Throckmorton Chapelry sits, rather lonely, across a field. It is dearly and immaculately cared for by villagers, although the great clue to its use in these days is the grass right up to the threshold; never trampled enough to warrant a sturdier path.
It’s not in regular use and mains electricity isn’t permanently connected, so the chapel’s lit by oil lamps and candles – which proves particularly atmospheric for its very popular and charming Christmas carol service.
The church building in Throckmorton is not dedicated to a Saint, ‘Chapelry’ is a classification for an extra church sited between churches. The parish website explains: “A Chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England, and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid-19th Century. It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main Parish Church. Such chapelries were common in northern England where the Parishes had been established in medieval times when the area was sparsely populated, thus obliging parishioners to travel long distances to the parish church. A chapelry also had a role in civil government, being a subdivision of a parish which was used as a basis for the Poor Law until the establishment of Poor Law Unions in the 19th century.”
Members of the Royally-connected Throckmorton family, known at Coughton Court, Alcester, came from Court Farm and the village which grew up around it was split, and a great deal demolished, by the building of Pershore Airfield. The main part of the Chapelry dates from the 13th Century, with a 15th century belfry and the odd gargoyle up around the tower. Foundations of an earlier stone church have been found, however, and it’s possible there was a wooden building there before that.
On our visit, there was one gravestone covered by flies, which were basking on its warm flanks and had apparently made a home inside a crack on its surface. While it was tempting to swerve toward the gothic and tales of Beelzebub and the like, my rational self instead considered how churchyards provide peaceful havens for more than their human visitors. A quick search showed how valuable church land is considered by wildlife groups and I noted the policy cited by Worcestershire Diocese, encouraging the management of its churchyards as wildlife sites:
“The Church of England is a major landowner with over 48,000 hectares in rural areas alone. Within this diocese we have nearly 1600 hectares of Glebe and other land. This is spread across 185 farming tenants with tenancy agreements we let and indirectly manage.
Many of our churchyards are very ancient, some Yew Trees providing evidence that they were pagan sites pre-dating even our earliest churches. Some of these churchyards represent the best examples of semi-natural grassland we have in the country, being rich in plant and animal species (or biodiversity).
How we manage them impacts on that biodiversity. Management for biodiversity is not always in line with public concern as anyone who has tried to move to a hay meadow cutting regime in their churchyard will appreciate.
Churchyards are an important part of the green infrastructure of our increasingly urban environment, acting as green lungs. Churchyards will act as important green stepping stones in the future as species migrate and adapt to live with the consequences of increased temperatures and climate change.”
http://www.cofe-worcester.org.uk/mission-and-ministry/diocesan-environmental-strategy/land/
Worcestershire Pilgrimage 