St Mary Magdalen, Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen, Norfolk
You cross the wide, lazy Fantastic Ouse, and at once Norfolk changes. The rippling countryside flattens out, the horizon straightens. Norfolk’s trees vanish, apart from the odd one or two that flame like beacons below the perpendicular sky. There usually are not truly fields any longer, just broad prairies, and the villages are perfunctory. This is the Marshland.
Pevsner mentions very couple structures west of the Ouse – apart from the wonderful churches, some of which are among England’s finest. In his reserve England’s Thousand Ideal Church buildings, Simon Jenkins features no less than 10 of the Norfolk marshland churches. There are only 9 for the whole of Northumberland.
Magdalen is, potentially, near sufficient to the rest of Norfolk to continue to be a appropriate East Anglian village, and a quite a person at that. One particular to savour if you are heading west and about to tip off the edge of the serious county into that unusual, sinking landscape further than inexorably, water spilt right here would roll into Lincolnshire. But the church is a marshland church, major bold and lovely with that air of chiarascuro common from its neighbours, a a little bit decayed attractiveness with the smell of aged wooden and moist in the air.
The village normally takes its title from St Mary of Magdala, of course, due to the fact it is genuinely one of the Wiggenhalls. More than the years, Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalene has develop into a bit of a mouthful, particularly presented the existence of the nearby parish of Wiggenhall St Mary, where there is no serious village. So, Magdalen it has become, incidentally giving its title to a railway station on the Cambridge to Kings Lynn line. St Mary of Magdala is a person of my favorite Saints, and so it was a satisfaction to go to a total village named following her. The church is a magnificent assemblage of purple brick, flint and stone, wholly natural as it rises venerably in the narrow graveyard. It is all fairly considerably 15th century, crafted on wool funds, whilst as is popular in East Anglia the fantastic tower is earlier, on the eve of the Black Loss of life. If it had at any time been rebuilt, this would have been 1 of the most magnificent churches in England.
You step into a enormous setting up, total of light, a dusty air falling slowly but surely. At the west end, there is a weird very little door into the foundation of the tower – I surprise if the rebuilding of the nave raised the level of the flooring – and on possibly facet of it the remains of the rood display are propped up, just four panels depicting the evangelistic symbols. Now, this is really curious – the symbols do not typically surface on roodscreens. My intuition was that they may well be later, but the operate absolutely seems medieval, and the confront of Matthew’s winged gentleman has been scratched out.
Substantially of the character of the nave comes from the woodwork, a satisfying combination of uncomplicated medieval benches and 19th century box pews beneath the primary 15th century roof, which is fairly rustic in character with alternating hammerbeams and queen posts.
Just as neighbouring Wiggenhall St Mary has the major selection of medieval bench finishes in Norfolk, St Mary Magdalen has the largest assortment of 15th century stained glass figures. There are about forty of them, scattered in the upper lights of the north aisle. However, they are alternatively expert selection, and not very easily identifiable to the untutored eye, for the reason that fairly than acquainted Apostles and Saints they mainly stand for Bishops, Archbishops and Popes.
Simon Cotton, in the church guideline, delivers an superb vital to them. Ann Eljenholm Nichols’ ebook Early Art of Norfolk, in all probability the ideal book ever written about the medieval churches of Norfolk, reveals that far more than a couple of of them are unique representations in the county, and maybe in the Kingdom. Most of them have scrolls, and with binoculars you can decipher some of the inscriptions, but few have their common symbols with them.
Posted by Simon Knott on 2016-09-10 09:25:54
Tagged: , Wiggenhall , Mary , Magdalene , magdalen , Norfolk , East Anglia
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