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St JAMES' CHURCH, MANORBIER, PEMBROKESHIRE. |
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NOTES ON MANORBIER CHURCH, PEMBROKESHIRE BY THE REV A. H. WRATISLAW, MA
(read 4th September 1884)
From whichever side we approach this extraordinary church, we cannot but be struck by its remarkable irregularity. It does not seem to have been built upon a plan at all; or, if so, the parties carrying it out must have quarrelled, and gone each their own way in the execution of it, so that the results of their work were not very consistent with one another. Take away the north aisle, and you have an ordinary cruciform church; and, indeed, the north aisle with its separate compass-roof and separate bell-turret, appears to have actually been a separate church.
Entering at the south door, and noticing the remains of painting on the ceiling of the porch, the first thing that now strikes one on going into the church is the irregularity of the arches of the nave, which are not of the same size, and are not built as such arches usually are, but springing straight from the floor of the church. Proceeding a little further up the centre of the nave, we find the key to this otherwise extraordinary problem. The remains of a little Norman window meet the eye on the right hand side; and this, taken together with the singularity of the arches, appears to indicate that we have in the nave the original Norman church, out of the thick and solid walls of which the present arches were cut, just enough of one window being left to betray the secret.
If we proceed to what ought to be the lantern, we shall find that the arches that ought to have carried the tower have been so mismanaged that they do not intersect properly, and could not bear any such weight; consequently the tower (a model in its kind) has been placed in the only available position, in the corner formed by the north transept and the chancel. The belfry windows are curiously arranged. On the north side there are three, east and west have one each, and on the south side there is no such window.
The north transept appears to have been extended to form a chantry chapel for the Du Barri whose stone effigy now lies on the north side of the chancel, but lay til 1780 under the low arch at the north end of the north transept. The ribbed groining on the roof hereof is remarkable; but there is similar groining in Cosheston Church.
The north aisle possesses an early English doorway in the north wall, leading up to the rood-loft and belfry in the tower. The supports of the ancient, enormous rood-loft are still visible in the south transept and nave. The remains of the rood-loft are over the east end of the north aisle. The original chancel-arch was round, and of course Norman; and the original chancel was smaller, and of different orientation from the present one, which deflects towards the south. The squint from the south transept is enormous.
When, at the time of the restoration of the church, the little Norman window was opened, a red stencil pattern on the jambs was quite distinct, and was similar to those on the plaster of the chapel in the castle. I am afraid very little of it can now be distinguished. The south transept and the chancel had Perpendicular lights previous to the restoration of the church (1866). The south aisle is a mere lean-to. There is also a lean-to on the north side of the chancel, which is used as a vestry.
As regards the spelling of the word "Manorbier", I ought to state that the late Master of Christ's College informed me that the spelling is invariably either "Manorbier" or "Manerbier" in the College books ever since the property was given to the College by Lady Margaret, mother of Henry VII. On the chalice, which is believed to be Elizabethan, the spelling is "Manerbeyr". These facts, taken together with Giraldus's "Manorbyr" or "Manorpyr", point to a pronunciation, "Manorbyer" rather than "Manorbere" or "-beer". But I am told that in the Picton books the whole estate is termed "The Manor of Beer", commonly called "Manorbier". Beer is a farm and also a moor in the parish. I am also informed that aged people used to pronounce and still pronounce the word "Manorbyer", also that in many old Latin deeds the word is spelt "Manorbyer". Thus the evidence, taken altogether, is very contradictory, but on the whole points rather to Manorbyer than to Manorbere.
Further considerations, especially those brought forward by Mr E Laws, have led me to conclude that two names lurk in the word Manorbier or Manorbere. One an ancient Welsh name Maen-o-pyr (the stone of the mythical Pembrokeshire hero Pyr); and the other a later Norman-French name Manorbere (the manor of bere). The latter name I should imagine to be an attempt, by people who did not know Welsh, to derive the old Welsh name from Norman-French.
Finally, let me invite the visitor to make trial of the remarkable echo from some spot a little below the steps by which the churchyard is entered on the west let them challenge it with the words of a learned Dutchman: "decem annos consumpsi legendo Cicerone", and receive in Greek the answer indicated by Erasmus "Ove Asine".
ST JAMES' CHURCH
ST JAMES' CHURCH