The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries

We know that Philip Ingleberd was from a wealthy family. Not all incumbents were in such comfortable circumstances and, in 1343 or 1349, depending on the account, the Rector of Keyingham, John de Botheby, resigned the Rectory to the Cistercian Abbey of Meaux (the one to the east of Beverley, not the one to the east of Paris) in return for a yearly pension of 50 marks. Not until 1986 would the incumbent (of the new benefice of Halsham, Keyingham, Ottringham, and Sunk Island) again have the title of Rector. This decision may not have been entirely due to financial considerations.With the Hundred Years War, the territories of the French Albemarle/Aumale Abbey had been seized by the Crown, right to appoint the incumbent had passed to Meaux, and the Abbot sought to restore a difficult financial situation resulting from the loss of monastery land to the Humber with rising sea levels, by removing rectors in order to obtain firmer control of the parishes of Easington and Keyingham.

By the time of the storm of 1396, Meaux Abbey was responsible for the upkeep of the Church. They were faced with a roofless building, a partially collapsed tower, and fallen stones scattered everywhere. The ruin was old-fashioned, small windows resulting in a dim interior, contrasting with the large windows and light interior of the more modern St Patrick, Patrington. After restoring the roof and rebuilding the tower, the people added more and larger windows. The south porch was added, and some have suggested that it was a copy of the entrance to the Abbott's lodging at Meaux. An octagonal spire was added, about a hundred feet (30m) in height, in keeping with those at Ottringham and Patrington, the three serving as valuable landmarks for shipping in the Humber. The north aisle was made wider and the south aisle higher. Finally, towards the end of the fifteenth century, clerestories were added to the nave and chancel, allowing light to come from above. These were built of local brick rather than stone. In all appearance, by the end of the fifteenth century, the outline of the Church was that of today, and no further exterior change would be made until the spire was removed in 1969.

Next: The Sixteenth Century and the Reformation
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clerestory

Brick clerestory above the south aisle