In 1186 King Henry II was in Worcestershire, and kept his court at Kempsey in the Bishop's Palace, attended by the principal nobility and prelates of the kingdom and here he delivered a charter concerning the manor of Inkberrow.
In 1217 Alexander Neckham, Abbot of Cirencester, a ripe scholar in his day, died at Kempsey. He was an intimate friend of Bishop Sylvester. I find in the Patent Rolls an inquiry held in 1249 as to the horrible facts (so the record runs) that Bishop Cantelupe with all his retinue had been drowned in the Severn at Kempsey. However, as the Bishop was alive five years later, when he had a grant of "freewarren" in his manor of Kempsey.
Cantilupe was a staunch supporter of Simon de Montford. On August 2nd 1265, the Earl, ignorant of his son's defeat at Kenilworth, set out from Hereford with his Royal prisoner, Henry III, to meet Prince Edward's army. In the evening they arrived opposite Kempsey, and while the troops were conveyed across in boats they were lodged in the Bishop's Palace by Cantelupe, who had come from his grange to meet him. Next morning, having heard Mass in the church, the Earl (still accompanied by the Bishop) proceeded with his forces to Evesham where he was defeated and a slain.
King Edward I was twice entertained at Kempsey by Bishop Giffard, the most lordly prelate that ever presided over the see of Worcester. He not only fortified his palaces at Hartlebury and Widington, but also built himself magnificent mansions at Wick and Kempsey. In 1300 he was accused (among other things) of usurping the goods of the church to carry out his building at Kempsey, and also having exceeded his powers for selfish purposes with regard to the church of Kempsey. During the episcopate of Giffard the vicarage was instituted, when he made Kempsey a prebendal Church of the College of Westbury on Trym, a transaction strenuously resisted by the monastery at Worcester. The controversy only ended with the Bishop's death.
William de Geynesburgh, his successor, having made his peace with the King for receiving the office from the Pope, started in 1302 for his diocese, and arrived at his Palace at Kempsey, where he sent for the Prior to the dine with him, and after dinner told him that unless he came to fetch him next day he would not be enthroned. This the Prior consented to do, though not bound to go further than one mile from the City. That night the Bishop kept watch in Kempsey Church, and next day was escorted to Worcester and enthroned. He returned to Kempsey where several of his charters are dated. In 1303 the "Reeve" of Kempsey celebrated the Sunday after the Ascension by beheading John de Draycote, a clerk, on the highway between Kempsey and Draycote, by the order of the Bishop's bailiffs. His head was placed before the Palace gates. The "hue and cry" was raised and at the inquisition all the men of the manor were indicted save six. In 1308 Bishop Maydstone pronounced sentence of excommunication against the monastery of Gloucester at his court at Kempsey. A compromise was a subsequently effected.
In 1315 the chantry of the Blessed Virgin was founded in Kempsey church by John de Kempsey, treasurer of Hereford Cathedral, and confirmed by Royal Charter. For its support he grants to God and the Blessed Virgin, and John de Bromhale, priest, and his successors, diverse messuages and forty-two acres of land. The chantry priests, who were to celebrate Mass at the altar of the Virgin (for his prosperity during life and the benefit of his soul after death, and so forth) were appointed by the Bishop, but subject to the parson of Kempsey. At the Dissolution the charity lands were purchased by the Buck family and are now part of the Nash Estate.
In 1349 an extraordinary number of victims of the 'Black Death' are recorded in Worcester. This year, Thomas Berewald, of Kempsey, grants to the sacrists of Kempsey "whoever they may be" certain lands, and to have and to hold "after his decease" and he warrants the same to these sacrists after his decease. There is no money transaction, the death of the grantor being the only stipulated condition. It is evidently a hurriedly drawn-up document and it is best explained on the assumption that Thomas Berewald, in a time of fearful mortality, in order to secure Christian burial, granted the land to the person or persons most fitted to see that it take place. At the time of the Reformation these lands, which are still the property of Kempsey Church, were held by the churchwardens, I suppose as the legitimate representatives of the defunct sacrists, and on a portion thereof the present mission church at Kerswell Green stands. The deed just cited is one among many, dating from the thirteenth century onwards, which form the title deeds of Kempsey Church to various pieces of land in the Parish. They are kept in the Parish Chest.
Bishop Carpenter in 1473 appropriated the Rectory of Kempsey with the Chapelries of Norton and Stoulton attached to his pet college at Westbury by licence of Edward IV for the purpose of celebrating the obit of Richard Duke of York and Edmund Earl of Rutland, and praying for the prosperity of the King and Queen during their lives, and to celebrate their obit for ever. This was done at the request of the wealthy William Cannynge, builder of Saint Mary Ratcliffe, at this time chaplain of the church at Kempsey. After the transaction Kempsey seems to have had but little further connection with the bishop, and his Palace fell into decay. Prebendary Hopkins, of Worcester, in his additions to Camden, writes in 1695 that "the noble Palace hath long been demolished, so that the ruins are not discernible". The traditional site, between the church and the river, is no doubt the true one, and here the Courts Baron and Leet of the bishops were held within living memory. In 1556 the chapelry of Norton, whose inhabitants had hitherto buried their dead at Kempsey, were granted the right of sepulture at Norton. Long before, 1269 the people of Norton complained that the Rector of Kempsey had deprived them of their christenings, weddings and churchings, and the said Rector was enjoined to do so no longer. Thus in 1556 Norton became independent. Stoulton had probably become so earlier. I find a dispute (about 1225) between Bodin, Rector of Kempsey, and others as to the patronage of the chapelry. Both Norton and Stoulton are parts of Kempsey Manor. In 1597 Queen Elizabeth was keeping holiday at Worcester, and Kempsey village was ordered to provide eighteen pullets for her "purveyance". In the parish chest there are several orders and receipts for service and supplies due to the army from Kempsey during the Great Civil War. For instance, in June 1644, we have an order to the constables, "to will and require you and either of you in his Majesty's name to charge you that you presently provide and bring to the Pied Bull in Sidbury by ten of the clock, two quarters of oats or peese, one fat veal, one fat mutton, one fat lamb, one dozen of poultry, three or four young geese, one dozen of pigeons, one fat pig, one flitch of bacon, and 5s. worth of cheese, two dozen of boulted bread. Later in the year Kempsey was fined £9 for not sending in their full number of labourers, to the fortifications of the City of Worcester. During the seige of Worcester in 1646, a squadron of 400 dragoons, under Colonel Betsworth, was quartered at Kempsey and on July 2nd an attempt was made by the garrison to seize him there, which was unsuccessful. Noake speaks of a tradition then current in the parish that Cromwell "personally superintended the battering down of the old church, and flattened the nose of every statue then and there lying."
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Bullet Holes in the Church Tower
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The landlord who gave him the information must have drawn largely on his imagination, for the old church is still standing and the nose of the one statute there is but slightly damaged. It is possible, however that Kempsey had good cause to remember the "crowning mercy" and there are bullet marks of the south side of the Church tower. In 1695 John Redding of Kempsey was fined for planting, growing, setting, making and curing tobacco at Kempsey. There was a great Puritan agitation against the fragrant weed at this period. Kempsey spent 3s. for ringing the bells to celebrate "Monmouth's rout" as they call Sedgemore in the churchwardens' account, but in 1688 as they planted elm trees in various parts of the parish on the coming of the Prince of Orange, "in the memory" as Nash puts it, "of that glorious era". Many were cut down in 1779, but one of them, still known as the "Revolution Elm" was wrecked by a storm three years ago. In 1859 the Bishop's Manor was sold to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who are now titular Lords of the manor, but hold no Courts, there being no copy hold lands. The 300 acres of common are under the control of the Parish Council. The great meadow near Pixham Ferry, called "Lord's Meadow" is common during autumn and winter, but the hay crop is private property. Here was fought in 1827 a famous duel between John Pakington (afterwards Secretary of State) and J. Parker, Master of the Worcestershire hounds. Neither shot took effect and the seconds effected a reconciliation.
Besides the episcopal manor, the Rectory of Kempsey is a manor in itself, with its own courts and customs. There are several such courts in the county, but I do not know how they originated. This rectorial manor, with the advowson of the vicarage, was (as we have seen) appropriated by Bishop Carpenter to Westbury College, but on the dissolution it was granted by the crown to the Dean and Chapter, who released it to various "Land Farmers" who kept their Manor Courts, but did not present.
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The Wylde Tomb Click for a bigger picture. |
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The Old Vicarage. Click for a bigger picture. |
Edward Winslow, the well-known leader of the "Pilgrim Fathers" who with Miles Standish in the Mayflower in 1620, was son of Edward Winslow of Kempsey, and grandson of Kenelm Winslow, churchwarden in 1593. At Clerkenleap, a farm in the parish was born in 1725 Treadway Russell Nash, the historian of Worcestershire, but this characteristic (though not very attractive) example of the wealthy parson of last century did not reside there, as his father had done. Of his merits as a historian of the county I forbear to speak, merely expressing a hope that other parishes have received better treatment at his hands than the parish where he was born. He ignores (or was ignorant of) the Roman camp and the Saxon monastery here, and in his list of incumbents, rectors and vicars are sadly mixed up. The whole account of Kempsey is a very scrappy and poor and largely dependent on Habingdon.
Turning now to the Church, we have already noticed the oratory of St Andrew in 868, and the mention of a priest in Domesday. The first and unequivocal mention of Kempsey church however, occurs during the episcopate of John de Pageham, about 1155, who granted 8 acres to Godfrey Ardes, "when the Church of Kempsey was dedicated." Dedication is rather a vague term: I hesitate to say what this function was. And here I wish to emphasise the fact that the Kempsey Church is not dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, as is generally supposed, but to St. John the Baptist. As far back as the records go it is always the Church of St. John the Baptist at Kempsey and continues so down to quite modern times. The mistake appears to have originated with Nash, who probably muddled up the church and chantry. There is no trace of it earlier. In his supplements he rectifies his error, but unfortunately supplements are rarely read, and the change (so far as I am aware unauthorised and in any case regrettable) has now completely established itself. No part of the existing fabric is of Pageham's time. The earliest portions are the chancel, parts of the wall of the north transept, all of the ancient work of the south transept, and the west wall of the south aisle, which are a Early English. The chancel , remarkable for its depth and height, being 55 ft long and 45 ft high, is a good example of this period, and approximately, may be dated to 1280. The piscina, triple
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The Trefoil-headed Sedila
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The fine East window consists of five lancets under one containing arch, the central light being 25 ft high. The south transept, which has suffered severely from restoration, contains a piscina as old as any part of the church; and an Early English window, similar to those in the chancel, was recently demolished to make room for the opening into the new vestry. At the west end of the south aisle is a single lancet window of the same style. All of which seem to prove that the Early English church covered the same area as the present building, and was also cruciform. The nave consists of three aisles, with two arcades of pillars belonging to the Decorated period. These arcades are, however, different in detail, the pillars on the north side having for a basis of the cluster of four shafts a square, those on the south a circle: both common forms of work. The contrast is enhanced by the part-coloured work of the south arcade, the stone being laid in alternate courses of white and greenish grey. This is found in many parts of the cathedral at Worcester, which in fact seems to have inspired much of the architecture of Kempsey. The windows of the nave and north transept are perpendicular, but the well-pointed arches, shallow cusps, and tendency to ogee mark them as a very Early English type. The tower 82 feet high is Perpendicular, but the pinnacles were restored and slightly altered in 1843. In the north transept is another piscina of the Decorated period.
There are three ancient wills preserved in the parish chest which throw some light on Kempsey church before the reformation. From them we learn that, besides the chantry of the Virgin Mary, there was her image or shrine both in the church and porch, also images or shrines of St Catherine and St John; and that there were two chapels dedicated to St Mary and St Peter. I regard these old documents as of unique interest, and they deserve to be more widely known. Time forbids me to do more than glance at them. The earlier will, dated 1315 is unfortunately a fragment. Among the other bequests Margery Osmond gives to the "lights" of the Blessed Mary of Kempsey one signet (firmaculum) and 2 d. From the endorsement of this will I find that the Probate court at Kempsey in those days was styled a "Deanery" with its own seal, and presided over by an official called the "Dean of Kempsey". The seal once attached is gone. The second will is dated 1458 and of considerable length. Katherine Feckenham, widow, bequeaths to the high altar of Kempsey church 20 d.; to the "lights" of the blessed Mary "in her chapel" there, 12 d.; to the "lights" of the Holy Cross there 12 d; to the "lights" of St Catherine there 6 d.; to the Friar Preachers of Worcester to pray for her soul, 3 s. 4 d.; to the Friar Minors of Worcester for the same purpose 3 s. 4 d. There were also bequests to Kempsey chantry, and other quaint gifts. Both these wills are in Latin. The remaining one is in very grotesque English, which I commend to the student of our language. It is dated 1530. John Ruschmer, among various bequests, gives sums of money to the high altar in Kempsey church to the rood light there, to "our Lady light", while three tapers are to be kept, one before the "little rood", the second before "St John in the chancel", the third before "our lady in the porch" for twenty years. He also gives to the parish church one torch and his best pan of brass "to do their business withall", also 6 s. 8 d. towards mending "the glass in St Peter's Chapel" in Kempsey Church. He also gives "to our Lady of Kempsey one swarm of bees". This will was proved in the Peculiar of Kempsey.
Although the church owned certain pieces of land, of which of the rents were primarily devoted to the repair of the fabric, the building was in a shockingly neglected state during the 18th century and suffered accordingly from the so-called restoration. In 1759 a gallery had completely blocked the fine archway between the tower and the nave. In 1783 the floor was raised so as to hide the bases of the pillars. The roof of the chancel was so faulty that wind and snow beat in upon the communicants while the south wall of the nave was a source of danger to the congregation. The "reparation" of 1799 fortunately however, consisted in accretion rather than demolition; the mouldings and tracery being subjected to copious coatings of cement, plaster, and whitewash. These and other disfigurements were swept away in the restoration of 1863 when the roof was raised, the floors lowered, and a new chancel arch and two new windows added, with a new vestry south of the chancel. I gladly take this opportunity of protesting strongly against the statement, commonly made in directories and guidebooks, that Kempsey church was almost entirely rebuilt in 1799. That period could not have produced such a church if it had tried. The church of Bishop's Carpenter's day still stands; and a good authority has well remarked that it is "one of the best examples of ecclesiastical architecture in this neighbourhood."
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The Tree over Wylde's Tomb
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The only monument of any antiquity is the half-canopied altar tomb with a recumbent effigy of Sir Edmund Wylde (1620) from which grows the chestnut tree which has had so much written about it that I can pass it over.
There is some old fourteenth century glass in the chancel, which before 1863 was in the old north window of the north transept. In 1552 the church goods were returned as "Two chalices, two crosses, two candlesticks, a pair of organs, two copes, three investments, three altar cloths, four towels, four bells, one sanctus bell, two hand bells." Of the present ring of bells five were cast (or recast) in 1686, and the tenor in 1821. There is, however a sanctus bell dated 1587, and ornamented with rose and fleurs-de-lys and initials of four persons. This was still called the "sante bell" in the warden's accounts of 1660. Archdeacon Lea in his book on the church plate of this county, says of Kempsey "Here there is a cup, paten, and flagon of the restoration period, with the hallmark of 1670, also cup and paten, copies of the above of modern manufacture. All are silver gilt." I feel bound to quote this entry because it is wrong from beginning to end. In charity we must suppose that the venerable gentleman was misinformed. He could not have personally examined them, or he would have seen at a glance that the chalice was of the characteristic Elizabethan pattern, described by him, and of the usual date 1571. There is, however, no cover, and the paten (which probably took its place) is dated 1639. The flagon or stoup, with hinged lid, is not silver gilt, but silver, dated 1732.
The cross in the churchyard is of no antiquity. The rudely shaped stone at its base was dug up in the church during the last restoration, and was placed where it now stands, and surmounted by an obelisk and small cross. There is, however, the base of an ancient wayside cross at Brookend crossroads, now surmounted by a signpost. And what is called (in 1691) a "ancient" cross, cut into the ground, marked the boundary between Kempsey and St Peter's Worcester by the high road.
Few, I fear, of the inhabitants of Kempsey are today aware that they belong to a parish which has a history extending with the but little interruption over a period of nearly 2,000 years. But the vaguest memories remain of those mail-clad legions of Rome, who from this riverside station kept watch and ward, and looked defiantly towards the British strongholds of the West. Forgotten are the monks who met here as brothers to keep a holier watch and to fulfil a more peaceful service of prayer and praise. As we look out over undulating meadows, it is hard to realise that three kings of England were entertained with a hospitality worthy of their state, that three mitred Lords of the Manor kept their court in splendour scarcely less regal. The walls which echoed back their voices have long since vanished, and where the pavement resounding to the tread of knight and prelate and king, the flocks and herds crop the growing grass. This medieval pageantry has passed away, giving place to modern Kempsey, thriving and populous, with its telegraph wires and omnibuses by the hour familiar to all. Remembering the Society that I am addressing I have endeavoured, during the time at my disposal to confine myself to matters of general and architectural interest. Much might be written of more local interest. It remains for me to express my sense of the honour that this society has done me this evening, to thank them for their patience, and to remind them that only as an amateur antiquary have I ventured to place these notes before them.
Crookberrow
Possibly Crookberrow Hill, also known as Whittington Tump.
Ostorius Scapula
The first Roman Governor of Britain. Click here to go to an external site listing the Roman Governors of Britain.
Vicinal
Local: in the vicinity.
The Piscina
A stone basin for washing Communion vessels.
Advowson
The ‘patronage’ of an ecclesiastical office or religious house; the right of presentation to a benefice or living. Originally the obligation to defend its rights or be its ‘advocate’.
Ogee
A moulding consisting of a continuous double curve, convex above and concave below. In cross-section, its outline is a sort of S shape.
Praetorian
Of, belonging, or about a Roman prætor, or to the office or rank of prætor. Originally the title designating a Roman Consul as leader of the army; after B.C. 366, that of an annually elected magistrate.
Praetorium
The tent of the commanding general in a Roman camp, the space where this was placed, a provincial governor’s residence or palace.
Castramentation
The art or science of laying out a camp.
Fibulæ
Plural of fibula: A clasp, buckle, or brooch.
Samian Ware
Originally, pottery made of Samian earth; a fine kind of pottery found extensively on Roman sites.
Stone
Click here to go to the Roman Kempsey page (roman.htm) containing a description of this stone and a icture of it.
Trinoda Necessitas
Actually 'trimoda necessitas', Latin for an obligation of three kinds. A collective appellation for the three great obligations upon land-holders in Anglo-Saxon times, of maintaining bridges and fortresses, and rendering military service, in Old English 'brycgbót', 'burhbót', and 'fyrd'. (There was no collective Old English term for the three.)
Oratory
A place of prayer; a small chapel or shrine; a room or building for private worship, esp. one in or attached to a house, monastery, church, etc.
Episcopal
adjective: Of or about a bishop or bishops.
Episcopate
The office or dignity of a bishop.
Prelates
An ecclesiastical dignitary of exalted rank and authority, as a bishop, archbishop, metropolitan, or patriarch; formerly also including the abbot or prior of a religious house, or the superior of a religious order.
Hue and Cry
Outcry calling for the pursuit of a felon, raised by the party aggrieved, or by a constable.
Chantry
An endowment for the maintenance of one or more priests to sing daily mass for the souls of the founders or others specified by them. Also applied to the body of priests so endowed. Also a chapel, altar, or part of a church so endowed.
Prebendary
The holder of a prebend; a canon of a cathedral or collegiate church who holds a prebend. Originally, each canon had a 'præbenda' or share in the funds of the church to which the clergy-house was attached.
Canon
A clergyman (including clerks in minor orders) living with others in a clergy-house (claustrum), or (in later times) in one of the houses within the precinct or close of a cathedral or collegiate church, and ordering his life according to the canons or rules of the church.
Obit
Yearly or other memorial service, especially to a founder or benefactor
Leet
A special kind of court of record which the lords of certain manors were empowered by charter or prescription to hold annually or semi-annually.
Chapelry
The district attached to a chapel; a division of a large or populous parish having its own parochial or district chapel.
Sepulture
Interment, burial.
Rector
A parson or incumbent of a parish whose tithes are not impropriate (appropriated to some particular person or persons.). Now also in the Church of England, the leader of a team ministry. In the Roman Catholic Church, a parish priest. In modern use also sometimes applied to the holders of ancient chapelries and perpetual curacies, and in Scotland and the United States to Episcopal clergymen having charge of a congregation.
Vicar
In early use, a person acting as priest in a parish in place of the real parson or rector, or as the representative of a religious community to which the tithes had been appropriated; hence, in later use in the Church of England, the incumbent of a parish of which the tithes were impropriated or appropriated, in contrast to a rector. Now also a priest who is a member (team vicar) of a team ministry under the leadership of a team rector.
Purveyance
The requisition and collection of provisions, etc., as a right or prerogative; especially. the right formerly appertaining to the crown of buying whatever was needed for the royal household at a price fixed by the purveyor, and of exacting the use of horses and vehicles for the king’s journeys.
Flitch
The side of an animal, now only of a hog, salted and cured; a ‘side’ of bacon.
Boulted
Sifted, carefully selected, choice.
Titular
That exists or is such only in title or name, as distinct from real or actual; holding or bearing a title without exercising the functions implied by it.
Copyhold
A kind of tenure in England of ancient origin: tenure of lands being parcel of a manor, ‘at the will of the lord according to the custom of the manor’, by copy of the manorial court-roll.
Glebe
A portion of land assigned to a clergyman as part of his benefice.
Sedila
A series of seats, usually three in number, either movable or recessed in the wall and crowned with canopies, pinnacles, and other enrichments, usually placed on the south side of the choir near the altar for use by the
clergy.
Lancets
Lancet window: a high and narrow window terminating in a lancet arch.
Decorated
Applied to the second or Middle style of English Pointed architecture (which prevailed throughout the greater part of the 14th c.), wherein decoration was increasingly employed and became part of the construction. ‘The most prominent characteristic of this style is to be found in the windows, the tracery of which is always either of geometrical figures, circles, quatrefoils, etc., as in the earlier instances [hence called geometrical decorated], or flowing in wavy lines, as in the later examples’.
Perpendicular
Applied to the third or Florid style of English Pointed Architecture, developed out of the Decorated style in the latter part of the fourteenth century, and prevalent throughout the fifteenth, characterized by the vertical lines of its tracery.
Probate
The official proving of a will; also, the officially verified copy of the will together with the certificate of its having been proved, which are delivered to the executors. Probate court, a court having jurisdiction of probate and administration. Probate law, the law of the ecclesiastical probate court.
Deanery
The group of parishes, forming a division of a diocese, over which a rural dean presides; formerly, also, the jurisdiction of a dean.
Dean
The head of the chapter or body of canons of a collegiate or cathedral church.
Rood
A crucifix, especially one stationed above the middle of a rood-screen; also rarely, a figure of the cross in wood or metal, as a religious object. The roods at certain places are frequently mentioned as special objects of pilgrimage or worship. In some cases rood denotes especially the image of Christ as distinct from the cross itself.
Peculiar
Peculiar jurisdiction (authority, etc.), in Canon Law, a jurisdiction proper to itself, exempt from or not subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese. A parish or church exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary or bishop in whose diocese it lies, either as a royal peculiar (i.e. a chapel exempt from any jurisdiction but that of the sovereign) or as subject to the jurisdiction of a bishop of another diocese, or to that of a dean, chapter, prebendary, etc. court of peculiars, a branch of the court of arches having jurisdiction over
the peculiars of the archbishop of Canterbury.
Sanctus Bell
A bell, commonly placed in a ‘cote’ or turret at the junction of the nave and the chancel (but often a handbell), rung at the Sanctus at Mass; in post-Reformation times often used to summon the people to church, being rung
immediately before the service, when the pealing had ceased.
Santes Bell
Obsolete form of sanctus bell.
Paten
The plate or shallow dish, usually circular and of silver, on which the bread is laid at the celebration of the Eucharist (the communion).
Stoup
A drinking-vessel, of varying dimensions; a cup, flagon, tankard.
