English Villages

by P. H. Ditchfield

Driven out of England the ancient British Church found a refuge in the wilds of Wales and Cornwall, where it lived on and flourished vigorously, allied to the Churches of Ireland and Scotland, sending out missionaries to the Continent of Europe, having schools and colleges, monasteries, and numerous churches. Llancarvan, in Glamorganshire, was a celebrated seat of learning; and all places named Bangor, such as Bangor-Iscaed, St. Asaph, and many others, possessed schools and colleges. The village names of numerous places in Wales and Cornwall record the labours of many earnest, saintly men, who brought Christianity to the savage folk in these wild regions. There are nearly five hundred names of these holy men in Wales alone, whose memory is retained by this simple record; and Cornwall is dotted over with churches dedicated to men and women whose names are strange, and of whom we know nothing. History tells us of some of these early saints and martyrs, of St. Alban, the first British martyr, who was slain 303 A.D. during the Diocletian persecution in the city which bears his name; of St. David, a Welsh prince, who followed the active life of John the Baptist, and preached like him. The memory of early saints is enshrined in the names, St. Ives, St. Neots, St. Bees, and in St. Edmund’s Bury, named after St. Edmund, who was taken prisoner by Ingvar the Viking, and having been bound to a tree, was scourged, and served as a target for the arrows of the Danes, being afterwards beheaded. All these record the bravery and zeal of the holy men of old who loved their God, and for His sake feared not to die.

Nothing need be said of the conversion of the English. That is a story which has been often told. The scene is again changed. The temples of Woden and Thor at Canterbury and Godmundingham and elsewhere, with their heathen altars and shrines and idols, have been changed into Christian churches, and other houses of God have been raised in the various kingdoms; while Paulinus, Berinus, Aidan, Winfrid, and other preachers, travelled through the country, exhorting the people to accept the Christian faith.

Memorials of these early Christian missionaries remain in many a village churchyard. Often there stands near the village church an old stone cross, its steps worn away by the rains and frosts of thirteen centuries; its head has doubtless gone, broken off by the force of the gales, or by the wild rage of human passion and Puritanical iconoclastic zeal; but it preserves the memory of the first conversion of the Saxon villagers to Christianity, and was erected to mark the spot where the people assembled to hear the new preacher, and to consecrate it for this purpose.

In the life of St. Willibald we read that it was the custom of the Saxon nation, on the estates of some of their nobles or great men, to erect, not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God, beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common use of daily prayer. It is recorded also that St. Kentigern used to erect a cross in any place where he had converted the people, and where he had been staying for some time. Very probably the Saxon preacher would make use of the old open-air meeting-place, where the pagan villagers used to worship Woden; and thus the spots still used for public worship are in many cases the same which used to echo with the songs of Thor and the prayers of pagan Saxons.

These crosses were the rallying-points for Christian congregations before churches arose, and the bells in their turrets summoned the people to the service of God. In Somersetshire alone there are two hundred relics of the piety of our forefathers; and the North of England and Scotland are especially rich in crosses. No two are ever quite similar. Some are of simple design or character; but many have such beautiful carving and scrollwork that we are astonished at the skill of the workmen who, with very simple and rude tools, could produce such wonderful specimens of art.

The pagan Saxons worshipped stone pillars; so in order to wean them from their ignorant superstition, the Christian missionaries, such as St. Wilfrid, erected these stone crosses, and carved upon them the figures of the Saviour and His Apostles, displaying before the eyes of their hearers the story of the cross written in stone.

The North of England has very many examples of the zeal of these early preachers of the faith, and probably most of them were fashioned by the monks and followers of St. Wilfrid, who was Archbishop of York at the beginning of the eighth century.

When he travelled about his diocese a large body of monks and workmen attended him; and amongst these were the cutters in stone who made the crosses and erected them on the spots which Wilfrid consecrated to the worship of God.

The Whalley cross is earlier than the time of Wilfrid. It is one of the crosses of Paulinus, who was one of the priests sent by Pope Gregory to help Augustine in the work of converting the Saxons, and who became Archbishop of York. Under the shadow of this very cross Paulinus, who came to England in 601 A.D., preached nearly thirteen hundred years ago. Indeed an old monkish writer wished to represent that Augustine himself came to Whalley and erected the cross, which he calls “St. Augustine’s Cross”; but there is little doubt that Paulinus was the founder. In Puritan times this and other relics of early faith suffered badly, and was removed with two others from the churchyard, and used as a gatepost; but the spoiler repented, and restored it once more to its old resting-place.

But how did the founders learn to make such beautiful patterns and designs? St. Wilfrid had travelled much; he had been to Rome and seen the wonderful examples of Roman skill in the great city. The Romans had left behind them in England their beautiful pavements, rich in designs, with splendid borders of fine workmanship. These, doubtless, the monks copied on parchment in the writing-rooms of their monasteries, and gave their drawings to the monks in the stone-shed, who reproduced them in stone. The only tool they had to produce all this fine and delicate work was the pick, and this increases our wonder at the marvels they were able to accomplish.