Easter Sepulchre


An Easter Sepulchre is a feature of Late Medieval British and Irish church interior architecture.

Description

The Easter Sepulchre is an arched recess generally in the north wall of the chancel, in which from Good Friday to Easter day were deposited the crucifix and sacred elements in commemoration of Christ's entombment and resurrection. It was generally only a wooden structure, which was placed in a recess or on a tomb.

Distribution

The Easter Sepulchre is only found in England Ireland and Wales, the practice having been peculiar to the Sarum Rite. However, there is a ruin presumed to be an Easter sepulchre at Kildrummy in north-east Scotland.

Use

The Easter Sepulchre contained the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, the Host. Following the doctrine of the Real Presence, i.e. that Jesus is physically present within the Host, on Good Friday the Host was taken from the tabernacle where it had been placed following the Maundy Thursday celebration of the Last Supper and, wrapped in linen cloths, 'buried' in the Easter sepulchre which was found on the north wall of the sanctuary. Cut into the wall, it was sometimes ornately carved but within it was a wooden frame on which was hung a cloth pall often embroidered with scenes from the Passion. Candles were lit around the sepulchre, burial clothes adorned it, and parishioners stood guard until early Easter morning at the first Mass. The Host was brought out, in imitation of Jesus having arisen out of the tomb, and was placed again in the tabernacle in the centre of the Church. Like Roods or Crucifixes and their lofts, Easter Sepulchres were the object of iconoclastic fury by the Protestant Reformers, and few still survive.

Surviving examples

There are throughout Great Britain and Ireland many fine examples in stone from the Late Medieval pre Reformation period, some of which are Decorated Gothic, such as:

Cumbria

  • Warwick Bridge

    Devon

  • Holcombe Burnell
  • Bishops Nympton
  • Heanton Punchardon
  • Monkleigh
  • St Mary's Church, Berry Pomeroy
  • Throwleigh

    Dorset

  • Gillingham
  • Tarrant Hinton

    Glamorgan

  • Coity

    Herefordshire

  • Ledbury

    Lincolnshire

  • Navenby
  • Heckington

    London

  • St John the Divine, Kennington

    Norfolk

  • Fritton
  • Kelling
  • St Andrew's Church, Northwold

    Northamptonshire

  • Lutton
  • St. Mary's Church, Grendon

    Nottinghamshire

  • Sibthorpe
  • Hawton
  • Arnold

    Oxfordshire

  • Bampton
  • Piddington

    Somerset

  • Church of All Saints, Monksilver

    Suffolk

  • Cockfield
  • East Harling
  • Long Melford
  • St Margaret South Elmham

    Warwickshire

  • Long Itchington
  • Withybrook, Coventry

    West Sussex

  • St Catherine of Siena Church, Cocking

    East Riding of Yorkshire

  • Patrington