St Mary, Wiggenhall St Mary, Norfolk
Simon Jenkins has observed that the church buildings of the Ouse delta kind likely the finest concentration of late-medieval craftsmanship in England. Obviously, any cathedral would give them a operate for their funds, but you know what he means. Here, there are at minimum a dozen if not nameless and workaday villages with basically huge churches, many of them replete with wonders in stone and wood. There is remarkably little medieval glass, and hardly a wall-portray at all maybe the purely natural puritanism of the Fen men and women dispatched these, but observed a useful use to the benches and the fonts. The most significant and grandest church buildings are at Walpole St Peter and Terrington St Clement, but neither are particularly entire of treasures. St Peter is just one of the most breathtaking architectural files of the late medieval period, and St Clement is comprehensive of light and daily life but listed here at Wiggenhall St Mary is the greatest selection of 15th and 16th century benches in Norfolk, maybe in England.
There are 4 Wiggenhalls: St Peter, St Germans, St Mary and St Mary Magdalene, now acknowledged basically as Magdalen. All of the villages are compact, Magdalen currently being the most important, and are generally approached up slender straight streets in the fens. All four churches sit near to the banks of the Ouse – these banks have been raised, simply because the water level is now bigger than the bordering land, but the towers continue to kind startling landmarks for any boat heading upstream from Lynn. St Peter is a wreck, and St Mary is now in the treatment of the Churches Conservation Trust. It sits to the north of Magdalen with a couple of large properties for firm.
As with all CCT church buildings, St Mary is very well-stored. The rendering of the nave and chancel has recently been renewed and painted. They conceal a mystery of this church, the amount of brick made use of in its construction. The only expanse of brick nevertheless obvious is the higher section of the tower. The squatness of the tower belies its height, and stair turrets lean deliciously into it in the north-west and south-west corners, coming out as castellated turrets at the major.
So, we may presume that the top third of the tower is present-day with the late medieval rebuilding – but the builders stored the Early English doorway on the two sides of the church. The south porch is substantial, but functional there is absolutely nothing of the elaborate decoration you discover at Walpole St Peter. Also functional is the intensive late Victorian restoration by George Road – all the roofs are his.
You action inside to an inside that is at the moment substantial but a tiny claustrophobic. This is for the reason that of the sheer volume of woodwork – vary immediately after assortment of reliable, long, benches with high bench finishes. Street’s crown-posted roof seems to press down to meet them without having their pierced and traceried backs they would truly feel oppressive. The dust in the air and the murky light from the east window offers a sense, just for a minute, of staying underwater. There is a stillness, as if we have disturbed a thing that experienced lengthy remained undisturbed, as if we were the very first men and women to enter here for ages.
The nave was loaded with benches in two phases firstly in the mid-15th century, and then once again in the early 16th century. The newer benches are those people in the aisles. Benches are a symptom of what I have occur to consider of as a proto-Reformation potentially a century in advance of the genuine a single, there is a main shift in the English Church from personal devotions to company functions of worship. This appears to have been partly a response to the Black Dying, and a concentration of the mind on earning it via purgatory the breaking up of the previous estates brought forth a new rich middle class, who ended up most worried that their souls should be prayed for. Portion of their job was a reinforcing of orthodox Catholic doctrine during the 15th century, large perpendicular windows replaced the wall paintings, filling the church buildings with gentle, and the excellent roods ended up elevated up to emphasis people’s minds on the central doctrine of the Christian religion. Aspects of Catholic doctrine – the sacraments, the operates of mercy, the fatal sins – appeared in glass and stone. Benches crammed the rebuilt churches – no for a longer time were being there shadowy corners wherever outdated ladies could tell their beads, and the plowman his Paternoster, as Mass progressed. The initially pulpits appeared, and with the coming of the pulpit the Priest still left his chancel and entered the area of the folks, having it around. All eyes had been set on him now.
The bench ends at Wiggenhall St Mary are elaborate. Tiers arise each and every aspect flanking a large specialized niche, which includes a figure. The tiers just about every rise to a second and third determine, which are often associated. Previously mentioned all rises the strong poppyhead. You can spend an enjoyable fifty percent hour just pottering about trying to detect them. Lots of are in Tudor costume, and are seated in every day attitudes. Some have rosaries. Some are Saints, some others signify animals, Labours of the Months, virtues or Christian symbols.
Rather in contrast, there is an stylish Laudian font protect with slim pillars, and the day 1624. I puzzled if the pelican in her piety on top was a later addition. As at many regional church buildings, there is an early-16th century latten lectern, an eagle supported at the ft by a few tiny grinning lions. The Jacobean pulpit still retains its hourglass stand. Smatterings of medieval glass are in the higher lights of the north aisle home windows. The royal arms are dated 1791, and inform us that the churchwarden that calendar year was J SUTTRBY.
There is an stylish parclose display screen in the south aisle which now incorporates the elaborate memorial tomb of Sir Henry Kerville and his wife. They lie facet by aspect, palms in pious attitudes of prayer.He died in 1624 most going are the two very little figures beneath them, one particular in swaddling dresses these are their kids who died before them.
The east conclusion of the nave was built for height, for the wonderful rood to attract everyone’s consideration. Perhaps to assistance intensify this, the chancel arch is curiously narrow, and there are just 8 panels on the dado of the screen, 4 figures on each facet 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 little one, and St John the Baptist. The chancel is fairly easy and vacant, still left in its 19th century dresses. The grimy eco-friendly glass of the east window is overpowering. For a second, you could be everywhere. And then you change again and see all those wide ranges of medieval benches again they genuinely are most remarkable.
A hallmark of Church buildings Conservation Belief churches is that they are cleared of clutter but that is unattainable in this article, of program, due to the fact the litter is the factor you arrive to see. They are intriguing, interesting but this church is curiously lacking in atmosphere, especially if you have just arrive from Wiggenhall St Germans or Walpole St Peter. It is lifeless you could be in no question that it is redundant, and now little much more than a museum.
Posted by Simon Knott on 2016-09-15 19:00:05
Tagged: , Wiggenhall , St , Mary , Norfolk , East Anglia , church
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