ALL SAINTS. 1880 by Sir A.Blomfield. With a very steep bellcote of tricky details. Old materials were much used, e.g. the two-bay arcade of the N chapel, the late C13 N aisle W window with bar tracery, and one straight-headed N window. - Inside, from Sawtry Abbey, a number of C13 ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS, and also some TILES, C13 and C14. - STAINED GLASS. In two chancel windows, fragments from Sawtry Manor House, C15 and C16, including ten heads. - MONUMENTS. Four coffin lids with foliated crosses are displayed. - Brasses to Sir William le Moyne d. 1404 and wife. Outstandingly good, in line-work as well as interpretation. The figures are 4ft 6 in long.
SAWTRY. It has a high distinction and a noble pride, for here lived almost the first Englishman who walked into the fire for his faith. He was William Sawtry.
His house has gone, for he lived about 600 years ago, but this enchanting place, where naturalists hunt rare butterflies, has still the lanes and fiields he knew. The bell that summoned him to prayer still summons Sawtry folk, and there are tiles in the church on which walked the monks of Sawtry Abbey whom the brave William would know. Nearly 600 years old, the tiles are set in a frame like a jig-saw puzzle. There are ancient pictures in glass, some of it from the manor house which William may have seen; there are ten faces 500 years old, fragments of a 17th century Betrayal, a lion and a unicorn, and cherub’s faces set among oak leaves.
The church William Sawtry knew was refashioned last century, the stones from two old churches being used to make the new one. It has kept the 13th century arcade in the chancel and three old windows. There is an altar table 300 years old, two old chests (one painted), and four 13th century coffin lids.
But Sawtry’s chief treasure is the fine brass portrait of Sir William le Moyne. He must have known the brave William, for he died soon after Sawtry’s martyrdom. He is here in armour with his sword and dagger, his feet on a lion, his head supported by a little monk holding a scourge, apparently a symbol of servitude. His wife is with him in a veiled headdress with a dog at her feet. It is one of the finest brasses in the county, delicately engraved in 1404.
William of Sawtry comes upon the stage of history at King’s Lynn, where in 1399 he was a priest at St Margaret’s, suspected of political sympathy with recent disturbances in the country, and known to be a resolute follower of Wycliffe, a Lollard. Henry the Fourth was no bigot, but Richard the Second, whom he had deposed, was believed to incline to the Lollards, so Henry’s policy must differ. To this he was urged by Archbishop Arundel, friend of his exile, and a prime mover in his election as King. Moreover the Lollards were held to have travelled so far from Wycliffe as now to propose methods harmful to State and Church.
Sawtry’s offence was not political, but purely doctrinal. He insisted that even if bread after consecration might be the body of Christ it yet retained the elements of bread. He refused to adore the Cross, maintained that money spent on pilgrimages might be better distributed to the poor, and declared that men were more worthy of adoration than angels. He appealed to the King and Parliament, and although the Archbishop wrestled with him for three days he met every argument by quotation from the Scriptures. Arundel was anxious to convince and save him, but Sawtry refused submission, "save where such decision be not contrary to the divine will."
And so sentence was passed, Sawtry was unfrocked and degraded from the priesthood, and burned in chains at Smithfield on March 2, 1401. He was the first Christian martyr in England since the Conquest, but not the first man sent to the stake for his religious opinions, for in 1222 a deacon who embraced the Jewish faith was burned at Oxford, and, of course, Alban had been martyred in Roman days.
His house has gone, for he lived about 600 years ago, but this enchanting place, where naturalists hunt rare butterflies, has still the lanes and fiields he knew. The bell that summoned him to prayer still summons Sawtry folk, and there are tiles in the church on which walked the monks of Sawtry Abbey whom the brave William would know. Nearly 600 years old, the tiles are set in a frame like a jig-saw puzzle. There are ancient pictures in glass, some of it from the manor house which William may have seen; there are ten faces 500 years old, fragments of a 17th century Betrayal, a lion and a unicorn, and cherub’s faces set among oak leaves.
The church William Sawtry knew was refashioned last century, the stones from two old churches being used to make the new one. It has kept the 13th century arcade in the chancel and three old windows. There is an altar table 300 years old, two old chests (one painted), and four 13th century coffin lids.
But Sawtry’s chief treasure is the fine brass portrait of Sir William le Moyne. He must have known the brave William, for he died soon after Sawtry’s martyrdom. He is here in armour with his sword and dagger, his feet on a lion, his head supported by a little monk holding a scourge, apparently a symbol of servitude. His wife is with him in a veiled headdress with a dog at her feet. It is one of the finest brasses in the county, delicately engraved in 1404.
William of Sawtry comes upon the stage of history at King’s Lynn, where in 1399 he was a priest at St Margaret’s, suspected of political sympathy with recent disturbances in the country, and known to be a resolute follower of Wycliffe, a Lollard. Henry the Fourth was no bigot, but Richard the Second, whom he had deposed, was believed to incline to the Lollards, so Henry’s policy must differ. To this he was urged by Archbishop Arundel, friend of his exile, and a prime mover in his election as King. Moreover the Lollards were held to have travelled so far from Wycliffe as now to propose methods harmful to State and Church.
Sawtry’s offence was not political, but purely doctrinal. He insisted that even if bread after consecration might be the body of Christ it yet retained the elements of bread. He refused to adore the Cross, maintained that money spent on pilgrimages might be better distributed to the poor, and declared that men were more worthy of adoration than angels. He appealed to the King and Parliament, and although the Archbishop wrestled with him for three days he met every argument by quotation from the Scriptures. Arundel was anxious to convince and save him, but Sawtry refused submission, "save where such decision be not contrary to the divine will."
And so sentence was passed, Sawtry was unfrocked and degraded from the priesthood, and burned in chains at Smithfield on March 2, 1401. He was the first Christian martyr in England since the Conquest, but not the first man sent to the stake for his religious opinions, for in 1222 a deacon who embraced the Jewish faith was burned at Oxford, and, of course, Alban had been martyred in Roman days.
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