An echo from the past
Following the death of Henry VIII in 1547, his nine-year-old son, Edward VI, inherited the throne with his uncle, Edward Seymour as Lord Protector. Intensifying the reforming zeal of his father, he issued and fiercely enforced injunctions against images in churches. All images, stained glass, shrines and statues were to be destroyed; roods and screens to be cut down, bells removed; vestments prohibited; church plate melted down or sold and the requirement of the clergy to be celibate was lifted. In 1550 another edict demanded that stone altars be exchanged for wooden communion tables, a very public break with the past, as it changed the look and focus of church interiors.
The stone altar in the North Transept at St Mary and the Holy Cross in Alderminster is thought to be the original High Altar consecrated here on 14th July 1286. It was found buried beneath the chancel floor, where it may have been hidden in 1550 to save it from desecration under the royal edict. It was re-erected in 1934 and restored to regular use. A Chapel of the Holy Cross off the north transept was also destroyed during this time of upheaval in the Church of England. As the earliest evidence of a church in Alderminster is from the 6th century, whatever the changes made to its buildings, active Christian worship continues.
