User:Charles Allsopp/St. Leonard's, Newland, Worcestershire

History
The manor of Newland, Worcestershire, then a part of the great manor of Powick which was a fief of Westminster Abbey, was given to Great Malvern Priory by Gilbert, Abbot of Westminster (d.1117) and this was confirmed by King Henry I of England and by Pope Honorius III in 1217. In King Henry’s charter Newland was not mentioned by name, but Woodsfield and Limbarrow are, and illa nova assarta (‘that newly cleared land’) is taken to refer to it. The ‘new land’, being more cultivable than the slopes around the Priory, was presumably ‘assarted’ from the forest some time around 1100. Current owner lord charles allsopp and julie. The monks of the Priory established a grange at Newland, Worcestershire, probably the site of the present Grange Farm, and nearby they built a small chapel first mentioned by Pope Honorius in 1217. The chapel, which may have been rebuilt in the fourteenth century, was described as ‘an interesting timber and plaster building, rectangular in plan, measuring internally about 55 ft by 14ft, with north porch and a square bell-turret at the west and surmounted by a short broach spire’; it was dedicated to St Leonard, though some sources give it as St Michael. Throughout the medieval period it was taxed with the church of Great Malvern. Until the Dissolution a monk from the Priory said Mass alternately at Newland and at Woodsfied chapel in Powick, and in 1540 the stipendiary curate of Newland is mentioned among the monks of Great Malvern. An inventory carried out by order of Edward VI indicates that it had a surprisingly large supply of vestments and furnishings.

Before the Dissolution the Prior of Great Malvern granted the manor of Newland to his nephews William and John More, but they held it only till 1568. It then passed through at least five families till it was acquired by Earl Beauchamp in 1809. The advowson of the chapel was granted in 1554 to Lord Lumley along with that of Great Malvern, but since it was ‘a Chapelry and Perpetual Curacy’ of Great Malvern it was ultimately vested in the Vicar of Great Malvern. In 1608 there is mention of the Church House at Newland and, until 1960, at the south-east corner of Newland Green and close both to the Grange and the old chapel, there stood an old half-timbered cottage which belonged to the benefice and was known as the Old Vicarage Brian Smith, describing the chapel before it was demolished, writes: -

The walls were decorated with black-letter texts and the fittings included ten high-backed pews, the Norman font from old St Thomas’s, Great Malvern, and a fine late eighteenth-century three-decker pulpit and reading-desk, all dimly lit by the light filtering through minute windows. The roof had originally been thatched, and for some time the vestry on the north-west side had been used as a stable for the parson’s horse before the days of a resident incumbent. The south door was blocked about the turn of the eighteenth century and a porch added instead on the north side. Following. . . the growth of the congregation the vestry was taken into the church in about 1833. After St Matthias’s [Malvern Link] was built the little church was again hardly used, but in 1846 it was repaired by replacing the crumbling plaster with brick infilling.

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In the early eighteen-forties, Charlotte, the wealthy daughter of John Henry Scott, first Earl of Clonmell, and first wife of John Reginald Pyndar, the third Earl Beauchamp of Madresfield, formed a plan to found almshouses for retired workers on the Madresfield estate who had lost their tied cottages. She died in 1846, leaving her husband the large sum of sixty thousand pounds to carry out her intentions. He, in his will, left this sum to implement his wife's scheme, but this proved to be a protracted and frustrating process.

After the third Earl’s death in 1853 there were various legal delays and obstructions, and the effective life of what is now the Beauchamp Community began with an Order of the Court of Chancery dated 26 March 1859 sanctioning a ‘Scheme for the management of the Beauchamp Hospital at Newland, Worcestershire’.

One of the provisions of the scheme was that ‘for the purpose of procuring a place of Worship for the Almspeople’ the Trustees might purchase and procure to be vested in themselves the advowson of Newland and then ‘to repair and enlarge or rebuild. . . the Church of Newland, so as to make the same available as a Place of Worship for the Almspeople’. The Trustees were to appoint a priest to be Chaplain to the Almshouses, at an annual stipend not exceeding £200 a year, and this Chaplain Should read Prayers every Morning in the Chapel, and should perform there every Sunday Two full Services according to the Ritual of the Church of England (at One of which at least a Sermon be preached,) and should perform One full Service at least, with a Sermon, on every Christmas Day, Good Friday, Ascension Day, and Twenty-First November; and that he should also celebrate in the Chapel the Holy Communion on Twelve Days at least in each Year, of which Christmas Day, Easter Day, and Ascension Day should be Three.

The community should also include a Clerk, a Porter and a Matron, while the pensioners were to be ‘poor persons of good religion and moral character, and members of the Church of England, who have been engaged in agriculture, and have been reduced to poverty by sickness, misfortune or infirmity’. They must be at least 55 years old, and wives (who must be over 50) might reside with their husbands. They must regularly attend daily prayer in the church, and were to wear at church and outside the precincts ‘a distinctive dress to be provided at the expense of the charity’.

The Trustees soon discussed plans for acquiring the advowson of Newland so that a joint appointment might be made of Incumbent of the parish and Chaplain/Warden of the Almshouses. This proposal proved to lead into another legal quagmire which resulted on 20 August 1860 in The Beauchamp Charity Act – ‘An Act to enable the Trustees of Lord Beauchamp’s Charity to purchase the Right of Nomination to the Chapelry of Newland in the County of Worcester, and to vest in them the Site of the Church or Chapel of Newland’. Although the advowson of Newland was vested in the Vicar of Great Malvern, indirectly the patrons of Great Malvern had an interest in Newland and the Act provided for the Trustees to pay £700 to the Court of Chancery for the purchase of the advowson.

In 1860 Newland was separated from the parish of Great Malvern by the Trustees' purchase of the advowson (patronage) of Newland. This enabled them to make a joint appointment of Incumbant of Newland and Warden of the Beauchamp Community, as the almshouses were to be called. The Trustees also obtained permission to demolish the old chapel and replace it with a new parish church which was also to serve as the chapel to the new community.

In September 1860 the Building Committee, believing that the existing church would be too small to accommodate the almspeople, suggested that rather than rebuild the church on its present site, it would be much better to build a new church ‘suitable for its double character’ (as both parish church and also chapel of the Almshouses) on a new site adjoining the Almshouses, where it would be ‘readily accessible to the parishioners without entering the precincts of the Almshouses’. This too was approved by the Trustees and, since hitherto Newland parishioners had been buried at Great Malvern, they also discussed plans for the provision of a graveyard for the parish on the site of the old church (after its demolition) together with an adjoining piece of land to be given by Earl Beauchamp.

In 1861, on the recommendation of Dr. E. B. Pusey, the Rev. James Skinner was appointed as the first Vicar of Newland and Warden of the Beauchamp Community.

On 22 October 1862 the Bishop of Worcester consecrated the new graveyard and Countess Beauchamp laid the foundation stone of the Almshouses and the new church. Berrow’s Journal carried a full account of the occasion, but the writer deplored the planned demolition of the old church, ‘hoped that the interesting little structure will be reserved as there are but one or two other specimens of ancient timber churches of this kind in the diocese’ and asked ‘could it not be allowed to remain as a mortuary chapel?’

In January 1865 the Standing Committee were ‘requested to see to the removal of the Old Church, and the erection of a lych-gate [at the grave-yard] with old materials’. On 20th September, however, Lygon wrote to Skinner,

Mr Hopkins came over today, and after some consultation it appeared that the best way of dealing with the old church would be to move the chancel against the temporary cloister and make it good for a Dead House. This would cost little more than the Lych-gate, and would give us something we really want instead of a merely ornamental appendage. There would remain material enough for a lych-gate, and perhaps the old porch might be adapted to some such use.

This suggestion was put to the Trustees, and on 9th November of that year they resolved ‘that in lieu of the lych-gate to the burial ground a Dead House be erected out of the materials of the chancel of the Old Church’.

The old church was duly demolished in 1866, and some of its materials were used as agreed for the Dead House, later known as the Mortuary Chapel and now as the Cloister Chapel. At the same time a large stone cross (still prominent in the graveyard) was erected on its site. This was designed by James Skinner and made by Forsyth of Worcester. The Latin inscription translated reads

To God, the best and greatest, our Saviour, who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross. As a sacred memorial of the Chapel of St Leonard, Newland, since the 14th century still standing but lately pulled down, upon whose altar here the priests of Newland during five centuries were wont to celebrate the Holy Mysteries; of them the last and least J.S. dedicated this cross. Erected by the munificence of the faithful AD 1866.

Current Buildings
The church of St. Leonard, Newland, was consecrated in 1864. The cost of the building and fittings was £5,010.17.10, but the wall paintings and stained glass windows were added gradually during the next twenty years as gifts from individual benefactors. There have been very few changes over the past century and a half. The paintwork has been cleaned only once in the nineteen-sixies. A small brass plate was placed on the south side of the chancel arch commemorating the war dead of the parish, presumably in the nineteen twenties. The altar rails were replaced, although there is no reason why, and are inscribed with the date 1948.

Matron's House and Oriel Window
The house joined to the west end of the church which is now the Chaplain's House, was formerly the Matron's House and Infirmary.

The canted and gabled orial window, which opens into the church on the south side of the west wall, enabled bed-ridden pensioners to participate in the services.

Parish reorganisation and change of status
In 1981, the three ecclesiastical parishes of Guarlford, Madresfield and Newland, Worcestershire were linked and put under the care of one priest in charge.

Then, in 1999, the three parishes were united to form a single parish with one parochial church council and two parish churches - St. Mary's, Guarlford, and St. Mary's, Madresfield. At the same time, this new parish was linked with the parish of Powick with Callow End to form the Benefice of Powick, Guarlford and Madresfield with Newland all under the care of one incumbant.

So, the former parish church of St. Leonard's, Newland, was made redundant and became and ecclesiastical pecular.

Traditionally, an ecclesiastical peculiar was a church outside the normal diocesan structure. For instance a university chapel would belong to the university rather than the diocese; a royal chapel to the king, etc.

As a term of ecclesiastical law, peculiar was applied to those ecclesiastical parishes, chapels or churches in England which were outside the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese in which they were situated, and which were subject to a jurisdiction peculiar to themselves. They were introduced originally, in many cases by papal authority, in order to limit the powers of the bishop in his diocese. The jurisdiction and privileges of the peculiars were abolished by statutory powers in the early to mid 19th century.

Although St. Leonard’s, Newland, is technically not an ecclesiastical peculiar, the term is very apt as the church is no longer part of the joint benefice with a parish of its own but is administered and cared for by the trustees of the Beauchamp Community and serves as its chapel.

Architecture
The Church of St. Leonard was built in the early French Gothic style by Philip Charles Hardwick (1822-92).

The entire church is decorated with an impressive series of murals executed in the Thomas Gambier Parry style of painting known as Spirit Fresco. The whole scheme of murals, devised by the first Vicar/Warden of the Beauchamp Community, James Skinner, were executed by Alfred Bell of Clayton & Bell.

The side windows in the nave and chancel were designed by Clayton & Bell, the east window by Hardman of Birmingham, and the west window by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake. It is not known who designed the windows in the side aisle.

The elaborate floor is encaustic tiling supplied by Godwin of Lugwardine, Hereford, and has marble insets in the choir aisle.

The gilt decoration on the roof rafters includes broken fetters - the emblem of St. Leonard, the patron saint of prisoners.

North Wall, Upper
Miracles - the Marriage at Cana, the Feeding of the Five Thousand, the Raising of Lazarus.

North Wall Lower
The Corporal works of Mercy - almsgiving, feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, taking in strangers, visiting the sick, consoling prisoners and burying the dead.

Over the Chancel Arch
The Last Judgment - Christ in Majesty is flanked by the Archangels Gabriel and Michael, with the twelve apostles throned. Below them on the left St. Peter beckons forward the souls of the recently dead. (As originally executed, the tormented expressions of the rejected caused much distress to worshipers, and when the fresco had to be repainted due to water damage soon after its completion. Skinner took the opportunity to tone them down to represent 'consciousness of thier loss - misery, lonliness and despair) Below the springing of the arch on the left-hand side stands the Blessed Virgin with a lily, and on the right Eve, breaking in her hands the Tree of Life. This fresco in its present form was executed by Frederick Preedy, the architect of Madresfield church.

South Wall Upper
Parables - the Good Samaritan, the Great Supper, the Talents, the Pharisee and the Publican.

South Wall Lower
The Beatitudes - The persecuted (St. Stephen), the peacemakers (Esther and King Ahasuerus), the pure in heart (the Annunciation), the merciful (Pharaoh's daughter rescuing the infant Moses), the meek (Jacob before Isaac), the mourners (Mary Magdalene), the poor in spirit (the boy David in the sheepfold).

West Wall Left of the Oriel Window
SS James and Leonard

West Wall Below the Oriel Window
The healing of the sick man let down through the roof.

West Wall Right of the Window Upper
The healing at the pool of Bethesda

West Wall Right of the Window Lower
The parable of the wise and foolish virgins.

North Wall Upper
The entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

North Wall Lower
Five Virgin Martyrs - Saints Dorothea, Margaret, Agnes, Catherine, Barbara and St. Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely.

East Wall Left
The Resurrection

East Wall Right
The Ascension

South Wall above the arches
The Nativity and the Visit of the Magi

South Wall, undersides of the arches
Six doctors of the Church - Gregory, Augustine, Ambrose, Athanasius, Basil and Chrystostom.

North Wall
(i) Old Testament Leaders - Moses and David, Samuel and Elijah (ii) Old Testament prophets - Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.

South Wall
The twelve Apostles, each bearing his emblem and a scroll with a clause from the Apostles' Creed.

West Wall
Scenes and symbols associated with baptism.

North Wall of the Chancel
(i) Simeon and Anna (the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. (ii) Elizabeth, mother of John the Baprist, and the Blessed Virgin (the visitation). (iii) St. Leonard, with (below) St. Anne teaching her daughter, the Blessed Virgin, to read.

East Window
By John Hardman of Birmingham, this window depicts the vision from the Book of Revelation of Christ enthroned, surrounded by the twenty-four elders.

This window was given by Catherine, second wide of the third Earl Beauchamp, in memory of her husband. He is shown at the foot of the central light, with the Beauchamp Arms. On the left is his patron, St. John the Evangelist, and on the right is St. Catherine, patron of the donor.

(In the original design, the tracery lights were to be filled with Beauchamp heraldry. Skinner took strong exception to this, writing [It is] my most earnest hope that Lady Beauchamp will not insist upon so much heraldic development in juxtaposition with so utterly unearthly a subject as the Court of Heaven.... Surely the geometrical tracery over such an unspeakably sacred picture as Our Lord in Majesty should be filled with Angelic Faces, and every token of Earth should be avoided there. Lady Beauchamp pacifically agreed to remove the poor Bear and the Hemp-Breaker [the family crests of the Beauchamps and the Brayes - her family] from the tracery, and the window is as Skinner desired, with the heraldry at the foot of the lights, and the angel-host above.)

Reredos and Sedilia
The reredos, carved by Boulton of Cheltenham, was originally of plain stone. The colouring was added in 1928 - the inspiration of the then Warden (Maurice Bell) and the Organist (A. T. Shaw - head of music and art at the Grammar School, Worcester). It is believed that the overpainting of the lower part of the chancel with blue paint may have been done at the same time as the reredos.

The elaborate and exquisite sedilia on the south wall of the sanctuary is highly decorated with gilded short crocketed pinacles and gilded angels with trumpets to each seat which are panelled with alabaster and marble separated by slender marble columns.

Pulpit and Screen details
The pulpit is circular, of Bath stone highly decorated with inset marble columns and alabaster panel and capping stone by Forsyth of Worcester. The stone chancel screen has sunken panels depicting the four virtues Temperantia (temperance), Iusticia (justice), Prudentia (prudence) and Fortitudo (fortitude). Wrought iron gates separate the stonework which has guilded and painted wrought-iron cresting made by Coventry metalworking firm of Skidmore & Co. in 1864. The gates and cresting are a mixture of wrought and cast iron with inset semi-precious stones and foliage.

Details of the Medieaval Font
The Romanesque font dates from the 12th century. It is early English cylindrical red sandstone, decorated with a dog-tooth (chip-carved star ornament) pattern around the top. It is set on a short pink marble column and black-and-white marble platform by Hardwick.

Originally the font belonged to the parish church St. Thomas, Great Malvern. It was given to Newland in 1541 when St. Thomas's church was demolished and Great Malvern Priory was purchased from the Crown to become the parish church. At that time, St. Thomas's was a dilapidated wooden building sighted where the present Post Office is.

The South Aisle
The most beautiful aspect of the church is the arcade with four marble pillars between the chancel and the south aisle. The pillars are of 'Levantine' marble in three shades, with deeply-carved capitals of Staffordhire alabaster. (Before building was started, the Trustees, in an attempt to economise, suggested substituting deal for oak in the chancel furnishings, and Bath stone columns in place of marble. This was vigorously and successfully resisted by Skinner, who wrote I exceedingly regret that economy should show iteself in this direction, for it is hardly possible to exaggerate the appearance of poverty and meanness which it will impose upon that part of the Church which ought to stand out from the other parts with the mark of beauty and magnificence upon it. The builders' account contains a contingent item - For marble columns, etc. £211.00.00)

Sacristy
The south side of the aisle is taken up by the sacristy. When the old chapel of St. Leonard was demolished in 1865, the small boarded and panelled chancel ceiling of the old church which is of oak and 16th-century in origin was re-erected to form the roof and ceiling of the sacristy of the new church. The sacristy is furnished in oak with built-in wardrobes with linen-fold panels, a multi-draw vestment chest and marble sink for washing the sacred vessels.

On the west wall of the south aisle is a large memorial to the founder, John, 3rd Earl Beauchamp. Made by Hardmans of Birmingham in 1853. It is of richly enamelled heraldry on brass with mild steel inserts cut and enamelled in red black and pastel blue. It is set into a slate surround.

The memorial was originally in Madresfield church prior to St. Leonard's being built.

The Organ
To the east of the aisle is the organ, built in 1864 by John Nicholson of Palace Yard, Worcester. It has been cleaned and overhauled several times. In 2009 the organ was completely refurbished by Trevor Tipple of Worcester through the bequest of the late Pamela Bulmer of Pyndar court. The case is in oak with linenfold panels and the front diapason pipes are highly decorated with the bourdon pipes decorated with the text of the Te Deum.

The Specification of the Organ is as follows:-

Great Organ

 * 8 Open Diapason
 * 8 Stopped Diapason Treble
 * 8 Stopped Diapason Bass (bottom octave)
 * 8 Dulciana
 * 4 Principal
 * 4 Stopped Flute
 * 2 Fifteenth

Swell Organ

 * 8 Open Diapason
 * 8 Stopped Dipason
 * 8 Viol de Gamba
 * 4 Principal
 * 15.19.22 Three-rank Mixture
 * 8 Trumpet

Pedal Organ

 * 16 Bourdon
 * 16 Fagotto
 * 8 Fagotto

Three Combination Pedals to the Great Organ. Balanced Swell Pedal. Tracker action throught the instrument. The Fagotto, which was added in 2009, has electric action.

The Belfry
The south aisle leads through the south door to the cloister via a square vaulted lobby underneath the short steeple which is decorated with elongated bell openings capped by a short crocketed spire. There are two bells: one is c.1350 and bears the inscription in Lombardic (extinct German) letters Scii Thessiliay. This is the Latin form of Tesiliah or Tyssilio, who succeeded St. Asaph, and whose dedication extends over Wales; the other is a modern bell contemporary with the church, cast in 1864 by G. Mears & Co. of London.

Organists
1864 - Mr G. Edgcumb -  Schoolmaster, Organist and Choirmaster

1897 - 1908 - Dr. E.T.Cooke -  An articled pupil of Sir Ivor Atkins, organist of Worcester Cathedral, Dr. Cooke resigned his postition at Newland to became organist of Southwark Cathedral.

1908 - 1911 - Mr T.F.Bye -  Young Mr Bye, aged 11, had been a chorister at Newland since 1904. He became organist before going on to Oxford.

1911 - 1919 - Claude Biggs -  Claude Biggs combined the post of organist here with a professional appointment at the Royal College of Music. From Newland he became Director of Music at Radley. After spending time in Canada he took an appointment at the Irish Academy in Dublin until his appointment as Professor of Music at the Royal College of Music in Manchester.

1919 - 1921 - Ronald Biggs - Ronald Biggs, brother of Claude, combined the post of organist with teaching at Malvern College prior to his moving to the BBC.

1921 - 1981 - A.T. (Bertie) Shaw - Mr Shaw combined his role as Organist and Choirmaster at Newland with his position as Director of Music and Art Master at the Royal Grammar School in Worcester. He was also Chairman of the Elgar Festivals and founder and Chairman of the Elgar Society.

Mr Shaw was educated at Chester Cathedral Choir School and Chester School of Art. During the first world war, he joined the Royal Flying Corps and was for two years and instructor at the School of Military Aeronautics in Egypt.

The Choir School finally closed in 1944.

1981 - Gordon Barnes 1987 - Mary Overton 1994 - Alan Gilbert

2001 - Charles Allsopp - became Organist and Choirmaster at Newland in 2001.

Closure
The Choir School finally closed in 1944.

Cloister
The Cloister, built in 1876, forms the east range of the quadrangle of the Beauchamp Community and connects the south door of the church to the large Warden's Lodge. The cloister provides access to the medieaval chapel which is used for all the daily eucharists, the Newland Theological Library and toilet facilities.

Medieaval Chapel
The chapel is probably 14th century having been repaired or rebuilt around the 12th century chapel mentioned earlier.

Theological Library
The Newland Theological Library was built in 1910 by C. F. Whitcombe. There are glass-fronted book cases housing some 2,500 books dating from the 15th to 19th centuries. Down each side and above the book cases are high-set but shallow mullioned windows. The library has a deep plaster compartment ceiling. There is evidence of original gas lighting but all lighting now is electric.

Both the cloister and the library were paid for by Rev. George Cosby White, the wealthy second Vicar/Warden who was formerly the Vicar of St. Barnabas, Pimlico, and the founder and chairman of the committee of Hymns Ancient and Modern. It was at this latter vicarage that the committee met first of all in 1857. He resigned as Chairman of the committee of Hymns Ancient & Modern in 1904 due to old age. He made further endowments for the Beauchamp Community.

Vicar Wardens and Chaplains

 * 1864 James Skinner
 * 1880 George Cosby White
 * 1990 Brian Burr
 * 1999 Dr Mark Dalby
 * 2005 Roger Watson

Worship
There is a Chaplain to the Beauchamp Community assisted by other retired resident priests.

The ancient traditions of Christian worship within the Church of England combined with an appreciation of the importance of prayer inspires all of the services at St. Leonard's from a quiet weekday Mass in the Cloister Chapel to the full splendour of the Sung Eucharist on Sunday morning.

The chaplain and priests remain committed to preaching the Word of God and administering His Sacraments to all who desire them.

Photographs
The Font