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.
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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'
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Aimee Young HIS1010 The History of British Heritage
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.
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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
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