A single of the 15th century carved bench finishes in the nave at Ufford. The bench ends below are unconventional in getting adorned with pairs of carved animals / figures going through both of those east and west (rather than the usual one facing east).
Ufford’s church of the Assumption is justly well known and needs little introduction in churchcrawling circles. It is 1 of those specific church buildings which is not only a most handsome constructing in its have appropriate but retains much more of its medieval characteristics than most, and just one remarkable piece that is of this kind of renown it would be truly worth coming in this article to see all on its possess the fact the church is such a gem regardless tends to make an extra reward!
I initially arrived right here decades ago as my desire in churches blossomed in childhood. We understood this just one was worthy of a particular excursion and I remembered it appropriately (extended before I took any 50 percent respectable photographs of program). Remaining so shut I couldn’t resist the urge to revisit Ufford, over a few a long time later on.
The church seems completely of 15th century day (however clearly a church has stood on this internet site for significantly extended) and the high-quality west tower announces its presence as one particular methods from the avenue. The churchyard is a inexperienced and pleasantly sheltered house (even though the trees make it hard to get an over-all check out of the making) and the route qualified prospects straight to the attractive south porch, all adorned with playful flint flushwork designs. As enjoyable however the exterior is nevertheless the entice of this church lies within just and and is also inviting to resist.
Inside the church it is straight away apparent that this light-weight and lovely location has substantially of curiosity with medieval pews all about populated by figurative carvings, but going from the south aisle to the nave one particular is confronted by what tends to make Ufford so renowned, the font with its towering wooden cover, achieving as high as the nave roof! The font by itself is fairly ordinary for Suffolk and not big, but the good picket spire placed atop it makes it a surprise of medieval England. It is unsurprisingly the tallest in the place and a outstanding survival, it has shed the statuettes that as soon as filled its niches (a number of a lot more modern replacements adorn it listed here and there) but is nevertheless crowned by the graphic of the pelican in piety. A single has to ponder it awhile, it dominates the narrow area of the nave like no other and is a masterpiece of medieval woodwork (to increase the address the decreased part is designed to transfer separately and ‘telescopically’ to address that above, rather than elevate the total spire of wood).
There is additional to see in this article beside the font of training course, but that is the feature that steals the show in this article. Over it the medieval roof adorned with angels, sadly not the authentic figures which ended up final to Protestant iconoclast, the existing pair of angels and winged cherubic heads staying early 20th century. The high-quality woodwork of the nave pews would be worth a check out in their own appropriate anyplace else with a amazing assortment of figures adorning them which reward exploration and examine. The chancel outside of also has a fantastic roof, this time adorned with painted shields depicting symbols of the Passion, and the glass in the east window appears previous, even though be conscious that most of this is very clever early 20th century imitation.
Ufford church is a single of the highlights of this part of Suffolk and shouldn’t be skipped. It is fortunately saved open up and welcoming on both of those occasions I frequented, and normally should really be outdoors covid-impacted occasions.
For a lot more on this gem of a church see its entry on the Suffolk Church buildings website underneath:-
www.suffolkchurches.co.united kingdom/Ufford.htm
Posted by Aidan McRae Thomson on 2021-03-11 13:22:33
Tagged: , Ufford , church , Suffolk , bench conclusion , wooden carving , medieval , woodwork
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