St Peter's Church, Barton-upon-Humber
Encyclopedia
St Peter's Church is the former parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 of Barton-upon-Humber
Barton-upon-Humber
Barton-upon-Humber or Barton is a small town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary, and at the end of the Humber Bridge. It lies east of Leeds, southwest of Hull and north northeast of the county town of Lincoln...

 in North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber in England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of Lincolnshire....

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is one of the best known Anglo-Saxon buildings
Anglo-Saxon architecture
Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England, and parts of Wales, from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing...

, in part due to its role in Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman , was an English architect who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival.He was born at Maidenhead, Berkshire, into a large Quaker family, and avoided the medical career envisaged for him by his father, a grocer and druggist; he went into business for himself and married his first...

's identification of the style. It has been subject to major excavations, which are the most comprehensive for any parish church in Britain. It is now run by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 and houses an exhibition exploring its history.

Origins

The church lies immediately east of the remains of a near circular enclosure which contained a hall. This is, on average, 820 feet in diameter and was originally surrounded by a ditch and timber palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...

 known to date to before 900. An early pagan Saxon cemetery, believed to be linked with this enclosure and dated to the first half of the seventh century, was discovered at Castledyke, south of the church, and was used to bury high-status individuals. In 669, Saint Chad founded a monastery in neighbouring Barrow-upon-Humber. An Anglo-Saxon charter dated 971 suggests that Barton became a grange
Grange
-Buildings:* Grange House , Bo'ness, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906* Hamilton Grange National Memorial, a historic house in New York City...

 attached to this monastery.

The earliest graves on the site of the church date from the ninth century, around one hundred years after the southerly cemetery was abandoned. At this stage, it appears to have been reserved for burials associated with the hall and there may have been an associated chapel, although no trace of this remains. This was Barton's first Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 cemetery.
The dating of the church is somewhat controversial. English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 date the baptistery
Baptistery
In Christian architecture the baptistry or baptistery is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistry may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel...

 to the ninth century and the tower nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 to the tenth century. Some other sources give a slightly later date, between 970 and 1030. In particular, it is uncertain whether the baptistery does predate the tower or if the two are contemporary. Around the date of construction the ditch to the east was infilled, allowing level access between the hall and the church. Unusually, graves disturbed by the laying of foundations were carefully relocated.

Architecture

The church was originally turriform
Anglo-Saxon turriform churches
Anglo-Saxon turriform churches were an Anglo-Saxon style of church that were built in the form of towers. They can also be called tower-nave churches.Several Anglo-Saxon churches were built as towers...

: the ground floor of the tower served as the nave.

The tower shows typical features of Saxon architecture: walls of rendered rubble
Rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture. This word is closely connected in derivation with "rubbish", which was formerly also applied to what we now call "rubble". Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as brash...

, with decorative pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....

 strip work, and long and short work. The pilasters do not provide any possible support—some are only very shallowly set into the wall. They are cut from Roman ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

s. Oak beams survive at two levels in the tower; these would originally have supported higher floors. The first floor must have been a gallery, as there are no windows at ground floor level. The tower has only a few, small, windows, with either round or triangular heads, and they are divided by a shaft. There are north and south doorways, which appear to have originally possessed timber porch
Porch
A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...

es. The roof would have been of timber construction, probably of stepped pyramidal form, and covered with shingle
Shingle
Shingle can refer to:*A flat covering element for a roof, including**Shake , a wooden shingle that is made from split logs**Roof shingle, a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements...

s.

The tower is linked to the baptistery by a narrow doorway, which originally had a timber doorcase. Excavations have revealed a font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...

 base buried in the floor of the room. Externally, it is plainer than the tower, with even fewer, simple windows. On the opposite side of the tower to the baptistery, a chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 was constructed. Foundations of a permanent altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

 and a screen have been found under this space. Both baptistery and chancel would have had flat ceilings with attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...

s above.
Barton thrived as a town, and was recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 housing two mills and a ferry, worth £4 per year. In the early Norman
Norman dynasty
Norman dynasty is the usual designation for the family that were the Dukes of Normandy and the English monarchs which immediately followed the Norman conquest and lasted until the Plantagenet dynasty came to power in 1154. It included Rollo and his descendants, and from William the Conqueror and...

 period, perhaps the late eleventh century, a third storey was added to the tower of St Peter's, using dressed limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 in a Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 style.

The chancel of St Peter's was demolished in the fourteenth century to make way for a much larger church, to the east of the existing tower. The earliest parts of this extension are in the Decorated Gothic style, with some of the arcade capital
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...

s reused from the earlier building. One of these depicts a Green Man
Green Man
A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit...

. The east window retains contemporary stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

 depicting Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...

 and Saint James, while the clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...

 dates from around 1430, as does a rood
Rood
A rood is a cross or crucifix, especially a large one in a church; a large sculpture or sometimes painting of the crucifixion of Jesus.Rood is an archaic word for pole, from Old English rōd "pole", specifically "cross", from Proto-Germanic *rodo, cognate to Old Saxon rōda, Old High German ruoda...

 window at the east end of the north aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...

. Other historic monuments include the fifteenth century chancel effigy and rood screen, and wall monuments from the late sixteenth century.

In about 1310, a cross
Cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...

 was constructed in the churchyard. This is Grade II listed in its own right, as is part of the churchyard wall.

Early investigations

Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman , was an English architect who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival.He was born at Maidenhead, Berkshire, into a large Quaker family, and avoided the medical career envisaged for him by his father, a grocer and druggist; he went into business for himself and married his first...

, a keen architectural historian
Architectural historian
A architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it Similar profession are known widely such as Historian, Art historian and Archaeologist. Architectural historians survey areas that are often threatened by extinction...

 and author of An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture, investigated the church in 1819. His inspection led him to describe the principle of "structural stratification"—where one phase of building rests on another, the second must be of an earlier date. This enabled him, for the first time, to persuasively argue that a standing structure must be of Anglo-Saxon date, as the Norman top storey of the tower was supported by two stories constructed in a very different, then unknown, style. Previously, while some work had been labelled as Saxon, this was all Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

, and only guesswork attempted to distinguish this from Norman architecture
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

. Rickman presented his influential hypothesis that St Peter's and St Thomas of Canterbury Church, Clapham possessed Saxon towers in an updated edition of An Attempt to Discriminate....

Excavation and restoration

The church has been Grade A listed in 1965, a status since converted to Grade I. It was closed in 1970, its former chapel-of-ease, St Mary's, becoming the parish church. Ownership was taken over by the Department of the Environment
Department of the Environment
Department of the Environment or Department for the Environment may refer to:-Australia:* Department of the Environment and Water Resources...

.

Harold McCarter Taylor
Harold McCarter Taylor
Harold McCarter Taylor CBE TD was a New Zealand-born British mathematician, theoretical physicist and academic administrator, but is best known as a historian of architecture and the author, with his first wife Joan Taylor, née Sills, of the three volumes of Anglo-Saxon Architecture, published...

 identified the church as an ideal location for an archaeological excavation, given that it was, uniquely, a substantial Saxon church which was no longer used for worship. He noted that, as the building had been examined repeatedly by architectural historians, there was little possibility of resolving the considerable questions about its construction and history without excavations. In 1977, he secured funding from the Department of the Environment, and began the most extensive archaeological investigation ever undertaken of a British parish church, not completed until 1985. 3,000 skeletons were removed from the site, providing what has been described as "an osteological record unparalleled for any small town in England". Due to waterlogged conditions, in some cases, wooden coffins had also survived. Some of these were dug-out logs, while some are believed to be constructed from old boats. At least ten burials were accompanied by hazel
Hazel
The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...

 rods, and one had a pillow of organic material.

Alongside the excavation, extensive repairs to the building were undertaken. In 2007, the skeletons were placed in an on-site ossuary
Ossuary
An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary...

, so as to leave them in consecrated ground close to their original location, while still permitting future study. Three skeletons remain on display in the church, alongside a selection of grave goods
Grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...

and two coffins. The church was opened by English Heritage as a visitor attraction in May 2007.

External links

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