Monthly Archives: November 2022

Family historians will ‘get’ the feeling of pure elation I felt one damp Tuesday afternoon in Northumberland in late November 2022.

The changeable weather that day prompted a post-lunch visit to Kirkharle Courtyard. These converted 18th century stone farm buildings house a lovely selection of independent craft and artisan shops, so it seemed a perfect pre-Christmas haven to escape any threatened showers. Here’s the website link for more details.

As it happened, the weather improved which meant we could explore further the wider Courtyard surroundings.

The tiny hamlet of Kirkharle was the birthplace of the iconic landscape gardener Lancelot “Capability” Brown. Here the Shakespeare of English gardening took the first fledgling steps in his illustrious career, employed as a gardener on Sir William Loraine’s Kirkharle estate until 1739.

But he retained a connection to his birthplace, and first employer’s family, even after he had moved onwards and upwards. One of his landscape designs for Kirkharle was discovered in 1980, shoved at the back of some drawers. Thought to date from around 1770, when he was at nearby Alnwick, his vision finally came to fruition in 2010, interpreted and adapted to fit the current Kirkharle landscape. We enjoyed a pleasant stroll around the serpentine lake, the centrepiece of this plan.

As usual, driven by the obsession of a family historian, I now felt compelled to visit Kirkharle’s tiny church. It is only a short walk from the courtyard complex, and on the way you pass a Grade II listed monument to Robert Loraine who was “barbarously murdered” here by the Scots in 1483. He was on his way home from church when set upon by them.

In a gruesome warning to others who would – like him – defend the borderlands against the Scottish raiders, the attackers cut his corpse up into tiny pieces, stuffed them into his horse’s saddlebags and set it loose to wander home. That was some kind of warning message!

The inscription reads:

This
New stone was set up
In the place of an
old one by S[i]r William
Loraine Bar[one]t in 1728
In Memory of Robert
Loraine his Ancestor
Who was Barbarously
Murderd in this place
by the Scots in 1483
for his good service to
his Country against
their thefts & Robbery
As he was returning
home from the Church
Alone Where he had
Been at his private
Devotions

This replacement monument would have been erected during the period “Capability” Brown worked here.

On then to St Wilfrid’s Church, or St Wilfred in the Historic England Grade I listing. This small, simple, squat building, dating mainly from 1336 and restored in 1884, is best known as the baptism place of “Capability” Brown, on 30 August 1716.

Inside I was drawn to the font. Dating from the 15th/16th century, I was stunned to discover until 1786 it was the baptismal font at the old All Saints church, Newcastle upon Tyne. Therefore not the one in which a young “Capability” Brown was inducted into the church. For me this was no disappointment – it was now far more thrilling and personal.

Completed in 1286 and initially known as All Hallows’ church, by 1786 the old All Saints church in Newcastle upon Tyne had fallen into such a state of disrepair and collapse that a meeting of parishioners in the vestry room on Easter Tuesday, 18 April voted unanimously to completely demolish it and build a new church.¹

The last service in the old church was held on 9 July 1786, and by August 1789 its total demolition was complete.² This included disposal of all the old fixtures and fittings, even to the extent of placing an advert in the Newcastle Courant of 15 July 1786 requesting anyone entitled to any of the monuments or monumental inscriptions to immediately remove them.

The foundation stone for the new church was laid on 14 August 1786, and the building completed with the placing of the top stone of the spire on 21 October 1796. It went on to be used as a place of worship until 1959.

But back to my particular interest – the old All Saints church font, now at Kirkharle. I discovered it had a varied – and colourful – history. This included being hidden by stone mason Cuthbert Maxwell from Scots raiders in around 1640. It was eventually reinstated in the Newcastle upon Tyne church in 1660 following the Restoration of King Charles II.³

There is a description of the font in T. Sopwith’s A Historical and Descriptive Account of All Saints’ Church, in Newcastle upon Tyne. It reads:

The font, which was of stone, was placed immediately on entering the body of the Church by the middle aisle, a situation which it generally occupied in former times, and by which was intimated the baptismal entrance of the Christian Church. It was a plain octangular pillar, the sides of which extending outward at the top, formed large cavettos,⁴ supporting an octagon of a larger size, with concave sides, decorated with armorial bearings…Above this octagon which contained the bason,⁴ a cover was formerly suspended. In the churchwardens’ accounts for 1636, mention occurs of a charge for hanging the font cover – in 1685, a bason and cover for the font cost £2, and in 1700, it was new painted and gilded. On the demolition of the Church, the stone font was given to Alderman Hugh Hornby, by whom it was placed in the garden of his house, in Pilgrim-Street, and left there when the house was sold to Mr. Clapham.⁶

Its worn appearance may therefore owe something to its period as a garden ornament.

So how did it come to end up in a tiny church in rural Northumberland?

In 1836 Thomas Anderson of Little Harle purchased Kirkharle from the Loraine family. His father had acquired the font three years earlier. When St Wilfrid’s was restored in 1884, Thomas’ son George placed the font in the church.⁶

And why did all this send shivers down my spine?

Newcastle All Saints was a church associated with my paternal ancestors. It is where my 4x great grandmother, Ann Jackson, was baptised on 22 August 1773. More details of her here.

I’d quite by chance stumbled across a religious artefact associated with my family history. I had absolutely no idea the baptismal font from her era was at Kirkharle.

This was the highlight of my holiday – made all the better for its sheer unexpectedness.

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Footnotes:
1. Mackenzie, E. A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Town and County of Newcastle upon Tyne Including the Borough of Gateshead. Vol 1, 1827. Page 292-322
2. Sopwith, Thomas. A Historical and Descriptive Account of All Saints’ Church in Newcastle upon Tyne: Illustrated with Plans, Views, & Architectural Details. Newcastle: Edward Walker, 1826. Page 21
3. Bourne, Henry. The History of Newcastle upon Tyne or, the Ancient and Present State of That Town. by the Late Henry Bourne, M.A. Curate of All-Hallows in Newcastle. Newcastle upon Tyne: J White, 1736.
4. A concave moulding with a regular curved profile that is part of a circle, widely used in architecture as well as furniture, picture frames, metalwork and other decorative arts.
5. A variant spelling of basin.
6. Sopwith, Thomas, ibid. Page 40
7. Information board at St Wilfrid’s church, Kirkharle.

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Other sources not directly referenced:
• “Biography: Lanelot ‘Capability’ Brown – The Gardens Trust.” Accessed November 27, 2022. https://thegardenstrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Lancelot_Capability_Brown_biog.pdf.
• “Brown, Lancelot [Known as Capability Brown] (Bap. 1716, d. 1783), Landscape Gardener and Architect.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-3635.
• “Church of St Wilfred, Kirkwhelpington – 1370499: Historic England.” , Kirkwhelpington – 1370499 | Historic England. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1370499?section=official-list-entry.
• Countryfilemag. “Kirkharle, Northumberland.” Countryfile.com. Countryfile.com, November 9, 2018. https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/days-out/kirkharle-northumberland/.
• “Development of Kirkharle Landscape and Lake.” Development of Kirkharle Landscape and Lake – News | Capability Brown. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.capabilitybrown.org.uk/news/development-kirkharle-landscape-and-lake/.
• “Kirkharle Hall, History & Visiting: Historic Tyne & Wear Guide.” Britain Express. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=3438.
• “Kirkharle, Northumberland – St Wilfrid.” Northernvicar’s Blog, August 23, 2019. https://www.northernvicar.co.uk/2019/08/23/kirkharle-northumberland-st-wilfrid/.
• Kelly’s Directory of Durham and Northumberland: With Coloured Maps: 1921. London: Kelly’s Directories Ltd., 1921. Page 171.
• “Loraine Memorial Stone C.60 Yards South-West of Kirkharle Manor, Kirkwhelpington – 1155480: Historic England.” , Kirkwhelpington – 1155480 | Historic England. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1155480.
• “Monument to Robert Loraine, Kirkharle: Co-Curate.” Co-curate. Accessed November 27, 2022. https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/resources/view/79099/.
• Richardson, Moses Aaron. The Local Historian’s Table Book: Of Remarkable Occurences, Historical Facts, Traditions, Legendary and Descriptive Ballads, &c., &c., Connected with the Counties of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland and Durham. 2. Vol. 2. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: M.A. Richardson, 1841.