Higham [St Stephen], Suffolk

I arrived at St Stephen, locked, keyholder listed, at sunset which only added to the improbable romanticism of Gilbert Scott's 1861 fantasy church. The round tower catching the last of the golden light and the tranquil location rounded the day off perfectly [I have to admit to a certain surprise at  how much I loved St Stephen]. On the whole I think I'm glad it was too late too track down a keyholder, I think the interior might not live up to the exterior.

ST STEPHEN. By Sir G. G. Scott, 1861. In the Geometrical style. Scott gave himself the pleasure of a round Suffolk tower with a round spire, and nicely placed the baptistery in it and vaulted it with a rib-vault. We are grateful for this touch of fancy.-PLATE. Cup 'bought in Florence, partly C15' (P.S.I.A. IX).

Am I still allowed to say "to my surprise" Mee missed it?

Flickr.

Barrow, Suffolk

All Saints, open, has suffered a drastic, even brutal, Victorian restoration but contains plenty of interest - enough even to win round an old curmudgeon like me. The interior is dark, but that was probably more to do with visiting on a late winter afternoon and contains several monuments to the Heigham family, including a gloriously garish pink one to Clement Heigham d. 1634, brasses, bench ends and poppyheads. I particularly liked the modern day triptych on the lady chapel altar and the stations of the cross.

ALL SAINTS. Much renewed. One Norman window on the N side. Dec S aisle with four-bay arcade (octagonal piers, double-chamfered arches, dying into the W and E responds). W window a lancet, E window Dec. N side all Perp. Chancel renewed 1848, but the E window is correct. Three tall single-chamfered stepped lancets under one arch. The PISCINA and SEDILIA clearly belong to the same time, i.e. the mid C13, but are no longer of value as evidence. - FONT. Perp, octagonal, with eight shields in panels. - STALLS. The fronts perhaps the re-used dado of the screen. The stalls have poppy-heads. - BENCHES. Two with traceried ends and carved backs. - WALL PAINTINGS. In the jambs of the Norman window two small agile figures. - MONUMENTS. Tomb-chest with cusped and decorated lozenges. Niche with lintel on small quadrant arches and cresting. Panelled sides. The whole of Purbeck marble and supposed to belong together with the Elizabethan brasses against the back wall. These commemorate Sir Clement Heigham d. 1570 and his two wives. Long poem, worth reading, as it describes his life in doggerel. But the monument, with its total absence of Renaissance detail, cannot be so late, even in Suffolk. It is more likely of c. 1500. - Sir John Heigham d. 1626. By John Stone, set up in 1650. Tablet with inscription flanked by heavy volutes supported by square brackets. Open segmental pediment.

BARROW. Some of the precious things the Romans left it are in Bury St Edmunds museum, and in its own church it keeps the memories of three men of great note in their day.

Long and light, the church has a 13th century chancel, a canopied piscina and sedilia, and an Easter sepulchre. Its font is 15th century. In the reading desk is something of the ancient screen. There are two double benches with carved ends and backs, and we noticed on the poppyheads of the stalls two heads wearing what look like bowler hats. A canopied altar tomb in the sanctuary has the brass portrait of a Speaker of Parliament in Mary Tudor’s day, knighted by Philip of Spain; he was Sir Clement Heigham, and we see him in armour with his two wives and their eight children. A marble tablet in the chancel recalls the memory of George Ashby, a friend of the poet Gray, who might almost have brought him into his famous Elegy of a Country Churchyard, for here George Ashby lived through 14 sorrowful years of darkness after losing his sight. The third notable man of Barrow was Philip Francis, an 18th century rector who kept a school at Esher where Gibbon was a pupil. He also taught Charles James Fox, and while he was rector here busied himself in writing pamphlets against Pitt.

Flickr.

Hengrave, Suffolk

After my second failed attempt at finding Fordham St Genevieve's ruin I came across St John Lateran, probably via Simon K's Suffolk Churches entry, and immediately added it as a must see church. Attempting to visit last week I found Hengrave Hall - in whose grounds this RC church lies - closed, which I thought reasonable for a stately house in mid January although I did think it odd that access to the church was also restricted - after all this is a Catholic church and by default should be [generally but not always] open to the faithful.

Having singularly failed to find any way to gain access when I returned home I googled Hengrave Hall and was slightly surprised to find that it is now a closed, for that read private, wedding venue which can only be accessed by making an appointment to view.  So a cunning plan occurred - I could make an appointment to view the Hall as a prospective venue for my daughter's [real] forthcoming [fictitious] wedding but then decided this would be underhand. When I jokingly mentioned this to a contact they revealed that this was exactly what a well known architectural reviewer had resorted to in order to gain access!

As Pevsner, and Simon K, show its loss is regrettable.

ST JOHN LATERAN. Small by the side of the grand house. Circular tower, probably Early Norman. Chancel of c. 1300* or a little later. The rest of c. 1419 and the early C16. Tall Perp S windows with transom and segmental heads. N side with an aisle and a clerestory. The arcade has three bays, the clerestory six windows. Arcade piers delicate with four semi-polygonal shafts and spurs in the diagonals. A demi-figure of an angel at the apex of each arch. S porch of knapped flint and a delightful S doorway with dainty fleurons, etc., in the hood-mould. An inscription records that the church was built by Thomas Hengrave (who died in 1419). The N chapel was built in 1540. Here and in the chancel crowd the MONUMENTS of the Kytsons and their relations. Margaret, Countess of Bath, d,  1561, whose second husband was Sir Thomas Kytson d. 1552. Six-poster with stubby Tuscan columns. Big superstructure. Two recumbent effigies on a slab, and below it a tomb-chest and in front of this another recumbent effigy, her third husband - John Bourchier, Earl of Bath, d. `560. - John Bourchier, Lord Fitzwarren, d. 1556. Tomb-chest with shields in roundels. No effigy. - Sir Thomas Kitson d. 1608. Six-poster like that of the older Sir Thomas. Very big superstructure with much strapwork. Recumbent effigies of husband and two wives. Poor quality. - Thomas Darcy d. 1614, aged twenty-two. Alabaster. Big kneeling figure between columns. On the open segmental pediment two small allegorical figures. - Sir Edmund Gage d. 1707. Low tomb-chest with black marble slab. Against the chest cartouches. - Sir Thomas Gage, d. 1742 by Benjamin Palmer. Hanging monument. Bust before grey pyramid.

* Mr Rigold suggests that the chancel is earlier, and only re-windowed c. 1300.

HENGRAVE. Who loves to tune his merry note should certainly come here, for in this small place is a house where songs were sung in Shakespeare’s day; and here in the Golden Age of English music John Wilbye wrote some of the loveliest madrigals in our noble heritage of music. A few miles from Bury St Edmunds and near the River Lark is Hengrave, with a fine peace memorial among old trees by the road, and with a great house and a church well worth coming to see.

The church is very small and stands among yews by a lake. Most of it is 15th or 16th century, but the simple round tower is Norman and had seen 400 years go by before the Hall was new. For another 300 years it watched over a neglected nave and chancel where no services were held until about 1900.

The tiny nave has a. north arcade of three arches, the capitals enriched with foliage and figures, and the clerestory very charming. There is a fine roof, a fragment of Saxon carving, a window with old glass, and a small chapel and chancel almost eclipsed by great monuments. Here sleep the Darcys, the Bourchiers, the Gages, and the Kytsons, all of whom knew the Hall in their day. Thomas Darcy in doublet and ruff is kneeling under a canopy in the north aisle, a skeleton on a medallion below him; and of the Gages there is a fine bust of Sir Thomas who was at the Hall in the 18th century, and a tablet to Henrietta, the last of them when she died in 1887; by the altar sleeps John Bourchier of 1556.

But the two most remarkable tombs belong to the Kytsons. The chancel is almost filled by the tomb of Sir Thomas Kytson who lies with his two wives in magnificent gowns, with a wonderful display of marble and alabaster all about them; and in the north chapel lies his father, the Sir Thomas who built the Hall. His magnificent tomb shows his wife, the Countess of Bath, lying with her third husband, he in armour and she in a crimson robe edged with ermine, a coronet on her head; but Sir Thomas himself, also in armour, is below them. One of England’s wealthiest merchants in Henry the Eighth’s time, he traded in satins and laces and cloth of gold, in velvets and furs and tapestries, much of his merchandise coming from Flanders where he had a fine house and many servants. He built Hengrave’s almshouses for 12 old ladies, and spent a fortune on the magnificent Hall only a stone’s throw from where he lies.

There are few old houses in Suffolk more gracious and beautiful than Hengrave Hall, and none has richer treasures or more vivid memories. Thirteen years it took to build, being finished only a year or two before the elder Sir Thomas Kytson died in 1540. There is a splendid south front with a fine view of the park beyond a spacious courtyard, and walls crowded with little pinnacles and domes. Between two massive domed buttresses is an exquisite oriel window with six charming figures below. The west side faces a delightful flower garden, with lawns, clipped yews, and noble trees.

But we should come inside to see the best of it all, for Hengrave Hall is the home of old treasures. There is an entrance with old armour and furniture, a wonderful staircase, and a splendid drawing room with priceless china and portraits. A thrilling relic is an arrow-head found in the great oak which crashed at Home in 1843, the oak by which St Edmund is said to have been martyred.

There is a little private chapel with wonderful panelling, a nun’s gallery, and a superb window glowing with Flemish glass brought to England by the first Sir Thomas. In more than a score of scenes it shows the Creation, Adam and Eve, the Flood, and incidents in the life of our Lord; and for richness and colour it reminded us of another marvellous window at Kirkleatham in Yorkshire.

Among the pictures by famous artists is one of Charles Stuart and Henrietta Maria; another of Sir Thomas Kytson by Holbein; and an exquisite child study by James Sant.

Most enchanting of all, perhaps, is the Banqueting Hall with its grand old oak and admirable panelling. The lovely doorway through which Sir Thomas must have walked very proudly is here still, with a glorious new roof, a bay window with strikingly beautiful fan-vaulting, and another window showing in glass the shields of the lords of the manor from the Conqueror’s day. The old minstrel gallery where the musicians played under John Wilbye has gone, but the modern gallery is a fine copy.

John Wilbye lived in this grand old house for more than 30 years, looking after the music of the household; and there are still old records telling of the rooms set apart for him and the furniture they contained. We know, for example, that in Wilbye’s Chamber there were two curtains of green and white, a chair covered with green cloth, a great cushion of tapestry, a red and blue coverlet, a pewter water-pot, and a staff “to beate the bedd with.” We know, too, that the splendid collection of musical instruments included six viols, six violins, seven recorders, and four lutes, as well as hautboys and sackbuts and flutes and virginals; and that among all the part-books used by the singers there was “one great booke” from Cadiz, covered with red leather and gilt. Some of the instruments would be played by hired minstrels, but most of them by the retainers in the house; John Wilbye was in charge of them all.

It is fascinating to think of him walking in these lovely gardens, writing his famous songs, and bringing them out after supper to be tried by the Kytsons and their friends in this splendid room. It is 300 years since he was writing of Amaryllis and Corydon, of Sweet Honeysucking Bees, and of many another delightful fancy, yet his spirit still goes on; and it was delightful to hear the singing of his music in the very room where it was heard for the first time in the days when every gentleman could read his part at sight.

John Wilbye sleeps at Colchester, where he died in 1638, but his name lives on at Hengrave and wherever English madrigals are sung.

Fornham St Genevieve, Suffolk

On my third attempt I finally found the road to St Genevieve, only to be thwarted by possibly the most aggressive Private Property notices I have ever seen [I was so daunted I forgot to take photos but they more or less said fuck off and don't come back]. Since there are no footpaths that allow access to the ruin, this now counts as a lost church - unless, I suppose, you are mates with the land owner. Ten years ago Simon Knott accessed the site and you can read his entry here.

ST GENEVIEVE. Nothing remains except the W tower.* Unbuttressed, with a lancet on the ground floor and a top parapet.

* A will of 1452 leaves money for its repair. (ARA)

No pictures, obviously, and Arthur missed it.

Ingham, Suffolk

Crossing the A134, first on foot and then later by car, was one of the more frightening experiences of my life - it must be an awful daily experience for the residents of this benighted village. Having said that I rather liked St Bartholomew, or at least its exterior and churchyard [A134 notwithstanding], and its cunning multipurpose usage - the nave is used as The Street Café which, as the ad board says, is open to all [and it was heaving with business on the Thursday lunchtime when I visited] whilst retaining the chancel for regular services.

I think this is a clever, and innovative, way to make the building, and perhaps the CoE itself, relevant to the community - I suspect that without the café this would be a redundant church. I did wonder, however, whether it should be included as accessible; I didn't have the nerve to enter the nave whilst it was so busy but I could have done, so that, in my book, makes it open. Having said that I don't think I missed much.

ST BARTHOLOMEW. Built in 1861 in the local style, with the use of old parts, especially the tower arch on two head corbels. (The old tower was probably begun c. 1455, according to a will of that year. ARA) - STAINED GLASS. Some C15 glass in the S porch.

INGHAM. You cannot lose your way in Ingham, for it has only one street, where a sheltered well, the rectory, and the church keep company. Its fine tower has two heads looking down from its arch into the light and lofty church made new last century. The chancel roof rests on winged angels and has old carved spandrels, and some of the benches have carved poppyheads. There is a little old glass in the vestry showing the Madonna and winged figures, and behind the pulpit are the roodloft stairs. The low font is 13th century. A tablet of gold mosaic on a wall is in memory of a rector’s son who fell in France in 1917. The church also remembers Robert Lowe, who was 91 when he died in 1729, having preached here for 57 years, and Henry Wakeham, rector for 49 years of last century. Between them they served this small place for 106 years.

The coming of the railway disturbed the peace of men from Roman England and relics from their graves are now treasured in Bury museum. In the churchyard are nine neat gravestones round a cross with the names of the men of this village who fell for England in the Great War.

Flickr.

Culford, Suffolk

St Mary, open, is an 1856-65 rebuild by Blomfield and, to my astonishment, I thought it stunning - I rarely like Victorian builds but this is an exceptional piece of work. It doesn't hurt that the interior is full of interest from the various monuments to the Dudley Forsyth north aisle and east windows. It's really special.

ST MARY.* In the grounds of the house. Rebuilt in 1856-65 by Blomfield. N aisle of 1908. The tower partly medieval. - MONUMENTS. Jane Bacon, 1654 by Thomas Stanton, who was paid £300 to do it ‘alle in whit and black marble without the addition of any other stone whatsoever’. Grey marble with white marble figures. A large standing wall-monument. Her husband lies below on his side and elbow. Above, between Ionic columns, mother and children. She is seated frontally and holds a small child in her lap. Five more kneeling frontally to her l. and r. one behind another: a sincere, not at all aristocratic, rather Dutch group. Open segmental pediment. - Sir Nathaniel Bacon, the amateur painter, d. 1627. Lozenge-shaped tablet with, in the middle, an oval recess with portrait bust. Garlands l. and r. and also two palettes. - Second Marquess Cornwallis d. 1823. By E. H. Baily. White urn before a black obelisk; nothing special. - Beatrix Jane Craven, Countess Cadogan, d. 1907. By Countess Feodora Gleichen.** Recumbent effigy of white marble in a vaulted recess. On the back wall putti, a cross, and large vine-trails.

* The dedication is given as St Michael in a will of 1535 (ARA).
** I am indebted to Earl Cadogan for this information.

CULFORD. With memories of great names and great days, it lies in beautiful country, through which the little River Lark sings its quiet song. Its richest treasures are bounded by a 500-acre park in which stand the church, the fine old rectory, and the majestic hall surrounded by gardens in which many cherished varieties of flowers have been skilfully evolved.

The first hall was built by Sir Nicholas Bacon, stepbrother of the great Francis, and was given to his son Nathaniel, who sleeps in the church. The present house was made new by the first Marquis Cornwallis, who had its white bricks made on the estate, and gave it a square tower and a cupola, with windows looking in all directions over a lovely scene.

Alas, it was not his lovely scene for long, for this great man was nearing the end of his life. For two generations, distinguished by heroic public service, he had fought unwillingly against the American colonists, winning victories at first but at last forced to surrender at Yorktown, a disaster which ended British rule in the States. He fought in India and defeated Tippoo Sahib, coming back a marquis. He fought in Ireland and crushed the 1798 rebellion there. He was sent to Paris to negotiate with Talleyrand and Joseph Bonaparte, but he was less successful as a diplomatist than as a soldier. It was on coming back from France in 1802 that he settled down at Culford, where he refashioned this house and lived quietly for three years, when he was called upon to go to India as Governor-General. It was too much to ask of a man of 66, but he took the post, leaving England six months before Trafalgar. His first words on arrival were that it was his earnest wish to put an end to the unprofitable and ruinous warfare, and peace indeed was to come to him, but it was the peace of his last sleep. He died in the autumn, a week or two before Nelson fell on the Victory.

The 19th century church, guarded by stately trees and glorified by a pinnacled tower, still has traces of 14th century work. Chief among its monuments is that of Sir Nathaniel’s family. His wife has a child on her knee and four daughters near her, and Nathaniel has a book. The monument is believed to have been carved by the unknown sculptor of the famous statue of Francis Bacon at St Albans. A marble bust of Nathaniel with his palette and brushes reminds us that in him the hereditary Bacon talent found expression, not in diplomacy, law-making, or literature, but in art and the study of Nature. He was a brilliant botanist, and as an artist was judged to have attained the perfection of the master.

There is infinite pathos in the Cornwallis memorials. Here sleep four of the children of Charles Cornwallis of the 17th century. In one week of 1655 a little son and a little daughter were taken from him, after which death claimed the small Nathaniel just as he was learning to talk, and finally Elizabeth when she was only four. In the north aisle is the magnificent marble tomb of Beatrix Craven, Countess Cadogan, who died here in 1907, mother of six sons, and lies under a vaulted canopy. The chancel has a fine roof resting on king and queen corbels, and carved with angels; its beautiful east window shows the Crucifixion and the side windows have figures of Faith and Hope. At either side of the reredos is a mosaic of one of the Marys. There are two chests which were old before the church was made new.

Flickr.

Wordwell, Suffolk

All Saints, locked, keyholder listed, is another CCT building and is a treasure house full of interest from an interesting font, bench ends, carvings and Romanesque features. To think I very nearly didn't seek out the key [thinking that such a small church couldn't contain much of interest] underlines the never judge a book point of view!

ALL SAINTS. Nave and chancel, restored in 1868. Two Norman doorways survive, both with one order of shafts and primitive volute capitals, and both with carved tympana. That on the S side represents the Tree of Life with two affronted hounds l. and r. The branches and leaves spread and intertwine. The N tympanum is a puzzle. It faces inwards and represents two standing figures so childishly done that an earlier than Norman date seems likely. Perhaps a pagan stone was re-used. Norman also the chancel arch, again with volute capitals. The arch has one big roll moulding and no other mouldings. l. and r. two large Dec niches, no doubt for side altars. - BENCHBS. A fine set. The ends have tracery, and poppy-heads with seated animals. The seat backs are carved (not in openwork) with tracery, foliage, and figures (grotesques, a jester, etc.).

WORDWELL. It is in the heart of Suffolk’s little Black Forest, girdled by the heathland and the dark hills, one of them the fir-clad Hill of Health. In the churchyard is an old well unearthed last century. The Normans gave the village its tiny church, and although time has wrought many changes (in the 19th century it was used as a granary) it has preserved four splendid examples of Norman craftsmanship. One is a rough font with three quaint faces, another is the low chancel screen, and there are two Norman doorways. The north doorway has a boldly carved man with his hands upraised and another figure with a globe, probably a representation of the Creation. A jolly man seems to welcome those who come to the south door and above him is a tympanum with two animals eating leaves of the Tree of Knowledge. Rarer treasures are the 14th century benches with fine poppyheads and fantastic guardians - a cat with a very long tail, a dog with its hair parted, two small dogs with elaborate collars, and other queer animals and remarkable people.

Flickr.

West Stow, Suffolk

St Mary, open, is, I'm sad to say, dull. It has been restored or renewed to such a heightened extent that almost all interest has been subsumed, even the fine Dec piscina has been so over recut that I at first took it for a Victorian replica. It's a shame that the interior lets it down so badly because this is a fine exterior set in a pleasant churchyard. Having said that I did like the east window and huge kudos for being open.

ST MARY. (Norman N doorway into the vestry. With primitive volute capitals and a roll moulding.) Nave and chancel Dec, as is visible in the fine four-light reticulated E window, the PISCINA in the angle of the SE window which is elaborately crocketed and finialled, and the nave S lancet and S doorway Perp nave N windows and W tower. - PLATE. Paten 1710.

WEST STOW. Its glory is a piece of the England into which Shakespeare was born, a lovely example of the houses they built in the 16th century. But here on the heath is a habitation far older, an earthwork 340 feet round from which all manner of treasures have been taken to the museum at Bury - flints older than history, fragments of Celtic pottery and Roman kilns, a Saxon coffin and brightly coloured beads, many bronze ornaments, and lovely fibulas, some with faces.

So long is the story of this place, carried by these discoveries up to the time of the Saxons. After them came Norman masons fashioning the north doorway of the church, and then English builders, 700 years ago, fashioning the chief part of the building as we see it. The lovely canopied piscina was made in the next century, and in the next after that the tower was built and new windows added.

In its fine roof the chancel has carvings of saints and evangelists resting on stone angels and pelicans. There is an old aumbry by the altar, and a plain font with a rich oak cover. The attractive east window shows four scenes from the life of Our Lord, and in a big lancet window we see the Madonna.

It was when the Celts and Romans and Saxons and Normans had vanished into time, and the church very much as we see it today, that the hall was built, in our golden age of domestic architecture. Much of its old grandeur has gone, but we can still see the stately brick gatehouse joining on to the main building by a corridor. Among the trees it stands, with its lofty parapet, its cupolas and gables, and its many-sided towers, which seem to guard the simple doorway under a facade of lattice work. The gatehouse was added to the hall by Sir John Crofts, Master of the Horse to a lady whose shield is over the doorway and whose name was Mary Tudor, sister of Henry the Eighth, who married first a French king and then an English duke, and became the grandmother of Lady Jane Grey. We may read her story at Bury St Edmunds.

Imposing from outside, this gatehouse also has its interest within, for fading away on the walls are some rough paintings of Elizabeth’s day, lost for many years. One is a hunting scene with a man carrying a hare nearly six feet long, but more intriguing still are figures supposed to be some of the Seven Ages of Man in Shakespeare, each with a comment from our old friend the Cynic.

Flickr.

Flempton, Suffolk

St Catherine of Alexandria, open. After the initial euphoria of finding an open church wore off - and even now that earns St Catherine huge kudos - I have to admit to siding with Pevsner in his assessment that it is "much renewed". Having said that there's some good glass, the piscina is fabulous, as is the pulpit and south door and I liked the poor box.

ST CATHERINE. Much renewed. W tower rebuilt in 1839. Nave and chancel. The details are late C13 to early C14. The best original feature is the chancel PISCINA with a two-light reticulated head. E window of three lights with minor flowing tracery. One chancel S window has a transom and beneath it a low-side window. - PULPIT. Elizabethan. - DOOR with tracery. - COMMUNION RAIL. With twisted balusters; late C17. - PLATE. Paten 1760.

FLEMPTON. It looks towards the cross-roads, where its church has stood for about five centuries. Much of it was made new 100 years ago, its carved roofs being modern, but it has kept its 14th century font, and its double piscina with a traceried canopy. The screen behind the altar is 15th century; the pulpit is Jacobean. In the windows are St Catherine and St Gertrude, a patron saint of travellers.

Flickr.

Lackford, Suffolk

St Lawrence, locked, no keyholders but to be fair, once again, a sign on the notice board says "open every Sunday and Bank Holiday from Good Friday until the end of September. 10am to 4pm" - does this info matter? Not really, the church is kept locked. Does that matter? Apart from the general principles involved I suspect not, Pevsner's dismissive "over-restored" renders a revisit unlikely.

ST LAWRENCE. Over-restored Dec W tower with C16 brick battlements. Dec nave (one window shafted inside, simple doorway); Dec chancel with SEDILIA and a tomb recess opposite, nicely decorated; Dec N aisle and N chapel. The aisle arcade is original, with its quatrefoil piers, or rather circular piers with four broad semicircular attachments, and its double-chamfered arches. The leaf capitals in the chapel are also original. But the aisle was later pulled down and rebuilt with rather minimum windows in the C19. Handsome large shafted  and gabled squint from the aisle in the chancel; it contains a PISCINA in the aisle. - FONT. Octagonal, late C13, with big stiff-leaf motifs, but also rose, ivy, etc. - BENCH ENDS. With poppy-heads; made up into one long seat along the N aisle. - STAINED GLASS. E window by Powell (designed by Holiday), 1871.

LACKFORD. A little place by the River Lark, it has a small church in the fields half a mile away. The Normans began the building of it, and  later centuries added their share, the chancel being 13th century and the tower 14th, with a 15th century parapet; it has pinnacles and battlements, and there are wooden shutters in the top storey. The walls of the tower are amazing, being a yard thick, and its lofty arch is shaped like a lancet. The 13th century men gave the chancel an unusual arcade. On one side it runs over a rough stone seat and an Easter sepulchre, and on the other it forms the canopies of the sedilia and the piscina. The porch and nave are 14th century, and four lovely arches mark olf a modern aisle. There is a coffin lid with a floral cross, a canopied peephole, and a 600-year-old font.

Not far away is a place where our distant ancestors buried their dead. We have seen Anglo-Saxon urns from it at Bury St Edmunds.

Flickr.

Cavenham, Suffolk

St Andrew, locked, keyholder listed [but with the proviso that they live in Mildenhall, so effectively locked no keyholder], is, it seems to me, on its last legs - no incumbent, no one caring enough to keep it open and, seemingly, no one looking after the churchyard, which is a pity since this is a fine building in a great location, if you ignore the industrialised farmyard behind it. Judging from Pevsner I didn't miss much but it's the principle, if the CoE can't keep their churches open due to dwindling/ageing congregations an alternative solution must be found.

ST ANDREW. Small. Unbuttressed W tower formerly with a two-storey erection in front (cf. Ely, Debenham). C13 chancel, but with a good Dec PISCINA in the angle of the SE window. Angle shafts and crocketed gable. The nave windows minor Dec. - SCREEN. Humble, with one-light divisions, the entrance arch repaired c. 1600. - (PAINTING, subject unknown, discovered on the N wall in 1967. C. R. Paine) - PLATE. Cup of 1830.

CAVENHAM. The quaintest things we remember of it are the wooden shutters to the windows of the tower of its 13th century church. The door of the old porch has ancient ironwork and a very curious handle, and stone seats for the priests with a pinnacled canopy of fine 14th century workmanship. The chancel arch is 14th century. A window near the priest’s doorway has old glass enriched with a yellow border and a prayer that we should pray for Adam the vicar. The peace memorial window has a figure of St George, the font is massive and old, and there are a few fragments of the old screen in the new one. We found here, still working on a farm, a man who had received a bronze medal for 61 years of service to his master.

Icklingham - All Saints, Suffolk

All Saints, open, is in the care, deservedly, of the CCT and is stunning. The chancel is home to a rare collection of medieval tiles, there's some equally old glass and although, like most CCT buildings, it's very stripped back it retains a lovely atmosphere. A gem of a building.

ALL SAINTS. A thatched church, and not a small one. The nave is structurally Norman (blocked N windows), the rest is mostly late C13 to early C14. SW tower with windows belonging to that date and including a quatrefoil window in a circle. Dec nave, but with an odd Late Perp W window. Dec S aisle with S windows with cusped and uncusped intersected tracery, a pretty frieze of ballflower and other motifs along the top of the walls, and a splendid five-light E window with reticulated tracery, a hood-mould with fleurons to the inside, and, also inside, two ornate niches l. and r., which differ in their details. The r. one has diapered shafts. Dec chancel with a big three-light E window and two low-side windows. Dec arcade with octagonal piers. Perp porch. The interior is impressively bare, with a tiled floor and ancient benches pleasantly left alone. It allows the architecture to speak undisturbedly. Roof with scissor-bracing below and above the collar-beams. - FONT. Early C14, octagonal, with eight different simple motifs of tracery, a veritable mason’s pattern-book. - ROOD SCREEN. The dado only is preserved. - PULPIT. Jacobean. - FAMILY PEW. C17. - COMMUNION RAIL. Late C17; with flat twisted balusters. - CHEST. A delightful early C14 piece with close iron scrollwork. - TILES. In the chancel, patterned, and probably C14. - STAINED GLASS. Something of the original glass remains in the chancel and S aisle, including the upper halves of figures and canopies. - PLATE. Elizabethan Cup; Paten 1703.

ICKLINGHAM. Almost lost among the trees by the River Lark, it is a charming place with the distinction of having two old churches, both medieval. It has a modern hall in Italian style, in a garden fragrant with roses when we called; and it has seen the discovery, about a mile from All Saints Church, of one of the houses of the Roman settlement here, the foundations of a villa being found, with pottery and coins and part of a furnace.

St James’s Church is mostly 500 years old, and has two astonishing gargoyles on the south side. Two doorways and one of the windows, however, may have belonged to an older building, and in the chancel there is some 14th century masonry. The font is 15th century, and so are the chancel arch and the curiously shaped pillars in the nave. Here still are the rood loft stairs up which the parson would go to give out the good news before the Reformation. Over the chancel is a modern wagon roof with 130 little bosses carved with faces and flowers. A window showing the Presentation in the Temple is a tribute to James Benstead, who served this place as churchwarden for 60 years of last century.

Shaded by tall trees half a mile away is All Saints, with a sturdy tower 600 years old, an ancient thatched roof, and a gracious 15th century south porch. A door on the north side has a quaint iron handle with a cross above a heart and an anchor to lift the latch. Much of the building is 14th century, including the wide south aisle, the four lovely arches dividing it from the nave, and the chancel arch. But the chancel has kept some Norman masonry in its walls, and the nave has two Norman windows blocked up. In other windows are fragments of 14th century glass showing rich canopies, three lovely figures and parts of two others, and touches of crimson and gold. The chancel has medieval tiles with birds and beasts and faces, a trefoiled piscina, sedilia made from a low window sill, and the lower part of a 15th century screen built on to a great oak beam over which we have to step. The south aisle has an attractive east window, and a cornice richly carved with ballflower and oak leaves. It has also a cinquefoiled piscina, and two elaborate niches, one with diaper work and one with traces of painting. The 14th century font is adorned with window tracery. The pulpit is an old three-decker cut down and spoiled; but All Saints has another piece of old woodwork which is one of the best things of its kind we have seen, a chest said to be six centuries old, covered with magnificent ironwork fashioned by some imaginative blacksmith of long ago into a pattern of nearly 100 circles; the lid alone has 40 circles, with cloverleaf centres.

Icklingham shares a peace memorial with Elveden and Eriswell, the great column set up by Lord Iveagh in 1921. It stands near the highroad where the three parishes meet, and the names of the fallen are facing the villages to which they never returned.

Flickr.

Icklingham - St James, Suffolk

I may have cut my nose off to spite my face but finding St James locked, keyholder listed, whilst the porch had a 'welcome to St James, rest & stay a while' made me spit nails; so I took exteriors whilst thinking fuck you it's too cold to search out keyholders - you either welcome visitors [meaning an open church] or you don't [keeping it locked and I really don't care that technically keyholders mean the building is accessible - we, the visitors, are victims of fate, are the keyholders at home or elsewhere? In my experience of a weekday visit they're normally elsewhere and so pretty much meaningless.

ST JAMES, Chancel of c. 1300, see the E window with cusped intersected tracery and the odd motif of three arches at the foot of the intersecting part. The rest Perp, but with re-used Dec windows. Perp arcades, the piers with polygonal attachments towards the nave and aisles which have no capitals. - FONT. Octagonal, Perp, simple. - (STALLS. They incorporate parts of the rood screen. L G) - PLATE. Elizabethan Cup; Paten probably Elizabethan.

ICKLINGHAM. Almost lost among the trees by the River Lark, it is a charming place with the distinction of having two old churches, both medieval. It has a modern hall in Italian style, in a garden fragrant with roses when we called; and it has seen the discovery, about a mile from All Saints Church, of one of the houses of the Roman settlement here, the foundations of a villa being found, with pottery and coins and part of a furnace.

St James’s Church is mostly 500 years old, and has two astonishing gargoyles on the south side. Two doorways and one of the windows, however, may have belonged to an older building, and in the chancel there is some 14th century masonry. The font is 15th century, and so are the chancel arch and the curiously shaped pillars in the nave. Here still are the rood loft stairs up which the parson would go to give out the good news before the Reformation. Over the chancel is a modern wagon roof with 130 little bosses carved with faces and flowers. A window showing the Presentation in the Temple is a tribute to James Benstead, who served this place as churchwarden for 60 years of last century.

Shaded by tall trees half a mile away is All Saints, with a sturdy tower 600 years old, an ancient thatched roof, and a gracious 15th century south porch. A door on the north side has a quaint iron handle with a cross above a heart and an anchor to lift the latch. Much of the building is 14th century, including the wide south aisle, the four lovely arches dividing it from the nave, and the chancel arch. But the chancel has kept some Norman masonry in its walls, and the nave has two Norman windows blocked up. In other windows are fragments of 14th century glass showing rich canopies, three lovely figures and parts of two others, and touches of crimson and gold. The chancel has medieval tiles with birds and beasts and faces, a trefoiled piscina, sedilia made from a low window sill, and the lower part of a 15th century screen built on to a great oak beam over which we have to step. The south aisle has an attractive east window, and a cornice richly carved with ballflower and oak leaves. It has also a cinquefoiled piscina, and two elaborate niches, one with diaper work and one with traces of painting. The 14th century font is adorned with window tracery. The pulpit is an old three-decker cut down and spoiled; but All Saints has another piece of old woodwork which is one of the best things of its kind we have seen, a chest said to be six centuries old, covered with magnificent ironwork fashioned by some imaginative blacksmith of long ago into a pattern of nearly 100 circles; the lid alone has 40 circles, with cloverleaf centres.

Icklingham shares a peace memorial with Elveden and Eriswell, the great column set up by Lord Iveagh in 1921. It stands near the highroad where the three parishes meet, and the names of the fallen are facing the villages to which they never returned.

Flickr.

Tuddenham, Suffolk

St Mary, locked, keyholders listed, proudly boasts on its notice board that it is open every weekend, which is nice. I, however, was here on a freezing cold but bright Thursday and failed to understand why, if it was open every weekend, it couldn't be open every day? This led to an irrational anger which made me decide not to seek out a keyholder [having peered through the windows it looked like the interior was probably not worth the effort] and I don't think I missed much. Pettily I'm only sharing their notice board - to be fair even Arthur struggles..

ST MARY. Mostly Dec. The W tower has a pretty front with two niches flanking a circular window with a quatrefoil. Dec N nave and (less good) S aisle windows. Interesting E window with reticulation, in which, however, the top reticulation motif is wilfully replaced by a circle enclosing three cusped spherical triangles. Inside, the window is flanked by niches. Tall gabled s porch of the same date (side windows with Y-tracery). The S arcade has the typical C14 octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. Tomb recess in the N wall. Perp clerestory and hammerbeam roof. - PLATE. Cup and Paten 1626.

TUDDENHAM ST MARY. It is a village near Mildenhall with old houses by its green and a 14th century church which is a fine example of its period although a little forlorn within. The massive 14th century font is still here and one of the five bells rang out in Elizabeth’s reign. A small tributary of the River Lark flows by a picturesque old mill, still working, and Tuddenham Fen is well known to lovers of nature.

Flickr.