The promised photos from my visit last Sunday to Minster Lovell ... Part 1. The extensive and picturesque ruins of Minster Lovell Hall are located in a beautiful rural setting beside the River Windrush. Approached from the north, through the adjacent churchyard, the 15th century site comprises a fine hall, tower and complete (still used by white doves) dovecote nearby - making this a particularly interesting place. The house dates from 1435 and was built by the seventh Lord Lovell, on the site of an earlier building. The lands had belonged to the Lovell family since the 12th century. However it is the fate of Francis, the ninth and last Baron Lovell, that gives rise to the mystery and legend of Minster Lovell Hall. After the death of his father, who fought in the Wars of the Roses on the side of the House of Lancaster, Francis Lovell was brought up not as a Lancastrian but as a Yorkist and was created Viscount Lovell by Richard III. After fighting with Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, at which the king was killed, Francis fled, returning two years later to take part in the Lambert Simnel rebellion. After this no-one is certain what became of him. However it is said that in the early 18th century, during building work at the Hall, an underground room or vault was discovered. In this room was found a skeleton, sitting upright at a table, surrounded by books, paper and pens. Was this the ninth Lord Lovell? Perhaps we will never know as no underground room has ever been found since. Francis Lovell was declared guilty of treason after the Battle of Bosworth and his lands reverted to the Crown. The Manor was bought by Sir Thomas Coke in 1602 and in the mid 18th century Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, dismantled the house. The ruins of the Hall are quite extensive. The photograph (left) shows the view through the entrance hall which has a beautiful cloistered roof. Original plaster work is still visible on many of the walls. The place name, recorded in 1086, derived probably from a late Anglo-Saxon minster on the site of the present church, and the suffix Lovell, from the chief landholding family, was added from the 13th century. St Kenelms Church, dating from 1450, was given to Eton College by Henry VI and still belongs to the college. In 1431 William, the 7th Baron Lovell, tore down the 12th century manor beside the river and built his grand new manor. At the same time he completely rebuilt the 12th century church in fashionable Perpendicular Gothic style. The church was independent of Lovells estate and was settled on the French abbey at Ivry. You enter by the north porch, where empty niches over and to the left of the door probably held statues of the Trinity and St Kenelm. In the east wall of the porch is a holy water stoup, where churchgoers washed their hands on entering and leaving. The arches supporting the - unusually central - tower rest on carved corbel heads with likenesses of Lord and Lady Lovell, Henry VI, and Bishop Lumley of Lincoln, whose diocese included Oxfordshire when the church was finished in 1450. One odd tradition that isnt readily apparent concerns the north transept, which was traditionally set aside for residents of Crawley, who did not have a parish church of their own. The transept is still known as the Crawley Aisle. In the floor of the Crawley Aisle is a carved acrostic symbo in Latin. The tower vaultingIn the south transept, used as a Lady Chapel, is the highlight of St Kenelms; an alabaster tomb to William, 7th Baron Lovell, who built the current church. Lovell died on 13 June, 1455. His effigy lies on a chest decorated with heraldic symbols relating his family connections. There are also carved weepers and figures of St Christopher and St Margaret on the base. Behind the Lovell tomb is a piscina and a squint, matching a squint in the north transept. The base of the walls beside the chancel arch probably dates to the original 12th century church and is the oldest part of the building. Other interior highlights are a very nicely carved 15th century font, and original 15th century seating in the nave. Fragments of medieval glass have been gathered in several of the windows. The north nave window has glass depicting St Dominic, and a likeness of St Lucy is set in the south choir window. There is a sedilia, or stone bench for clergy below the south sanctuary window, and a broken section of a grave slab by the priests door in the south wall. The striking reredos behind the altar was installed in 1876 in memory of Lady Taunton, the wife of Sir William Taunton of Freeland, who owned Minster Lovell Hall at the time. This is a lovely piece of High Victorian art, with five panels of finely carved tableaux of Biblical scenes. St Kenelms location beside the romantic ruins of the Hall and the peaceful Windrush is something quite special. This is a place you could sit in the sunshine and let the day float away. Theres a wonderful sense of peace and relaxation here, but the same can be said for Minster Lovell village as a whole. The highlight for me in there was the lovely alabaster tomb of Baron Lovell, and the wonderful vaulting under the tower.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:35:14 +0000