Saint Mary' Church

*A History of the Priory Church* The church as we see it today is of a great age - it is 350 years older than the castle remains and the oldest usable building in Staffordshire. First let us go back to the 10^th century before the Norman Conquest, as the first church on this site was probably an Anglo Saxon one. Some traces of an earlier church have been found but their origins are a bit doubtful. We have seen that Tutbury was an important, well-defended market town at this time and it’s unlikely that such a place would be without a church. It’s been suggested that Vikings may have destroyed this early building, as they did the nunnery at Hanbury and the monastery at Repton, and that seems quite likely. We do know a lot about the Norman church because much of it is still standing and well documented. The building was started about 1086 by Henry de Ferrers and was consecrated on the 15^th August 1089. This date is the church festival of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary to whom the church is dedicated and we have noted before how August 15^th became a key date around which the later Medieval fair revolved. About 60 years after the church was finished, Robert de Ferrers built a Priory and staffed it with a Prior and twelve brothers from Normandy. They were Benedictines, dedicated to St. Peter and that’s why it was a priory rather than a monastery.
	At this time the church was larger than it is now - it was about twice as long with two transepts so that it formed a cross-shape with with a tower over the central crossing and two turrets at the west. This was a common design in those days for abbeys, cathedrals and other big churches. The monastic buildings, however, were on the north side of the church instead of the usual south. This was probably because the church was built first, leaving no suitable space where it dips sharply, and also because the north was closer to a water supply from the Dove.
Generally speaking the church had a less turbulent life than the castle during the Middle Ages as churches were held in higher reverence, but it had its own intrigues. From the start the Priory was quite rich - the successive members of the Ferrers family endowed it with lots of goodies as I’ve listed below: - Robert was particularly generous. A selection of land, mills, rents, tolls, vineyards, pannage, honey, free firewood and timber, tithes (medieval rates and taxes), fishing rites, the feudal services of peasants and the proceeds of court fines from all these places. This list also indicates what extensive property the Ferrers family held. From time to time, the Priory’s rights were confirmed or adjusted. A lot of the Priory’s income was from tithes though and it was not always easy to collect from the parish priests - there are records of ex-communications by the Archbishop following failure to pay. It seems that the Prior kept his affairs separate from the monks - we know that in 1230 an agreement was drawn up between them under which he was obliged each year:
to provide the monks with: 26 marks 29 live pigs 6 sextares of land 20 large cheeses 25 small cheeses 3 pounds of pepper 3 pounds of cumin 1 sextary of salt 40 bushels of white beans 2 quarters of oatmeal a great fair on 15^th August all kitchen utensils	Medieval Shopping List	In return for this the prior was entitled to: Eat with the monks Bring 3 or 4 guests to the monk’s refectory Bring 1 or 2 guests to the monk’s parlour
These arrangements were valid so long as the number of monks did not exceed 15. There are also references to a supply of fish from the Derwent at Derby and from the Dove fishery. During the time 1100 - 1500 the monks were not without problems. The major one concerned who should appoint each new Prior. The Lord of the manor had a claim, as did the Mother House in Normandy. In the later part of the period when the monks were English as opposed to French, they asserted their right to vote. There were many arguments. The other problem was of divided loyalties, as 1300 was the time of the wars with France - Agincourt, Crecy and Joan of Arc. This was an English Monastery with a French Mother House. There were legal problems as well. Following the battle of Burton Bridge in 1322, the Prior was accused of stealing large amounts of money, jewellery and other goods from the Castle. In 1323, the Prior was accused of harbouring ‘7 cartloads of gold cloth, silver vessels and other ornaments to the value of Ł300; Ł40 worth of goods and a barrel of sturgeon’ for which he was fined Ł70. He was then ex-communicated for not paying 10 marks to Lichfield Cathedral. In 1329 the monks were accused of ‘bearing arms, hunting, general disorder and incontinence’ (meaning wanting in self-restraint especially in regards to sexual appetite). In 1337 the Prior, one Thomas Derby, was accused of having stolen ‘a trussing coffer containing goods to the value of Ł4’ from Marstons
The Village Stocks	The Priory survived all this, although by now it was in considerable debt and by 1524 the monks made numerous complaints about the Prior’s extravagance. The number of monks fell to four.
	Then Henry Vlll dissolved the monasteries and in September 1538, the Priory surrendered to the King’s representatives. The Prior received a pension and became the Vicar. The Priory buildings and the monastic parts of the church were demolished; the King took the lead and other valuables. The Priory stone was used to build a house on the site but nothing now remains. The church, much reduced was left standing because it was the Parish Church in which the peasants worshipped.
There is a complete list of Priors from about 1100 to 1538 on display inside. There have been some alterations to the Norman Church since the dissolution. The eastern end by the altar was immediately walled off to make the church serviceable and the roof was lowered. The present tower was built by Edward l and the North Aisle was built in 1829. The floor was raised to put in hot water pipes and a new roof was put on in 1867. At the same time the Apse was built on the East End and in 1937 the floor was lowered to its original level to restore the proportions of the Norman pillars.

Short Notes from a Church publication

Historical Note The Church was founded as a Benedictine Priory by Henry de Ferrers. It was in memory of King WiIIiam the Conqueror and his wife Queen Matilda of Flanders - in memory also of his own parents, and in thanksgiving for his own family.
From the start, the Church was shared by the Parish, who occupied the western six bays of the nave, in common with many similar foundations elsewhere. At the Dissolution a curtailed portion of the Parish Nave was retained for Parochial use involving the Central and Southern Aisles of the original with the top layer, or Clerestory removed for easier maintenance. The lowered roof covered a plaster ceiling that remained until 1866. The remainder of the church was abandoned, and was doubtless used as a stone quarry, so that there are no remains of the Monks' Choir or of their domestic buildings. Quite how savagely the 16th century used the building can be seen in the very botched east end of the South Aisle, now a Memorial Chapel. The Victorian period saw C.E.Street engaged to restore the Nave in 1866 - 68, and from that date comes the Nave Roof, and the pews cut down from the former deal Galleries. The Chancel and Apse were given by the Contemporary, Sir Oswald Mosley of Rolleston, who at the same date of 1868 ceded ground to the Church for additional burial. Since the Victorians, the building has been carefully tended and beautified, the most important work being the lowering of the Nave floor to reveal the original bases of the piers which had been long concealed. The Architecture The fragment we have, about a third of the original is very tantalizing. The Nave is early 12th century, c.1100 would seem likely. The West Wall is a ' tour de force‘. It is so elaborate that it may be as late as 1150. The western three pillars have a unique 4-lobed plan. It looks as if this shape arose from subsidence as the three western bays on the North side are out of true and the additional size of the pillars were a Norman reinforcement. It evidently worked as the arches and above are quite true. The Nave North Aisle dates from 1829. It was rebuilt to find accomodatlon for Tutbury’s increased population. The South aisle is half Norman and half an incomplete recating in the last quarter of the 14th century. The window tracery is all renewed except for some reused medieval window heads in the lower half of the East Window.
The upper windows in the Nave built, apparently in the 16th century into the former Triforium contains battered but contemporary leaded lights in the western bays. The ugly cathedral glass in the eastern two bays is from Street's restoration. The Chancel is Street 1868, and to a very bold design which fits the Norman work well.
The Fittings The High Altar, Reredos, Pulpit Choir Stalls and Fonts are all by Street and were made locally by the firm of Critchlow & Ward of Uttoxeter. It is fun to think that Street awarded the firm a first class certificate for the work in Tutbury. The Stained Glass is all by Durlison & Grylls of London. The West Window, 1890 is the first, and the Chancel East Windows are the most recent 1939. The Chapel Alter This was designed by Cecil Hare in 1919 and he was a pupil and partner of the great G.P.Bodley who did much work locally, and designed the West Window stonework here. It was made from a single piece of local alabaster. The Glastonbury Chairs There are 39 of them, all different forming part of the Memorial Chapel. Monuments None of importance, and only one of real interest. It is in the West wall to the left of the door, to Vicar Anthony Orridge, 1655. Evidently he was a Puritan! The Alabaster Coffin in the North Aisle is worth noting, but not so surprising when we remember alabaster is the local stone.
Outside The West Front is quite marvellous with its seven orders door.
Note the blackened beakheads which are of alabaster and unique in such a place. The ‘streaky bacon’ effect of the alabaster can be seen by studying its underside.
The Tower is a makeshift necessary after the destruction of the Central Tower. Note the domestic pinnacles. Queen Elizabeth l is said to have given money to it.

Other churches in Tutbury

Congregationalism in Tutbury dates from September 1799 when local evangelists opened a former barn as a place of worship. The Ebenezer Chapel was built and opened on January 1 1808.

There were additions to the building in 1849 and 1899 and a Sunday school opened, at which there were more adults wanting to learn to read the Bible than there were children.

But the history of non-conformism In the area goes back long before that - to 1603 - when William Bradshaw, a Puritan, was expelled from his lectureship at Chatham and came to Burton. Here he started a small but powerful religious society. The rest reads like a history of England - the persecuted rise to grace, the fall and the eventual amnesty granted to non--conformists in 1672, were all reflected in the local religious life.

The area had its martyrs. On April 11, 1612, Edward Wrightman, a mercer of Burton, and one of Bradshaw's most outspoken followers was tried and burned as a heretic for his non-conformist views at Lichfield. The last man in England to burn for his beliefs. Relief from years of parliamentary persecution came in 1672 when the King issued a declaration of Indulgence. Non-conformists were free to worship as they liked. Ministers banned from parishes by preceding Acts of Parliaments returned home. Within two months 20 places were licensed as places of worship in Staffordshire alone.

More than 100 years later Francis Greasley came to live in Tutbury. He bought a cornmill and business prospered. Greasley, a good member of the established church, became a fairly wealthy man. Then in 1792 at the age of 62 he married the 32-year-old evangelical daughter of a Derbyshire clergyman who later persuaded him to fit up one of his barns as a place of worship.

There was also a Weslyan Chapel in High Street; the building is still there, but is now a junk shop. There was also a Salvation Army hut in Monk Street during the early part of the 20^th century.

There is now a Catholic Church in Fishpond Lane