Middleham Parish »
History of the Church
ST. ALKELDA
According to legend Alkelda was a Christian Saxon princess who was murdered by two Danish women in 800AD, a time when the Danes were ravaging Northumbria and destroying its holy places. The presence of Saxon crosses and grave covers in the neighbouring area suggests that Christianity was established here, but there is no direct evidence of any Christian building in Middleham. Near to the present church lays St. Alkelda’s Well, a spring which may have been a focal point for pre-Christian religious rites and where early Christians may have gathered to worship. The old English words ‘hal keld’ mean holy well, so the name Alkelda could have originated from this. However, by tradition St. Alkelda’s bones were buried under the South East part of the present church, and certainly human remains thought to be Saxon were found there during the nineteenth century church restoration. These were reburied where they were found near the most easterly pillar on the South side of the nave.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
The Danes parcelled out he land which they took from the Saxons, and at the time of the Norman Conquest Middleham and Spennithorne were held as one manor by the Dane Gilpatric. Under the Normans they formed part of the lands given by William I to his nephew Alan Rufus, first Earl of Richmond, and then passed to his brother Ribald. The Domesday Book mentions a church at Spennithorne but none at Middleham, so presumably none existed here in 1086.
MIDDLEHAM CASTLE AND THE EARLY CHURCH
Ribald’s grandson began to build the first stone castle at Middleham about 1170. It was usual for a church to be built near a castle, but the only piece of Norman stonework to be found in the present church is a fragment of chevron masonry in the exterior of the north wall, which has been presumed to be part of a window of an earlier church.
The earliest church plan known dates from 1280 and shows a nave, narrow aisles and a chancel. Also, in 1281 there is a reference to Mary of Middleham, the heiress to the castle, as patron of the church, and ten years later Middleham church is mentioned in a taxation document issued on the authority of the Pope – ‘ecclesia in Middleham’ – which suggests that the endowments were then sufficient to pay the demand made. A further document of 1310 says that the church was endowed with ‘ample glebe’.
MIDDLEHAM AND THE NEVILLES
In the mid-fourteenth century the Lord of Middleham was John Neville, also Lord or raby, a man renowned for building. In 1340 the church was enlarged by moving the South walls of the nave and chancel outwards and we still see much of the building work carried out at this time. The great days of Middleham under the Nevilles then began and in 1388 Richard II granted Middleham the right to hold a fair every year on the Feast of St. Alkelda, which was originally on October 25th but later changed to November 5th. The fair was one of the largest in the area and lasted for three days. There is also growing reference to the church in tax documents dated 1365 (Edward III) and 1389 (Richard II) and in grants of land.
When Joane, daughter of John of Gaunt and widow of Ralph de Neville, died in 1441 reference was made to the advowson of the church, which went together with the Lordship of the manor and the castle.
The next important step in the life of the church was in 1470 when Edward IV granted a licence to John Cartmell, a former Rector, to found a Chantry of Our Lady in the church to pray for the soul of the founder and all Christian souls. It was founded and endowed a few months later, forming the Eastern portion of the South aisle and extending more than half the depth of the choir.
Prior to this event the King’s brother, Richard of Gloucester, had spent some years in the 1460s in the household of his cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the greatest magnate in England – known as the Kingmaker – and Lord of Middleham, whose castle was his administrative headquarters in the North. After Warwick’s rebellion against Edward IV and his defeat at Barnet in 1471 his daughter Anne Neville became the wife of Richard of Gloucester, who by permission of the King inherited the Lordship of Middleham.
THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF MIDDLEHAM
In the late 1400’s, although still a very young man Richard of Gloucester (later to be Richard III) had made many benefactions to religious houses and parish churches. He decided to advance the parish church of Middleham by founding and incorporating a college there for a Dean and six secular priests. He was already in possession of the advowson of the church and rectory and in February 1477 Edward IV granted a licence for 'erecting the church at Middleham into a college'. The foundation would consist of the Dean, six chaplains, four clerks, a clerk sacristan and six choristers charged with offering perpetual Masses for the souls of the Yorkist royal family. To cover the expense Richard procured a clause in the licence to allow the new corporation to acquire land to the value of 200 marks yearly - notwithstanding any other acts or ordinances.
The college was not set up immediately as Richard had to draw up the statutes for its organisation in detail and seek confirmation from the Archbishop of York and the Archdeacon of Richmond, who controlled the religious administration of North Yorkshire. In January 1478 Commissioners met in the church and erected it into a collegiate church with a decree that it should be so for ever.
William Beverley, the Rector of Middleham, became its first Dean. In 1481 a new Archbishop of York confirmed the acts of his predecessor and totally and finally resigned his jurisdiction as Ordinary and Metropolitan over the church. In 1482 the Archdeacon of Richmond exempted the Dean, church and all inhabitants of Middleham from all ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Finally, on July 24th 1482, a Papal Bull proclaimed in Middleham church in the presence of the Abbots of Jervaulx, St. Mary's, York and Fountains, confirmed the Statutes. The College had greater privileges and was freer of outside authority than any other not under the direct patronage of the King. It was not, however, rich in spite of the fact that Richard had made endowments of lands and tithes in 1480. After Richard's accession to the throne in 1483 it became known as the King's College, Middleham - a title discarded after his defeat and death at Bosworth in 1485, although the college continued as before.
Gravestone of Robert Thornton, The 22nd Abbot of Jervaulx.
Under the Tudors Thomas Cromwell, under the sanction of Henry VIII as Head of the Church, licensed the Dean to grant probates of wills, decide ecclesiastical suits and exercise all the other privileges within his jurisdiction, thus confirming the power and exemptions enjoyed by the College. Couples could be married in the church without a licence or publication of banns, so that by the eighteenth century Middleham had become a kind of Gretna Green.
MORE MODERN TIMES
The chantry was closed in 1547 by Act of Parliament, but otherwise things continued much as before throughout the Reformation, with Deans performing their duties without fuss. Sometimes the Dean's authority was questioned, but the church remained a Royal Peculiar with ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the parish and exempt from all visitation except that of the Crown. The old stalls for the Dean and Canons remained and the church was furnished like a college chapel with seats running from East to West, but in the eighteenth century in the time of Dean Cotes they were all taken out, together with the Rood Screen, and the church was filled with square pews.
The seal of Dean Edward Place MA
1742-1754
By the nineteenth century the chapter had long fallen into disuse and. no appointments to the canonries had been made, although the church was still collegiate in name. In 1839 the Dean, Dr. Wood, attempted to reconstitute the chapter. He appointed six canons and brought back the cathedral form of service. One of the canons was Charles Kingsley, the author of Westward Ho! and The Water Babies. However, in 1845 by Act of Parliament the status of Middleham as a Royal Peculiar, free of all outside ecclesiastical jurisdiction was finally extinguished. In 1856 on the death of Dr. Wood the office of Dean lapsed, and his successor was appointed as Rector of the parish. The canons' stalls were unfilled as they fell vacant and Middleham became an ordinary parish church subject to the usual church authorities.
MIDDLEHAM JEWEL
At the back of the church is a replica of the 15thC jewel discovered in a field close to the Castle by a metal detecting enthusiast in 1985. The diamond-shaped pendant has a long oblong sapphire and an engraving of the Trinity on the front and of the Nativity on the reverse. It is probably a reliquary. The replica has been presented in memory of the Peacock family.
THE CHURCH TODAY
Middleham now forms part of a United benefice with Coverdale, East Witton and Thornton Steward. There are still four parish churches but one Incumbent is responsible for them all, and for the pastoral care of the scattered population of about 1600. Lay people take an active and vigorous part in all aspects of the church’s life, and there is a varied pattern of worship which includes both traditional and more modern elements. Family Services, children's work and involvement in our church school are very valued.