Churchbuilding at Biddenham and Bolney reconsidered
Churchbuilding at Biddenham and Bolney reconsidered
In a paper on the north aisle of St James, Biddenham, Bedfordshire, published in The Antiquaries Journal in 2015, in a related paper on the west tower of Bolney, West Sussex, and in a recent book, Church Building and Society in the Later Middle Ages, Gabriel Byng has questioned the typicality of church-rebuilding single-handedly directed and financed by wealthy individuals such as the Sussex knight Sir William de Etchingham. In a close study of Bolney and Biddenham, Byng argues instead that church-rebuilding 'was run and financed by comparatively wealthy groups of peasants or townsfolk'. The case rests on Byng's assessment of unusual surviving sources, a series of informal accounts for Bolney and a draft contract for Biddenham. This paper offers a rather different reading, and questions Byng's claim. The decisive role at both was played by the lords, John Bolney at Bolney, and Sir William Butler at Biddenham.
Church building, chapel, gentry, noblemen, parishioners, patronage, tower
252-259
Bernard, G.W.
86619262-dc67-4599-95ee-3f7929efd741
7 September 2022
Bernard, G.W.
86619262-dc67-4599-95ee-3f7929efd741
Abstract
In a paper on the north aisle of St James, Biddenham, Bedfordshire, published in The Antiquaries Journal in 2015, in a related paper on the west tower of Bolney, West Sussex, and in a recent book, Church Building and Society in the Later Middle Ages, Gabriel Byng has questioned the typicality of church-rebuilding single-handedly directed and financed by wealthy individuals such as the Sussex knight Sir William de Etchingham. In a close study of Bolney and Biddenham, Byng argues instead that church-rebuilding 'was run and financed by comparatively wealthy groups of peasants or townsfolk'. The case rests on Byng's assessment of unusual surviving sources, a series of informal accounts for Bolney and a draft contract for Biddenham. This paper offers a rather different reading, and questions Byng's claim. The decisive role at both was played by the lords, John Bolney at Bolney, and Sir William Butler at Biddenham.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 7 March 2022
Published date: 7 September 2022
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© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society of Antiquaries of London.
Keywords:
Church building, chapel, gentry, noblemen, parishioners, patronage, tower
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Local EPrints ID: 482932
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/482932
ISSN: 0003-5815
PURE UUID: 648b2ebe-cd65-4865-8404-e0c1fafde2d6
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Date deposited: 17 Oct 2023 16:48
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 18:08
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