I was previous at St John one chilly Boxing Working day morning, on one particular of individuals dutiful trips to see Mother at Xmas. At just right after dawn, it was locked, but appeared a fine church and a single to revisit.
So it was past Thursday, touring back to Suffolk, I arrived at Saxmundham as the solar was setting, setting the high-quality church tower bathed in warm golden gentle.
As I stopped to just take a shot of the tower, I was unaware of the vicar making an attempt to get past in his car or truck, but he was patient as I go my shot.
He was waiting around for me at the porch, and prompt I hurry inside of to see the windows that have been illuminated by the sunlight, this I did.
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Saxmundham is a good city about halfway between Ipswich and Lowestoft. The A12 now bypasses it, which was regrettable for a even though due to the fact, like many small towns in that situation, it lost the passing trade which had been a person of the reasons for its existence. Saxmundham, or ‘Sax’ as locals get in touch with it, grew to prominence in the 18th and 19th hundreds of years, and it nevertheless has the character of a Victorian railway town, specifically all-around the station. But it is not a tourist city, compared with its terrific rival Framlingham, or ‘Fram’, just across the A12.
I like Saxmundham a lot there is an air of resilience about the position, and any small city with two second hand bookshops ought to have one thing heading for it. What it does miss is a dominating medieval church, since St John the Baptist is absent from the main avenue on the road to Leiston.
The graveyard is a high-quality position, whole of the headstones of 18th and 19th century worthies. Most renowned is the headstone to John Noller, which has its individual sundial.
There is a crisp 19th century really feel to the church, for the reason that it was subject to an 1870s restoration at the fingers of Diocesan architect Richard Phipson. On the other hand, Phipson was additional delicate to the require to maintain medieval survivals than his successor Herbert Inexperienced, and so the church has a lot of appealing items to see. Nonetheless, Phipson wasn’t higher than producing them more medieval than they now had been, and so the font, one particular of the best Suffolk examples of the 15th century East Anglian fashion, is extensively recut. There are intense tiny wild adult men all-around the base, and a person of the shields features the instruments of the enthusiasm.
Perhaps the most intriguing survival below, and a unusual 1, can be observed in the most easterly windows of every single of the clerestories. These are the stone corbel ledges that after supported the canopy of honour over the rood. They are each carved elaborately, and the northern a single is castellated. Sancta Johnannes, Ora Professional Nobis (‘St John pray for us’) is carved in a banner along that on the south facet.
Despite these medieval survivals, the most critical creative artefacts right here are in the east window of the south aisle. This is a collection of ovals of 17th century glass considered to occur from Innsbruck, depicting Saints and biblical scenes. It is of excellent good quality, and fascinating to glance at. Certainly, apart from the inadequate east window there is a superior selection of Victorian glass right here as well. I spent about 50 % an hour documenting it all meticulously, and then dropped the memory card from my digicam that experienced all the photos on. And so, I will have to go back. Sorry.
Simon Knott
www.suffolkchurches.co.british isles/saxmundham.html
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The church is substantially changed from the first church which was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086. Small evidence of this Norman or potentially Saxon church continues to be, although some masonry to be viewed in the decrease stage of the tower may possibly be of this date.
We also know that the church experienced a South porch that contained a easy 11th century doorway. Sadly, the porch and doorway disappeared in a significant restoration and rebuilding in 1873. Having said that, we do have a image of the porch from an etching in 1848.
Substantially of the church that we see now stems from the 19th century restoration but the church even now has numerous primary merchandise of an earlier day.
The Western tower (14th century) has diagonal buttresses at its western angles. The two light belfry windows and the equivalent west window are in the Adorned model of the early 14th century. The restored west doorway is also of this date, whilst some of the masonry in the lessen aspect of the tower is organized in another way from the rest and may have shaped section of the 11th century church.
The clock was given in 1880 and was restored in 1938. The parapet has charming 15th century flint panelling (flushwork) with traceried panels. Beneath it is a band of flowers (flearons) and carved heads, in addition to a big head at the centre of the west side and a gargoyle head on the south side.
The tower is property to a peal of 6 bells. 3 of these bells were forged c. 1480-1 510 by John Kebyll of London. A further was made in 1609 by Brend, the Norwich bell-founder, and the tenor, weighing 8cwt.3qtr.7Ib, is by Lester and Pack of Whitechapel, produced in 1762. The ring was concluded by the addition of a new treble bell by John Warner of London in 1880. The 2nd bell was recast in 1938, and the bells have been rehung in new oak frames by Bowell of Ipswich.
A gem in the crown that is St John’s can be discovered in the churchyard on the tombstone of John Noller (1725), which can be discovered south west of the church techniques and in eight yards. The east and west faces of the tombstone are modest, inclined rectangular recesses which type a uncomplicated and imaginative sundial. Each individual sundial wants a pointer or gnomon projecting in front of the dial to cast a shadow on to a marked scale. Any this kind of projection reduced down on a tombstone would definitely, faster or later on, be harmed. To reduce this taking place, the designer of John Noller’s headstone strike on the ingenious plan of making the edge of the headstone’s surface area the gnomon and attained the relative projection by recessing the dial.
As the stone faces east and west, he carved a morning dial on a single aspect (east deal with) and an night a single on the other (west face). If you look in the recesses on the two 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 mainly because at the moment of midday each and every dial is wholly in shadow.
You will also recognize that the dials are not upright on the stone but at a slant. The upper edge which functions as the gnomon is so slanted as to place precisely to the north star, or in other terms, be parallel with the earth’s axis.
And why was it accomplished? Nicely, we are not positive, 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 living, that our time soon passes. Or probably it was buying up on a further assumed about time from the Bible:
“There is a time for almost everything, and a period for each individual
action less than heaven: a time to be born and a time to die,”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
The Nave
The Font c 1400
This is a standard East Anglian structure with octagonal panelled bowl carved with lions interspersed with angels holding shields on which are shown the devices 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 creating is harmonious, mild and effectively-proportioned. The aisles are divided from the nave by 15th century (Perpendicular) arcades of 4 bays, with octagonal piers which have moulded capitals and bases. These are topped by six two light clerestorey home windows.
At the West conclusion of the nave is the comparatively present day glazed gallery, from which the church’s peal of six bells are rung. The west window of the tower ringing chamber is made up of the only piece of medieval glass, the head of an angel, to survive in this church. Above the ringing chamber is a significant Sanctus bell window, which in mediaeval times allowed the ringer of the Sanctus bell to see over the Rood Monitor to the most important altar.
Stained Glass
The 19th century stained glass throughout the church is of interest since of the topics represented as effectively as the makers and artists concerned.
The West window of the North aisle is described in The Well-liked Guideline to Suffolk Church buildings as staying “a fairly horrible products of Ward and Hughes and functions an outlandishly dressed centurion”. What else can be mentioned? Magnificence is certainly in the eye of the beholder.
The East window of the North aisle depicting two angels in opposition to patterned quarries is of fascination since of its local connections. It was created and painted by Mary and Bessie McKean of Saxmundham in 1872 and put in by Mr Howlett, a Saxmundham glazier.
The Victorian tour de power is naturally the West window of the South aisle, created by the Dowager Marchioness of Waterford, a good friend of the poet John Ruskin, and a properly regarded artist and e book illustrator. The glass is by O’Connor and Taylor and illustrates Jesus’s ascension into heaven, in brilliant colour. Jesus stands in the centre, and the disciples kneel on both aspect. The drama of the scene is increased by the top quality of the artist’s operate and in distinct the facial features.
Pews and Pulpit
The current pews and pulpit date from the restoration of 1873 and are produced from New Zealand kaurie pine. They switch the previous box pews which ended up so tall that several folks using them could neither see nor be viewed.
The total of the nave is topped with a splendid 15th century one-hammerbeam arch braced roof, with castellated hammers and wooden demi-figures as corbels underneath the wall posts.
For the duration of the Georgian era, or perhaps before, the roof was lined in with a flat plaster ceiling. A church guideline guide of 1855 states that at the time only the “ends” of the roof were being visible under the ceiling and that the total interior was disfigured by galleries.
Happily the ceiling was eliminated in 1932 to reveal this splendid roof. It has been restored and the wall plates have been renewed, as have quite a few of the other timbers. The ancient woodwork is less brown in appearance than the present day. The figures beneath the wall posts are largely primary.
The Chancel
One particular of the most distinct attributes of St John’s is its weeping chancel. If you stand in the nave centre aisle and look toward the altar, you will recognize that the Chancel is designed at a pronounced angle to the nave. This is quite prevalent in church buildings created in the condition of a cross (cruciform) but is pretty unusual in a church of this kind. The most important feature is not the angle, which is considerably greater than regular, but that it is to the South.
Other churches with weeping chancels incline to the North, representing Jesus on the cross with his head in direction of the penitent thief on his ideal. Below it is to his remaining, signifying that Jesus died for the impenitent as very well as the penitent. Saxmundham church is just one of the couple of in Europe to have this function.
The Chancel arch and the two bay arcade North and South ended up replaced as element of the 1873 restoration, but we feel that the restorers copied the first kinds (Decorated design)
The organ by Albert Pease of Hackney was installed in this article in the early 1950s. It has two manuals, pedals and 15 talking stops.
www.saxmundham.org/aboutsax/parishchurch.html
Posted by Jelltex on 2016-11-15 06:47:32
Tagged: , St. John the Baptist , Saxmundham , Suffolk , Church , Jelltex , Jelltecks
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