EL TRIÁNGULO DE HIERRO EN EL RÉGIMEN DE COBERTURA

Date Ballaugh Kirk Malew Castletown

1634 a pulpit, ‘noe -

(MNH VR) seate for the minister’

1665 floor unpaved, -

(MNH VR) no pulpit cushion

1698 most pews ‘want

(MNH EPR) repairing’

1701 simple building simple building new building

(Oliver 1868) (Oliver 1868) (MNH DD box 98)

1704-1765 - - regular maintenance

(Stott 2009)

1743 roof needs mending - -

(MNH VR)

1748 roof recently repaired, - -

(MNH VR) floor paved, seats and

pulpit in ‘good order’

1758 roof needs rendering, roof leaking -

(MNH VR) floor uneven, seats in uneven floor

poor condition & scattered with

in shortage supply human bones

1766 roof and seats in roof to be repaired, -

(MNH VR) good order seats in good order

1770 roof leaking badly - -

(MNH EPR)

1781 - new north transept -

(MNH VR 1782) chancel demolished

1786/7 only floor in poor roof and seats whole building

(MNH VR) condition in good condition badly deteriorated

(MNH c. 1998)

1797/8 - - ‘neat & elegant’ [sic]

red satin pulpit cloth (Feltham)

1826 - - new, larger building

1830 - pews ‘broken -

(MNH DD and decayed’

box 103)

1835 new building (1832) - -

(MNH VR)

1890s ecclesiological ecclesiological no renovations

services. Errors noted in early editions were corrected and revised in regular updates. However, precedence was always given to material over documentary findings. Although electronic indexes facilitated searches for, and acquisition of, appropriate information, personal visits to records offices and libraries were

invaluable in unearthing sources not found on-line. Neither were those contacted by telephone or e-mail always able to confirm what was held within churches or

archives. When accessing recently-archived sources, a number of ethical issues such as the possibility of breaches of confidentiality were considered, and dealt with.

However keenly one looked for the presence of women, their material visibility was always within the constraints of liturgical arrangements led

theologically by men. This study seldom considered females because of their under- representation in the material and documentation sourced. This corresponded with the reality of the period studied and limited what this study could discover about gender relationships. Even regional options that challenged central edicts had to meet diocesan and parochial requirements for uniformity and all the clergy and official secular authorities were male during the period studied. However, when occasionally women or girls were represented, this was noted and discussed as were gender relationships between males.

Many others with little control over their lives were not likely to have been able to express themselves materially either although they may have done so

spontaneously in drawings, graffiti or other marks. Any such expressions identified seem likely to have been heartfelt and to have represented personal perceptions. Sometimes even such signs are absent. Nonetheless material and related

documentation did tell something about people who had limited access to resources to express themselves materially. Disadvantaged groups were discernible in the material culture if only, sometimes, by their absence, and the researcher has tried to find meanings about those excluded from more prestigious material and

arrangements. Because everyone was once required to attend church services position, size, distance and other comparative factors told almost as much about the disadvantaged masses as about those who were more overtly represented materially or within texts. What might have been seen or experienced by such individuals and/or groups, for instance how far or near they were to the focus of liturgies, or whether related furnishings were perceived of as high or low from where they sat or stood, provided evidence about what such viewers may have felt. Such

arrangements may have been imposed, but congregations still interacted with them. The likelihood of furnishings being hidden or partially hidden behind something or clearly visible from designated seating was also considered.

The Bibliography was compiled according to the author-date system

recommended by MHRA (2008: 65-68) arranged alphabetically within two sections, the first listing non-published sources and the second published sources. Items within sub-sections were arranged chronologically to facilitate access.

A deductive hermeneutic analytical approach was taken to critical analysis of the data collected. Units analysed for evidence of activity, trends and patterns of function over time and in various personal and geographical places, and to expose exceptions for evidence for meaning, as recommended by Gilchrist (1997: 7) were those characteristics collected about the material culture within the parameters of historical liturgical arrangements and structuration theory from, and about, the eleven churches studied. Evidence of local trends may have reflected that most individual’s experiences of churches during the period studied was overwhelmingly of a single building with no, or few, experiences of what happed in others. The data collected allowed for consideration of the possibility that what happened in one community may have had an effect on what happened elsewhere.

Actions implied by data collected may have been related to people’s perceptions of, and reactions to, the rules. Giddens wrote that this was sometimes unconscious, although sometimes actors may have been motivated to conform (1979b: 234). Bourdieu thought habitus was a strong force in conditioning

individuals to fit in with social conventions, often without explicit explanation but with practical motivation. One remained aware of the possibility that, although patterns influenced practice, individual practice might also have been the inspiration for a new trend. The difficulty lay in trying to discover how much action was unconscious, how much reasoned. This study sought to find out if and how central governance maintained the unity visible materially. Furnishings and arrangements were analysed individually as well as within various contexts identified, and the possibility of multiple meanings always considered. Similarities and differences between arrangements, materials and other factors like perceptions of personal interpretations discerned were compared. The aim was to discover something about those involved by working out how the material culture inside churches had been replicated, preserved or altered by parishioners and clergymen as evidence of social

relationships and communal characteristics as recommended by Giles (2000: 1). Consideration of unofficial manuscripts like letters and diaries sometimes provided unexpected contextual evidence related to habitus to explain why individuals complied with, or challenged, long held conventions.

Bourdieu’s ideas about economic, cultural and social capital were utilized to consider evidence about how individuals and groups interacted within those contexts in the past and how changed values and habitus’ over time affected such

relationships. Characteristics of material considered sometimes indicated social relationships between various individuals or groups, or between them and

ecclesiastical officials, as well as of changes made. Bourdieu’s contribution of ideas like habitus, fields and locales to structuration theory facilitated the discovery of possible relationships within the applicable rules and available resources at any time and place just because habitus was often apparent in characteristics of material culture, for instance in the way furnishings were arranged, and so used, during particular time periods.

Conclusions reached about social and human/artefact interactivity from particular characteristics of chosen material arrangements were revealed throughout the thesis at the end of each chapter. Deductions made were then compared with each other in a concluding chapter that discussed what the deductions reached suggested about regionally specific, or more widely shared, paradigms and practices within the contexts of social relationships, artefact activity, Anglican liturgical

arrangements, historical archaeology, structuration theory and biographical accounts. The large number of contexts considered added to the depth and layering of analyses. Every effort was made to consider and explain all possible variations fully. Any potential biases related to personal interpretation of variables were stated, as expected within the post-processual approach taken. Although findings could not but be within the contexts of the perceptions of, and choices made, by the researcher, once particular churches were selected every care was taken to analyse data

identified objectively and critically. It was anticipated that the units analysed and characteristics of Anglican material culture identified as being appropriate to the structuration approach taken would reveal a great deal about prevalent rules and resources available to individuals and groups at different times in different social and geographical places. The post-processual approach taken accepted the indefiniteness of conclusions arrived at because inevitably they would be reached within the

contexts of the researcher’s knowledge, paradigms and perceptions, however carefully care was taken to maintain consistency and avoid subjectivity.

Conclusions

In conclusion, consideration of the material culture inside churches for evidence of material activity and meaning where traditional excavation archaeology was not appropriate necessitated the use of more imaginative archaeological methods. The literature review and methodology identified practical alternatives. Interpretation of documentary as well as material evidence about events like those related to the 1765 Revestment of Man which, although influential locally was insignificant

internationally, as well as the biographies included, made the post-processual approach chosen appropriate.

Evidence of the inevitable tensions that must have existed when rules were challenged by those who aspired to make changes was sometimes visible in

ecclesiastical material culture and/or related documentation. The occasional use of biographies addressed this issue by allowing for sequential events discovered to be analogized with archaeological stratigraphy. Field visits to churches in continued use were appropriate because reasons for earlier practices could only be determined by considering relationships between past and present contexts. Awareness of

phenomenological concepts and attempts to empathize with the experiences of previous generations were necessarily limited by contexts of longue durée,

geography, and culture. Although one could not ever know everything about what it was really like to live in the past, some shared experiences in the contexts of active processes such as gender, exposure to Anglican conventions and parenthood

provided some insight into the personal experiences of past individuals expressed in materials and the way they were arranged inside Anglican churches. Implementation of structuration ideas allowed for the material visibility of the efforts required when alterations were made. Such changes acted as key contexts for evidence of continued practice in other ecclesiastical venues. Modifications often reflected demographic, technical, economic, cultural, and other developments. Findings were analysed for evidence of meanings, opportunities, causes, and effects.

The compilation of this methodology was a positive learning process as it identified a few weaknesses in the original proposal. Some were addressed and

changed, some had to be accepted and the parameters of the project modified

accordingly. For instance, initial aspirations to consider larger numbers of buildings were impractical if thorough detailed analyses were to be undertaken to reach

meaningful outcomes within the time and length constraints imposed. The quality and integrity of the research process was given precedence over the quantity of information gathered. The number of buildings included was necessarily tiny because of the detailed nature of investigations being carried out, and the mix deliberately diverse in order to have been able to consider a number of different cultural and regional contexts, so it was accepted that findings might not represent wider practices. Neither did the size of this study lend itself to statistical studies, not least because only five Manx parishes in continued use were identified as containing parish churches dating from before the Reformation. The amount of data available for evaluation was not large enough to allow for trials to take place.

The literature clearly indicated that an interest in researching local churches would be meaningless academically unless considered within wider geographical contexts. Hence the addition of four Welsh church interiors. Previous lack of knowledge about mid-Wales led to the choice of at least one building so close to the Welsh border that it led to complications related to the storage of, and access to, documentation. However, it facilitated a deeper understanding of relationships between the Welsh Church and the English hierarchy and the porousness of the English/Welsh border that formed useful contexts when considering Manx/English relationships.

The processes involved in reviewing the literature and devising the methodology clarified the validity, focus, purpose, and scope of this project, the analytical approach taken, and some ethical issues. Aims to consider ecclesiastical furnishings for evidence about past human relationships and to add to the academic corpus were shown to be operationally viable. The structuration approach chosen was flexible enough within conventional academic research frameworks to investigate material links between behaviour and belief inside a small number of churches and chapels. Methods used were largely deductive in that structuration theory informed the methodology of data collection, analysis, and the sorts of questions asked. The long-lived but often amended properties of church interiors that led to their choice over secular interiors, sampling strategies, personal

collection of data were all addressed by this methodology. As were clarification of the research period, the thesis format, ethical and other practical issues. Conclusions were inferred hermeneutically although with a little inductive input, in that the researcher’s observations of particular aspects of use of space and material

arrangements sometimes implied more widespread patterns. The common approach with contemporary scholarship has added to the wider body of knowledge in a format that facilitates further discussion and investigation.

The following chapter adds relevant historical contexts to the material culture studied.