Herefordshire - Part 4: Leominster Priory and Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul (Exterior)

 

I was thrilled to finally get chance to see the Priory as I had wanted to visit for ages. A brief visit and we did spend more time walking round the exterior than inside.

A Celtic church was founded at Leominster ~660AD by a missionary St Edfrith from Lindisfarne and King Merewalh. It was the first great minster in Herefordshire and even pre-dates Hereford Cathedral.

Old legends speak of Edfrith converting the local king Merewalh to Christianity by working out the meaning of his dreams.

The church later became a Roman Benedictine monastery.

By 1100, according to a surviving prayer book written by a woman, the monastery had become a nunnery until it was "destroyed" by local war lords.

In 1125 King Henry I re-founded the Leominster Monastery and gave it to ReadingAbbey at which time it became a Priory.

Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid 16th century the estates of Leominster gave much wealth to Reading Abbey including profits from the local Ryland sheep which, at the time, provided the most valuable wool in Britain.

Initially, the local parishioners used the North Nave part of the monastic church to worship but as conflicts arose they built Forbury Chapel in Church Street to use instead (please see last blog post for photos).

But the burgesses were not happy with this arrangement and a new nave (south of the Norman nave) was built for parishioners to use.

In the 14th century the South Aisle in the Decorated Style was built.  The growing wealth of the town resulted in the West Tower and window being constructed in the 15th century.

The Dissolution meant that the monastery was disbanded in 1539 and the monastic parts of the church were destroyed. Fittings were sold and stained glass and statues were smashed.  (Henry VIII has a lot to answer for!!!!).

At the end of the 17th century in 1699 a bad fire occurred which destroyed the church's medieval art with just a few exceptions, for example, the Wheel of Life Wall painting.  The restored building was re-opened in 1705.

Most of the church survived through the centuries and George Gilbert Scott restored and re-ordered the church between 1862 and 1879.

This is something I will not be volunteering for!! You wouldn't even get me to the top of the tower!!

The parts of the church built in the "Decorated Style" are just covered in ballflower decoration. The Ballflower is a type of architectural decoration which resembles a ball enclosed in a globe-shaped 3 petalled flower.  It is different from most of the foliage decoration of the Decorated Period in that it is stylised and not carved on direct observation of real plants although there is a slight similarity to a globe flower or half opened rose bud.

The earliest recorded use of the decoration was in the West of England where it can be seen in the Chapter House of Wells Cathedral.  The Chapter House dates back to 1286 - c1306.  The idea then appeared at Hereford Cathedral and by the 1310's and 1320's the decoration was used in other sites in Herefordshire mainly at Leominster Priory.  It was used so extensively because of the idea of richness and encrustation it gave to a building.

The South Porch rebuilt in the early 14th century. It has tall slender shafts and stiff-leaf capitals and 3 trefoiled niches with the ballflower decoration.

The South or Parish Aisle is a showpiece of Herefordshire Decorated. There are five identical windows all tall and wide with four lights studded with ballflowers.  

I must admit I had one of those "wow" moments when I saw these - B was totally unmoved!!!

 

In the south transept part of the south wall on the north side there is an early 14th century tomb recess again with ball flower decoration.

Excavations by EA Freeman of this area in 1853 discovered a plan of the pilgrimage church which had been destroyed at the Dissolution.

The ballflowers here look to me like angry faces!!!

Looking back at the photos I am a bit confused as to where I took the next few but I think it may have been the exterior wall of the north aisle.

Unbelievably I almost missed the part of the Priory I most wanted to see the Herefordshire School of Romanesque carvings!  B had started to walk back towards the car park when I saw the  Norman West Front and said - sorry I just need another five minutes!

The 12th century West Door with carvings by the Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculpture.

The capitals by the School all have cable necking and the abaci are richly carved with saltire crosses, rows of beads and 8 pointed stars in square frames.

On the left hand side the capitals show two birds (doves?) entwined in foliage; two men dressed in ribbed suits, wearing round hats with concentric bands, cutting through foliage with their sickles and two serpents on the final capital with a large horn on their heads and gaping mouths. The serpents appear to be entwined in branches or foliage.

George Zarnecki suggested a connection with the Billesley tympanum (Warwickshire) - another place on the list of churches to visit! -  and interpreted the scenes as being two men pursued by evil serpents trying to escape by cutting their way through the foliage and then through the doves as symbols of purity.

The capitals on the right hand side include one with foliage (wheat?), two ferocious looking lions with large paws and heads and more foliage in the final one.

In the next post I will share some not very good photos of the interior - I had 10/15 minutes to dash round!

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera

Reference: Leominster Priory website Article on "Our History"

"The Buildings of England Herefordshire" (Pevsner) - latest edition.

"The Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculpture" by Malcolm Thurlby

"Decorated in Glory Church Building in Herefordshire in the Fourteenth Century" by Nigel Saul - Logaston Press