Extracts from The Changing Face Of Warminster by Wilfred Middlebrook, published in 1971:
Two features strike the eye as one comes into view of the Parish Church Of St. Denys: the first is the way the road seems to encircle the churchyard, and the second is the mighty yew, its spreading branches propped by stout stakes; branches that spread almost to the south porch. Round churchyards are believed to spring from pagan stone circles, as the early Christian Church often utilised prehistoric ‘temples’ to wean worshippers gradually to Christianity without suddenly uprooting their age-old beliefs and customs.
This circular formation of the Minster churchyard was regarded by Victor Manley, an earlier historian of Warminster, as sure proof that a Celtic stone circle stood here in pagan times, or at least a circular burial mound.
Doubtless the first settlement of Ancient Britons, when skin-clad Celts finally deemed it safe to leave their hill-top camps of Cley Hill, Arn Hill and Cop Heap, was here on the banks of the Cley Hill Stream at Coldharbour. There is no trace or record of a minster or a monastery ever standing here, though there was an earlier church of Norman erection, dedicated to Saint Simon and Saint Jude, and a still earlier church of wood, built by the Saxons nearby.
The circular churchyard and the ancient yew are said to point to both a pagan and a Saxon foundation.
Another Warminster historian, the Reverend John J. Daniell, gives a vivid picture of “tall, lusty, grim men, with bodies stained and painted, clothed in skins – the fathers of the present inhabitants of Warminster” settling on an island clearing at Coldharbour, on the banks of the Rocky Daddy, thus creating the first town of Warminster.
The mighty yew tree, that could well have served as a Saxon moot tree around which councils were held, is now fifteen feet in circumference and is said to be over a thousand years old. Reverting to that earlier Saxon church of wood, an old manuscript states that “there is still seen a burying place, where coffins and bones are continually dug up, as well as some foundations of an old building seen in dry weather by the appearance of the grass.” This was in the meadow about a hundred yards west of the present church.
The second church, built by the Normans, was dedicated to St. Simon and St. Jude. In a sermon given at the Minster in 1940 by the Vicar of Longbridge Deverill, this dedication was referred to by the preacher as follows: “A former dedication of the Minster was to S.S. Simon and Jude, probably because Cley Hill being a twin hill, but more likely because the name Jude coincided with the ancient Neolithic Stone-age god named Dhu, or Sol-dieu – God of the Sun. A relic of those far-off days was found in the ancient wall in a field near Longbridge Deverill Church, which is still called Dhu’s Wall.”
The present church is dedicated to St. Dionysius or Denys, long the patron saint of the Kings of France, a missionary bishop sent by Fabian, Bishop Of Rome, to preach in France in A.D. 245. There are some forty-three English churches with this dedication; St. Denys being remembered in the English calendar on 9th October, which gives Warminster her October Fair.
By the entrance to the churchyard, between the mighty yew and the road, is a clear space paved with flagstones and obviously outside the original circle of the churchyard. On this unhallowed site stood the Church House, from which church ales were served in olden times. Abolished generally throughout England soon after the Reformation, church ales survived in Warminster well into the nineteenth century, until 1826, when a notice proclaimed: “No Church Ales after Easter Vestry from this date.”
John Aubrey writes “There were no rates for the poore even in my gr. Father’s daies; the Church Ales at Whitsuntide did their businesse. In every Parish is, or was, a church howse, to which belonged spitts, crocks, &c., utensils for dressing provision. Here the Howsekeepers met, and were merry, and gave their Charitie; the young people came there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at buttes, &c., the ancients sitting gravely by, looking on. All things were civill and without scandall. This Church Ale is doubtless derived from the agapae, or Love Feasts, mentioned in the New Testament.”
Here is another indication that pagan customs were handed down from generation to generation, though altering in form to suit the tenets of the Christian faith. Another pagan ritual that survived in Warminster until the present century was the annual Shrove Tuesday ceremony of “clipping the church.’ Manley relates how lads from Warminster Common walked to Crockerton to meet the girls as they left their work at the silk factory. After “threading the needle’ all the way from Crockerton Green to Warminster, the young folk dancing and singing and forming an ever-moving arch with their hands, under which succeeding couples passed, the whole party would link hands in a huge circle that embraced the Parish Church. This custom of encircling the church was also observed at Hill Deverill.
The Church House was finally deemed an incumbrance and a deformity in its original site, so it was pulled down in 1813, after housing the Parish Sexton for many years.
Asheys, the house that gave the name to Ash Walk, was bought, pulled down, and a sexton’s house erected, where it stands to this day at the corner of Ash Walk and Church Street, across from the churchyard gate.
THE INTERIOR OF THE MINSTER CHURCH
The older portions of the present Church Of St. Denys are parts of a building erected, probably by the Mauduits, about the time of Edward the Third, a cruciform church, with shallow transepts and a low tower crowned with an octagonal spire. Nothing was done to the church for many years after this; and the whole must have fallen into decay, for in 1626 an order was made to repair the old building, which “weeps many a teare for her decayed house, especially when the wynd is in the west.” The first gallery was erected in 1660, in the north transept, and other galleries were added, until 1724, when almost the whole of the old building west of the tower was pulled down and an extremely ugly nave built on the old foundations; with its many galleries, this accommodated over a thousand people.
The font occupied a central position near the west end, with an ugly heating stove close by, the flue passing to the exterior in a dangerous and unsightly fashion. Surmounting the western apex of the tower arch were the Royal Arms, heraldically emblazoned, and encased in an ornamental frame. The display of the Royal Arms was at one time compulsory in most churches. Some years later the Royal Arms were removed, and over the arch, following its outline, was inscribed the following text: ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.’ The ceiling of the nave was a flat plastered surface, relieved by geometrical ribs. Suspended from the centre of each division in the design was a sun-burner, illuminated by gas. The reredos was of embattled design, inscribed with the Lord’s Prayer, Creed and Commandants.
During the Caroline period, galleries were fixed in the north and south transepts, and the same course was followed during the erection of the eighteenth century nave; a west gallery being added in 1770 for the organ. In advance of the organ itself was a central projection from the west gallery used as a singing loft by the choir. A painting of King David praising to harp accompaniment was placed in front of the singers’ gallery. On Whit Tuesday festivals the flags of the local friendly societies were displayed from this west gallery. The pulpit was lofty, the preacher being in line with the choir in their gallery. There was a hexagonal sounding board over-hanging the pulpit and a reading desk below it; and beneath this was the desk of the Parish Clerk. Nave and aisles were fitted with “horse-box’ pews, these continuing through the transepts but facing eastward also, an arrangement altered in later years. By the west door of the present church are photographs taken in 1886, before the final restoration of the church as we know it. These show the organ above the west door, and a flight of steps leading from the floor of the nave to the singers’ gallery.
THE BELLS
At one period the bells were rung from the floor of the church beneath the tower, then a “chiming’ system was substituted for constructional reasons, the ropes being attached to the clappers. The extra strain on the sounding bows was so great that the bells were ruined, having to be re-cast before the general restoration of the church. On their return from London in 1881, the bells were carried through the streets of Warminster during the October Fair to their home in the squat tower of the Parish Church, where they remained until 1914, when they were again re-hung at a cost of two hundred pounds. All except the tenor were re-cast by John Warner And Sons of Cripplegate, London, in 1881.
According to Daniell, John Lott was a famous bell-founder in Warminster, in the middle of the 17th century. All the bells in Warminster, which he cast in his foundry in the Common Close, have been melted up again and again. In 1629 the Great Bell broke and was sold to John Lott at 10d. a lb. In 1686 he re-cast the fourth bell, weighing over 17 cwt., and in 1707 the tenor bell was re-cast by Richard Lott for £46/5/-.
William Cockey of Frome cast another bell in 1732 for £14/14/-, and a new tenor bell was cast at Gloucester by Abel Rudhall in 1737, bearing the legend “I to the church the living call, And to the grave I summon all.’ Another bell was cast by Thomas Rudhall in 1765, and the treble bell new-cast by William Belbie of Chew Stoke in 1781. This was replaced in 1805 by a bell cast by James Wells of Aldbourne. When Daniell wrote his History Of Warminster, in 1879, he recorded that “the Second Bell is now broken – the Third and Fifth are cracked.”
In 1960 it was again necessary to have the bells taken down to be tuned and overhauled. This time it was the London firm Mears And Stainbank, of Whitechapel, who did the work. The bells were taken down in May and returned at the end of June. According to Mr. Theobald, who removed them, the tenor bell, cast by Abel Rudhall of Gloucester, had never left its original mounting since 1737. Beams had to be cut away above the trap door to lower the huge 28 cwt. bell, and part of the removal process was shown on B.B.C. television – a true sign of the times.
Asked whether it was usual to find bats in belfries, Mr. Theobald replied that in his experience it was usually dead flies, thousands of which had to be removed by the bucketful before his job could begin. For the first time in their long history, the Minster bells made their long journey to and from London by train, in special containers. For the first time also, they were re-hung with steel ball-bearings instead of brass.
THE ORGAN
There was an organ in the Minster Church as early as 1630. In 1636 the foretop of the organ was new-cast and in 1638 it was removed from the west end of the north gallery. In 1639 “was the Angel on the top of the organ newe gilded, and the organ itself newe painted and gilded.” In 1643 the organ pipes were removed and hidden in the floor of the tower “lest the soldiers should spoyle them and teare them as they did others in other places.”
In time this organ became decayed and useless, some kind of primitive orchestra taking its place, but in 1792 a new organ was bought for £400. This fine organ, inscribed “ENGLAND. LONDON. FECIT 1792.’ is still in use, though restorations and alterations have taken place from time to time.
Apparently, about 1790, the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury Cathedral negotiated with George Pike England, a famous organ-builder of London, to build them a new organ. Soon afterwards King George The Third was on a visit to Salisbury, heard they wanted a new organ, and offered them £1,000 providing the organ was built by his favourite organ builder Samuel Green. This was agreed to, but George England was not told of the new arrangement, and carried on making the organ. When it was finished, and the true situation revealed, he consented to let Warminster have it for £400. Daniell and other historians say that the England organ was found to be unsuitable for Salisbury Cathedral, but this was not so. The Samuel Green organ was replaced at the beginning of the 20th century by a Willis organ, and transferred to St. Thomas’ Church, Salisbury.
The Minster organ was moved and rebuilt about 1860 by Willis and again in 1904 by Vowles. At a cost of £3,000 it was finally restored and modernised in 1963 by Hill, Norman And Beard. During this last restoration an organ subscription list dated 1792 was found hidden behind the organ. This last restoration was necessary because the organ “broke down’ at Christmas 1961, owing to the hardening of the leather in action. Electrically-operated bellows had been fitted in 1933.
THE MINSTER CHURCH TODAY
The Minster Church was restored as we see it today by the Rev. Sir James Erasmus Philipps, Vicar of Warminster from 1859 to 1897, at a total cost of over twelve thousand pounds. A beautiful marble plaque in the south transept is inscribed: “To James Erasmus Philipps, Baronet, Canon of Salisbury. Vicar of Warminster 1859 – 1897. Through whose zeal the church restoration was completed 1889.’
In his History Of Warminster, Daniell describes Warminster Church as “the ugliest Church in the diocese,” but he was writing in 1879. There is nothing ugly about the present church, unless one includes the fearsome gargoyles and weird figures that can be seen from the outside. There are carved figures of stone inside as well, but these are far from ugly; angels at prayer holding up the roof beams, and an angel choir below, complete with musical instruments – graceful figures that lean out from the capitals of the pillars and help to make of Warminster’s Parish Church a place of real beauty.
As re-opened on 21st February 1889, the Church Of St. Denys is now a cruciform structure, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of clerestoried nave of five bays, aisles, transepts, chancel with south aisle or Lady Chapel, south and west porches, vestries, organ chamber, and the original central and embattled tower with pinnacles.
Cruciform means cross-like; the chancel forming the head of the cross, with transepts for the arms and the nave as the long base. The tower covers the centre of the cross, between nave and chancel, and this gives added length and dignity to the church; a sense of vastness then viewed from the west door that is equalled only by the fine old cruciform church of Heytesbury in the near neighbourhood. The clerestory, or clear storey, has lights of clear glass that let the pure sunlight stream down upon the lofty nave, with coloured windows around the nave that soften and beautify the flanking aisles.
A three-light window in the north aisle was presented by the Seagram family, showing The Resurrection, while a fine window in the south aisle is in memory of the old masters and boys of Lord Weymouth’s Grammar School, who fell in the Great War of 1914-1918; this has figures of Saints Louise, George, and Coeur-de-Lion. Another south aisle window shows the Samaritan aiding the robbed traveller, “in memory of John Elling, 1892.’ On the wall of the north aisle is a plaque in memory of Charles Bleeck, F.R.C.S., “born Warminster 1805 died 1878. Practised here for nearly half a century. Tablet erected chiefly by efforts of the poor for his kindness and sympathy.’
The west window was placed by William Langley Feltham on Palm Sunday, 1891, “in memory of his Father and Mother. Three members of the family were Rectors of the Parish’. This lovely four-light window shows Christ entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and Christ bearing the Cross. There are two east windows, a four-light in the Lady Chapel “To the Glory of God and in Gratitude for the Restoration of this Church. Festival of All Saints, A.D. 1888,’ and a five-light window in the chancel showing The Crucifixion, The Stoning of St. Stephen, The Preaching of St. Paul, The Offering of the Magi and The Raising of the Widow’s Son. This window was destroyed or blocked up in 1760, and rebuilt by money contributed by parishioners as a testimonial of respect to the Rev. W. Dalby, on his resignation of the Vicarage in 1841.
There are two southern windows in the Lady Chapel in memory of the Rev. Canon Sir James Erasmus Philipps, 12th Baronet of Picton, Vicar of Warminster 1859-1897; and his wife. The first shows Saints David, George, Edward and Boniface, and the second the figures of S.S. Margaret, Anne, Katharine and the Virgin Mary.
A three-light window in the south transept, given by the Slade family, shows Mary washing Jesus’ feet, The Woman at the Sepulchre, and The Conversion of Paul. The north transept is used as a robing room; its walls lined with fine murals, lighted by a window showing The Resurrection, The Women, and Saints Peter and John – a three-light window presented by the Seagram family. On the east wall of this north transept is to be seen the Norman window discovered during the restoration, a narrow slit of unglazed window through which the light from outside was forced to widen out in rapidly increasing angles until a large portion of the interior was illuminated.
Below the tower, facing the Lady Chapel, is a prayer book kept in a glass case; this was used by Edward The Seventh when, as Prince Of Wales, he attended service on Sunday the 21st of October, 1856. Here also is a list of Vicars from Stephen, 1258, to John Freeman, 1956. The south transept probably had an altar at one time, as there is still a piscina. There is an altar in the Lady Chapel or Lady Aisle, the gift of Dr. J. H. Markland, Esq., of Bath, in 1851. There is a finely carved pulpit of Caen stone and Devonshire marble presented by George and Maria Bayley Vicary in 1889, in memory of their parents; the eagle lectern was also a gift of George Vicary in 1883.
The organ, already described, is on the north of the chancel. Nine members of the Halliday family are buried here, according to a tablet in the Lady Aisle, from Edward, 1625-1702 to Edmund, 1812-1840, and here also stood the famous Halliday pew, of which more later. There is a most lovely reredos of gold with alabaster figures of Christ holding the Orb, two angels, Madonna and Child and a bishop. A stained glass window in the north wall, beyond the organ, was presented by the late Mr. H. P. Jones, in memory of his son.
The most modern window in this Church Of St. Denys was unveiled in January 1951, to the memory of Dr. W. L. Hogan and Mrs. Hogan, who lived for many years at Portway. This beautiful window, which was presented by Mrs. Hogan before her death, has in the central light the figure of Our Lord, the Physician and Healer of Men, cleansing the Leper, with St. John on the left and St. Francis on the right. The home of the late Dr. Hogan is now used as a surgery by the combined doctors of Warminster, thus acting as a lasting and practical memorial to a man who was beloved by all who knew him.
There have been several fonts in the history of this much-altered church; fonts that have occupied various sites, from the west end to the central site below the tower. The present font, of Hopton stone, stands by the south door on a mosaic pavement. A marble plaque on the wall above is inscribed: ‘Ellen Louisa Jones, who for 13 yrs. was as a mother to the girls of the Orphanage of Pity in this town and died 27 May 1884 – placed by her brothers and sisters and dedicated by Lord Bishop of Salisbury 21 Feb. 1889.’
THE HALLIDAY PEW
In these days of free seating in churches, it is hard to imagine the conditions in the “good old days’ of pew rents and other rackets. According to Daniell, there was a scandalous traffic in sittings and pews in Warminster Church soon after the Reformation. Whole pews and single seats were bought, sold, left by will, leased and sub-leased, let and sub-let, by their proprietors, and even parcels of the very soil within the church were sold for the erection of such seats as the purchaser wished. The poor were thus driven into the dark seats beneath the galleries and, as a body, were virtually excluded from the church. This amazing system led to the famous Halliday case when the church was restored and re-seated in 1889; the “horse-box’ pew of the Halliday family was removed with the rest, but the owner claimed his right to the ground on which the pew had stood for so many years.
The freehold of this site was purchased in 1680, an entry in the Church Vestry Accounts reading: “Received of Mr. Edward Halliday for ye ground whereon hee has bilt a seat for his wife and family, 5/-.” The current Mr. Halliday commenced an action against the Vicar and Churchwardens in the High Court Of Justice, but the Vicar won; an appeal was made and the decision reversed, then the case went to the House Of Lords and the decision was upheld, the pew being repaired and fixed in its former position in the south chancel aisle.
A newspaper report describes how, at 10.00 a.m. on the first Monday in March 1897, “the ugly old pew was conveyed from his house, where it had been carefully preserved, to the Minster, on a trolley borrowed by Mr. Button from Mr. Titt, (both of whom deny having any knowledge of the intended use of the truck). The pew is old-fashioned, five feet high, resembling in shape a cattle truck.” A month later, the pew was removed by dead of night, thrown over the churchyard wall, smashed to pieces and partially burnt but was again repaired and remained in the Minster until 1914, when Mr. Halliday’s widow expressed a desire to see all the rights pertaining to the pew restored to the Minster. The Trustees of the Baptist Church at the same time surrendered their reversionary interest in the pew.
There was an amusing sequel to the attempted destruction of the Halliday Pew, foiled only because of rain damping the paraffin with which it was soaked; on the Saturday night a donkey was paraded along the Market Place by a juvenile. The donkey wore a white hat, a large pair of spectacles, coloured ribbons on its legs, and carried a large placard executed in red ink: ‘Looking for the Pew Shifter.’ This happened in April 1897; by the end of July the pew, banded with iron, was back in church.