History
There has been a church on this site for hundreds of years, predating even the current church. The oldest parts of the present church date to the late 12th century- around 1180. Little is known of what this early church would have looked like, although it is likely that it had some kind of cruciform or cross-like shape.
Introduction
The St Mary’s you see today took more than 300 years to take shape, and within that time period there were four main periods of building work:
· Late 12th Century (Transitional Normal Style)
· Early to mid-13th Century (Early English Style)
· Early 14th Century (Decorated Gothic Style)
· Late 15th century (Perpendicular Gothic Style)
Highlights
There are more than 800 years of history to explore at St Mary’s. Below are just a few of the items of interest to keep an eye out for when you are looking around!
The Walsingham Shrine
The Shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham at St Mary’s is a 20th century statue in a 14th century niche. The history of the church’s association with the Virgin Mary is a long one, dating to at least the 14th century if not before, and it is likely that the niche in which the statue of the Virgin Mary stands, marks the site of a 14th century altar.
In around 1315, the Archbishop of Armagh was commissioned to build one altar and six portable altars dedicated to the Blessed Mary at St Mary Magdalene, and it is likely that they served as a stopping off point on pilgrimages to the main Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk.
Chantry Chapels
By the 16th century there were reputedly 19 chantry chapels, so it would have been an incredibly busy church, with lots of priests and lots of worshippers.
There are now two remaining chantry chapels in St Mary’s, dedicated to Robert Markham and to Thomas Meryng, both 16th century Newark merchants.
Before the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, belief in purgatory was a core part of Christian belief. Purgatory is a transitional state after death where souls spend time prior to entering heaven. People believed that prayer could reduce the time a soul spent in purgatory, and it was a common practise, for those who could afford it, to pay for a personal chapel, and for a priest to pray and celebrate a daily mass for them.
During the Reformation, the idea that salvation could be purchased instead of earned was a point of contention for theologians. The Protestant Reformation sought to stamp out practises such as these and a “reformed religion” was born, severing ties with Rome (the seat of the Pope) and splitting the belief of Christians throughout Western Europe.
The Church of England retained many aspects of the Medieval Church, but also embraced Protestant theology. Chantry chapels became a thing of the past within the Church of England, but in many cases the structures remained.
Memorial Brasses
Brasses were laid, often on top of tomb stones in the aisles of churches, to memorialise the dead. They were generally commissioned by the deceased, or by their family, and are a deliberate attempt to shape the image of the dead. They were designed to be seen; to inspire intercessionary prayer, or to offer a focus of remembrance. Many monumental brasses like these would have been gilded, and inlaid with coloured wax, paint or enamel. It is rare that this colouring survives, as brasses are often worn from hundreds of years of footsteps.
St Mary’s has three remaining monumental brasses. One dating to the 14th century, and dedicated to a Newark merchant, Alan Fleming, and two dating from the 16th century, memorialising two further Newark merchants: William Phyllypot (pictured) and John Boston.
The Alan Fleming brass is one of the four largest “Flemish” brasses in England, thought to be completed by the same unknown artist. The other three brasses are located in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, and St Alban’s Abbey, Hertfordshire.
Medieval Stained Glass
The glass in this window dates from the 14th and 15th centuries. The many pieces of broken glass were gathered together by a carpenter and glazier named Edward Blousfield in 1846 and set into a window.
It was subsequently restored and reset in its present position by Joan Howson in 1957 whilst working with the Department of Medieval Art at Oxford University.
Joan Howson (1885-1964) was born in Flintshire, and trained at Liverpool School of Art. In 1913 she became a student and apprentice of Caroline Townshend, a famous Stained Glass artist of the Arts and Crafts movement, and in 1920, the two women formed a partnership, setting up Townshend and Howson, a stained glass company. Howson and Townshend completed commissions across the country, from Sutherland to Devon. After Townshend’s death in 1944, Howson continued to work in stained glass but her work increasingly focused on the design of memorial windows and stained glass restoration. She was commissioned to restore a number of medieval stained glass windows, including the one here at St Mary’s.
Reredos
Highly coloured, and decorated with images of saints and scenes from the final days of Christ’s life, the reredos forms the backdrop to the high altar.
It was gifted to the church in 1937 by the Bradley family, who owned a local iron foundry.
Designed by Sir Ninian J Comper, it replaced the earlier reredos designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, which can still be seen behind the current one.
Comper’s reredos is a triptych, meaning it is made up of three panels, which can be folded in and closed. The central panel shows St Mary Magdalene kneeling before the empty tomb with angels in adoration of the Risen Christ. During Lent and Advent, the reredos is closed to hide the central panel.
The Adoration of the Lamb Mosaic
The mosaic depicts the Adoration of the Lamb, a common piece of imagery in Christianity, in which an innocent and pure lamb represents Christ. The lamb has an open wound, pouring blood into a chalice, which symbolises Christ sacrificing his life for the sins of humanity.
Gifted by Canon Marshall Wild to celebrate his 78th birthday, the mosaic is the work of James Powell and Sons of Whitefriars. It is based on a triptych by the van Eych brothers in the Cathedral of St Bavo in Ghent, Belgium.
The Dance of Death
The Dance of Death is located on the side of the Markham chantry chapel. The chantry chapel was erected in 1505 when Markham died, and the paintings are incorporated into the southern wall into the chapel.
The paintings are believed to date from the 16th century, and depict a skeleton and a man believed to be Robert Markham himself.
A skeleton holds a carnation symbolising the brevity of life, while the well-dressed man holds a bulging coin purse. Paintings like these are intended to remind the viewer that death is inevitable and that we are all equal in death regardless of our personal wealth in life.