As Christianity spread across the country, everyday life centred upon the church. The church bells marked the time of services and the only holidays were ‘holy-days’ marking events in the Christian calendar, like Christmas – the birth of Jesus Christ, and Easter – his death and resurrection. The church looked after community property, such as the sundial, fire-fighting equipment and the box for money given to help the poor. Public meetings were held in the church building and public notices were displayed in the porch.
By the end of the thirteenth century each village or town had at least one church and clergyman. In Wales, place names indicate a link with the church: the word Llan means ‘church of’. Some of our finest architecture can be seen in the cathedrals that were built for the worship of God. Where the local clergyman was sincere and godly, the community was strengthened by the teaching of Christian values.
The medieval ‘hospitium’, attached to a monastery, served the needs of the sick, the poor, the elderly and travellers. One established early in the tenth century was ‘to preserve travellers from being devoured by the wolves and voracious forest beasts’. St Mary’s Hospital in Chichester still provides homes for the elderly, eight hundred years after its foundation. Today, many Christian charities do the same. | | 
Everyday life centred upon the
local church, with the church bells
marking the time of services and warning of danger.
London's Whitechapel Bell Foundry
continues the ancient craft of bell
founding to this day
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