| Where: | Coddington, Nottinghamshire at All Saints Church |
| When: | Mothering Sunday (fourth Sunday in Lent so usually in March) |
| Time: | 10 am |
Coddington holds a very special place in the history of Mothering Sunday, as the place where the ancient custom was revived for modern times. The Rector’s daughter Constance Penswick Smith (1878-1938) was inspired by reading about the establishment of the American secular Mothers’ Day (which is held each year in May) and Constance devoted her time to re-establishing the Christian festival of Mothering Sunday, which has been held in Lent for hundreds of years but which had dwindled away over time. Constance campaigned for thirty years during the early years of the twentieth century, writing articles and books and founding a Society to motivate the clergy to participate in special services, and to encourage the sending of cards and flowers to mothers everywhere. In ancient times before the Reformation, the congregation would visit their mother church on the day (usually the major church in the area), and families would be reunited to give thanks for motherhood and the church on the fourth Sunday in Lent; over time this evolved into the custom of people visiting their relatives at home and often workers were allowed a rare day off for this privilege. With the passage of time and better communications family visits became more common and the observation of the special day declined until Constance and her friends made strenuous efforts to preserve it. On the day, the special service at Coddington remembers Constance and honours motherhood, with appropriate hymns and prayers, the giving of flowers to mothers and the consumption of simnel cake, which has long been associated with Mothering Sunday. In some years a clypping of the church takes place, in which the congregation encircle the exterior of the building to symbolically embrace the mother church, and the local school choir perform for the congregation. The special services for Mothering Sunday all around the country largely follow similar lines and thanks to Constance they look set to continue for many years into the future.
Helpful Hints
In 2025 Mothering Sunday will be on March 30th. As Mothering Sunday is linked to the moveable feast of Easter it varies in date from year to year but is usually during March.
Constance Penswick Smith is buried just outside the church porch at Coddington, the left-hand white cross in the family group of three, and an altar dedicated to her is inside the Lady Chapel.
The clergy and parishioners are very friendly and visitors are given a warm welcome. The choir were in fine voice when I visited but there was clapping inside the church instead of clypping outside due to ongoing building works.
Click here for the church Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CoddingtonAllSaints
Don’t confuse this Coddington with the other one near Ledbury which also has a church dedicated to All Saints!
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