Kneelers

[Kylara]

Thought this might be where to put this question, but feel free to move if not mods

Kneelers. My local CofE church has kneelers. Big long one and lots of little ones. All hand stitched cross stitch fabric ones. Now Winchester cathedral has little leather ones. This is my knowledge of things - small

My question is: how common are kneelers in churches? And how common are hand stitched ones? I'm looking for US and UK inputs here, and not just CofE churches. Different types of Christianity have churches and I want to know if they have mini kneelers or big long kneelers or both and what sorts? Handmade, mass produced, leather, fabric, anything else I can't think of?

I have a short going and this has somehow become an important plot point *rolls eyes* no idea why, but information about kneelers is vital! But please could someone put me out of my misery!

PS, does anyone know if they are actually called kneelers? Or are they called something else? And what goes in a kneeler, I think ours are squishy.

 

[HareBrain]

I think they're properly called hassocks.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Certainly seen them in many flavours of churches, both long ones and individual hassocks. N.I. and Republic, C-of-I, Presbyterian, Methodist, Roman Catholic, but not Brethren, Baptist or Church of Nazarene. I think it's an individual church thing, The local combined Presbyterian-Methodist church lost them when they replace bench pews with individual interlocking seats, hardly anyone used them. Everywhere had them when I was growing up. I don't remember personalised ones, they gave the impression of being bought in, but most very old.

Old leaking ones seemed to be similar to old mattress stuffing, not sure if coconut fibre, hemp or horse hair. Some may have been rag filled. None very squishy.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I always heard them called kneelers but C of E friends called them hassocks. Guessing the two names are pretty interchangeable. I know none of the ones I've experienced have ever been very comfortable!

 

[Dan Jones]

I was raised Roman Catholic in London and we always got the nice leather padded hassocks in our churches. Best bit of the mass, if you ask me.

But then, we always got Guinness at a wake. I guess you have to balance the hellfire and brimstone with a bit of earthly comfort.

 

[Alex The G and T]

I think that the closer a sect is to catholic; the more kneeling they do. The more "protestant" the sect the less kneeling.

I was raised Episcopalian. (Catholic Lite) The kneelers were the full length of the pew and folded up into the pew in front, for standing. They were covered in something leatherish. I don't recall whether it was real leather or faux leather. the padding was not thick enough. Not a clue what was inside there. (cotton batting?) But it was inadequate for extended kneeling. I guess that pain was supposed to be part of the experience.

We called them "kneelers."

My Dad's second wife was from a Baptist family. I recall being relieved to discover that Baptists don't kneel. (I did miss the good port wine when they served concord grape juice in individual cups, though.)

An individual sized kneeler is called a "Prei Deiu."

 

[Mad Alice]

I have seen them overseas. Vinyl in the newer places. They are also called Prie Dieu's which is French for "pray [to] God."; these can be single or double ones, which are used at weddings (either side-by-side or with the two supplicants facing each other).

This is a thing called a prayer chair. It is sometimes found in small chapels in front of the candles or statues.

Here is a thread upon another forum on the subject that might prove enlightening.

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/prie-dieu-vs-prayer-kneeler.2847428/

 

[Dan Jones]

I don't recall whether it was real leather or faux leather. the padding was not thick enough. Not a clue what was inside there.

I reckon it was Protestants.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I would agree with Alex's assessment that the closer to Catholic a church is, the more likely you are to find kneelers. It's not a Protestant thing, or not other than "high Protestant" anyway. I can attest to the lack of such in Adventist churches, and as said above, Baptist as well.

And I would not recognize them as hassocks. That's a word that conjures "footstool" or "ottoman" to me. I knew what you meant by kneelers.

 

[Susan Boulton]

Our church craft club have made a huge number of the hand, cross-stitched ones over the years. The chruch provided the fabric (with printed patterns on) and silks. The members did the sewing. They are individual ones just over the length of a computer key board and twice the width. (C of E and a lot of them had the crossed keys of St Peter on, as that's the name of the church)

 

[Kylara]

Interesting! This has turned out to be much more problematic/interesting than first anticipated. Would love some more info if anyone has any of their experience of kneelers/hassocks (just reminds me of cassocks hah).

Loving the specificity of some of these you have experience with. Maybe I should get @Parson involved - he has a church/knowledge of church right?

Interesting with the closer to catholicism the more kneelers idea.

That's a thing Susan, I'm sure I remember being offered a cross stitch cassock by a lovely old lady last time I attended, I was very confused, but your explanation would make sense - I was being offered a pattern to cross stitch for the church! Not my own personal kneeler!

Comic Horror Short Story has a bunch of people fleeing to nearby churches to refuge from hordes of demony vampir things (going with all the cliches here!) and will be making holy water bombs out of kneelers/hassocks. But the main part of the short was going to be a discussion about which church would be the best to use - more kneelers, small ones, big holy water store to soak the kneelers, fabric v leather ones, lots of silverware, best wine, etc etc. Driven by the humorous trip my OH and I took to get to his brother's wedding - 5 different churches in one small village! Of course the one we wanted was the 6th one, outside the village

So keep the thoughts and info coming!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Whisper it, since I avoid stating my religion, but I can attest that the high protestant churches have kneelers. In one local case, they're little padded cushions hung from the back of the pew in front that can be used.

 

[chrispenycate]

When I was a choir boy (don't even try to imagine) they were definitely hassocks, finished in something like short pile carpet, and stuffed with horse hair. That was hight church Anglican. They were the width of two pews (except for a few that had been cut in half for various access ways) had a nice heft to them, and if you were caught using them as weapons, it was much frowned upon (if one split and distributed horsehair everywhere - which is how I know the contents, the displeasure grew distinctly more marked). They seemed to be about the same age as the church, and were generally pretty threadbare, but there was a reserve stock of unused ones (with the centuy's worth of dust) in a wardrobe in the vestry. Not watzerproof - when someone urinated on one it was disposed of, I believe under the flower bed.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Also whispering, for the same reason as above, but my RC upbringing had kneelers, which varied from hard wood with no padding, through a small amount of leather padding, to deep, soft cushions, some individual, some long, for several people to share (leading to polite tugs of war with other worshipers on occasion!). The Northern Irish Presbyterian church of my husband's family have no kneelers. Kneeling is a High Church activity (and it seems they're equally dismissive of both C of I and RC in this), not done by Presbyterians.

The lovely old Church of England church we had in our village, and which I sometimes attended as a child, by way of variety, had beautiful, and very old, tapestry kneelers which they called hassocks. They were far more comfortable than anything in my own church.

Edit: choking on my tea at the thought of Chrispy as a choirboy, having hassock-fights and potentially weeing on the hassocks!

 

[Alex The G and T]

Har! Imagine my avatar as choir boy and acolyte. Yup.

 

[prizzley]

The only time I notice kneelers is when they're on the pews to display the cross stitch patterns. I suspect they are rare in most non-conformists churches.

You won't find wine in most non-conformist churches either. Definitely not in Methodist.

Are there large stores of holy water? I've only seen small vials. You only need a smidge for anointing the sick and whatever else it's used for. Maybe a smidge would suffice for vampires. Maybe something like a perfume spray bottle might be helpful.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Seems to me that the only churches that have fonts full of Holy Water all over the place are the Catholics.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I would bet that holy water shows up in approximately the same proportion as kneelers in churches, and that you're unlikely to find one without the other.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Methodists and C of I definitely don't have any holy water, but do have hassocks, or did usually, thirty years ago. (I oddly never heard them called kneelers). Very very few Presbyterian churches have them (and only kneeling plates on the pew, not holy water), but not none, or at least 30 to 40 years ago. Pretty sure no Baptist or Brethern Assembly in N.I. in 1970s anyway ...

Um... why is this important?

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I'm C of E myself - though based in NZ and we had kneelers. Never knew that was what they were called. Or that they had a name at all. They were just bits of pew really even though they weren't attached to the pews - though on that matter I did once go to a Catholic church where the kneelers were actually built in extensions to the backs of the pews in front. Had a girlfriend who took me to a Salvation Army service once, and they just used cushions. My father was methodist though and they definitely didn't have them. The priest just asked people to bow their heads, not to kneel.

Cheers, Greg.