Tattershall Church
There are no indications existing at Tattershall of any earlier church than the present one, at least above ground—for foundations have been discovered beneath the south transept floor, which have no apparent connection with the church as it now is—except perhaps the font, which, as far as its base and stem is concerned, is of Decorated (i.e. fourteenth century) date. That there was an earlier church is certain for the following reasons. In 1323 Joan de Driby wished to assign, amongst other items, “the advowsons of the Church of the said Manor of Tatreshale, &c., to Gilbert de Bernak, parson of the Church of Tatishale,” &c. “The said church is worth twenty marks by the year.” Also on the choir steps is the brass of a former steward of Ralph, Lord Cromwell, i.e. Hugh de Gondeby, who died in 1411. And in the will of the founder, Ralph, Lord Cromwell (of whom there has been much to say in recording the history of the castle), dated 1451, it is directed that he was to be buried in the middle of the choir of Tattershall Collegiate Church, until the said church is rebuilt, and then to be removed and buried in the middle of the new church, but so that no impediment be placed in the way of going in or going out to those ministering around the divine offices in the aforesaid choir. And in Bishop Alnwick’s visitation of his cathedral in 1440[95] there is mention made of the erection of the parish church into a collegiate one by the Treasurer of England. The present building was, in part at least, erected by Ralph, third Lord Cromwell, as a collegiate church dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity. He obtained a licence from the Crown in 1439 to endow it for the support of seven priests, one of whom was to be the warden, six secular clerks, and six choristers, and he also founded almshouses for thirteen poor persons of either sex, to be under the supervision of the warden of the college. The chaplains were to maintain divine service perpetually, to pray for the King, alive or dead, and for the souls of the founder, and of his grandmother, Dame Matilda Cromwell.
In 1519 Bishop Atwater visited Tattershall, and remarked that the choristers were only taught to sing, whereas they ought also to be instructed in grammar, and he noticed that the chaplains were in the habit of dressing like laymen, so he ordered them in future to dress as priests, according to their statutes. The seal of the college represented the Trinity in a canopied niche, beneath being a shield of arms, Cromwell and Tattershall quarterly. The college was dissolved in 1545, and was granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the King’s brother-in-law, to whom the adjacent castle and manor had come in 1520. The buildings of this college, which were on the south side of the church, have disappeared. The almshouses, on the north side of the church, are probably on their original site.
The church, which is situated about eighty yards east of the castle, is a large and very spacious cruciform structure of stone (probably Ancaster, which has weathered well, and looks in many places as though it had been worked a year or two ago), consisting of nave, with aisles, choir, north and south transepts, a north porch, doorways in the west and north aisle of nave, south transept, and door in choir, and western tower. There have been cloisters on the south side of the choir to which this door gives entrance, and two porches corresponding to that existing on the north side, and the other at the south end of the south transept.
It is 180 feet long, the transepts together are 100 feet in length, the nave 60 feet wide, the chancel 26 feet, and the transepts 20 feet. Over the entrance to the north porch is a niche for a statue, below a handsome cross, and above a shield, with the coat of arms of William of Wainfleet, Bishop of Winchester, to whom some part of the architectural design of the castle has been attributed (he is supposed to have finished this church after the founder’s death), i.e. fusilly ermine and sable, and on a chief sable, three lilies slipped. Over the south porch was a similar shield according to Holles; in the windows above both porches was the inscription: “Orate pro anima Radulphi nuper domini de Cromwell et Tateshall, Thesaurarii Anglie et fundatoris hujus Collegii.” On the west side of the door of the north porch is a holy water stoup. Over the east window of the choir is another niche, probably for the Holy Trinity. The tower has a fine square-headed western doorway beneath a band of panels containing blank shields, a five-light window above, then a small square-headed light, and three-light belfry windows. The parapet is now plain, with crocketed angle pinnacles, which end, below the parapet, in double angular buttresses, a feature not uncommon in Perpendicular towers, but not much to be admired—especially here, as it makes the tower look rather low and squat. There is a staircase in the south-west angle of the tower, leading also on to the aisle roof. At the junction of the choir and south transept is a circular turret, in which is a staircase from the pulpitum or choir screen, up to the transept and nave roofs: it has been higher, and probably was used, as in so many other Lincolnshire churches, as a Sanctus bell-turret. The first great impression gained on entering the chancel is its exceeding lightsomeness, the window surface is very extensive, compared with the wall space, and unfortunately, except in the east window, all the coloured glass is gone. This came about in 1759, from the then Lord Fortescue giving the then Earl of Exeter the glass from the windows to put in St. Martin’s Church, Stamford,[96] on condition that the Tattershall windows should be glazed with plain glass. This condition was not observed for many years, and the interior of the church, particularly of the choir, suffered terribly from exposure and neglect. The windows of the nave and transepts, of four bays, are of good design, as is the clerestory range over nave and transepts, of three lights, but the north and south transept end windows are very fine, and of almost identical pattern with those in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, except that the latter have five bays, and Tattershall six, and at Tattershall, throughout all the windows, there is a complete absence of cusps.
“Pulpitum” of Tattershall Collegiate Church, from the East.
The small amount of painted glass that was left has been collected together in the east window of the choir, where can be recognised the Treasurer’s badge, and the shield of Tattershall, &c. A few remains exist of the stalls, which were dated 1424, in an inscription on them, and their stone quatrefoiled base (similar to that of the stalls in Lincoln Minster) is now placed in the nave. There are fine sedilia and a piscina in the south wall of the choir, and angels on the corbels of its roof, holding shields with instruments of the Passion on them. There are two interesting wooden pulpits, and a portion of a cornice of wood along the top of the wall in the nave above the south aisle windows. In the north transept are now carefully fixed the series of fine monumental brasses—one to Ralph, Lord Treasurer Cromwell (the founder of the church), and his wife; to William Moor, second Provost of the College; to Joan, Lady Cromwell; to Matilda, Lady Willoughby de Eresby; to another Provost of the College, possibly John Gyger; to William Symson, chaplain of Edward Hevyn, who was steward to the Countess of Richmond, and who founded a chantry in this transept, where is a piscina (as there is also in the south transept). A small brass to the memory of Hugh de Gondeby, 1411, is in the centre of the choir pavement. The fine and interesting choir screen and loft (pulpitum) is dealt with at length in another chapter by the writer.