ST BOTOLPH’S CHURCH PART 2
Donald,
We welcome a new subscriber, Jill Brock from Fairport NY near Rochester. She was referred by long-time subscriber and contributor, Sandra Walcyk, a cousin of Jill.
Jill is a great great granddaughter of Anna Jerrems Kirkwood.
Enjoy.
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Introduction |
In Part 1 of this article I described St Botolph’s Church (which has a connection with the Jerrems family) and its location, concluding with a description of the Church’s tower which was possibly intended to serve as a lighthouse.
In this article I examine this possibility by looking at the history of lighthouses and talking about more of the Church’s history.
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My research on lighthouses |
Lighthouses have been constructed since early history, the most famous being the Pharos lighthouse, constructed by the ancient Greeks to show the way into Alexandria Harbour.
The Romans built a number of much more modest lighthouses to mark the entrances to ports, the most interesting being the quaint lighthouse at Dover which was later used as a watchtower.
(Editors note: Dover lighthouse picture in JJ Jan 2014: https://ui.constantcontact.com/rnavmap/tip/dispatcher?origImg=http://jerrems.com/images/2014/01Jan/07WhiteCliffsofDover.jpg)
A similar lighthouse at Bologne marked a popular trading route. These lighthouses were used to guide ships rather than warn against danger.
Interest in building lighthouses seemed to have waned somewhat in the Middle Ages. When England started building lighthouses in earnest in the 17th Century they were placed where they could warn shipping of dangerous headlands or reefs.
One of the most famous was Eddystone Lighthouse (see photo), which stands on a dangerous group of rocks in the English Channel. Its lantern is 133 feet (41 metres) above the water, less than half the height of St Botolph’s Church.
Since that time significant advances have been made in the use of large lenses (up to 8 feet high and 6 feet wide) to project the light beam long distances, the most powerful light being visible up to a distance of 30 miles. A light needed for this beam used a large amount of oil.
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Why have a lighthouse in Boston? |
Perhaps the answer comes from the approach route to Boston for mariners. The approach route to Boston for boats was from the east through The Wash, with its shifting sandbanks and shallow channels. The entrance to the Witham River would have been difficult to locate from The Wash.
There is also the aspect that the ship navigators relied mostly on navigating using the sun and stars, and visual information. Magnetic compasses were not refined to a usable form until the days of Columbus in the late 1400s.
Having a navigational feature like the tower could have been very useful. In addition, the tidal change at Boston is a very high thirteen feet, with the river being very shallow at low tide. This meant that boats would have needed to follow the tidal surge, with the option of doing this at night by using the beacon for assistance in navigation.
The tidal surge can be very high. In mid-December last year, thanks to the highest surge on the east coast of England for sixty years, the water rose to a depth of four feet around the church, with a depth of two feet inside the church. Three hundred houses in the town needed to be evacuated. Princess Anne is patron of the Church repair appeal.
It has been estimated that the beacon could be seen at night from a distance of at least 30 miles, but this would have been a mathematical calculation based on the height of the tower and the curvature of the earth. With the very limited technology available at the time the beam would not have achieved anything like this distance at night.
Perhaps there was an objective of public safety involved. People living within sight of the highly visible church would have found it easy to find the way home after imbibing at the local pub at night.
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Design of the Church |
The tower bears a strong resemblance to the tower of Antwerp’s majestic cathedral, which still dominates that city’s skyline. Built between 1352 and 1521 it was at the time one of the world’s tallest buildings.
Comparison of the construction dates of the Church tower and the Cathedral indicates that the Church tower predated the Cathedral tower.
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Finance for the Church |
The Church is stated on a website to have been founded by “Sir John Tilney and his lady, whose effigies are in the church”.
According to House of Commons records, the Tilney family was “an ancient and distinguished family which settled in East Anglia at the time of the Norman Conquest, and moved to Boston in, or before, the early 13th century.”
Parliamentary records refer to Sir Frederick Tilney of Boston, who owned a number of properties and held the post of Deputy Butler to the King. His son Frederick was “a leading member of the local mercantile community and had been active as a collector of customs on and off since 1351.” Another son, Sir Phillip, was a member of the House of Commons.
It seems to me to be likely that the Tilney family were the prime movers for the construction of the Church and provided at least some of the funds. It is difficult to imagine that the citizens of the town would have been able to raise the required amount from the equivalent at that time of modern-day chook raffles, bingo nights and sausage sizzles.
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Source of Stonework |
Stone for the Church.
Stone for the Church (oolitic limestone) was obtained from Barnack, near Stamford in Cambridgeshire. Many famous cathedrals and abbeys were built from this stone.Stone blocks from the quarry were hauled by sled to the River Welland, where they were loaded onto barges and taken down the river to The Wash, where a short trip took the barges to Boston. As the crow flies Boston is about 35 miles from Barnack, but the distance by river would have been at least twice as far.
I do not know how much stone was used, but I could safely assume that it would have built a thousand Australian dunnies (outside toilets).
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Connection with America |
The church had an early connection with America. An earlier minister (John Cotton) had served at the church from 1612 to 1632, eventually being sacked for his Puritan views. Famously he led the Puritans to the United States on the Mayflower, settling in Massachusetts in a town which became known as Boston.
Conclusion.
What an amazing church. And to think that it has a connection with the Jerrems family. In a later article I will describe other churches which have a “Jerrems” connection.