Abstracts History

The impact of the Reformation on the building and repair of churches in archdeaconry of the East Riding, 1547-1730

by Catharine Otton-Goulder

Before the mid-sixteenth century countless ecclesiastical buildings were built, repaired and rebuilt throughout England. Yet by the mid-nineteenth century many churches were in serious disrepair. The change coincided with the establishment of Protestantism in place of Catholicism as the national religion. Were the two processes connected? This thesis is a contribution to answering that question, by assessing all 240-odd churches and chapels in the archdeaconry of the East Riding of Yorkshire between 1547 and 1730. It concludes that there was a causal connection, and explores the nature of the connection over that extended period of time. The Reformation brought many changes in the architecture and fittings of English churches. Many of these have already been charted. There has also been significant research on the concept of sacred space in early modern Europe. However, this thesis is the first attempt to address the specific question posed above. The transfer of rectories and advowsons occasioned by the Dissolution from collegiate entities to the Crown and others dramatically and adversely affected the condition of many East Riding chancels between 1547 and 1603, while the laity generally maintained the body of their churches. Between 1603 and 1630 many East Riding parishes spent much equipping their churches for Protestant worship, before bestowing still more in the 1630s to comply with avant-garde conformist ideals. The 1640s and 1650s saw sustained neglect of ecclesiastical fabric as a result of the upheavals of the civil wars and the Commonwealth. The Restoration of the Crown and the Church brought a conscious attempt to restore church fabric and equipment for Protestant worship, impeded by the problems facing church authorities and East Riding poverty. Archbishop Sharp and archdeacon Dering secured significant improvements although they could not correct long-standing dilapidation.