I was previous at St John 1 chilly Boxing Day morning, on 1 of all those dutiful outings to see Mother at Christmas. At just right after dawn, it was locked, but seemed a wonderful church and one particular to revisit.
So it was previous Thursday, touring back to Suffolk, I arrived at Saxmundham as the solar was environment, setting the fine church tower bathed in heat golden gentle.
As I stopped to choose a shot of the tower, I was unaware of the vicar seeking to get past in his car, but he was patient as I go my shot.
He was waiting around for me at the porch, and proposed I hurry inside of to see the home windows that were being illuminated by the sunshine, this I did.
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Saxmundham is a great city about midway involving Ipswich and Lowestoft. The A12 now bypasses it, which was unlucky for a while due to the fact, like lots of tiny towns in that condition, it misplaced the passing trade which experienced been one of the factors for its existence. Saxmundham, or ‘Sax’ as locals contact it, grew to prominence in the 18th and 19th centuries, and it nonetheless has the character of a Victorian railway town, particularly all-around the station. But it is not a tourist town, contrary to its great rival Framlingham, or ‘Fram’, just across the A12.
I like Saxmundham a large amount there is an air of resilience about the area, and any little town with two next hand bookshops have to have some thing heading for it. What it does skip is a dominating medieval church, since St John the Baptist is absent from the most important street on the street to Leiston.
The graveyard is a high-quality position, total of the headstones of 18th and 19th century worthies. Most well known is the headstone to John Noller, which has its possess sundial.
There is a crisp 19th century sense to the church, mainly because it was subject matter to an 1870s restoration at the palms of Diocesan architect Richard Phipson. Having said that, Phipson was much more delicate to the need to maintain medieval survivals than his successor Herbert Inexperienced, and so the church has loads of fascinating points to see. Nonetheless, Phipson wasn’t higher than generating them additional medieval than they already were being, and so the font, one particular of the ideal Suffolk examples of the 15th century East Anglian model, is comprehensively recut. There are intense minor wild adult males all-around the base, and just one of the shields attributes the instruments of the passion.
Probably the most intriguing survival below, and a scarce one, can be noticed in the most easterly windows of every of the clerestories. These are the stone corbel ledges that once supported the canopy of honour in excess of the rood. They are equally carved elaborately, and the northern one is castellated. Sancta Johnannes, Ora Pro Nobis (‘St John pray for us’) is carved in a banner along that on the south facet.
Even with these medieval survivals, the most crucial artistic artefacts here are in the east window of the south aisle. This is a assortment of ovals of 17th century glass thought to arrive from Innsbruck, depicting Saints and biblical scenes. It is of excellent good quality, and fascinating to seem at. In truth, apart from the very poor east window there is a good collection of Victorian glass listed here as nicely. I spent about 50 percent an hour documenting it all meticulously, and then misplaced the memory card from my digicam that experienced all the visuals 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 considerably changed from the first church which was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086. Little proof of this Norman or possibly Saxon church remains, though some masonry to be seen in the decrease stage of the tower might be of this date.
We also know that the church had a South porch that contained a uncomplicated 11th century doorway. Sad to say, the porch and doorway disappeared in a big restoration and rebuilding in 1873. Nonetheless, we do have a image of the porch from an etching in 1848.
Much of the church that we see nowadays stems from the 19th century restoration but the church continue to consists of a lot of primary items of an before date.
The Western tower (14th century) has diagonal buttresses at its western angles. The two gentle belfry windows and the identical west window are in the Adorned fashion of the early 14th century. The restored west doorway is also of this date, while some of the masonry in the reduced aspect of the tower is organized in different ways from the relaxation and might have fashioned component of the 11th century church.
The clock was supplied in 1880 and was restored in 1938. The parapet has pretty 15th century flint panelling (flushwork) with traceried panels. Beneath it is a band of bouquets (flearons) and carved heads, in addition to a significant head at the centre of the west side and a gargoyle head on the south facet.
The tower is residence to a peal of six bells. A few of these bells were forged c. 1480-1 510 by John Kebyll of London. Another 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 next 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 observed in the churchyard on the tombstone of John Noller (1725), which can be found south west of the church ways and in 8 yards. The east and west faces of the tombstone are little, inclined oblong recesses which variety a basic and imaginative sundial. Just about every sundial wants a pointer or gnomon projecting in front of the dial to cast a shadow on to a marked scale. Any these projection reduced down on a tombstone would certainly, faster or later, be destroyed. To protect against this occurring, the designer of John Noller’s headstone hit upon the ingenious strategy of creating the edge of the headstone’s surface the gnomon and obtained the relative projection by recessing the dial.
As the stone faces east and west, he carved a morning dial on 1 facet (east experience) and an evening a single on the other (west face). If you glance in the recesses on both equally 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 because at the instant of midday each individual dial is entirely in shadow.
You will also see that the dials are not upright on the stone but at a slant. The upper edge which acts as the gnomon is so slanted as to level specifically to the north star, or in other words, be parallel with the earth’s axis.
And why was it carried out? Perfectly, we are not sure, but just as some clocks are marked with tile inscription “Tempus fugit” or time flies, so this gravestone with its sundial marking the passing of time also reminds us, the dwelling, that our time quickly passes. Or probably it was picking up on a further considered about time from the Bible:
“There is a time for anything, and a year for just about every
exercise 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 typical East Anglian style with octagonal panelled bowl carved with lions interspersed with angels holding shields on which are displayed 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 unique.
The Nave c 1500
Internally the constructing is harmonious, light-weight and nicely-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 six two light-weight 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 consists of the only piece of medieval glass, the head of an angel, to survive in this church. Earlier mentioned the ringing chamber is a substantial Sanctus bell window, which in mediaeval instances permitted the ringer of the Sanctus bell to see above the Rood Display screen to the most important altar.
Stained Glass
The 19th century stained glass through the church is of curiosity due to the fact of the topics represented as effectively as the makers and artists involved.
The West window of the North aisle is described in The Well-liked Tutorial to Suffolk Church buildings as remaining “a rather awful item of Ward and Hughes and attributes an outlandishly dressed centurion”. What else can be explained? Elegance is certainly in the eye of the beholder.
The East window of the North aisle depicting two angels against patterned quarries is of interest because of its local connections. It was intended and painted by Mary and Bessie McKean of Saxmundham in 1872 and mounted by Mr Howlett, a Saxmundham glazier.
The Victorian tour de power is clearly the West window of the South aisle, intended by the Dowager Marchioness of Waterford, a close friend of the poet John Ruskin, and a very well recognised artist and e-book 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 possibly aspect. The drama of the scene is improved by the excellent of the artist’s perform and in particular the facial functions.
Pews and Pulpit
The present pews and pulpit day from the restoration of 1873 and are produced from New Zealand kaurie pine. They switch the outdated box pews which were so tall that many folks working with them could neither see nor be seen.
The full of the nave is crowned with a splendid 15th century single-hammerbeam arch braced roof, with castellated hammers and wood demi-figures as corbels beneath the wall posts.
Throughout the Georgian period, or probably right before, the roof was included in with a flat plaster ceiling. A church guideline book of 1855 states that at the time only the “finishes” of the roof were being visible under the ceiling and that the full inside 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 several of the other timbers. The ancient woodwork is a lot less brown in appearance than the modern-day. The figures beneath the wall posts are mainly original.
The Chancel
A single of the most distinctive capabilities of St John’s is its weeping chancel. If you stand in the nave centre aisle and look to the altar, you will discover that the Chancel is developed at a pronounced angle to the nave. This is fairly frequent in churches constructed in the form of a cross (cruciform) but is very scarce in a church of this variety. The primary aspect is not the angle, which is a great deal better than regular, but that it is to the South.
Other church buildings with weeping chancels incline to the North, symbolizing Jesus on the cross with his head to the penitent thief on his correct. In this article it is to his still left, signifying that Jesus died for the impenitent as nicely as the penitent. Saxmundham church is 1 of the handful of in Europe to have this feature.
The Chancel arch and the two bay arcade North and South were being replaced as portion of the 1873 restoration, but we imagine that the restorers copied the original types (Adorned model)
The organ by Albert Pease of Hackney was put in right here 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 06:47:31
Tagged: , St. John the Baptist , Saxmundham , Suffolk , Church , Jelltex , Jelltecks
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