Seckington
| Seckington | |
| Warwickshire | |
|---|---|
 All Saints' parish church, seen from the east | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK2607 |
| Location: | 52°39’50"N, 1°36’54"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 59 (2001[1]) |
| Post town: | Tamworth |
| Postcode: | B79 |
| Dialling code: | 01827 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Warwickshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Warwickshire |
Seckington is a village and parish in the Hemlingford hundred of Warwickshire, about four miles north-east of Tamworth. The B4593 road between Tamworth and Appleby Magna runs through the parish, passing about 100 yds north of the village.
Seckington shares a parish council with Newton Regis, Seckington and No Man's Heath.[2]
Early history
In AD 757 King Æthelbald of Mercia was assassinated at Secandune[3] (Seckington).[4] Continuations of the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum say he "was treacherously and miserably murdered, in the night, by his own guards".[5]
The Domesday Book of 1086 records Secintone as a vill with a manor of five hides.[3]
Castle
Seckington Castle is a motte-and-bailey castle believed to have been built in the late 11th century for either Roger de Beaumont, Earl of Meulan or his son Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester.[6]
In the late 17th century the antiquary Sir William Dugdale (1605–86) described, measured and recorded the castle in detail.[6] Since 1923 the castle has been protected as a scheduled monument.[6]
The motte is now about 30 ft high and its diameter is about 150 ft at the base.[7] The bailey is south and east of the motte.[7]
The castle is surrounded on three sides by traces of ridge-and-furrow cultivation.[6]
Parish church
The Church of England parish church of All Saints is probably mid- to late-13th century in origin,[3][7] but was significantly altered in a late 19th-century Victorian restoration.[3]
The west tower and spire were rebuilt in 1883, re-using much of the original material.[3] The bell-openings are Early English, the ogeed west window is Decorated Gothic and the parapet and spire are Perpendicular Gothic.[7] The spire has two sets of lucarnes.[7]
The nave and chancel are Decorated Gothic[7] with 14th-century windows.[3] The chancel east window has five lights[3] and intersecting tracery, and is said to have been widened in the restoration.[3] There is extensive use of ogees. As well as in the west window of the nave, ogees feature in two south windows of the nave,[3] one south and two north doorways[7] and a double piscina in the chancel.[7]
All Saints had a rood screen and rood loft, traces of which are visible in the east wall of the nave on both sides of the chancel arch.[3] Outside, on the south wall of the nave east of the porch is a scratched mass dial.[3]
All Saints' church monuments include a defaced recumbent effigy of a lady in early 14th-century dress, and a Jacobean wall-mounted monument to Robert Burdett, who died in 1603.[3][7] He is an ancestor of the Burdett baronets of Bramcote. His monument is of veined marble, with Corinthian columns flanking kneeling figures of his family.[3]
The west tower has a ring of four bells.[8] Robert Mellours of Nottingham cast the treble bell in about 1520;[8] it is inscribed with the name IESUS.[3] Hugh II Watts of Leicester cast the tenor bell in about 1640.[8] John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast or re-cast the second and third bells in 1886[8] for the rebuilt tower. The ring is unusual in that the third bell, not the tenor, has the largest diameter.[8]
All Saints has been a Grade-II* listed building since 1953.[9]
Other listed buildings
Seckington has four Grade-II listed buildings. Rock Farmhouse is partly 17th century, with late 18th century additions.[10] Old Hall Farmhouse is late 17th or early 18th century, with late 18th and early 19th century additions.[11] The Old Rectory was 18th century but was largely rebuilt in about 1870.[12] Church Farmhouse is late 18th or early 19th century.[13]
References
- ↑ "Parish Headcounts: Area selected: North Warwickshire". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790537. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ↑ "Home". Newton Regis, Seckington and No Man's Heath Parish Council. http://nrsandnmh.org.uk/. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 Salzman 1947, pp. 198–200
- ↑ Ellis 1994, p. 162.
- ↑ "CHAP. XXIV. Chronological recapitulation of the whole work: also concerning the author himself". Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bede/history.v.v.xxiii.html. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 National Heritage List 1011366: Motte and bailey castle, 90m NW of All Saints' Church
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 Pevsner & Wedgwood 1966, p. 393
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Chester, Mike; Kelly, Dave (30 July 2009). "Seckington All Saints". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Seckington&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=SECKINGTON. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1252599: Church of All Saints
- ↑ National Heritage List 1262205: Rock Farmhouse
- ↑ National Heritage List 1252598: Old Hall Farmhouse
- ↑ National Heritage List 1262174: The Old Rectory
- ↑ National Heritage List 1252600: Church Farmhouse
Sources
- Ellis, Peter Berresford (1994) [1993]. Celt and Saxon The Struggle for Britain AD 410–937. London: Constable & Co. p. 162. ISBN 0-09-473260-4.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus; Wedgwood, Alexandra (1966). Warwickshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 393.
- Salzman, LF, ed (1947). A History of the County of Warwick, Volume 4: Hemlingford Hundred. Victoria County History. London. pp. 198–200.
