- Box pew
Box pew is a type of church
pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th century.History in England
Prior to the
Reformation , seating was not customary in churches and only accorded to the Lord of the Manor, Civic dignitaries and finally churchwardens. After 1569 stools and seating were installed inProtestant Churches primarily because the congregation were expected to listen to sermons, and various types of seating were introduced including the box pew. There are records of box pews being installed inLudlow parish church before 1577. [Margaret P. Hannay "Philip's Phoenix: Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke" Oxford University Press,1990, ISBN 0195057791 ] Box pews provided privacy and allowed the family to sit together. In the 17th century they could include windows, curtains, tables and even fireplaces, and were treated as personal property that could be willed to legatees. Sometimes the paneling was so high it was difficult to see out, and the privacy was used as a cover for non-devotional activity.William Hogarth satirised the trend in his paintings and sketches. By the eighteenth century it became normal to install formal box pews instead of random personal constructions. This provided a more classic line to the church, although Sir Christopher Wren objected to pews in his churches. With the mid 19th century church reforms, box pews were generally swept away and replaced by bench pews. However a number of examples still remain in various churches throughout the United Kingdom. [Nelson Encyclopaedia, Thomas Nelson and Son, 1911]New England
In colonial
New England , it was common for theColonial meeting house to have box pews. Families would typically sit together in a box pew, and it is theorized that the concept of the box pew resulted from the fact that the earlymeeting house s were not heated, and the walls of the box pews would minimize drafts, thus keeping the occupants relatively warmer in the winter.References
Other reading
*Speare, Eva A.: "Colonial Meeting-Houses of New Hampshire" Self-published, Reginald M. Colby, Agent, Littleton, NH, 1938, revised 1955.
*Sinnott, Edmund W.: "Meetinghouse and Church in Early New England" Bonanza Books, New York, 1963.
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