Choir room at the Minster
Gothic sopranos in Minster choir capes
The great West Window of the Minster
The Chapter House ceiling
August 11 (Wednesday on our trip) was the Feast of St. Clare of Assisi. Clare was a contemporary, and an admirer of St. Francis and, ultimately, adopted his monastic ways and founded the women’s equivalent of the Franciscans; it went on to be called The Poor Clares, in common parlance. It is also our wedding anniversary, Dawn’s and mine, and this year we will celebrate it belatedly, as there now happens to be an ocean between us. Nevertheless, it was wonderful to be at Evensong at York Minster on the evening of the 11th and hear the Chancellor of the Minster, Canon Glyn Webster, meditate upon the life and witness of St. Clare.
On Wednesday of this week we had an excursion to Castle Howard, the ancestral home of the Earls of Carlisle, and, in the mid-16th Century, the home of the father of Catherine Howard, the fourth “wife” of that very wicked monarch of England. There is a history of the Staton family, my mother’s father’s family, that claims that William the Conqueror first gave the lands on which the Howard Estate is now based to a knight named Staunton, whose descendants then lost the royal charter through neglect and accidents of inheritance. Who can say for sure? Certainly the Rev. John Staton, who wrote the family history, believed in the veracity of the claim, and there are many such pretensions to historic lands, some solid, some not. In any event, it was pretty amazing to visit this great pile of a building. The place is redolent with history. And it is a fun thing to visit the primary set of that Masterpiece Theatre series from the early 1980’s, Brideshead Revisited.
Castle Howard
Alexandra and I enjoyed our strolls around the ground. We particularly liked the Rose Garden, mixed with some aesthetic uses of garden herbs and vegetables.
Gardens at Castle Howard
The Atlas Fountain was quite striking, though we would have much preferred the geometric gardens, erased by a previous inhabitant of the house, over the simple lawn.
Atlas Fountain
The house, itself, is very impressive, of course, and Alexandra and I lingered longest in the rooms where the libraries are housed. Wow!
We walked out to the Temple of the Four Winds, and a very kind woman called to us to see if we wanted to see inside. She was a guide, and it is only open when there is a guided tour, and hers had finished.
Temple of the Four Winds
We had a lovely chat with her about the history of the place and about the House Chapel. Going through the house, the last thing to see is the Chapel, an Anglican chapel from its inception. We thought it would be great fun for the choir to sing a service there and for me to celebrate the Eucharist. This woman said that, in fact, that can happen. She encouraged me to write to Mr. Howard and inquire. Not that he’s any great friend, or remote acquaintance even, though we did see him leading a small tour through the house and, excusing ourselves, made our way past him and his guests. So, I’ll try a letter and see what might come of it.
Chapel at Castle Howard
Our bus left Castle Howard at 2:00, to travel back to York in time for our rehearsals and Evensong. Following our Wednesday Evensong, Canon Glyn Webster, the Chancellor, invited all our group to the Chapter House for a welcoming reception. It was lovely, and the choir sang two pieces in the Chapter House, a great acoustical space: Ave verum Corpus, by Mary Badarak, and Ave Maria by Serge Rachmaninov. Everyone enjoyed the music. Canon Webster had very complimentary things to say about our choir and thanked us warmly for giving of our time to come and assist the Minster in this way.
Canon Webster, second from right, at the Chapter House reception
On our way out of town on this morning I had noted a Sainsbury’s, one of several supermarket chains in the UK. It is within easy walking distance of our hotel. After our reception at the Chapter House, Alexandra and I strolled to Sainsbury’s to get provisions for the picnic we had planned for the next day. O.K., I knew the English were a marvelous people, but when you go into the “Canned meats” aisle at the grocery and can find canned beef tongue, well, that’s a mark of a seriously civilized people! Only Alexandra’s strong protestations and grotesque faces dissuaded me from the purchase. We settled on pork pies instead.
Finally, after a long day, we settled into our room and decided, for the one time on the trip, we would have room service.
Thursday, August 12, was our one completely free day on the tour schedule. No rehearsals. No services. We looked forward to an entire day of seeing the Yorkshire sights. Our driver, Dave, a terrific Yorkshireman with a very funny sense of humour, drove us through the countryside to Fountains Abbey, a National Heritage site. Begun in the 12th Century, Fountains Abbey grew to be the largest Cistercian monastery in Britain and had, near its end, vast land holdings and was the source of enormous commerce in England, the Lowlands and Italy.
It is a very beautiful place. As picturesque as it is, though, the shadow of the villainy that led to its downfall is never very far from the imagination. Under the dissolution of the monasteries in the mid-16th Century, under direction of Henry the Terrible, Fountains was closed, its industries ceased, and the monks and lay brothers, those that survived, were dispersed. Standing in the middle of the Nave of the ruined Abbey church, one marvels at the motivation and fervour that led to such a place, and one also mourns for the longer life of work, learning and worship that never was because of the greed and hubris of one man.
Here are some pictures of the Abbey and its environs.
Fountains Abbey
14th Century Mill House
From the West door, down the Nave
The Abbey tower
After having a tour with a delightful fellow by the name of Ken, Alexandra and I, along with Maxine and Edmund (baritone, joining the choir), set off to find a place for a picnic. We found a nice place along the river with the Abbey in the background and (with minimal rain) enjoyed lunch. The good Lord was taking care of us, for only when we had arrived at the bus did the rain really begin in earnest, and for the rest of the day we drove through pretty heavy weather.
For the next couple of hours or so we drove through the Yorkshire Dales, a national park and some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. The countryside is dotted with ancient villages and remote farmhouses, the centers of agriculture and the raising of cattle and sheep. The stone walls crisscross the landscape, cutting it into parallelograms of various sizes. How many hundreds and hundreds of miles of fences are there? How long did it take to build them? And, what’s more, most of them, at least to our eyes, are kept in fine repair on these working farms.
The Yorkshire Dales
Our second destination was Wensleydale Creamery, in the town of Hawes, a busy market town.
The creamery has existed for centuries, making cheese, primarily, and other dairy products. For Wallace and Gromit fans, it is the favourite cheese of that wacky inventor.
Alexandra, with her Wensleydale friends
We had a great demonstration of cheese-making, during which Andrew, a local fellow, went from whole milk to packed cheese mold. The video that groups are shown explains the history of Wensleydale and how close this local institution has come to extinction several times. Today, however, it is thriving. I was disappointed that production was over for the day by the time we arrived, so we couldn’t see the large-scale manufacture of the cheese, but we did get to sample a variety of their cheeses (the bleu cheese, new to their line, being my favourite). And, we met a little friend along the way, an hedgehog, pictured below. Finally, we had a fine carvery meal, complete with cheese course (most certainly!) at the end.
A cheese afficionado?
Friday, August 13, is the day I have most looked forward to in this entire tour. It is the day when we travel to Beverley, one of the largest and most prosperous towns in England in the Middle Ages, today a delightful Yorkshire town, the seat of the Bishop of Beverley and home of Beverley Minster, the church which sits upon the site of a monastery founded by St. John of Beverley.
St. John was born in the 7th Century at Harpham, a little town near Beverley. Following a call to the monastic life, he entered the Double Abbey at Whitby, then under the direction of Hilda. After a time there he went to found a monastery on his own, this located, as best as can be determined, at Beverley, on the site of the present Minster. From this work he was named as Bishop of Hexham and then as Bishop of York (this in the time before the Archbishopric of York had been put in place). Ultimately he retired as Bishop of York and returned to Beverley, to the monastery he had founded there, where he died on May 7, 721. He was buried at the church in Hexham. It was not long before miracles began to be ascribed to John, and he was canonized in the early part of the 11th Century. So strong had the cult of St. John grown over several centuries that, in preparation for the Battle of Agincourt, Henry V carried the banner of St. John into that battle, along with that of St. George. After the victory of the English on October 25, 1415, Henry declared St. John a patron saint of England and saw that a great shrine was erected at Beverley Minster, with the remains of St. John being translated from Hexham on the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, October 25. (Three guesses as to what happened to the shrine…)
Why is Beverley and St. John so important to me? Well, I don’t have the final answer to that question. However, when I was ready to be ordained a deacon, the Bishop and I were searching for a date that would work for our calendars. The date of October 25 was decided. I was keen to see which saint was commemorated on this day and was a little surprised to see that it was “The Translation of St. John of Beverley,” a saint unknown to me at the time. Six months later, getting ready for my ordination to the priesthood, again the Bishop and I were looking for a date. I was hoping for April 25 (the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist), but May 7 was the only day that would work for the Bishop. Again, looking for the commemoration, I was intrigued to see that it was St. John of Beverley. I don’t believe in coincidences anyway, and when two dates, both agreed upon at random, are related to the same saint, it was clear that there was a purpose at work. And so, I have been dreaming of a trip to Beverley Minster ever since.
I was not disappointed. It is said that Beverley Minster is the finest example, and one of the earliest, of the English Perpendicular Gothic style in England, and I surely believe it. The great double West towers are particularly majestic, being used by Nicholas Hawkesmore as the inspiration for his renovation of Westminster Abbey in London. (Take a look back at the earlier post for Thursday, August 5, in London and compare with the view below of Beverley Minster.)
West front, Beverley Minster
Inside the church, the Gothic ornamentation is exquisite. The only mediaeval glass that remains is in the great East window.
Reredos and East Window, Beverley Minster
The Quire is particularly ornate. The stalls and misericords (of which there are 64) date to the 13th Century. The ornamentation on top of the stalls is 19th Century work. Most moving, of course, is the very resting place of St. John of Beverley. Gone is the shrine and the ornate reliquary that held his remains for processions around Beverley and in the Minster. His tomb is but a simple stone on the floor, at which we said a silent prayer.
The tomb of St. John
We had two tours of the Minster. The one for the main floor was led by John Phillips, the Secretary of the Friends of Beverley Minster. The second, to the roof and tower, was led by Assistant Virger of the Minster, Neil Pickford. Going up above the roof and seeing the mediaeval timbers used to build the Minster was pretty amazing. (Thanks be to God, there has not been a fire at the Minster, and so the engineering of mediaeval builders can still be seen intact, including an appreciation of how it changed and developed over the 200 years it took to build the church.) Absolutely the most incredible thing we saw above the roof was the original, 12th Century treadle crane that is still used to lift materials up into the Minster roof for repairs and renovations. Neil worked the crane to life the 5-ton boss from the middle of the tower roof, exposing the interior of the Minster below. Have a look at the picture here. Stunning!
13th Century treadle crane
I had hoped to meet the new Vicar of Beverley Minster, Jeremy Fletcher, and was not disappointed. He was busy with a funeral when we first arrived, but after our tour Alex and I went round to the Parish Center and met him there. Jeremy was the Canon Precentor at York Minster and, as such, he would have been involved in the arrangements for our choir to be in residence there. He has been at the Minster just shy of two years, is married and has two sons. The three of us lunched together at The Cozy Tea, just across the street from the parish offices. It was great fun to be able to chat about ministry and our families and life at Beverley Minster. What an affable fellow Jeremy is, and we look forward to continuing our conversations and getting to know one another better. Walking to the coach with Alex and me, Jeremy shared a few words of welcome to our crowd and thanked them for visiting the Minster.
Jeremy Fletcher and yours truly
On our last coach trip back to York from a day excursion, Dave continued to share with us little tidbits of information about Yorkshire. It remained a wet, cold and dreary day. Upon our return to our hotel, a quick change of clothes and we were off to rehearsal for Evensong. I had been invited to sing Evensong on Friday and Saturday, so that was an addition role. We did the Preces and Responses of Gerry Hancock, former choirmaster at St. Thomas in New York. I like Gerry’s work, though there are a couple of places where the officiant has to listen carefully to pick up the chant tone, so that added a bit of anxiety to the Evensong for me. However, all went well and the choir did themselves proud once more. After Evensong was another 45 minutes or so of rehearsal time, and then we were free for the evening.
Alexandra and I decided txhat we would eat in this evening. We had noted an interesting Italian deli close to the hotel, and that is where we went for dinner. Some salami, cheese, home-baked bread, cannelloni, and lasagna made up our Italian feast for dinner, with a very nice lemon crostata for dessert. A perfect end to a perfect day!
Choir stalls at York, looking West
