| Tour of All
Saints' Church, Little Staughton, Bedfordshire, part 3 |
The east window
of the chancel has five "lights" or main parts and is
a good example of 15th century Perpendicular panel tracery.
The brass cross and candlesticks on the altar beneath the window were acquired in 1899 from St Saviour’s Church, Luton. Until the first half of the 20th century, there were two
smaller windows of two "lights" of the same period on
each side of the chancel. Today the north wall contains
only one as the second was removed when the organ chamber
was added. It is difficult for us to imagine the stunning
effect these windows must have had upon villagers in 15th
century. They would have lived in cottages with little
or no light. When they came to church, they would have
assembled in the nave. Even with its clerestory windows
this would have been dimly lit. The walls then would not
have been white but painted and the windows filled with
stained glass. They would have looked beyond the rood
screen which separated the nave from the chancel into
a chancel which would have been flooded with natural light.
Performing "the sacred mysteries" would have been priests
and others in splendid robes who would not have entered
the Church by the main door but through the late 14th
century door in the south side of the chancel - away from
the local villagers! Even in a small local church like
Little Staughton the effect would have been stunning!
There is a side chapel in the south aisle which is dedicated to St Margaret and contains
a second less ornate piscine thus indicating its medieval
origins. The construction of the nave pillar provides
evidence that this chapel would have been enclosed by
a wooden screen known as a parcluse screen. There is an
opening cut right through the main pillar which would
have enabled someone at the south door to see into the
sanctuary and perhaps ensure that the devotions of those
who could not get into the main body of the church were
synchronised with the ceremonies in the chancel. Such
openings are known as "squints". Close to the "squint"
is an "image bracket" upon which astatute of the Virgin
Mary probably stood. Set in the outer wall of the chapel
is a stone coffin lid with a raised decoration in the
shape of an anchor. From its position in the wall, its
presence is likely to have more to do with a "quick repair"
job rather than any religious symbolism. The date of the
lid has yet to be determined. However, the anchor was a symbol of the hope of salvation and of eternal life and was widely used by early Christians and is to be found on many early Christian graves. One may assume therefore that the lid is probably one of the oldest artefacts in the church.
The windows in the side chapel at the end of the south
aisle, like the clerestory windows on the north side of
the nave, contain traces of stained glass which would
have filled each window until the 16th or 17th centuries.
What brought about the change from medieval colour to
plain simplicity in Little Staughton's church? During
the religious upheavals of the Reformation and its aftermath
churches were stripped, often violently, of their papist
trappings. Wall paintings were covered with white wash
and stained glass windows smashed. Stone statutes - including
the one on the image bracket - were pull down or defaced.
This is clearly what happened at Little Staughton. If
one looks at the north side pillar at the entrance to
the Chancel one can see evidence of the violence with
which the wooden screen which separated the chancel from
the nave has been torn out. The parcluse screen around
the side chapel in the south aisle would also have suffered
a similar fate and only fragments of medieval glass are
to be found in the windows.
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