Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, needlepoint kneeler projects have proliferated in predominantly English speaking churches. These kneelers have become as integral to the liturgy and beauty of the churches they adorn as stained-glass windows, painted banners and finely wrought processional crosses. The exploding numbers of colorful needlepoint kneelers constitute a relatively recent phenomenon which reflects changing trends in worship and new patterns of congregational involvement in liturgical planning.
Hassocks, Not Kneelers, in England
In the United Kingdom, “kneelers,” as church docents quickly point out to American tourists, “are people who kneel,” and what Americans call kneelers are “hassocks.”
Millennium and Special Occasion Hassocks
Throughout England, many churches embarked on major needlepoint hassocks projects to celebrate the new millennium. At St. Peter's Church in Tewin, England, the millennium hassocks project, conceived in 1988, was finished in 2009 and included the work of more than sixty needleworkers and artisans. At St. Edmond's Crofton Old Church, all 186 church hassocks are kept in good repair by the Friends of Old Crofton and catalogued on the St. Edmond's Crofton web-site. .
In a few churches, a single artist or needleworker designs all the hassocks which are then worked and stitched by several or many needleworkers. More typically, however, each hassock or kneeler is designed by the person who does the needlepoint. In Wareside Church in London, for instance, starting in 1988, all the hassocks were designed and worked by parishioners; each hassock represented an important event in the life of the needleworker or the community as a whole. The creation of hassock sets often constitutes a quite deliberate ministry outreach. At St. James Church, Swimbridge of Devon, England, the hassocks project was conceived by the vicar and lay leaders who “thought it would be a nice idea to bring the whole community together. It was viewed not just as a church project. People from all denominations and non-believers came to sew.”
National Needlework Archive Keeps Track of England's Hassock Treasures
Valued as aids and inspirations for worship, needlepointed kneelers and hassocks are also studied by social and cultural historians. In England, the National Needlework Archive, promoting the cataloguing and study of all textile art in public spaces, maintains a growing nation-wide database of kneelers. Similarly, the Parish Kneelers Gallery provides a wealth of images of kneelers and hassocks throughout the United Kingdom; the on-line gallery can be searched by county, parish and individual church as well as by religious symbol or topic.
Kneelers in American Churches
In the United States, as in England, the needlepoint kneelers enhance worship in both practical and spiritual ways. When worshippers can kneel without the distraction of aching knees, prayers might be more thoughtful. For church visitors and parishioners alike, the designs and images of the needlepoint kneelers evoke themes of Christianity in general, of saints and Bible stories, of local and even national history. In addition, the kneelers of many churches depict prominent near-by sights, whether houses and monuments, or characteristic local flora and fauna.
At Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Portland, Oregon, the kneelers feature dozens of the vibrant wild-flowers of the Pacific Northwest. The same floral motif is carried out on the kneelers in the intimate chapel of the Bishop's Close at Elk Rock Garden and is also painted on the Cathedral bookbag, for sale in the Cathedral bookstore.
On the other side of the North American continent, at Trinity Church in Boston, Massachusetts, the needlepoint kneelers constitute part of the church's identity. Parishioners and members of the extended church congregation have been designing and working kneelers for almost forty; the annual dedication and blessing of new kneelers takes place every February.
Creating and Maintaining Community Pride
Also in Massachusetts, the Siaconset Union Chapel of Nantucket Islands recently embarked on a project to chronicle its many beautiful kneelers. The resulting handsome book, Behold, The Siasconset Union Chapel: The History of the Chapel and Its Needlework tells the story of the non-denominational chapel and provides lavish illustrations of the kneelers, grouped in their thematic categories according to 'Sconset and Nantucket scenes and history, wildflowers, birds, sea-creatures and religious themes.
Needlepoint kneeler projects contribute to a church's understanding of itself, enriching both worship and fellowship. One United Methodist church in Atlanta, Georgia commemorated the project itself while highlighting the beauty of the kneelers in an illustrated on-line booklet called “Needlepoint Kneeler Cushions: Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church, Remembering the Process, 2004-2008.”
Planning and Designing Church Kneelers
In the United States, altar guilds and worship committees often plan their projects with the guidance of experienced advisers and needleworkers. Bidwell C. Drake, a professional ecclesiastical needlepoint designer, has written on the website of the The National Altar Guild Association of the Episcopal Church, “There is no joy to compare with putting our own work down in the church, to be there long after we are gone. Designing your own kneelers is a wonderful way to enhance the beauty and comfort of your church, and the emotional rewards are huge.” The National Cathedral in Washington, D. C. certainly exemplifies the integral place of kneelers in an overall architectural and liturgical scheme; in the children's chapel, for instance, where chairs are child-sized, the needlepoint kneelers show pictures of real and imaginary animals and tell the story of Noah's Arc. .
Several individual needlework artists have made a specialty of creating, designing, working and teaching needlepoint kneelers. Among the most prominent are Nancy Lukoskie of Fancywork Finishing, LLC,, Beth Russell of Designers Forum and Bidwell C. Drake of BCD Designs.
Needlepoint Kneelers: Inspiration, Comfort and Commemoration
Beautiful needlepoint kneelers make worship more comfortable. Their symbols and images inspire. Every single kneeler carries at least two stories. The first is the kneeler's image itself, whether it is the picture of a saint, the visualization of a Christian parable or a local history tale. The second story is the story of each needleworker's patience, purpose and heart.
The images chosen for kneelers, especially memorial images, tighten congregations' emotional bonds to the past and the future. At St. Peter's Church in Holton-le-Clay in Lincolnshire, England, eight “tapestry” kneelers were dedicated in 1994. These kneelers show bomber planes, tail colors and squadron insignia to honor the 489th Bombardment Group, a U. S. Eighth Air Force Consolidated B-24 Liberator unit stationed in England, whose deployment provided critical support for the D-Day allied invasion of Normandy. American wives of 489th bombardier veterans needlpointed the tops of the kneelers which were then sent to England for assembly and completion.
At Rangiatea in Otaki, New Zealand, the Rangiatea Church, the oldest Anglican Maori church in New Zealand, was tragically burned to the ground in 1995. Within hours after the fire, parishioners and representatives of the neighboring tribes promised to build again, planning an exact replica of the 1851 church, including new kneelers whose borders and sides are stitched in a Maori design symbolizing power and nobility.
No Kneeling? No Kneeler
Within the history of Christianity, kneeling itself is a relatively recent phenomenon. Until the early modern era, people stood for church services; wall-benches or, occasionally, stools or chairs were provided only for people who could not stand. In England, pews, whether open or boxed, and benches originate in Reformation Protestant and Anglican churches. American colonial churches tended to follow the pew or bench model. Hassocks and kneelers are rarely mentioned in church furnishing manuals until the nineteenth century. A comprehensive analysis of the history of church seating has just been publication by The Ecclesiological Society of Great Britain; this 2011 collection of essays, Pews, Benches and Chairs, edited by Trevor Cooper and Sarah Brown, will enable historians of material culture to better understand the history of hassocks and kneelers.
Resurgence of Needlepoint as Craft and Art
In the nineteenth century, what we now call needlepoint had a wide variety of names including Berlin wool work, canvas stitching, tapestry work and, sometimes, embroidery, and was associated with fine furniture upholstery. In most of the twentieth century, needlepoint was much less popular as a textile craft, especially in the United States, than silk and cotton “art work,” crewel work, crocheting, knitting and quilting. Recently, however, with the revival of interest in handworked textiles of all kinds, needlepoint has re-emerged as a major creative medium, embraced as both hobby and fine art. The extensive presence of needlepoint in churches is not surprising. Churches increasingly depend on their members as well as the clergy to develop and maintain parish worship practices; handcrafts in a number of traditional and non-traditional media have been making their appearance in various church outreach projects and ministries.
Needlepoint as a Spiritual Exercise
Successful needlepoint takes patience and attention to detail; the work is slow and labor-intensive. Whether needleworkers stitch their kneelers in groups or in solitude, they often describe the creation and production of their needlepoint kneelers as a spiritual exercise: the process itself can have a contemplative, meditative feel to it.
Church needleworkers say that each individual kneeler is an act of worship in and of itself; every newly dedicated kneeler is a cause for rejoicing. Any church, large or small, graced with an array of beautiful, colorful and meaningful kneelers is a church whose parishioners and visitors alike will feel admiration, awe and delight.
Sources:
Agnew, Patience. Needlepoint for Churches. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1972.
Butler, Patricia, with contributions by the Chapel Committee. Behold, The Siasconset Union Chapel: The History of the Chapel and its Needlework. Hanover Printing Company, Hanover, New Hampshire, 2008.
Hall, Dorothea. Embroidery in the Church: A Practical Guide. Lyric Books Limited, Great Britain, 1983.
Olsen, Mary P. For the Greater Glory: A Church Needlepoint Handbook. The Seabury Press, New York, 1980.
Thomson, Barbara and Trewin, Wendy. Embroidered Church Kneelers. B. T. Batsford., London, 1987.
Jean Terepka - Jean Ballard Terepka is an historian with specialties in American and African-American church history as well as music, art, and textile ...
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