Nave looking West, Wetherden
St Mary's at Wetherden is one of my favourite churches in central Suffolk, one that made a strong impression on my first childhood visit in the early 1980s. I'd been back since more recently with my aunt who often plays the organ here but it was a flying visit and the few photos I had to show for it were not worthy of the place, so arriving back here on a sunny May afternoon seemed like the perfect time to rectify this.
This church makes a good impression as one approaches from the east, it is a substantial building and handsomely decorated. At the churchyard gates the sturdy west tower greets the visitor framed by trees which makes a real visual impact, especially when basking in the sun as it was on this occasion (both my previous trips had been in more overcast conditions). The entrance is on the south side via a porch embedded in the south aisle rather than projecting from it.
My biggest memories of the interior were the astonishing late medieval roofs of the nave and south aisle. The nave roof is a particularly fine example of the double-hammerbeam variety and populated with over forty carved figures of saints who peer down from little niches carved into the posts (twice as many as one normally finds in such structures). Originally they all would have risen from carved angels, alas long since lost to puritan iconoclasts in the Post Reformation period, what an effect they must have had when the roof was complete (and likely coloured too). Only the little saints survived, and they too were systematically defaced but this damage is less obvious now thanks to their sensitive restoration by Victorian carvers who replaced lost faces and hands to restore something of their original effect. The flatter aisle roof is adorned with arched braces and is again adorned with angels (also Victorian restorations).
What will delight most visitors even more however are the series of animal carvings adorning the nave pews (around fifty altogether). Some of these are genuine medieval work (towards the rear on the north side) but the majority are spirited Victorian recreations and no less enjoyable despite their lack of antiquity, the carver having beautifully captured the medieval spirit and thus both groups of carvings form a lovely set.
The chancel beyond is rather dark with Victorian glass, somewhat gloomy after the brightness of the nave and aisle, but there are good fragments of medieval glass to be found collected in the traceries of the east window. Originally there was an extensive scheme of pictorial glazing in this church and there is an account of notorious state-sponsored puritan iconoclast William Dowsing ordering the destruction of around 160 'superstitious pictures (in glass) along with the 68 angels now absent from the nave roof. Much of the destroyed glass would have been endowed by the local Sulyard family who remained recusant following the Reformation, a late 16th century monument of theirs in the south aisle clearly also had to endure the iconoclasts's wrath.
I was here for some time snapping away. A lady was in the church doing some tidying up and we ended up chatting for a while. I mentioned how on my previous trip I'd been with my aunt who played the organ and had even had a quick go on its keyboard myself (I barely managed a few notes). Of course she knew exactly who she was and had also known my late uncle (my mother's only sibling) and stranger still she'd also spent a significant chunk of her life living in my hometown of Rugby, small world! She made me very welcome and it was nice to enthuse together, and quite bizarre to walk into a church so far from home and yet have mutual acquaintances in common with a complete stranger, certainly a good way to break the ice!
Wetherden church is normally kept open during the day and is well worth a visit. The historical accounts of what was lost here are enough to make one weep, but happily there is still plenty here to enjoy, both ancient and not so ancient.
Nave looking West, Wetherden
St Mary's at Wetherden is one of my favourite churches in central Suffolk, one that made a strong impression on my first childhood visit in the early 1980s. I'd been back since more recently with my aunt who often plays the organ here but it was a flying visit and the few photos I had to show for it were not worthy of the place, so arriving back here on a sunny May afternoon seemed like the perfect time to rectify this.
This church makes a good impression as one approaches from the east, it is a substantial building and handsomely decorated. At the churchyard gates the sturdy west tower greets the visitor framed by trees which makes a real visual impact, especially when basking in the sun as it was on this occasion (both my previous trips had been in more overcast conditions). The entrance is on the south side via a porch embedded in the south aisle rather than projecting from it.
My biggest memories of the interior were the astonishing late medieval roofs of the nave and south aisle. The nave roof is a particularly fine example of the double-hammerbeam variety and populated with over forty carved figures of saints who peer down from little niches carved into the posts (twice as many as one normally finds in such structures). Originally they all would have risen from carved angels, alas long since lost to puritan iconoclasts in the Post Reformation period, what an effect they must have had when the roof was complete (and likely coloured too). Only the little saints survived, and they too were systematically defaced but this damage is less obvious now thanks to their sensitive restoration by Victorian carvers who replaced lost faces and hands to restore something of their original effect. The flatter aisle roof is adorned with arched braces and is again adorned with angels (also Victorian restorations).
What will delight most visitors even more however are the series of animal carvings adorning the nave pews (around fifty altogether). Some of these are genuine medieval work (towards the rear on the north side) but the majority are spirited Victorian recreations and no less enjoyable despite their lack of antiquity, the carver having beautifully captured the medieval spirit and thus both groups of carvings form a lovely set.
The chancel beyond is rather dark with Victorian glass, somewhat gloomy after the brightness of the nave and aisle, but there are good fragments of medieval glass to be found collected in the traceries of the east window. Originally there was an extensive scheme of pictorial glazing in this church and there is an account of notorious state-sponsored puritan iconoclast William Dowsing ordering the destruction of around 160 'superstitious pictures (in glass) along with the 68 angels now absent from the nave roof. Much of the destroyed glass would have been endowed by the local Sulyard family who remained recusant following the Reformation, a late 16th century monument of theirs in the south aisle clearly also had to endure the iconoclasts's wrath.
I was here for some time snapping away. A lady was in the church doing some tidying up and we ended up chatting for a while. I mentioned how on my previous trip I'd been with my aunt who played the organ and had even had a quick go on its keyboard myself (I barely managed a few notes). Of course she knew exactly who she was and had also known my late uncle (my mother's only sibling) and stranger still she'd also spent a significant chunk of her life living in my hometown of Rugby, small world! She made me very welcome and it was nice to enthuse together, and quite bizarre to walk into a church so far from home and yet have mutual acquaintances in common with a complete stranger, certainly a good way to break the ice!
Wetherden church is normally kept open during the day and is well worth a visit. The historical accounts of what was lost here are enough to make one weep, but happily there is still plenty here to enjoy, both ancient and not so ancient.