THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
eel. Three forms of the Easter Sepulchre
seem to have been in use in mediaeval days,
of which the most common was a temporary
structure of wood. These would
naturally suffer easy and complete destruction
at the time of the Reformation. A
second type was an altar tomb, and the
third, the one surviving to-day in Wirral,
a special structure of masonry built with a
flat slab and a low arch, in imitation of the
ledge on which the body is laid in a
Hebrew rock-hewn tomb.
The ceremonies of the Easter Sepulchre
go back to the vinth century and continue
up to the time of the Reformation and
even a little later, for they were revived
under Queen Mary, though finally suppressed
in the reign of Elizabeth. The
ritual attaching to the Sepulchre was
elaborate, the essential act being the conveyance
of the cross thereto and the laying
of it in the Sepulchre with great devotion.
Upon the cross was placed the figure of
our Lord and upon His breast again the
Sacrament of the altar. Lights were
then set up, the watching of which was a
very solemn event. It is thus described
by the Rev. J. Charles Cox, ll.d., f.s.a.,
"
The perpetual lamp before the Sacra-
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