Stories

Archbishop Godwyn

One of the important memorials to which we will be able to give much more prominence in the refurbishment of the church is the memorial plaque and the floor memorial (or ledger) to Archbishop Godwyn.  They are currently in the vestry but will be relocated in the north aisle with greater prominence.  Indeed the location of all the ledgers will be improved.

Wokingham in the early part of the sixteenth century was a busy medieval town. All Saints Church had been recently refurbished and remodelled, having been enlarged from the earlier Norman chapel. The tower and clerestory were built, and the white chalk pillars were put in place. The chantry of St Mary had been erected in 1443 on the north side chancel aisle under the supervision of Adam Moyens, Dean of Salisbury.

It would have looked very much like the church we know today.

The tracks that are now etched into Wiltshire and London Roads led to Warfield in one direction and in the other to the hunting lodge at Easthampstead Park. And in front of the church was Rose Street. This was the location of the weekly market held each Tuesday. Today there are twenty houses in Rose Street that date from or before this period. And in one of these lived Thomas Godwyn.

Thomas had been born of poor parents in 1517. Unlike many of his background in that period Thomas received an education.

John Norreys, who owned the estate to the north-west of the church, and John Westende another wealthy inhabitant of Wokingham had provided the endowment to the chantry. They had also provided for a school ‘within the said chantry’ where twenty-eight year old Robert Ayres was both priest and teacher.

The young Thomas must have been an outstanding pupil for he came to the attention of a certain Dr Richard Layton. Layton was Archdeacon of Buckingham and saw that Thomas was bright and capable. The Archdeacon effectively adopted the young man and sponsored his education and progression to the extent that in 1538 Thomas entered Magdalen College, Oxford. Thomas was twenty-one years old.

Thomas Godwyn, the pauper child from Wokingham, was a student at Magdalen College in 1538, having been adopted by the Richard Layton subsequently Dean of York. Thomas graduated in 1543, became a Fellow and then earned his Masters in 1547. His reformist leanings caused a breach with his colleagues, and he resigned his Fellowship and took up a post as a teacher at Brackley School in Northampton. While at Brackley he married Isabella Purefoy and with her subsequently had nine children. But these were turbulent time and with the arrival of Queen Mary on the English throne in 1553, Thomas decided that he should find a more secure haven. He returned to Oxford and qualified to practice medicine in 1555. The Counter-Reformation ended in 1558 with the death of Mary and ascension of Elizabeth. Thomas decided that now was the time to follow his true vocation and returned to divinity.

Thomas was a remarkable preacher and soon came to the attention of Queen Elizabeth. His career progressed swiftly. In June 1565 he was appointed Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1567 to Dean of Canterbury. He stayed at Canterbury until 1584 when the Queen appointed him Bishop of Bath and Wells.

The widowed Thomas fell out of favour with the Queen after he married a much younger woman – and argued with the Queen’s favourite Walter Raleigh who had tried to purloin some church lands.

It had been a long journey from the small charity school in Wokingham. He was suffering with gout and recurrent bouts of malaria. Thomas returned to the town of his birth in 1590 and succumbed to his illness.

Currently in the choir vestry, there is a plaque erected by his son. In translation it reads:

In sacred memory of a very dear parent, and truly reverend father, Thomas Godwyn, Doctor of Divinity of Christ Church Oxford first, and then Dean of Canterbury; afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells; who was born in this town, and here also (whither he returned on the advice of his doctors to regain his health) was consumed by the quartan fever and died on the 19^th day of November 1590, in the 7^th year of his consecration; and lies here awaiting the coming of the great God. Erected by his son Francis Godwyn, Sub Dean of Exeter.

DON’T CHANGE MY CHURCH!

I’ve heard that you are considering changing the seating and lay-out in church. I hope you don’t!

Why do you say that?

It’s not a proper church without pews, is it? There have always been pews in church!

Maybe in our lifetime, but historically, things were very different. In mediaeval times, there were no seats at all and people had to stand or kneel to pray all through the Mass. The old and infirm had to prop themselves up against the walls-many churches had ledges around the wall to support them. The nave of the church was used for processions and activities in the service: the word, ”carol” comes from a word that means, ”a dance in a ring”, people would dance around the pillars as they sang. Seats would just have got in the way! Church, being a large enclosed and covered community space, was also used for secular functions. Both church and churchyard were used to hold markets, fairs and the sale of specially brewed church ales…now there’s an idea!

So when did seats appear in churches?

By the mid thirteenth century, the church hierarchy disapproved of holding these noisy events in church but the churchyard was still used, being one of the few public spaces in the community. Seats began to be provided, at first people brought their own but later there were seats, which in time were fixed to the floor. By the 1600s and 1700s, pews were being used because the service revolved around a lengthy sermon so more comfortable seating than rough benches was wanted.

Pews have lasted all that time, then?

Yes, but in different forms. Pews could be rented out to the better-off members of the congregation, leaving their poorer brethren to sit on benches at the back or take themselves off to chapel, this enforced social differences and so was not universally liked or approved. Later, box pews came in, we had them here at All Saints as you can see in the engraving (1863) that hangs in the vestry: there’s a copy of it on the CC2020 notice board at the back of the church. The Mayor and congregation had a velvet-lined pew with an impressive table in the centre! Box pews gave privacy and greater comfort but led to irreverence and there was the  distraction that they obscured the sight of the altar and the sound of the service. When a group of churchmen called the Ecclesiologists arose in about 1841,they insisted that all pews should be low, facing the east end of the church and therefore, the altar. They decreed that the altar should be raised on steps and the chancel raised two or three steps above the nave: this explains why many old churches have Victorian tiled floors, like ours. Our current pews are not truly old, they were installed in 1923 after the previous pitch-pine pews were eaten by dry rot, along with the floor and joists. Modern churches use various forms of seating, chairs and pews, most of which are easily moved and comfortable and stable to sit on-which for many people is not their experience of our current pews..

So if it was decided many years ago to stop holding events in church, why are we considering it now?

The main consideration is that our church is primarily a place of worship, open for private prayer and for services just as it is now. However, with more modern seating which can be moved, the body of the church could be used more flexibly for exhibitions and group activities, allowing church to become a central part of the community again.

 And church will still be principally used for services, like always?

Services yes – but not like always, in medieval times marriages often took place in the porch, as did business transactions! As you said, we are just at the thinking stage: share your thoughts and ideas with us and we will continue to research these issues and in time, discuss them full with the congregation and the community.

BOOKS CONSULTED INCLUDE:

Richard Taylor,”How to read a church”

Simon Jenkins,”England’s Thousand Best Churches”

Brian L Harris,”Harris’s Guide to churches and cathedrals”

Richard Hayman,”A concise guide to the parish church”

P and T Clowney,”Exploring churches”

Edwin Smith,”English parish churches”

John Clemetson,”Life of a parish church”

J. Neave,”History of All Saints Wokingham”