Interregnum

Tags

benefice, church, retirement of our priest, Suffolk, the Suffolk Saints

On Thursday Richard, our Rector retired.

Richard was with us for sixteen and a half years and looked after us well.  We are a large (in area) benefice consisting of eleven parishes with eleven ancient churches; and I really mean ancient!  Richard not only worked very hard to keep all these unique churches going despite many set-backs but also at the same time, managed to get us to think of ourselves as a team; a ‘federation’ of parishes.  We help each other out whenever possible.  He gave us thought-provoking sermons each week.  His constant message was that all people are equal in the sight of God and all should have equal rights and opportunities.  He is a fairly shy and self-effacing man but who also would not put up with thoughtless, careless and bad behaviour from anyone.  He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of films and often quoted from them in his sermons.  He is a talented artist and has also written a book about a pilgrimage he made in France.  He can also tell the most awful and funny jokes!   He supported all our individual fund-raising efforts and provided us and our churches with all sorts of different things that have been of invaluable service.  He cleaned, polished, mended, tidied and adorned our church buildings.  He designed our website and kept it up-to-date.  He edited our benefice magazine and often wrote most of the copy, got people to advertise in it and sent it off to be printed.  He ran a coffee morning once a month in his home and made marmalade, cakes and breads for us.  He fought on our behalf with anyone who tried to make our lives more difficult.  He researched the history of all our churches and was extremely knowledgeable about their architecture.  At the centenary of the start of World War I he presented each of our churches with a Remembrance folder containing information on all the men (and women) from each parish who are mentioned on the war memorials.

This is only a fraction of all he has done for us.  Like children, we accepted it all and often took him for granted.  We now have to fend for ourselves for goodness knows how long.

Richard’s last service was the mid-week said Eucharist at 9.00 am on Thursday at Ilketshall St Margaret’s church.  Usually, there are less than ten people who attend this service.  This Thursday the church was nearly full with representatives from most of the churches in the benefice.  Richard asked us where we’d all been for the past 16 years!  A good question!  After the service we presented him with a gift and sang happy birthday to him.  We had sherry to drink and Pam had made a delicious fruit cake.  We chatted and laughed and then it was over.

Looking towards the East end of the church. Some of the people at Richard’s last service.

Looking towards the back of the church. You can see Richard in the centre of this photo.

Goodbye and good luck, Richard.  We will miss you very much.

A Quiet Spring – March and April Part 1

Tags

birds, churches, flowers, garden, insects, spring, Suffolk, sunset

We weren’t very adventurous this spring, staying close to home and taking things easy, so there wasn’t too much to blog about.

A visit to St Michael’s church on the first mild spring day in March

We admired the ‘Narnia’ lamp post by the gate.

We were unable to tell the time as the sun failed to shine.

The peaceful churchyard.

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris ) The flowers are in the centre of the bloom and have no petals. The 5 – 8 petal-like sepals are bright shiny yellow.

Peacock butterfly (Inachis io)  It was very sluggish and was still in the grass outside the church when we came out again.

A pair of Greylags (Anser anser) took up residence in our garden as they usually do each spring

We enjoy their company.

They constructed a nest on the island in the middle of the big pond but after ten days it was abandoned.  Feathers were spread everywhere. We don’t know what happened but we suspect an otter or an American mink was to blame.

The abandoned nest.

After we lost our summerhouse in the storm earlier this year we spent some time clearing the area behind it and discovered this tree with the deformed trunk. What could have caused this?

We enjoy seeing all the birds that visit our garden including the Pied Wagtails (Motacilla alba). Not a good shot as the bird hurried into the dappled shade just as I took its picture.

A sunset seen from the back of the house.

On a visit to our church at Rumburgh we saw this Mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) resting in the shade of a gravestone.

Primroses (Primula vulgaris) in the churchyard

I love the informality of our country churchyards and I like to see the wild flowers there. The wild flowers are just as much God’s work as any garden flower or exotic bloom.  They have a haven in our churchyards and should be safe from herbicides.

Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis)

Richard on his way to church

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Meanwhile, back in my garden…..

My Pieris with its new leaves of red and its little white bell flowers

I have been growing these hyacinth bulblets on in shallow tubs and they are now ready for planting out in the garden to flower next spring.

 

Scented narcissi and pink aubretia

Elinor gave me some more aubretia, a mauve variety, as a gift on Mothering Sunday

Lathyrus and scilla

Pasque flowers. These began flowering just a couple of days after Easter Sunday.

I had a large patch of these red saxifrage but the deer scraped most of them up. I’m hoping they will spread again.

My music choice is ‘Glorious’ sung by The Pierces

Thanks for visiting!

Easter Day

Tags

Diary, Easter, eating out, Hot Cross Buns, St. Peter and St. Paul Eye, St. Peter's church St. Peter South Elmham

Happy Easter everyone!

St. Peter’s church, St. Peter South Elmham

Richard attended Holy Communion this morning at the church of St. Peter in the village of St. Peter South Elmham.  He kindly took this photograph for me on his phone.

I attended Solemn Mass this morning at the church of St. Peter and St. Paul in the town of Eye.  I was unable to take any photos as I was busy helping my mother so this link may give you an idea of where I was.  One day I intend to write a post about the church at Eye.

During Holy Week we did manage to do a few things on top of all the church-going.  We visited Norwich on Tuesday so that Elinor could revisit the exhibition of dolls’ houses currently on display at the Castle Museum.  She decided that this was the exhibition she wanted to review for her college interview this coming Wednesday and she needed to check up on a few details and take some more photos.  While we were in the city we did some Easter shopping and had an extremely pleasant lunch at the Iron House.

On the way home I stopped off in Bungay to get some more shopping and to order some flowers for the church to be collected on Holy Saturday.

On Wednesday I took my mother out shopping in Diss and she gave me a dozen Hot Cross Buns she had made which I put in the freezer when I got home.  Richard and I went to Rumburgh church to tidy it a little before the service that evening.  The building works have nearly finished but the dust is still settling on everything.  The churchyard is full of cowslips!

Rumburgh churchyard

Rumburgh churchyard

We drove back home and then walked to the corner of the lane to admire all the Jacob sheep and their lambs.

Jacob sheep and lambs

Jacob sheep and lambs

Jacob sheep and lambs

Jacob sheep and lambs

Thursday was quite busy.  After the early church service I went into Halesworth to pick up some things I needed and spent some time in town.  We  had organised a team cleaning session at Rumburgh church for 2 pm but only five people managed to attend – Richard the Rector, Pam and Ian (the other Churchwarden and his wife), Richard and I.  We all worked hard for two and a half hours and the church is clean and tidy again with everything back where it should be.  We got rid of a lot of rubbish and moved some furniture about too.

Before going out again that evening I managed to wash two altar cloths and a table cloth from the church.  They dried quickly in the strong, cold breeze that has been blowing all the week.

Church washing

Friday was Hot Cross Bun Day!

One of my mother’s excellent Hot Cross Buns. They are split, toasted and then buttered.

Not only did we have buns at home but the Rector held a tea at his house after the last service of the day.  It was very well attended, much food and drink was consumed and a lot of talking and gossiping was done!

We got a little much needed rain later but unfortunately, just as it started at 5.15 pm we got yet another power-cut which lasted until after 9.30 pm.  A power cable was hit by a branch again!  I had nothing suitable to cook on the gas hob for our evening meal so we went out to Bungay and had a pizza at the Stonehouse.

I went back to Bungay on Saturday morning to collect the flowers I had ordered and to  buy some wrapping paper for presents for my mother whose 87th birthday is tomorrow.  I also had to take a large parcel to the post office.

Today we went to the Fox and Goose in Fressingfield for lunch to celebrate both Easter and Mum’s birthday.  It was a lovely meal, enjoyed by all of us and then Mum came home with us for the afternoon.  The rain that was forecast for today held off until the afternoon so we didn’t get wet.

We have eaten out much more than usual this week, and very nice it has been too!

Thanks very much to you all for visiting my blog!

Doris Remembered

Tags

church renovations, damage, Diary, garden flowers, home improvements, lay-led worship training, Mothering Sunday, power cuts, quizzes, Storm 'Doris', Suffolk

I arranged to visit Alice in Sheffield on Thursday 23rd February, spend the night in a hotel and return home again the following day.  What I hadn’t expected when I bought the train tickets and booked the hotel room was a visit from ‘Doris’ that day too.  For those who don’t know who ‘Doris’ is (or who might have forgotten), ‘Doris’ was a storm that caused some disruption here.  Fortunately, my journey went ahead with no problems other than a speed restriction.  Alice met me at the station and we decided to have lunch together before I went to my hotel.  We nearly got blown off our feet on the way to the café, the door of which kept blowing open while we ate, but we weren’t inconvenienced too much by this.  I spent a lovely afternoon with Alice either chatting in my hotel room, drinking tea in another coffee shop or buying books.

While I was enjoying myself, Richard and Elinor were having quite an unpleasant time at home.  The power went off at about 2 pm and in the garden a few of our belongings started flying through the air despite Richard having tried to make them safe before the storm began.

I wonder if any of you remember how pleased we were when we got our new summerhouse last year?  Here is a photo of it.

Our summerhouse when it was new last February.

The summerhouse after the storm this February.

The wind ripped the roof off and the rest of the building just broke apart.  A number of trees in the area were blown over and roads were blocked.  When I got back to Norwich the following afternoon Richard was a little delayed when collecting me from the station by having to make detours to avoid blocked roads.  The power was still off when I got home and the house was cold.  Richard and Elinor had coped very well using the gas hob to cook meals and heat water for hot drinks and washing up.  They had sat together the evening before in front of the gas fire listening to the battery-powered radio by candlelight.  We often get power-cuts living where we do, though not as many as we used to do before the power company changed the cables and started regular cutting-back of tree branches that are too close to the cables.  Having said that, we have had six power-cuts of at least an hour this year already.  We keep a supply of candles and lamps ready and have torches in all the bedrooms and in the kitchen, utility room and garage.  We have a portable gas heater as well as the gas fire and gas hob.  We can also use the caravan which has a large battery and a gas supply.

Fortunately, the power came back on later that day.  I was very grateful for it as we were expecting my cousin Beverley and her partner Jeremy to visit the following day for an evening meal.  I didn’t have the time to prepare all the things I had hoped to, but at least the house was warm and the evening was great fun!

We have been able to claim for a new summerhouse on our insurance and our replacement arrived on Monday of this week.  We got an identical summerhouse which had to be put where the old one was which is a little worrying, knowing how quickly it succumbed to the storm-force winds.  Richard will bolt it to the concrete base and try to make it somewhat sturdier.  We will see what we can do.  We lost our old incinerator during the storm and wondered how far it had travelled, but once Richard had taken photos of the wreck and started to clear up the glass and the panels he found it squashed as flat as a pancake underneath one of the sections.  I am grateful neither Richard nor Elinor got squashed under it!

Here is our new summerhouse. Spot the difference!

Our new internal doors were due to be fitted that week in February but the storm put paid to that, and, because of storm damage the carpenter had to deal with, we didn’t get the doors until nearly a fortnight later.  We are very pleased with them.  They look good, they are more sound-proof than the old ones and the doors downstairs are now glazed and let much needed light into the hall.  The sliding door to the en-suite WC has been replaced with a better one and the sliding door to the downstairs shower-room has been replaced with an ordinary door which is so much nicer.  We will now employ a painter and decorator to decorate the hall, stairs and landing and to paint all twelve doors (we replaced the airing cupboard door too).

ooOOoo

Richard and I have attended a Lay-led Worship Training Course at a church in Beccles.  To enable us to keep our churches open, the way forward is for us, the members of the church to take the services ourselves if there is no priest to lead us.   This will be very useful to us when our Rector retires in the summer.  The four-part course was interesting and well-attended and it gave us the opportunity to meet people from other churches in the Deanery.  Our Deanery is made up of a number of benefices from Halesworth, Bungay, Beccles, Southwold and the villages in-between.

ooOOoo

We have carried on with the usual round of duties and chores; hospital visits, blood tests, appointments with opticians, hairdressers, acupuncturists and chiropractors; housework, gardening, shopping.  We have all had bad colds.  I continue to take my mother to church once a fortnight and join Richard at church in our benefice when I can.

Richard went to visit his brother Chris in Manchester for a few days recently and had a very pleasant time.  On his return we took part in two quizzes.  Last year we had been in a team that had won the quiz held in the village of Walpole.  Part of the ‘prize’ was the honour of composing and presenting the following year’s quiz and Richard offered to take it on.  The time for the quiz duly arrived and he did a fantastic job as Quizmaster (I was his assistant) and he was presented with a bottle of wine as a thank-you gift.  The following night we were at the village of St James taking part in the quiz to raise funds for the Harleston Choral Society.  A meal was included in the fees – very good it was, too – and the questions appealed to me more than usual as there were more music ones and fewer sport! Our team managed to win again.

ooOOoo

We celebrated Mothering Sunday on the 26th of March and it was our church at Rumburgh’s turn to hold the service.  I helped make a few posies to present to the mothers or for people to give to their mothers or take to graves.  Though we have no flowers in church during Lent I was asked to provide some flowers to put in the porch.

The flowers in the porch.  Looking at this little work of art, you may be surprised to know I am not a flower-arranger 😉  The flowers are lovely in spite of my ministrations. As you can see, the porch is in urgent need of work. If nothing is done soon, the porch will collapse and we won’t be able to use the church.

The church was a little disorganised because we are having a tower screen fitted at the moment and there was dust everywhere.  We have been saving for years for this improvement!  We put everyone as near the front of the church as possible (well away from the building works) sitting in the choir stalls, which was very pleasant.  Richard our Rector chose lots of good hymns and his sermon was amusing and instructive.  I brought my mother to our church for a change and took her back home afterwards.  I couldn’t ask her to lunch because I had no time to prepare a midday meal but she came for an evening meal instead.

This is the new tower screen. You can see the framework for the glass which has yet to be put in. There will be a glazed door at the bottom of the screen.

We will now be able to see and watch the bell-ringers as they ring before our services.

ooOOoo

I will end this rather wordy post with some photos of the flowers in our garden starting with my favourite iris reticulata that bloomed for too short a time in February.

Miniature iris

Miniature iris

Miniature iris

Miniature irises

Crocus

Crocus

Crocus

Mahonia

Mahonia with a bumblebee

Winter-flowering honeysuckle

Miniature daffodils

My music selection is ‘Handle With Care’ by the Traveling Wilburys.

Thanks for visiting!

Slightly Newer News!

Tags

bird-scare cannons, Christmas box, crocus, Cymbidium orchids, dandelion, Diary, Germander Speedwell, Homersfield church, mallards, miniature iris, Periwinkle, primroses, snow, snowdrops, St Mary's church Homersfield, Suffolk, sweet violets, walking, winter-flowering honeysuckle

We had a dusting of snow five weeks ago

This is the view from our spare bedroom window.  We had had a few days of snow showers but nothing had settled until we woke on the Sunday morning to this.  Up until a few years ago we got snow every winter, sometimes a lot of snow; but not now.

Homersfield church is dedicated to St Mary

Richard and I went to church together that Sunday.

Here he is, looking very Russian!

Homersfield church is beautifully situated on a bluff above the River Waveney with its water meadows and marshes.  My favourite approach to it is up a track through woodland.

The churchyard. Beyond the trees the land drops away steeply.

Homersfield churchyard looking towards the woodland where we park our car.

The woodland with snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis)

Snowdrops

The snow had all gone by the end of the day and the beginning of the following week was mild and sunny.

Richard and I went out for a short walk down the lane.  He can’t walk too far as yet so we weren’t able to do our usual circuit route but it was good to be out together.

We have been listening to bird-scaring cannons going off at intervals every day, from dawn til dusk since the middle of autumn. Wood pigeons do considerable damage to leafy crops such as oil-seed rape.

Bare trees and a see-through hedge

Further up the lane was the sheltered bank of a ditch on which I found a number of tiny plants.  They had begun flowering in the milder weather we had had that week.

Primrose (Primula vulgaris) plants

Primrose.  This is a ‘thrum-eyed’ primrose flower.  If you look at the centre of the flower you see its long stamens, the short stigma is hidden below.  A ‘pin-eyed’ primrose has a long stigma visible and its short stamens are concealed.  I will see if I can find a ‘pin-eye’ flower so you can compare the two.

Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)

Dandelion (Taraxacum agg.)

Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum)

An oak tree in a hedgerow. A dead branch has broken and is dangling from the tree.  You cannot see it in this photo but a single track road runs this side of the hedge.

The signpost at the end of the lane

Field view

Field view

We stood for a while and looked across the fields; we tried to walk a little further towards the village of St James but Richard soon knew he would be too tired if he went any further.  We turned for home.

Our muddy lane

Our muddy lane

Our muddy lane

For many months of the year our lane is covered with a thick layer of mud.  Our cars are perpetually filthy and walking is a messy business!

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) on our pond.

I know it is spring once I start to see pairs of Mallards on our pond! We have also been visited by our Graylag geese friends and yet again we realise we have failed to clear the the willow and bramble scrub off the island they like to nest on.

I was pleased that my Cymbidium orchids flowered from Christmas until just a week ago.

They had produced seven spikes of flowers altogether, which is the best ever!

Here is a slideshow of the flowers in bloom in my garden during February.

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My music choice is ‘Laudate Dominum’ by Mozart and sung by Emma Kirkby.  I have been fortunate to have heard Emma Kirkby sing on two occasions, in recitals held at the church in my mother’s village.

Thanks for visiting!

Old News

Tags

Black Spleenwort, family, hazel catkins, primrose, Rumburgh Church, Sainsbury Centre, snowdrops, spring, St Michael and St Felix Church Rumburgh, Suffolk, University of East Anglia, witch-hazel

It is over a month since I last wrote a diary post.  We haven’t done very much in that time but the days are getting longer and there are signs of spring in the garden and hedgerows.

Witch hazel

Witch hazel

Witch hazel

ooOOoo

The central elements on our old toaster had stopped working so we have bought ourselves a new toaster and this new one manages to toast both sides of a slice of bread at the same time!  It has a ‘bagel button’ (though as I have never eaten a bagel I think I would prefer to call it a ‘teacake button’) which toasts one side and warms the other.  We can now re-live the old toaster experience, except in reverse.

Snowdrops in bud

ooOOoo

Another excitement has been the emptying and repair of the septic tank.  Only those of you who do not have mains sewage can truly relate to this.  The tank was well overdue for emptying and we knew it needed repairing a year ago but we have been let down by our usual contractor and have had to find someone new.  The new contractor arrived and did what he had to do and was efficient and professional.  An added bonus, as far as we were concerned, was the wind direction on the day.

Hazel catkins in the hedge

ooOOoo

We have decided to have all our internal doors replaced and a carpenter has visited and priced up the job for us.  He will be doing the work over three days next week.  Richard will then have to spend quite a lot of time painting the doors, as well as all the skirting boards and the banisters.  We hope to redecorate the hall, stairs and landing and get a new carpet some time in the next few months.

I’m not sure how many hazel nuts we will have on this tree this year. The female flowers have appeared before the male catkins have matured.

ooOOoo

At the very end of January we had a morning prayer service at our church of St Michael and St Felix at Rumburgh.  The day before the service Richard and I called in at the church to make sure everything was tidy and to set the heating to come on well before the service.  It was a cold day but inside the church was even colder than out in the open!

I found the first rather bedraggled primroses of the year in a sheltered spot in the churchyard.

I also found my first snowdrops of the year

Rumburgh gravestone

This gravestone has a skull engraved on it.  Richard was asked to see if it was still in the graveyard recently as there had been a report that it might have gone missing.

The west door, which isn’t used anymore.

The west window

Work will start on March the 20th on the new tower screen in the church.  We have been saving for years and years to get the work done and at last it is about to happen.  Once the screen is in place the tower will be shut off from the body of the church and we hope it might be less draughty and warmer.

Black Spleenwort (Asplenium adiantum-nigrum) growing in the mortar on the wall of the church

ooOOoo

Elinor has now left the City College but we hope this is only a temporary thing.  As I mentioned in my last diary post she wants to enrol on a one year Art and Design course for older students and has therefore filled out the application form.  We have been notified that the college has received the form and I hope we will hear that Elinor has an interview soon.  At the interview she will be expected to hand in a review of an exhibition she has been to see recently and with that in mind, we went to the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich and viewed an exhibition of 20th century Japanese photography.  Photography was not allowed in the exhibition hall but there is a large collection of world art on display in the main gallery, most of the exhibits donated by Lord and Lady Sainsbury.

Below are my favourites from the main gallery.

Edgar Degas – Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

Edgar Degas – Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

A beautiful Benin bronze – the Head of an Oba; early 16th century

Henry Moore – Mother and Child

Whistling bottles from Equador – one in the shape of an owl and the other is a bird sitting on eggs or pods.  Both 1000 – 100 BC

Another couple of exhibits from Equador

Sketch for a Portrait of Lisa by Francis Bacon

Standing Jizo Bosatsu – Japan (1185-1333)

The top exhibit with the ram’s head is a backstrap from a sword or dagger hilt – India late 17th century The lower exhibit is an archer’s thumb-ring in the form of a bird – India 17th – 18th century

Left rear – Image of the Goddess Kaumari, India 17th century.   Right rear – Shiva as Chandrashekharamurti, South India c. AD 1100.   Front centre – Figure of Chamunda Devi, Nepal/Tibet 17th/18th century

Walking Hippopotamus – Egypt c. 1880 BC

The Sainsbury Centre.  One of the first major buildings designed by Sir Norman Foster, it was completed in 1978.

It is a steel clad building with one face almost entirely glazed.

By the late 80’s the collection had grown so much that Foster was asked to design an extension. He decided to build underground and this is one of the entrances to it.

The new basement has a curved glass frontage that emerges from the slope underneath the original building overlooking the man-made lake.  This new wing can only be seen from the lake but as it was very muddy there and beginning to go dark on a very gloomy day, I was unable to photograph it.

The University of East Anglia’s grounds looking towards the lake

Part of the university. There are many items of sculpture to be seen here.

Another Henry Moore sculpture

The University has an excellent creative writing department and many well known writers have studied here. Tracy Chevalier; Kazuo Ishiguro; Ian McEwan; Rose Tremain – to name but a few.

My music choice today is a song from Katie Melua.

Thanks for visiting!

St John Maddermarket

Tags

churches in Norwich, Norwich, St John Maddermarket, St John the Baptist, The Churches Conservation Trust

This is one of my occasional posts about Norwich.

Last summer, as I wandered about in Norwich while Elinor was at college, I saw that the church of St John Maddermarket was open and so took the opportunity to look inside.

This lane is Pottergate and the church of St John Maddermarket is on the right of the photo. The black and white building next to the church is The Belgian Monk pub

St John Maddermarket, dedicated to St John the Baptist, closed for Anglican worship on 31st December 1981 and for the following eight years was used by the Greek Orthodox Church.  It is now cared for by The Churches’ Conservation Trust.  Madder flowers were used to make red dye for the flourishing cloth industry in medieval Norwich but there is no evidence to prove that there ever was a maddermarket  in the city.

St John’s church, the Belgian Monk pub and St John’s Alley in-between them.

St John Maddermarket

The processional way (St John’s Alley) goes through the base of the tower. The pub is on the left of the photo and the Maddermarket theatre can be seen at the far end of the passageway.

In writing this post I realised that I needed a few more photos to illustrate some of the things I wanted to say about this church.  I called in at the church again on Tuesday 17th January and took most of the pictures I wanted.

The processional arch under the tower has a rib vault with carved bosses 

The Maddermarket Theatre was founded in 1921 by Walter Nugent Monck who, during that decade was one of the first people to re-create a Shakespearean stage.

There is a memorial in St John’s church to Walter Monck 1878-1958 (one photo I forgot to take!)

St John Maddermarket

Note the raised burial ground.  In the 16th and 17th centuries there were many complaints about graveyards like this one.  Because of the confined space allowed for burial there were often too many bodies with too little earth to cover them!  This graveyard contains the Crabtree headstone which has a pre-Christian symbol of the Ouroboros carved on it.  An Ouroboros is a serpent eating its own tail.

The Crabtree headstone with the Ouroboros at the top on the left. There are other strange markings on this headstone which I think are Masonic.  Why the headstone for Mary and Mary Ann Crabtree should have these markings on it, I have no idea!  I couldn’t see all of it as the churchyard is permanently locked and this is the view I got over the wall.

Wall of St John’s churchyard

William Shakespeare’s friend William Kempe, the comic actor, had an argument with Shakespeare and in trying to upstage him wagered that he could morris-dance all the way from London to Norwich (about 100 miles) in nine days.  He managed to do it (though with a few days rest in-between the days of dancing) and on his arrival he jumped the wall of St John’s churchyard.   He wrote about it in his book ‘A Nine Daies Wonder’.

Entrance to the church through the south porch. The door to the north porch was open so a view of the lane beyond the church can be seen

Inside the church, looking out through the south porch door

Looking towards the altar from the back of the church

The eye is drawn to the imposing Georgian baldachin (canopy) over the high altar which is supported on columns.  I’m not at all sure I like it there very much; it seems too big and heavy for the church it is in.  William Busby who was Rector of this church from 1898-1923, assembled a large collection of church furnishings and this canopy was part of the collection.  It was made for another Norwich church (St Miles, Coslany) and brought to St John’s in 1917.  It obscures the Gothic revival reredos (decoration behind the altar) which had been installed in 1863, and part of the east window.  The east window itself (i.e. not the glass) dates from about 1325 and is older than the rest of the church.  It was possibly taken from a former chancel.

A closer view of the baldachin and high altar

Here you can see how ornate the carving on the baldachin is.

This is the ledger stone in memory of ‘Dame Rebecca the deservedly beloved consort of S. Benj. Wrench Knt. Dr. of Physick, of whose singular virtues in every relation of life, the remembrance of surviving freinds (sic) is the amplest testimony and the best monument.  After thirty-six years happily spent in the conjugal state she departed this life the 4th day of March 1727 in the 59th year of her age’.

The nave roof is basically medieval but was heavily restored in 1876 after it was damaged in a gas explosion. It probably has a hammer-beam roof but ribbed plaster coving hides the hammer-beams.  There are angels at the edge of the coving.

The ribbed coving and an angel holding a shield. The stop at the bottom of the photo also has an angel.

This angel has traces of gold paint still upon it. Just imagine how bright the church must have been when new!

Another angel with traces of paint on it.

Carved head on an arch stop

Roof boss

The lectern was made in the 18th century. It revolves.

Here is the pulpit, made in 1863. The banner inviting us to climb up and read aloud is for the benefit of the many school visits they have.

The pulpit has a sounding board above it which may be 17th century.

The sounding board hanging above the pulpit. It helped the preacher’s voice carry round the church.

The Lady Chapel

The roof of the Lady Chapel in the south aisle is painted

A detail from the painted ceiling.

Another ledger stone. “Beneath are deposited the remains of Mary, wife of Thos. Rawlins architect. A woman of strict virtue. Borne down with a long series of affliction. Resign’d her soul to Him that gave it. On the 31st of August 1785 aged 65 years. Also the above Thos. Rawlins who died March 18th 1789 in the 63rd year of his age”.

A wall monument to Alderman Thomas Sotherton and his wife Frances with their children kneeling behind them.

Another Sotherton family monument, this time for Nicolas and Agnes Sotherton.  They had six sons and five daughters.  Nicolas was a grocer who amassed a great fortune and owned much property in the city.  He died in 1540.

Monument to Christopher Layer (died 1600) and his wife Barbara (died 1604). There are personifications of Pax, Vanitas, Gloria and Labor on the uprights at the side of the monument.  See here for a full description

Three wall monuments and the beautiful clerestory windows above

This is the centre monument from the photo above. It is to The Virtuous Lady Margaret Duchess of Norfolk 

There’s quite a crowd of wives in this grave!  Margaret, Rebekah 1 and Rebekah 2; the first, second and third wives of William Barnham, as well as his daughter Elizabeth!

The North Chapel dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament with its wood panelling

Stained glass

Stained glass

Because of the gas explosion in the 19th century most of the stained glass in the church is from the 19th and 20th centuries.  The window pictured above on the right has many fragments of the medieval glass that were rescued after the accident.  Fortunately, no-one was killed or even badly injured in the explosion despite it happening during choir practice.

A closer view of the pieces of old glass.

The font at the back of the church dates from the 1860’s.

This beautifully made gallery was erected in 1912 and has made the west bay at the rear of the church into a narthax (antechamber)

The north and south porches, which are inside the body of the church, are at either end of this narthax.  The craftsman responsible for the gallery lived just a few yards from the church and made it in the Jacobean style.  (The Jacobean era was named after King James I and covered the first quarter of the 17th century – 1600-1625).  The choir sang from the gallery.

Stairs up to the gallery.  On the left is one of the brasses from the church which were removed from the floor during one of the many re-organisations of the church.

Apparently, there is also a room above one of the porches (I think) which has information on all the servicemen in the parish who lost their lives in the First World War.

Brasses from the church damaged in the explosion

Brasses from the church damaged in the explosion

A monumental brass that is still in situ in the centre aisle.  I believe this is to Ralph Segrym (d. 1472) MP 1449, Mayor 1451 and his wife. 

A monumental brass in the north chapel to John Todenham (c.1450) in civilian dress with inscription and scroll  

The wonderful rib-vault in the north porch

The north porch has much thicker walls than the rest of the church and many people think this is because it might be all that remains of the Anglo Saxon church which stood on the site before the current church was built.  The doorway is much more ornate than the south porch door.  (Another missed photo!)

Photograph of a panel depicting St Agatha and St William of Norwich

Photograph of a panel depicting St Leonard and St Catherine

Both these panels came from St John Maddermarket and are now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77491/st-agatha-holding-pincers-and-panel-unknown/

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O131973/st-leonard-with-crozier-and-panel-unknown/

These panels were commissioned by Ralph Segrym whose memorial brass I have commented on above.  If you are interested in clicking on the links to the panels, I recommend you subsequently click on the ‘Further Information’ button.

All photographs are mine.

Information gleaned from a conversation with a Churches Conservation Trust officer at the church and also from the following books:

The Medieval Churches of the City of Norwich – Nicholas Groves

The Little Book of Norwich – Neil R Storey

Norwich – Stephen Browning

Churches Conservation Trust Church Tour leaflet

 

Thanks for visiting!

Plough Blessing Service 2017

Tags

Blessing the Plough, church service, folk dance, Molly Men, Old Glory, Plough Monday, Plough Sunday, Rumburgh, St Felix and St Michael's church Rumburgh, Suffolk

Those of you who have been reading my posts for a while will recognise the title of this one.  Every year my church of St Felix and St Michael at Rumburgh holds a special Plough Blessing service on the first Sunday after Epiphany.   Epiphany is on the 6th of January and celebrates the arrival of the Wise Men who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus.  The first Sunday after Epiphany is Plough Sunday and the following day is Plough Monday when traditionally, work on the land is recommenced after the Christmas break.  These days there is no real break for Christmas and farm workers do not suffer from the terrible poverty they did in former times though they are still not very highly-paid.  Here is a link to the ‘Old Glory’ site of our local Molly Men.  Please take time to look at all their pages if you can.

The decorated plough in the nave of the church

The decorated plough

I enjoy this short service each year.  In it, we look forward to spring, summer and harvest and pray that not only will there be enough warmth and rain to grow the crops but that we will not take anything for granted and will thank God for his care of us.  We don’t just pray for ourselves but for all farmers throughout the world.  Each component of the plough is blessed – the beam, the mouldboard, the slade, the sidecap, the share and the coulters.

I love the words from the prayer of gratitude.

From God comes every good and perfect gift:  

The rich soil, the smell of the fresh-turned earth.

The keenness of a winter’s frost and our breath steaming.

The hum of the tractor, the gleam of a cutting edge.

The beauty of a clean-cut furrow, the sweep of a well-ploughed field.

The hymn at the end of the service is ‘We Plough the Fields, and Scatter…’

During Harvest-tide we get a little tired of singing this hymn as all the churches in our benefice have their own harvest service and the hymn is very popular, especially with the farming families.  However, singing it at this time of year, so gloomy and cold as it is, gives hope and cheer so we all sing with gusto!

The plough and some of the costumes of the Molly Men.

The plough is left in the church over-night and is ready to be processed down the lane to the pub the next evening on Plough Monday.  There are no street lights here and the nights are black at this time of the year.  Flaming torches are carried to light the way.  This year they won’t be accompanied by the church bells which will be silent out of respect to one of the ringers who died suddenly a few days ago.

Here is a film made in 2010 of the procession of Old Glory with the plough from the church to the Rumburgh ‘Buck’ pub.

Thanks for visiting!

King Street, Norwich

Tags

Alan Road, Albion Mill, Ber Street, Berstrete Gates pub, Bracondale, Carrow Hill, City Wall, close studded timber framing, Crystal House, Dragon Hall, King Street, Music House, Norwich, Norwich Castle, River Wensum, Southgate Lane, St Etheldreda's Artists' Studios, St John the Baptist church, St John-de-Sepulchre church, St Julian's Church, The Black Tower, The Wilderness Tower, Timberhill, walking, Wensum Lodge

A view of Norwich Cathedral’s spire beyond the market

One bright morning last spring I decided to take another walk through the city.  I started at the Market and made my way towards the Castle.

Norwich Castle seen from Castle Gardens

On the wall outside the castle I found these plaques which tell a story.  I will have to go into the castle one day and find out who wrote the lines and who designed the plaques.  I am put off by the entrance fee of £8.80 though!

If you read the comments you will now see that Simon Nott from Quercuscommunity has supplied all the information I needed with this link

http://www.racns.co.uk/sculptures.asp?action=getsurvey&id=838

Thank-you, Simon!

Just opposite the Castle in Cattle Market Street I found this interesting yard.

A warehouse yard with workshops.

The warehouse is part of a Grade II Listed building which was originally constructed as a showroom for Holmes and Sons who manufactured and sold agricultural machinery.  The front of the building is mainly glass in an iron framework made in a lily pattern design and was inspired by the Crystal Palace (built by Paxton) to house the Great Exhibition of 1851.  This building is known as the Crystal House.  I believe there have been plans to convert the building into apartments.

Photo of Waring’s Furniture shop (the Crystal House) taken this April

I walked from the Crystal House in Cattle Market Street, down Rouen Road and into St Julian’s Alley where I took this photo of St Julian’s church.  I wrote something about this church and shrine a while ago as well as writing about the castle.

St Julian’s church

There is a narrow path between buildings that runs from St Julian’s Alley to King Street and in King Street is…..

Dragon Hall.

Until last year the Dragon Hall could be visited quite easily.  Now, since it has become the home of “The Writers’ Centre Norwich” it is only open for a tour once a month and I cannot find any details of when this one day a month is.  Dragon Hall is Grade I listed and dates from 1420 and is the only surviving medieval trading hall in Western Europe built by an individual.  That individual was a Robert Toppes who was elected four times Mayor of the City of Norwich.

Dragon Hall

It is made with close studded timber framing where planks of wood (studs) are placed vertically and close together to great effect.  It contained a grand hall; the ground floor rooms and the undercroft were used as storage for goods.  One of the spandrels (triangles of space between beams and braces in the roof) was intricately carved with a figure of a dragon, which is where the building’s name has come from.  I have seen a photograph and would love to see it for myself one day.

Dragon Hall

View of the River Wensum behind the Dragon Hall. Goods could easily be brought into the Hall from boats on the river.

The Dragon Hall’s main door

The King Street area was one of the first areas in Norwich to be inhabited and as it was close to the river many of the inhabitants were rich merchants.  The Dukes of Norfolk and the Howard family (Catherine Howard was Henry VIII’s fifth wife) all had houses here. John Caius, physician to Edward VI and founder of Caius College Cambridge was born here.

Music House

Just a short step up King Street is the Music House.  This was reputed to be the oldest occupied house in Norwich until recently when it was taken over by Wensum Lodge.  The first occupants were the Jurnets who were an extremely wealthy Jewish family and who lived there in the 12th century.  It became known as the Music House because during the reign of Elizabeth I it was the headquarters for the Norwich waits and minstrels.

Almost next door is…..

Wensum Lodge. The centre for Adult Education in Norwich.

Interesting old houses in King Street. These buildings are probably 400 years old with lots of adaptations made to them over the years.

New buildings were being put up next door to these old houses.  From what I could see, great care was being taken that the new construction didn’t look out of place amongst the old buildings.

St Etheldreda Artist Studios

St Etheldreda was one of the four daughters of King Anna of East Anglia.  She founded a monastery on the Isle of Ely (an example of tautology as Ely means Isle) and she died there in 679.

This is a Norman church which became dilapidated in the 19th century and was then ‘restored’ by an enthusiastic clergyman who got rid of a lot of the original features in order that an idealised ‘medieval’ church could be created.  A wall painting of St Christopher was uncovered and was copied but the original painting did not survive.  Because of extensive bomb damage during the Second World War the amount of people living in the area dropped considerably and by the 1970’s the church had become derelict. Restoration was begun in 1975 and it has now been fitted out as artists’ studios.

Albion Mill

This former mill has been converted into apartments.  You might be interested to see one of the apartments which is available for sale at the moment; a three-bedroom penthouse apartment valued at just under £1,000,000.

The building started out as a yam mill in the 1830’s but by the end of the 19th century it had become derelict.  It was bought by  Robert John Read (junior) of R J Read Ltd. in 1932 for £5,750 as he needed to expand his already thriving milling business.  He milled flour, not only local wheat but imported grain, oyster shell (for the chicken/hen trade) and maize (imported form Argentina).  He developed a flaking machine for the maize, as flaked maize was used in the stock and animal feed industry.  When Britain joined the Common Market the price of local and European wheat dropped and Read no longer imported grain.  By the late 1980’s maize was no longer imported either so the firm concentrated on wheat milling and in 1988 they were producing 5 tons of wheat an hour.  The business closed in 1993 and the site remained vacant until 2004 when it was bought along with other buildings nearby to be converted into flats and apartments.

Southgate Lane

I turned up Southgate Lane which is quite a steep climb though this isn’t easy to see in the photo.

Halfway up the hill were a couple of semi-detached cottages.

The second half of the lane had a handy handrail.

Towards the top of the hill the lane widened and one of the beautiful Victorian villas in Bracondale came into view.

This old flint wall is part of the City Wall

Here is another bit of the Wall next to the interestingly named road, Foulgers Opening.

I was now in Ber Street and this is the Berstrete Gates pub. The old Ber Street Gate in the city Wall was taken down in 1807.

St John-de-Sepulchre’s church

This church on the corner of Ber Street and Finkelgate was made redundant in 1984 and between 1986 and 2009 was used by an Eastern Orthodox congregation.

St John-de-Sepulchre’s church

Buildings in Ber Street. The nearest is a medieval house; the one next to it is rather an elegant red-brick Georgian building. Next to that is another ancient medieval house with a modern office building beyond that.

I turned back the way I had come, walked back down Ber Street and into Bracondale and then past Southgate Lane.  The next road is Carrow Hill.

The City Wall in Carrow Hill

The City Walls are very well preserved here

The Black Tower

This tower was part of the defence of the city and was traditionally the residence of the Constable.  In the 16th century it was used for plague victims and in the 18th century a snuff mill was built on top of it.  The mill was removed in the 19th century but the tower is still sometimes referred to as the Snuff Tower.  Another name is the Duke of Buckingham’s Tower though I haven’t yet found a reason for this.

The Black Tower

The Black Tower and part of the City Wall

The Wilderness Tower

This second tower is further down the steep hill.  There was never any wall built between these two towers but there are plenty of arrow slits built into the sides of the towers to enable the defenders to cover the steep hill inbetween.

The Wilderness is nicely planted with trees and shrubs and there is a wooden path and stairs that take one from the top of the hill in Carrow Hill to the bottom in Alan Road.

The Wilderness Tower

City Wall and the Wilderness Tower

Alan Road with the Wilderness Tower nearly hidden behind the trees

From Alan Road I walked along King Street to Rouen Road and from there back to the city centre.

St John the Baptist, Timberhill.

The church was originally sited just outside the Castle’s bailey.  Timberhill is to the south of the church, once an open space and the site of the timber market.

Attractive shops in Timberhill

I apologise for the length of the post.

Thanks for visiting!

Norwich – Chapel Field

Tags

Chapel Field, Chapelfield Gardens, Chapelfield Gardens Bandstand, City Walls, Cornus mas, Norwich, Roman Catholic Cathedral, St Stephen's church, The Assembly House, The Crescent, The Forum, walking

I took this short walk in Norwich on a dull cold day last spring.  I began my walk near the Assembly House.

This building was designed and built by the architect Thomas Ivory in 1794 and, as its name suggests, was a place where the local gentry could assemble and be amused and entertained by recitals, displays and dances.  One notable ball was in celebration of Nelson’s victory off the Cape of Trafalgar in 1805.  A waxworks exhibition from Madame Tussaud’s was hosted here in 1825 and Franz Liszt the composer gave a concert in 1840.  The building incorporates the layout of a previous building – the medieval college of St Mary in the Field.

The Assembly House – some more renovation work was in progress at the time of my photograph

It has been used as a dance academy, a cinema and, during the Second World War, it was an army office.  It was restored in 1995 but almost immediately afterwards was severely damaged by an electrical fire.  With the aid of photographs taken at the instigation of a trustee during WW2, the house was reconstructed and today it appears exactly as it did when it was first built.  It is used as a restaurant and hosts exhibitions, concerts, conferences and weddings, almost the same kind of use it was put to in its heyday.

The Forum

Opposite the Assembly House is the Forum, though the large entrance seen in the photo above is on the further side of the building.

Norwich’s Central Library was located on this spot until it was destroyed by fire in 1994 and this new building, designed by Sir Michael Hopkins, not only gave the library a new home but also was built to mark the Millennium in the East of England.  The main section of the building is an enclosing horseshoe shape.  It is made from hand-made load-bearing bricks and has many windows.

As well as The Millennium Library (the public library) the Forum houses a children’s library, the Norfolk Heritage Centre, the Norfolk Record Office and a business library.  The 2nd Air Division Memorial Library is also here; it pays tribute to the thousands of American airmen who were based in East Anglia during WW2.  There are over 4000 books covering all aspects of American life and culture with a specialist section dedicated to the 2nd Air Division.

Many other organisations have a base in the Forum.  BBC East has its studios in part of the building; there is a Forum shop, a café bar and a pizza restaurant.  The Tourist Information Centre is here, as is MINT – a charity which helps young people gain the skills and contacts they need to find employment.  MINT is run by City College Norwich where my daughter studies.  ‘BBC Voices’ provides film-making and radio-editing workshops throughout the Eastern Region for free.  There is a digital gallery – the Fusion Screen – which gives free screenings of work by artists, and a 120-seat auditorium called The Curve.  The Forum runs regular events and there is a venue hire facility.

Entrance to Chapelfield Gardens.

Not far from The Forum is Chapelfield Gardens which takes its name from the chapel of St Mary in the Field.  The chapel (built where the Assembly House is now) was founded in the 13th century by John le Brun and soon acquired many generous benefactors.  It became a college and the premises were expanded.  In 1406 the citizens of Norwich claimed 4.5 acres of ground that belonged to the Chapel and this land began to be called Chapel Field.  In the 16th century it was leased with its cherry yard and dove house to notable citizens and then, after a proclamation in 1578 it was used as an open area for mustering the trained bands, archers or the artillery.  It was the ‘fit place’ to charge guns with shot and powder for the exercise of shooting.  The Lord Lieutenant had his ‘City Tent’ there for the general musters and the yearly reviews of the city regiment took place there in the 17th century.

Crocus and daffodils in Chapelfield Gardens

The Field was first surrounded by fencing in 1707 and the main walks were laid out by Sir Thomas Churchman who leased the land in 1746.  The tree planting began then too.  A large water reservoir (about 300 yards in circumference) was dug in part of the Field in 1792 and was filled in again in 1854 when larger reservoirs were built elsewhere by the newly established Waterworks Company.  The reservoir in the Field had been used as a skating pond by the people of the city and it was much missed when it went.  For a few years the Field declined into a rough area where children played, washerwomen hung out their linen and where sheep were grazed.  Eventually, new iron palisades were erected in 1866 and in 1877 a landscape gardener was employed to make the Field into a beauty spot.  The newly laid-out gardens were opened by the mayor in 1880.

The bandstand

This lovely Victorian bandstand in the middle of Chapelfield Gardens is still in use.  During WW2 Glenn Miller visited Norwich and gave a concert here in 1944.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral is close to Chapelfield Gardens

City wall

City wall

City wall

City wall

I then walked along Chapel Field Road which follows the line of the old City Walls.  As you can see from these photos the new and the old rub shoulders in Norwich.  The weather had also improved by this time!

Building work on the City Walls began in 1294 and took 50 years to complete mainly due to complaints about the cost being levied for their construction.  They were completed in 1343 after a very generous donation by a Norwich tradesman, Richard Spynk who was rewarded by the Corporation by being ‘quit all tallages, tasks and costs’ for both he and his heirs forever.  When the walls were completed they had 12 gates, now all gone.  Ber Street gate – taken down in 1807, Bishop’s Gate – taken down in 1791, Brazen Doors or Newgate, taken down in 1793, Conisford Gate, at the south end of King Street – taken down in 1793, Heigham Gate or Hell Gate – fell down in the 18th century, Magdalen Gate – taken down in 1808, Pockthorpe Gate – taken down in 1792, St Augustine’s Gate – taken down in 1794, St Giles’ Gate – taken down in 1792, St Martin’s or Coslany Gate – taken down in 1793,St Stephen’s or Nedham Gate – taken down in 1793, Westwick or St Benedict’s Gate – taken down in 1793.

A beautiful Cornus mas growing in a garden on the opposite side of the road to the City Walls was in flower

A row of attractive houses in a private road (The Crescent) off Chapel Field Road

The houses were built in about 1820 and are a mixture of terraced, semi-detached and detached houses, many of which are listed.

St Stephen’s Church which is next to Intu Chapelfield – a large shopping mall.

St Stephen’s church has it’s tower over the porch on the side of the church.  I hope to visit this church later in the year and write about it in more detail as I also hope to write about the RC Cathedral.

Thanks for visiting!