A study of Hagioscopes in Northern England and their meaning for pre Reformation

Catholic worship with particular reference to St Cuthbert’s Halsall in Lancashire.

Halsall St Cuthbert's church is a 14 century medieval church constructed of fine sandstone. At the time of its construction the chancel was separated from the nave by a huge rood screen and loft, which was probably dismantled in the reign of

Elizabeth I. The church has undergone renovation chiefly to the north and south aisles which were rebuilt in the 19th century. The nave pillars, most of the chancel, chancel arch and tower are 13th, 14th and 15th century respectively. It retains many of its Catholic pre Reformation features including a curious set of Hagioscopes, and unlike anywhere else, a triple Hagioscope. The figure 1 indicates the parts of the church with dates of construction.

Figure 1 Plan of Church

The church probably replaced another church on the site which was wooden. One small area of foundation and a 12th century font together with records of rectors predating the existing church are evidence of this. The construction of the present church began about 1270. The Lateran council in Rome of 1215 made the rite of the mass sacrificial and the idea of transubstantiation shifted the focus of worship towards a sacred area and a stone altar in the east of the church. The Gothic construction which flourished in northern France meant increased space and light, and this aesthetic aspect created a new visual focus on the divine. (Peterson 2018).

This influenced the plethora of church building in parishes in 12th and 13th century

Britain.

Lancashire was considered the poorest county in England, the South-West was tucked away in a remote part of the realm, far from Its Cathedral city of Lichfield which was seat of the diocese. The population was sparse the marsh land meant It had poor communications and access into the county. There were only 56 parishes 1291-1641 though pop increased increasing two and half times from 1377-1563. A third of local patronage in the hands of local families and the parishes were large.

After the Reformation the charitable giving to the church was5 times greater in

Lancashire than in Norfolk. The piety increased while in the South of the country it decreased. Haigh (1975) gives instances where the reverence for the host and seeing the host quelled local disturbances and demanded devotion and reverence during the mass.

Of the few churches built in the area in medieval times Halsall was unique in having an Easter Sepulchre built into the fabric. The churches at Ormskirk and Aughton are fairly close to Halsall and have similar octagonal spires but neither of these two churches have an existing Easter Sepulchre. Sefton's medieval church, seven miles away retains many antiquities including a rood screen but does not have an Easter

Sepulchre built into the fabric or a Chancel arch like Halsall. The nearest church which may have had an Easter Sepulchre is St Wilfred in Standish near Wigan, which has a Chancel arch and a Hagioscope, which is in the right position to keep a vigil but there is no evidence of an Easter Sepulchre, though it may have been a portable wooden structure. In Ribchester there is a niche in the north wall which it is believed was used as an Easter Sepulchre.

What is a Hagioscope and why has Halsall been furnished with several of these medieval squints. The word Hagioscopes comes from the Greek meaning holy and scope which is a view. The Hagioscope has to be understood in the context of late

13C belief and construction. On first appearance the Hagioscopes high up on the chancel arch in Halsall Church seem to have an obvious use. They were there for the bell ringer to sound the sacring bell from the vantage point of being able to see the main altar and the worshippers in the nave. He was the link between the secular and the divine. However these Hagioscopes set us more questions because their use extends beyond the obvious.

From the evening of Maundy Thursday until Easter Sunday morning, in accordance with Catholic tradition, the central altar would be stripped back to stone and left bare, a symbol of Christ's death. In accordance with the Sarum rite* of worship and as part of their Easter devotion, villagers desired to view the Easter Sepulchre in Holy Week.

The Sepulchre is an arched recess in the north wall of the chancel. The sacred elements, which are the body and blood of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine, were taken from the high altar and rested here in commemoration of Christ’s entombment after the passion. A constant vigil had to be kept and the villagers kept a vigil, as part of their devotion and usually they would look through squints in the rood screen because only the clergy were allowed access into the Chancel, which was the holiest part of the church. The council of Laodenia in the 4th century had decided that only priests and clergy should be permitted in this area. The rood screen in Halsall has since been removed, but this separated the clergy from the lay person and the secular from the divine. Such is the perspective from the nave that it was probably difficult to view the Easter Sepulchre through the squints on the Rood screen. The Easter Sepulchre with its elaborate arch and carved tracery, would have been topped by statues of the risen Christ and angels on the plinths (which remain empty today). It may also have had a painted backdrop of the garden tomb in the recess. Decorated with candle light and flowers it was quite a spectacle.

Eamon Duffy (1992) suggests, ‘many of these candles would be bequests because this was a form of offering which was one of the commonest mortuary provisions that needed to be equated with Christ's resurrection. Local guilds may also have provided lights, likewise, shepherds, herdsmen or others involved in work, which prevented them from hearing the mass, would donate lights to be lit in the Easter Sepulchre so that their presence would be there in token. It was, in all, a powerful display of piety in medieval England’.

Figure 2 Hagioscope at Brough, Durham

Figure 3 Easter Sepulchre

To view this splendour from a point of vantage is to enter the chancel arch. On entering the Saint Nicholas chapel, the height of the door suggests that the average stature of medieval man was several inches smaller than today. A finely carved newel post is the first feature you encounter on ascent up a winding stone staircase.

At the sixth step an arrangement of three apertures in the form of small slit windows present an extremely rare and possibly unique feature in a medieval church. The Hagioscopes within the turret stairwell, permitted an elevated and oblique view of this side altar. Entry to these stairs was outside of the chancel and so gave a perspective to the ordinary layperson. This feature is unique to Halsall because very few churches had permanent Easter Sepulchres and a permanent means of viewing during the vigil for the congregation.

There are not a great many Hagioscopes, in the country, which remain in situ for the purpose for which they were intended. Many are blocked up and most gave a view of the main altar and were built to allow people, who were stricken with plague or leprosy, to see the celebration of mass, on the high altar, from outside the church or from a part of the church separate from the congregation. The church of St Mary in

Staindrop in Durham has a hermit window allowing a view of the central altar from an elevated cell above the chancel. It has since been blocked up. Near to Staindrop in the church of St Michael at Brough, a Hagioscope gave views of the main altar from outside the church in medieval times but an additional wall has now been added, see figure 3. However there is an example of a leper squint at Aldingham in Cumbria and at St Wilfrid’s Ribchester in Lancashire on the north wall which may have had an alternative use as an Easter Sepulchre.

This is not the situation at Halsall because access to the Hagioscopes is by entry through a door in the church and into an enclosed space. The left window gives a view of the nave near the entrance to the Chancel but is now partly obscured by the lectern which was erected in the 19th century. It allowed an elevated view of the congregation when they came up to receive communion. They were not allowed into the Chancel to kneel at an altar rail as they do today, instead they stood at the rood screen entrance and the priest would distribute communion via a little gate unlocked for that purpose. The communicants would be scrutinised by a hidden watcher from this window looking for lax behaviour, he would also be ensuring people conformed to the correct pecking order in terms of status.

The right hand window looks out onto the graveyard and to the location of the original eastern gate entrance, which was part of the way along Cross Lane, this was the original road that passed by the church. Its purpose was to ensure nobody but clergy entered the door which existed on the south side of the chancel. A further squint window higher up the turret on the 17th step looked out onto the elaborate stone entrance which was part way along what is now called Summerwood Lane a south eastern entrance this may also have been to watch that people were reverent in the churchyard because this was hallowed ground and also to look out for latecomers.

The central window is a true 'Hagioscope' a word derived from Greek meaning holy view, it is a large splayed opening precisely cut through the masonry that reduces to focus the sight on the Easter Sepulchre, an aperture which is 14 inches in length and

2.5 inches wide. This side altar on the north side of the chancel became the holiest part of the church when the consecrated host was removed from the main altar to rest there until Easter Sunday. It was a decorated altar and it held a wooden tabernacle to hold the body and blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine.* This middle window of the triple set is surrounded in mystery. Peter Nolan in his work

'Charming acres' (1934) romantically suggested that a clergyman hid himself within this passage to watch for the 'grey lady' a spirit whose unmarked tomb lies within the walls, the exact spot being revealed only by the passing of a beam of sunlight revealed from the middle window. The academic study of the church by Taylor,

Radcliffe and Cox (1896) was inconclusive about the purpose of this window but suggested in a foot note that it was used during the Easter devotions, though they do not elaborate on its purpose. The County history of Lancashire suggests two of the

Hagioscopes in the arch stairway were there to allow light on the stairs. Simon

Jenkins suggests that Hagioscopes often gave side chantry chapels a view of the main altar so that the raising of the host at the consecration could be synchronised.

This is not true of the Halsall Hagioscopes as the triple set give no view of the main altar.

We have to consider the state of worship in the early medieval period when these

Hagioscopes were constructed. Peter of Limoges, writing in the 13th century wrote that optics were a way to understand God and he connects the soul with the sense of vision. The eyes are the windows of the soul but also, the line of sight emitted from the person allows the internal body and the soul to meet the external and material world. The Hagioscope is therefore a channel between the inner and the outer space. (Pettersson). Certainly there is a certain correlation when we consider in this day of telescopes, how the awesome wonder of God’s universe is revealed in the vastness of space.

Figure 4 Triple Hagioscopes

These three windows, along with two others high above on the apex of the Chancel arch, were a crucial part of ensuring reverence and obedience during the mass and other devotional rituals. As stated before, the ordinary villagers were not allowed through into the Chancel which was the holiest part of the church. The Chancel was also mostly obscured by the rood screen, a massive carved wooden structure which meant that the mystery of the mass ritual was hidden. This is where the two high apertures, above the chancel arch, previously described, are important. If they were needed to watch for the elevation of the Sacrament, during the consecration, they should only be needed to open on the chancel side but we have corresponding openings permitting a view of the congregation in the nave. They are 12 inches in length and 2 inches in width and allowed two members of the clergy or the

Churchwardens to observe the congregation during the mass, watching to make sure everybody was duly reverent. This was particularly important during the consecration, 'the sacring' the most sacred part of the mass, when the bread and wine would be elevated to be viewed by the faithful. Just before the "sacring" a bell was rung. It was essential that heads were bowed, and people made the sign of the cross.

The view of the host raised after consecration was seeing the very body of Christ and this alone would suffice as a divine moment for the observer. Ocular communion, ie only seeing, became common practice during 13C. The rood screen, so commonly constructed in churches of this time seems at first to be a barrier between the sacred and the secular but it's holes and niches guided the vision of the congregation. (Peterson) The worshippers gazed upon Christ’s body in awe, but then they would be expected to bow and avert their gaze in reverence. This was monitored by clergy or wardens high up in the chancel arch observing the villagers from height. Any dissonance was reported back to the rector. Eamon Duffy suggests,

"A great blessing was taken from even a glimpse of the consecrated host." In Holy

Week the faithful would perform devotions such as 'creeping to the cross' which is approaching the cross on their knees in order to venerate it. The Cross or Crucifix would be held at the rood screen entrance for the faithful to complete their devotion.

It would then be placed in the Easter Sepulchre with the consecrated host on the night of Maundy Thursday. On Easter Sunday the host would be brought back to the main altar but the now empty Sepulchre would remain throughout the following week as a place of devotion, candles would burn before it and it would be censed.

The Hagioscope is primarily a visual device but also an auditory one. The visual aspect of belief and we are talking absolute belief, is paramount for the 13C worshipper so much so that the sight of the Eucharist raised at the important part of the consecration is, to the mediaeval mind as important as the receipt of the host itself in communion. The Hagioscopes gives a unique perception and because it is in an enclose space it makes one uniquely closer to God. So the theological ideas that motivated the construction of the Hagioscopes is that it is a connecting device. It connects the common man or woman who is forbidden entrance to the sanctuary or chancel, with the divine. (Pettersson)

The question is prompted, why did the Lords of Halsall commission these features in the building of Halsall church? Was it purely to help devotion or was this a means by which the clergy could spy on the villagers? It is likely that because the family held the patronage the sons were the rectors. It does seem to suggest that the authorities in Halsall were very controlling but it also begs the question, were the Halsall villagers more untrustworthy than those in neighbouring Aughton and Ormskirk which have medieval churches but not the same rigorous fabric? When considering the construction of Halsall church in late 13th and 14th centuries, it is important to consider the influence of the greatest event of the 14th century the ‘Black Death’.

The building certainly stopped at this point. It is thought that the chancel had been completed and the intention was to make the nave as elaborate as the chancel with fine carving outside and in. This, it is suggested did not happen mainly because after the calamity, labour was in short supply, as were the skilled craftsmen necessary to complete the intricate work. It is important also to consider the state of mind of the people who survived the plague. They had survived a great plague and may have considered that they were a sort of ‘chosen people’ and this was borne out in the days after the plague subsided when they became valuable in the employment market and could sell their labour for higher wages. They had bargaining power with their local lord or squire. Deference to authority was in question but could not be allowed to happen in the church. Were these Hagioscopes built in around this time to ensure obedience and to enable a clamp down on maverick behaviour. We can find no blueprint for this model in other churches or cathedrals of the time. It seems to be wholly a local construct.

I contend that the purpose of the Hagioscopes was threefold and centred on the devotions of Holy Week. The Hagioscopes were used for vigil and the most crucial and important act of worship, they were a source of income through the bestowing of indulgences and they were used as a means of covert spying on the layperson. The importance of the Easter Sepulchre for the pre reformation Christian cannot be underestimated. The ritual of vigil strictly adhered to Christ's words in Gethsemane,

“Can you not watch one hour with me?" This quote by Jesus at the fateful hour meant for the faithful that the Blessed Sacrament had to be watched throughout the period of Christ's passion. The vigil could be kept within the chancel by clergy but it was a long period covering 3 nights and lay people would be called upon to continue the vigil unbroken. The problem for the lay person was that they were not able to enter the Chancel and the position of the rood screen at the Chancel arch probably made it very difficult for them to view the Easter Sepulchre in all its mystery and wonder from the nave. Their only way of seeing this and making a devotion at this important time was by entering the little door in the side of the St Nicholas chantry chapel and climbing the six steps to view the Sepulchre through this window. This would be regulated by a member of the clergy and entry would possibly be on payment of a small coin to gain an indulgence. It is likely also the act of confession and penance might be performed before permitting the viewing to ensure a state of grace in the viewer. The Hagioscopes was constructed to limit the vision and guide it to the holy spectacle. By this it re opened the spiritual eye of the sinner during penance. After the Black Death of 1349 churches had started to charge for various services such as marriage and burial. In 1274 the second council of Lyon reaffirmed purgatory within the doctrine of the church. Pettersson contends that Purgatory became part of the worshippers psyche. It was there in sermons, in literature and in wills. We think today of sight as a passive action, the rays of light hitting the optical nerve. However in the mediaeval mind, sight is doing, it is an active action. It was commonly believed that sight could affect the recipient as in the example of an evil eye, or conversely ‘the all seeing eye of God’. Likewise, a pilgrim seeing a holy relic could be visually the recipient of that grace. A hierarchy of seeing emerges; a spiritual seeing, an intellectual seeing and a corporal seeing. 'The mind’s eye' became an important construct. The contemplation of punishment in Hell or

Purgatory causes the mind of the eye to open. The doom painting above the chancel arch of many mediaeval churches was an appeal to the mind’s eye to live a good life because it depicted the horrors of Hell and that moment of final judgement. We do not know if Halsall had doom painting on the chancel arch, if it did no trace remains.

The Halsall villager would remark the gargoyles and carvings on the chancel exterior and the depiction of the seven deadly sins.

The belief in Purgatory as a 'holding place' between heaven and hell led to the practice of special devotions by those living, which could reduce their time in

Purgatory, these were called indulgences and the church saw ways to make a profit from these practices. It is conceivable that this was the procedure in Halsall. If a chosen lay person was required to continue the vigil started by the clergy, they were only able to keep the vigil through the aperture which is the Hagioscope. Given the temperature of the church in late March or April which is very cold, these vigils were probably in restricted time slots. The central window of the triple Hagioscope was used only for the purpose of viewing the Easter Sepulchre and for granting an indulgence. The other 4 Hagioscopes were used in ensuring obedience as a method of social control.

Easter Sepulchres were banned under Henry VIII's reforms and the practice of vigil was discontinued. The present situation where there is a tomb sited within the Easter

Sepulchre did not however occur immediately after Richard Halsall's death in 1563, as his tomb, which bears his effigy as a tonsured monk, was originally sited on the south side of the chancel and was probably moved to its present position deep into

Elizabeth's reign when it seemed probable that Catholicism wasn't coming back.

With the Easter Sepulchre unused, the purpose of the Hagioscopes was lost throughout Elizabeth's reign. The Hagioscopes may, however, have still been used in a surveillance capacity. During the reigns of Elizabeth and James when Catholic priests were forbidden to say Mass, the Hagioscopes may have been used to watch for intruders into the church when a Catholic devotion was taking place. Lancashire was slow to conform to the Reformation and the manorial families in the area like the

Blundells of Crosby, the Irelands of Lydiate and the Halsalls and Scarisbricks kept allegiance to the ‘old faith’ by sheltering priests who travelled around the area from one Manor House to the other, they also provided hiding holes and concealed chapels. It is not inconceivable that these priests continued to say Mass in

Halsall. Taylor, Radcliffe and Cox in their work in 1896 identify the hidden room with its entrance door inside the Sanctus bell cote, at the top of the Chancel arch and suggest this may have been used to hide priests. The Hagioscopes may also have been used some 50 to 100 or so years later to spy on Cromwell's soldiers in the

1640's when they were billeted in the Chancel during the siege of Lathom House in the Civil War. Very little damage was visited upon the fabric at Halsall unlike nearby

Winwick which suffered considerable damage from the billeting of Cromwell’s troops.

Little is known about the church after that, until a painting of the interior in 1794 by

Edward Turner showed the church whitewashed and clad out like a meeting room concealing its medieval features. The chancel, clerestory windows and Hagioscopes are hidden behind wooden frames. After the restoration of the church in 1873 and

1886 the medieval church was recovered. Some alterations were made which affected the Hagioscopes original purpose. A stone lectern, erected in 1904, all but covered up the Hagioscope which was on the left hand side of the triple. The

Hagioscope on the right hand side seemingly had lost its purpose because the entrance door to the chancel which allowed access for the clergy was blocked up.

The Hagioscopes have since unceremoniously been used as convenient conduits for electric wires. The coming of electricity into the church and the chancel arch in the

1930’s must, however, have created a curious sight when the small middle

Hagioscope window was illuminated, when viewed from the ancient choir stalls.

Perhaps the choristers in the past, pondered the meaning of this bizarre little window without comprehending its importance for pre Reformation Catholic worship.

Stephen Henders BA, MA

The Sarum use

*The rite of a church service is the format of the service, including prayers chants and responses. The Sarum rite originated in medieval times in Salisbury, from where it took the name. At the beginning of the 16th century the influence of Sarum Use was at its greatest, and the spread of printing made service books much more readily available.

Sarum didn’t follow a monastic pattern of worship, and this made the Sarum Rite much more adaptable to use in the ordinary parish. It is a symbolic rite and the last medieval rite used in England.

The ceremonies of the Sarum Rite are elaborate. The Mass of Sundays and great feasts involved up to four sacred ministers: It was customary for them to visit in procession all the altars of the church and cense them, ending at the rood screen, where antiphons and collects would be sung. At the screen would be read the

Bidding Prayers, prayers in the vernacular, that is in English, directing the people to pray for various intention.

Further notes

Extract from Victoria County History

There are many traces of the beams which carried the rood-loft, which was entered from the south turret by a still existing doorway. Access to the turret is from the south aisle, the lower part of its stone newel being treated as a shaft with moulded capital and base. About ten feet up the stair is lighted by three narrow loops at the same level, one on the south, looking out on the churchyard, one on the north-east, commanding the tomb in the north wall of the chancel, and one on the north-west, towards the nave, below the level of the rood-loft floor. From the north-east loop nothing but the tomb in the north wall can be seen, and it is evidently built for that object only. It was in all probability used for watching the Easter Sepulchre erected over the tomb. Anyone standing here could also command the entrance of the chancel from the nave and the south-east portion of the churchyard.

Bibliography

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