All Saints and St Wistan's
The two churches of the Parish of Wigston Magna
This is just a short description of the history of the Parish.
Fuller guides are available:
All Saints Wigston Magna - A History of the Parish Church by Janice Broughton ISBN 0953503801
The Old Church - A History of St Wistan's Church Wigston Magna by Janice Broughton ISBN 0953503844
'Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam' - A Guide to the Architecture and Furnishings of All Saints Church, Wigston Magna by Janice Broughton ISBN 0953503828
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For almost
500 years the term Wigston Two Steeples’ has been a filling description of
Wigston Magna and many people have wondered why it is that the village always
had two churches, All Saints and St Wistan's, in one parish.
All
Saints’ Church
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All
Saints’ is the largest building and is the parish church. It was constructed
between the years 1280 - 1320
and replaced possibly as many as three earlier church buildings on the same
site.
Archeological
evidence shows that the early settlement of Wigston dates back at least to the
sixth century, and that the pagan village was Christianized in AD 653. A small
thatched wattle and daub building would have been the earliest church, followed
in the late Anglo-Saxon period by a strong wooden construction later to be
replaced by a single-aisled stone building erected during the Norman period in
the solid Romanesque style.
In
the early twelfth century the church acquired wealthy patrons when it was
presented to the monastic community of Lenton in Nottingham by the Lord of the
manor, Robert de Meulen, Earl of Leicester. The monastery commissioned a large
church to be built in the late Gothic style, which we now call the Decorated,
and which has become the building we are familiar with today. It was constructed
in local Enderby pink-grey granite stone and embellished by a 90 foot
The
interior was extensively restored in the nineteenth century with many new window
mouldings replacing the medieval stone tracery which had deteriorated over the
centuries. The Victorians also added a new oak pulpit and matching pews in 1863,
and the present flooring of cream, black and red tiles from Coalville. Finally
in 1903 the chancel was heightened and refurbished and aquired the addition of a
new organ building to the south wall.
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The rood screen
in the chancel arch is medieval but one now has to imagine its once brightly
painted appearance in the Pre-Reformation church, which itself would have been a
blaze of colours glowing in the dimly-lit interior in contrast the white-washed
wails of our modern church. The figures top of the screen were added in 1958
replacing those destroyed in the sixteenth century.
The present
root was built in 1637, replacing an earlier one which had collapsed in 1632, at
a cost of £48. 2. 4d I The date over the chancel arch records its completion.
It was painted in the strong colours of the medieval style in 1958.
Since 1913 the worship in All Saints’ has been in the Anglo-Catholic tradition which has in practice returned the church to the original medieval form of worship which had its emphasis on the centrality of the Mass.
St Wistan's
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This tiny
church never had the status of a parish church but evolved from a shrine chapel
dedicated to a local saint who as an Anglo-Saxon Mercian
prince, was murdered in 849 at nearby Wistow. His body was taken by his
followers to be buried in the royal mausoleum at Repton in Derbyshire passing
through the village of Wigston en route. Where the body was believed to have
rested overnight a small shrine was set up to honour the prince who was later
sanctified after reports of miracles and healings had taken place during visits
to his burial crypt at Repton.
By 1086 the
small commemorative shrine in Wigston had become integrated into a chapel served
by its own separate cleric. In late medieval times the shrine was the centre of
an annual pilgrimage held on the anniversary of St Wistan’s murder, the 1st
of June, when the whole village took part in the celebrations and worship of a
jewelled figure of the saint in the north aisle of the chapel.
The
Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century made illegal all worship of
images of saints, shrines and relics making the little chapel redundant. It was
used, from the late sixteenth century as the schoolroom of the village until
1839, and later became the meeting house of the Congregation of Independents
(now the URC) towards the end of the seventeenth century.
The building
seems to have been put to a multitude of uses despite being in a ruinous state
with a perilously leaning steeple and crumbling masonry. It became a mortuary
house, a fuel store, a barn and also managed to contain two alms-houses which
were built into the east end of the nave.
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