REARSBY

THE CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS

Church Post Code LE7 4YE

Open when visited but think that it is normally closed.

The Heathcote study recorded two Vale of Belvoir Angel gravestones in the church grounds here. I have enclosed photographs of the two along with an extra one, which differs greatly in style but which still features the Belvoir Angel.

The stone is to one William Hubbert who was murdered in 1712 at the age of 22 years. The stone itself is battered and faded in places, and the inscription is difficult to read. With some help from the good folks in the Belvoir Angels Facebook page, we came up with the following...

Willm the son of Edward Hubbert by Mary his wife was buried Oct 10th 1712 Aged 22 years A fatal knife his mortal body slew The murdering hand of God’s Vengeance will pursue From shades serene tho Justice took her flight Shall not ye judge of all ye earthly Right With doleful sighs a sad heart rending groans Each age and sex his innocence Bemoans’

Of the stones that still survive, this is one of two that are memorials to murder victims. The other id at Old Dalby, again in Leicestershire.

The second stone recorded by the Heathcote study is to one Rebecca Stanage. The angel here is badly damaged , with the left hand win as we look at it pretty much absent. This is still finely crafted, with some fine detail in the wings but the stone as a whole is very basic compared to others of this type.

There is no symbolism at the top and no epitaph towards the bottom of the stone; just the basic details of the deceased, which read as follows..

'Here lyeth the body of Rebecca Stanage the daughter of Thomas Stanage by Ann his wife who departed this life July 16th 1722 in the 5th year of her age'.

The third stone here can be found very close to the south porch, and was not included in the Heathcote study. I have included it here as it does contain a couple of Belvoir Angels. The style of this stone is far different than what we see in a 'typical' Belvoir Angel stone.

To start with the angels themselves; they are to be found top left and right. They are depicted 'in flight' rather than the wings being straight out. There is a little fine detail in the carving, but nothing like the depth of detail that we see in others of this type.

Both angel's faces appear to have suffered deliberate damage at some point over the years.

The stone is inscribed 'Here lyeth the body of Robert Harrison who departed this life the 26th day of March 1711 in the 50th year of his age'.

As with the gravestone to Rebecca Stanage above there is no symbolism at the top and no epitaph at the bottom. Just the basic details of the deceased.

SOME NOTES FROM MY VISIT

I visited the church of St Michael & All Angels at Rearsby on a couple of occasions; starting off with a Sunday afternoon visit in May 2021 when the church was closed to visitors. This was on a day out to photograph the Belvoir Angel gravestones in the area. I popped back in the summer of 2023 just to see if the church was open and there were people inside preparing for service. It was good to be able to see inside. I suspect that the church is normally kept closed to visitors out of service times but will happily be corrected if that is not the case.

Rearsby is a fairly large Leicestershire village which recorded a population of 1081 at the time of the census of 2021. It is situated to the north east of Leicester; around ten miles or so from Leicester city centre. Leicester City FC’s £100 million training facility is across the fields to the north west. The village is set back from the A607 which heads towards Melton Mowbray, which is some eight miles to the north east.

The village was mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086, listed under three land owners, one of which was Countess Judith; Judith of Lens who was the niece of William the Conqueror. A priest but no church was noted in lands owned by her.

The church of St Michael & All Angels stands centrally in what is a relatively secluded party of the village and consists of west tower, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, south porch and chancel. The oldest parts of the present structure are parts of the south aisle and the sedilia, the seating for the priests, in the chancel; which date to the 13th century.

Much of the structure that we see today dates from the 14th century. The west tower is a 15th century addition, as are the clerestory windows. There was a period of Victorian restoration here in which the south porch was added and decayed ironstone in the walls was encased over with granite.

Taking a look around the exterior; this is a large and impressive church. The perpendicular west tower is buttressed and battlemented, with crocket pinnacles to each corner. Gargoyles look out from the four corners.

The south porch has an ornately carved archway around the entrance, with the head of Christ within a quatrefoil shape looking at those entering. Two roundels flanking the entrance contain crosses and two stone heads at the label stops which look to be considerably older; the bearded head to the east of looking on in a faintly disapproving fashion.

There are three bells in the ring here, each of great age and interest. The first is dated 1607 and is an alphabet bell, and was cast by Hugh Watts I from Leicester. The second was cast by George I Oldfield of Nottingham. This bell is inscribed ‘God Save His Church’. The third is the oldest, cast around 1520 by the Seliok family, cast either Richard I or Richard II. This bell is inscribed ‘CLEMENS ATQUE PIA MISERIS SUCCURRE MARIA’ which translates as ‘Merciful and pious Maria help the distressed’.

Moving inside, there was a friendly welcome from the ladies inside. The north and south aisles are each of four bays. The south arcade is slightly earlier, dating from the late 13th century, consisting of round piers with octagonal capitals. The north arcade dates to a little later and has octagonal piers and capitals. Arches to north and south are pretty much of the same style.

Nave is separated from chancel by an oak screen which dates from the Victorian restoration. Moving in to the chancel the east window is of five lights and has clear glass. The triple sedilia set in to the south wall of the chancel dates from the 13th century. The sedilia are the seats that were used by the priests during the Mass in pre reformation churches. This one has three seats all of which are on the same level; some have graduated seats with the highest seats being that closest to the east and ther holiest part of the church!

The altar cloth is green, this being the colour used for ‘Ordinary Time’ in the church calendar; the time between the major Christian festivals, in this case the time between Easter and Advent. This has stitched in to it a chalice, with corn and grape representing the bread and the win for communion.

Apart from a few medieval fragments the only stained glass here is a two light window which shows four angels at worship at ground level with four others at worship above. This is based around Psalm 148. Each of the four angels at ground level hold a symbol. One holds a downturned sword, one other a flaming heart. A third holds a lily. The fourth holds a flaming sword, which would make this St Michael; which would make sense given that the church is dedicated to him. The logical thought after that is that this might be a representation of the four main Archangels but I can’t get the symbols to fit it! The east end of the south aisle is a quiet peaceful space, with altar set up. A piscina against the south wall indicates that the Mass was given out from this side altar. The font is 13th century and is a plain bowl supported on four shafts with a central shaft.

The church grounds here are filled with slate and are of great interest. As always, those looking closely at the epitaphs will see that the people could live short and hard lives. The life expectancy in England was between 25 and 40 with this moving to around the 40 mark early in the 19th century. This was mainly due to the high rate of infant mortality and it was still perfectly possible to live a full long life.

There are several gravestones here in memorial to those who have died young. In many cases during my research on the Belvoir Angel stones the epitaphs read similar; that God took those young who he loved the best.

The epitaph to Elizabeth the daughter of Valentine and Rebekah Beeson, who died in her fourth year in 1780 reads ‘My earthly friends me did adore/The Lord of Life he lov’d me more/He took me to his Heavenly throne/And left my worldly friends to mourn’.

A twin gravestone to Anne and Jane Stevenson, who I am assuming were unmarried sisters due to the use of the word ‘maidens’ in the epitaph, has a fascinating epitaph. Anne died in 1805 aged 80 years with Jane passing away aged 72 in 1809; with the epitaph reading ‘In death’s embrace at length we maidens lie/And painful slow disease hath clos’d our eye/Though long we bore afflictions sharpest rod/Our souls were cheered by hope in Christ our God/Not death’s approach our steady faith could shock/For faith and hope united were our rock/Then reader think prepare thyself to die/And on this same unshaken rock rely’.

A finely carved angel in flight blows a trumpet and holds a banner which reads ‘The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall rise incorruptible’ which is from I Corinthians Chapter 1 verse 52.

Elsewhere we see the skull and crossed bones with angels close by on a finely carved stone to John Jesson who died in 1731; with, close by on this dull but warm afternoon, a ladybird rests for a while over an eternal flame symbol. The flame symbol represents death and mourning if it is downturned and eternal life it is upright. This one is horizontal so not sure what this is trying to tell us! A Google reverse image search, for the nature lovers out there, shows that the ladybird is a Harmonia axyridis, also known as a Multi Coloured Asian Lady Beetle.

This is a fine church and it was good to see inside. There is nothing particularly memorable here; it gives the impression of an honest parish church which is well used and much loved. There is nothing wrong with that! Well worth taking a look at if you are in the area.