St Mary, Wiggenhall St Mary, Norfolk
Simon Jenkins has observed that the church buildings of the Ouse delta kind almost certainly the best concentration of late-medieval craftsmanship in England. Obviously, any cathedral would give them a run for their cash, but you know what he means. Here, there are at minimum a dozen normally anonymous and workaday villages with just great church buildings, a lot of of them replete with wonders in stone and wooden. There is remarkably minor medieval glass, and hardly a wall-portray at all potentially the pure puritanism of the Fen persons dispatched these, but saw a realistic use to the benches and the fonts. The biggest and grandest churches are at Walpole St Peter and Terrington St Clement, but neither are significantly total of treasures. St Peter is 1 of the most stunning architectural files of the late medieval time period, and St Clement is comprehensive of gentle and daily life but here at Wiggenhall St Mary is the best collection of 15th and 16th century benches in Norfolk, perhaps in England.
There are 4 Wiggenhalls: St Peter, St Germans, St Mary and St Mary Magdalene, now regarded merely as Magdalen. All of the villages are compact, Magdalen becoming the biggest, and are primarily approached up slender straight streets in the fens. All four church buildings sit near to the banking companies of the Ouse – these banking institutions have been lifted, mainly because the drinking water stage is now bigger than the surrounding land, but the towers continue to sort startling landmarks for any boat heading upstream from Lynn. St Peter is a ruin, and St Mary is now in the care of the Church buildings Conservation Believe in. It sits to the north of Magdalen with a pair of huge homes for corporation.
As with all CCT churches, St Mary is well-held. The rendering of the nave and chancel has not too long ago been renewed and painted. They cover a mystery of this church, the volume of brick used in its building. The only expanse of brick even now noticeable is the higher aspect of the tower. The squatness of the tower belies its top, and stair turrets lean deliciously into it in the north-west and south-west corners, coming out as castellated turrets at the prime.
So, we could presume that the top 3rd of the tower is present-day with the late medieval rebuilding – but the builders kept the Early English doorway on both of those sides of the church. The south porch is big, but practical there is practically nothing of the elaborate decoration you discover at Walpole St Peter. Also practical is the in depth late Victorian restoration by George Avenue – all the roofs are his.
You step inside to an interior that is at the moment substantial but a very little claustrophobic. This is for the reason that of the sheer volume of woodwork – assortment following assortment of stable, prolonged, benches with superior bench finishes. Street’s crown-posted roof appears to be to push down to meet them devoid of their pierced and traceried backs they would feel oppressive. The dust in the air and the murky light-weight from the east window presents a feeling, just for a second, of getting underwater. There is a stillness, as if we have disturbed anything that had prolonged remained undisturbed, as if we have been the 1st individuals to enter here for ages.
The nave was loaded with benches in two phases first of all in the mid-15th century, and then all over again in the early 16th century. The more recent benches are people in the aisles. Benches are a symptom of what I have arrive to imagine of as a proto-Reformation most likely a century in advance of the genuine 1, there is a important change in the English Church from personal devotions to corporate acts of worship. This looks to have been partly a reaction to the Black Dying, and a concentration of the brain on building it by purgatory the breaking up of the aged estates introduced forth a new wealthy middle class, who were most involved that their souls need to be prayed for. Element of their job was a reinforcing of orthodox Catholic doctrine for the duration of the 15th century, huge perpendicular home windows replaced the wall paintings, filling the churches with gentle, and the fantastic roods have been lifted up to concentration people’s minds on the central doctrine of the Christian faith. Aspects of Catholic doctrine – the sacraments, the works of mercy, the lethal sins – appeared in glass and stone. Benches loaded the rebuilt church buildings – no more time ended up there shadowy corners the place outdated girls could convey to their beads, and the plowman his Paternoster, as Mass progressed. The first pulpits appeared, and with the coming of the pulpit the Priest remaining his chancel and entered the area of the persons, using it about. All eyes had been mounted on him now.
The bench finishes at Wiggenhall St Mary are advanced. Tiers come up just about every facet flanking a significant area of interest, which contains a figure. The tiers each rise to a next and third figure, which are at times connected. Above all rises the strong poppyhead. You can invest an satisfying 50 percent hour just pottering about seeking to identify them. Many are in Tudor dress, and are seated in day to day attitudes. Some have rosaries. Some are Saints, other people depict animals, Labours of the Months, virtues or Christian symbols.
Relatively in distinction, there is an stylish Laudian font deal with with slender pillars, and the date 1624. I questioned if the pelican in her piety on best was a afterwards addition. As at many community church buildings, there is an early-16th century latten lectern, an eagle supported at the feet by a few little grinning lions. The Jacobean pulpit still retains its hourglass stand. Smatterings of medieval glass are in the upper lights of the north aisle windows. The royal arms are dated 1791, and convey to us that the churchwarden that calendar year was J SUTTRBY.
There is an tasteful parclose display screen in the south aisle which now contains the elaborate memorial tomb of Sir Henry Kerville and his spouse. They lie side by aspect, hands in pious attitudes of prayer.He died in 1624 most shifting are the two minor figures beneath them, 1 in swaddling outfits these are their little ones who died just before them.
The east conclude of the nave was made for top, for the excellent rood to attract everyone’s interest. Most likely to aid accentuate this, the chancel arch is curiously slender, and there are just 8 panels on the dado of the display screen, four figures on every single aspect flanking the entrance. From the north they are: St Mary of Magdala, St Dorothy, St Margaret, St Scholastica (twin sister of St Benedict), St Catherine, St Barbara, the Blessed Virgin and kid, and St John the Baptist. The chancel is relatively basic and empty, left in its 19th century clothing. The grimy inexperienced glass of the east window is overpowering. For a moment, you may possibly be any place. And then you change back and see those people broad ranges of medieval benches again they truly are most extraordinary.
A hallmark of Church buildings Conservation Believe in church buildings is that they are cleared of muddle but that is not possible listed here, of system, mainly because the muddle is the detail you appear to see. They are intriguing, fascinating but this church is curiously lacking in ambiance, particularly if you have just come from Wiggenhall St Germans or Walpole St Peter. It is lifeless you could be in no question that it is redundant, and now small more than a museum.
Posted by Simon Knott on 2016-09-15 19:00:56
Tagged: , Wiggenhall , St , Mary , Norfolk , East Anglia , church
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