Snitterfield

This village and Church has links with the Gunpowder Plot. The now demolished moated house of Norbrook  was the home of John Grant. He was a member of  the Gunpowder Plot along with Robert Wintour and Catesby's servant Thomas Bates. Norbrook became the plotters headquarters. After the failure of the plot on the discovery of Guy Fawkes, the plotters rode from here into Staffordshire where they made their last stand. Grant was blinded, his eyes being burnt out when a spark from the fire ignited the gunpowder they were trying to dry. He was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London. After being found guilty along with the other conspirators, on Thursday 30 January 1606 he was executed at St Pauls Cathedral.

St. James the Great, Snitterfield

This Church was supposedly begun shortly before the Black Death struck in the 1350s. The tower especially has a distinct demarcation between different types of stonework. This is also visible on the outside walls of the chancel.










Of interest are the ancient tiles incorporated at various places in the walls. This is similar to the Saxon church at Brixworth (see earlier post), where the builders used tiles from a local Roman villa. There is of course a Roman town at Alcester just a few miles away. I wonder if there is any record of a villa nearby?

St James the Great, Snitterfield

Inside the Church

These two carvings on the choir stalls, along with the mermaids below, are among the few original pieces remaining from mediaeval times. There are a number of replacement modern carvings of other saints and apostles which are easy to identify by their undamaged state!

Sadly there is little to link the Church with its patron saint - James the Great, or with the pilgrimage to Compostela. I did however spot a small 'scallop shell' waymarker glued on a radiator at the back of the church!