Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Page 9 of 13

• 1. Interpreting parish churches
• 2. The church setting
• 3. Outside
• 4. Entering the church
• 5. Small details
• 6. Anglo-Saxon church
• 7. Clues
• 8. Changes in the Middle Ages
• 9. Documentary evidence
• 10. The east end
• 11. The fittings
• 12. Final thoughts
• 13. Top tips
• Print entire article

Documentary evidence

Information from some wills surviving in the local records office suggests that the work was probably funded by bequests such as that made by Margaret Page (died 1572), who left some land to the church 'for the building', and by John Turnor, who left 20 shillings for church repairs. Why the south arcade was not also rebuilt, we will probably never know. Perhaps they ran out of money or perhaps the north side was just more important.

The north transept has several niches for statues, with elaborate late medieval surrounds. A Guild of St Mary is recorded at Kirtling in 1470 and in 1472 and a different document refers to 'lighting candles to St Mary in the chapel', suggesting that this transept was a Lady chapel.

'This must mean that the original south aisle was quite narrow ...'

Remember how the buttresses on the outside of the porch showed that the porch was once partly free-standing? This must mean that the original south aisle was quite narrow, so that the porch stuck out beyond it.

The final project the parishioners carried out before the Reformation was the widening of the south aisle in the early 16th century, and the removal of the remains of the south transept. There have been some later repairs, but this essentially gave us the nave as seen today.

NextPrevious

Published: 2005-02-01