Inside Croydon would like to thank the two dozen loyal readers who attended our latest event this week, and with their generous donations have raised £200 towards Croydon Minster’s restoration funds.
Marvel of the Minster: David Morgan leading Tuesday’s iC tour, with the 15th Century eagle lectern
Leading the way on Tuesday evening, after the iC readers had enjoyed the wonderful music of the Minster choir singing Evensong, was in-house historian David Morgan, who even as he took the group on a journey through a thousand years of Croydon history was in the process of discovering something new, or subtly changed, in what we understand about the rich tapestry of the Minster’s past.
From Saxon times, and a mention in the Domesday Book, through the national traumas of the Reformation and the English Civil War, right through to 20th Century global conflicts, at every turn on Morgan’s tour there was another artefact with a story to be told.
But it was as Morgan lighted on the eagle lectern at the front of the church that, with a slight bit of revisionism, Morgan aired a possible change to the generally received wisdom about what is probably the church’s oldest remaining objects.
The great fire in Croydon Parish Church in 1867 destroyed so much, but the brass lectern was one prized object saved from the flames.
It has always been attributed to the 15th Century – one of the few “Pope-ish” enhancements in the church to have survived Henry VIII’s Reformation, and is still in regular use today.
It had always been thought to have been Flemish-made, but Morgan’s voracious research had recently led him to an article that suggested that that was a false attribution.
Opening up history: only a fraction of the church’s original features remain following the 1867 fire
And with the aid of the most modern communications technology… alright, Twitter… Morgan’s suspicions have quickly received an answer.
“The eagle lectern in Croydon Minster is a rare one and is said to be Flemish and 15th Century,” Morgan tweeted yesterday.
“But could it have been made in West Norfolk instead? Where should I look?”
By this morning, Morgan had already received what appears to be a convincing and well-evidenced answer.
John Vigar is a retired university lecturer, public speaker and church historian who has visited and recorded more than 13,000 churches in England and Wales. He has been a professional ecclesiastical historian for over 40 years.
Morgan’s appeal was sent his way, and Prof Vigar advised, “It’s a long story.
“Current theories are that the English lecterns were made in the Beccles/Bungay area of Suffolk. They were made in five different moulds. Yours is one of them, not foreign at all. It’s identical to Cropredy, Bovey Tracey and Wiggenhall [in Norfolk].”
Pictures of the Devon lectern, from Bovey Tracey, were soon produced to underline Prof Vigar’s suggestion. It looks exactly like Croydon’s (if a little better polished).
It’s hoped that Inside Croydon will arrange another Minster history tour, sometime in the spring.
In the meantime, David Morgan will continue his research and filing his regular history articles drawn from the Minster’s archive.
- If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 8688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Recent articles by David Morgan:
- Purley schoolboy who reached for the sky in Battle of Britain
- Goodwyn’s list that takes us back through to Tudor times
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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