Holy Trinity Balsham (RGL 2022)

Holy Trinity, Balsham

History of Holy Trinity, Balsham

Listed Building

Parish church. C13 west tower, early C14 chancel and late C14 nave and north and south aisles. Restored 1875.

Four coffin tombs. C14. Limestone. Lids have moulded edges and steep camber. Much worn by children’s feet who appear to have played a game on them. Originally with floriated crosses on each lid.

War memorial 1919 by F E Howard, architect, Oxford. Clipsham limestone.

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Holy Trinity Church dominates the village of Balsham and is widely regarded as one of the finest medieval churches in Cambridgeshire. Built over several centuries, it combines traces of its Saxon origins with an imposing Early Gothic tower, spacious Perpendicular arcades and a richly furnished chancel. Massive buttresses support the ancient tower, giving the church a distinctive and rather rugged appearance, while inside the building reveals an extraordinary wealth of medieval craftsmanship.

The church’s greatest treasure is its magnificent fifteenth-century choir stalls. Their tall traceried backs and richly carved misericords and armrests are among the finest surviving examples in East Anglia. The carvings depict a remarkable variety of subjects, from animals and dragons to mermaids, dolphins and human figures, reflecting both the imagination and skill of late medieval craftsmen. Local tradition suggests that the stalls may have originated from the workshops at Westminster, emphasising their exceptional quality.

Equally impressive is the late medieval rood screen, one of the best preserved in the county, retaining its loft and elaborate ribbed decoration. Beneath the church floor lie two of England’s finest medieval monumental brasses, commemorating Canon John Sleford, who died in 1401, and the rector John Blodwell. Their survival is remarkable, as many ecclesiastical brasses elsewhere were destroyed during the Reformation.

Holy Trinity also contains an intriguing collection of historic furnishings, including fragments of an ancient church clock, a charming twentieth-century chapel assembled from seventeenth-century woodwork, and evidence of the church’s long continuity of worship from Saxon times to the present day. Rich in architecture, carving and medieval memorials, Balsham’s parish church remains one of Cambridgeshire’s outstanding historic buildings.

Reference: based on the description of Balsham in Simon Jenkins, England’s Thousand Best Churches, with additional architectural and historical context.

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A key figure in the development and decoration of the medieval church at Balsham was John Salford (1350s – 1400). He was responsible for the chancel seating and the lower part of the chancel screen, He became rector c.1367 but until 1377-78 he was “king’s clerk” and servant of Edward III, in charge of government supplied as Keeper of the Great Wardrobe and Keeper of the Privy Wardrobe of the Tower. As such he would have been familiar with all the major craftsmen and suppliers of the time. When Richard II came to the throne in 1377 Sleford lost his positions and turned to projects at Balsham.

The seating in the chancel is far more than would have been needed in a parish church. At one time there were 28 seats but in the 1870s two were removed and others were restored poorly so that arm rests no longer coincide.

The carving was probably done in East Anglia; one of the figures on the north side is wearing a garment like a kilt, has stilts strapped to his legs and holds a dog on a leash. This could well be the figure of a ‘Fen Fowler’.

The seats are ‘Misericords’ and were all originally hinged with a small ledge beneath which enabled the occupant to rest while seeming to stand. It was because these ledges were hidden that the carvers had free rein to carve all manner of scenes.

At some time after Sleford, possibly c1430s-1462, a canopy was erected over the screen. At first there would have been the figures of Christ crucified as well as St Mary and St John either side, but it seems that a balcony was later constructed which may have been for a group of singers or musicians.

There are three ancient brasses at Balsham, the formers rectors John Sleford d.1401 and John Blodwell d.1462, and the third is an unknown knight. None are in their original position where it is believed the bodies are buried. Brasses were usually ordered the lifetime of the subject; the Sleford and Blodwell brasses come from the “London B” workshops.

The font cover was created in the 1930s but is modelled on the medieval one at Ufford in Suffolk.

John Sleford is known to have held the lease of Oxcroft Farm in the 1370s and had land at Linton. His brass records that he built the church and gave the stalls. In 1384 he is known to have owed £400 later paid; this may be how he financed the rebuilding of the nave with its clerestory windows. His last official role had been to organise the burial of his master, Edward III. The brass is complete and around the margin there is a descriptive border and a verse dialogue at the foot. he is shown wearing a cope decorated with named saints.

The modern translation of the inscription is: Portrayed here, John Sleford lies beneath this stone. He was rector by appointment and after the world abandoned him he opened his purse generously. He protected good men and firmly punished vices. he had been loved by King Edward who lingered into evil times; while he still prospered he was Keeper of the King’s Wardrobe. He built this church and never regretted his gifts afterwards. He had these stalls made, and poured out money for them freely. He was first a Canon of Wells, and then of Ripon. He ended his life peacefully, dying on the feast of Edward (King and Martyr) ending his life peacefully at the very end of the year of our lord 1400. When his body was carried down to the grave it was already the first [year of the new century]. O merciful Christ I pray he may enter heaven. May he feel no sorrow because Christ bore sorrow for the sake of all men.

John Blodwell c1380s – 1462 had a church career. He was the illegitimate son of a priest but was allowed to become ordained himself and omit all referenced to his illegitimacy. He was a Welsh lawyer, educated in Bologna and working in Rome, fluent in five languages. He was used by the English king oil diplomatic missions. He probably came to the Diocese of Ely around 1430 and was a judge in a dispute involving the patronage of St Botolph’s Cambridge.

The inscription on the marginreads: The eminent doctor John Blodwell rests for a while beneath this stone. He was blind for a long time; while he lived here as a little old man he was an ornament of the Church and gave kind refreshment to his fellow men. May God himself be to him refreshment, light and peace. He died on the sixteenth of April 1462. May God in his mercy give eternal rest. Amen.

At the foot there is a dialogue:

Blodwell: Wales gave me birth, Bologna taught me both systems of law, Rome gave me the opportunity of practising law, and five nations gave me knowledge of their languages [English, Welsh, Latin, French and Italian]

Vox Secunda: All these achievements of yours have become a burden to you

Blodwell: Praise, fame, good health, strength, rank, long life, surely these things can be offered to God?

Vox Secunda: You might as well think of them as vain and transitory.

Blodwell: What is the flowering of life then?

Vox Secunda: All flesh is grass, which soon dies. Do you beseech God in your prayers to have mercy on the dead man; beseech him also that, before you are like him, you may become aware that living men who are not oblivious are controlled by this law – the man who