St Cuthbert's Church is located in Elsdon, Alnwick, northeast England. The church was one of the resting places of St. Cuthbert's body in the wanderings of the monks. [1] It is one of the many dedicated to his memory. St Cuthbert's Church is a Grade I listed building in Northumberland.
St. Cuthbert's is situated within Elsdon's 7.5 acres (3.0 ha) village green. Larger in size than many Northumbrian churches, it is situated close to the fortified vicarage. It is 21 miles (34 km) west-northwest from Morpeth. [2] The village and church are located along St. Cuthbert's Way.
The church shows evidence of extensive later medieval rebuilding. The cause may have been damage at the time of the 1388 Battle of Otterburn. The ceiling over the nave and the transept aisles forms quadrants, and slabs exist across the structure. [3] Of the present church, there are two transepts, one called Anderson's porch, and the other Hedley's porch. [4] The building had a leper window. [5] There are several deep cuts on one of the pillars of the arcade of the south aisle, which are of a different character from masons' marks, and considered likely to have been made by the sharpening of weapons upon them. [6]
In some country parishes in large sparsely-inhabited districts, it was expedient to build hearse-houses against the churches for the convenience of keeping a hearse for the use of the parishioners; one was built against the shady north side of the chancel of Elsdon's church. [7] The rectory house is an old tower with a circular staircase at one corner. Its lowest story is spanned with one large arch. On its front arch are the arms of the Hunfranvilles, with an inscription beneath. [2]
The first church at Elsdon was probably constructed of oak, with a roof made of rushes. A subsequent church has few remains still in existence: Norman pilasters, and two small Norman windows in the west gable, circa 1100 or earlier. [4] Most of the current construction is 14th century. [8] St John the Evangelist's Church in Otterburn is a chapel-of-ease to St. Cuthbert's. [9]
The monks of Lindisfarne during their flight from the Danes, halted for a while with the relics of St. Cuthbert on what is now the site of Elsdon Church. [10]
During the 1877 church restoration, it was necessary to change the levels of the church flooring. The flooring was damp; the bases of the pillars were nearly covered and out of sight because of soil accumulation. The reduction of soil levels in the nave, transepts and chancel lead to the discovery of an immense collection of skeletons. The labourers reported that 996 whole skulls were re-interred, as well as a large number that were mutilated in the course of their removal. The remains of nearly 1200 of the former chief inhabitants of the district were disturbed and removed from their resting place, while approximately 300 or 400 were left where found. The skeletons appeared to have been disturbed by the interment of those more recently buried. No doubt the intra-mural interments had taken place during hundreds of years, the last having occurred in the late 18th century. The bones of the earlier deceased had frequently been moved to make room for their successors. Skulls were frequently found lying together in groups of three or four in one spot. No remains other than bones were found, with the exception of a very few coffin handles, with a little decayed wood, and in one instance a small quantity of hair. [5] It is possible that some bodies had been buried here after the Battle of Otterburn. [11]
Also in 1877, it was necessary to pull down the small spire, which terminated at the bell turret surmounting the church's western gable. In the spire, immediately over the bell, a small chamber was discovered, without any opening, and in it, nearly filling the cavity, were three horse skulls. When found, the three skulls were standing on their bases in a triangular form, mouths upwards, and leaning against each other at the top; the cavity seemed to have been purposely prepared for them. There were two large skulls and one smaller; two were well preserved, while one was decayed. The heads appeared to be two of draught horses, and one of a cob. [5] The reason for placing skulls in the bell turret may have been to increase the resonance. [12]
The Battle of Otterburn took place according to Scottish sources on 5 August 1388, or 19 August according to English sources, as part of the continuing border skirmishes between the Scots and English.
Otterburn is a small village in Northumberland, England, 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Newcastle upon Tyne on the banks of the River Rede, near the confluence of the Otter Burn, from which the village derives its name. It lies within the Cheviot Hills about 16 miles (26 km) from the Scottish border. The parish of Otterburn is at the heart of Redesdale, a Northumbrian upland valley.
David Welsh FRSE was a Scottish divine and academic. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1842. In the Disruption of 1843 he was one of the leading figures in the establishment of the Free Church of Scotland.
Robert Pont (1529–1606) was a Church of Scotland minister, judge and reformer. He was a church minister and commissioner and a Senator of the College of Justice.
Oldhamstocks or Aldhamstocks is a civil parish and small village in the east of East Lothian, Scotland, adjacent to the Scottish Borders and overlooking the North Sea. It is located 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Dunbar and has a population of 193. The church was consecrated by Bishop David de Bernham, 19 October 1242. Its chancel is a fine example of late Gothic — probably fifteenth-century work.
David de Bernham was Chamberlain of King Alexander II of Scotland and subsequently, Bishop of St Andrews. He was elected to the see in June 1239, and finally consecrated, after some difficulties, in January 1240. He died at Nenthorn in 1253 and was buried at Kelso. One interesting feature of his life which has left a written record is the fact that as bishop of St Andrews he consecrated a long list of churches in his diocese. These churches are listed by name, together with the dates on which they were consecrated, in the 1240s, in a 13th-century Pontifical now in the Bibliothèque National, Paris.
George Johnston was a Scottish physician and naturalist.
Gilbert Rule was a nonconformist Church of Scotland minister and the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1690 to 1701.
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Embleton Tower is a peel tower and Grade I listed building in the village of Embleton in Northumberland, England. Tradition states that in 1395, the tower was built to protect the minister and church goers of Embleton's Church of the Holy Trinity after the village suffered from a raid by the Scots. The first vicarage was provided for the vicar of Embleton by Merton College, Oxford, who held the patronage of the parish, in 1332. According to Montagu Francis Finch Osborn (1843–1910), vicar of Embleton in 1884, vicarages were erected at three different periods; by 1416, the Vicar's Turris de Emyldon was known to exist. The present building includes a house built in about 1828 as a vicarage adjoining the tower.
Robert Gordon FRSE was a Scottish minister and author. Originally prominent in the Church of Scotland, and serving as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1841, following the Disruption of 1843 he joined the Free Church of Scotland and became a prominent figure in that church.
Otterburn Tower is a Grade II listed castellated, three star country house hotel in Otterburn, Northumberland. It is set in 32 acres (13 ha) of deer park and woodland in the Northumberland National Park in northeastern England. Founded by a cousin of William the Conqueror in 1086, it was later owned by the Clan Hall, before being rebuilt in 1830 by Thomas James, a magistrate, on the site and using some of the stones from Otterburn Castle. Nearby Otterburn Hall was built in 1870 on land given to a Lord Douglas as recompense for the death of his ancestor James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas in the Battle of Otterburn.
Henry Grey (1778–1859) was a Scottish minister in the Church of Scotland and following the Disruption of 1843 in the Free Church. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1844.
The Church of St Michael in Alnham, in the English county of Northumberland, is a medieval structure dating from circa 1200. Built on a Roman camp site, it is mentioned in records dating to 1291; it is a Grade I listed building.
The Church of the Holy Trinity is located in Embleton, Northumberland, England. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is west of the village. Built in the form of a cross, it consists of a two aisle nave, a clerestory, a chancel, a porch, and a chantry chapel. It has a tower with a small vestry, and a gallery. The vicarage house and garden are on a gradual slope on the south side of the churchyard. Traces of stonework show evidence of an earlier church from the 12th century. It is a Grade I listed building.
Embleton Bay is a bay on the North Sea, located to the east of the village of Embleton, Northumberland, England. It lies just to the south of Newton-by-the-Sea and north of Craster. Popular for paddling, it is overlooked by the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle and by Dunstanburgh Castle Golf Club.
Sir Henry Wellwood-Moncreiff, 10th Baronet, originally Henry Moncrieff was a Scottish minister, considered one of the most influential figures in the Free Church of Scotland in his time. Henry Wellwood Moncreiff, tenth baronet, born in 1809, was ordained minister of the parish of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, in 1836, and at the disruption, in 1843, he joined the Free Church. He was afterwards translated to St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. He married in 1838, Alexina-Mary, daughter of Edinburgh surgeon George Bell. He is one of the two principal clerks of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, Patrick Clason, being the other; and on the death, in 1861, of James Robertson, professor of divinity and church history in the university of Edinburgh, he was appointed his successor as secretary to her majesty's sole and only master printers in Scotland.
George Tate was an English tradesman from Northumberland, known as a local topographer, antiquarian and naturalist. His major work was a history of his native town, Alnwick.
Henry Hall was a Covenanter and Church of Scotland elder. He had firm Presbyterian convictions. He tried but was prevented from joining the Pentland Rising. He fought as an officer at Drumclog and at Bothwell Bridge. He was part of a group, along with Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill, who were openly opposed to the government's religious policies. Hall was intercepted at South Queensferry where Robert Middleton, the governor of Blackness Castle, tried to arrest him along with Donald Cargill. Hall managed to hold off the governor but received a mortal headwound from the butt of a gun from a taxman after Cargill had escaped. An unsigned and probably unfinished work known as The Queensferry Paper was found on Hall which caused considerable disquiet when it was read by government supporters.
William Dickson (1799–1875) was a solicitor, magistrate, banker and antiquary associated with Alnwick, Northumberland, England.
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