Launch of The Friends of St Bridget’s Church, Bridestowe
1st December 2012
‘Is it absolutely necessary to appoint an architect? ... We have not the money to do it’, wrote the Reverend Charles Clarke, Rector of Bridestowe, in 1865, in an appeal to the Incorporated Church Building Society (ICBS), the agency responsible for distributing funding to churches seeking financial support for fabric projects. Clarke wanted to build a new vestry on the north side of the Chancel, to re-floor the Nave and tile the Chancel and to remove some box pews which, he said, ‘are so high that they are often hiding places for noisy children’.
Clarke’s protestations seemingly cut no ice with the ICBS, as John Haywood, an Exeter architect, was duly employed, and we see the results of that particular project around us today. [1]
Haywood later oversaw the re-roofing of the church, and in the century which followed subsequent rectors, vicars and architects oversaw various projects which shaped St Bridget’s as we see it today.
And it has always been so, this work of shaping and re-shaping the parish’s place of worship, since the first of (probably) three churches dedicated to St Bridget on this site was built way back as early as the 6th century. The second church was a Norman chapel, which the Reverend Coryndon Luxmore, Bridestowe’s Rector from 1786-1845, subsequently converted into a poorhouse - the archway which forms the gateway on Fore Street being the only remaining relic of that construction. By the time he did that, this particular building had been at the heart of the village for over 300 years. [2]
By our connection with the village of Bridestowe we find ourselves woven into this story of shaping and re-shaping of the parish church, of its creation and re-creation. The History and Guide of Bridestowe Parish Church published in 1990 by Kathleen Tudge ends with this comment:
In the past great efforts were made by villagers and others to restore and preserve St Bridget’s for future generations; it is hoped that we, our descendants and visitors will continue to support the church in the same way. [2]
I believe that you are here today because you feel the connection between yourself, the village and its parish church, and are willing to consider positively the plea heard so often over the centuries, stated by Kathleen Tudge and repeated by the current officers of the church here, and myself its Team Vicar, to play a part in the church’s maintenance and development. And I stand here keenly aware of being on the same ground as the Reverends Charles Clarke and Coryndon Luxmore, and so many others, to thank you for your interest and support.
St Bridget, or Bride, whose missionaries founded the church which gave this village its name, was, among other things, a weaver - hence the woven cross which is her special symbol.
In Bridget’s time, societies were held together by fragile threads, and weaving tools signified a key responsibility: that of weaving the precious webs of life and tending the bonds of community. Weavers were wise women whose advice was ignored at one’s peril. [3]
We might fancy that Bridget is still at work here, weaving us together in this new formation, the Friends of St Bridget’s, whose purpose is to financially support the upkeep of this building, but whose effects, I suspect, will be to play a special part in weaving the web and tending the bonds of this village community.
There is much work to be done here: urgent work to the roof, ceiling and internal walls, less urgent but highly desirable works of decoration and general maintenance, and wish-list projects which are still at an early stage of discussion including ideas about the installation of a toilet facility, a kitchen or catering area, and something which takes us back again to where we began, with Reverend Charles Clarke, ideas about enhancing the chancel area for the use of those who visit St Bridget’s on weekdays for private prayer, as well as those who meet here more regularly and could use that area creatively for smaller acts of prayer and worship.
I hope you will become a member of the Friends, and become part of the ongoing conversation about these things, helping them to come to fruition. I’m excited by the prospect of the formation of the Friends, and I look forward to our now carrying this forward together.
Notes
[1] Michael Weller, Gothic Revival in North-West Devon - Some Examples of Victorian Church Restoration. Part One, in The Devon Historian No. 66, April 2003, p.4-6.
[2] Kathleen M. Tudge, Bridestowe Parish Church, A History and Guide, 1990.
[3] Mary Condren, St Brigit: no better woman for the times we live in. The Irish Times, January 1, 2011.
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