History of Sedbergh School in 50 Objects #50: York Minster

‘The end is where we start from,’ T. S. Elliot

In the final week of term in Sedbergh’s 500th anniversary year, the full School gathered in York Minster to mark the closing of the year with a poignant carol service. York holds a special resonance within Sedbergh’s community as it is where the School’s founder, Roger Lupton, began his journey into the church, and the life of philanthropy and service that followed.

Roger Lupton was born in the parish of Cautley, just a few miles from Sedbergh. Folk law tells that he couldn’t gain an education locally and so walked to London to access the learning he craved. There is strong evidence that Lupton travelled to London via York. Richard Cann of the Sedbergh and District History Society researched Lupton’s early life, a project that took him to the Borthwick Institute to examine the registers of the Archbishop of York. These record that a Roger Lupton was ordained as an acolyte by the Bishop of Dromore in the Church of the Carmelite Friars in York on 23rd September 1475. An acolyte’s role was to be responsible for the ceremonial aspects of mass. The incumbent was usually a teenager. Lupton would have been 19 in 1475. The Church of the Carmelite Friars practices a particular devotion to the virgin mary and it is particularly interesting that when Lupton was granted armorial bearings, the lily of the valley, commonly used to represent the virgin mary, was repeated on a central chevron, perhaps echoing Lupton’s personal devotion. Sedbergh’s earliest scholars were granted seats in the lady chapel of St Andrew’s Church, Sedbergh, continuing that association with the virgin mary. In later life Lupton became Chaplain to Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII, and through his connections in the Church and his desire to help others access learning through the church he gained the means, backing and motivation to found a School in the community of his childhood. His first step into the church in York was the foundation of a journey that has led us 500 years later to be the school that Sedbergh is today.

During Sedbergh’s 500th year the School has celebrated and given thanks to Lupton in many locations around the United Kingdom, and indeed at our partner schools overseas. The anniversary celebrations were launched at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester with a gala concert where thousands of pupils, staff, parents and friends gathered to sing and celebrate. In May the School flung open its doors to welcome all in our community to join us for a gala weekend of theatre, art, history and sport. In September the School climbed Winder, replicating the 400th anniversary walk of 1925, pausing to pray and sing on the summit, before returning to the Cloisters to sing ‘O valiant hearts’ together. At York Minster the School came together one final time to worship and give thanks to those who have gone before and for the continuation of all that makes Sedbergh so special.

In early December the School Chaplain, Rev Paul Sweeting, visited Lupton’s grave at Eton College. Together with the Headmaster, Dan Harrison, and a small delegation of colleauges Rev Sweeting led a simple service of prayers, offering thanksgiving for the life of Roger Lupton. Honouring Lupton’s ordination within the Carmelite order, Rev Sweeting adapted a prayer by the Carmelite Saint Teresa of Avila to offer as blessing:

May no earthly thing separate you

from the delight of the Lord,

and may He help you to play

some small role in the blessing of His name,

so that you may truthfully say

with Mary, Roger Lupton and all the saints:

My soul magnifies and praises the Lord…

…and the blessing of God Almighty,

the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost,

be among you and remain with you always.

Amen.

The story of our school has led us back to Sedbergh’s starting point once more. The service at York Minster offered an opportunity for reflection, as well as celebration, recognising and giving thanks for the continuity, legacy and stability that are synonymous with Sedbergh.