The Parish Magazine November 2020

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18 The Parish Magazine - November 2020Please mention The Parish Magazine when responding to advertisementsLife Beginsat 55...Our Later Life Lending experts are here to helpyou understand how you can use the equity builtup in your home to help finance your retirement.We offer free, friendly, professional advice.Repay your existing mortgagePay off your debtsHelp your family financiallyCarry out home improvementsGo on holiday or buy a new carTo arrange anappointment visitour website orgive us a callmortgagerequired.com01628 507477Finance House, 5 Bath Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 4AQThis is a lifetime mortgage to understand the features and risks, ask for a personalised illustration. There will be no fee for Mortgage Advice. There may be a fee for arranging a mortgage. The precise amountwill depend upon your circumstances, but we estimate it to be £599. Mortgage Required Ltd, Finance House, 5 Bath Road, Maidenhead, SL6 4AQ is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authorityreference 573718 at www.fca.org.uk.‘Excellent’ School‘Pupils’ social development and collaboration skillsare excellent.’‘Pupils make an outstanding contribution tothe lives of others.’ISI Inspection, November 2019Register online: rbcs.org.ukAn Independent Day School for Boys 11-18, and Girls 16 -18Bathrooms &Kitchens LtdPlumbing, Plastering, Tilingand all associated workContact us today for aFREENo obligation Consultationand Quotation0778 897 2921markt@kingfisher-bathrooms.comhttp://www.kingfisher-bathrooms.com167 Kingfisher Drive, Woodley, Reading, Berks RG5 3JQNOVEMBER 2020.indd 18 11/10/2020 23:49:42
feature — 4from page 17Old beliefs challengedThis drawing by C A Buckler shows the first Saxon timbered churchwhich was built at Bradford-on-Avon in WiltshireTarsus. In time, all English churches, however grudgingly,acknowledged the primacy of the 'universal church' inRome but distance ensured the Papacy could only exert itsinfluence with a light hand. Priests were rarely accreditedto particular places, and traversing long distances, tendedto move around, addressing occasional meetings ofconverts in the open air: simple timber-framed, thatchedbuildings would be among the first permanent churchesto be built in any village keen enough to embrace the newfaith. We might safely assume this would have been thecase in many parts of Wessex.St SARIK CHAPELNothing much is really known about Sonning’s earliestchurch. Its wooden foundations have long since gone, andhave been replaced by a stone structure built some yearsafter the Norman Conquest. Only a simple Saxon stonecross can be seen embedded in the church’s Norman tower.There is evidence, of course, to suggest some churcheswere sited near abandoned pagan shrines or placesreputed to possess healing properties.One clue about our church’s origins is offered by JohnLeland’s 1546 Itinerary. In it, he mentions 'a chapel ofSt Sarik' situated somewhere along the east side of ourchurchyard 'to which resorted in pilgrimage many folk for thecure of madness.'While our knowledge is at best very flimsy, theuncovering of human remains by archaeologists beneathThe Bull’s garden 20 years ago adds weight to the existenceof some form of Saxon hospice adjoining Sonning’s parishchurch. As yet, the mystery of who exactly St Sarik wasstill remains unanswered.2WESSEX WAR AND PEACEDespite frequent Danish attacks throughout the9th century, much missionary activity and scholarshipcontinued apace especially in Northumbria and parts ofEast Anglia; all greatly encouraged by visiting priests anditinerant monks from Ireland and the continent.When Alfred the Great became king of Wessex in871, few expected him to survive such was the menaceof the Danish invasion. Christianity braced itself fordestruction and turmoil and Alfred, a respected scholar,convinced himself that the agony endured by his subjectsThe Parish Magazine - November 2020 19was nothing less than divine punishment for their sins.Stubborn resistance nevertheless hastened the politicaland military ascendancy of Wessex culminating in DanishKing Guthrum’s conversion in 878.For many Danes weary of endless conflict, collectingDanegeld tax and farming English pasture offered betterchoices than costly migration and endless warfare. If, formost of the 11th century, the Viking threat had still to beexorcised.Wessex’s part in the reconquest of England assured itspolitical hegemony in the years ahead; none of the otherSaxon kingdoms would be its equal.COMMON CAUSEChastened by the experience of war, State and Churchin Wessex shared a common cause to unite the kingdom.Institutionally, the Church had become more lethargic andsecular as the demands of war took precedence but thiswas not the only reason it had to change.Alfred and his successors needed scholars andadministrators as well as warriors; learned men nurturedwithin a disciplined Church of educated clergy to fulfilGod’s will and integrate their war torn realm beneath thebanner of Christ.Key to this objective was the establishment of anetwork of monasteries, the 'training schools' of their day,endowed by a committed landed aristocracy.CULTURAL RESURGENCELong term, the necessary intellectual revival neededto achieve this ambition, had to await the energy ofAbbot ælfric of Abingdon, Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester,and Archbishop Dunstan, all scholars and prelates ofdistinction.By the end of the 10th century, over 40 newmonasteries had been founded. It was something of acultural resurgence of the arts and literature and newcareer opportunities for the clergy.As monastic wealth accumulated, there was renewedinterest in agricultural improvement. Wheat cultivationand viticulture, abandoned after the Romans left, wererevived and marshland drained.Strongly influenced by what he had seen of Cluny’scorporate tradition in France, Dunstan (909-988)rigorously enforced the Benedictine rule. Where feast daysand Sunday worship had been neglected, clerical disciplinewas tightened.Financial malpractice allowing parishes to be passedfrom fathers to sons was curtailed and secular cathedralcanons, many of whom were married men, were drivenout ruthlessly and replaced by monks.NOTES1. G.M Trevelyan, History of England (Longmans: third edition, 1945) p65.2. Canon Hugh Pearson, vicar of Sonning (1842-1882), and the first editorof this magazine, speculated that 'Sarik' might have been a clumsytranslation of 'Sigeric', the Bishop of Ramsbury (985-990) who is listedamong the 'Bishops of Sunning' on a plaque inside St Andrew’s Church.Sigeric 'may well have been held in veneration by the people of Sonningbecause it was through his advice to Ethelred the Unready that peacewas concluded with the Danes. . .even though it was at the price of theodious tax called Danegeld being imposed ?' Memorials of the Parishof Sonning. (Blackwell, Reading, 1890), pp. 80-81. Other variations of thename include 'Sirik'and 'Serik' and 'Corroc', a Cornish.. . . To be concluded next monthNOVEMBER 2020.indd 19 11/10/2020 23:49:42
Page 1 and 2: TheParishMagazineTe Parish Magazine
Page 3 and 4: Serving the communities of Charvil,
Page 5 and 6: The associate vicar's letterDear fr
Page 7 and 8: the parish noticeboard — 1The Par
Page 9 and 10: the parish noticeboard — 2Wartime
Page 11 and 12: the parish noticeboard — 4STAYST
Page 13 and 14: feature — 1In early April, in som
Page 15 and 16: feature — 2from page 13Ali's Chal
Page 17: feature — 3The earliest converts
Page 21 and 22: The Parish Magazine - November 2020
Page 23 and 24: REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY — 8 NOVEMBERWe
Page 25 and 26: around the villages — 1New life i
Page 27 and 28: The Parish Magazine - November 2020
Page 29 and 30: around the villages — 3Santa Clau
Page 31 and 32: around the villages — 4A letter f
Page 33 and 34: healthDuring the glorious September
Page 35 and 36: THE ARTS — 1Rev Michael Burgess c
Page 37 and 38: THE ARTS — 2 the sciencesPoetry c
Page 39 and 40: HOME & GARDENIn the gardenThe Paris
Page 41 and 42: CHILDREN'S PAGEThe Parish Magazine
Page 43 and 44: Please mention The Parish Magazine

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