WHAT’S IN A....?
What’s in a Church ST SAvIOuRS
? T
he story of Dartmouth’s St Saviours Church is full of intrigue, illegality and even an imposter Bishop - and this was before there was even agreement that
there COULD be a church in Lower Dartmouth. St Saviours is the only church I’ve ever heard of that was
built because the people of a town were too worn out to walk to an existing one. The church’s story starts more than 700 years ago when
Edward 1 visited Dartmouth. Rather than marvel at this tall and famously forthright monarch visiting their small town, the people asked him for a new church because of the ‘very great fatigue’ in their bodies from walking up the hill to St Clements in Townstal. The King who was known as the “Hammer of the Scots” was not known for being very forgiving or understanding but he granted the town’s wish with a charter for a new church in February of that year. However, just because the King said they could did not mean that Dartmouth would get a new church – not by a long shot. The Abbot of Torre – to whom the new church would belong – did NOT want there to be another place of worship in Dartmouth. The reason was finance: even though the land for the new church had been gifted to the town by the Bacon family in the Clifton ward, there were no more people in the town and their donations would not stretch to the upkeep of another church. So, despite the King giving his permission, by the time
Edward died in 1307, tired by the long wars with the Scots and the Welsh, no church had even been started in the Lower Town and those poor parishioners were still suffering very great fatigue, climbing up the hill. In 1329, things got serious: the priest at Townstal committed suicide and the Abbot decided it was right to punish this terrible crime by banning all services in the church at Townstal. No marriages, christenings, burials or any other type of service could be held there. It’s difficult to imagine what this must have meant in a time when most people did not have the ability to travel to nearby towns without a huge amount of effort and were
It took some time and saw some bizarre episodes to get it built
incredibly God-fearing. This ban lasted two years,and it re-ignited the desire for another church in the town. That same year William Bacon, the son of the man who had originally offered land for a church, gave the same land to two Friars of the Hermits of St Augustine. They began to build a place for worship and were almost immediately ordered to stop by the Abbot who was clearly incensed: he claimed the Friars were ‘posing as priests’ and excommunicated William Bacon, a very serious thing to do. The Abbot relented on William Bacon’s excommunication in 1334 and allowed the friars to use the chapel they had built, but NOT to celebrate mass or hear confession. He still felt they were in competition with the ‘Mother Church’ of St Clements.
There followed years of wrangling over the legality of the church and eventually the friars were ordered to demolish the church in 1344. Then came the incredible visit of Hugo – the man from Damascus. In 1344, just after the friars had been ordered to tear
down their chapel, they appealed to the Pope himself for support. As they waited for news, in March there appeared “Brother Hugo”.
This man swaggered into town, dressed as a layman and
wearing a sword and buckler, and said he was an envoy of the king. He then went to the Friar’s chapel and took a staff in his hands, placed a Mitre on his head and declared himself to be the Bishop of Damascus. He claimed to have been sent by the Pope himself to consecrate the chapel. He walked around the small chapel and sprinkled holy water in a manner described by observers as “very convincing”. He confirmed a number of children and even absolved
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