The controversy over the church pulpit

There have been many alterations to the Abbey Church during its 900 years of history but not all have met with universal approval. Those responsible usually had the money to finance major changes and therefore called the tune but the result was not always accepted as being beneficial for this historic building.

One of the most controversial changes was to scrap the carved oak pulpit during the 19th century, a decision which rankled with many churchgoers at that time, and still has a resonance today although we have learned to live with the stone replacement.

The pulpit is the elevated platform from where the Sunday sermon is delivered to the congregation by the parson, introduced into our churches during the 14th century and since they are the focus for teaching, images of the four evangelists or the four Latin doctors are frequently found carved around them. Those built before the Reformation are usually of wood and recognisable by their perfect proportions but many were replaced during Victorian times and are therefore out of character with a country church. Stone pulpits however, date from 200 years earlier and are therefore fewer in number.

The former pulpit in the Abbey Church was probably constructed at the beginning of the 17th century and, as with others of this period, generally termed Jacobean and was exceedingly simple and pleasing in design and appearance. But it did not appeal to everyone and was particularly disliked by the parish’s principal benefactor, Robert Mason Mills, who was also a churchwarden.

Mills (1819-1904) was a wealthy man, a chemist who made his money from the aerated water business he founded to take advantage of the prolific artesian wells which were tapped around Bourne during the 19th century, and he was also a dedicated supporter of the church, providing vast sums of money for the upkeep and improvement of the building.

In 1883, the west end was restored practically at his expense, in memory of his wife Fanny who had died two years earlier on 10th September 1881 at the age of 58, and his generosity is marked by a plaque saying: "To record the restoration of the west end of this church by Robert Mason Mills of Bourne, this brass plate is placed by the congregation: 1883."

Four years later, he paid for three new stained glass windows to be installed in the south wall to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The centre window bears in each corner the inscription Victoria Jubilee with the date 1887 in the middle. He also completed the restoration of the nave in 1893, the chancel in 1903 together with the porch and south roof.

This has since been considered to be an error of judgment, perhaps influenced by the erroneous belief of the time that Norman churches had stone pulpits whereas they did not even exist in the 12th century and this pseudo-Norman copy was condemned as an anachronism by Charles Pask Matthews (1886-1956) in his history of the Abbey Church published soon after he retired after 25 years as headmaster of Bourne Grammar School. He was a regular worshipper and took a particular interest in the building and his short history which appeared in 1951, became so popular that it ran to five editions and remains the starting point today for historians researching the 12th century church.

It would appear however that Mills’ decision to proceed may also have caused dissent within his own family, notably with his son in law, Thomas Moore Baxter (1854-1920). He was a chemist who was engaged by Mills in 1878 to run his shop at No 1 West Street, subsequently marrying his employer’s only daughter, Emily, later becoming his business partner and then taking over the running of the company. He also became one of the town’s most prominent citizens and like his father in law, he was a staunch churchman and became vicar's warden at the Abbey Church in 1893, serving three incumbents for the next 27 years and from 1892, also acting as treasurer for the various restoration funds associated with the building.

He did not approve of the new pulpit but was unable to prevent the project from going through yet even when it was installed, he still had hopes that it might be removed and replaced with something like the original. When he died, he left a bequest of £100 in his will to the Abbey Church with the request that it be spent on a Jacobean oak pulpit, either an original or a reproduction, to replace the one that had been lost but although the money was received and the church architects, Traylen and Lenton of Stamford, instructed to provide a probable cost for the project, his wishes were not carried out and the stone pulpit remains intact.

Instead, his widow, Emily Baxter, intervened and realising that you could not turn back the clock, decided that the £100 should be spent to help finance the establishment of the lady chapel in the south aisle while she herself agreed to pay the balance “as a gift of love and gratitude”.

The chapel was duly installed in April 1921 and a bronze memorial plaque was fixed to the wall to remember the man whose gift had been the inspiration. During the dedication service, the vicar, Canon John Grinter, paid tribute to the loyal service Mr Baxter had given the church, not least during his 27 years as churchwarden, making special reference to his magnificent gift. He added: “Many of us here have wished that he could have been present during the past year to give us the advantage of his opinion in connection with the church.”

The vicar’s address made it quite clear that Baxter had become a man of stature in the church yet, ironically, his influence had come too late because he had been unable to prevent the removal of the oak pulpit which he so much admired thirty years before.

Time however may have changed our perception of the present stone pulpit which appears to be perfectly appropriate for its setting in the Abbey Church whereas the previous one had obviously become unsuitable for its purpose. It was small and cramped and anyone who takes the trouble to visit the 12th century church of St Mary the Virgin at Frampton to see it must agree that it would now be out of place and even incongruous in its previous surroundings and so perhaps Pask Matthews’ judgment was harsh and even misguided and that Mills did make the right decision after all but no doubt the argument will continue.

Furthermore, if the stone pulpit was "an anachronism", as described by Pask Matthews, then surely the oak pulpit installed in the 17th century was yet another disregard of time because pulpits were unknown when the church was built in 1138. In fact, we may also put several other artefacts into that category such as the pews which are a fairly modern invention, previous congregations standing or milling about, and the church clock particularly which is the perfect example yet the very phrase has entered the language and literature of our times and no ancient tower should be without one. There are many other illustrations which demonstrate that our churches change with the age and that which was considered to be out of place in centuries past is now an accepted part of them and to question their origins too closely may be considered to be fussy and hypercritical.

THE PULPITS PAST . . .

. . . AND PRESENT

Frampton parish church

REVISED APRIL 2013

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