The Holy Sepulchre, Northampton - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Holy Sepulchre is a Norman round church

Round church

A round church is a special type of church construction, having a completely circular plan. Round churches are often found in Sweden and Denmark and were popular church constructions in Scandinavia in the 11th and early 12th centuries.Round churches should not be confused with the older types of...

in Sheep Street, Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Simon de Senlis, Earl of Northampton, was responsible for making Northampton

Northampton

, England, a Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

stronghold by building a castle (now destroyed) and a town wall (approximately on the site of the inner ring road). It is also probable that he was responsible for the building of All Hallows Church

All Saints' Church, Northampton

All Saints' Church, Northampton situated in the centre of Northampton, is a Parish Church of the Church of England and Northampton's Civic Church....

by the market place in the centre of Northampton

Northampton

and the church of the Holy Sepulchre to the north.

Inspiration

In around 1096, Simon de Senlis joined the First Crusade

First Crusade

The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...

to the Holy Land

Holy Land

The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...

. There he would have seen the Holy Sepulchre, located near the centre of Jerusalem. He would have seen it as a round church

Round church

supported on eighteen columns or piers with an ambulatory

Ambulatory

The ambulatory is the covered passage around a cloister. The term is sometimes applied to the procession way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar....

around the perimeter on the west of the church, and the well attested site of Christ's

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

tomb at the centre. There would have been four apse

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

s at each of the cardinal points, and on the east side there would have been a facade, so that the east apse

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

was accessible directly from the rotunda

Rotunda (architecture)

A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...

. After restoration, this church is what would have remained of a 4th century church built by Constantine I

Constantine I

Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...

, with the rotunda

Rotunda (architecture)

replacing an earlier Roman

Roman mythology

Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...

temple.

It is likely that after his return to Northampton

Northampton

, Simon de Senlis built the round church of the Holy Sepulchre in Northampton

Northampton

, and it is approximately half the size of the church in Jerusalem. The rotunda

Rotunda (architecture)

is supported on eight round piers with an ambulatory

Ambulatory

The ambulatory is the covered passage around a cloister. The term is sometimes applied to the procession way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar....

running round the full perimeter, without apses. The remains of a Norman

Norman architecture

About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

window in the present nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

however suggests that the original round church had a chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

to the east.

The original building

Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...

and pilgrimages continued to the Holy Land

Holy Land

, resulting in further building of round churches in England, and around thirty years after the building of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton, a similar Holy Sepulchre church at Cambridge

The Holy Sepulchre, Cambridge

- Recent history and present day:By 1994 the congregation had grown too big to be accommodated and it moved to the nearby Church of St Andrew the Great. Holy Sepulchre is managed by Christian Heritage and is open for visitors. It contains an exhibition entitled The Impact of Christianity in...

was built. The church at Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, though smaller than the church at Northampton

Northampton

is interesting to compare, because it may be representative of the original church.

You enter the Round Church, Cambridge through a west round-arched doorway. The entrance to the Northampton church may have been similar, as the south porch is of a much later date, and in the 14th century, a tower and spire was added to the west of the round church.

On entering the church at Cambridge, you realise the plan is similar with eight large round piers, but unlike the church at Northampton, the ambulatory

Ambulatory

The ambulatory is the covered passage around a cloister. The term is sometimes applied to the procession way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar....

is vaulted

Vault (architecture)

A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...

with a gallery above. The piers support Norman round arches and there is Norman dog-tooth or zig-zag decoration throughout.

At The Holy Sepulchre, Northampton, three original Norman windows survive: one to the left of the south porch at low level and two on the north at high level. The fact that windows are positioned at two different levels indicates there would have been a gallery. Evidence of a corbel

Corbel

In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...

running round the perimeter supports the argument, but unlike Cambridge, there are no springers to suggest the form of vaulting

Vault (architecture)

. There are no gallery openings in the rotunda

Rotunda (architecture)

at high level, and the piers support pointed arches characteristic of a more later architecture than the Norman round arches.

The church at Cambridge has a conical stone-slated roof. In the nineteenth century it was in disrepair and was restored as was expected to be in keeping with the original Norman design. The Holy Sepulchre, Northampton, presently has a slightly flatter lead roof, and it is likely that the roof was originally as the roof at Cambridge.

Alterations

Throughout the ages, a nave

Nave

, chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

, and aisles were added to the east of the round church at Northampton

Northampton

, and in the nineteenth century, the prolific architect Sir George Gilbert Scott was involved in extensive restoration

Victorian restoration

Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...

to bring the church into its present state.

External links

Detailed historical record for the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton

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