Norwich, St John Maddermarket

I found St John, in the care of the CCT, locked but details of opening times, which I've now forgotten, were on the information board. To me it's unusual to find a CCT church locked but I note that Simon Knott says that it "is regularly open, although perhaps not as often as it might be given its location"*. The interior sounds to be full of interest so a future revisit is on the cards.

* The CCT website says it is open "Tuesdays 12pm-2pm. We additionally try to open Wednesdays 11am -1pm Thursdays & 11am-1pm when possible".

ST JOHN MADDERMARKET, St John Maddermarket. W tower, nave and aisles. The chancel seems to have been demolished already in the C16. Its E window must have been set back to become the E window of the church. It is a sumptuous Dec piece of forms more fantastical than customary in Norfolk. The N aisle E window has cusped intersected tracery, but may not be original. All the rest is Perp. The W tower is squeezed in between houses and has a passage through from N to S. Traceried sound-holes, little figures on the pinnacles. Two-storeyed porches, that on the S with a damaged vault inside, that on the N (now a chapel) with the usual tierceron-star but in addition a circular rib to connect the bosses. The entrance to the N has two sets of suspended shields up one moulding of jambs and arch. The interior is of three bays with slim Perp piers with thin shafts and long wave mouldings diagonally between them. The clerestory has eight windows closely set and is faced extensively with ashlar. Roof with ribbed coving, the rest ceiled. This dates probably from c.1864 (after an explosion). In the N aisle wall-arches. - REREDOS. A sumptuous early c 18 piece with detached columns carrying a tester or canopy. It is said to come from Corton in Suffolk but supposed to have been in St Michael at Coslany originally. - STAINED GLASS. Old fragments in two N windows. - PLATE. Chalice (Norwich) 1566-7; Paten, inscribed 1568 ; Paten, 1705-6; two Flagons, 1715-16; Spoon, 1738-9, all London made. - MONUMENT S. Brasses (under the gallery at the W end) to Walter Moneslee d. 1412 and wife (18 in. figures), John Toddenham c.1450 (16 in. figure), Ralph Segrym d. 1472 and wife (3 ft figures), William Pepyr d. 1476 and wife (28 in. figures), Johanna Caux d. 1506 (28 in. figure), John Terry d. 1524, wife and children, on brackets (25 in. figures), John Marsham d. 1525 and wife (30 in.), Robert Rugge d. 1558 and wife (3 ft ; palimpsest of an early C14 abbot), Nicholas Sottherton d. 1540 (inscription only; palimpsest of a nun of c.1440). - Christopher Sayer d. 1600, Thomas Sotherton d. 1608, both tablets with kneeling figures facing one another across a prayer-desk. In the frame of the former to the l. and r. figures of Pax, Vanitas, Gloria, and Labor (a workman). - Tablet to Walter Nugent Monck d. 1958, founder of the Norwich Players and the Maddermarket Theatre.

A quaint alley becomes a vaulted passage where it runs under the tower of St John’s, Maddermarket, the name reminding us of the days when dye was sold here. By the tower is the fine old timbered Church House now used by Toc H. The clerestoried church itself is 15th century, with some remains of the 14th, and the north aisle is on the site of a church built perhaps in Saxon days. The vault of the north porch has bosses of flowers and heads, and the medieval door into the church has its old hinges. The east end of the nave serves as the chancel, with a painting of the Last Supper for the reredos, under an early Georgian canopy on Corinthian columns. A medley of old glass has roundels with heads and a figure of Edward the Confessor holding a ring.

On the wall under the gallery is the finest display of brasses in Norwich. Rich in detail, and very charming, is the family group of John Terry, mayor in 1523. He and his wife and four children are standing on pedestals which rest on the branches of a tree, about which are growing roses, cornflowers, and bluebells, John in a long robe, the mother in rich attire with a rosary hanging from her girdle held by a clasp of three roses. Walter Noneslee and his wife (1412) are small and worn. A mayor and MP of 1431 is with his wife, he in a belted gown, she in draped headdress. John Todenham of about 1450 is a tiny figure in a tunic. Alderman William Pepyr of 1476 is with his wife in horned headdress. John Marsham, a 16th-century mayor, wears a fur-trimmed gown; his wife in kennel headdress has a gown with fur cuffs and a girdle with a three-rose clasp. Another 16th-century mayor is with his family. Richard Rugge is a sturdy fellow of the 16th century, with his wife in kennel headdress and a girdle tied in a bow. Other brasses are of a woman in kennel headdress, with a rosary and bag; the wife of a 15th-century mayor; and a group of five boys of the 17th century. Three wall monuments of the 16th and 17th century show Nicholas Sotherton and his wife in red gowns and ruffs; Thomas Sotherton in red, his wife in black, and six children; and Christopher Layer with his wife and eight children, and figures representing Labour, Glory, Peace, and Vanity. In 1791 a memorial was put here to Lady Margaret Audley, wife of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, who was executed for treason in Elizabeth’s reign. Lady Margaret died at the duke’s great house at Charing Cross, near this church, where she was buried in 1563. The house is gone.