Last week we sealed the transfer on the first church of 2022 to come into our care.
It’s St Andrew’s, South Runcton, Norfolk: an excellent rebuilding of a ruined Norman church on the side of the Downham Market to Kings Lynn Road, and one of Norfolk’s first Victorian churches.
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By 1812, St Andrew’s was a crumbling, overgrown ruin of Romanesque arch and apse. Norwich artist, John Sell Cotman’s sketch of the church at that date shows what survived when Norwich architect, John Brown came on the scene in 1839.
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Brown rebuilt St Andrew’s in a Neo-Norman style, but the jury is out on how much Norman ruin he incorporated into his redesign. Some think he renewed the lot; others think he recut the chevron and billet decoration; some think he retained the bottom section of the arch.
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Arch and apse aside, the west front has giant corner pilasters, a bit of zig-zagging, a dog-tooth super-arch and some blind arcading. Textbook Norman.
The south elevation has more arcading, billet-moulding and a corbel table of grotesques.
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The northside is remarkable for its relative plainness. No arcading here. Just a stray grotesque or two. And an apsidal vestry with a conical roof that was tacked on in 1858. The vestry carries a date plaque with the cross of St Andrew and is riddled with asbestos.
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St Andrew’s is a church that rewards patient, careful looking. Look that the bell-cote crowning the gable: it’s a mini triple arch structure that replicates the triple arch detail found along the south elevation.
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Some people think the grotesques are reminiscent of Easter Island figures, others see Lego blocks but to me they are ultra-modern, stylised Norman beakheads. I love looking at them, and can’t wait to get up and learn if they were individually carved or mass-moulded.
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We have a LOT of repairs to do here. The church has been languishing on this busy roadside for over a decade. But we’re delighted that we could take it into our ownership, and will keep you updated on repairs and discoveries as we progress.
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As ever, no one pays us to take on these churches. We do it with membership subscriptions and donations. Our members and donors saved this church. So, thank you.
This diminutive figure in a cloak and cap is Mary Flint, the 'female parish clerk of Caldecote'. She performed the role diligently for 18 years until her death in 1838, aged 82.
As a woman parish clerk in the 19th century, Mary was rare, but not unique.
Several other women broke with convention and dared to perform the essential duties of traditionally male parochial offices.
Some of them continued the work of their late husbands, but in one parish in Norfolk, there were simply no literate men available to do the job!
We’ve been delving into historic newspapers and found that reactions to women parish clerks and churchwardens ranged from admiration and respect, to disapproval, condescension and ridicule.
Rounded chips of ironstone are pressed into the mortar between masonry. Known as galleting, it’s practical and decorative. Though as the nickname suggests, some also believed the dark pebbles duped and deterred evil spirits.
Galleting isn’t unique to this Sussex chapel or even to the county. It’s a technique widespread across centuries. In some areas, you might find sharp shards of flint packing out the mortar joints. In coastal regions oyster shells were shimmied in between stone and brickwork.
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For a long time, it was thought that galleting was purely decorative – and some schemes are clearly very pretty. However, it’s now believed that it had a practical function too, by increasing compressive strength and reducing the probability of lime mortar shrinkage.
For some time we’ve wondered what was depicted in the top quatrefoil of the west window at St Mary’s, Llanfair Kilgeddin. It wasn’t until we erected a scaffold to mend some storm damage that we saw this medieval, apparitional, fractured face of Christ looking out at us.
When most people think of this Monmouthshire church, they think of the Arts & Crafts sgraffito murals, in which scenes from the hymn of creation flow over the walls.
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So thorough were the two 19th-century restorations, first by John Dando Sedding and then by Heywood Sumner, that it’s hard to find traces of the medieval church.
In a cobwebbed corner of St Decuman's in Rhoscrowther, Pembrokeshire you'll find a rusted safe made by Parnall & Sons of Bristol.
The story of this creative and ever-adapting company encompasses major historical events and trends of the 20th century …
Founded by William Parnall in 1820 on Narrow Wine Street, Bristol, Parnall & Sons sold weights and measures but soon expanded their range with shop fittings and other shopkeeping equipment. By the 1880s they were the largest shop-fitting company in the country with 10k employees.
Before long, they were producing entire shop-fronts, including glass and ironwork.
But they didn't stop there!
During WW1 this enterprising firm supported the war effort by designing and manufacturing sea planes & aeroplanes — like the Parnell Panther.
St Giles’s, Tadlow is a medieval church that had a restoration by The Ecclesiologists’ poster-boy William Butterfield in the 1870s. And this week, in the roof void, we found a painted paper and plaster panel with Butterfield’s original scheme for the chancel ceiling.
We had no reason to doubt that the stencilled timber ceiling wasn’t part of the Victorian restoration. It’s pretty and suits the space. However, during re-roofing, our contractor (Brown & Ralph) noted that there was a failed lath and plaster ceiling over the timber ceiling.
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They were clearing out the debris, which was adding weigh to the timber, when out came this panel! It’s a pattern painted on to paper and glued to the plaster. … cheaper than stencilling, I suppose.
Born Mary Abra Hughes Skyrme (only child of the Portreeve of Laugharne & High Sheriff of Cardiganshire) she inherited her father's estate at a young age, becoming one of Laugharne's wealthiest residents. All of these properties and parcels of land were hers. (tithe map @NLWales)
Abra's accounts show that she once paid for a sedan chair to take her 100 yards down the road from her home, Island House, to the Globe Inn!
An independent woman of means, she stayed single until the age of 45, when she married local gentleman farmer and JP Frederick Wienholt.