St Mary's Kempsford and St Anne's Whelford
Who was St George? We celebrated his feast on 23rd April and most people (if they know anything about him) are aware of the red cross of St George, the English flag, linked with England, since George was "adopted" as our patron Saint by King Edward III. His popularity in England dates back to the Crusaders at Antioch in 1098. Many of the Normans under Robert of Gloucester, son of William the Conqueror took him as their patron.
Edward Gibbon (author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) argues that George of Cappadocia, Bishop of Alexandria who died in 35AD is the English patron saint, but it is more generally accepted that he was a Roman officer, martyred around 300AD near Lydda during the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian. The cult of St George was approved by Pope Gelassius in 494 and spread to England at the end of the seventh century.
The legend of St George and the dragon is simply an allegorical expression of the triumph of the Christian hero over evil (evil is envisioned as a dragon in the book of Revelation). St Michael, St Margaret, St Sylvester and St Martha are all portrayed as slaying dragons.
George is the patron saint of England, Portugal, Aragon, Genoa and Ferrara. He is also the protector of knights, horses, soldiers, boy scouts, lepers and husbands!
And what do we learn from St George? Fortitude, courage and determination certainly, and perhaps more challengingly, that being a Christian can carry a heavy price tag. But as the early Christians declared "the blood of the martyrs is the seed".
The bravery and the indomitable spirit of early Christians who preferred to die rather than to betray their Lord was the inspiration and source of strength to those that followed.
The price in the UK today may not be death (although there are Christians dying for their faith in some parts of the world today), but it can easily be ridicule, misunderstanding and rejection and even worse. To be a Christian is not simply a matter of "turning over a new leaf", it is to serve a different Master, it is to pass from death to life.
Tim Hastie-Smith
Conservation and cleaning of the Victorian painted schemes in Kempsford Parish Church, Gloucestershire
The painted tower ceiling in St Mary’s Church records some of the most important families of the middle ages and their association with Kempsford and its castle. Little remains of that association today except the church and the shields on the lierne-vaulted roof beneath its tower. One of its most striking features is a circle of Lancastrian Roses, celebrating Kempsford as the birth place of the man who was to be the first Duke of Lancaster.
The shields bear witness to the power and wealth of an age and the relationships through marriage of great families. Also on display is the association between the church and manor of Kempsford with Leicester and the three dioceses it has been part of over time. The Arms of St Edward the Confessor mark the reign in which the church was founded.
The vaulting is itself 15th century but the paiting was undertaken in 1862 by the Rev H F St John and Vernon Bembow. It is not known whether they over-painted some of the arms that existed prior to that date but they certainly introduced two that post-date the vaulting: the arms of the diocese of Gloucester and those arms impaled with the diocese of Bristol. Only the four outer shields are carved and of those one requires its own story.
First, some history. In 1283 the manor of Kempsford was inherited by Maud de Chaworth from her father and passes to her husband Henry, the third Earl of Lancaster. Their son, Henry Grosmont, inherited the manor of Kempsford from his father as well as succeeding to the earldom in 1345. In 1351 Henry was created the first Duke of Lancaster 'in recognition of astonishing deeds of prowess and feats of arms'. Henry grants the manor of Kempsford in 1355 to the hospital of the Annunciation at Leicester, which holds the manor until 1548.
The first Duke died at Leicester Castle in 1361 without a male heir, his son, Henry, having drowned in the river at Kempsford. The inheritance passed to Henry's daughters, Blanche and Maude. Lancaster was part of Blanche's dowry when she married King Edward III's son, John of Gaunt, in 1359. Maude died without children in 1362, and her portion of the inheritance passed to her sister Blanche.
John of Gaunt was created second Duke of Lancaster by Edward III in 1362. When Edward III died in 1377, his ten-year-old grandson, Richard II, came to the throne. Although Richard was heavily influenced by his powerful uncle, John’s fortunes changed. His son, Henry Bolingbroke, made an enemy of King Richard II, and was banished. In 1399, upon the death of John, Richard II confiscated the Lancaster inheritance but in the same year Henry returned to England. Supported by leading families, he regained control of Lancastrian strongholds and captured Richard II. The king abdicated and Henry Bolingbroke was crowned Henry IV on 13 October 1399.
The stories of the alliances between the people associated with the above brief history are many and varied. Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Hertford and 4th Earl of Gloucester Henry, Duke of Lancaster; Sir John Cornwall; Patrick de Chaworth; Robert, Earl of Gloucester; John de Welles, Baron Welles; the Earldom of Leicester; Alan la Zouch; Thomas de Spencer; Earl of Gloucester; Ralph de Morthermer, Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Atholl and Hugh de Audley, first Earl of Gloucester are all associated by marriage with the people once associated with Kempsford and whose arms can still be seen.
The remaining arms tell the story of the parish’s ecclesiastical relationships. Kempsford is in the province of Canterbury and the diocese of Gloucester. Prior to the creation of Gloucester diocese by Henry VIII, Gloucestershire formed a part of the diocese of Worcester. Between 1836 and 1897 the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol were merged.
Kempsford’s heraldic ceiling intertwines power, wealth, people and place. Its colours have dulled over time and the parish is exploring the possibility of a Grant to conserve and clean the ceiling and reversing the mistake made in the 19th century which I alluded to at the beginning. The arms of Sir John Cornwall should be Ermine a Lion Rampant Gules crowned Or a Bordure engrailed Sable Roundelly Or. It appears that owing to damage the carving of most of the Lion Rampant had disappeared and the restorers instead painted a gauntlet. The arms were then named Plantagenet! The possibility of reversing this mistake is exciting.
We are currently raising funds for a detailed conservation survey to be undertaken by Peter Martindale Conservation prior to any decision.
The Revd David Ackerman