They’re usually only found in elite centres of ecclesiastical wealth and power, why then was a Zodiac Portal uncovered at All Hallows church in Bispham. On day 24 of our Halloween Tales we find out more about the church named for Halloween itself.
Yesterday, we heard a little about the history and hauntings of Bispham. Today, we learn more about its parish church. Whilst admittedly not very spooky, its story is still quite mysterious.
All Hallows Church, situated unsurprisingly on All Hallows Road, is known as the Mother Church of Blackpool. The current late Victorian building is the third to be constructed on this site, but there are records stretching back almost a thousand years.
It is suspected that a Keeill (a Manx Gaelic word for a chapel) was first erected on the land, most likely between the 6th and 12th centuries. Keeill’s were overwhelmingly built on sites of great pagan importance, i.e. ancient burial grounds, cremation sites, holy wells and barrows. It is not fully known if this is the case in Bispham, but it is possible and even likely that the Gaelic tribes living in this area deemed the land to be sacred long before the early Christians arrived.
Why would a church contain esoteric astrological symbolism?
By 1345, records report that the church was in a ‘lamentable state of disrepair’, and in the years following the Black Death, the Diocese worked to make the church fit for worship once more.
Churches dedicated to all the Hallows are dedicated to all the saints. All-hallowmas (from the Middle English Alholowmesse) was a religious festival, and the evening before became known as All Hallows Eve, which over the years gave us the Hallowe’en we know today.
Rather fascinatingly, when the church was rebuilt in 1883, the signs of the zodiac were discovered carved into a Norman sandstone arch. In honour of this discovery, the masons included a new Zodical frieze over the inner south doorway, which can still be seen today.
But why would a church contain esoteric astrological symbolism? There are a handful of extant examples of Zodiac Portals remaining across Western Europe, all believed to be constructed between 1050-1500. The surviving examples are connected to elite centres of ecclesiastical wealth and power like great European basilicas and cathedrals. Why a Zodiac Portal was built in a small parish church on the Fylde Coast is unclear.
Read our previous Hallowe’en Tales
Day 1 – The Curse of Carleton Crematorium.
Day 2 – The Witch Ducking Stools of Poulton-Le-Fylde.
Day 3 – The Ghost-Seer of Weeton.
Day 4 – Smuggling, Drowned Nuns and Fallen Acrobats at Raikes Hall
Day 5 – The Hauntings at the Old Coach House
Day 6 – Old Scrat
Day 7 – A Goblin Funeral at Extwistle Hall
Day 8 – The Ghost of Lady Macbeth
Day 9 – The Mermaid & The Sea Serpent of Marton Mere
Day 10 – The Banshee of Poulton
Day 11 – The Possession of the Lancashire Seven
Day 12 – Lady Fleetwood of old Ross Hall
Day 13 – Tales of Boggart House Farm
Day 14 – Miss Bamber of Marton and her Charms
Day 15 – A Severed Head at Mowbreck Hall
Day 16 – Burnley’s Satanic Pigs and the Clogging of Owd Nick
Day 17 – Three Pilling Boggarts
Day 18 – Hall i’ th’Wood
Day 19 – The Skull House, Appley Bridge
Day 20 – The Boggart of Clegg Hall
Day 21 – The Haunted Hall on the Hill
Day 22 – The Wraiths of Wycoller
Day 23 – The Shipwrecks and Hauntings of Bispham Village
Take a look at Zowie Swan’s debut novel, Chingle Hall here.
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