Right: The font. The bowl is believed to be Roman - possibly a pillar base that has been inverted. Those of you who read this site regularly will have no difficulty in identifying the base with its dog-tooth moulding as being Norman. This is an extraordinary set of fifteenth century panel paintings in the chancel. The top six panels represent Bishops of Hexham. Wilfrid is third left. This was the reredos and is not connected except now physically to the panels below At the bottom is a long run of Christ, Mary and the Apostles.
This was a popular theme in the fifteenth century. Death is shown in the left hand panel panel dancing to a cardinal picture right. To the right are king, emperor and pope. An admirable theme, you might feel, and one that resonates with us today. Back then, however, the message was somewhat tainted by the fact that the rich could supposedly buy some remission from Purgatory by paying for a chantry chapel and a posse of monks to chant masses for your immortal soul.
No wonder Luther made this one of his prime targets in the Reformation. Speaking for the Reformation, the survival of these panels is something of a wonder. Left: The painted pulpit. I think the rere dorter lavatory to you was the only place monks were allowed to escape spiritual sustenance! Right: This being a priory church we should expect misericords. There are thirty two here amongst the choir stalls.
I have destroyed the peace of many a priory church or cathedral but on this occasion I decided to forego this dubious pleasure and just did a few. This is the Leschman Screen. The Leschman chantry chapel is located on the north side of the chancel and commemorates Rowland Leschman who was Prior from Inappropiate for what and why I wonder?
Some of them are pretty obvious: the harpist, the jester and the piper for example. St George is killing the dragon. Some of the rest are much more obscure. Above Second Right is reckoned to be a fox preaching to geese. Interestingly a similar image is seen on a bench end at Brent Knoll in Somerset from from almost the same date. It is reckoned to be satirical. The fox was often an allegory for covetous or hypocritical priests.
Who is this carving amimed at? Leschman himself? Surely not? The bishop? In any event, the very existence of this extraordinary set of images within a church is fascinating.
See my footnote below. Down to the crypt now to have an experience unchanged since the seventh century. I am a fairly well-travelled man but I am struggling to remember visiting any place quite as ancient and unchanged as this crypt.
Only tallow candlelight could make it more authentic. Left: A cluster of recycled Roman stones. This is the main chamber. Wilfrid would have displayed his relics here. To the right you can see more Roman stonework. Pilgrims would originally have entered the crypt through stairs from the outside of the church.
This would have been the norm during this period of history. Left: The entrance to the main shrine. Right: Back above ground now. An Anglo-Saxon chalice on display behind glass.
It is made of copper-gilt and was probably used as a portable communion cup. Note the single band of decoration between bowl and stem. Left: Looking towards the south side of the nave. It was rebuilt by Temple Moore in and looks, it must be said, a little incongruous. Note the original masonry courses at the bottom of the wall.
The buildings to the left are on the site of the old monastic workshops. Right: The south wall of the chancel showing the the original clerestory.
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Likes Followers Subscribers Followers Subscribe. By admin On Sep 30, Hexham Abbey Outside It was later substituted by an Augustinian priory church during the 11 th Century particularly built from — which is the building present now in Hexham.
The Flavinus Stone The Frith Stool — One of the prizes of Hexham is the frith, or frid stool, a strong square of sandstone cut fit as a fiddle of a low seat. The Frith Stool Isolating the nave and choir is a sublimely cut and painted screen, or pulpitum. Prev Post Teotihuacan City of God. Next Post Conservation of Heritage Buildings. Hexham Abbey is one of the earliest surviving Christian foundations in Britain.
Built in AD as a Benedictine monastery following a gift of land to St Wilfrid by Queen Etheldreda, the church was one of the first stone built, possibly based on a Roman-style basilica plan. The original building contains stone recycled from the old Roman fort at Corbridge. Hexham Abbey has experienced many phases of building and architectural development. In the 9th century it was damaged by Viking raids and refounded as an Augustinian priory.
Between and , Augustinian canons constructed a substantial church in the new Early English style. The aisled rectangular chancel and choir was built first; then the south transept with its night stair still in use today; followed by the more richly ornamental north transept; and finally the crossing. In , the priory was set alight by raiding Scots led by William Wallace.
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