The present choir of Holy Cross
There has probably been a church choir in Crediton for something over 1,250 years. The choirs of the Saxon monastery and cathedral and of the early Collegiate Church, however, sang only plainsong (Gregorian chant).
The Collegiate Church was under construction on its present site not much more than fifty years after the departure of the see to Exeter in 1050, and its early choir consisted of the eighteen Vicars Choral of the Church, who were for the most part ordained, and who also preached in the churches of the surrounding chapels and parishes.
By the middle of the thirteenth century, the Vicars Choral had been reduced to twelve in number - one for each canon of the church, but the music they sang was still no more adventurous than plainsong. Bishop John de Grandisson, appointed Bishop of Exeter in 1327, was an enthusiastic advocate of the use of polyphonic music, music with melody. In 1334 he expanded Crediton's choir by the addition of four secondary clerks (young men with adult voices) and 4 singing boys. Little of the music which they produced would have been for the enhancement of the worship of the Parish Church, then confined to the nave of the building, but was for the Glory of God and the benefit of the senior clergy. The pattern of worship in the collegiate church probably followed closely that observed in Exeter Cathedral, and the music, too, would have been very similar; the choir would have been capable of tackling polyphonic music in several parts and in structure was identical to that of the bishop's own foundation at Ottery St Mary. All members of the choir were expected to attend the whole round of daily services (whether choral or not), from "morrow mass" of the wee small hours through to Mattins at around midnight..
With Grandisson's measures of 1334, membership of the choir effectively had three tiers: the Vicars Choral, the secondary clerks and the choristers. From 1365 the vicars and the clerks were housed communally in a dwelling called Kalenderhey (very similar - though on a smaller scale - to Vicar's Hall in Wells Cathedral and Kalerdarhay in Exeter) which provided them with single chambers but with communal dining. This was built to the north of the Church (on the western side of the present car park) and was only fully demolished in the middle of the nineteenth century .
The appointment of a clerk responsible for teaching the choristers in 1334 effectively established a small private choir school, in which a few boys learnt both plainsong and polyphony - we know only the identity of the last of these clerks, Philip Alcock, who gave up his post when the college was dissolved in 1545. Alcock was a former scholar of Lichfield Cathedral, whose setting of an antiphon to the Virgin, Salve Regina mater misericorde, is still extant (it has been sung by the choir in the recent past).
Like young men everywhere, choir members got involved in some doubtful activities. In 1312, three vicars were convicted of fornication with women, one with his cousin. After the verdict one of them resigned, the other two agreeing to do so if should they ever be found guilty of the same crime, with the same woman! In 1414 Vicar John Lyghtfote came to blows with the treasurer (a senior canon), and in 1426 he had another fight in a churchyard in Honiton where he had become a chaplain.
Until the Black Death in 1349, the Collegiate Church was able to maintain an almost full complement of Vicars Choral and clerks, but after that year finding suitable applicants to fill vacant posts became an impossibility, and from the mid C14th to the Reformation successive bishops' registers show that the choir was depleted in numbers.
The tradition of having four choristers continued, however, because over two hundred years later at the Reformation, the charter of Edward VI establishing the Parish Church of Crediton provided for "four King's queresters" to be appointed. The later charter of Elizabeth describing them as the "Queene's poore grammer schollers yt do help in the quere" affirmed this. The boys were taught by the Clerk to the Governors, Hugh Deane (who was possibly in minor orders in pre-Reformation times).
Deane also played the organ. The earliest record we have of an organ in use in Holy Cross is in an inventory of 1548 which shows four organs being in the building at the dissolution of the collegiate church, two in the choir - which were valued at £6 4s 8d - and two in the Lady Chapel (probably portative organs - something like piano accordions) - valued at £1. The best of these, probably the two choir organs, were retained but were obviously old and decrepit. Through the 1550's, 1560's and 1570's the Governor's accounts tell us that "lether", "wyre" and glue had to be bought for their running repair, an entry in 1571 tells us "also payed for 2 cards for the billows of thorgans and for glue to mend certain faultes in the said billows and organs this yere 3d" In 1576 an organ maker came from Exeter to execute more extensive repair work. Deane died in 1583, and, in 1595, presumably because no one else was able to play the instruments, they were sold - the entry for the transaction in the receipts section of the Governors' accounts reading "received for a pair of olde organs solde to Hamblyn of Exeter 10s".
As far as we can trace, there was no organ in the Church between 1595 and 1822; we have very detailed information about the latter, which was previously in the Royal Hospital in Chelsea and was brought by sea to Exeter. The organ was installed in a gallery over the west door, and the organist was surrounded in the gallery by choirboys: the Governor' records contain a letter of complaint of 1853 concerning their "bad conduct"!
The architect John Hayward carried out a restoration of the Church between 1848 and 1887, involving the removal of all the galleries. As a result, the organ was repositioned in the chancel in 1866, and again, in its present position, in the north transept, in 1887. By 1915, this organ was worn out, and the talented young organist, Harold Organ F.R.C.O., planned for a new organ, nothing but the best, to be built by Messrs. Harrison and Harrison, suppliers to English cathedrals. He was tragically killed in action in 1917. However his plans were carried through by his successor, Cyril Church (a rather appropriate combination of names!), and the new organ was opened in 1921.
The refurbished Harrison and Harrison organ
The 3-manual Harrison and Harrison organ, considered by many to be among the finest in Devon, has survived in its original state, mostly due to lack of funds, when instruments in more affluent churches have been altered, according to the fashion of the day, to effective destruction. It had been known since the 1980's that a complete restoration of this fine instrument was necessary. This dream was realised in 2001 (with the addition of a fine organ case in English oak).
There is a long history of music making by the Church choir (www.holycrosschoir.com ), under the dedicated guidance of hard-working choirmasters. Steve Martin was appointed Director of Music in 2008, having previously served as organ scholar and Assistant Organist. In recent years the choir has sung at numerous cathedrals and undertaken foreign tours to Holland, Germany and the United States..
The new organ console
The choir in practice, with choirmaster Neil Page on the right.
Page last updated 02/05/08