Sproxton
Sproxton Sproxton
shield showing the Woodford and Nevill arms would have commemorated their marriage. Robert fought with Henry V at Agincourt in 1415, and was knighted on the morning of the battle. In 1418 Sir Robert received the King's Wage for services rendered in France, and the building of the church's clerestory and necessary replacement of the arcade would have probably been undertaken not long afterwards. The Woodford arms being placed in the location of the south aisle's east window seemingly proves that this was the site of the chantry chapel, which was the Woodford's inheritance from their ancestors the Brabazons and de Sproxtons. We have some evidence that the chantry had passed down to the Woodfords, because in the early C14 a dispute concerning it arose between Sir Robert Woodford and Croxton Abbey, Sir Robert charging John Eston, Abbot of Croxton, in manorial court at Saltby '...for divers claims of servys as the said Sir Robert claimed of him to be done, to wit, homage and fealty, and two canons yearly and daily perpetually...saying mass and divine servys in the kirk of Sproxton; and that to be done truly, Sir John Sproxton, lord of the same town, gave unto the abbey a place and four cottages, and five yard-Iands, and two parts of the advowson of the kirk of Sproxton...the which deed they will not shew, because they will not do their true servys that was their covenant and their charge when it was given them in perpetual alms, and for the servys that is comprehended in their deed.' Sir Robert's allegation that Croxton Abbey was not fulfilling its obligations under the terms of Sir John Sproxton's chantry deed proved successful, judgment being made in Sir Robert's favour in 1428. Sir Robert lived until 1455, and we must owe the Perpendicular remodelling of the church to him. The rebuilding of the arcade had caused a problem though with regard to the abbey's chantry obligation. Prior to Sir Robert's rebuilding programme, the chantry priest would have been able without difficulty to synchronise the timing of the chantry mass with that going on at the High Altar by simply standing to the north of the chantry altar. He would have had an unimpeded view of the High Altar, and the chantry altar would have been easily accessible. But when the new arcade was built, the short walls onto which it is engaged resulted in the chantry priest no longer being able to see the High Altar. Critically, he would not then have been able to coordinate the timing of the chantry service with that going on at the High Altar. A squint was therefore cut through the south aisle's east wall, continuing through the chancel's south wall. That part of the squint that is cut through the south aisle's east wall remains, but the chancel's south wall was demolished when Woodyer added the organ chamber and vestry in 1882-3. Curiously, the line of the original squint was cut not towards the eastern end of the chancel, where it might be presumed the High Altar was located, but instead to a point half way along the chancel's length. This might have been due to the angle at which the squint needed to be cut in order to view the eastern end of the chancel being so acute, it would have
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