Friday 26 February 2010

Blackmore: The Nave Roof At Blackmore

A new edition of ‘The Nave Roof at Blackmore’ has just been published.

The Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore has been a place of prayer for nearly 900 years and the Nave, throughout the entire period, has been used by the parishioners as a meeting place and for worship.

This booklet studies the shields that are on the ceiling which point to the one-time wealth of these important surroundings. Families represented include the de Vere family (Earls of Oxford) and the Royal family (headed by King Richard II). The names date within a very few years of one another. A study of the shields just over a hundred years ago concluded that they could not have been put in place before 1381 or later than 1397, thus dating the roof to the last two decades of the fourteenth century.

With the recent (2004) tree-ring dating of the bell tower, confirming construction in 1400, or within the following two years, this was a period of unparalleled change to the church building at Blackmore.

The book is on sale at the Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore, priced £1.50. For a copy by post contact me: the charge including postage and packaging will be £2.50. All money raised will go to church funds.

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