The South Aisle and Chantry in the Parish Church of St Bridget, Brigham

Abstract

During a nineteenth-century restoration of Brigham parish church, the evidence of earlier building activity was carefully observed, recorded, and described in 1878 by Isaac Fletcher, a prominent member of the parish, in a paper read there to members of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. The author was able to speculate on earlier phases of the church’s history, having had the advantage of witnessing various stages of the restoration, carried out under the direction of the architect, William Butterfield, and having corresponded with the rector on the physical evidence that was uncovered as a result. When the floor of the nave was excavated the foundations of an early north arcade were exposed, and these were assigned to the earliest building at Brigham, c. 1080. Citing the evidence of changes in walling material and developments in the arcade columns, bases and capitals, Fletcher decided that in c. 1150 the church was enlarged by the addition of a narrow south aisle, of the same height and width as the earlier north aisle, whose arcade columns were set at the same intervals as those of the north arcade. Another enlargement of the church was carried out in c. 1220, when a large west tower and a small chancel were built. This then is a brief account of the architectural background against which the new south aisle and chantry, founded by Thomas de Burgh, rector of Brigham, has to be considered (Fig. 1).