Cockermouth Info

Bridekirk
Richard Made It
BRIDEKIRK. Standing together in the churchyard here are the ruined. chancel of a Norman church and a dignified new church in Norman style. Open to the sky in. the ivy-covered ruins is the pathetic grave of a little one who lived and died on the same day a few weeks before Trafalgar.

The new church has the two good Norman doorways (one with a Carved tympanum) from the old one. and a collection of medieval coffin stones ranged round the apse outside. Its treasures include a fragment of a Roman altar, a piece of a stone cross about 900 years old, and a rare and beautiful font finely carved on four sides with strange animals and little scenes.

One side shows the baptism of Jesus, and another the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden.

On a third side we see the sculptor with his chisel and mallet, an artist’s portrait of himself we do not remember in any other font, and a band of runic writing which has been deciphered in these words:

Richard he me wrought,
And to this beauty eagerly me brought.

It is generally believed the carving was done about 800 years ago by a famous architect and sculptor, Richard of Durham, and this piece of his work is notable for showing how the Scandinavian influence lingered on for several generations after the Normans came. The inscription has puzzled many experts and without doubt the font is one of tb e most interesting in the country. The famous font would almost certainly have been used at the. baptism of two men on Bridekirk’s roll of fame, both sons of vicars, and both born at the vicarage in the 17th century.

One was Sir Joseph Williamson, who became Secretary of State in 1674 and four years later. in the scare of a popish plot. was shut up in the Tower by Parliament, only to be let out again by the king a few hours later. He gave Bibles and prayer-books and plate to his father’s church, and £500 for the poor of Bridekirk.

The other vicar’s son was Thomas Tickell, friend of Addison, whose . works he edited. He is remembered for his lines on the death of . Addison, in which, writing of the funeral at the Abbey. he gives this fine description of the scene:

Can I forget the dismal night that gave
My soul’s best part for ever to the grave?
How silent did his old companions tread,
By midnight lamps, the mansions of the dead,
Through breathing statues, then unheeded things,
Through rows of warriors, and through walks of kings I
What awe did the slow solemn knell inspire;
The pealing organ, and the pausing choir;
The duties by the lawn-robed prelate paid:
And the last words that dust to dust conveyed!

This poem, the work of one of our minor poets, was described by Dr Johnson as the grandest funeral poem in our language.