heritage report

8/7/2019 Heritage Report

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Aimee Young HIS1010 The History of British Heritage

Fieldwork ReportHoly Sepulchre and Welsh House

IntroductionIn this report I intend to take a look at two different heritage sites within

Northampton Town Centre. These sites are The Holy Sepulchre Church, Sheep Street

and The Welsh House, Market Square. I will be explaining the history of each site, its

place within the local timeline and the historical significance of both sites. The

purpose of this report is to understand the history and heritage of each of these sites

but also to evaluate its significance and value to Northampton today.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton

This church is located on Sheep Street in Northampton Town Centre and was founded

around 1100 A.D by a man named Simon de Senlis who was the Earl of Northampton.

The Earl had returned from the crusades and it is believed that the church was built to

give thanks for his safe return. The church in Northampton was a replication of the

church in Jerusalem and was very notable for the fact that the structure of the church

was round. The 'Round churches' (as they are commonly referred to) were built invarious different places around England, however, only four survive today, these are in

Northampton, Cambridge, London and Essex. The design of the church was a replica

of the church in Jerusalem, however, it was built to a much smaller scale and the only

original feature left are the outer walls of the 'round' itself, almost everything else has

been additions to the church over the past 900 years.

There is a common misconception about the relation of this church to the Knights

Templar as most round churches within England were associated with it, however, this

church was built in an earlier period and has no connection with the Knights Templar.

It is stated that ”No historical events of any importance can be with any degree of

certainty connected with this church” (Serjeantson, 1897) this, according to a lack of

evidence to suggest otherwise, would appear to be correct, however, I believe the real

significance of this building lays with its age. This building is one of the oldest

buildings in Northampton and has been a part of Northampton’s landscape for nearly

1000 years.




This building has over 900 years of history and it is believed that in the 13 th century

two of the crusades started from Northampton, these were of Richard, Earl of Cornwall

in 1239 and Prince Edward in 1270 (Serjeantson, 1897). Rev Serjeantson who was the

writer of History of the church of the holy sepulchre, Northampton 1897, suggests

that many crusaders would have spent time within the church which would “remind

them so vividly of the vow they had undertaken to accomplish” (Serjeantson, 1897 pg

6). It is believed that the church is the burial home of soldiers who fought during the

civil war either at the battle of Naseby (1645) or the Cropredy Bridge (1644) and in

later years the church windows were replaced with stain glass images of soldiers in

memory of the men killed fighting wars such as the South African war, 1899-1902.

Below is an image of what is known as 'The soldiers window' within the Holy sepulchre

church, Northampton. I have also included a photocopy of the original layout plan.

The 'Welsh House'




It is widely believed that the house was built in 1595 due to the stonework at the

front of the building and is located at the top of the Market Square in Northampton.

According to J.B. Stafford, who wrote an article called Historical Associations of 'welsh

house' in 1971, the general consensus was that John Parker (Sergeant-at-law) lived

in the house and this was derived from the literature of Edmund Pretty. This was

disputed by T.B. Jenkins who completed research in to the ownership of the house in

1956. T.B. Jenkins believed the house was owned by a gentleman by the name of

William Prytherch and it is his initials that are on the stonework on the front of the

building. T.B. Jenkins research also shows that William Prytherch became a Freeman

of Northampton in 1600 for repairing the town walls. It is believed that William gave

his house to the Whitgift Foundation Charity providing William and his wife Elizabethcould continue to live there for the remainder of there lives (Jenkins, 1956).

The stonework on the outside of the house has three coats of arms and a welsh motto

which reads : “HEB DYW HEB DYM DYW A DIGON” which translated means “Without

God, without anything: God and enough”, this is why the house adopted the name

'Welsh house' and it is widely believed that William Prytherch originally erected this

stonework in 1595. It is also widely believed that this building was one of very few

surviving buildings after the great fire of Northampton in 1675, T.B. Jenkins also

disputes this fact in his research, however, it is hard to determine physically if the

building survived or not due to the amount of restoration that has taken place since

then. It has also been suggested that the house was named after its association with

the welsh farmers who transported sheep up to the market to sell and would take rest

in the 'welsh house'. In 1831 the building became home the the Northampton Herald

and later became a shop, today the building is used by Yorks Travel and when you

walk into the building it is hard to notice anything special about it. From the outside of the building it stands out amongst the 1970's buildings and if you take a minute to

look up it is easy to see how beautiful the building is and how much it contrasts from

its surroundings. I have included a picture of the stonework on the outside of the

building, a picture of the entire house and a picture and piece of writing dated 1865.




Conclusion

After doing my research on each of the heritage sites I realised just how different

each of them is, The Holy Sepulchre has had a long, and some might say, dull history

yet I believe it is valued more amongst the town than the 'welsh house', this is

possibly due to its age and religious symbolism. The Holy Sepulchre Church is a

stunning building and I would suggest to anyone to take the time to visit, for me

personally the building grabbed my attention by its beauty and age and the feeling of

over 900 years of history all around me.

The 'welsh house' has a disputed history and has changed dramatically on the inside.

The building appears to have gone unnoticed to the people of Northampton but I

would suggest that if we could just stop for minute and take a look at the outside of

the building it is easy to see its value in terms of beautiful historical buildings within

Northampton.

References

heritage report

Documents