St Mary Magdalen, Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen, Norfolk
You cross the large, lazy Wonderful Ouse, and at as soon as Norfolk variations. The rippling countryside flattens out, the horizon straightens. Norfolk’s trees vanish, apart from the odd a single or two that flame like beacons under the perpendicular sky. There are not actually fields any longer, just large prairies, and the villages are perfunctory. This is the Marshland.
Pevsner mentions extremely couple of buildings west of the Ouse – except the great churches, some of which are amongst England’s best. In his ebook England’s Thousand Ideal Church buildings, Simon Jenkins involves no a lot less than ten of the Norfolk marshland churches. There are only nine for the entire of Northumberland.
Magdalen is, potentially, shut more than enough to the relaxation of Norfolk to however be a suitable East Anglian village, and a pretty one at that. One to savour if you are heading west and about to tip off the edge of the genuine county into that odd, sinking landscape further than inexorably, drinking water spilt here would roll into Lincolnshire. But the church is a marshland church, huge daring and wonderful with that air of chiarascuro familiar from its neighbours, a slightly decayed elegance with the odor of old wood and moist in the air.
The village usually takes its name from St Mary of Magdala, of system, due to the fact it is truly a single of the Wiggenhalls. More than the decades, Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalene has come to be a little bit of a mouthful, specifically supplied the existence of the nearby parish of Wiggenhall St Mary, where by there is no serious village. So, Magdalen it has come to be, incidentally providing its name to a railway station on the Cambridge to Kings Lynn line. St Mary of Magdala is 1 of my favorite Saints, and so it was a enjoyment to visit a entire village named after her. The church is a gorgeous assemblage of pink brick, flint and stone, wholly natural as it rises venerably in the narrow graveyard. It is all pretty substantially 15th century, crafted on wool revenue, despite the fact that as is typical in East Anglia the terrific tower is earlier, on the eve of the Black Loss of life. If it experienced ever been rebuilt, this would have been 1 of the most superb churches in England.
You stage into a massive developing, complete of light-weight, a dusty air falling gradually. At the west finish, there is a peculiar minor doorway into the foundation of the tower – I question if the rebuilding of the nave lifted the degree of the ground – and on both side of it the continues to be of the rood screen are propped up, just four panels depicting the evangelistic symbols. Now, this is extremely curious – the symbols do not normally show up on roodscreens. My instinct was that they may well be later on, but the do the job undoubtedly seems medieval, and the face of Matthew’s winged person has been scratched out.
Significantly of the character of the nave arrives from the woodwork, a satisfying mixture of straightforward medieval benches and 19th century box pews beneath the authentic 15th century roof, which is fairly rustic in character with alternating hammerbeams and queen posts.
Just as neighbouring Wiggenhall St Mary has the major assortment of medieval bench finishes in Norfolk, St Mary Magdalen has the most significant collection of 15th century stained glass figures. There are about forty of them, scattered in the higher lights of the north aisle. Having said that, they are relatively expert collection, and not effortlessly identifiable to the untutored eye, due to the fact fairly than acquainted Apostles and Saints they mostly signify Bishops, Archbishops and Popes.
Simon Cotton, in the church guidebook, supplies an superb crucial to them. Ann Eljenholm Nichols’ book Early Artwork of Norfolk, probably the most effective guide at any time created about the medieval churches of Norfolk, demonstrates that additional than a couple of them are exceptional representations in the county, and probably in the Kingdom. Most of them have scrolls, and with binoculars you can decipher some of the inscriptions, but couple of have their acquainted symbols with them.
Posted by Simon Knott on 2016-09-10 09:25:31
Tagged: , Wiggenhall , Mary , Magdalene , magdalen , Norfolk , East Anglia
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