Yeovil's Virtual Museum

The introduction of church seating

Originally everyone stood in church

 
Originally, the people went to church to pray, not to listen to the long sermons that were a much later introduction. Indeed, the one-hour sermon was not normal until the 17th century. Therefore churches initially had no seating for the congregation, who had to stand or kneel in prayer or sit on the floor for secular occasions. Occasionally stone benches against the church wall were provided for the use of the sick or elderly, giving rise to the expression "the weakest go to the wall" or “gone to the wall”.

The duty of upkeep of a church’s chancel lay with the rector, while the rest of the church was the responsibility of the parish. This, in some ways, explains why often the chancel of a church may be plain and austere compared with the rest of the fabric. The nave of the church ‘belonged’ to the people and in medieval times assumed a secular as well as ecclesiastical role and was the equivalent of today's village hall. It was a meeting place where secular activities such as parish meetings and church ales would be held and the people could watch miracle and mummer plays.

Some occasional nave seating was slowly introduced towards the end of the 13th century, but this was very rare and late 13th century benches are only known at four places in England - Clapton-in-Gordano, Somerset; Gaddesby, Lincolnshire, Dunsfold, Surrey and Aysgarth, Yorkshire. No benches survive from this period in south Somerset but possible late 14th or early 15th century examples of the type, re-used in later benches, may be seen in the tiny church of St Catherine, Swell, nestling below the Curry Rivel ridge near Fivehead and at nearby Beercrocombe where, again, benches survive that are probably late 14th or early 15th century.

During the late 15th and early 16th centuries changes took place in the western Church across Europe as Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin rejected the authority of the Roman Church. The Reformation in England, however, was a comparatively sudden act of the state rather than a popular movement of the people. Henry VIII, although opposed to the Reformation movement as such, broke with Rome over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. A series of Acts of Parliament followed, culminating in the Act of Supremacy of 1534, effectively severing links completely, although church services didn't change at all until Henry's death in 1547. The Reformation in England led to basic liturgical and doctrinal changes in the late 15th and early 16th century Church with a gradual, but sure, shift in emphasis from the altar to the pulpit. Consequently, with church services taking longer due to the introduction and lengthening of sermons, seating was steadily introduced in far greater quantities into churches from the end of the 15th century.

Church seating first became widespread in the 16th century, following the Protestant Reformation. Before that, church floors were usually kept bare because the congregation stood during services. Early benches had very narrow seats - in the region of 12" or less - and backs were set at right angles to the seat, resulting in a relatively uncomfortable seating position. Narrow seats and upright backs continued in use throughout the period to the mid-sixteenth century at least, although seats began to be made wider and backs began to be sloped slightly backwards thus improving the comfort. Existing upright backs were sometimes later replaced by sloping backs as, for example, at Somerton where the line of the old upright backs may sometimes be discerned on the inside face of some bench ends.

It was customary for the congregation to be segregated, with men on the south side of the church and women to the north and, as seating was introduced, this custom continued. In fact, most congregations were separated until well into the 17th century and relative positions in church were not only based on gender, but also station in life. The rich sat to the front of the church, closer to the alter (and hence closer to God) while the poor were relegated to the back of the church. As the Church slowly realised that there was profit to be made in ‘selling’ seating the system of pew rents grew, that rigidly and publicly demonstrated the financial standing of parishioners. This, largely, was a post-Reformation system although it is recorded that as early as 1457 a ‘sale of seats’ was held in Yeovil. The annual rent of a seat near the pulpit towards the front of the church was 16d (just under £60 at today’s value), while one near the font, towards the rear of the church, was priced at 8d. However, it is very unlikely that at this time the whole church was provided with bench seating, allowing the poor to stand at the back.

Other types of segregation based on church seating were practiced, although not as widely, and it is unknown if this applied at Yeovil. For example, some churches had a ‘shriving’ pew, otherwise known as the midwife's pew, to which expectant women were confined. Some churches occasionally segregated engaged couples to a special bench, especially during the reading of the Banns.

A box pew is a type of seating that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England from the 16th to early 19th centuries. Box pews provided privacy and allowed a family to sit together. Again, it is unlikely that box pews were introduced into St John's church until the late 16th or early 17th century. The closest surviving box pews are at St Mary’s church, Mudford (see Gallery).

The first time galleries were recorded in St John’s church was in 1738, when a Mr Conyers was paid a guinea for painting the gallery, which had been erected around 1705. In 1753, there was an order of vestry "to the feoffees of the church-lands, to apply the money in their hands towards the ornamenting and beautifying the church, and to remove two old galleries over the north and south aisles, and to erect two new ones, one on the back of Mr Goodford's seat on the south aisle, and the other on the back of the charity gallery, in a handsome manner." John Newman jnr., paid Mr Chard Reeks £20 for this purpose. The whole cost however was £21 17s 6d, including £1 4s for a hogshead of cider and £9 16s 8½d for the faculty and a journey to Wells.

In 1792, the Vestry became somewhat more fastidious in their taste, since they empowered the churchwardens "to apply for a faculty to heighten and extend the gallery to the next pillar eastward, with a genteel front."

In 1818, the "genteel front" fell out of favour and the Vestry ordered that new galleries be erected. In 1819, four-fifths of the church’s seats were ordered to be sold by public auction of pew rents, the remaining fifth of the seats were ‘free’. The sale realised £788 (in excess of £60,000 at today’s value).

Also in 1819, two galleries were erected in the chancel, to contain 200 free sittings for the poor. However, it was noted that when these chancel galleries were removed, not more than 10 or 12 people occupied them.

In 1837, the body of the church was re-pewed and on the evening of 29 November 1837, a large number of these pews were put up for auction and realised £670. It was noted at the time "So great appears to have been the competition, that the prices of the pew rents varied from £16 to £90 a piece (£1,560 to £8,700 at today's value).

The positional arrangements of the seating in St John's church has been altered several times since their introduction in the 1860s.
 

 

Late 14th or early 15th century benches at St Catherine's church, Swell. Similar style benches may have been installed as the first kind of seating at St John’s church. Photographed in 2008.

 

Box pews at St Mary’s church, Mudford. Similar box pews were installed in St John’s church, Yeovil, but not for the entire church. Because of the pew rents, the poor would stand at the back of the church - they still had to be present at services since it was compulsory to attend. Photographed in 2008.

 

From my collection

A photograph of the newly-restored St John's church, taken in 1864 by John Chaffin - just a couple of years after the renovation was completed - including the new bench seating.

 

From my collection

An enlargement of the previous 1864 Chaffin photograph, showing that the 'new' seating was of two types; closed back at the eastern end of the nave and open-backed benches towards the west - these were probably the 'Free' benches, for those who couldn't afford pew rents.

 

This photograph features in my book 'The Church of St John the Baptist, Yeovil - a History and Guide'.

Several  benchends towards the rear of the church are carved with the word “Free” above a red-painted number in a shield (in this case a faded ‘31’), intended for those in the congregation who couldn’t afford to pay pew rents.