medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Plenty of bequests for road maintenance before the Reformation as well. Some can be tied into pilgrimage routes but most can't.
Maddy
Dr Madeleine Gray PhD, FRHistS, FSA
Reader in Church History/ Darllenydd mewn Hanes yr Eglwys
School of Humanities and Social Sciences /Ysgol Ddyniaethau a Gwyddoniaethau Cymdeithasol
University of South Wales/Prifysgol De Cymru
Caerleon Campus/Campws Caerllion,
Newport/Casnewydd NP18 3QT Tel: +44 (0)1633.432675
http://www.southwales.ac.uk
http://twitter.com/penrhyspilgrim
http://twitter.com/HeritageUSW
http://twitter.com/USWHistory
'[S]he that is down need fear no fall
[S]he that is low no pride'
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From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Graham Jones [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2014 10:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] St Nicholas
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
John's cautionary words are well made. Having now read through W. H. R. Jones' history, it seems that he associated the structure with a chantry of St Nicholas in the parish church - but I didn't notice how he made the connection. Maybe I missed it. Like other parishes throughout England, Bradford on Avon had late medieval devotions both to Nicholas and his female counterpart Catherine.
A quick look at the Wiki article on 'Village lock-ups' strengthens the feeling that what is seen today at Bradford is indeed a lock-up of the seventeenth or eighteenth century. And yet... I've seen no others incorporated into a bridge. Trowbridge's, offered locally as the alter ego of Bradford's, is in fact on 'dry land' at one end of the town bridge. Most lock-ups, though secure, look pretty low-key. Early modern lawmakers were not known for over-spending on prisons, least of all the overnight variety. It's hard to imagine Bradford or the county of Wiltshire - the two were in contention in the seventeenth century over who should repair the town's bridge - going to the trouble and expense of building a lock-up on a specially constructed extension of one of the bridge piers. What would be the point?
They might well, however, have commandeered, and rebuilt as necessary, an existing structure. If I were a betting man, I'd go along with John Aubrey's report of a chapel.
Though a matter of immediately local interest, Anne's query has nevertheless drawn attention to several wider themes. One is papal indulgences for 'good works' which including the building of bridges and roads. The pope called for donations towards the repair of Bradford bridge in 1400. I used to wonder why bequests immediately after the Reformation so often benefitted road repairs when previously they had been made to altars and chantries and the like, but of course this was one of the many areas in which the medieval church did essential social service. Perhaps the endowment of a priest to serve at Bradford's chantry of St Nicholas not long afterwards in 1420 led Jones to make the link between saint and bridge.
Incidentally, the VCH article John mentions also details a rare late survival of church-scot, an English variety of local ecclesiastical taxation. Worth a look for those who may be interested.
Graham
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From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of John Dillon [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 07 June 2014 18:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] St Nicholas
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The wording of Anne's original query suggests greater caution on her part regarding the structure's original dedication than is evident in the page from the St Nicholas Center in Bari cited by Jane below. Such caution seems perfectly appropriate.
The nineteenth-century historian of Bradford on Avon, W. H. Rich Jones, is reported here <http://www.freshford.com/bridge_bradford.htm> as saying, "Concerning the dedication of the Bridge Chapel we have no authentic information at present." Jones' early twentieth-century successor as a local historian, John Beddoe, has nothing to add on that particular score (the discussion of the chapel linked to just above is taken from his annotated edition of Jones' _Bradford-on-Avon: A History and Description [Bradford on Avon: Wm. Dotesio, the Library Press, 1907] and the matter in brackets is his).
The English Heritage data sheet on the Town Bridge and Chapel is likewise silent about any dedication <http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1036011>. The discussion in vol. 7 of the Victoria county history of Wiltshire observes, in the paragraph beginning "Bradford's name", that apart from a statement by the seventeenth-century antiquary John Aubrey there is "no evidence that the building was ever used for religious purposes" <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=115456>
Similarly suspect the St Nicholas Center's assertion that "The gudgeon (fish) on the weather vane is a Christian symbol dating from the time of the chapel" (<https://www.stnicholascenter.org/galleries/gazetteer/4219/>), whatever "the time of the chapel" may mean (here probably medieval but on another page the St Nicholas Center seems to think that the building is still a chapel and a Roman Catholic one at that; see <https://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/gazetteer/?category_id=16&p=4&n=29>). Beddoe, seemingly followed by English Heritage, thought the vane to be sixteenth-century work. The VCH is rather less positive: "The antiquity of the weather-vane is uncertain. It existed in 1858 but is not shown in an engraving that was probably made about 1800."
Best,
John Dillon
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