Church spires in the midlands vs towers in mid-Wales

by SmytherFTL

Family argument.

  • Sister points out tetbury has a very 'pointy' church' compared to back home ( Tregaron, Llanddewi )
  • Dad remarks that the midlands are famous for it
  • Mum remarks that it's because "These towns were rich from the wool trade during the middle ages. They could afford spires on their churches, which require special craftsmen to build and are more expensive."
  • Dad disagrees remarks something about bricks vs stones (as if there aren't plenty of dry stone walls about)
  • Brother (history grad) comments "well these ones will be Church of England", but then susepcts Mum has a point.

Anyone more knowledgable able to comment?

tiredstars

I think that your mum is most correct.

The first thing to note are changes in church design over time. Early Norman churches tended to be more like your Welsh examples (the towers of which are from the 12th and 13th centuries). The use of spires developed through the 13th and 14th centuries. So older towns and villages are less likely to have churches with spires - unless they've been rebuilt.

Which brings us to wealth. Greater wealth means churches are more likely to be rebuilt. Wealth during a particular period is also likely to mean hamlets expand into villages, and villages into towns, leading to churches being built. (In Bristol it feels likey ou can almost read the development of the city in the ages of the numerous churches, from old St Mary Redcliffe to the churches in St Pauls or Clifton built with profits from the slave and sugar trades.)

There is one other factor, which is the quality of stone available in the area. So we have this statement from How Old is That Church?

Much of [the East Midlands] lies within the limestone belt, and as would be expected there are fine churches showing good quality stonework, similar to that found in the Cotswolds. In particular, the stone spires are typical, most of them dating from the fourteenth century, when the wealth of the area, derived from the raw wool trade, was at its greatest.

The same is apparently true of the Cotswolds, but not not of the West Midlands, where local stone was of poor quality.

By the way, the church in Tetbury was in fact built in the 19th century in the neo-gothic style, so a very different era from the Welsh churches. Again, the fact that it was built in such a grand style says something about the wealth of the place.

Your brother is correct that church of england churches tend to be more impressive than the typicaly modest chapels or meeting houses of nonconformists like the Methodists. In this case, though, that's not what's going on.

(Now I'm at my parents for Christmas I leafed through two of my dad's books as references - The English Village Church and How old is that church?)