Although I have read about it I am yet, personally, to visit St. Martin’s church, Burton Agnes and therefore reproduced above is a view of the church from the north-west copied from p. 15 of Christine Barker’s book Churches of the Yorkshire Wolds, 2 (s.p.b.). Of course Briony McDonagh writes of this church in her article (s.p.b.s). She writes in her concluding remarks ‘The similar programme (similar to the programme of extensions and monument creations at Harpham church a century earlier) of fifteenth-century building works undertaken by the Griffith family on the house and church at Burton Agnes … tombs, new chapel, tower and clerestory all underlined the Griffith’s wealth and status and the new tower and bells made a visual and sonic statement, projecting their vision out across the parish including within the moor’ (p.95). Thus in ‘reading’ a church’s history through a study of the styles evidenced in its building fabric and thinking of the broad idea of ‘fashion’ as reason for change we are generally overlooking more intimate factors central to local political life in the Middle Ages that drove building programmes. Briony’s research is a good example of this more in depth analysis.
Briony’s article includes a colour photo. also taken from the north side of the church but showing more clearly the architectural features of the north aisle, west tower and clerestory as well as the once entrance arch off the north aisle to the chantry chapel (now demolished) which possibly originally housed some of the Griffith family monuments now seen in the Lady Chapel in the north aisle.
In such manner the Griffith family were ‘fighting back’ against the St. Quentin family in Harpham township/village and trying to re-claim their status across the whole of the Anglo-Saxon territorial unit and thus their entitlement to dictate the governance of the common land.
(One more blog due on this theme).