A ‘Victorian Whimsy’ in the churchyard in Stoke Bruerne is a clue to curious tales

The gates at Saint Mary’s Churchyard in Stoke Bruerne with the enigmatic Vernon inscrtion from 1893 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

I was back in Shutlanger and Stoke Bruerne earlier this week, exploring the links of the Parles and Comberford families with the area in the 15th and 16th centuries. I was photographing the house they once owned that is known as the Monastery.

I spent much of Tuesday walking around this part of rural Northamptonshire, traipsing through the villages and small towns of Blisworth, Shutlanger, Stoke Bruerne and Roade, enjoying the fields and trees and the pathways along the banks of the Grand Union Canal as summer colours started to autumn.

From Shutlanger, I walked onto Stoke Bruerne, but was disappointed once again that Saint Mary’s Church was not open as I hoped to see inside the church building.

Out in the churchyard, however, I was curious about the unusual Victorian gate piers at the entrance to the churchyard from Wenworth Way, with a puzzling inscription that reads:

A 1893 D
PN ── GE
WN ── DE
CK ── ME
SE ── PD
GSTQ
TOOG

At first, the inscription appears indecipherable, and it has been described as ‘a Victorian Whimsy’ by a well-known local historian, the late George Freeston of Blisworth, and by the late John Grace of Stoke Park, who wrote about it in Grass Magazine in 2018.

Grass Magazine is the newsletter for the Grand Union Benefice or parochial union of Blisworth, Stoke Bruerne and Shutlanger, with Grafton Regis, Alderton, and Milton Malsor. A transcription of John Grace’s short explanation is available on the noticeboard in the church porch in Stoke Bruerne.

John Grace relies on George Freeston’s interpretation of what they describe as a ‘Victorian whimsy’ in Stoke Bruerne churchyard. Grace and Freeston recall that the owner of Stoke Park, Wentworth Vernon, walked on Sundays to church in Stoke Bruerne on Sundays from Stoke Park along a well-maintained footpath.

On his way, he entered the churchyard through the gateway that now leads from Wentworth Way. The gate is flanked by two stone pillars, one of which bears this inscription. Freeston, who described this as a ‘Victorian whimsy’, offers this interpretation of the inscription:

Anno Domini 1893
ParsoN ── GavE
(permission for)
WardeN ── DravE
(carried the materials by horse and cart)
ClerK ── MadE
SquirE ── PaiD
God Save The Queen
To Our One God

The whimsical inscription at the gates in Saint Mary’s Churchyard in Stoke Bruerne dates from 1893 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

FWT Vernon Wentworth, who was the Squire of Stoke Park in the 1870s and 1880s, gave his name to Wentworth Way. He was one of the benefactors of Stoke Bruerne and gave the Village Hall to the villagers as the Reading Room in 1878. When he died in 1885, the Stoke and Hartwell estates passed for life to his kinsman, William Frederick Vernon of Harefield Park, Middlesex.

A year later, the mansion at Stoke Park was largely destroyed by fire in 1886. At the time Stoke Park was let for the hunting season each year to Valentine Lawless (1840-1928), 4th Baron Cloncurry, an Irish peer who also had large estates in Blackrock, Co Dublin, Lyons Castle, Co Kildare, and Abington, Co Limerick.

After the fire, Vernon announced he did not intend to rebuild the house but that he would offer the estate for sale to Lord Cloncurry. In the event, however, Stoke Park was not sold and when WF Vernon died in 1889, the estate passed to Vernon’s brother, George Augustus Vernon.

Then in 1889, GA Vernon assigned his life interest in Stoke Park to his eldest surviving son, Bertie Wentworth Vernon, who later succeeded to the Harefield estate in 1896.

Bertie Wh Vernon and his wife Isabella made Stoke Park their principal home until both died in 1916. They played the role of a resident squire and his lady in a village that had previously generally lacked such figures. He appears to be the squire responsible for the gate in the churchyard with its whimsical inscription.

During the Vernons’ later years, however, the estate became increasingly encumbered with mortgages. This may explain why their generosity to the parish declined and why they sold off their Hartwell estate sold in 1912.

What remained of the estate was inherited in 1916 by BW Vernon’s nephew, Henry Albermarle Vernon. He took up residence at Stoke Park, Vernon cleared the mortgages accumulated by his uncle, and then in 1928 sold Stoke Park to Captain Edward Brabazon Meade, a younger son of an Irish aristocrat, the 4th Earl of Clanwilliam. The contents of Stoke Park were sold separately later that year.

Meade borrowed heavily in his attempts to revive the estate. During World War II, the mansion and grounds were requisitioned by the army, and Meade moved to the Bahamas before selling off the estate in 1946.

The ‘Victorian Whimsy’ in Stoke Bruerne churchyard is a reminder of the Vernon family and their role in village life.

Cornfields between Stoke Park and Stoke Bruerne, with the tower of Saint Mary’s Church in the distance (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 118, Thursday 5 September 2024

The Miraculous Draught of Fish … a window by Heaton, Butler and Bayne in Saint Mary’s Church, St Neots, Cambridgeshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIV, 1 September 2024). Sunday was also the first day of Autumn, when the Season of Creation began, and it continues until 4 October.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

An icon of the Church as a boat, including Christ, the Apostles and the Church Fathers (Icon: Deacon Matthew Garrett, www.holy-icons.com)

Luke 5: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ 5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch’ (Luke 5: 4) … a fisherman at work in the Venetian lagoon at Torcello (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Do you ever ask whether you are worthy of the call of Christ – the call to follow him, the call to be a disciple, the call that was first answered for you, on your behalf, at your baptism?

There are times when I have to question my worthiness to be priest. I am not a priest because I think it is my right to be one, or because I thought at one stage this would be a good career move. I am a priest because, despite my resistance to the call over many years, I believe God called me – called me many years ago, more than 50 years ago, at the age of 19.

This morning, in the Gospel reading (Luke 5: 1-11), we hear how the renewed call to some of the disciples, including Peter, James and John, come not to them because they are worthy of this call, or have inherited a call, or have a right to speak on God’s behalf.

Peter, James and John are called not only to speak on Christ’s behalf, but to do what he commands and to follow him. In his response, Simon Peter expresses his feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness, yet accepts the call to speak in Christ’s name, unconditionally and in faith.

Our Baptism has ethical implications for our discipleship: in the community of the baptised, ethnic and social barriers are shattered, for ‘Christ is all and in all.’

In our Gospel story, we hear a story of commitment to Christ, to his message and to discipleship. Christ calls Simon or Simon Peter to be a disciple, promising him he is to be a ‘fisher of men,’ and Peter, James and John leave everything and follow Christ.

This story begins by the ‘lake of Gennesaret,’ on the south-west shore of the Sea of Galilee. The crowd is pressing in to hear Christ, the Word of God, preach the ‘word of God’ or the Christian message.

Christ gets into the boat with Simon Peter. There are two boats in this episode, and James and John are also fishing in one of the boats.

They not only listen to Christ, but they do what he tells them to do, and they are amazed at the consequences. Simon Peter acknowledges Jesus as ‘Master’ or teacher, and responds by falling down before Jesus in humility, pointing to himself as a sinful man, and calling Jesus ‘Lord,’ which becomes an expression of faith.

Peter, James and John make a total commitment to Christ, leave everything, and follow him.

In Christian art, the boat is often used as an image of the Church, while the fish is an image of Christ.

In the Early Church, the fish came to symbolise Christ because the Greek word Ichthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ), meaning ‘fish’, is an acrostic for Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ, ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.’

Some years ago, when I was visiting Kaş, a pretty town on the south coast of Turkey, I visited the former Church of the Annunciation. Kaş had once been a Greek-majority town known as Andifli, but the Greek ethnic community was expelled in 1923 in one of the early examples of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in 20th century Europe.

For 40 years, the Church of the Annunciation on the acropolis or hilltop above the town lay deserted and crumbling. But in 1963, 40 years after these people were expelled from Andifli, their former parish church was requisitioned as a mosque, and – despite its age – was renamed Yeni Cami (New Mosque). A minaret was added, along with a fountain with a quotation in Turkish, rather than Arabic, from the Quran: ‘We made from water every living thing’ (Surat al-Anbiyya, the Prophets, 21: 30).

Inside, the church was aligned facing east, a new mihrab or prayer niche facing Mecca and a minbar (pulpit) were inserted into the south wall, the frescoes were stripped away and the icon screen was removed. All obvious Christian symbols, including crosses, were picked out of the hoklakia or pebble mosaic in the courtyard. But no-one noticed the significance of the fish, symbolising the Greek word Ichthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ), so that dozens of fish symbolising Christ and the Christian faith are still scattered though this pebble mosaic.

This is, truly, the story of the ‘big fish that got away.’

Have you ever spoken of someone or some thing as a ‘good catch’? A person you had an emotional or romantic interest in? A job you wanted? A house you wanted to buy?

Can you imagine how Christ sees you as ‘a good catch’?

If the Church is the agent of Christ, do we do a good job in drawing in his ‘good catch’?

Are we trusting enough to do what he asks us to do as his disciples?

And are we trusting enough to know that he sees you, you and me, as ‘good catches’?

But there are more and more ‘good catches’ that he wants us to draw into the boat, into the Church. And the way to do this is to listen to what he says and what he asks us to do. ‘When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him’ (Luke 5: 11).

What he has been asking us to do in the readings this week – what he asked us to in his reading from the Prophet Isaiah, which we read as the Gospel reading on Monday morning (Luke 4: 16-30, 2 September 2024) are:

• to bring good news to the poor
• to proclaim release to the captives
• to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind
• to let the oppressed go free
• to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

The Ichthus symbol remains discreetly unnoticed in the pebble mosaic of the former church courtyard in Kaş (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 5 September 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘To Hope and Act with Creation.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection on Creationtide.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 5 September 2024, International Day of Charity) invites us to pray:

Let us give thanks for charities across the world, for all that they do to provide help and support. We thank God for generous hearts even in the toughest of circumstances.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose only Son has opened for us
a new and living way into your presence:
give us pure hearts and steadfast wills
to worship you in spirit and in truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord God, the source of truth and love,
keep us faithful to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,
united in prayer and the breaking of bread,
and one in joy and simplicity of heart,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Merciful God,
your Son came to save us
and bore our sins on the cross:
may we trust in your mercy
and know your love,
rejoicing in the righteousness
that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him’ (Luke 5: 11) … fishing boats on a shore at Mount Athos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

‘He saw two boats there at the shore’ (Luke 5: 2) … two boats offering fishing trips in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)