St Mary's Church, Mortehoe

St Mary's Church, Mortehoe
St Mary's Church, Mortehoe
	St Mary's Church, Mortehoe
	51°11′06″N4°12′33″W / 51.18506°N 4.20929°W Coordinates: 51°11′06″N4°12′33″W / 51.18506°N 4.20929°W
Location	Morthoe
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Architecture
Architect(s)	Unknown
Style	Norman, Early English
Years built	Eleventh Century

Last updated September 07, 2019

St Mary's Church, Mortehoe, is a Grade I listed ^[1] Church of England church in Mortehoe, Devon, England, whose origins date back to the Norman Conquest. It retains many original medieval features, including a notable tomb containing the remains of Sir William de Tracy.

The Church of England is the established church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior cleric, although the monarch is the supreme governor. The Church of England is also the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the third century, and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury.

Mortehoe is a village and former manor on the north coast of Devon, England. It lies 10 miles north-west of Barnstaple, near Woolacombe and Lee Bay, and is sited in a valley within the hilly sand-dune-like land behind Morte Point, almost directly above Woolacombe. The parish population at the 2011 census was 1,637.

Devon, also known as Devonshire, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the north east, and Dorset to the east. The city of Exeter is the county town. The county includes the districts of East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge, and West Devon. Plymouth and Torbay are each geographically part of Devon, but are administered as unitary authorities. Combined as a ceremonial county, Devon's area is 6,707 km² and its population is about 1.1 million.

History

The oldest parts of the Anglican church of St Mary date back to Norman times, but it has been added to in subsequent years. The bell tower, carved pews and the de Tracy tomb (see below) are medieval. The chancel-arch mosaic and the 'archangel' window were designed by Selwyn Image. The later parts of the building are of the 14th and 16th centuries. The carved bench-ends are 13th century, the wagon roof of the nave 15th century and the chest tomb of William de Tracey, Rector of Mortehoe has been dated to 1322.^[2]

Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition which has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation.

The Normans were an ethnic group that arose in Normandy, a northern region of France, from contact between Viking settlers and indigenous Franks, Gallo-Romans. The settlements followed a series of raids on the French coast from Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, and they gained political legitimacy when the Viking leader Rollo agreed to swear fealty to King Charles III of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, and it continued to evolve over the succeeding centuries.

A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom.

Tomb of Sir William de Tracy

The tomb in the south transept has a ledger-line inscription to a certain "Sir William de Tracy". The upper slab of black or dark grey granite or marble is incised with the life-size figure of a priest in full vestments, holding a chalice to his breast. The inscription is much defaced, but was recorded by Tristram Risdon (d.1630):

A transept is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the edifice. In churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building within the Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architectural traditions. Each half of a transept is known as a semitransept.

A chalice or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning.

Tristram Risdon was an English antiquarian and topographer, and the author of Survey of the County of Devon. He was able to devote most of his life to writing this work. After he completed it in about 1632 it circulated around interested people in several manuscript copies for almost 80 years before it was first published by Curll in a very inferior form. A full version was not published until 1811. Risdon also collected information about genealogy and heraldry in a note-book; this was edited and published in 1897.

"On whose mangled monument I found this fragment of a French inscription, in this ancient character: 'Syree Williame de Trace...Il enat eeys-Meercy'".

Possibly a variant of such phrase as que Dieu ait mercy de son âme ("may God have mercy on his soul").^{[ original research? ]} On the north side of the base of the tomb are sculpted in relief three escutcheons, now devoid of any colourings, listed from east to west :

In heraldry, an escutcheon is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an achievement of arms. The word is used in two related senses. First, as the shield on which a coat of arms is displayed; second, a shield can itself be a charge within a coat of arms.

The first, showing three lions passant in pale, is possibly for Camville.^{[ original research? ]} Geoffrey de Camville (d.1308) was the second husband of Maud de Tracy (d.pre-1279), granddaughter and sole heiress of Henry de Tracy (d.1274), feudal baron of Barnstaple.^[3]
The second, two bars, possibly for FitzMartin.^{[ original research? ]} Maud de Tracy's first husband was Nicholas FitzMartin (d.1260), feudal baron of Blagdon, Somerset. Their son William I FitzMartin (d.1324) inherited Barnstaple.^[3] The Victorian stained glass shield in the window of the south transept shows this shield as Azure, two bars argent, whilst the arms generally attributed to the Martin family are Argent, two bars gules
The third, a saltire, charged with five roundels. The Victorian stained glass shield in the window of the south transept shows this shield as Argent, a saltire gules charged with five bezants A further shield is shown in the Victorian window: Or, two bends gules, in a canton an escallop sable, a representation of the arms of Tracy: "Or, an escallop sable in chief between two bends gules"^[4].^{[ citation needed ]}

Barnstaple is the main town of North Devon, England and possibly the oldest borough in the United Kingdom. It is a former river port, located at the lowest crossing point of the River Taw, flowing into the Bristol Channel.

FitzMartin was the surname of a Norman family based in England and Wales between 1085 and 1342.

Blagdon is a village and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Somerset, within the unitary authority of North Somerset, in England. It is located in the Mendip Hills, a recognised Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. According to the 2001 census it has a population of 1,116. The village is about 12 miles (19 km) east of Weston-super-Mare.

On the same north side of the base at the west end, beneath plain canopies, are effigies representing possibly St. Catherine with her wheel, and St. Mary Magdalene, with long flowing hair. The south side of the tomb-base is divided into seven compartments, filled with Early Decorated gothic tracery; the Crucifixion forms the subject of the relief sculpture at the west end of the tomb-base, showing Christ on the cross with two standing figures either side.^[5]

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, or Saint Katharine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine, is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity, and was martyred around the age of 18. More than 1,100 years after Catherine's martyrdom, Joan of Arc identified her as one of the saints who appeared to and counselled her.

Mary Magdalene, sometimes called simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine, was a Jewish woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels, more than most of the apostles and more than any other non-family woman in the Gospels. According to many mainstream scholars, Mary's epithet Magdalene may mean that she came from the town of Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, however this ignores the long-standing tradition of Mary Magdalene being known as the “watchtower” of the early movement.

Gothic tracery is used in architecture for gothic windows with the framework elements being what one would call tracery. There were two types of tracery starting with plate tracery and then bar tracery after that. Plate tracery began as single holes that were circular in stone slabs which soon became replaced with trefoils, quatrefoils, and more that had much more details. Bar tracery is the supports that hold the pieces of clear glass together which make up the framework of the window. The supports are carved slabs of stones also known as mullions. This method is the most commonly thought of when dealing with Gothic tracery. In order to construct these traceries proportionately it is important to use the basis of geometry to help create correct angles for the design.

Lord Sudeley insists this is the tomb of William de Tracy who is known to have been the incumbent of this church,^[6] endowed a chantry at Mortehoe in 1307/8, and died in 1322. The priest is described as 'Sir' because this was an oft-used prefix for priests in medieval times.^[7] It is unclear what family relationship, if any, this man had to William de Tracy (d.post 1172),^{[ original research? ]} the notorious co-assassin of Archbishop Thomas Becket (d.1170).

Gallery

Crucifixion scene, sculpted in low relief on west end of base of chest tomb of Sir William de Tracy (d.1322), cleric, incumbent of Mortehoe; South transept.
Enhanced outline of figure incised on slab, showing chalice held to the chest and clerical vestments.

Related Research Articles

In heraldry, an ordinary is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use as long as the traditional ordinaries. Diminutives of ordinaries and some subordinaries are charges of the same shape, though thinner. Most of the ordinaries are theoretically said to occupy one-third of the shield; but this is rarely observed in practice, except when the ordinary is the only charge.

Sir William de Tracy was a knight and the feudal baron of Bradninch, Devon, with caput at the manor of Bradninch near Exeter, and was lord of the manors of Toddington, Gloucestershire and of Moretonhampstead, Devon. He is notorious as one of the four knights who assassinated Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in December 1170.

In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb to blazon means to create such a description. The visual depiction of a coat of arms or flag has traditionally had considerable latitude in design, but a verbal blazon specifies the essentially distinctive elements. A coat of arms or flag is therefore primarily defined not by a picture but rather by the wording of its blazon. Blazon also refers to the specialized language in which a blazon is written, and, as a verb, to the act of writing such a description. Blazonry is the noun describing the art, craft or practice of creating a blazon. The language employed in blazonry has its own vocabulary, grammar and syntax, which becomes essential for comprehension when blazoning a complex coat of arms.

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References

↑ Historic England. "Church of St Mary Magdalene (1107750)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 September 2019.
↑ Betjeman, John, ed. (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches; the South. London: Collins; p. 164
1 2 Sanders, I.J., English Baronies, Oxford, 1960, p.104, Barnstaple
↑ Pole: "Towards a Description of the County of Devon", pub Nicholls 1791
↑ Transactions of the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society, vol. 6, p. 188
↑ Framed list of Rectors and Vicars displayed in church
↑ Sudeley, Lord (1987) p.91^{[ full citation needed ]}

External links

Official site Retrieved 12 April 2019

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[1] Historic England. "Church of St Mary Magdalene (1107750)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 September 2019.

[2] Betjeman, John, ed. (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches; the South. London: Collins; p. 164

[S-3] 1 2 Sanders, I.J., English Baronies, Oxford, 1960, p.104, Barnstaple

[4] Pole: "Towards a Description of the County of Devon", pub Nicholls 1791

[5] Transactions of the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society, vol. 6, p. 188

[6] Framed list of Rectors and Vicars displayed in church

[7] Sudeley, Lord (1987) p.91^{[ full citation needed ]}