1066 and all that...

William Fitz Osbern was ordered by William I (The Conqueror) to build defensive castles along the Marches, the land between England and Wales, and he built Wigmore Castle, with its motte and bailey, as his home. This was the typical style of Norman castle building at the time.

Twenty years later Wigmore Castle was owned by Ralph de Mortemer when the village's Domesday Book entry was written.

There were few stone buildings in England at the time of the Norman Conquest. Whereas the Saxons built mainly of wood and thatch, wattle and daub, the Normans had better knowledge of building in stone than the English, and they erected many defensive stone castles, particularly along the English/Welsh border lands, and replaced any wattled walls in churches with stone, but they used local stone masons, and these had specific skills.

The nave of Wigmore Church is constructed of herringbone masonry (unique to Anglo-Saxons) – clearly visible on the exterior north wall and interior and is regarded as one of the largest Norman naves in the country. 

Mortimer Heyday

Warlike, ambitious and powerful, the Mortimers bestrode the medieval stage. Inextricably linked with the great events of their time, their story is the tale of a turbulent England racked with dissension, rebellion and open warfare at home and abroad.

Roger Mortimer - 1st Baron

After initially siding with the barons, led by Simon de Montfort, in the conflict with Henry III, Roger became a loyal supporter of the Crown during the 2nd Barons War and killed de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, sending his head back to Wigmore where his wife, Lady Maud de Braose, displayed it at a celebratory banquet!

Roger Mortimer - 1st Earl of March

Roger rebelled against Edward II in 1322 and was imprisoned in the Tower of London from where he escaped into exile in France. Four years later Roger and Queen Isabella, his lover, returned from France with an army to force the abdication of Edward II. Roger became the de-facto ruler of the country and extensive building works transformed Wigmore Castle into a palatial residence. In 1329 Roger Mortimer hosted an Arthurian-themed tournament at Wigmore attended by Edward III and most of the nobles of the land but the following year he was arrested at Nottingham Castle, tried and hanged at Tyburn. 

The majority of the current church building dates from around this period, coinciding with Wigmore Castle being at the apogee of its power.

A rare remnant of the medieval period is a piscina high on the interior south wall by the chancel arch. This is a legacy of the original rood screen which, unusually, had an altar on it.



Outside in the churchyard stands a much-restored cross on a 14^th century base with an ogee-headed niche cut into it, a feature found in a number of churches along The Marches. 

Battle of Mortimer's Cross

Early in February 1461 Edward, Duke of York and Earl of March, stayed at Wigmore Castle prior to setting off to Mortimer's Cross, only a few miles to the south, in deepest winter to engage the Lancastrian forces in what became known as the Battle of Mortimer's Cross.

Unfortunately there are only scant records of the battle of Mortimer’s Cross, but losses of over 4,000 men have been suggested. The outcome of the battle had been foreseen in the sky on the previous day, with the three suns, or parhelion, lighting up the dawn, Edward told his men that this was a sign of the holy trinity and meant God was on their side. Edward's forces won the hard-fought battle after which he raced to London to declare himself King.

His position was cemented the following month with his decisive victory at the Battle of Towton and he was duly crowned King in June of that year.

The Bad Abbot

Accusations against John Smart, Abbot of Wigmore, placed before Thomas Cromwell in 1537 begin:  "These articles are 29 in number, and accuse the abbot of every kind of misrule, disorder, and licentiousness, as simony, perjury, selling orders for money, alienating the jewels and property of the abbey, keeping concubines, selling corrodies and cheating purchasers, and nourishing enmity among the brethren." 

They go on to accuse the man of poisoning, conspiracy to murder, attempted rape and sleeping with "Mary Haule an old concubine at Walshpole" receiving absolution and then returning "to her company, and that of Katherine "hyr suster doghter," whom he has long kept as a concubine and had children by her ".

And yet, somehow the abbot seems to have survived, perhaps riding out the storm until Cromwell fell in 1540. At any rate, John Smart is thought to be buried in the vault beneath the north chapel.

Brilliana Harley and Rev. Clogie

In 1601, after Wigmore Castle's then owner Sir Gelli Meyrick was executed as a traitor, Elizabeth I sold it to Thomas Harley of Brampton Bryan. His son, Sir Robert Harley, a Puritan and Parliamentarian, later inherited the castle. During the English Civil War Harley left the castle in charge of his wife, Lady Brilliana Harley, who had the castle’s defences dismantled in order to prevent the Royalists using it against her.

Around this time, St. James' Church acquired a new vicar. Born in Scotland in 1614, Alexander Clogie came to be vicar of St. James’ in 1647. Somehow he managed to survive the religious and political upheaval of the age and remained in position until his death in 1698. By all accounts the Rev. Clogie was quite a character, known mostly for his book, Vox Corvi, which tells of an incident where a young boy believes that he has been instructed by a raven to read the passage from Colossians 3:15.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

The Rev. Clogie’s grave lies beneath the altar in the church.

Much of the furniture in the chancel and the pulpit itself date from the 16^th and 17^th centuries as do several houses in the village worth looking at on your visit.

The 18th Century and the Harley Bells

The residents of Wigmore used the Mortimer family links to good advantage – in 1722, six bells for St James’ Church were commissioned and paid for by Sir Robert Harley, a descendent of the Mortimers who lived at nearby Brampton Bryan. 

The bells were forged at the Abraham Rudhall foundry in Gloucester and five of the six remain in the tower to this day, the sixth being replaced in 1889.

Baron Harley was well placed to pay the bill of £90 in old money. He was the 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, and was Chancellor of the Exchequer during the reign of Queen Anne.

Victorian Make-over

The Victorians loved "improving" ancient churches – and left their mark on many, so, in 1864 the church was subject to a major Victorian “restoration” by G. F. Bodley, an English Gothic-revivalist architect, when he added a new porch, a pseudo 14th century chancel arch and encaustic tiling.

It was also at this time that a very rare warm-air heating system was installed in the church, much along the lines of the hypocaust method used by the Romans when they warmed their villas and bathhouses. Unusually for Victorian engineering, evidence suggests the heating system was an abject failure and had been replaced by the 1880s!

The Modern World

World War 1

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected in towns and villages across the country. One such memorial, and an unusual one being indoors, was erected in St. James’ church to commemorate the men of the parish who fell in World War 1. It was designed by William George Storr-Barber who was a monumental mason and sculptor originally based in Leominster active from 1908-1920s The Wigmore soldier is characteristic of Storr-Barber’s portrayal in his memorials of an ‘ordinary bloke’ rather than of an heroic warrior.

World War 2

The only damage caused to the church during wartime was in World War 2 when the local platoon of Home Guard took it upon themselves to use the gilded weather cock above the West Tower for target practice. When it was restored for the millennium, the bullet holes were filled with coins of the year before the re-gilding process covered them up!