APDL Eductation Resources

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Text File | 1995-06-04 | 7.9 KB | 303 lines

This disc contains the following files : !ArcFS !Fonts !System Genesis (load !Browser) These programmes should be loaded in this order. Then CLICK on file !Southease. !Southease was created using Genesis Plus. !Southease is a walk-through guide to Southease Church in East Sussex. !Southease is aimed at pupils in year 7, National Curriculum History, Key Stage 3, Study Unit 1, Medieval Realms : Britain 1066-1500. !Southease has been used in planning a school field-study visit to the church. The programme is far from perfect - and probably looks rather cluttered on screen at times - please feel free to change any aspects of the presentation. PERSONAL NOTE : I first visited Southease Church during the last week of August, 1994, armed with a copy of the Doomesday Book for the area. Doomesday records the following details about Southease : 'The Abbot of St Peter's of Winchester holds Southease. It was always in the monastery('s lands). Before 1066 it answered for 28 hides; now for 27 hides. Land for 28 ploughs. In lordship 1 plough. 46 villagers with 4 smallholders have 1 plough. A church; meadow, 130 acres. In Lewes 10 burgesses at 52d. From the villagers 38,500 herrings; for porpoises £4; for the villagers' fines £9; 3 packloads of peas. Total value before 1066 and later £20, now assessed at as much; however it pays £28.' The church is small but, with its setting, it is impressive. During my morning there I met and talked to a couple from the Orkneys who were on holiday in the area; a man walking the South Downs stopping of to explore the church; a group of lads doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme expedition, who were hiking through the area and exploring the local churches as part of their expedition project; a Swedish couple who were cycling and youth hosteling around the south. A busy morning for an 'out of the way' church ! IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE CHURCH..... ---------------------------------------------- 1) VISIT it ! The church can be found just outside Newhaven in East Sussex, on the west bank of the River Ouse. 2) BUY the GUIDE to the church. There are many interesting details in it, including : - in 966AD the Anglo-Saxon King Edgar issued a Charter (now in the British Museum) granting the church and manor to Hyde Abbey at Winchester. - the round tower of the church is one of only three in Sussex. - before 1150 the chancel was larger and there was a north and south aisle (you can still find evidence for this). - the church door is 14th century. - the porch is 16th century. - the font dates from the 12th century. - the Communion Table is Elizabethan and the Altar Rails are Jacobean. - one of the bells in the tower is amongst the oldest in Sussex. - there are faded wall paintings dating from the 13th century. - the organ was built in 1790. You will also find some interesting details in SUSSEX CHURCHES AND CHAPELS, by Beevers, Marks and Roles, Brighton Art Gallery and Museums Publication, ISBN 0 948723 11 4. E.G. - in recent years the dating of parish churches has had to be re-examined. The tower at Southease dates from the late 11th or early 12th century. It is not pre-1066. - the results of a 'stagnating economy and falling population can be seen in the loss of the side aisles at Southease'. - mid-17th century painted Biblical texts supported by cherubs can be seen at Southease. NOTES : CHANCEL - east end of a church set aside for use by the clergy and choir. NAVE - the main part of a church, west of the chancel, often flanked by aisles. Traditionally the people's part of a church. PISCINA - a basin with a drain for washing Mass or Communion vessels. It is traditionally set into the wall to the south of the altar (note what you find on the outside north wall at Southease). ROOD LOFT AND SCREEN - a screen separating the chancel from the nave and supporting the loft on which the rood or crucifix was placed. English Parish Churches (general notes). ----------------------- The original Anglo-Saxon parish church belonged to the local thegn or lord. He could build it - take it down - turn it to other uses - appoint the priest - the closeness of the manor house to the church shows the close relationship of the two (although not at Southease because it always belonged to the monastery at Winchester). The priest would very often be married - he had a duty to perform 7 services a day - although after the 11th century this was reduced to three. The financial basis of the parish was the tithe - one tenth of a persons produce had to be paid over (in cash or in kind) for the upkeep of the church. What we now call a church was not so called until as late as the 10th century. There are 3 kinds of churches : - the early diocesan cathedrals. - the monastic and collegiate churches. - the parish church owned by the lord. The parish church and the graveyard in which it was set was the centre of village life. (Saints Days and Feast Days,Church Ale, Births, Marriages and Deaths, Penance, Sanctuary.) Village notices posted in the porch and legal transactions carried out there. The vast number of parish churches built or enlarged by the Normans were designed not only for the accommodation of a growing population, but to accord with changes in ritual (Southease was not enlarged but reduced in size !). The new continental, more Roman clerics, brought in more ritual, better Latin, more colour, better chanting and singing. However : - priests remained married. - the life of the ordinary Anglo-Saxon cleric changed little under the early Normans. What had a big impact on the parish church, was the granting of parish churches to monasteries. By 1150 there were between 450 and 500 monasteries in England. From 1200 to the Black Death : - parishioners were responsible for the building, maintenance and enlargement of their churches. - secular activities continued to take place in churches. - no heating in churches until modern times. - the floors were strewn with rushes or bracken. - no seats. - always much noise during the service with people coming and going. In England, scores of parish churches were built on the same principal; the little 'axial' buildings, of aisle-less nave and chancel separated by a simple lantern tower in place of the oriental dome, represent the English architects' interpreation of the church-plan of the Holy Land. The popularity of the true cruciform plan for larger parish churches during the 12th and 13th centuries may also be traced to the Crusader influence. The parish church consists basically of a nave and sanctuary. A typical church plan - depends on when built - influence of continental styles. The medieval cathedral - a grander parish church - is in reality a copy of the monastic church of the period. Most parish churches were in the possession of the local lord who guarded its revenues carefully. e.g. -burial rights. - right to celebrate marriages. - baptismal rights. - right to take a tithe and other church taxes. The priest was an ecclesiastical vassal of the lord. In 1066 churches could be divided into : - chief minsters. - smaller minsters. - even smaller minsters where there was still a cemetery. - field churches. i.e. manorial churches. Very, very few 'free' churches. (These notes are taken from a variety of sources. e.g.Frank Barlow. The English Church. 1000-1066. Longmans. 1979. Smith, Cook and Hutton. English Parish Churches. Thames and Hudson. 1976.) ------------------------------------------------------ Please use the Genesis file CHURCH on disc 1 before using the !SOUTHEASE guide - the church should make more sense then ! I would be happy to hear from any teacher who uses computers in the teaching of history. Jim Fanning, History Department, Tideway School, Southdown Road, Newhaven, East Sussex. May 1995.