Stoney Stanton: St. Michael's Church, is preparing for an event which may prove to be quite 'out of the ordinary' over the weekend of May 16-17.

Entitled 'Celebrating Collections' it provides an opportunity to display the many and varied collections which so many people have treasured over the years.

Thimbles and bookmarks, as well as larger items of memorabilia and a collection of icons will be on show to visitors.

A special feature will be items from Stoney Stanton's ancient Parish Chest, which was emptied of its contents during recent alterations to the church.

The chest itself is always an object of curiosity, being believed to date back to the 13th century, and hollowed out from wood of great antiquity.

Parish records are now held by Leicestershire Records Office, but there are still a number of items which shed light onto the more recent history of the village.

Refreshments and more usual attractions will be in the church for visitors' enjoyment, and the displays are open from noon to 4pm on each day.

On the Friday evening previous, May 15, at 7.30pm, the church welcomes Leicester Salvation Army Band with the Hinckley Songsters who will be presenting a concert.

Tickets (available at the door) will cost £3, to include light refreshments.

This article has been kindly contributed by Church Secretary Elizabeth Vernon:

The ‘Parish Chest’

 

‘Over there in the corner is the old oak chest –

Of its kind in this country, one of the best’

 

…..words from Miss Baum’s

‘St.Michael’s Pageant’ of quite some years ago now. Many of us would agree –

possibly more out of a sense of loyalty, than from a belief that it might

actually be true.

 

Stoney Stanton’s Parish Chest is of unknown origin

and massive construction. Nowadays it contains some 18^th century

service books, an assortment of old records relating to village and church

history and John Bold’s walking stick! This in itself is an object of curiosity

to visitors, particularly children, as they picture the good curate trekking

over the fields to his teaching job in Hinckley.

 

Our forefathers, who built the

chest, made it of such mighty proportions that only the centre section of the

top could be used as a lid – and that takes some lifting! It is banded

by forged iron and appears to have been cut from the trunk of a single oak

tree. Over the years, the natural tannins have blackened the wood, indicating

its great age. Its structure is that of a ‘dug-out’ chest – no joinery was

involved – it was simply hollowed out of the tree-trunk with whatever tools

were available. Interestingly, this style of chest barely lasted into the 14^th

century, being superceded by ‘planked’ chests as woodworking skills improved.

 

A recent visitor to the church

kindly took detailed measurements of the chest, and has worked out an

approximate age for the original oak tree. He believes that we are looking at a

tree which was some 400 years old when felled – which takes the wood of our

chest back into Anglo-Saxon times, well before the Norman Conquest.

 

One day, we may even produce an

accurate dating! Until then, we can only hazard some gentle guesswork as to the

true age of the chest. But what such a massive piece of ancient furniture is

doing in Stoney Stanton’s village church is open to conjecture.

Liz Vernon