St Wystan's Church is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 census was 2,707, increasing to 2 ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, that is famous for its Anglo-Saxon crypt which is the burial place of two

Mercian kings The Mercia, Kingdom of Mercia was a state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th century. For some two hundred years from the mid-7th century onwards it was the dominant member of the Heptarchy and consequently the most powerful ...

. The church is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and is dedicated to the Anglo-Saxon Saint Wystan (or Wigstan), who was formerly buried within the church's crypt.

Description

The Anglo-Saxon abbey church was

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

and may have had a tower over its central crossing. The nave of the current church has Medieval Gothic north and south aisles that were rebuilt in the 13th century and widened early in the 14th century.Pevsner & Williamson, 1978, p. 305 The west tower and recessed

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

were added in 1340. The top of the spire is above ground level. In the 15th century the nave

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

with its timber roof and the two-storey porch were built and the tower windows were altered. Monuments inside the church include an

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...

effigy of a knight from about 1400 and monuments to members of the Thacker family from 1563 and 1710. The tower has a

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

of eight bells, the oldest of which was cast at

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

in about 1500. The church was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

between 1885 and 1886 by

Arthur Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...

Baptistry/crypt and royal burials

The crypt was constructed in the early 8th century; it was built over a spring and is thought to have originally been a

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

. The space was converted into a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

for King Æthelbald of Mercia during his lifetime. King Wiglaf and his grandson Saint Wigstan (after whom the later church is named) were also buried in the crypt. It is thought that the royal bodies were first buried in the ground to decompose before their bones were interred in the crypt. Following Saint Wigstan's burial, the crypt became a place of pilgrimage. However, following the Danish (Viking) invasion, St Wigstan's body was removed and taken with the fleeing monks. It was later returned but

King Cnut Cnut ( ; ; – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rul ...

had St Wigstan's remains removed again in the 10th century, having them reburied at

Evesham Abbey Evesham Abbey was founded by Saint Egwin at Evesham in Worcestershire, England between 700 and 710 following an alleged vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Virgin Mary by a swineherd by the name of Eof. According to the monastic history, Evesh ...

in Worcestershire. Pevsner described the Anglo-Saxon parts of St Wystan's parish church as "one of the most precious survivals of Anglo-Saxon architecture in England".Pevsner & Williamson, 1978, page 303 In addition to the crypt they include the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, the northeast and southeast parts of the crossing and part of the north

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

. The crypt is a square chamber with a roof of three rows of three domical vaults supported by two

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s on each wall and four free-standing pillars at the four corners of the central vault. It has been suggested that the crypt/ baptistry at Repton later influenced the design of both the spiral-columned shrine of

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

and the

Cosmati The Cosmati were a Roman family, seven members of which, for four generations, were skilful architects, sculptors and workers in decorative geometric mosaic, mostly for church floors. Their name is commemorated in the genre of Cosmatesque work, o ...

Coronation Pavement in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

, both commissioned by Henry III, based on close correspondence of their dimensions and design. These references are further understood to have been repeated at

Soulton Hall Soulton Hall is a Tudor architecture, Tudor country house near Wem, England. It was a 16th century architectural project of Rowland Hill (MP), Sir Rowland Hill, publisher of the Geneva Bible. Hill was a statesman, polymath and philanthropist, ...

in Shropshire, the house of the publisher of the

Geneva Bible The Geneva Bible, sometimes known by the sobriquet Breeches Bible, is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the Douay Rheims Bible by 22 years, and the King James Version by 51 years. It was ...

Royal burials

* King Æthelbald of Mercia – died 757 * King Wiglaf of Mercia – died 839 * Prince/Saint Wigstan – died 849 ''(remains moved by

)''

Archaeological sites

In the 1980s, a mass grave thought to be associated with the Great Danish Army was found in a mound, constructed over the remains of a Saxon chapel, to the west of St Wystan's Church by archaeologists

Martin Biddle Martin Biddle, (born 4 June 1937) is a British archaeologist and academic. He is an emeritus fellow of Hertford College, Oxford. His work was important in the development of medieval and post-medieval archaeology in Great Britain. Early life ...

and Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle and their team. It contained roughly 300 sets of human remains, about 20% of them women. The remaining 80% were from men aged 18 to 45. Many of them showed signs of violent injury, and a variety of Viking artefacts, such as a Thor pendant, were found among the bones. Although initial radiocarbon dating suggested that the bodies had accumulated there over several centuries, in February 2018, a team from the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

announced that the remains could indeed all be dated to the late 800s AD, consistent with the time the army wintered in Derbyshire. They attributed the initial discrepancies to the marine reservoir effect from the high consumption of seafood by the Vikings. Outside the crypt, the 'Repton Stone' was found in 1979. This is interpreted as an upper section of a standing cross with, on one face, a carving of a mounted figure. The figure is of a man wearing mail armour and brandishing a sword and shield, with a

diadem A diadem is a Crown (headgear), crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of Monarch, royalty. Overview The word derives from the Ancient Greek, Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", fro ...

around his head. The mounted figure has been identified as King

Æthelbald of Mercia Æthelbald (also spelled Ethelbald or Aethelbald; died 757) was the King of Mercia, in what is now the English Midlands from 716 until he was killed in 757. Æthelbald was the son of Alweo and thus a grandson of King Eowa. Æthelbald came to th ...

. In 757, Æthelbald was killed at

Seckington Seckington is a village and civil parish in North Warwickshire, about northeast of Tamworth, Staffordshire, Tamworth. The B5493 road between Tamworth and Appleby Magna runs through the parish, passing about north of the village. Seckington sha ...

, Warwickshire, near the royal seat of Tamworth, and he was buried at Repton. If this is Æthelbald, it would make it the earliest large-scale pictorial representation of an English monarch. The Repton Stone is displayed in

Derby Museum and Art Gallery Derby Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Derby, England. It was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The col ...

Monuments

*South transept: George Waklin 1617 and Ellen Waklin 1614, John Macauley 1840, Thomas Whitehead 1645 (erected in 1802) *South aisle: Gilbert Thacker 1563 *North aisle: Rev Joseph James 1856, William Bagshaw Stevens 1800, Francis Thacker 1710

Churchyard

The churchyard contains the

war graves A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

of 17 Commonwealth service personnel, mostly

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

of World War II. Also buried there are the ashes of C. B. Fry, whose tombstone, dedicated in 2008, describes him as "Cricketer, Scholar, Athlete, Author – The Ultimate All-rounder".

Organ

The church contains a two-manual 23-stop tracker action pipe organ by Peter Collins dating from 1998. The specification can be found at the National Pipe Organ Register.

Organists

*Thomas Dalby – 1848 (afterwards organist of New Romney, then

St Mary Magdalene's Church, Launceston St Mary Magdalene's Church, Launceston is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Launceston, Cornwall. It is unusual for its carvings; the entire exterior of the original part of the church is built of carved granite blocks. T ...

) *Herbert Stevens 1865–???? *A. E. Rogers 1887–???? *Mr. Hodgkinson c. 1903 *William James c. 1909''Derby Daily Telegraph'', Wednesday 4 August 1909 *Edgar Foster ????–1916 *Miss Partridge 1916–1918 *Edgar Foster 1918–???? *Cyril Woodward c. 1950s *Andrew Patterson 1983–1987 *Terence W. Bennett 1987

Parish status

The church is in a joint parish with: * St Mary the Virgin's Church, Newton Solney * St Saviour's Church, Foremark

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Repton, Saint Wystan Church of England church buildings in Derbyshire Grade I listed churches in Derbyshire 13th-century church buildings in England Standing Anglo-Saxon churches English Gothic architecture in Derbyshire Arthur Blomfield church buildings Burial sites of the Iclingas