A Church, A Town; Illuminated Pageant of Dartford and its Parish Church
Pageant type
Performances
Place: Holy Trinity Church (Dartford) (Dartford, Kent, England)
Year: 1970
Indoors/outdoors: Indoors
Number of performances: 4
Notes
14–17 April 1970
[Performances were held in the evening.]
Name of pageant master and other named staff
Names of executive committee or equivalent
n/a
Names of script-writer(s) and other credited author(s)
- Porteus, G.H.
- Shakespeare, William
Notes
The pageant included excerpts from Shakespeare’s Henry V.
Names of composers
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Numbers of performers
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Financial information
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Object of any funds raised
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Linked occasion
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Audience information
Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest
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Associated events
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Pageant outline
Episode 1
The Celtic Church and the arrival of Paulinus in London, the growth of Canterbury as a religious power.
Episode 2
The Church under William the Conqueror
Episode 3
Thomas Becket—‘Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?’ Ralph of Dartford, master mason at Westminster Abbey, and his memories of building the chapel at St. Thomas’. The episode also discusses the great floods of 1866 which came 3 feet up the church walls, and shoots forward in time to cover the even greater flood of 1968.
Episode 4
Christmas in Dartford, listing various gifts and benefactions provided by wealthy citizens,
Episode 5
The Puritan era and the Civil War in Dartford, during which the vestry was used as a powder magazine and armoury. The building of the organ in 1793, and its replacement in 1850 at great expense borne by the parishioners. The latest organ installed in 1913.
Episode 6
Cardinal Wolsey’s visit to Dartford in 1527 riding into town on a mule.
Episode 7
Remembrance of the dead from the Hundred Years’ War, the Wars of the Roses, the Civil War, the War of Spanish Succession, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the First World War and the Second World War, during which Dartford was bombed. An account of the bombing and a list of some of those who died. The execution of Christopher Waid for heresy in 1555.
Episode 8
The Reformation
Episode 9
Hamo de Hethe, Bishop of Rochester’s renovations of the church after 1333.
Episode 10
The building of the Chantry by Thomas Sampit in 1338.
Episode 11
The Prologue from the Canterbury Tales.
The marriage of Lady Isabella, daughter of King John in 1235. The marriage is done by proxy, before taking her to her husband, the Emperor at Worms. The Archbishop of Cologne performs a ceremony in Latin.
Episode 12
The various bells. The story of William De ’Ath. The death of William Trevithick, who died in Dartford a pauper in 1833.
Episode 13
Thomas de Secheford, the vicar who was involved in the Peasants’ Revolt.
Episode 14
Thomas Havercroft, a young friend of Henry V
Episode 15
A local wood carver
Episode 16
Randall Thomas Davidson who was a curate at the church before becoming Archbishop of Canterbury.
Episode 17
John Sodeman, the hermit of the chapel in the sixteenth century.
Episode 18
John Spilman, the German jeweller to Elizabeth I, and the first paper-mill in England set up in 1585.
Episode 19
The Patronal festival, a baptism and the font which was only 150 years old.
Episode 20
The founding of the Priory of Saints Mary and Margaret in 1372.
Episode 21
In 1490 Princess Bridget, youngest daughter of Edward IV, was brought to the Priory on the King’s orders.
Episode 22
Lines from Shakespeare’s Henry V [featuring the voice of Laurence Olivier], the procession of Henry V’s corpse and his retinue with Queen Katherine [Catherine] from Dover to London.
Epilogue
The hermit muses on the meaning of the church, its assistance to the poor, and its work as a patron of the arts and education.
Key historical figures mentioned
- Paulinus [St Paulinus] (d. 644) bishop
of York and of Rochester
- Becket, Thomas [St Thomas of Canterbury,
Thomas of London] (1120?–1170) archbishop of Canterbury
- Wolsey, Thomas (1470/71–1530) royal
minister, archbishop of York, and cardinal
- Hythe [Hethe], Hamo (b. c.1270, d. in or
after 1357) bishop of Rochester
- John (1167–1216) king of England, and
lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine, and count of Anjou
- Isabella [Elizabeth, Isabella of
England] (1214–1241) empress, consort of Frederick II
- Davidson, Randall Thomas, Baron Davidson
of Lambeth (1848–1930) archbishop of Canterbury
- Henry V (1386–1422) king of England
and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine
- Catherine [Catherine of Valois]
(1401–1437) queen of England, consort of Henry V
Musical production
n/a
Newspaper coverage of pageant
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Book of words
- Porteus, G.H. A Church, A Town: Text for an lluminated Pageant of Dartford and its Parish Church. Dartford, 1970.
Other primary published materials
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References in secondary literature
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Archival holdings connected to pageant
- Copy of Book of Words in Kent History and Library Centre, Maidstone, Reference K/Dartford POR
Sources used in preparation of pageant
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Summary
The Pageant repeated one held three years earlier with a number of additional or edited scenes, such as one featuring the 1968 Flood. Dartford had previously held pageants in 1932 and 1951.
Footnotes
How to cite this entry
Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘A Church, A Town; Illuminated Pageant of Dartford and its Parish Church’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1396/