The 'Poor Souls' Light', All Saints Church, Bisley

A couple of weeks ago, I had a chance meeting with Richard B. and his wife as they came to the Bisley farmshop to buy more of my local pictures. Richard said that he had been wanting to ask me if they could have some picture cards to sell at the local All Saints church, where he used to be the churchwarden. 

I went to meet him today to discuss possibilities and after chatting inside the lovely church he took me into the church's graveyard to show me the views they would like. We also walked around the interior and I took some snaps for my records of some of the rare features.

I had to blip this view however as it is the only example of a 'Poor Souls Light' in the country. Bisley has a Roman heritage, with many artifacts found in the area where the church was built, on a mound from which spring the famous Bisley Wells.

(The gate in the wall leads to Jayne's Court, whose outline can just be noticed through the trees, a very old manor house adjacent to the church, where by chance I did some wallpapering when I first stayed in the area in summer 1976).

From the Scheduled Monument listing (No: 1018447 – Grade 11*)  by  Historic England
Poor souls' lights are medieval structures which were used to hold candles for masses said for the souls of the poor, and were also places where alms might be left. Bisley poor souls' light is of 13th century date, and appears to be in its original position within the churchyard. Few surviving examples of poor souls' lights have been recorded in England, and this is believed to be the only one surviving out of doors. The monument survives in an area of Bisley which has a history of religious use dating back possibly to the late prehistoric period.  

It stands in the southern part of the churchyard of All Saint's Church, 14.9m from the south west corner of the church porch. The light, which is Listed Grade II*, is about 3.5m high and has a circular stone base 1.6m in diameter, on which stands a stone hexagon about 1.4m tall. Cut into each face of the hexagon are recesses with trefoil-headed gables and attached shafts of Early English type with moulded capitals and carved banding. Above this is a hexagonal spire which also has trefoil-headed gable openings in each face. The original roll mouldings to the spire are mostly missing, and the spire has also been cut off above the arches. The monument is surmounted by a Celtic-style cross added during the 19th century.  

The monument is known locally as `The Bonehouse' and was originally thought to be a well cover. There is a local tradition that the parish priest drowned after falling into the well, and that the cover was built to prevent a similar accident occuring again. There is no evidence for a well in the churchyard, and the monument has since been identified as a poor souls' light.