John Hardman & Co

Over the last week I've taken on the, somewhat daunting, task of attributing makers to as many of the circa 4000 - I say over the last week, I suspect this could take years - stained glass windows that have piqued my interest over the years. Robert Eberhard's website Church Stained Glass Windows has been an invaluable resource but I'm struggling to find equal information for Cambridgeshire/Huntingdon, Suffolk & Norfolk.

That aside having created a Flickr album for my Hardman windows I noticed that I had two almost identical east windows by the studio which I think were probably designed by John Powell.

The first is the east window Crucifixion at Great Henny, Essex made in 1860. The left light shows the BVM, the centre light contains the Crucified Christ on a green cross and the right light a mourning St John. The background to the lights is blue glass studded with yellow flowers topped and bottomed with predominantly red glass.

Eight years later he made the east window Crucifixion for not far off Thorley, Hertfordshire but now it's more elaborate. Whilst the blue and yellow flowers, and the red glass, are retained now the left light shows the BVM and, presumably, one of the other Marys surmounted by an Angel, the centre light has the Crucified Christ on a green cross and a remorseful looking Longinus at its base and the right light St John and another apostle[?] surmounted by an Angel.

I like the idea that whoever commissioned the Thorley window went to Hardman & Co, looked through the cartoons, spotted the Great Henny window and said I like this but surely you can do better for us.

Barlees of Clavering, Essex

It seems that John Barley & Katherine Walden of  Albury, Herts had a second son [their son Henry is officially recognised] John 1430-1463.

Assuming he was their son he married Margaret Poyntz, 1480-1559, and they had a son, also called John, 1455-1541, who married Phillipa Bradbury, 1476-1530 and they in turn had William, 1538-1610, married to Elizabeth Searle, 1540-1619, Grace married John Searle, Joan married William Hunwicke, d. 1569, and Margaret, d. 1575, who married Edward Bell, d. 1576, and had a daughter, Margaret Bell, 1540-1605.

William and Elizabeth are the first to be memorialised in SS Clement & Mary, Clavering:

On the same monument are mentioned his son John, d.1633, his wife Mary Haynes, d. 1643, and three children viz Haynes 1606-1696, William, 1605-1635, and Elizabeth, 1611-1677, who married William Banson*, 1609-1659.

Haynes Barlee/Barley, 1606-1696, was married thrice. First, in 1637, to Margaret Oliver, 1617-1653, with whom he had thirteen children, four sons and nine daughters, of whom six survived viz Haynes, John, Mary, b. 1639, Margaret, b. 1641,married in 1663 John  Lloyd, Anne, b. 1643 and married in 1665 William Waad* and Elizabeth.

Margaret Oliver 1617-1653

Margaret Oliver mourners

Haynes married secondly, in 1655, Mary Turner, d. 1658, by whom he had no issue but "a very plentiful fortune".

Mary Turner d. 1658

Mary Turner and Margaret Oliver

He married thirdly Mary Riddlesden, d. 1714, by whom he had four sons viz William, 1663-1683, Haynes, 1664-1691, Charles and Edward. William is commemorated in a stained glass window:

Haynes and Mary are memorialised by a monument erected by Palgrave Barlee* in 1747:

* William & Elizabeth's ledger stone records that they had seven sons and four daughters, eight surviving viz: John: Eliza: Barbara: Geor: Charle: Henry: Mary: & Jane. There are two other ledger slabs to William Banson, 1632-1677, and Christopher Banson, 1652-1681, both of which acclaim William & Elizabeth as parents, both of which outlived their father and one, Christopher, his mother. Were they wards[?] which seems unlikely or cast out?

* William Waad [Wade] was murdered in 1677 by Robert Parsons- hopefully more to come.

* Palgrave Barlee was the grandson of Haynes and the inheritor of his estates, and the last of his line from him the lands passed to his great niece Catherine Buckle and her half brothers.

Nedging, Suffolk

St Mary, open, is charming and, unusually for me, the rendering of the nave and chancel adds to its charm. The peaceful location also helps, as does the fact that it was the last church of the day and I was sure it would be locked for the day at this late hour. It boasts two Norman south and north doors - the south being, in my view, the better and whilst the interior is very austere - almost puritanical - it is, in the words of Simon Knott "prayerfully simple".

At the west end of the nave is a range of medieval benches with seven curious tower like bench ends/poppyheads - what they represent is beyond me.

As at Elmsett the Great War memorial caught my attention but here it records the loss of two Boltons, three Morphews, two Scotts and Alfred Spooner - the tragedy of WW1 never stops resonating.

1. Arthur S Bolton 4th Bn Suffolk Regiment 15 July 1916 Thiepval Memorial
2. Ernest A Bolton son of John & Emma Bolton 7th Bn Suffolk Regiment 04 May 1917 aged 35 Duisans Cemetery, Etrun
3. Oliver G[eorge] Morphew son of Edith Eva Morphew 1st Bn Suffolk Regiment 25 May 1915 aged 21 Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial
4. Arthur W Morphew son of John Morphew, husband of May Morphew 1st Bn Suffolk Regiment 15 June 1915 aged 27 Niederzwehren Cemetery, Kassel
5. George F Morphew 2nd/5th Bn Sherwood Foresters 04 April 1917 Vadencourt British Cemetery, Maissemy
6. Alfred Spooner son of Walter & Mary Spooner, husband of Ellen Elizabeth Spooner7th Bn Suffolk Regiment 07 May 1918 aged 47 Doullens Communal Cemetery "Loved with an eternal love from wife and five boys"
7. William W[alter] Scott 4th Bn Suffolk Regiment 23 April 1917 Arras Memorial
8. Harry G[eorge] Scott son of Harry & Susannah Scott 7th Bn Suffolk Regiment 10 August 1916 aged 20 Etaples Military Cemetery

ST MARY. Two Transitional (late C13) doorways, round-arched, with one order of shafts, the capitals thick crockets with applied decoration or upright leaves. The arches with thick rings round the main roll moulding. On the S side also a hood-mould of dog-tooth. Chancel of c. 1300, see the windows (E three-light intersected); nave Dec, W tower also Dec. Nave roof with tie-beams and kingposts. - BENCHES with poppy-heads. - PLATE. Cup 1562 (?).

Another one Mee missed.

Flickr.

Naughton, Suffolk

St Mary, open, is tucked away behind a screen of trees beside the large village green. It's charming but utterly forgettable. There are two wall painting remnants - a St Christopher and a warning against gossip [although as an amateur you're hard pressed to tell what it represents] -, a recut Norman font and that's about it. As I said, nice but dim.

ST MARY. Flint. Late C13 to early C14. On the S side a two-light window, still with plate tracery, and a cusped lancet. In the chancel E window intersected tracery. The tower arch triple-charnfered and dying into the imposts. Tie-beam roof with crown-posts and braces springing from wall-posts. - FONT. Norman. It was square and decorated with intersected arches but later made octagonal. - ORGAN. (Dated I777. LG) - BENCHES. Six C17 ends with poppy-heads. - WALL PAINTINGS. N wall. Discovered in 1953. Upper half of a large St Christopher. Also unidentified scene with two women facing each other. - PLATE. Paten 1711; Cup 1730.

NAUGHTON. The delightful village green faces its l4th century church with a sturdy flint tower, set in a churchyard screened by trees, a tall beech and a roof of yew sheltering an approach. An ancient porch with a trefoiled barge-board leads to the simple interior. There are a few old bench-ends in the nave, and an arcaded font set in a wall recess. On the chancel wall is a brass inscription in memory of William Edge, rector for 61 years of last century.

Flickr.

Whatfield, Suffolk

St Margaret, open, is externally interesting, especially the tower with attached pepper pot, and porch but dull inside - the pulpit and the west gallery are the stand out features.

ST MARGARET. Low broad W tower of the C13, with later pyramid roof. Nave of c. 1300, windows with Y- and intersected tracery, one with pretty little quatrefoils in two of the intersections. The stoup inside belongs to the same date. Dec chancel with reticulated windows. Simple C16 brick S porch. Tie-beam roof with crown-posts in the nave, wagon roof in the chancel. - Plain BENCHES, the date 1589 on one of them, of a pattern different from the others. - COMMUNION RAIL and WEST GALLERY, probably c. 1700, with turned balusters, in effect similar to twisting. - PLATE. Elizabethan Cup; Paten 1691; fine Dutch Paten of 1715 with embossed scenes and arms. - MONUMENT. William Vesey d. 1699. Nice, humble black and white marble tablet with shield at the top.

Somehow I'm not surprised to find Mee missed it.

Flickr.

Aldham, Suffolk

St Mary, open, is a round tower church with fascinating bench end carvings - an almost de Vere star, what looks like a horned star, a bearded bear [?], symbols of the passion [?] and a stylised lily [?] - royal arms for GRIII and ERII, a good font and an extraordinary range of poppyheads. Add to that a role in the Detectorists and the view to the south you've pretty much arrived in Heaven on earth.

ST MARY. Circular flint tower. Nave and chancel flint. The windows in the style of c. 1300. - BENCH ENDS with poppyheads. - LECTERN. Oak, the base original.* - (SCULPTURE. Anglo-Saxon fragments with interlace pattern in the jamb of a S window in the nave. LG) - PLATE. Paten 1735; Cup and Cover 1785.

ALDHAM. It has a farmhouse and a church at the end of a lane which leads to nowhere else, and we come to the church by old thatched barns. The church rises with its flint walls in a green meadow where it has stood about 600 years. For 500 of these years its people have sat on some of these oak benches; for 500 years its parson has been reading from this oak lectern. Older still are the stones at the base of the tower, for they are Norman. The tower is crowned with a small lead spire.

On the road to Hadleigh is a fine 15th century brick gatehouse with a barn to keep it company. It was along this road that they brought the heroic Rowland Taylor in 1555 to be burned alive at the bidding of Mary Tudor. It was in the middle of the night when they brought him from his church at Hadleigh and as the journey ended he said, “What place is this?” On being told it was Aldham Common, he exclaimed, “Thanked be God. I am even at home.” One of the good men of Aldham pretended to be lame when he was ordered to light the fire.

* I missed the lectern or it's no longer extant.

Flickr.

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.