- Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent
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Coordinates: 53°04′36″N 00°48′30″W / 53.07667°N 0.80833°W
St. Mary Magdalene's Church
Newark-upon-Trent
Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene, Newark-upon-TrentDenomination Church of England Website www.stmarysnewark.org History Dedication St. Mary Magdalene Administration Parish Newark-on-Trent Diocese Southwell and Nottingham Province York Clergy Rector The Revd Vivian John Enever (Team Rector of Newark Team Ministry & Team Vicar of St Mary Magdalene) Curate(s) The Revd Judith Pollard (Team Curate) The Church of St. Mary Magadalene, Newark-on-Trent is a parish church in the Church of England in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire.
The church is Grade I listed by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport as a building of outstanding architectural or historic interest.
Contents
Building
It is notable for the tower and the octagonal spire (236 ft. high), the highest in Nottinghamshire. The central piers remain from the previous church, dating from the 11th or 12th century. The upper parts of the tower and spire were completed about 1350; the nave dates from between 1384 and 1393, and the chancel from 1489.
The sanctuary is bounded on the south and north by two chantry chapels, the former of which has on one of its panels a remarkable painting from the Dance of Death. There are a few old monuments, and an exceedingly fine brass of the 14th century. There is a hole in the spire which was supposedly made by a musket ball during the Civil War, although there is doubt locally as to the truth of the story. This hole is visible from some parts of the town centre.
It was heavily restored in the mid nineteenth century by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The reredos was added by Sir Ninian Comper.
The Magnus Bequest
The church is supported by the Magnus Bequest, a charitable foundation created in the early 1530s by Thomas Magnus, who gave farms and lands in south Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire for a fourfold purpose:
- The establishment and endowment of a free grammar school
- The provision and endowment of a song school to ensure the maintenance of a high standard of worship in the parish
- the provision of a sufficient sum to guarantee the efficient administration of the bequest and proper upkeep of the farms and lands from which the income was to be derived
- the provision of occasional sums to be used for the general well-being of the church or the town (if there be any surplus after the first three objects had been fully accomplished).
Vicars of Newark
- 1301 Walter Adam de Coddington
- 1320 William de Lincoln
- 1322 Rocelinus or Roslyn
- 1333 John de Leverton
- 1349 Thomas de Silkeston
- 1359 Thomas de Westburgh
- 1360 Roger de Leverton
- 1367 William de Nesse
- 1371 Roger de Leverton
- 1375 John de Seggefield
- 1378 John Sharp
- 1421 John More
- 1423 Thomas Marshe
- 1425 Robert Crosslande
- 1425 Nicholas Ferriby
- 1445 John Burton
- 1475 Nicholas Laughton
- 1476 John Tristrop
- 1479 John Smythe
- 1521 Edward Fowke
- 1521 Sampson Lorde
- 1532 Henry Lytherlande
- 1540/2 Robert Chapman
- 1550 Christopher Sugden
- 1554 John Taverham
- 1559 Christopher Sugden
- 1561 Edward Roodes
- 1573 Nicholas Clayton
- 1581 William Smythe
- 1585 Lawrence Staunton
- 1588 Edward Holden
- 1596 William Pell
- 1597 Bryan Vincent
- 1601 Joseph Batts
- 1612 Simon Jacks
- 1618 Edmund Mason
- 1628 Samuel Keemel
- 1629 John Moseley
- 1642 Henry Trewman
- 1655 Samuel Hawkes
- 1660 Thomas White, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough
- 1666 Richard Pearson
- 1667 Henry Smith, Prebendary of Southwell Minster
- 1702 Eli Stanfield
- 1719 Bemard Wilson, D.D.
- 1772 Hugh Wade
- 1776 Charles Fynes
- 1788 Davies Pennell
- 1814 William Bartlett
- 1835 John Garrett Bussell, B.A., Canon of Lincoln Cathedral
- 1874 Josiah Brown Pearson, LL.D. afterwards Bishop of Newcastle, Australia
- 1880 Marshall Wild, M.A., Canon of Southwell Minster
- 1908 Walter Paton Hindley, M.A., Canon of Southwell Minster
- 1919 James Manders Walker, M.A., D.D., Canon of Southwell Minster
- 1929 William Kay, DSM, M.C., M.A. Canon of Southwell Minster, afterwards Provost of Blackburn Cathedral
- 1936 Alfred Parkinson, B.A., Canon of Southwell Minster
- 1944 Lewis Mervyn Charles-Edwards, afterwards Bishop of Worcester
- 1948 George William Clarkson, M.A., Canon of Southwell Minster, afterwards Bishop of Pontefract
- 1955 John H.D. Grinter, B.A., Canon of Southwell Minster
- 1963 Eric J. Kingsnorth, F.I.A., Canon of Southwell Minster
- 1975 Benjamin H. Lewers, M.A., Rector from 1980, afterwards Provost of Derby Cathedral
- 1981 George Miller McMillan Thomson
- 1988 Roger Anthony John Hill, M.A., Canon of Southwell Minster
- 2002 Vivian John Enever
Music
Organ
The church possesses a large organ by Hill, Norman and Beard containing much pipework from previous instruments. A specification of the organ can be found in the National Pipe Organ Register at [1].
The Choir
The choir of St Mary Magdalene sings regularly in the church at the 9.30 Eucharist and the 6.30 Choral Evensong. The Choral Foundation was set up by Thomas Magnus in 1532. Today, the choir is formed of around 10 boy and 10 girl choristers, with additional Songmen who sing Alto, Tenor and Bass parts. The church accepted girl choristers in 2008. The choir is the only existing pre-reformation choir outside cathedrals and Oxbridge colleges.
The choir consists of two Head choristers (one boy and one girl), 4 senior choristers, and several full choristers and probationers.
Masters of the Song School
The organist of the church is still known by the old title Master of the Song School. There have been appointments since at least 1532.
- Robert Kirkby 1531- 1573
- Peter Newcombe c. 1590
- Edward Manestie until 1596
- George Fishburne 1596 - 1636?
- Thomas Kingstone 1636 - 1641
- Thomas Heardson 1642 - 1649
- John Hinton 1649 - 1668
- John Barlow 1668 -
- Roland Barlow 1679 - 1682
- William Farrow 1682 - 1709
- Thomas Farrow 1709 - 1712
- John Spencer 1712 - 1731
- John Murgatroyd 1731 - 1741
- Walter Cottingham 1741 - 1749
- Richard Justice 1749 - 1751
- Samuel Wise 1751 - 1754, latterly organist of Southwell Minster and St. Mary's Church, Nottingham
- Lloyd Rayner 1754 - 1756, later organist of Lincoln Minster
- Bailey Marley 1757 - 1758
- John Alcock 1758 - 1768
- Thomas Jackson 1768 - 1781
- John Calah 1782 - 1784
- William Hunter 1784 - 1802
- William Brydges 1802 - 1835
- Edward Dearle 1835 - 1864
- Samuel Reay 1864 - 1901 (formerly organist of St Thomas the Martyr, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne
- Sydney H F Weale FRCO LRAM 1901 - 1903
- William Thompson Wright ARCO RCM 1903 - 1928 (formerly organist of St. Leonard's Church, Newark)
- William A Hall MusDoc 1928 - 1930
- Edward Francis Reginald Woolley[1] MA ARCO 1930 - 1954 (assistant organist at Lincoln Cathedral 1926 - 1930)
- Colin Ingleson FRCO 1954 - 1974
- Robert Edward Gillman 1974 - 1980
- Michael Overbury 1980 - 1986 (later organist of Worksop Priory)
- John Webster 1986 - 1992
- Roger Bryan 1992 - 2006
- George Richford - 2009 - (former Girls Choir Director and Acting Director of Music at Newcastle Cathedral)
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Assistant organists
- Sydney Weale 1901 - 1903 (formerly assistant of St. David's Cathedral, afterwards assistant at Southwell Minster)
- Colin Ingleson FRCO, 1932–1954
- Mike Manners 1982
- Craig Nathan ARC0 1984
- John Shooter ARCO 1985
- Robert Sharpe 1989 - 1991 (formerly Assistant Organist of Lichfield Cathedral, Director of Music at Truro Cathedral and now Director of Music at York Minster.)
- Malcolm Smith 2009 - 2010
- Donald Hunt 2011 - present (formerly Organ Scholar of Truro Cathedral (2009-2010) and St. Paul's Cathedral (2010-2011)
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
See also
- Archdeacon of Newark
Sources
- ^ Who's Who in Music. Shaw Publishing Co. Ltd. London. First Post-war Edition. 1949/50
- The Buildings of England, Nottinghamshire, Nikolaus Pevsner
Members of the Greater Churches Group Bath Abbey · Beverley Minster · Bolton Abbey · Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge · Christchurch Priory · St George's Minster, Doncaster · Halifax Minster · Hexham Abbey · Holy Trinity Church, Hull · Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon · Kendal Parish Church · Lancaster Priory · Leeds Parish Church · Malvern Priory · Romsey Abbey · Rotherham Minster · St Botolph with St Christopher, Boston · St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury · St Laurence Church, Ludlow · St Martin in the Bull Ring · St Mary's Church, Nottingham · St Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent · St Mary Redcliffe · Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick · St Wulfram's Church, Grantham · St Peter Mancroft · Selby Abbey · Sherborne Abbey · Sunderland Minster · Tewkesbury Abbey · Wimborne Minster
Categories:- Church of England societies and organisations
- Greater Churches
- Church of England churches in Nottinghamshire
- Grade I listed churches
- Grade I listed buildings in Nottinghamshire
- Newark-on-Trent
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