I was last at St John a single chilly Boxing Working day morning, on one of those people dutiful visits to see Mother at Xmas. At just soon after dawn, it was locked, but appeared a good church and one particular to revisit.
So it was very last Thursday, touring back to Suffolk, I arrived at Saxmundham as the solar was setting, location the fine church tower bathed in warm golden light-weight.
As I stopped to just take a shot of the tower, I was unaware of the vicar seeking to get earlier in his auto, but he was patient as I go my shot.
He was ready for me at the porch, and suggested I hurry within to see the home windows that have been illuminated by the sunlight, this I did.
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Saxmundham is a high-quality town about midway involving Ipswich and Lowestoft. The A12 now bypasses it, which was unfortunate for a even though mainly because, like lots of smaller towns in that condition, it shed the passing trade which experienced been one particular of the motives for its existence. Saxmundham, or ‘Sax’ as locals contact it, grew to prominence in the 18th and 19th centuries, and it nevertheless has the character of a Victorian railway city, primarily close to the station. But it is not a tourist city, not like its excellent rival Framlingham, or ‘Fram’, just throughout the A12.
I like Saxmundham a large amount there is an air of resilience about the position, and any little town with two next hand bookshops need to have a little something going for it. What it does miss is a dominating medieval church, because St John the Baptist is absent from the principal avenue on the street to Leiston.
The graveyard is a good position, entire of the headstones of 18th and 19th century worthies. Most well known is the headstone to John Noller, which has its very own sundial.
There is a crisp 19th century truly feel to the church, for the reason that it was subject to an 1870s restoration at the hands of Diocesan architect Richard Phipson. Nevertheless, Phipson was much more delicate to the want to protect medieval survivals than his successor Herbert Eco-friendly, and so the church has lots of attention-grabbing points to see. On the other hand, Phipson was not earlier mentioned earning them far more medieval than they presently have been, and so the font, a single of the very best Suffolk examples of the 15th century East Anglian fashion, is completely recut. There are aggressive small wild gentlemen about the base, and just one of the shields options the instruments of the passion.
Potentially the most exciting survival in this article, and a uncommon a single, can be noticed in the most easterly home windows of each and every of the clerestories. These are the stone corbel ledges that at the time supported the cover of honour in excess of the rood. They are both of those carved elaborately, and the northern a single is castellated. Sancta Johnannes, Ora Pro Nobis (‘St John pray for us’) is carved in a banner along that on the south side.
Even with these medieval survivals, the most important artistic artefacts in this article are in the east window of the south aisle. This is a selection of ovals of 17th century glass believed to come from Innsbruck, depicting Saints and biblical scenes. It is of excellent quality, and interesting to glimpse at. Without a doubt, apart from the bad east window there is a very good selection of Victorian glass right here as perfectly. I put in about 50 % an hour documenting it all meticulously, and then dropped the memory card from my camera that experienced all the photos on. And so, I will have to go back again. Sorry.
Simon Knott
www.suffolkchurches.co.british isles/saxmundham.html
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The church is substantially modified from the primary church which was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086. Tiny proof of this Norman or quite possibly Saxon church stays, even though some masonry to be viewed in the reduce stage of the tower may well be of this date.
We also know that the church had a South porch that contained a uncomplicated 11th century doorway. Unfortunately, the porch and doorway disappeared in a main restoration and rebuilding in 1873. Nevertheless, we do have a photo of the porch from an etching in 1848.
Significantly of the church that we see currently stems from the 19th century restoration but the church however consists of many first things of an previously day.
The Western tower (14th century) has diagonal buttresses at its western angles. The two light belfry windows and the similar west window are in the Decorated design of the early 14th century. The restored west doorway is also of this day, while some of the masonry in the lessen element of the tower is arranged differently from the relaxation and may have fashioned element of the 11th century church.
The clock was provided in 1880 and was restored in 1938. The parapet has attractive 15th century flint panelling (flushwork) with traceried panels. Beneath it is a band of flowers (flearons) and carved heads, in addition to a massive head at the centre of the west facet and a gargoyle head on the south side.
The tower is property to a peal of 6 bells. A few of these bells ended up solid c. 1480-1 510 by John Kebyll of London. An additional was created in 1609 by Brend, the Norwich bell-founder, and the tenor, weighing 8cwt.3qtr.7Ib, is by Lester and Pack of Whitechapel, created in 1762. The ring was accomplished by the addition of a new treble bell by John Warner of London in 1880. The next bell was recast in 1938, and the bells ended up rehung in new oak frames by Bowell of Ipswich.
A gem in the crown that is St John’s can be uncovered in the churchyard on the tombstone of John Noller (1725), which can be located south west of the church actions and in eight yards. The east and west faces of the tombstone are smaller, inclined oblong recesses which form a easy and imaginative sundial. Every sundial requirements a pointer or gnomon projecting in entrance of the dial to forged a shadow on to a marked scale. Any these types of projection very low down on a tombstone would certainly, sooner or later, be harmed. To avert this going on, the designer of John Noller’s headstone hit on the ingenious thought of creating the edge of the headstone’s floor the gnomon and acquired the relative projection by recessing the dial.
As the stone faces east and west, he carved a early morning dial on just one aspect (east experience) and an night one on the other (west encounter). If you search in the recesses on both of those faces you will see the hour markings 1,2,3,4,5 on the west recess and 7,8,9,10,11 on the east recess. 12 o’clock is not marked since at the moment of midday just about every dial is entirely in shadow.
You will also discover that the dials are not upright on the stone but at a slant. The higher edge which acts as the gnomon is so slanted as to issue specifically to the north star, or in other words and phrases, be parallel with the earth’s axis.
And why was it completed? Very well, we are not absolutely sure, but just as some clocks are marked with tile inscription “Tempus fugit” or time flies, so this headstone with its sundial marking the passing of time also reminds us, the dwelling, that our time shortly passes. Or most likely it was buying up on a different imagined about time from the Bible:
“There is a time for everything, and a year for just about every
action beneath heaven: a time to be born and a time to die,”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
The Nave
The Font c 1400
This is a common East Anglian style and design with octagonal panelled bowl carved with lions interspersed with angels holding shields on which are shown the instruments of the Enthusiasm (East), the Cross (South), the emblem of the Trinity (West) and the a few crowns of East Anglia (North). The bowl of the font is original.
The Nave c 1500
Internally the developing is harmonious, mild and properly-proportioned. The aisles are separated from the nave by 15th century (Perpendicular) arcades of 4 bays, with octagonal piers which have moulded capitals and bases. These are topped by 6 two light-weight clerestorey home windows.
At the West conclusion of the nave is the comparatively modern glazed gallery, from which the church’s peal of six bells are rung. The west window of the tower ringing chamber includes the only piece of medieval glass, the head of an angel, to survive in this church. Higher than the ringing chamber is a massive Sanctus bell window, which in mediaeval periods authorized the ringer of the Sanctus bell to see about the Rood Monitor to the major altar.
Stained Glass
The 19th century stained glass all over the church is of interest for the reason that of the subjects represented as perfectly as the makers and artists associated.
The West window of the North aisle is described in The Well-liked Information to Suffolk Church buildings as getting “a relatively horrible product of Ward and Hughes and characteristics an outlandishly dressed centurion”. What else can be explained? Splendor is definitely in the eye of the beholder.
The East window of the North aisle depicting two angels towards patterned quarries is of curiosity for the reason that of its local connections. It was developed and painted by Mary and Bessie McKean of Saxmundham in 1872 and installed by Mr Howlett, a Saxmundham glazier.
The Victorian tour de power is definitely the West window of the South aisle, created by the Dowager Marchioness of Waterford, a close friend of the poet John Ruskin, and a effectively acknowledged artist and reserve illustrator. The glass is by O’Connor and Taylor and illustrates Jesus’s ascension into heaven, in outstanding colour. Jesus stands in the centre, and the disciples kneel on either aspect. The drama of the scene is improved by the high-quality of the artist’s do the job and in distinct the facial features.
Pews and Pulpit
The current pews and pulpit date from the restoration of 1873 and are created from New Zealand kaurie pine. They substitute the old box pews which ended up so tall that lots of folks employing them could neither see nor be noticed.
The entire of the nave is topped with a splendid 15th century single-hammerbeam arch braced roof, with castellated hammers and wood demi-figures as corbels beneath the wall posts.
For the duration of the Georgian era, or possibly in advance of, the roof was lined in with a flat plaster ceiling. A church guideline ebook of 1855 states that at the time only the “ends” of the roof had been obvious below the ceiling and that the entire interior was disfigured by galleries.
Happily the ceiling was taken out in 1932 to expose this splendid roof. It has been restored and the wall plates have been renewed, as have many of the other timbers. The historical woodwork is fewer brown in visual appeal than the modern. The figures beneath the wall posts are typically first.
The Chancel
A person of the most exclusive features of St John’s is its weeping chancel. If you stand in the nave centre aisle and glance towards the altar, you will detect that the Chancel is developed at a pronounced angle to the nave. This is rather frequent in church buildings constructed in the condition of a cross (cruciform) but is really uncommon in a church of this style. The primary attribute is not the angle, which is significantly larger than regular, but that it is to the South.
Other church buildings with weeping chancels incline to the North, representing Jesus on the cross with his head in the direction of the penitent thief on his right. In this article it is to his remaining, signifying that Jesus died for the impenitent as perfectly as the penitent. Saxmundham church is 1 of the several in Europe to have this characteristic.
The Chancel arch and the two bay arcade North and South have been replaced as section of the 1873 restoration, but we feel that the restorers copied the first varieties (Adorned fashion)
The organ by Albert Pease of Hackney was installed right here in the early 1950s. It has two manuals, pedals and 15 speaking stops.
www.saxmundham.org/aboutsax/parishchurch.html
Posted by Jelltex on 2016-11-14 17:45:13
Tagged: , St. John the Baptist , Saxmundham , Suffolk , Church , Jelltex , Jelltecks
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