Manners and customs; Rites and ceremonies -- Great Britain
Wimborne Minster, Dorset, boasts a dial which must not be missed. It is
dated 1732, and is to be found under the yew tree in the Minster yard,
though its original position was on the gable of the north transept. It is
of stone, 6 ft. in height; its south face is 4 ft. in width, and its east
and west faces 3 ft. respectively, each of which bears a gnomon--a
somewhat unusual feature.
A few miles from Canterbury, in Chilham churchyard, stands a beautiful
sundial, the graceful stone pedstal of which was designed by the famous
Inigo Jones.
Sundials have become well nigh useless owing to improved methods of
keeping time, but one loves to see these relics which link us to a past
which, with all its disadvantages, has many pleasant bye-paths for the men
of to-day.
The stocks were sometimes placed in the churchyard, though more frequently
near the village cross or in the market place. In 1578, tenpence was paid
"for a hinging locke to the stockes in the Mynster Yearde,"[14] and again
in 1693 "for rebuilding the gallows in the Horse faire, and the stocks in
the Minster yard, £5 5s. 10d." The stocks at Beverley Minster were
movable, and placed in the yard when required for use.
A strange scene was enacted in St. Paul's churchyard, in May, 1531.
According to Fox, the well known writer on martyrs, Bishop Stokesley
"caused all the New Testament of Tyndal's translation, and many other
books which he had bought, to be openly burnt in St. Paul's churchyard."
A curious act of penance was performed in Hull, in 1534, by the vicar of
North Cave. He had made a study of the work of the Reformers, who had
settled in Antwerp, and sent their books over to England. In a sermon
preached in the Holy Trinity Church, Hull, he advocated their teaching,
and for this he was tried for heresy and convicted. He recanted, and as an
act of penance, one Sunday, he walked round the church barefooted, with
only his shirt on, and carrying a large faggot in his hand to represent
the punishment he deserved.
Crosses have always been deemed a fitting emblem and suitable ornament for
churchyards. Many ancient, interesting, and valuable crosses are yet to be
found, notably at Ilkley, Crowle, Bakewell, and Eyam, the latter of which
lay in pieces in a corner of the churchyard, until restored by John
Howard, the philanthropist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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