27 October 2022

Praying in Ordinary Time with USPG:
Thursday 27 October 2022

The Guild Church of Saint Katharine Cree at 86 Leadenhall Street, London, is one of the few City churches to survive the Great Fire of London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

Before today gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for reading, prayer and reflection.

For the rest of this week, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, One of the readings for the morning;

2, A reflection based on six churches or church sites I visited in London last week;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

Inside Saint Katharine Cree Church, Leadenhall Street, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Luke 13: 31-35 (NRSVA):

31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ 32 He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”.’

Inside Saint Katharine Cree Church, Leadenhall Street, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

The Guild Church of Saint Katharine Cree, Leadenhall Street:

The Guild Church of Saint Katharine Cree at 86 Leadenhall Street, London, is just a few minutes’ walk from Bank station. This was one of the few City churches to survive the Great Fire of London in 1666, and also survived the Blitz. Today, it is one of many City churches almost lost amid the modern architecture of finance and commerce.

Saint Katharine Cree is in the Aldgate ward, on the north side of Leadenhall Street. A parish served by the church existed by 1108, when it was served by the Augustinian Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, also called Christ Church, which was founded by Queen Maud in the reign of Henry I.

The parishioners used the priory church but was unsatisfactory and disrupted the life of the priory. The prior partly resolved the problem in 1280 by founding Saint Katharine Cree as a separate church for the parishioners.

The site of the present church was originally in the priory churchyard and the church may have first been a cemetery chapel. It took its name from the priory, the word ‘Cree’ being derived ‘Crichurch,’ an abbreviation of ‘Christ Church.’

The church was initially served by a canon appointed by the prior, but this was not satisfactory either. So, the church became a parish church in its own right in 1414. The present tower was added ca 1504.

The present church was built in 1628-1630, retaining the older Tudor tower. The imposing Jacobean architecture is unique in London. It is larger than the previous church, incorporating a piece of ground previously occupied by a cloister on the north side, and the floor level is considerably higher.

The rebuilt church was consecrated by William Laud, Bishop of London, on 31 January 1631. His vestments and the form of service he used for the consecration were later held against him in his trial and conviction for heresy, when Puritans accused him of displaying Catholic sympathies through his ‘bowings and cringing.’ He is commemorated by a chapel in the church.

This is the only Jacobean church to have survived in London. The identity of its architect is unknown. It has a high nave, linked with the narrow aisles by arcades supported on Corinthian columns. The church is 28 metres long and 16 metres wide; the height from the nave to the ceiling is 11 metres.

The 17th century rose window, reputedly modelled on the much larger one in Old Saint Paul’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

The rose window in the chancel is reputedly modelled on the much larger one in Old Saint Paul’s Cathedral, destroyed in the Great Fire. The window and its stained glass are original, dating from 1630. The baptismal font dates from ca 1640. The vaulted ceiling bears bosses of the arms of 16 of the City’s livery companies and of the City of London itself. Tradition says these companies used Saint Katharine Cree for a time after the Great Fire while their Guild Churches were being rebuilt.

Handel and Purcell both played the organ in the church, which retains some of its 17th-century pipework.

There is a monument to Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, after whose family Throgmorton Street is named. By the south wall is a memorial to RMS Lancastria, a troopship sunk with a huge loss of life in 1940.

Saint Katharine’s has a ring of six bells. Lester and Pack of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast five of them including the treble bell in 1754. Thomas II Mears of Whitechapel cast the tenor bell in 1842. The clock has a bell, also cast by Lester and Pack in 1754. It is the only tower in the City where the bells are rung from a ground-floor ringing chamber.

The church suffered only minor damage in the London Blitz in World War II. However, structural problems required extensive restoration in 1962.

Saint Katharine Cree Church is a Grade I listed building and one of the City’s Guild churches. The church was designated a Guild Church – it does not have a parish – in 1952 and was asked by the Bishop of London to focus its ministry on workers, especially industrial workers and workers in the worlds of finance, commerce and industry.

Saint Katharine of Alexandria depicted in a panel in the Transfiguration Window (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

The church welcomes all who are looking to deepen their connection with their community and with Jesus Christ. The ministry is rooted in a rhythm of prayer and worship, focusing on those who work in the City in precarious, low paid or ‘hidden’ occupations.

As a City church, the church continues to celebrate its historic connections and partnerships, including links with the Baltic Exchange and the shipping industry, the Aldgate Ward Club, and Lloyd’s Choir.

Alongside prayer and worship, the activities include English classes, employment advice opportunities, health and well-being activities, community meals, and connections between migrant and diaspora community groups, churches and service providers.

Father Josh Harris is the Priest-in-Charge of Saint Katharine Cree, and is responsible for worship and ministry in the church.

Father Angus Ritchie, the Assistant Priest, is the Executive Director of the Centre for Theology and Community (CTC). He leads the CTC Eastminster Chaplaincy Team, which is developing ministry among local workers, especially cleaners, construction workers and security staff, ‘so that Saint Katharine Cree can be a place for them to worship God, build community and challenge injustice.’

The Eucharist is celebrated at 9:30 am on Tuesday and Friday, there are Prayers at 1 pm on Tuesday, and a Bible Study and ‘bring-and-share’ lunch at 1 pm on Friday. The church is open for prayer and reflection during the week at lunchtimes on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

The Transfiguration on the north wall in Saint Katharine Cree (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Today’s Prayer (Thursday 27 October 2022):

The Collect:

Blessed Lord,
who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
help us so to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
the hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God of all grace,
your Son Jesus Christ fed the hungry
with the bread of his life
and the word of his kingdom:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your true and living bread;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week is ‘Theology in Korea.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today in these words:

Let us pray for the growth of open and inclusive environments for theological discussion.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The three patrons, Saint Andrew (left) of Scotland, Saint George (centre) of England, and Saint Patrick (right) of Ireland, in a window in the south wall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Saint Katharine Cree offers a place for marginal workers ‘to worship God, build community and challenge injustice’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

There are many ways to spell
a good name: Cumberford
in Bloxham, near Banbury

There are more ways than one to spell a good name … visiting Cumberford in Bloxham, near Banbury in north Oxfordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

There is more than one way to spell a good name, as I found in the village of Bloxham, south-west of Banbury, on the road to Chipping Norton.

The bus from Oxford to Banbury yesterday was a winding, rambling one along the banks of the Cherwell and through rural Oxfordshire and pretty villages with memorable names, including Steeple Aston, Deddington, Adderbury and Twyford – and there was still another few miles to journey on from Banbury out to Bloxham.

This is picture postcard England, with thatched houses dating back to the 16th or 17th century, many with pretty gardens that could have featured once on old-fashioned chocolate box lids.

Cumberford House is on the edges of Bloxham, south-west of Banbury in Oxfordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

The Romano-British settlers in the area were followed by Anglo-Saxons, who established the site of the modern village on the valley slopes of the Sor Brook, a tributary of the Cherwell.

The Domesday survey of 1086 recorded the village as having six mills and trading in wool and corn. After the Norman Conquest, Bloxham continued to expand and at this time, the north and south of the village were quite separate.

Bloxham’s architectural heritage includes Saint Mary’s Church, a splendid church with a 14th century tower and 198 ft spire, said to be the tallest in Oxfordshire and a local landmark that can be seen for miles around.

To a large extent, Bloxham retains its irregular, mediaeval street plan, with a network of winding streets, alleys and lanes, and perhaps I shall write about the church and the village in the days to come.

Cumberford Cottage, beside Cumberford House in Bloxham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

But I was in Bloxham yesterday primarily to see Cumberford in Bloxham, including the street called Cumberford as well as Cumberford House and Cumberford Cottage at the top of Cumberford Hill.

I joked during the afternoon that there is more than one way to spell a good name. The family has generally spelt our name as Comerford since the 17th century, although my grandfather’s birth records spell his name as Stephen Edward Commerford, with two Ms.

The family origins have been traced to both Quemerford, on the eastern outskirts of Calne in Wiltshire, and Comberford, between Lichfield and Tamworth in Staffordshire, which was sometimes spelled Cumberford, even at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.

But I am still not sure about the origins of the name of Cumberford in Bloxham is derived from.

Is it a local topographical name? Or is there some remote connection with Comberford in Staffordshire or the Comberford family, which were often rendered with the alternative spelling of Cumberford, that I have yet to uncover?

Cumberford House (left), at the top of Cumberford Hill, was probably first built in the 17th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Cumberford was a comparatively late development in Bloxham, so the name may be a late derivation too. The evidence of surviving houses shows that these outskirts of the Bloxham today were at least partly occupied by the 16th century, and, indeed, most of the village street names date from about this period or earlier.

Cumberford is on the south-west fringes of the village and is an identifiable area on its own, with one of the highest hills in Bloxham. Cumberford is also the name of the street that begins on a bank above the local allotments.

Cumberford House, at the top of Cumberford Hill, was probably first built in the 17th century, and neighbouring Cumberford Cottage probably dates from the same time.

Cumberford House has a stone fireplace dated 1619 that was brought from a house in Adderbury. The house was modernised in 1742, and this date and the initials ‘RP’ are cut on a datestone over the lowest window in the south gable.

Cumberford House is built of regular coursed ironstone rubble and has a Welsh slate roof, and is built on an L-plan. There are three brick stacks to the ridge and the end, one on a stone base.

At the south-east elevation, the left part is single-storey with an attic, while the gable fronted bay to the right is of two storeys, also with an attic. The six-panelled door and lattice porch is flanked by casements with wooden lintels. There is a single attic casement on the left side, while the right side has a casement on the first floor with a key-stoned surround and a similar small window above with crown glass.

Some windows in the house have wrought-iron casement fasteners. There are ironstone quoins, and there are stone copings and kneelers at the gable.

The elevation facing onto Cumberford Hill has three tall two-light casements. The windows on the ground floor have key-stoned flat arches. A window to the left has been blocked. There are three similar windows on first floor. Most windows have wrought iron casement fasteners.

Inside the house, apart from the stone fireplace that is dated 1619 and that came from a house in Adderbury, most of the fittings date from the early 19th century.

Cumberford House is a Grade II listing building, and for some years has been the home of Michael Fergus Forbes and his family.

I walked back the short distance back into Bloxham, strolling around the narrow alleyways and streets, and visiting Saint Mary’s Church, before having a late lunch in the Joiners’ Arms and then returning to Banbury for the journey back to Oxford and on to Stony Stratford. I left, however, without uncovering the origins of the name Cumberford in Bloxham.

Cumberford Hill in Bloxham … the name may only date from the 16th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)