DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0020
6
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
honour of God, his blessed mother, St. James, and all saints, at every principal feast, and also at
the burial of every brother and sister of the lamp light, and yearly as long as the said master
Thomas Sudbery shall have an obit kept in the aforesaid parish church of Louth, it likewise to be
occupied at the said obit, and the said cross with the foot to be set upon his heers (hearse), to the
intent the devotion of good people shall the rather be stirred to pray for the soul of the said
master Thomas Sudbery, which God pardon. And the said cross, nor no thing thereto belonging
to be occupied at none other time nor season except only that if it be the minds, assents, and
consents of the vicar of the same church, the alderman of the Gyld of the Holy Trinity, and the
alderman of the Gyld of our blessed Lady, founded and established in the same church and the
kirk-wardens of the same parish for the time being to whose wisdoms and discretions the use and
occupations of the aforesaid cross, staff and foot, is all way committed for ever. Amen.
Robert Boston for the Holy Ghost appearing in the kirk roof, 2s.
Such are the chief items that have been preserved respecting the building of the
spire at Louth : and these are certainly curious, as serving to display many traits
of the customs and arts of our ancestors. The document is very prolix and
circumstantial: but still it does not fully satisfy us on all points. We are not
informed if there were any drawings, "plots," or plans; if executed from the
designs of a particular person; or if the spire was a completion and part of the
original design. Nor are we told when, or by whom, any other parts of the tower
or church were built. The first master mason was John Cole, but he appears to
have relinquished the work in the course of five years, and refused to proceed with
it. Lawrence and William Lemyng, and Christopher Scune, are also called master
masons, but there is some ambiguity about the latter, for he is designated master
mason from 1505-6 to 1515, though, in 1510, he is only denominated "prentice to
William."
In the year 1587, the summit of the spire was struck by lightning, and many of
the stones were precipitated through the roof of the church. Though considerable
damage is said to have been produced, yet the whole was restored in the following
year for the sum of 39^. 3*. Ad. The parish books contain an entry in the year
162/-8, when the spire was repaired by "Thomas Egglefield, freemason, and
steeple mender." A particular cement or mortar used on this occasion, is thus
particularised.
" Item, paid William Harrison for lyme about the steeple, iis. \id.:—Item, paid for v lb. of
glue, Vis.:—Item, paid for v lb. of allom to put in the mortar, iis. \id.:—Item, paid for egge that
the mason had about the mortar, \s. viid.:—Item, paid for strong wort that the mason had for his
mortar, xs. \id."
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
honour of God, his blessed mother, St. James, and all saints, at every principal feast, and also at
the burial of every brother and sister of the lamp light, and yearly as long as the said master
Thomas Sudbery shall have an obit kept in the aforesaid parish church of Louth, it likewise to be
occupied at the said obit, and the said cross with the foot to be set upon his heers (hearse), to the
intent the devotion of good people shall the rather be stirred to pray for the soul of the said
master Thomas Sudbery, which God pardon. And the said cross, nor no thing thereto belonging
to be occupied at none other time nor season except only that if it be the minds, assents, and
consents of the vicar of the same church, the alderman of the Gyld of the Holy Trinity, and the
alderman of the Gyld of our blessed Lady, founded and established in the same church and the
kirk-wardens of the same parish for the time being to whose wisdoms and discretions the use and
occupations of the aforesaid cross, staff and foot, is all way committed for ever. Amen.
Robert Boston for the Holy Ghost appearing in the kirk roof, 2s.
Such are the chief items that have been preserved respecting the building of the
spire at Louth : and these are certainly curious, as serving to display many traits
of the customs and arts of our ancestors. The document is very prolix and
circumstantial: but still it does not fully satisfy us on all points. We are not
informed if there were any drawings, "plots," or plans; if executed from the
designs of a particular person; or if the spire was a completion and part of the
original design. Nor are we told when, or by whom, any other parts of the tower
or church were built. The first master mason was John Cole, but he appears to
have relinquished the work in the course of five years, and refused to proceed with
it. Lawrence and William Lemyng, and Christopher Scune, are also called master
masons, but there is some ambiguity about the latter, for he is designated master
mason from 1505-6 to 1515, though, in 1510, he is only denominated "prentice to
William."
In the year 1587, the summit of the spire was struck by lightning, and many of
the stones were precipitated through the roof of the church. Though considerable
damage is said to have been produced, yet the whole was restored in the following
year for the sum of 39^. 3*. Ad. The parish books contain an entry in the year
162/-8, when the spire was repaired by "Thomas Egglefield, freemason, and
steeple mender." A particular cement or mortar used on this occasion, is thus
particularised.
" Item, paid William Harrison for lyme about the steeple, iis. \id.:—Item, paid for v lb. of
glue, Vis.:—Item, paid for v lb. of allom to put in the mortar, iis. \id.:—Item, paid for egge that
the mason had about the mortar, \s. viid.:—Item, paid for strong wort that the mason had for his
mortar, xs. \id."