St James' Church, Warter
Encyclopedia
St James’ Church lies in Warter
, an estate village in England, in the Yorkshire Wolds
, part of the East Riding of Yorkshire
.
It is now a redundant church, but maintained by the Yorkshire Wolds Heritage Centre. The church was restored in 2006 with substantial grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund
and LEADER + East Riding. Help was also given by the Normandby Charitable Trust, the Gilbert Bayes Trust and the Hull and East Riding Charitable Trust. This church and its churchyard contain works by two of England’s most accomplished sculptors, Sir George Frampton and Gilbert Bayes
as well as some stained glass windows by Robert Anning-Bell.
The church stands on what was the site of a much larger priory church belonging to the medieval priory of Augustinian or Black Canons
founded at Warter by Geoffrey Fitz Pain in 1132. Warter was not a wealthy priory but it did hold the lordships of Warter, Seaton Ross
, Wheldrake
, Preston in Holderness, Waxholme
, Fraisthorpe
and Auburn, the church at Lund and the hospital of St Giles at Beveley, all in the East Riding, as well as the churches of Barton and Askham in Westmorland.
When the priory was suppressed in August 1536 there were 12 canons, two of whom, the sub-prior and the kitchener, attempted to re-establish the monastery. This was following the great rising against the government of Henry VIII of England
, known as the “Pilgrimage of Grace
”. For this the two canons were arrested and executed as traitors at York
in February 1537.
In the late 17th Century the priory estate was acquired by the Pennington family of Muncaster Castle
in Cumberland
and they built Warter Hall, subsequently Warter Priory which was situated a mile to the south-west of the village.
Following a government report which was most critical of the run-down state of the village, the Penningtons, now the Lords Muncaster, began rebuilding the village and this rebuilding was continued by Charles Henry Wilson, a wealthy Hull
shipowner and Liberal MP who had purchased the estate in 1878. Charles Henry Wilson was created Lord Nunburnholme in 1906 and died the following year. From 1907 to 1929 the village, as part of the estate, was controlled by the Dowager Lady Nunburnholme.
In 1929 the estate was purchased by the Hon.George Vestey and then in 1968 by the Marquis of Normanby. Warter Priory was demolished in 1972 and in 1998 the estate was purchased by Malcolm Healey.
Warter is a picturesque village with several interesting buildings including a row of thatched cottages and Manor House Farm built in 1732 using stone from the demolished medieval priory.
In 2011, two stained glass lunette windows by Robert Anning-Bell which had been stored since 1966 were, after restoration, placed in the nave of the church. These were originally in a mausoleum built in the churchyard to house the remains of Lady Isabel Wilson where her marble effigy was originally placed. One of the windows depicts Lady Isabel and her dead baby being carried to heaven by six angels watched by her husband. The other window depicts the personifications of Lady Isabel's virtues, Courage, Hope and 'Love to the Death' surrounded by child-angel musicians.
Below is a photograph, taken on a visit to Warter last year, of the Frampton plaque and then in the gallery of photographs some studies of Frampton’s marble effigy of Lady Isabel.
There are two bronze statues by Gilbert Bayes
, one to the 1st Lord Nunburnholme who died in 1907 and the other to his youngest son Gerald Valerian Wilson. The statues had originally stood in the Italian Garden of Warter Priory and were moved to St.James’ in 1929. Near to the bronze statues is a table-top tomb to the 2nd Lord Nunburnholme and a grave slab to Edith, Countess of Chesterfield and daughter of the 1st Lord Nunburnholme. A Classical mausoleum had been added to the side of the church to contain
Sir George Frampton’s memorial to Lady Isabel Wilson who had died in 1905. She was the wife of Guy Greville Wilson. The mausoleum was demolished in 1966 and the memorial moved inside the church. The site of the mausoleum is now marked by a grass-covered mound.
The bronze statues are signed by Gilbert Bayes, a pupil of Sir George Frampton and a key figure in the “New Sculpture Movement”. That to the 1st Lord Nunburnholme has the figure of Victory with a laurel wreath. The smaller details of these memorials were stolen many years ago. The bronze monument remembering Gerald Valerian Wilson, youngest son of Lord and Lady Nunburnholme is that nearer the church; an angel, with nimbus, stands reading the book of John.
The remainder of the churchyard is being conserved as a wildlife habitat.
Warter
Warter is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east of Pocklington on the B1246 road.According to the 2001 UK census, Warter parish had a population of 159....
, an estate village in England, in the Yorkshire Wolds
Yorkshire Wolds
The Yorkshire Wolds are low hills in the counties of East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in northeastern England. The name also applies to the district in which the hills lie....
, part of the East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...
.
Origins and History
This grade II listed building was built in 1862-3 for Josslyn Francis Pennington, 5th Lord Muncaster and it is thought that this was the third church built on this site.It is now a redundant church, but maintained by the Yorkshire Wolds Heritage Centre. The church was restored in 2006 with substantial grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
and LEADER + East Riding. Help was also given by the Normandby Charitable Trust, the Gilbert Bayes Trust and the Hull and East Riding Charitable Trust. This church and its churchyard contain works by two of England’s most accomplished sculptors, Sir George Frampton and Gilbert Bayes
Gilbert Bayes
Gilbert William Bayes RA was a British sculptor and medalist.-Career:Born in London into a family of artists, Bayes' lengthy and illustrious career began as a student under Sir George Frampton and Harry Bates, and so became associated with the British New Sculpture movement and its focus on...
as well as some stained glass windows by Robert Anning-Bell.
The church stands on what was the site of a much larger priory church belonging to the medieval priory of Augustinian or Black Canons
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
founded at Warter by Geoffrey Fitz Pain in 1132. Warter was not a wealthy priory but it did hold the lordships of Warter, Seaton Ross
Seaton Ross
Seaton Ross is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately west of the market town of Market Weighton and north west of the village of Holme-on-Spalding-Moor. It lies to the south of the A1079 road and north of the A163 road.According to the...
, Wheldrake
Wheldrake
Wheldrake is a village and civil parish located south-east of York. Administratively it is in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England....
, Preston in Holderness, Waxholme
Waxholme
Waxholme is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the North Sea coast approximately north west of Withernsea, off the B1242 road.It forms part of the civil parish of Rimswell.-Etymology:...
, Fraisthorpe
Fraisthorpe
Fraisthorpe is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately south of Bridlington town centre. It lies to the east of the A165 road.Together with Barmston it forms the civil parish of Barmston and Fraisthorpe....
and Auburn, the church at Lund and the hospital of St Giles at Beveley, all in the East Riding, as well as the churches of Barton and Askham in Westmorland.
When the priory was suppressed in August 1536 there were 12 canons, two of whom, the sub-prior and the kitchener, attempted to re-establish the monastery. This was following the great rising against the government of Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, known as the “Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
”. For this the two canons were arrested and executed as traitors at York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
in February 1537.
In the late 17th Century the priory estate was acquired by the Pennington family of Muncaster Castle
Muncaster Castle
Muncaster Castle is a privately owned castle overlooking the Esk river, about a mile south of the west-coastal town of Ravenglass in Cumbria, England.-History:...
in Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
and they built Warter Hall, subsequently Warter Priory which was situated a mile to the south-west of the village.
Following a government report which was most critical of the run-down state of the village, the Penningtons, now the Lords Muncaster, began rebuilding the village and this rebuilding was continued by Charles Henry Wilson, a wealthy Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
shipowner and Liberal MP who had purchased the estate in 1878. Charles Henry Wilson was created Lord Nunburnholme in 1906 and died the following year. From 1907 to 1929 the village, as part of the estate, was controlled by the Dowager Lady Nunburnholme.
In 1929 the estate was purchased by the Hon.George Vestey and then in 1968 by the Marquis of Normanby. Warter Priory was demolished in 1972 and in 1998 the estate was purchased by Malcolm Healey.
Warter is a picturesque village with several interesting buildings including a row of thatched cottages and Manor House Farm built in 1732 using stone from the demolished medieval priory.
The interior of the church
There are works in the church by Sir George Frampton and Robert Anning-Bell. Sir George Frampton created a marble monument to Lady Isabel Wilson who was the daughter of the 7th Duke of Roxburghe and the wife of Guy Greville Wilson. Lady Isabel had died in childbirth in 1905. She was 26 years of age. Frampton was also the sculptor of the monument to Charles Henry Wilson who became 1st Lord Nunburnholme. In the monument we can see references to the Wilson shipping firm. There is also a small plaque by Sir George Frampton which is dedicated to Gerald Valerian Wilson. There are also stained-glass windows designed by Robert Anning-Bell, one depicting Lord and Lady Nunburnholme with a border of sailing ships and the arms of the city of Kingston upon Hull and the other dedicated to Gerald Valerian Wilson, the Nunburnholme’s son who had died at the age of 23 in 1908. There are also several monuments and inscriptions in the church regarding members of the Pennington family.In 2011, two stained glass lunette windows by Robert Anning-Bell which had been stored since 1966 were, after restoration, placed in the nave of the church. These were originally in a mausoleum built in the churchyard to house the remains of Lady Isabel Wilson where her marble effigy was originally placed. One of the windows depicts Lady Isabel and her dead baby being carried to heaven by six angels watched by her husband. The other window depicts the personifications of Lady Isabel's virtues, Courage, Hope and 'Love to the Death' surrounded by child-angel musicians.
Below is a photograph, taken on a visit to Warter last year, of the Frampton plaque and then in the gallery of photographs some studies of Frampton’s marble effigy of Lady Isabel.
The churchyard of St James’
On the north side of the churchyard is the private burial ground of the Wilson family, the Lords Nunburnholme.There are two bronze statues by Gilbert Bayes
Gilbert Bayes
Gilbert William Bayes RA was a British sculptor and medalist.-Career:Born in London into a family of artists, Bayes' lengthy and illustrious career began as a student under Sir George Frampton and Harry Bates, and so became associated with the British New Sculpture movement and its focus on...
, one to the 1st Lord Nunburnholme who died in 1907 and the other to his youngest son Gerald Valerian Wilson. The statues had originally stood in the Italian Garden of Warter Priory and were moved to St.James’ in 1929. Near to the bronze statues is a table-top tomb to the 2nd Lord Nunburnholme and a grave slab to Edith, Countess of Chesterfield and daughter of the 1st Lord Nunburnholme. A Classical mausoleum had been added to the side of the church to contain
Sir George Frampton’s memorial to Lady Isabel Wilson who had died in 1905. She was the wife of Guy Greville Wilson. The mausoleum was demolished in 1966 and the memorial moved inside the church. The site of the mausoleum is now marked by a grass-covered mound.
The bronze statues are signed by Gilbert Bayes, a pupil of Sir George Frampton and a key figure in the “New Sculpture Movement”. That to the 1st Lord Nunburnholme has the figure of Victory with a laurel wreath. The smaller details of these memorials were stolen many years ago. The bronze monument remembering Gerald Valerian Wilson, youngest son of Lord and Lady Nunburnholme is that nearer the church; an angel, with nimbus, stands reading the book of John.
Images from the churchyard
Below are several photographs taken in the churchyardThe remainder of the churchyard is being conserved as a wildlife habitat.
External links
- http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Bayes%2C_Gilbert_(1872-1953)%2C_Sculptor A National Archives website article covering Gilbert Bayes.
- http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Frampton%2C_Sir_George_James_%281860-1928%29_Knight_Sculptor A National Archives website article covering Sir George Frampton.