THE PARISH CHURCH
The Parish church is often, the oldest and most complex building in the
community and in Thriplow this is certainly so. St. Augustine directed the
Christians in England to build, their churches on or near pagan places of
worship to prove that Christian magic was stronger than pagan. This is probably
why the parish church of Thriplow is on a hill close by the Tumulus in. which
Trippa is reputedly buried. The first church was probably a small wooden,
building, and as Brythnoth was a great Saxon, lord, of aristocratic descent and
a Christian it is very likely that there was a church, in. Thriplow, the main
village of the Hundred, by the year 900. There were no stone churches before the
1lth century and the shape of the first ones were cruciform as ours is. The
earliest parts of the present church are carved Norman pillars on the outside of
the north transept, remains of narrow lancet windows in the chancel, and the
font which is also of Norman workmanship. Its prominent position on a hill made
it ideal, for claiming 'Sanctuary', and four cases are .recorded, in the 13th
and 14th centuries of people claiming sanctuary for crimes they had committed,
either theft or murder, both capital offences. As long as they stayed in. the
church they were safe, but no food was to be brought to them and. they had
either to submit to justice which probably meant death or to 'abjure the realm'
which meant being escorted to the nearest port clad only in shirt and hose, and
to board ship never to return. In, 1299 It is reported that "Peter de Cambere
when shooting arrows in Tryppelawe, accidentally hit Richard Denys aged 2 years
in the head and killed him. He took sanctuary in the Church there and abjured,
the Realm, his chattels 3/-".
The church is called. All Hallows in wills of the 16th century though its other
name of St George,(not found until the 19th century) probably reflects the fact
that the Thriplow Feast was held on St George's day, April 23rd, until within
living memory.
Thriplow church suffered under the puritan William Dowsing who with Oliver
Cromwell's authority travelled the country destroying all evidence of so called
Popery. In his journal he records: "March 1643, we brake about 100 Cherubins and
superstitious pictures and gave Order to take down 18 Cherubins and a cross on
the steeple and to level the steps".
Until 1743 there were four bells in the church and in 1743 .they were taken down
and five new bells hung, these lasted until 1995 when their bearings were
replaced by a and a sixth bell hung so that they could once again be pealed.
By the mid-nineteenth century the church was in a ruinous state and extensively
restored in 1875 - 1876. During the restoration two stone coffins were found
beneath the floor of the nave, they date from the 13th century and contained the
skeletons of a man about 6 ft high, and. a woman of 4ft 10in. The Chancel, being
the responsibility of Peterhouse College was restored by 1878 to a design, by
Sir George Gilbert Scott
Until 1894, when, parish, councils began, it was not only a centre for worship
but the centre of administration for the whole village. The ‘vestry’ meeting
with officers of two churchwardens, a constable and an overseer of the poor, was
responsible for caring for the poor and destitute, and for administering the law
both secular and religious, they were overseen by a, local J.P. who vetted their
work and issued warrants.
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