Salisbury and Stonehenge » saints

Julius Court, Salisbury

admin — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:13:21 +0000

Julius Close is one the ‘Spire View’ estate which lies between the ring road and the railway close to Saint Paul’s Church. It was built in the early 2000s. The roads on the estate, which I think are all ‘Courts’ are named after saints.

Saint Julius was Pope from AD337 until AD352. His feast day is April the 12th, the anniversary of his death.¹

He is probably best known today for playing a role in the Arian controversy.

Arius, Athanasius, and the Trinity

My probably rather limited understanding of the Arian controversy is that it centred around the nature of the Trinity – the inter-relationships between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Arius was a Christian from Alexandria who lived from AD250 until AD336. His distinctive teaching was that the Son of God was created by the Father. The son was therefore distinct, he had not always existed, and was in some senses inferior to the Father.

The orthodox position is summed up in the Athanasian creed:

Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.

For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.

But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.

What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.

Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit.

The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite.

Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit: And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal; as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited.²

The difference between the two positions seems to me, in my ignorance, to be fairly obscure.

However, the orthodox view of Arianism was, and is, that it “denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ.”³. I read somewhere that Arianism was, after the reformation, the church’s greatest theological crisis.

What role did St Julius play in this controversy?

Pope St Julius and the Arians

The dispute came before Saint Julius in AD341. Supporters of the Arian view in Alexandria in Egypt had deposed the Bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius. They sent a delegation to the Pope to explain their actions. Athanasius sent a letter setting out his position.

The Arian delegates requested that a synod be held to determine who should rightly hold the See of Alexandria – Athanasius or the Arian candidate.

Pope Julius decided to hold a synod as the Arians had wanted. For reasons which seem to be lost in time, the Arians refused to attend.

The synod under Julius found in favour of the orthodox position. Athanasius was reinstated as a Bishop. However he was not installed again at Alexandria until the death of the Arian George of Cappadocia.

Julius wrote to the Arians in Alexandria saying “Can you be ignorant, that this is the custom, that we should be written to first, so that from here what is just may be defined”⁴. This was one of the earliest statements of the primacy of Rome.

Footnotes

Petersfinger Road, Milford

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:22:15 +0000

Petersfinger Road runs from Milford to the Southampton Road, on the west side of Salisbury.

The derivation of ‘Petersfinger’

Petersfinger is a corruption of Peter ad Vincula(¹), which is Latin for Saint Peter in Chains.

Saint Peter's Chains - the origin of 'Petersfinger'

Peter ad Vincula refers I think both to the legend of Saint Peter’s martyrdom and to the chains themselves.

The traditional story is that Saint Peter was in prison in Rome. He somehow escaped, but on leaving the city met Jesus going in the other direction. When Peter asked Jesus where he was going Jesus said that he was going to share the martyrdom of his followers. Peter turned back to Rome, where he was re-imprisoned and crucified (²).

The two separate sets of chains that Peter wore were not kept together. One set remained in Rome, the other set was taken to Constantinople. However at some stage both chains were brought to a church in Rome which had become known as ‘Saint Peter in Chains’. The two chains miraculously fused together.

The Chapel of Saint Peter ad Vincula

There are at least two famous churches dedicated to Saint Peter ad Vincula.

San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, where the chains themeselves are housed
The Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula, at the Tower of London

The Chapel of Saint Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London is famous, or infamous, as a burial place for people who had been executed in the Tower.

Queens of England Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard as well as Saint Thomas More, all victims of Henry VIII, were buried in unmarked graves in the Chapel (³)

Why ‘Petersfinger Road’?

So why is the narrow country lane that links Milford to the Southampton Road named in reference to the chains of Saint Peter?

The short answer is that I don’t know.

There was a Saint Peter’s Church in Wilton, and also one at ‘Old Salisbury’, which, as I understand it, means Old Sarum and its immediate surroundings, but I’ve not found any references to chapels or churches dedicated to Saint Peter in Laverstock or Milford.

Perhaps, given that the road leads away from Salisbury, there is or was a Saint Peter ad Vincula chapel, or more likely, church at some distance from Salisbury – perhaps at Clarendon or somewhere on the road to Southampton.

Another possibility is that there was some association with the road and the feast of Saint Peter in Chains. Coincidentally, I found a passing reference to the feast-day of Vincula-Petri in 1912 book by Charles Haskins, ‘The Ancient Trade Guilds and Companies of Salisbury’

These officials [of the Salisbury Company of Merchants] were to be elected on the Wednesday before the feast of St. Bartholomew, and the annual feast was to be held on the Wednesday after the feast of Vincula-Petri, or Lammas-day. The brethren were to appoint one or two of the ” antient and most discreet of every trade of the Companye,” (⁴)

Update: The answer?

I think I might have found the answer to why the road is called Petersfinger.

The clue is in the last quote – ‘the feast of Vincula-Petri, or Lammas-day’. The feast of Vincula-Petri (presumably another form of Peter ad Vincula) and the festival of Lammas fall on the same date – August 1st or August 12th, depending which calendar you use (⁵).

I ran a search on ‘Lammas’ and ‘Salisbury’ and ‘Wiltshire’(⁶), and found this extract:

S.W. from Salisbury) is in 89 WILTSHIRE the heart of the Vale of Chalk or Ebele ….. (corruption of St Peter ad Vincula), where were certain Lammas lands. …

…which is from a book called ‘Wiltshire’ by Frank R Heath, probably in a 1919 edition. The interesting sentence, from this point of view, reads:

The ancient forest of Clarendon was of great extent, and was doubtless the chief attraction. The boundary was at Peter’s Finger (corruption of St Peter ad Vincula), where were certain Lammas lands. (⁷)

Mr Heath doesn’t explain what ‘Lammas Lands’ are – perhaps in 1919 he could reasonably assume that his readers would have known.

Anyway, ‘Lammas Lands’ are a sort of common land. My understanding is that the land was in private use through the spring and most of the summer, but were then available for common grazing in the autumn and winter. The 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica says that:

A relic of the old “open-field” system of agriculture survives in the so-called “Lammas Lands.” These were lands enclosed … during the growing of corn and grass and thrown open to pasturage during the rest of the year for those who had common rights. These commoners might be the several owners, the inhabitants of a parish, freemen of a borough, tenants of a manor, etc.
The opening of the fields by throwing down the fences took place on Lammas Day (12th of August) for corn-lands and on Old Midsummer Day (6th of July) for grass. They remained open until the following Lady Day.

So the fences at Peter’s Finger were ‘thrown open’ on Lammas Day, which also happens to be the feast of Saint Peter ad Vincula. Saint Peter ad Vincula is corrupted to Peter’s Finger.

Footnotes

Pilgrims Mead, Salisbury

admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:04:31 +0000

Pilgrims Mead is in the Bishopdown area to the north of Salisbury.

The inspiration for the name ‘Pilgrims Mead’ is relatively clear – many of the roads in the ‘Bishopdown Farm’ estate are named after individual saints (for example St Thomas Way or St Clements Way) or after some other religious concepts (e.g. Apostle Way, The Crusades).

‘Pilgrims Mead’ obviously fits into the second category.

Pilgrimage and Anglicanism

I think it’s fair to say that pilgrimage as an activity is not now a significant part of Anglican or English culture, particularly if you compare it to the Muslim hajj, or the number of people visiting Lourdes or Rome.

Pilgrimage is, however, part of English culture in other ways. Chaucer’s characters in Canterbury Tales are on a pilgrimage, Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress speaks for itself, and the initial settlers in the New World were typically known as the Pilgrim fathers.

My view, for what it’s worth, is that these cultural references to pilgrimage, and the Merry England they invoke would inspire the naming of Pilgrims Mead.

Mead – meadow or drink?

Mead has a double meaning. Either:

mead – the old English word for meadow, or
mead – the old honey-based alcoholic drink

Perhaps the second of these two actually makes more sense in the context of the phrase ‘Pilgrims Mead’ – I can’t see why a pilgrim would have a meadow, but it seems likely that he or she might have some use for the drink. Whether or not this was the intention of the developer, I wouldn’t like to say.

St Albans Close, Salisbury

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:57:34 +0000

Saint Alban is known as the first English martyr. He was executed by the Romans for sheltering a priest, although up until he did so, he himself was not a Christian.

The legend, which comes largely from the account of Saint Bede, is that Alban disguised himself as the priest, and gave himself up for execution in his place. The Roman town Verulamium, where this happened, was renamed St Albans in his honour.¹. I’m not sure whether this would be ‘Albion’ or not. Also, there may be some connection with the word albus meaning ‘white’ ² and then to ‘Albus Dumbledore’ from Harry Potter, and ‘albumen’, meaning the ‘white’ of an egg.

Footnotes

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Alban – Wikisource

The name Alban is believed to be derived from the Latin Albanus meaning ‘from Alba’ Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Alban
Albus – Origin and Meaning of the name Albus at BabyNamesWorld

St Andrews SP1, St Andrews Close SP2, St Andrews Road SP2

admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:55:43 +0000

Saint Andrews Church in Laverstock

The three roads dedicated to Saint Andrew are in different parts of the Salisbury area.

St Andrews in Laverstock

St Andrews in Laverstock is named after Saint Andrew’s Church in Church Road, Laverstock, which is nearby. Part of St Andrews is also alongside the village hall, which I think is actually called St Andrews Hall.

St Andrews in Bemerton

St Andrews Road in Bemerton is named after the Saint Andrew’s Church in Bemerton which is at the junction of Lower Road and Church Lane.

Saint Andrew’s Church is most famous for being the Church where the poet George Herbert worked from 1630 until his death in 1633.Bemerton: George Herbert

St Andrews Close in Wilton

St Andrews Close in Wilton is perhaps named after a church that used to be at the junction of West Street and South Street Wilton – Churches and Protestant nonconformity | British History Online. It is one of a number of roads that are close to or leading off of Bulbridge Road which are named after saints. The others are St Nicholas Close, St Peters Close, St Marys Close and St Ediths Close

More than one Saint Andrew

There are at least three Saint Andrews.

Saint Andrew the apostle is the most well-known. He was the brother of Peter. After Jesus’ death he reputedly travelled to Greece. He was martyred on an ‘X’ shaped cross – according to legend he took three days to die, but he continued to preach for all of this time Thomas J. Craughwell. This Saint’s for You!: 300 Heavenly Allies Who Will Change Your Life, Quirk Books,US (1 Nov 2007). ISBN 978-1594741845. He is traditionally depicted with messy grey hair, often with the ‘X’ shaped cross, known as a ‘saltire’Taylor, Richard (2003). How to Read a Church: A Guide to Images, Symbols and Meanings in Churches and Cathedrals. Rider & Co. ISBN-10 1844130533.

Saint Andrew Avellino is the patron saint of stroke victims. He was a Sicilian saint who lived from 1521 until 1608, when he died of a stroke. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia he was ‘a great lover of chastity’ – in attempting to reform a convent near Naples he was attacked by

Certain wicked men who were accustomed to have clandestine meetings with the nuns …. and one night he was assaulted and severely wounded

. He was taken to a hospital run by the Order of Theatines, which he subsequently joined.Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Andrew Avellino – Wikisource

Saint Andrew Corsini was a Bishop of Fiesole, near Florence in the fourteenth century – the time of the feuds between the Pazzi and the Medici. He was credited with ending some of the conflict Thomas J. Craughwell. This Saint’s for You!: 300 Heavenly Allies Who Will Change Your Life, Quirk Books,US (1 Nov 2007). ISBN 978-1594741845. The Catholic Encyclopedia says that he was a thaumaturgus – a miracle worker.

St Ann Place and St Ann Street Salisbury

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:53:53 +0000

Saint Ann Street is in the centre of Salisbury. It runs from the Cathedral close up towards Saint Martins. Saint Ann Place is just off of St Ann Street.

Which Saint Ann was the Salisbury street named after

There are two Saint Ann(e)s listed in the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Saint Anne, the mother of Mary

St. Anne Line

Both St Ann Street and St Ann Place would be named after Saint Ann, the mother of Mary. St Ann Street leads to St Ann’s Gate which is one of the four gates to the Cathedral Close. The Close wall (and Saint Ann’s Gate) was built in the fourteenth century ¹. Saint Anne Line was not born until the 16th century, and not canonized until 1970, so could not be the inspiration for St Ann Street.

The naming of St Ann’s Gate is appropriate in that the Cathedral is dedicated to her daughter Mary.

Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.

The possessive ‘S’ in Salisbury street names

Google Maps list Saint Ann Street as such, and not as Saint Ann’s Street. This does agree with what I think I’ve heard people in Salisbury saying.

Conversely, insofar as people refer to the Gate, I’m fairly sure I’ve only heard it called Saint Ann’s Gate, never St Ann Gate

I don’t know why most of the other roads named after saints have the possessive apostrophe-’s’ and Saint Ann Street doesn’t. With the exception of St John Street, the other roads which don’t have the ‘s’ either have a name which ends in ‘s’ e.g. Saint Thomas or sound like an ‘s’ e.g. St Lawrence. St John Street meets St Ann Street at St Anne’s Gate, so presumably it was named at roughly the same time – perhaps the apostophe-’s’ came into fashion at a later time?

Footnotes

Salisbury – The liberty of the close | British History Online

St Bedes Close SP1

admin — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:53:27 +0000

The ‘Venerable Bede’ was a 7th century English monk who lived at a monastry in Jarrow.

He wrote the ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’, finishing in 1731. He became known as ‘venerable’ (meaning both ‘impressive by reason of age’ and ‘profoundly honored’ ¹) soon after his death. The Catholic Encyclopedia ² notes that

‘There is of course no early authority for the legend repeated by Fuller of the “dunce-monk” who in composing an epitaph on Bede was at a loss to complete the line: Hac sunt in fossa Bedae . . . . ossa and who next morning found that the angels had filled the gap with the word venerabilis.’

Footnotes

St Brendans Close, Salisbury

admin — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:57:46 +0000

Saint Brendan was a 5th century Irish saint ¹, known both for his evangelism within the British Isles and for his seven year Voyage.

The Voyage of Saint Brendan may or may not have taken him as far as America. There is a good article on the Fortean Times website that discusses this, concluding that whether or not Brendan had reached the Americas, everybody would have been interpreted as allegorical.

Footnotes

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Brendan – Wikisource

St Christophers Close, Salisbury

admin — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:54:29 +0000

Saint Christopher is, famously, the patron saint of travellers.

There are a dozen or so significant episodes in Christopher’s life:

Birth

The wife of a pagan king prayed to the Virgin Mary for a son. Her prayers were granted, and she named the son either Offerus or Reprebus.¹

Reprebus, according to Wikipedia, is the derivation of the word reprobate, although I would have thought myself that reprobate was related to ‘probity’, meaning honesty.

Gigantism

Offerus grew into a man of huge strength and size.²

Incidentally, Salisbury’s Gigant Street has no connection with giants – according to Martyn Whittock’s book ‘Wiltshire Place Names’ the root of the word is gigour, which is a Middle English word for ‘fiddler’³. Whether this is in the sense of somebody playing the violin, or somebody who is ‘on the fiddle’, or doing something ‘fiddly’ I don’t know

The search for the strongest master

Offerus, being a strong and powerful man, resolved to serve only the strongest and most powerful of masters.

He found the most powerful king in the region, but discovered him to be afraid of the devil, so Offerus decided to serve the devil.

He came across the devil in the company of a group of robbers, but found that the devil, in turn, cringed before a wooden cross by the side of the road. Offerus resolved therefore to server Christ.⁴

Baptism

He was instructed in Christianity by a hermit, who baptized him Christopher and told him that he could serve the Lord best by helping people across a fast flowing stream.⁵

Carrying Jesus across the stream

One day a small child needed to cross the river. Christopher carried him on his back, but as he crossed the river the child grew heavier and heavier. Once they had crossed the river, Christopher asked why this was, and the child replied “You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work.”⁶

The staff

After revealing himself as Jesus, the child told Christopher to plant his staff into the ground. He did so, and on the next day the staff had turned into a fruiting palm tree.⁷

Imprisonment and martyrdom

Christopher’s story caused many to convert to Christianity.

The king, or prefect, of the area had Christopher locked up. He sent two beautiful women to try to tempt Christopher away from the faith, but Christopher converted them to Christianity too.

The king had Christopher beheaded.⁸

Patron saint

Christopher became the patron saint of travellers.

Traditions arose about carrying the image of Saint Christopher – one being that ‘Whoever shall behold the image of St. Christopher shall not faint or fall on that day’⁹

Wikipedia is good on the place of Saint Christopher within Christian and popular culture.

In 1969, there was some controversy because many believed Christopher had been stripped of his sainthood. Wikipedia says that the comedian Denis Leary mentions in one of his routines that ‘the Catholic church “kicked” St. Christopher out.’¹⁰

However, this does not seem to have been the case. According to Thomas Craughwell, in his book ‘This Saints for You’, the basis of the controversy was a change to the Roman Catholic calendar of special days. In the new Roman Catholic calendar of 1969, it was stated that on July 25th (Saint Christopher’s Day), Catholics should celebrate Saint James the Greater. This was not because Saint Christopher was being ‘demoted’ from his status as a saint, though, it was because Saint James, as an apostle ‘outranks’ Saint Christopher. In fact it was stated that parishes with some special connection with Saint Christopher should continue to venerate Saint Christopher on July 25th. ¹¹.

Footnotes

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource
Wiltshire Place Names,Martyn Whittock, Countryside Books, 1997 ISBN 1853064866
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource
Saint Christopher – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource
Saint Christopher – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource
Saint Christopher – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas J. Craughwell. This Saint’s for You!: 300 Heavenly Allies Who Will Change Your Life, Quirk Books,US (1 Nov 2007). ISBN 978-1594741845

St Clements Way, Salisbury

admin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:51:05 +0000

Saint Clements Way is on Salisbury’s ‘Bishopdown Farm’ estate, which is to the north of the city, off the London Road. It shares the theme of many of the roads on the estate of being named after a saint. Most of these have no local connections at all, at least as far as I can see, but Salisbury does have a connection with Saint Clement, in that for many years there was a Saint Clements church in Fisherton.

Saint Clements church, Salisbury

‘Churchfields’ is named after Saint Clement’s Church. A small graveyard still exists – if you walk from Churchfields Road down towards Queen Elizabeth Gardens, then there is a small gateway in the wall on your right. The gate is kept locked, but you can see through it into the old graveyard.

If Google’s ‘embedded maps’ feature is working, then you should see the location below – if not then this link should show you the location.

View Saint Clement’s Graveyard in a larger map

I will take and upload a photo of the entrance to the churchyard at some stage.

From Saint Clements to Saint Pauls

There is a really good article by Trevor Wright about Saint Clement’s church in the 2007 edition of the Sarum Chronicle. Saint Clements church was, in brief, too small to accommodate the people in the Fisherton area who wanted to attend the church, and it would not have been cost-effective to extend it.

The decision to build a new church was taken at a vestry meeting in January 1850. The last service was held at Saint Clements in February 1852, and the new Saint Paul’s Church (which coincidentally is actually being extended at the time of writing) was consecrated in February 1853 by Bishop Denison.

Mr Wright concludes with an interesting discussion as to why the new church was called Saint Paul’s rather than Saint Clement’s. He suggests that given the explicitly anti-Catholic sentiments of some of those who supported the building of the new church, it may be that Saint Clement, being a first century pope, was felt to be too close to Rome. (¹).

I think this could well be right. I might add, though, just as a thought, that perhaps Saint ‘Pauls’ just has a more prestigious ring to it. St Paul, had an ‘influence on Christian thinking arguably … more significant than any other New Testament author’ (²) whereas the name of St Clement, perhaps inevitably carries echoes of ‘Oranges and Lemons’.

Footnotes

Trevor Wright, “The Last Days of St Clement’s Church, fisherton Anger”, Sarum Chonicle 2007
Paul the Apostle – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia