80th anniversary of VE Day: Churches during times of war

On the 80th anniversary of VE Day, we want to take a moment to remember how some of our churches have been affected by war throughout time. As you can expect from buildings that have stood for nearly 1,000 years, these buildings often still bear the marks of long-gone conflicts and tell stories of those who sought refuge within their fortress like walls. Most visible within our churches are the memorials to those who fought and died in war, be that the English Civil War, WWI or WWII or a much earlier conflict, but sometimes the buildings themselves bear marks of battle. 

One of England's most famous battles, the Battle of Evesham (1265) was fought between forces in support of King Henry III and those of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. The battle was the end of a long-running campaign by de Montfort to force Henry to share power with his parliament. This battle started when lookouts at the Abbey spotted royalist troops to the north and De Montfort's force marched out to meet them from the site of St Lawrence's church. Today you can follow their route via the well-marked Battle Trail.

Two decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses also took place near two of our churches. The Church of St Mary Magdalene, Battlefield, Shropshire is a memorial church to a fierce and bloody battle between the forces of Henry IV and Henry Hotspur, in which the latter was killed, in 1403. Over 1,600 people are thought to be buried on site. King Henry IV commissioned a chapel, later replaced by this larger church, be built as a memorial for the dead on both sides.  

Just over 50 years later in 1461, the Wars of the Roses were still going on, but the tide was about to change. The battle of Towton, fought near St. Mary’s church, Lead, is described as "probably the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil" – 50,000 men fought of whom 28,000 were killed. The battle resulted in the victor, the Duke of York, replacing King Henry VI as Edward the IV.

The English Civil War taking place only 200 years later, also had effects on churches and more importantly on the communities that worshipped in them. It is worth remembering that between the end of the Wars of the Roses in 1487 and the beginning of the English Civil War in 1642, the English public had been put through the tempest of the Tudor reformation. 

Overlooking the battlefield of the first major armed conflict of the English Civil War, the Battle of Edge Hill, fought in 1642, sits All Saints Church, Chadshunt. 

Low Ham Church in the Field, built only in 1620, suffered damage during the Battle of Langport, one of the most significant conflicts of the Civil War, which resulted in the Parliamentarians taking control of the West of England. 

And one of our Champing partner churches, All Saints, Rotherby, has a slightly more personal Civil War connection. A rector from the nearby village of Hoby and his family made a home in the church after his living was possessed by Parliament. Forced to leave Hoby, they sheltered at Rotherby, first outside in the churchyard, and then, later, in the belfry itself. You can get a better idea of what their life at All Saints was like, by staying overnight at this church.

St. Michael and All Angels in Princetown near Dartmoor was built between 1812-14 by prisoners captured in the Napoleonic Wars with France, and the War of 1812 with the United States - they were held at Dartmoor prison. The east window contains stained glass of 1910 in memory of the American prisoners who helped to build this church.

At Holy Trinity Goodramgate in York, there is still a beautiful memorial to former pupils from Bedern National School who served in World War I. This Role of Honor is an important piece of history as it tells the story of a lost, mostly poor, community and whether the pupils died, became injured or were Prisoners of War. To save the red ink used to annotate the document from deteriorating further we are currently raising funds to ensure the memory of these soldiers is not lost. You can donate here.

WWII followed shortly after and Brougham Hall, which has an estate church, St. Wilfrid’s, in the care of CCT, became home to experimental tanks in the grounds called The Canal Defence Light. The site was even visited by Churchill and Eisenhower in 1941. Furthermore, after the war the land adjacent to St. Wilfrid's was home to a camp of displaced people from Poland in nissen huts. There are reports of the resettled men playing football in the ground, and on one occasion, a stray football smashed the stained-glass windows! 

St. Leonards in Bridgnorth was narrowly missed by a Luftwaffe bomb during the blitz but blew up a house on St Leonard's close. The house was never re-built but is now a memorial garden in the row of terraces. 

All Saints, Connington has a memorial to US airmen, who were stationed nearby and St. Mary Magdalene on the Croome estate has a moving memorial to George Coventry, 10th Earl of Coventry who died in action in France in 1940. On the estate you can also discover RAF Defford, a WWII airbase, that housed scientists who tested radar.

If memorials help us remember the cost of war, so do stories, and most importantly the stories of those who lived through war. Our key holder for St. Michaels, Cotham, Mr David Otter will be celebrating his 95th birthday this year in August. On Saturday the 10th of May at 1pm, he will be sharing his story at the NIDUS-UK centre in Cotham village.