St Wilfrid's Church

St.Wilfrid’s Church Scrooby

A Brief History

Malcolm Dolby 1987

The first reference to the existence of a church at Scrooby occurs in 1177—81, when it was listed as a Chapel-of-Ease to Sutton (cum Lound) within the foundation deed of the chapel of St. Mary and the Holy Angels in York. There is no trace of that building within the present fabric of the church, but by analogy with similar subsidiary chapels of that date, we may presume it to have been a simple two—celled (i.e. nave and chancel) in stone, probably with a bell—cote at the west end, as at neighbouring Austerfield. The earliest surviving fragment of the church is a carved capital of the Early English period (13th century), found several years ago in the churchyard and now within the church. This capital may have been removed from the church at the 1864 restoration, during which new capitals were carved and inserted. From the mid—10th century, the Archbishop of York was the major landholder in Scrooby, and in the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, Scrooby is described as a berewick or subsidiary manor to Sutton, in the tenure of the Archbishop. The rectors of Sutton were vicars of Scrooby throughout the medieval period, and indeed until a re—allocation of the benefice, linking Scrooby with Ranskill, took place in 1918. For much of this period, the tendency appears to have been to appoint a curate, often non—resident, to undertake the spiritual needs of Scrooby. As one would expect with a church so closely connected with the Archbishops of York, the dedication is to St. Wilfrid, a 7th century evangelising prelate of the see. However, the dedication to St. Wilfrid may be a post—medieval one, as in a document dated 1490, the church appears to have been dedicated to St. James.

In the late 14th century, the church was largely rebuilt, and a tower and spire of distinctive form were added to the west end of the building, in a style known as Early Perpendicular. In order to accommodate a short octagonal stone spire, the corners of the upper part of the tower were chamfered so as to alter the square plan to an octagon to take the base of the hollow spirea This distinctive design, attributed to an as yet unidentified group of York masons, is a simpler version of the church towers at Laughton-on-the Morthen and West Retford, and almost identical to the tower of the parish church of St. James at South Anston near Rotherham.

The church was enlarged in the early 16th century, when a south aisle and porch were added, the aisle being lit by large rectangular windows of Tudor style. By this time, nave, south aisle, porch and tower parapet were all battlemented. There is some evidence that the church once possessed a north aisle, since the early 18th century terriers (inventories of the church property and sources of income) refer to charges for burial in the north aisle as well as elsewhere in the church. The north wall of the church was totally rebuilt in 1864, and there is now no above ground evidence to prove the existence or otherwise of a north aisle.

When the historian, John Leland visited Scrooby in about 1540, he remarked “The Paroche church (was), not bigge, but very well buildid ex lapido polite quadrato” (out of stone neatly squared).

After the Reformation, in common with many small parish churches, and especially where there were non—resident incumbents, the fabric of the church was allowed to deteriorate. In 1731, following an Archdeacon visitation, the church floor was re-laid evenly and the pews repaired. At the same time the roof was repaired with wood and lead and the churchyard fence renewed with pales. Thereafter any repairs were undertaken on an intermittent basis, and in about 1800, when the church was visited by the organist, composer and historian Dr Edward Miller, he commented that I have not met with so dirty, so indecent a place for the performance of divine service as this building. It has exactly the appearance of an old barn, or lumber room. The chancel is chiefly the receptacle for logs of wood, old balks, fragments of stone, ladders, long brushes, never used, and all kinds of rubbish.

In 1817, and again in 1831, the church spire was damaged by lightning, in the latter case quite severely. Some reparations were made at the time, and a new organ was dedicated in 1847, but it was not until 1864 that a thorough restoration took place.

On the eve of the restoration, on 16th November 1861, the church was visited by Sir Stephen Glynne, and he has provided us with a graphic account of the exterior and interior of the building. He describes the pews as “Hideous and coming up quite to the altar — and there is a gallery with a small finger organ……… the woodwork of the inner door (of the south porch) has good ancient pannelling”.

In 1864, during the incumbency of the Rev. William Hurt, rector of Sutton, the church was restored in a scheme which cost in excess of £600. The gallery was removed, the church was re—roofed and re—pewed, the arcades were rebuilt, as was the north wall, virtually all the window surrounds and tracery were replaced, and the east window took on a Perpendicular style in contrast to its predecessor, which was a large rectangular Tudor style window similar in type to those in the south aisle. The pulpit was replaced, as was the plain octagonal—shaped late medieval font. The latter was removed to the grounds of Bawtry Hall, where it did service as a flower container for a number of years before crossing the Atlantic in 1881. It is now the baptismal font of the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ in Chicago. All this restoration was completed in time for the re—opening of the church on 29th July 1864.

Either at the restoration, or shortly afterwards, the small finger organ of 1847 was replaced by the Gray and Davison organ still in use. In 1889 the plain glass of the east window was removed, and the stained-glass memorial window was installed. In 1922, the vestry was created in the base of the tower by the insertion of a wooden screen, the credence table and altar rails date from 1936, and the litany desk from the following year. Repairs to the fabric took place in 1930, and again in 1936, when the spire was extensively restored. Recently, the interior has been re—carpeted following re—plastering and re—decoration.

 Within the church, there are relatively few items predating the Victorian restoration. The altar table is an oak table of the 16th or 17th century, the three benches, commonly known as the Brewster Pews are made up from bench ends of the 14th century backed by lengths of panel carved with the vine motif, which were probably once part of a late medieval chancel screen. Two further panels, similarly carved, separate the organ from the south aisle. The Bishop's sedilia is a carved oak armchair of the 17th century. Beneath the carpet in the south aisle, and no longer visible, lie three late medieval grave slabs, much of their detail erased by the passage of generations of feet. The tower is equipped with three bells, dating from 1611, 1649 and 1787. The bell frame is in disrepair, preventing the ringing of a peal.

The church registers of baptisms, marriages and burials date. only from 1695, thus making it impossible, even by consulting the Bishops' transcripts which extend entries back to 1629, to prove that the Pilgrim Father, William Brewtster, was actually baptised in the church. The church plate listed in the inventory compiled for the Archdeacon's visitation in 1731, viz. a flagon, a silver chalice and cover, and a plate for the offertory, have since disappeared, to be replaced by a set of plate of 1890 One pewter plate, of 18th. century date, does however survive. It is almost certainly too late in date to be the offertory plate mentioned in the 1731 inventory.

The list of curates is not a complete one, particularly during the medieval period. Scrooby’s first recorded curate, William de Blida, was probably documented for posterity only because he was accused of “incontinence with three women” at the time of his ejection in 1310. A group of successive curates, contemporary with William Brewster and spanning the period 1590 — 1607 were nonconforming clergy who figure extensively in the Act books of the Archdeaconry Court for clerical misdemeanours. Scrooby’s curate, Hugh Shawe, was, with others, accused in 1633, of playing bowls on the Sabbath. These clergy apart, all the other incumbents of Scrooby seemed to have led a faultless clerical life, only appearing in the records at the time of their appointment or resignation.

Malcolm Dolby

June 1987