BENCH ENDS OF ST IA
Carmel Henry and Stephen Vranch
St Ia, the Parish Church of St Ives, is fortunate to have many carved ends to its benches (or pews). The present seating arrangement and plain bench ends date from the 1850s, and the changes are described in Faculties held at Kresen Kernow (Cornwall Archive, Redruth). Pews of many sizes and heights were removed when the church was re-seated in 1853. (Jenkins). The ancient oak bench ends probably date from 1480 to 1600 (Gray) with newer additions in the 1890s to 1920s (Wilson) and one carved in 1948. (Jenkins, H). Simon Jenkins book on England’s 1000 best churches notes that the two star St Ia is outstanding for its Medieval choir stalls and the Hepworth statue. (Jenkins, S).
St Ives was one of the few Cornish boroughs which joined the Parliamentary side during the Civil War. In 1648 the authorities paid the sum of £41–15s–7d to the “Joyners for taking downe the Organs and Railings (rood screen) of the Church,” and this probably is one reason that panels from the screen and bench ends were not destroyed. (Noall)
The themes of the carvings are grouped in this article, although the bench ends are not always found near one another. Their current location is not original as the seating has been changed over the centuries. Some bench ends are made from several pieces of carving that are used to fill gaps or to mend damage.
A typical Cornish bench end
A typical Cornish bench end (above) is rectangular with a carved frame. At the top there is Gothic tracery in the Decorated style (Heath) and at the base are one or two quatrefoils, meaning “four leaves”, the design having four partially overlapping circles. There are shields with carved designs and symbols, many unique to this church. Some of the bench ends have a finial (sometimes called a “poppy head”) featuring a carving of an angel; the phrase “poppy head” comes from the French “poupeé” meaning “doll”. (Heath).
Bench end with “poppy head”
Pomegranates on a bench end frame
The bench ends have a variety of carvings on the frames. There are branches with leaves or ribbons, decorative ribbon, leaves with flowers or fruit, and rope. Some frames have been made from several different sections. There is a fruit with seeds on the frame seen above; this might be a pomegranate fruit, a symbol of fertility and the promised land. (Taylor)
SYMBOLS OF THE PASSION
Several bench ends show some of the Medieval “arma Christi” or “weapons of Christ”, symbols of the crucifixion.
Spear, sponge and robe
Choir stall with blacksmith’s tools and a man and woman facing each other
The top image is a representation of the pole with the sponge used to give Christ gall and vinegar as well as the Roman soldier’s lance used to pierce his side. The adjacent shield may represent the shroud used to wrap the body of Jesus. Devon carvers used a similar design, a Gothic feature like that found at West Worlington. (Todd, 128)
The picture of the choir stall shows a remarkable illustration of a man and a woman and the tools of a blacksmith’s trade. It may be that it represents the hammer used to drive nails into Jesus’s hands and feet and the pincers used to remove the nails. Tradition has it that the man is a St Ives blacksmith named Ralph Clies, who carved the bench ends, and his wife. Alternatively, it has also been suggested that these heads represent a jester and a scold, or a Roman soldier and a blacksmith’s wife. (Matthews)
There is a Medieval legend that a blacksmith’s wife forged the nails used at the crucifixion. The illustration of this legend in the Holkham Bible Picture Book, published around 1330, may have been the inspiration for the bench end. (It has been suggested that this book became a pattern book.) The carving shows the wife has glowering eyes, dark eyebrows, a bulbous nose, as well as a grimacing expression. The face and headdress in the Holkham Bible are very similar to those on the choir stall, and the range of tools is the same, including the anvil and bellows (below).
Holkham Bible Picture Book Public Domain Review
SAINTS
The original chapel on the site was dedicated to St Ia, and the current church was re-dedicated in 1434 to St Ia, and later to St Peter and St Andrew. (When a church was reconsecrated, it was customary to add other saints in addition to the original patron.) The carvings (below) show St Peter holding a book and a key, and St Andrew holding a book and the cross that bears his name. The street adjacent to the present church is St Andrews Street. (Jenkins, H).
St Peter
St Andrew
COATS OF ARMS
The mayor of St Ives in 1549, John Payne, is remembered on two bench ends (sometimes called “standards”) at the east end of the choir stalls. The finial of one has two kneeling Benedictine monks (Matthews) holding the shield of John Payne with three pineapples and an inverted arrowhead. The “pineapple” is a pun on the surname “Peyn”; his name “John Peyn” is carved on the other.
The John Payne finials
John Payne was hanged in the Marketplace by the Provost-Marshall for his role as the local leader of the 1549 Prayer Book Rebellion, or Western Rising. The finials were carved shortly after his death to commemorate his execution. (Badcock)
The choir stalls were extended in 1913 with a gift from Mrs Ethel Maude May (née Scaife) in memory of her husband John Coleridge Frampton May. Finials are carved with the coats of arms of the May and Scaife families. (Wilson - private communication). The bench ends are examples of the work of a company of famous female carvers, Rashleigh, Pinwill & Co. The two prayer kneelers at the east end of the South Aisle, carved by the Pinwell company, were also gifted by Mrs May.
There are examples of Tudor symbolism, and also that of the Virgin Mary (below). After his marriage to Elizabeth of York in 1486, Henry VII adopted the Tudor rose uniting the white rose of the House of York and the red rose of Lancaster; the badge and crown are symbols of his monarchy and that of subsequent English monarchs. The rose and the crown are also symbols of the Virgin Mary. (Taylor)
Tudor symbol, also of the Virgin Mary
ANGELS
In addition to the putto seen on one bench end, there are four finials depicting angels in the choir stalls. There is a headless angel holding a pyx, a vessel to hold communion wafers, a kneeling angel with a book on a prayer desk and a kneeling angel at prayer (below). There are also copies of the angel with a prayer book carved by Rashleigh, Pinwill & Co. when the choir stalls were extended in 1913. (Wilson)
Putto
Angel with prayer book
Angel at prayer
HEADS
The hat and collar of the head of a man (below) suggest that this fashionable gentleman could be Portuguese. On Sunday 1st January 1589 the Moroccan Ambassador and his ship were forced by a storm to land in St Ives. They travelled by land to London to meet Queen Elizabeth I, arriving on 12th January. For the entourage to have been able to get coaches and horses for this journey would have taken some time and their presence in St Ives would have caused quite a stir. Contemporary court papers state that the Moroccan
Head of a man
Two heads looking away from each other
Ambassador was “dressed like a Portuguese”. He converted to Christianity and perhaps even attended mass in the church. (Kaufmann)
At that time, ships’ crews would have come from a wide range of countries. This links with the two heads (in roundels, above) which appear to be of African and Native American heritage. Perhaps these people represent enslaved crew members, however at this time slavery was not allowed on English soil. (Kaufmann). It may be that they escaped and were baptised and recorded in the church for posterity. Fittingly, the font carries the inscription in Early English characters “Omnes baptizate gentes”, meaning “Baptise All Nations”.
However, another interpretation could be that the heads were representations of members of the crew of one of the two Norman ships bringing fish from Newfoundland that were wrecked in St Ives Bay in 1544/1545. The wrecks of these huge ships, one weighing 50 tons, the other 100 tons, would again have caused a huge disturbance. Sir John Arundell, claimed the right to all wreckage in Cornwall; he was also a patron of the church. (Pool)
There are two other beautifully carved heads: one of a male leafed head, a symbol of rebirth, the cycle of growth and Spring. Although originating in Roman times, this symbolism was popular in Gothic imagery between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The horns perhaps signify male fertility, or a demon or cuckold. There is also a three-faced Janus, representing the past, the present and the future. It is also a symbol of The Trinity.
Three faced Janus and leafed head
Further studies have shown that the three faced head, the leafed head and the heads from different cultural heritage are not unique to St Ives. Very fine examples can be seen at Lansallos, near Polperro.
LETTERS
Several bench ends have carved letters (below). An ancient seat for the priest located in the Lady Chapel is made from two bench ends; it has the letter K and the letters S and I standing for Saint Ia, to whom the original chapel on the site was dedicated. Further research has suggested that as S and I is found in other churches, the letters may represent the Latin version of Jesus Christ. Another bench end in the church shows a G and D. The design of all the carved letters is similar to woodcuts made at the beginning of the sixteenth century. (Shaw)
Letters G and D
Letters S and I
A twentieth century extension to the choir stall by Rashleigh, Pinwill & Co. shows the Greek letters Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. On the adjacent shield is the Christogram “IHS” the first three letters of the name "Jesus" in Greek. (Wilson)
CREATURES
One bench end shows a wyvern, a creature with two legs and venomous pointed tail (below); there are other examples of wyverns.
Wyvern
Double-headed eagle
This mythical creature was associated in medieval time with war, plague and disease. In the 1500w there were several outbreaks of plague in the area. The shield on the adjacent bench end shows a putto, the head of a winged cherub, providing an image of good alongside one of evil.
The image of a double-headed eagle (above) would, in the sixteenth century, have symbolised the union of the Holy Roman Empire and the Hapsburg Spanish monarchy. Since England was never part of these empires the design is perhaps taken from a pattern book. Further research has suggested that the symbol is linked to Richard of Cornwall (Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany) in the thirteenth century.
A fish and snakes
A fine carving of a fish between two snakes (above) is found on another bench end. Although the carving is likely to represent a fish in a fishing port, a fish was one of the earliest Christian symbols by which members of the early church recognised one another and used it as a secret form of communication. A Greek acrostic, ‘ICHTHYS’, meaning ‘Jesus Christ, son of God, Saviour’ is also Greek for “fish”.
Birds and beads
The bench end above shows two birds disgorging beads threaded on a rope with a tassel. This is known as a paternoster cord, and like a rosary it was used during prayers.
Dolphins, sometimes in an idealised form, are featured frequently on bench ends and on the pulpit.
RENAISSANCE CARVINGS (1485-1603)
In the years following the Reformation the style of the carvings on the bench ends changed. (Hislop) There are many Renaissance-style bench ends in St Ia (below). The new motifs, which became more floral and are purely decorative, were unlikely to be challenged by religious factions. Dolphins, fish, birds and foliate heads became common. There are also examples of floral designs featuring whole flowers or foliage supporting vessels and chalices. Many of the Renaissance designs incorporate faces, sometimes with several hidden faces on the same shield. Perhaps spotting faces was a diversion during lengthy sermons.
Renaissance designs and faces
THE PULPIT
The pulpit is made of Medieval panels, former bench ends and other carvings. It replaces an earlier three-decker pulpit and it has been relocated within the church several times. (Jenkins, H). Beautiful Tudor linenfold carvings, which imitate the folded linen used during the Eucharist, are seen below the re-used bench ends.
THE CARVERS
Information about the medieval carvers is limited, although tradition has it that Ralph Clies did the work in St Ia. (Matthews). It has been suggested that there were “schools” of carvers, and apprentices may have travelled far from where they learnt their skill.
The ancient bench ends in the churches at St Columb Major and St Mawgan-in-Pydar are similar to those in St Ia, suggesting that they were made by the same carvers. The wealthy Arundell family was closely connected with these churches and also supported St Ia, so it is possible the family recommended the carvers from those churches for the carving required at St Ia.
The nineteenth and twentieth bench ends were designed during restorations by the architect Edmund H Sedding and by members of the Devon firm of Rashleigh, Pinwill and Co. The carvers included the Pinwill sisters who owned and managed the company, notably Violet Pinwill, who died in 1957. Their nineteenth and twentieth century work in the church includes the organ case, the reredos, the statue of the boy Jesus in the south aisle, and the screen separating the Lady Chapel from the body of the church. (Wilson)
Some bench ends were restored in the 1940s. The most recent was carved in 1948 by Clive Watters, whose initials CW are carved on its back. (Jenkins, H)
If you have the opportunity to visit the church of St Ia, in St Ives, there is a well-illustrated booklet with a map showing the location of the featured bench ends.
All the photographs of the bench ends are copyright of St Ia Church
References
- Badcock, W, “Historical Sketch of St Ives and District” (1896) W Badcock
- Friar, S, “A Companion to The English Parish Church” (1996), Bramley Books
- Gray, T, “Devon’s Ancient Bench Ends” (2012) Stevensbooks
- Gray, T, “A Gazetteer of Ancient Bench Ends in Cornwall’s Parish Churches” (2016) Stevensbooks
- Heath S, “Our Homeland Churches and how to study them” (1907) The Homeland Association, London
- Hislop, I, BBC Radio 4 “Visual Humour and Misericords” broadcast 25th January 2024
- Holkham Bible Picture Book Public Domain Review
- Jenkins, H, “A History of St Ives Parish Church” (2010) St Ia PCC
- Jenkins, S, “England’s Thousand Best Churches” (1999) Penguin Books
- Kaufmann, M, “Black Tudors” (2017) One World Publications
- Matthews, J H, “A History of the Parishes of Saint Ives, Lelant, Towenack and Zennor” (1892, reprinted 2003).
- Noall, C, cited in “Sherwood, Selina and Salubrious Place” Densham, I (1994)
- Pool, P (ed), “The Penheleg Manuscript , Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, New Series Vol 3 Part 3” (1959)
- Shaw, H, “Alphabets and Numbers of the Middle Ages” (1994) Bracken Books
- Taylor, J, “How to Read a Church” (2007) Random House
- Wilson, H, “The Remarkable Pinwill Sisters” (2021) Willow Productions
Penwith Local History Group
Edited by
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