Part 3The Church at Grafton Flyford

Extract from John Doharty Map of about 1740 Copyright Worcester Record Office

Part 3 is about the Church and can be done in class or as an independent

computer based activity by individual pupils or with the whole class. There is an accompanying

Worksheet

Hello again.The

oldest window in the

church

This is the Church of St John the Baptist at Grafton Flyford. The building has

changed quite a lot over at least eight hundreds years.

Isn’t our church lovely.

The church is first mentioned in a 13th century document but there was probably a church there long before that. The Domesday Book,

which was made in 1086, mentions there was a priest at Grafton Flyford.

Click for Questions

Do you know what the other parts of a church building are called?

Use the plan of the church, and write down the names of the parts of the church in the right places.

The original 13th century part of the church is the bit in the middle. Although it was rebuilt in the 19th century it would have looked similar. Do you know what this part of the church is called?

Our church is theonly stone building

in the village. We allhelped carry the stoneto the masons when they built the tower.

The church would have been very important to our peasants and their lord. The rules and rituals of the Christian church controlled all aspect of their daily life. Even though Sunday was their only day off work, they still had to go to church two or three times!

Everyone also had to pay a sort of tax to the church which was a tenth of all their income.

This could be paid in money, crops, food or farm animals. So if you had ten lambs you would have to give one to the vicar.

Click for Questions

Look at the church on your Doharty map - can you see a porch? There is a porch on the church now but not on the map, what does that mean?

The tower was built in the 14th century and it has some strange animal shaped water spouts on the roof! Do you know what they are called?

What was the name of the special sort of tax that everyone had to pay to the church?

The animals on thetower frighten me

a little bit.

We will now look at the windows in the church. The middle part of the church, called the nave, was the oldest part and the style of

the stone part of the windows makes them look medieval in date. The diamond-pane glass is of a later date and shows repairs and alterations have been made to the church over many hundreds of

years.

Outside the churchInside the church

I rememberwhen the glasswas all pretty

colours.

These windows are similar to the last picture but not quite the same.

Can you spot the difference? The stone around this window is badly cracked and will need repairing soon - but it is hundreds

of years old! Click for Arrow to Show Crack in

Stonework then Click for Questions

Outside the church

What are these style of windows called.

How old do you think the stone window frames are?

Would our medieval peasants have had glass in their cottage windows?

Inside the church

Would the lord of the manor have had glass in the windows of his manor house?

The design of all these windows is called ‘pointed arch decorated’ and they were popular in the 14th century. The

glass might have been changed after the 16th century when for a while plain glass was considered more suitable for a church

than brightly coloured glass.

Inside the church Outside the church

In the 16th and 17th centuries, people also painted over the coloured pictures on church walls with whitewash.

Do you know what happened to make people get rid of the coloured glass and paint over the pictures on the walls?

I used to likethe pictures

on the walls.Especially the

angels.

There are some rare fragments of real medieval stained glass right at the top of windows above the altar and below the tower.

Most medieval glass has gone from English churches but the Victorians made stained glass fashionable and filled church windows

with colour again.

The medieval glass over the altar is in beautiful delicate pale colours

The medieval glass in the tower is over-drawn in black to bring out the detailed designs Click for close-up viewTalk to your teacher about designing your own stained glass window. For inspiration look at a photographic gallery of windows on website http://www.kirikou.com/tuttifruitti/stainedglasswindows/vidriera26.htm

There are many other features in the church which are from

the later medieval and Tudor times.

What does a pulpit look like and what happens inside it? This is still used by local people. What

is it called and what is it used for?

This carving is from a very fine 15th century pulpit made from wood. Click for Question This strange large stone object is about

1.5 metres high and has a little basin inside it. Click for Question

All our babies hadtheir heads marked

with the sign ofthe cross with

holy water.

Grafton Flyford church is known for its very fine and unusual painted wooden wall panels. The panels are about one metre wide

and one metre high, made up of planks. They show some strange

creatures, which represent two of the four Gospels, which are from the Bible. These were paid for by the wealthier people in the

parish. Click for Questions

This is a very odd animal but what do you think it is meant to be?

What is the golden ring around the animal’s head called? There is also one around the bird’s head.

A very strange looking bird but what what do you think it is?

Why do you think that some people like to spend lots of money on decorations for their church?

I think that bird looks really

grumpy!

These large wooden wall panels are heraldic shields called ‘Coats of Arms’. These symbols are to show all the people who go to church who the important local land-owning families were. The one on the left has faded colours but the one on the right has been recently restored and the colours are now bright and clear. Click for

Questions

There are two very important heraldic beasts on this panel. What are they called?

What sort of special qualities do you think they are symbolising?

Talk to your teacher about designing your own Coat of Arms.

Use the shield plan on your Worksheet or go to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s website at: http://vam.ac.uk

and select ‘Design a Coat of Arms’ from their list of activities.

Can you write down the special heraldic names for the colours on these shields or Coats of Arms?

Use the Symbolism of Heraldry website to find out about the colours, animals and other symbols.

http://www.digiserve.com/heraldry/symbols.htm

Grafton Flyford church, like most churches, has had lots and lots of alterations and changes over the hundreds of years since it

was first built. This little doorway, for example, was inserted into the wall of the chancel in the 16th century.

Click for Question Explain how your can tell that this doorway has been put in later? Look closely at the stone work of the walls.Why do you think this doorway was inserted here?

Look at the photograph of the church.

If you went through this door what do you think would be on the other side?

Click to see where the door is inside the church.

Click again to see door hidden behind the curtain

I have seen thepriest and curate

use this door.But we are not

allowed to.

During Victorian times the old medieval tiles were replaced by new ones. These are in front of the altar and probably looked

very similar to the original medieval tile designs. Click for

Question

The Victorian designs are made in sets which fit together to make up the pattern, then a single row is put between each patterned set.

Count how many tiles make up each patterned set of tiles?

This is a church floor of medieval tiles. They look very similar although they are faded and some of the tile patterns are mixed up.

Talk to your teacher about designing your own medieval or Victorian set of floor tiles. Use the tile plan on your Worksheet or go to the Victoria and Albert Museum website and select ‘Design a Tile’ from the list of activities.

Click to see some medieval tiles

Here is a list of the Rectors of Grafton Flyford church

going all the way back to 1280, which is in the 13th century!

Rectors were the priests who took the services in the church.

There are some very unusual names. The first three names are

Norman French but they are written in the Latin language

which looks very strange to us. Click for Questions

What do you think the namesRicardus, Henricus and

Robertus are in English?

Have a good guess!Look at the last letters of most of the Rectors’ first names - what do you notice about them?

I am really glad thatI haven’t gotsuch a funny

name!

Inside the church there are all sorts of different things on the walls. Here is a list of special rules for Christians. They are on

display so that no-one can forget the rules or say they don’t know what they are!

Click for Questions

The numbers are written in Roman numerals, which are not the same as our numbers.

Can you work out what the numbers are and how many rules there are?

Do you know what this list of special rules is called?

We have to repeat these rules overand over again.

To make sure we know them.

Another huge board on the church wall shows the church charities. This is a list of all the people who have

generously given money or land to the poor people of the parish.

Can you read and copy down neatly on your Worksheet the last two pieces. They are quite hard to read in such old fashioned writing.

One is from Mary George, but the letter ‘s’ when it is inside a word is written like an ‘f’ - which makes it a bit confusing.

The last one is very faded - you can only just see the name Andrew Baker Esq.

See how you get on.

Here is a close-up to help you.

Click for close-up

This is what was written on the board.

Did you manage to work it out?

Mary George Widow gave Forty Shillings the Interest thereof to be given in bread Yearly upon Christmas day by the Churchwardens to the poor Widows and Fatherless children of the Said Parish.

Andrew Baker Esq of Hill Court gave by Will twenty Shillings to the Poor of this parish to be paid out of his Estate at Flyford Flavel Yearly for ever given in Bread at Easter by the Minister and Churchwardens.

The poor people were grateful for the bread but they probably would have liked something a bit more exciting to eat for Christmas and Easter! What do you think they would have liked?

Extensions for use with Grafton Flyford Church

Educational Presentation

• Use Worksheet plans and websites to:

• Design a stained glass window• Design a medieval Coat of Arms• Design a set of medieval or

Victorian style floor tiles

If I was lordof the manor,I would like adragon for myCoat of Arms!

The End of Part 3The Grafton Flyford Educational Presentation

was produced by Deborah Overton Worcestershire County Council

Historic Environment and Archaeology Service

It was nice meeting you.

Please visit us again.