Shelley, Suffolk

On the face of it All Saints, open, with its cement rendered walls should be a monstrosity but in actuality it is charming. This is partly down to the location but mostly due to its bijou charm and welcoming atmosphere - it is an obviously well loved building. One oddity is the placing of the tower on the NW side of the nave and amongst the furnishings are Dame Margaret Tylney  d. 1598, a notable piscina & sedilia, a good crucifixion window by William Warrington cir 1864 and panelling of cir 1530 in the former arch to the north chapel [I'm fairly sure it is now the vestry]. All in all a delightful building and a pleasing end to the day.

ALL SAINTS. An irregular group. E.E. chancel, see the blocked S lancets. The nave projects W beyond the N tower. The latter is early C14; so is the S aisle (see one window with intersected tracery). Low arcade with octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. Late Perp N window, straight-headed, of four lights. Late Perp brick N chapel with brick windows. The arch from the chancel into the chapel has been replaced by an oblong opening panelled with various ornamental panels. - CHANCEL STALLS with poppy-heads and the Tylney arms.- PULPIT. With linenfold panels. More linenfold panels used in BENCH FRONTS. - MONUMENTS. In the chancel N wall a Late Gothic tomb-chest. Arms under arches. - In the N chapel a fine square panel with the Tylney arms, c. 1540-50. - Dame Margaret Tylney, 1598. Recumbent effigy, stumps of flanking columns.

SHELLY [sic]. It has an old house and an older church, each full of memories of a family in Tudor England. Shelly Hall, its moat still filled with water, was refashioned in 1533 by Sir Philip Tylney; his grandson, who was a kinsman of Queen Elizabeth, entertaining her here. Some of the family heraldry is seen in the church, where the Tylney arms, proudly borne by griffins, appear on the chancel benches with their fine poppyheads. The arms appear also on the vestry panelling, which is made from the woodwork of old pews. A charming altar tomb in the nave is of Dame Margaret Tylney of 1602, lying in her black dress and white ruff, her head on two blue cushions. She must have come to look at herself more than once before she died, and we may be sure she would be pleased with this monument by which posterity was to remember her. Most of the church is 14th century, though it has something of the 13th and an east window of the 15th. There is a fine tower doorway, an old pulpit with linenfold, more linenfold on an ancient pew, altar rails made from roof beams, and some old woodwork in newer pews.

Flickr.