Ruined Chancel, Walberswick
East Suffolk has a group of some of the grandest churches in the county, four particularly large ones of similar form, date and scale standing a short distance from the coast (and doubtless a couple more have long since disappeared beyond it). Two of these are now shadows of their former selves, having been reduced mostly to ruins with only a small section of the former building retained for worship and Walberswick is one of them.
St Andrew's at Walberswick beckons the visitor with its tall and stately tower and much of the south side of the building which is seen first from the road remains complete and in use, but this is only the south aisle of the former church, the nave, chancel and north aisle are merely empty jagged flint ruins and the former nave clerestorey (once similar to that at nearby Blythburgh) is almost entirely lost.
This condition dates back to the 1690s when the parishoners decided it was more practical to greatly reduce their large building than continue to struggle to maintain it, dismantling much of the fabric and rebuilding the south aisle (reusing old materials) to serve as the new church, opened in 1696.
The interior today is thus a rather simple but intimate space, devoid of much in the way of decoration but retaining the 15th century font (sadly mutilated) and some fine medieval woodwork remains in the pulpit and lower part of the chancel screen.
Walberswick church thus won't delay the visitor in the way that its neighbours at Blythburgh and Southwold do but is worth a look regardless, especially for the drama of its semi-ruinous state.
Ruined Chancel, Walberswick
East Suffolk has a group of some of the grandest churches in the county, four particularly large ones of similar form, date and scale standing a short distance from the coast (and doubtless a couple more have long since disappeared beyond it). Two of these are now shadows of their former selves, having been reduced mostly to ruins with only a small section of the former building retained for worship and Walberswick is one of them.
St Andrew's at Walberswick beckons the visitor with its tall and stately tower and much of the south side of the building which is seen first from the road remains complete and in use, but this is only the south aisle of the former church, the nave, chancel and north aisle are merely empty jagged flint ruins and the former nave clerestorey (once similar to that at nearby Blythburgh) is almost entirely lost.
This condition dates back to the 1690s when the parishoners decided it was more practical to greatly reduce their large building than continue to struggle to maintain it, dismantling much of the fabric and rebuilding the south aisle (reusing old materials) to serve as the new church, opened in 1696.
The interior today is thus a rather simple but intimate space, devoid of much in the way of decoration but retaining the 15th century font (sadly mutilated) and some fine medieval woodwork remains in the pulpit and lower part of the chancel screen.
Walberswick church thus won't delay the visitor in the way that its neighbours at Blythburgh and Southwold do but is worth a look regardless, especially for the drama of its semi-ruinous state.