Our Local History Club recently had an excellent talk on this subject by Taddington resident of 20 years – Ray Slack, a retired geologist from the Coal Board. Ray has spent much of his spare time in archives and record offices in order to put this history together.
A 1930’s aerial photograph shows that the churchyard of St. Michael and all Angels was surrounded by a close ring-hedge of trees with the surrounding field (glebe land) still being cropped for hay. A very slender shaft from an ancient preaching cross stands in the churchyard and is intricately carved in gritstone but has deep scallops worn out on one corner. Ray suggests that these might have been worn away by generations of haymakers sharpening their scythes. It could be that the cross marks the position of the high altar of an even older building from the 1200’s. The present building – quite elaborate considering the size of the village, shows that some of the inhabitants must have been quite wealthy – possibly from the proceeds of all the lead mines in the vicinity. The tower with its broached spire was built, complete with bells in the 1300’s. A small stone, set into the wall has radial grooves leading to a central spike-hole. This was a rudimentary sundial to indicate the times of services. Another unique feature is a stone lectern built into the side of the chancel known as a Missal – there are only eight of these left in England.
In the porch can be found a big sandstone basin – a Holy Water Stoop and this has quite a history. It was discovered at the nearby coaching inn –the Star and had been put to sacrilegious use as a basin for washing out ale tankards. It may have been thrown out of the church at the time of the Reformation or by Cromwell’s followers for being too popish. The church still has a Piscina for washing out the holy vessels after the sacrament – this drains down into the foundations because this consecrated water was not supposed to leave the building. Ray’s researches brought many facts and stories to light, even to the extent that he named two well-known and ancient families whose sons had been outlaws at that time.
So we started off the New Year with another intriguing talk for the History Club. Do join us on February 11th at 8pm in the Institute when Enid and Phil will be giving a talk on “Inn Signs – their History and Stories”. It sounds like it might be a lot of fun.
Brian Woodall