Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of The Four Tapers at St Albans

The Pilgrimage now returns to south-eastern England and the great medieval - and indeed modern - destination for pilgrims of St Albans. 

On this Pilgrimage the focus is less on St Alban and St Amphibalus, though they should never be ignored, but on a particular focus of Marian devotion, the statue and altar of Our Lady of the Four Tapers. This altar was, and is, in the south-east corner of the presbytery ambulatory, and just to the right of the Lady Chapel.

My post from last year has links to those from earlier years, most notably that from 2020 which sets out the quite complicated story of the moves of this devotion around the abbey church. We know more about these relocations thanks to the great tradition at St Albans of maintaining I I a chronicle. 

 

These links can all be accessed from Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Four Tapers in St Albans

St Albans Cathedral and Abbey is, in my opinion, with its amazing fusion of medieval history, art and architecture, and its legacy of prayer and spirituality, one of the most intensely moving historic churches to visit. The damage and neglect it suffered for several centuries, followed by an over-enthusiastic late Victorian restoration give it a vulnerability that is almost palpable. 

  

St Albans Abbey in the late middle ages 

Image: Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban and St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society

May Our Lady of The Four Tapers at St Albans intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Kingswood

Returning to the southern Cotswolds the Pilgrimage now goes to the Cistercian abbey of Kingswood near Dursley.

My post from last year, which has links to those from previous years, can be read at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Kingswood

Kingswood Abbey Gatehouse

The roof timbers are dated to 1441-1466

Image: britainexpress.com

 

The roof bosses in the vault 

Some author infer that the central boss is a Tudor Rose suggesting a sixteenth century date, but the boss has six petals, not five. The boss to the right looks like the Yorkist sun in splendour

Image: britainexpress.com

Rereading the excellent English Heritage account, which an be read at History of Kingswood Abbey Gatehouse and thinking about the skilled iconography built into the gatehouse of this monastery dedicated to the Virgin, leads me to wonder if the statue venerated as Our Lady of Kingswood might even have been in fact the one here, on the outer face of the gate.

  

The empty niche in the abbey gatehouse. The Holy Spirit can be seen descending at the top left of the canopy

Image: English Heritage

The lily carved on the mullion of the window over the gate

Image: britainexpress.con

May Our Lady of Kingswood intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Allingtree

Moving to Herefordshire the Pilgrimage now goes to the shrine of Our Lady of Allingtree, on the western edge of Hereford.

Close to the site is the modern Catholic Church of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs which was completed in 1996. By its dedication it seeks to commemorate the lost chapel www was and the Herefordshire  martyrs of the recusant era. Taking Stock has a description of it at Hereford - Our Lady Queen of Martyrs 

My notes from previous years about this shrine of which virtually nothing is recorded can be accessed from last year’s post ar Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Allingtree

I have done a little more online research about Allingtree or Aylingtree. This reveals that what were called the Gallows Tumps were situated south of the city near Belmont Road ( A465). My online source says this was the earliest recorded execution site in Hereford, and that between 1737 and 1789, it saw 54 confirmed public executions. This cannot be entirely true as Widemarsh Common to the north of the city centre was the setting for the martyrdom  of St John Kemble in 1679. The map by John Speed does not indicate any gallows close to the city. It does perhaps suggest however that the medieval chapel was not close to a place of execution.

May Our Lady of Allingtree intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady’s Well Hempsted

This is a new addition to the Pilgrimage itinerary and is located at Hempsted, a formerly a separate village, but which now has become a suburb of Gloucester. 

There is an online account of the structure and the story of the pilgrimage tradition. How old the institution narrative is not given. It might be an old tradition or it might be a pious fable from more recent centuries - one always has to be careful when Joseph of Arimathea turns up in such stories. The article can be seen here

There is more about the well house and this is an account with better illustrations from Wikipedia at Our_Lady's_Well,_Hempsted

The history and popular lore about the well is discussed in The Holy and Ancient Wells and Springs of Gloucester – Our Lady’s Well, Hempsted

May Our Lady of Hempsted intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Tewkesbury

Tewkesbury Abbey is the next station for the Pilgrimage. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary it appears to have been a place of Marian devotion long before the foundation of the Benedictine church we see today in 1121.

My article from last year has links to posts from previous years about this shrine, its destruction and modern moves to restore the tradition of Marian devotion in the Abbey. These can be accessed from Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Tewkesbury

 

Tewkesbury Abbey

The foundations of the destroyed Lady Chapel can be seen in the turf. The line of the vault can be seen above the west window of the chapel and the blocked entrance arch is beneath. Until it collapsed in 1559 the tower had a timber and lead spire

Image: voicemap.me

May Our Lady of Tewkesbury intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Worcester

The Pilgrimage now goes to Worcester Cathedral which had a famous statue of Our Lady. 

My post about it from last year has links to previous ones, and I especially urge readers to work through them to my original 2020 post which reveals contemporary material from 1538 about the nature of popular devotion and the hostility of the new Henrician establishment. This can be accessed from Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Worcester

Medieval pilgrims would probably have approached the cathedral from the north, as do visitors today. Unlike the modern visitor the medieval pilgrim would have seen a number of features which have, regrettably been lost, including the gateways on this side of the Close.

Some of the disastrous city planning from the late eighteenth century onwards, and infamously in the 1960s, at this crucial point is set out in an article from Worcester News here

Worcester Cathedral before the nineteenth century restoration with a large late medieval window in the east wall rather than the reconstructed lancets that are there today and massive flying buttresses.

To the right is the medieval parish church of St Michael

Bedwardine which served the Close, but was demolished in 1843

Image: findagrave.com 

Further along was the detached bell tower or Clochium which stood about 210 feet high. It was built about 1220, but stripped of its lead roof in 1647 and subsequently demolished.

Worcester Cathedral before the Civil War

Image: Dean and Chapter of Worcester

May Our Lady of Worcester intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Evesham

The Pilgrimage now heads west to the valley of the Avon and then the Severn, making its first stop at Evesham. Here was the great Benedictine abbey apparently founded at Our Lady’s request when she appeared to Eoves the swineherd who then brought St Egwin the bishop to meet her and receive her command.

Early twentieth century stained  glass window in St Lawrence’s Church depicting the story of the apparition of Our Lady at Evesham

Image: Archdiocese of Birmingham 

In recent years pilgrimages to Evesham have increased in number. This year the organisation Our Lady of Christendom are having a walking pilgrimage from Oxford to Evesham on July 4-6. There are details on their website at Our Lady of Christendom – United Kingdom

My post from last year about the Marian tradition at Evesham has links to those from previous years, and these can all be accessed from Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Evesham 

Although only fragments of the abbey remain above ground the town still has two medieval parish churches, the famous detached bell tower, and an excellent museum in The Almonry. In addition there is the site of the battle in 1264 and, just outside the town at Wood Norton, the onetime home, now a hotel, of the exiled Orleanist royal house of France in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. So a modern pilgrimage to Evesham can also take in a lot of history in an attractive town on the banks of the Avon. 

The appearance of the monastic church can in part be reconstructed by using notes made just before the dissolution in one of the books belonging to the monastery which include the height of the spire. The notes also include a record of how the King’s commissioners to take the surrender of the abbey turned up in January 1540 during Vespers and would not allow the community to finish singing the Office.

Reconstruction model of EveshamAbbey on the eve of the dissolution.

All that survives today are the two parish churches and the detached bell tower on the right and the doorway to the Chapter House vestibule

Image: Evesham Abbey Trust

The most recent plan of the site of Evesham Abbey

Image: Evesham Abbey Trust

May Our Lady of Evesham intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Melford

This is an addition to the itinerary and stays in Suffolk, taking the Pilgrimage to the famous and spectacular parish church at Long Melford.

Long Melford is situated on one of the routes that leads to Walsingham in north Norfolk and there was at the church a miraculous statue venerated as Our Lady of Melford.

Long Melford Church

Image: Flickr - Spencer Means

The church at Long Melford was almost entirely rebuilt between 1467 and 1497, largely, it would appear, at the behest and expense of John Clopton (1423-97) of Kentwell Hall in the parish. It has been suggested that this was in thanksgiving for being the only one of those arrested who escaped execution in 1462 for his involvement in the plot centred on the Earl of Oxford to restore King Henry VI to the throne. Wikipedia has a biography of him at John_Clopton

..

John Clapton 

A portrait of him amongst the superb surviving fifteenth century glass in Long Melford Church

Image: Wikipedia 

Wikipedia has a description of the church at Holy_Trinity_Church,_Long_Melford and Great English Churches had a detailed account and numerous illustrations here

Towards the latter part of this rebuilding programme  Clapton planned to be buried in the Lady Chapel, which I assume contained the devotional image, in the churchyard, but his wife’s death led to the creation of a new chantry for them in the main church. The Lady Chapel lies south of the main church alignment and may in part be the earlier structure at the west and east ends, around which Clapton in 1496 built an all-embracing ambulatory which is, surely, based on the similar structure built in the 1440s over and around the Holy House at Walsingham. Clapton’s work included a clerestory to the original chapel, which was lost after the chapel was reroofed sometime after 1613, and the chapel served as the town’s school from 1670. The chapel was not finished when Clopton died in 1497 and he made provision in his will for its completion.

The ambulatory and entrance to the inner chapel in the Lady Chapel at Long Melford Church

Image: Facebook - Chris Droffats

The interior of the Lady Chapel

Image: Great English Churches

There is much more about the church and the creation of the Lady Chapel in a 2010 article which can be accessed at Z6KvX5PW8TDD773T

May Our Lasy of Melford intercede for us and our intentions

                           Jesu mercy, Mary pray