Talk on the Lutterall Psalter at St Andrews Church Irnham

An Evening with Charles Leggatt

In October 2021 we were very lucky to be given a curated tour of the wonderful recently restored St Andrews Church in Irnham by Charles Leggatt, a local art historian. The significance of St Andrews cannot be underestimated. It was here that the local Lord of the Manor commissioned the Luttrell Psalter, a medieval ecclesiastical book that revolutionised the way we think of life in rural medieval England.

From the British Library Website “The Luttrell Psalter is justifiably considered one of the British Library’s greatest treasures.  It was created c. 1320-1340 in Lincolnshire, England, and takes its name from its first owner and patron, Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (1276-1345).  The Luttrell Psalter is perhaps best known for its wild profusion of marginal and hybrid creatures as well as its hundreds of bas-de-page illuminations (stay tuned for a blog post on these subjects!).  Many of these contain some remarkable and detailed scenes of daily life in the rural medieval England of the 14th century.”

The church itself is worth the visit on its own, but to see (what is now a facsimile of) the Psalter in the place it was created was wonderful.

A digital copy of the book can be seen here, though it’s nice to know that on the list of “Removals in event of Fire” the British Library have this as 12th on the list!

Comments we received were that Charlies style of delivery was both entertaining and informative. Certainly M B, who was there from Heritage Lincolnshire, was pleased to have seen the Psalter in the place it was created, as he feels it makes facts more relevant. Context in History is something that, as the Aveland History Group, we are keen to introduce to our talks.

Following our visit, we decided to create some illuminated manuscript of our own, so with the help of Toni Watts we did just that.