A CHURCH IN A TOWN
 

Why ever was this church built so big and so high for a town of only a few hundred souls? (Hythe has still barely 16,000 inhabitants today.) And why put it so far from the houses and shops? And isn’t it rather grey and bare compared to some churches?

This leaflet will help to answer questions like that, for this building has grown and changed over a period of nearly a thousand years, and it mirrors the history not just of the Church in England, but of England too.

First, on its size, if you look at the plan you see that the first Norman church built around 1080 AD would have fitted into just the centre part of the present nave. And far from being on the edge of the town, it was surrounded by houses which crowded up to its very walls, while the sea came up to the edge of the present High Street; so the church was really very central. Also this was an important crossroads where the pilgrims’ route from Hythe Harbour to Canterbury crossed the old Roman way from Port Lympne to Dover. One other reason for use of this site was that we are certain an older church, the Saxon church of St Edmund, stood here also, and William the Conqueror and his bishops saw the sense of aiming for continuity of worship, and building (literally) on the traditions they found, whenever they could.

The Normans brought their master masons with them, and their skills in building mighty churches in stone. The English had used stone less and were more used to building in wood obtained from the vast forests that still covered much of the land. So in the period of sixty years after the invasion of 1066 an astonishing transformation took place in England: William demanded that the defeated Brits built with their own labour and money churches and cathedrals, abbeys, monasteries and castles. Much of the stone used came from Normandy, and the muddy tracks must have been filled with ox-carts heaving loads of Caen stone from port to building site. The rate of building in the late 11th and early 12th centuries was unprecedented and has certainly never been equalled. Many of our great cathedrals were founded or re-built in this period: Canterbury, Ely, Lincoln, Gloucester, Winchester, Exeter, Norwich, St Paul’s, Durham … the list goes on.

It was not just the Norman influence that generated this spate of building. There was a new spirit across the whole of Europe. Many had expected the world to end in the year 1000. Men had been holding their breath, especially after a comet was seen in 989 (it was Halley’s), but when God stayed His hand, there was a new optimism and sense of gratitude. In the words of the contemporary historian Ralph Glaber, a monk who himself had previously forecast the worst: ‘Each Christian community was aiming to surpass all others in the splendour of construction. It was as if the world were shaking itself free, shrugging off the burden of the past, and cladding itself everywhere in a white mantle of churches’. How beautiful this new world must have looked, with the fine, clean, stone towers reaching up into God’s heaven. In England, the little Saxon chapels were replaced by buildings of wonder - at William’s behest maybe, but built for the glory of God.

Hythe’s new church was given the name of a Norman saint: you can see him in the stained glass window in the porch as you enter, visiting a manacled prisoner, for Leonard (if he existed) is the patron saint of prisoners. They built it alongside Hythe’s previous church, which un-usually they left standing so it could continue in use as a meeting place for the ‘Jurats’, or Councillors, of the town. They even added to it a splendidly important doorway arch, which you can see still inside the choir vestry, presumably for the entry of stately processions. It seems that for a while the two buildings existed separately and side by side.
It soon became apparent, however, that the new church was not large enough for the prosperous fishing port and market town, and in 1120 or soon after they lengthened the nave, cut arches in the walls, and added side-aisles. This had the effect of merging the two buildings into one, so the old church became a transept; another transept added to the south side created a cruciform shape, with undoubtedly an apse (containing the altar) at the east end of the nave

It still was not big enough: not only was Hythe prospering by trade, and growing in size, but the murder of Thomas à Becket in 1170 had begun to attract a stream of pilgrims to his shrine. Many from mainland Europe were arriving at Hythe Harbour and coming through the town on their journey to Canterbury. They would stop here to give thanks for a safe crossing of the dangerous channel, and so very soon after 1200 a further extension was made: this was when the high chancel with its fine stone arches, side-aisles, and windows were added. If you had entered then you would not have found the building grey! Everywhere were highly-coloured pictures telling visually the great Bible stories to a congregation that could not read books; perhaps as many as 25 altars to various popular saints were placed around the walls (you can still see traces of their painted shrines on the south columns).
St Leaonard's Floor Plan
With candles flickering and a coloured sunlight filtering in through the stained glass, what a magnificent and awesome building this must have been. There was no seating apart from some stone benches at the side: folk knelt or stood around during the long services. A heavy screen filled the chancel arch, and, on the top, life-size figures of Christ on the Cross and Mary and John at his side (see the little doorway above the pulpit that gave access to those figures). Through the screen were visible the priests and monks in their robes. Anyone seeking special favours might go up the steps on the right to pray in the Lady Chapel (now the Calvary Chapel, but still with a (modern) statue of Mary). On ‘holy-days’ a solemn procession with banners and incense would bear the treasured relic of St Leonard (we do not know what it was) round the outside of the church, the people following reverently, listening to the chanting, smelling the incense, savouring the sound and colour in their otherwise drab lives.

The porch where you came in was added in the 14th century, but the ground plan inside the church today would be entirely familiar to a visitor from medieval times, though he would miss the coloured glass, and the paintings on the walls, that great screen, and the figures and altars. How and why were these lost?

The first major change was generated by King Henry VIII, his desire for a male heir, and his marital problem: he broke from the Roman Church, which would not sanction his request to divorce and re-marry, and declared himself supreme Head of the English Church. The dissolution of the monasteries, the appropriation of the Church’s wealth, and the destruction of the whole apparatus of saints and martyrs (including Becket’s rich tomb) followed The process gathered pace in the six-year reign of Edward VI, which saw extreme Puritanism in control, the spoliation of churches, the destruction of statues, screens and altars, the removal of paintings on walls and windows – a hideous vandalism, for has not art its own value irrespective of the faith of the artist?

Queen Mary’s reign of persecution followed and threw the religious process into reverse (three men of Hythe were burned at the stake), but she lived for only six more years. There was Protestant rejoicing at her early death. Then England’s good fortune brought Elizabeth to the throne for a reign of 45 years – time for the fledgling English Church to take root. She refused ‘to make a window into men’s souls’ and she controlled the fanaticism, even of her own bishops. Anglicanism became an inclusive church, a ‘Grand Compromise’ even strong enough to re-adopt some Catholic rituals as well as to assimilate the preaching of the Puritans.

That alas was not the end of extremism. The Commonwealth period (1649-60) saw further artistic vandalism and bigoted intolerance: the Sacraments not administered, the Prayer Book, altars, even Christmas, banned. Cromwell’s soldiers destroyed ‘whatever was of beauty or decency’ in our churches.But the pendulum swung back again with the Restoration of the monarchy, and decoration and colour began to re-appear in churches as in men’s lives. However, Hythe did not remain prosperous: the harbour had silted up, the flow of pilgrims ceased, a great storm, a fire, losses at sea, the plague, all took their toll. Improvements and even maintenance of the old building became too expensive for the tiny town.

In 1739 occurred a most dramatic event: the collapse of the church tower, even as a group was waiting to climb it ‘for a view … But the delay in bringing the keys happily saved their lives’. A new tower was built about 1750, and a limited amount of refurbishment undertaken, but the 18th century here and elsewhere was marked by the neglect of ancient churches. It was not until the ‘Gothic Revival’ of the 19th century, supported by the energy, wealth and intense religiosity of the Victorians, that churches began to acquire the appearance we are used to: tiled floors in strong colours, stained glass memorial windows, decorated altars, vestments and candles, and (preferably) a ‘dim religious glow’. In 1875 townsfolk raised the enormous sum of £10,000; the nave roof was raised and replaced, the chancel vaulted in stone, and the medieval masons’ intentions completed.

We inherit a church building that reflects the phases of decorative fashion, and charts the flow of history over a thousand years. If you have a particular interest in aspects of the Church, such as the stained glass, the famous ‘Bonehouse’ under the chancel, the organ or the bells, please pick up one of the special leaflets. There is also a ‘Conducted Tour’ from time to time – ask a steward. And of course there are services – see the full list in the entrance porch. You are most welcome to join our worship.
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