower
are opposite the porch . The monumental slab
against the south door commemorates
members of the Wheeler family, who
rented the manor house when it was
owned
by the Coke family, in the 17th
century. The arrangements of THE
PILLARS,
where nave, chancel and
transepts meet, is an outstanding
feature. They are connected by
stone beams carrying the Tower,
which holds three great bells
and
one
small bell. Marks cut by the
masons, to check their rate of progress
in
building, can be seen on the
pillars. At the top of the pillar to
the left
is the carving of a man's head,
probably to represent the master -
mason. The
carved head of a bishop may
represent Marmaduke Lumley, Bishop of
Lincoln in
1450 A.D. . At the top of
the southern pillars the head of
the king may be Henry VI; the head of
the
woman, Lady Lovell. A lofty open
worked WOODEN SCREEN once stood across
the
entrance to the chancel, carrying
on the top a large crucifix and statues
of
the Blessed Virgin Mary and St.
John the Evangelist. The screen
may have extended so as to enclose the
openings to the transepts as well.
The door, high up, at the west corner
of
the south transept, could have
given entrance to the top of the
screen, from
which the Gospel was read at the
Sunday Mass. A certain Richard
Rawlinson,
in about 1750 A.D., found part of
the screen still intact, with coats of
arms painted on the east side. By
1826 A.D, the screen had
disappeared. THE PULPIT is a
prefabricated affair, delivered in
sections and set up by local
craftsmen in 1870 A.D. This
replaced a large wooden "two
decker" reading desk
with pulpit above, which had stood
on the south side of the chancel
step. THE LECTERN, double-
sided, so as to carry the Old
Testament and the New Testament,
was installed at about the same
time. The whole church was
drastically restored in 1869 A.D. -
walls stripped of plaster - the
chancel cleared of tombstones. The slab
of
the Heylin Memorial was set up
against the south wall of the chancel,
near
the door . Two broken cherubs,
pieces of twisted columns and
fragments of carved stone from the
memorial as it was, are still around in
the church. Burials below the floor of
the church ceased in 1830 A.D.
The present ORGAN was installed in
1884 A.D. Against the south wall
near the altar are stone seats. In
the corner is a piscina - a drain
to take water used by the priest for
washing his hands, etc. In a wall
to the north of the altar is a
cupboard, named
an "Aumbry," where oils,
blessed by the Bishop, for the
anointing of the
sick, and other purposes, are
kept. On the ALTAR on the far
side of the centre is a steel
safe, called a TABERNACLE, and
covered with a veil. In this Tabernacle
some
of the consecrated bread of the
Holy Communion is kept, for those who
need
this Holy Sacrament at times other
than that of the Service of Holy
Communion. A hanging lighted lamp
indicates the presence of the
Sacrament. The five carvings on
the wall behind the altar were set
up in 1876 A.D. to the memory of
Lady Taunton, wife of Sir William Elias
Taunton, Recorder of Oxford,
Justice of the Queen's Bench, land
owner in the
parish. The carvings show the events
of LADY DAY, CHRISTMAS DAY, GOOD
FRIDAY, EASTER DAY and ASCENSION
DAY. The doorway on the
north side of the chancel leads into
the Priest's Vestry. Here are two
SQUINTS one looking to
the altar - the other, in direct
line, looking to the church yard.
Lepers,
or others in the church yard, would
be able to look in and see the altar.
It
has been suggested that this vestry
was at one time a hermit's
cell. The NORTH TRANSEPT -
to the left, facing the chancel,
was once set apart for the people
of Crawley, who had no church of their
own, and was called the Crawley
Aisle. In the floor is an acrostic
Latin
inscription. The choir
vestry is at the end of this transept -
and the
War Memorial
is on the east wall. The SOUTH
TRANSEPT - to the right, facing the
chancel, is the Lady Chapel,
dedicated to Our Lady Saint Mary, The
ALABASTER TOMB of William, 7th
Baron Lovell, founder of the present
church, stands at the entrance. He
died on 13th June, 1455 A.D. Ten
shields
and the figures of two female
mourners: of St. Christopher with the
Christ
Child: of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and the Christ Child; of St. Margaret,
adorn the base of the
tomb. The present altar and
its ornaments, and the seating,
were set up in 1963 A.D. This
chapel was probably part of the
original 12th
century church. There is a piscina
in the south-east corner. There is a
large SQUINT in the east wall
and there is
another
similar SQUINT in the north
transept. Both give a view of the high
altar -
so that priests celebrating Mass at
the altars in the transepts could
synchronize their actions with the
actions of the priest celebrating Mass
at
the high altar. THE FONT
in the centre of THE NAVE is
15th
century work. Almost all the
original 15th century seating remains
in the
Nave . At one time two galleries
stood above either side of the west
door,
and they were used by singers and
musicians. THE WINDOWS of the
church once carried much painted
glass. Remaining fragments show St.
Peter Martyr and St. Thomas Aquinas on
the south of the nave, either St.
Cosmas or St. Damian on the north. The
Patriarch Isaac and the Prophet
Daniel are shown in the east window. On
the
north of the chancel an angel with
St. Agnes - and on the south, St. Lucy.
In the window to the left of the
altar are fragments of a picture of St.
Michael. In other windows are
pieces of ancient coloured glass. There
are
MASS DIALS on the outside of the
church - on the north-east buttress of
the
chancel and on the south side of
the church. Each consists of a circle
of
dots, with a central hole for the
gnomon or rod, for casting a shadow, to
indicate the time for Mass to
begin. F.H. 1968
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