Elmsett, Suffolk

St Peter, open, is a pleasant enough building in a stunning location but I'm afraid I was underwhelmed. I can't say why but it didn't inspire me. I did like the pulpit, the "table of kindred & affinity wherein whoever are related, are forbidden in Scripture, and our laws, to marry together"  and the curious font. I don't normally record war memorials but St Peter's struck me. It records three boys/men of the Keeble family [brothers or cousins] who fell in the Great War and ten parishioners who were killed by enemy action.

"It was the 12th May 1941. Mr. Westren was cycling through the village on fire watch duty. Just after midnight the searchlights caught a German plane. The pilot was so scared of being shot down he dropped a 200lb bomb onto Elmsett. Mr.Westren was an eyewitness of this event.

Once he had got over the shock of a bomb landing right in front of him, he looked up and saw a girls head emerge through the top of a thatched roof! Mr. Westren climbed onto the roof and saved her. He took her to the Rose and Crown.

Unfortunately ten people died and eight houses were destroyed".

Mr Westren is also responsible for the 1935 tithe memorial, which is to me the most interesting item here [though hard to photograph with the sun behind it], in the field west of the tower commemorating the 1934 tithe seizure at Elmsett Hall of furniture including baby's bed & blankets, herd of dairy cows, eight corn & seed stacks, valued at £1200 for tithe valued at £385.

From Bob Jones on Geograph.org.uk: "It commemorates the seizure of goods in May 1932 from Charles Westren, who farmed at the Hall, who refused to pay his tithe to the Church and made national news. In the 1930s, landowners were expected to contribute a proportion of their income for the upkeep of the incumbent, or clergyman, even if they weren’t Anglicans.

Confusingly, especially considering when the seizure actually took place, the date at the top is 1935, whilst the date above the actual inscription is 1934. The memorial was erected by Mr Westren, before he emigrated in 1943 (by which time perhaps he had forgotten when it had taken place)".

I assume that the field to the west of St Peter is, or rather was, part of Mr Westren's farm and this was his way of waving two fingers permanently in the face of the incumbent! I also wonder if that May night in 1941 was a contributing factor in his decision to emigrate.

ST PETER. W tower of the C13. Nave and chancel Dec. E window with flowing tracery of a standard pattern. - FONT. Square, Norman, of Purbeck marble and originally with the usual flat blank round arches. - PULPIT. Jacobean; from St Mary-at-Quay Ipswich. - PANELLING. Some Jacobean panelling, perhaps from former pews. - COMMUNION RAIL. Three-sided; later C17. - PLATE. Elizabethan Cup; C17 Paten; Almsdish 1803. - MONUMENT. Edward Sherland d. 1609. The usual kneeling figure; alabaster.

ELMSETT. It is set among woods and fields with an old yew to keep its flint tower company, and a lovely view down a charming valley. In the porch, with its gnarled old timbers, is a door centuries old with lovely bands of ironwork like new moons. There is old oak panelling in the chancel, a 14th century east window with striking tracery, a big panelled chest of the 17th century; and a Norman font. The quaintest thing here is a little gaily coloured monument showing Edward Sherland of 1609 in his long black gown and his ruff, kneeling at a desk on a red cushion with gold tassels.

Flickr.