St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church, Gosberton
What is a Clerestory?
Above the north and south arcades are short walls, each studded with eight windows, spanning the length of the nave. These exist to allow as much light into the nave as possible. The architectural term for these high-mounted banks of windows are CLERESTORIES. Clerestory is pronounced ‘clear story’ which is exactly what it is; a light-filled upper storey.
A riot of colour
In medieval times naves would generally have been festooned with murals of biblical scenes on the walls, and the pillars of its arcades would also have been painted. As Trevor Yorke explains in his book ‘English Churches Explained’ (2010): “One of the most surprising aspects of churches is that they were originally a riot of colour. It was only in the 100 years after the Reformation that whitewashing, neglect and destruction removed most traces of mediaeval decoration.” Yorke goes on to give one explanation for the murals, stating that the biblical scenes were “warning the illiterate congregation of what would happen to them if they blasphemed.”
That the nave of St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church was once ‘a riot of colour’ is evidenced in Walter Jenkinson Kaye’s book ‘A Brief History of the Church and Parish of Gosberton, written in 1897. In it he states: “The remains of some mural paintings may be faintly discerned between the clerestory windows and several pillars bear traces of previous colouring” Those paint traces are today hard to spot.
