The Holy Sepulchre, Northampton facts for kids
The Holy Sepulchre is a very old church in Northampton, England. It's special because it's round! This church was built around the year 1100. It was probably built by a powerful person named Simon de Senlis, who was the Earl of Northampton.
This church is a Grade I listed building, which means it's a really important building, protected by the government. There are only four round churches from the Middle Ages still used in England today. The others are the Holy Sepulchre, Cambridge (in Cambridge), the Temple Church (in London), and St John the Baptist (in Little Maplestead, Essex).
A group called The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Northampton) Restoration Trust was started in 1982. They work to help keep the church in good condition.
Contents
Why This Church Was Built
Simon de Senlis and His Journey
Simon de Senlis, the Earl of Northampton, helped make Northampton a strong Norman town. He built Northampton Castle (which is gone now) and a town wall. He likely also built the All Hallows Church and the Holy Sepulchre church.
Around the year 1096, Simon de Senlis went on the First Crusade to the Holy Land. This was a big journey to a faraway place. While there, he saw the famous Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This church was also round.
The Jerusalem Inspiration
The church in Jerusalem was round and had many columns. It had a path around the outside and was built over what people believed was Christ's tomb. This church had been rebuilt from an even older church from the 4th century.
When Simon de Senlis came back to Northampton, he probably wanted to build a church like the one he saw. So, around 1100, he built the "Holy Sepulchre" in Northampton. It's about half the size of the church in Jerusalem.
How the Church Looked at First
The first church in Northampton had a round main area with eight columns. There was a path around the outside. An old window in the church suggests that the original round church also had a special area at the east end.
Over time, more parts were added to the church. Around 1180, a north aisle was built. Then, around 1275, a second north aisle was added. In the early 1400s, a south aisle was built. The upper part of the round area was changed, and a tower was added to the west side.
Comparing to Another Round Church
The Cambridge Connection
People kept going on crusades and pilgrimages to the Holy Land. This led to more round churches being built in England. About 30 years after the Northampton church, a similar church was built in Cambridge. Even though the Cambridge church is smaller, it might show us what the Northampton church looked like originally.
The Cambridge Round Church has a round-arched doorway at the west. The Northampton church might have had a similar entrance. The south porch we see today was added much later.
Inside the Round Churches
When you go into the Cambridge church, you see eight large round pillars. Unlike Northampton, the path around the outside has an arched roof, and there's a gallery above it. The pillars support round arches with zigzag patterns, which are typical of Norman style.
At the Holy Sepulchre in Northampton, three original Norman windows still exist. One is low down near the south porch, and two are high up on the north side. Having windows at two different levels suggests there was a gallery, just like in Cambridge. There are also signs of a ledge running around the edge that would have supported a gallery. However, the arches supported by the pillars in Northampton are pointed, which is a style from a later time, not Norman.
The Cambridge church has a cone-shaped stone roof. When it was restored in the 1800s, they tried to make it look like the original Norman design. The Holy Sepulchre in Northampton has a flatter lead roof now. It's likely that its roof was originally shaped like the one in Cambridge.
Changes Over Time
Over the years, more parts like a nave (main seating area), chancel (altar area), and aisles were added to the east side of the round church in Northampton. In the 1800s, a famous architect named Sir George Gilbert Scott did a lot of work to restore the church. He helped bring it to how it looks today. The screen in the chancel was made by John Oldrid Scott in 1880.
See also
- List of churches in Northampton
