The best survey of this subject is probably Nicholas Orme's 'English
Church Dedications, with a survey of Cornwall and Devon'. University of
Exeter Press, 1996. Orme considers the way in which many church
dedications were lost during and after the Reformation, and also some of
the attempts - sometimes badly mangled - to re-identify dedications in
the 19th and 20th centuries. He also provides a detailed survey, soundly
based on the evidence, of dedications in Devon & Cornwall.


Stuart Raymond, Genealogical Bibliographer, Publisher & Bookseller
P.O.Box 35, Exeter, EX1 3YZ, U.K.  [log in to unmask]
Ph.
(01392) 252193
Visit http://www.soft.net.uk/samjraymond/igb.htm for British
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-----Original Message-----
From: David Francis <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 13 February 2001 16:31
Subject: "Lost" church dedication


We know from the recently published cartularies of the local priory
that what was a village church (now a suburban one) on the edge of
Portsmouth was known as St Andrew's in the early thirteenth
century. It was substantially rebuilt in 1875, and the rector, writing
in his magazine at the time reports that someone has discovered
that the church's ancient dedication was to St Andrew, and he
proposed to use it for the rebuilt church - the name evidently having
fallen into disuse sometime in the intervening 650 years. There's no
tradition that it had a different patron saint in the interim - and the
rector in 1875 had been there over 50 years, having succeeded his
father - so the church seems to have been nameless for nearly a
hundred years, at least.
Is it common for the patron saint of a church to be apparently
forgotten? (I think celebrating patronal festivals only became
common towards the end of the nineteenth century). And is there a
class of document that might be readily accessible that would
enable a check on the use of the name of a patron saint to be
made?
Any comments/suggestions gratefully received.
David Francis
___________________________________________________
David Francis, Humanities Librarian,
University of Portsmouth Library,
Cambridge Road,
PORTSMOUTH
PO1 2ST
Tel: 02392 843243
Fax 02392 843233