medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The earliest evidence of Christianity in the Bradford area is the early 4th
century baptistery excavated at the Roman Villa at St Lawrence School in
2003. See
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/archaeology-service/recent-a
rchaeological-finds/bradford-on-avon-roman-villa.htm . The villa seems to
have been the centre of a large estate.
There is currently no further evidence of Christianity in the area until the
foundation of a monastery by Aldhelm in the 7th century. Stonework in the
Saxon church has been dated to this time. The monastery may well have
developed into a Minster and then a large parish which approximately covered
the area of the Roman estate. There may have been a Saxon church on or near
the site of the present church.
I don't think Bradford was ever a 'priory' of Shaftesbury. Just a useful
and money spinning acquisition. Most of the manor was taken from the
nunnery at Winchester and given to Shaftesbury in 1001 AD.
Minster churches were a common arrangement in this part of the world. (I
believe that there is a theory that Minster churches share common ground
with Iron Age hill forts which certainly is the case here in Bradford.)
There was probably a church in the area of Holy Trinity which was probably
not the 7th/10th century Saxon church for which the town is noted.
John Blair notes that Minsters/monasteries were 'more like a Jarl's
household than a later medieval monastery'. It would have sheltered priests
who would have served the chapelries; Atworth, Broughton Gifford, Holt,
Limpley Stoke, Westwood and Winsley. Broughton Gifford became an independent
parish in the 13th century, (is there any connection with this and the
Shaftesbury take-over?) but rest remained chapels until the 19th century.
Most are still in the Bradford Deanery in the Diocese of Salisbury but
Limpley Stoke (which has some Saxon features)joined with Freshford and is
now in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.
I can see no reason why Bradford should have conformed to a French model.
Anne
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christopher
Crockett
Sent: 16 December 2011 16:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Can anyone help? [church services] [UNSCANNED]
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Anne Willis <[log in to unmask]>
> The church is Holy Trinity, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire which dates from
the
early 12th century. It was the mother church of a large area which
corresponds roughly to a Roman estate (the villa was on top of the hill on
the
site of the Iron Age settlement). There were at least seven chapelries...
>Although the manor of Bradford was owned by Shaftsbury Abbey the church did
not come into their hands until about 100 years after it was built...
i'm trying to translate this into what French practice might have been at
the
same time, without much sucess.
the church of Bradford was not a "priory" of Shaftsbury until the early 13th
c., yet it was the "mother church" to seven "chapelries."
i can't think of a French institutional analogy, unless the early Bradford
church was itself some sort of abbey, which would have "mothered" the 7
smaller chapelries [a term fist known to the OED in 1591, btw] and then was
taken over (with offspring) by the larger abbey of Shaftsbury.
to the best of my knowledge, there was no institutional framework in France
by
which a [freestanding, institutionally unaffiliated] "parish church" would
have had "daughters" --though larger priories (like, say, St.
Martin-des-Champs, a Parisian priory of Cluny, or St. Martin-au-Val near
Chartres, a major priory of Marmoutier of Tours) would certainly have
established "parish churches" on the _villae_ which it acquired/owned.
what really was going on in England?
c
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