St Peter, LNK, was not helped by a seemingly impending storm which meant the light kept fading in and out and didn't do the building any favours. Having said that, this is a really dull pastiche although lavish. I can't imagine the interior would have improved my opinion.
ST PETER. Perp W tower, with diagonal buttresses and many set off's. The church itself rebuilt in 1865-6 at the expense of the third Lord Ashburton. The architect* was fond of big, unexpected figure and foliage carvings, especially outside, but also inside. Of the same time the low stone SCREEN, the stone PULPIT, the STAINED GLASS. - PLATE. Flagon, 1731; Salver, 1764; Chalice, unmarked.
ALMSHOUSES. Built in 1887 by Claire Eugenie Hortense, Lady Ashburton. Single-storeyed with half-timbered gables. Black-letter inscriptions.
* R. M. Phipson, according to Messrs Baggs and Young.
ICKBURGH. It is believed that a trackway older than the Romans may have linked it with the Icknield Way, but much that attracts us here is new. Thatched cottages, charming with creepered walls and flowers are strung along a byway, ending at the church and the almshouses. The homes of the old folk are attractive with gables and a garden bright with flowers, and across them is written, Abide with us, for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent. At the other end of the village is the white figure of a girl with a shawl over her head, resting on a rock with a wreath of remembrance for those who did not come back. It is an unusual monument to come upon by the wayside.
Except for its 14th-century tower the church was made almost new last century. It is all very neat, lit chiefly by candles, of which some are hanging and many on long sticks among the pews. There are some good modern carvings. Two bishops look out from the sedilia, and a chained bear is carved in oak on the hood of the north doorway. Eight minstrel angels look down from the ends of the roof beams, holding harp, fiddle, tambourine, bagpipes, guitar, trumpets, and organ. Very fine are two stone corbels most cunningly carved to support short clusters of shafts below the end arches of the arcade. One has a Nativity scene with ten figures; the star is shining on the stable, angels and shepherds are adoring, and the ox and the ass are looking on. The other is a canopied Temple scene, with Simeon holding Jesus, Mary and Anne kneeling, Joseph with a basket of doves, and a priest at his desk.
Except for its 14th-century tower the church was made almost new last century. It is all very neat, lit chiefly by candles, of which some are hanging and many on long sticks among the pews. There are some good modern carvings. Two bishops look out from the sedilia, and a chained bear is carved in oak on the hood of the north doorway. Eight minstrel angels look down from the ends of the roof beams, holding harp, fiddle, tambourine, bagpipes, guitar, trumpets, and organ. Very fine are two stone corbels most cunningly carved to support short clusters of shafts below the end arches of the arcade. One has a Nativity scene with ten figures; the star is shining on the stable, angels and shepherds are adoring, and the ox and the ass are looking on. The other is a canopied Temple scene, with Simeon holding Jesus, Mary and Anne kneeling, Joseph with a basket of doves, and a priest at his desk.
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