View allAll Photos Tagged knowing
And if I sleep just to dream of you
And wake without you there
Isn't something missing?
Isn't something!
Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness in other people. But remember,there is always light, even in the darkest of times.
#thoughtoftheday #fullmoon #purnamamengambangcumaberteman
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mardhiah.m: Tdo la semek
akmal_c: @mardhiah.m weh tlg track gotu katku weh
ßαηαکɧεε (Nathyn Soothsayer) turned to walk to the doorway. " Come with me." He didn't wait to see Morion follow. He expected he would. He didn't even bother to open the door. He just walked outside. Standing on the stairwell to the war room he looked out to the practice area and pointed. "See that? Those men down there? New recruits. All of them. You know they signed up only after you were appointed as the new Heir? That one of the end there had a father that served under you until you left for the war. Died of some illness a year after. Father was some drunk until he signed up for the guard, but he stopped because he respected this young Noble upstart that led them all. In fact, they all have stories like that, as do the remaining guard that had served under you. They all seem to know you very well."
Morion Chaika followed him out and stood there watching him as he spoke. Finally he moved over to the railing to look down at the men there. He studied them in silence for a long moment before he finally gave a nod . Hands lifted as he brushed them back over his hair and he sighed softly then glanced to Brennan. " Well that seemed to work possibly better than punching me. Though I doubt it felt as good to you as doing the latter might have. I owe you thanks again . Now I just need to figure out how to keep them all safe and happy.
ßαηαکɧεε (Nathyn Soothsayer) kept his eyes on guard beneath them. He was picking apart their movements and methods, judging each for where strengths and weaknesses arose. It was the way of him to do so. Humans were always much easier to judge than Fae. They were far more simpler, in his opinion. "You know, they don't follow me because they respect me. I am still that... oh, how did you say it? Oh, right. I'm that wild, exotic Heathen of an Outsider. They each spat at me when my back is to them. They respect me because I will bring them pain and misery if they do not. However, they also respect me because I have asked them each who they respect most and aspire to be and I use that knowledge to push them. And that aspiration is you, my Lord. Your people love you and you moan whine like a petulant child over an acceptance you already have. You are a spoiled little child." He paused to look over his shoulder, "and that is why I despise you. Know that. For all your blessings and good qualities, I do hate you, but then, I hate everyone. So don't take it personal." He smirked then, " Yes, telling you that did feel better than punching you in the face, though that would have been wonderful too. You owe me a great deal, Morion di Saraceni. Pray that I never collect upon it."
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Knowing where your food comes from is important. A young spring lamb lies by its mother fast asleep and unaware of its ultimate fate.
Day 10/366
Knowing the week I have ahead we're not doing anything today except lounging! Brought the car mat down for first time in ages and it's like a brand new toy again. *makes coffee and picks up book*
#day10 #photoaday #photoadaychallenge #366photos #365project #bus #bigredbus #carmat
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Knowing Me Knowing You
ABBA
Knowing me, knowing you
There is nothing we can do
Knowing me, knowing you
Had a funny ol morning this morning at Bundeena with Ant, Steve and Sonia. Was a high tide, but wasn't high enough for us (its a long story). Went to shoot a mangrove tree, but couldn't...so shot heaps instead. Had a great laugh...Great way to start the day....with some great people. Thanks guys.
knowing it's a very hard task to behave all the time, but its the only way to become such a lovely angel ~
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha
“She was banging on my door at 2 o’clock this morning,” grumbled Hydra.
“Good grief,” said Cloud.
“She was shouting, ‘for feck sake! Your music’s loud. Do you know what the time is?'” moaned Hydra.
“Ah,” said Cloud. “Did you know the time?”
“Yeah,” said Hydra, “a standard 4/4 rock beat.”
-
A quite literal, badaboomtish! :)
TellyTube Edition: youtu.be/eVlou19uwE8
LittleFears.co.uk
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Knowing what to do or where to go at weekends is now easy, I just consult the list of churches and pick a group close at random, and we can load up the car and go.
Main issue is that most of the churches on the list are now in west and north Kent, meaning a bit of a hike to get there, and on top of that, not knowing if your target will be open.
So, with the three churches chosen, postcodes noted, we can prepare for the morning.
Make coffee, feed the cats, fill up the bird feeders and make bacon butties to give us a decent start to the day.
Saturday was dark and gloomy, not a good day perhaps to do church crawling, but what else is there: too gloomy certainly for wildflowers, those that are out. And the flat light, can be good for photography in churches. At least that is what I tell myself.
Off up the A20 to Folkestone, and from there up the motorway, where, after Ashford, Highways England are removing the Operation Brock contraflow barriers. Now, I know I said no more Brexit, but an observation here: Kent MPs lobbied the PM to have these removed as it was a major pain for locals, but the threat of no deal and/or traffic jams caused by increased paperwork check is higher now, and the hundreds of thousands now being spent taking the barriers down could be spent again putting it back up later in the year.
In Brexit, anything is possible.
But back to the churchcrawling.
We turn off at Maidstone, go through Leeds up the down, where along the ridge there are a series of churches overlooking the low-laying land to the south, where the churches served a series of impressive houses set in sloping parkland. From Leeds through Sutton to the two Boughtons, at east half a dozen churches stand looking down on west Kent.
Eighteen months ago, I visited the two Boughtons, and also East Sutton, not realising there were two other churches in Sutton: Valence and Chart. I passed Sutton Valence just as a vintage Rolls depsosited a bride at the lych gate on the "main road". So, no point in trying to crawl that back on the warm September afternoon, but was on my list since then for a return.
And here we were.
The sat nav took us down a narrow lane, with a space large enough to abandon the car in, while I get my gear and walk to the church, trailing behind JOols who had gone to check the door. I get the thumbs up to indicate it was open.
Good news.
Sadly, the church has been stripped of most of its character and history. It is a fine church, nothing wrong with it, but few monuments, no brasses, no medieval features, so my job of recording it was completed in a few minutes. Another tick in the box done, though.
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Stunningly situated on the Greensand Way, yet not altogether enjoying the views, this church is more interesting than beautiful. Incorporating part of a late fifteenth century structure (chancel piers and transept arches) this is predominantly an 1820s church built wide and tall to fit in galleries which were the norm. A blocked door from the tower stairs would have led into the southernmost gallery. Then the in the nineteenth century Mr Habershon, architect to the establishment, Gothicised the church by removing the galleries and fitting arcades to form aisles. He also added tracery to the windows and tried to create a medieval space. It is not unsuccessful. The only weak part is the chancel which ahs a canted apse which speaks of its pre-Ecclesiological origins. The font survives from the medieval church as does a fine thirteenth century coffin lid in the north aisle. Recent redecoration of red carpet and red ceiling has successfully linked the two elements and created a most welcoming and cared for building.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Sutton+Valence
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TOWN SUTTON, ALIAS SUTTON VALENCE,
IS the next parish eastward from Chart Sutton. It has the name of Valence from that eminent family, who continued long owners of it, and is called Town Sutton from the largeness of the village or town of it, in comparison of those of the adjoining parishes of the same name.
THE PARISH of Town Sutton is situated much like that of Chart Sutton last described, and the soil the same, being about the hill, the quarry stone covered with a thin loam, fertile for corn, fruit and hops; above it a red earth mixed with flints, and below the hill a stiff clay, rendered more prolific by the mixture of marle with it. The village, now a poor mean place, is situated a little lower than the summit of the quarry hill, having the church at the west end of it; the manor-house stands on the small green adjoining the church-yard, having an extensive view over the country southward. The road from Chart to East Sutton, of but little traffic, leads through the village, and another crosses it from Langley down the hill into the Weald; at a small distance below the village is Sutton-place and the parsonage, and below the foot of the hill the little manor of Forsham, formerly the estate of the Austens, baronets, beyond which this parish extends southward across a low flat country, deep, wet, and miry, till it joins that of Hedcorne; above the village it joins to Kingswood, part of which is within it.
On the brow of the hill at a small distance eastward from the village, and adjoining to the parsonage-yard, stand the venerable ruins of SUTTON CASTLE, now almost covered with ivy, and the branches of the trees which sprout out from the walls of it. What remains of it seems, to have been the keep or dungeon of this fortress, two separate rooms of which are still in being; and by the cavities where the joists have been laid into the walls, appear to have been at least a story higher than they are at present. The remains of the walls are more than three feet in thickness, and about twenty feet high, and have loop-holes for arrows at proper distances; they are composed of the quarry stone and flint mixed, together with some few thin bricks or paying tiles interspersed throughout. The whole appears to have been exceeding strong, though of very rude workmanship; and seems to have been built in the time of the barons wars, most likely by one of the family of Valence, earls of Pembroke, whilst the church and its demesnes yet remained as appendages to their manor of Sutton Valence, and the part of their possessions. It stands high, commanding a most extensive view over the adjacent country southward, and was most probably made use of as a place of defence for the partizans of the lords of it, to make their excursions from, and retreat again to, when likely to be overpowered by their enemies. Fronting the title of this volume is a view of it in its present state.
Kilburne imagines the sea came up this valley underneath Sutton castle, which he supposes to have been built when it did so; and he seems to be confirmed in that opinion by an anchor's having been found not far below it, in the memory of some men then living.
A fair is kept in this village yearly, on the day of St. Edmond the king, on the 20th of November.
THIS PLACE was given by William the Conqueror, on his obtaining the crown of this realm, to his halfbrother Odo, bishop of Baieux; it having been part of the possessions of Leoswine, a younger brother of king Harold, who was slain fighting on his brother's part, at the fatal battle of Hastings; accordingly it is thus entered, under the general title of the bishop's lands, in the survey of Domesday:
Adam Fitzhubert holds of the bishop of Baieux, Sudtone. It was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is seven carucates. In demesne there are two, and eighteen villeins, with five borders, having four carucates. There is a church and four acres of meadow, and one mill. Wood for fifty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twelve pounds, when he received it ten pounds, now fourteen pounds, and yet it pays eighteen pounds. Earl Leuuin held it.
Four years after the taking this survey, the bishop was disgraced, and this among the rest of his possessions was confiscated to the crown. After which it became the property of Baldwin de Betun, earl of Albermarle, who in the 5th year of king John's reign, granted this manor, among others in this county, to William Mareschal, earl of Pembroke, with Alice his daughter, in frank marriage.
In the 10th year of king Henry III. he again married Alianore, the king's sister, and in the 14th year of that reign had a confirmation of this manor, upon condition that Alianore his wife, if she survived him, should enjoy it during her life. He died in the 15th year of that reign, s. p. on which the Sheriff had the king's precept to deliver possession of it to his widow. She afterwards re-married Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, who was slain in the 49th year of that reign, fighting on the part of the discontented barons, at the battle of Evesham; after which, the countess Alianore and her children were forced to forsake the realm, and she died sometime afterwards in the nunnery of Montarges, in France.
In the mean time the four brothers of William, earl of Pembroke, successively earls of Pembroke, being dead s. p. their inheritance became divided between the heirs of their five sisters, when the manor of Sutton was allotted among others, to Joane, the second sister, then the widow of Warine de Montchensie, (fn. 1) by whom she had one son William, and a daughter Joane, married to William de Valence, the king's half-brother, who in her right became possessed of it. He died in the 23d year of king Edward I. leaving Joane his widow surviving, who had this manor assigned to her as part of her dowry, when it was found to be held of the king in capite, and that it was of the king's marechasly. She left one son, Adomar, or Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, and three daughters,
Aymer, earl of Pembroke, the son, on her death became possessed of this manor. He was murdered in France in the 17th year of king Edward II. being then possessed of this manor of Sutton Valence, for so it was now usually called, and leaving no issue by either of his wives, for he was three times married, his three sisters above-mentioned became his coheirs; of whom Isabel married to John de Hastings, of Bergavenny, seems to have had this manor allotted to her, as part of her share in the inheritance. In consequence of this match, the arms of Hastings quartering Valence, were put up by some of his descendants on the roof of Canterbury cloysters, where they now remain. She was then a widow, her husband having deceased in the 6th year of that reign, leaving John de Hastings his son and heir; who likewise died anno 18 Edward II. leaving no issue by Juliana de Leyborne his then wife. But by his former wife he had one son, Lawrence, who was in the 13th year of king Edward III. made earl of Pembroke, by reason of his descent from Isabel, the eldest sister and coheir of Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke; and he died possessed of this manor in the 22d year of that reign, as did his grandson John, earl of Pembroke, s. p. in the 13th year of king Richard II. about which time I find this manor stiled in some records the manor of Sutton Hastings, which name however it soon dropped, and resumed its former one of Valence. Philippa, countess of Pembroke, survived her husband, and afterwards re-married Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, and died in the possession of this manor in the 2d year of king Henry IV. she then bearing the title of countess of Pembroke, when Reginald lord Grey, of Ruthin, became entitled to it, as next of kin, and heir of Aymer, earl of Pembroke; and as such, at the coronation of king Henry the IVth, he carried the great golden spurs. After which being taken prisoner in Wales, by Owen Glendower, he was obliged to give ten thousand marcs for his ransom. To raise which, king Henry in his 4th year, granted licence to Robert Braybrooke, bishop of London, and others, feoffees of several of Reginald's lordships, to sell this manor among others towards the raising of that sum.
They sold it soon afterwards, as it should seem, to St. Leger, for Juliana, widow of Thomas St. Leger, esq. of Otterden, died possessed of it in the 5th year of the next regin of king Henry the Vth. Soon after which it became the property of William Clifford, esq. son of Sir Lewis Clifford, descended from the Cliffords, of Clifford-castle, in Herefordshire, who bore for his arms, Chequy or and azure on a fess gules, a crescent for difference, all within a bordure argent. He was sheriff in the 4th and 13th years of king Henry the VIth, and died three years afterwards, leaving by Eleanor his wife, sister and sole heir of Arnold Savage, esq. of Bobbing, two sons, Lewis and John, of whom Lewis Clifford, the eldest son, died in his life time, leaving a son Alexander, who was of Bobbing, esq. and on his mother's death, in the 19th year of Henry VI. succeeded to this manor. After which it continued in his name down to his grandson Nicholas Clifford, who leaving a sole daughter and heir, Mildred, she carried it in marriage to Sir George Harpur, (fn. 2) who resided at Sutton Valence, where he kept his shrievalty in the 2d year of king Edward VI. and in the windows of the manor house were formerly the coats of arms of the family of Clifford, and their several matches; and among others of Clifford impaling Culpeper, Savage, and Bourne. On the gateway was carved Clifford impaling Isley, quartering Fremingham, and a shield of Isley quartering Fremingham. In the windows of the hall was the coat of Harpur, Argent, a lion rampant sable, within a bordure engrailed of the second, with all its quarterings, and the same impaling Gaynsford, and a coat, Argent, a saltier gules, within a border sable, Bezantee, for De La Poyle. After his death she remarried Sir Edward Moore, who afterwards settled at Mellefont, in Ireland. By her first husband she left a son Edward, who was knighted, and by her second she had several children.
¶She seems to have entitled both her husbands to the possession of this manor during her life, after which it became the property of her son Sir Edward Harpur, who alienated it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, upon which it came to his grandson and heir, Sir Edward Hales, bart. whose trustees sold it in 1670 to Sir William Drake, of Agmondesham, in Buckinghamshire, and he settled part of it in jointure in 1675, on Elizabeth his wife, daughter, and at length sole heir of William Montague, chief baron of the exchequer, their son, Montague Drake, esq. of Agmondesham, left by Mary, sole daughter and heir of Sir John Gerrard, bart. of Hertfordshire, a son Montague Gerrard Drake, whose trustees, during his infancy, anno 5 queen Anne, having procured an act for that purpose, in 1708 sold this manor with the demesnes, and other estates in this and the adjoining parishes (excepting such of them as were in jointure to dame Elizabeth, widow of Sir William Drake as above mentioned, then the wife of Samuel Trotman, esq. of Siston, in Gloucestershire) to Sir Christopher Desbouverie, of Chart Sutton, (fn. 3) who afterwards in 1720, purchased of Montague Gerrard Drake, esq. the remainder of his estates which had been settled in jointure on his mother as above-mentioned, and so became possessed of the entire fee of them. He died possessed of this manor in 1733, and was buried at Beechworth, in Surry. Since which this manor has descended in like manner as those of Langley and Chart before described, to his youngest daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, now of Teston, the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.
But though this manor, on the division of Sir Christopher Desbouverie's estates between his two daughters and coheirs, after the death of their two brothers, who both died s. p. was allotted to the youngest, Elizabeth, yet several farms and lands in the out-parts of this and the adjoining parishes, were allotted to the eldest daughter Anne, married to John Hervey, esq. afterwards of Beechworth, which on his death descended to his only son Christopher Hervey, esq.
It should be noticed here, that in the 10th year of king George II. an act passed enabling the family of Desbouverie to use the surname of Bouverie only, in pursuance to the desire of Jacob Desbouverie, esq. and Sir Christopher Desbouverie, deceased.
Charities.
WILLIAM LAMBE, sometime a gentleman of the chapel to king Henry VIII. and a great favorite of that prince, was of the company of cloth-workers, in London, and among many other extensive charities, out of his great love for learning, and for the place where he was born, erected in 1578, at his own proper costs and charges, a free grammer school, in this parish, for the education and instruction of youth, allowing yearly to the moster 20l. and 10l. yearly to the usher from time to time, as either place should be supplied by succession, and to the former a good house and garden to reside in.
MR. GEORGE MAPLESDEN, in 1713, left by will 5l. per annum for 30 English usher, to be appointed by the master of the school.
THERE ARE LIKEWISE two exhibitions of ten pounds per annum each, given to St. John's college, in Cambridge, by will in 1720, by the Rev. Francis Robbins, B. D. who had been fellow of that college, for the benefit of two scholars educated at this school.
The Rev. John Griffin is the present master of this school.
MR. WILLIAM LAMBE, above-mentioned, also founded in the village of Town Sutton six alms-houses, having an orchard and gardens to them, for the benefit of six poor inhabitants of this parish, and allotted the sum of ten pounds to be divided among them yearly, and entrusted the company of cloth-workers with the estates and direction of these charities. By some means 6l. of the above sum has been some-time with-held, and 4l. only is paid yearly. The poor inhabitants are usually appointed by the master of the school. The arms of the founder, being a fess between three cinquefoils, are carved in stone on the front of the alms-houses.
THE REV. MR. ROBBINS above-mentioned, left likewise 3l. to be paid yearly on March 11, to the poor of this parish, by the church-wardens, vested in Mrs. Felicia and Elizabeth Smith.
TOWN SUTTON is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton, to which it was once so considerable as to give name.
The church which stands at a small distance westward from the village, is dedicated to St. Mary. It is a handsome church, the steeple stands on the north side of it, and had a high spire on it formerly, the upper half of which having been burnt down by lightning, it is at that part flat and covered with lead.
This church was antiently an appendage to the manor of Sutton Valence, in which state it continued down to John de Hastings, earl of Pembroke, lord of that manor, who died possessed of it in the 49th year of king Edward II. as appears by the escheat rolls of that year. Soon after which it must have passed into the possession of the priory of Leeds; for in the 2d year of the next reign of king Richard II. that king granted his licence to the above-mentioned priory, to appropriate this church; and it was confirmed to the priory by patents of the 18th and 20th years of king Henry VI. when at the request of the prior and cannons there, the parish church of East Sutton, likewise of their patronage, was united to this church, to which it has been ever since esteemed as a chapel.
On the dissolution of the priory of Leeds in the reign of king Henry VIII. this parsonage, with the advowson of the vicarage, and the chapel of East Sutton annexed, came into the hands of the crown, where it did not continue long, for the king settled it in his 32d year on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose inheritance it still remains.
The parsonage, with the manor annexed to it, has been for many years held in lease from the dean and chapter, by the family of Payne. Edward Payne, esq. of London, who has been already mentioned before, died in 1794, possessed of the lease of it, and his heirs are now entitled to it.
The advowson of the vicarage is reserved by the dean and chapter in their own hands.
¶On the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles the 1st, this parsonage was surveyed by order of the state in 1649, when it was returned, that the parsonage of Sutton Valence, with the rights of it, and the manor or parsonage-house, three barns, a stable, and several other necessary outhouses, with a yard, garden and orchard, containing by estimation two roods, together with the tithes, were altogether worth sixty pounds per annum. All which were let by the late dean and chapter, anno 16 Charles I. to Thomas Shipton, gent. for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of fourteen pounds, and one quarter of wheat, two quarters of oats, and one good brawn every Christmas; which rent was valued at 18l. 16s. and that the premises were worth upon improvement over and above the said rent 56l. 2s. per annum.
The vicarage of Sutton Valence is endowed with all tithes whatsoever, except corn and hay. It is valued in the king's books at 7l. 9s. 7d. and the yearly tenths at 14s. 11½d.
In 1640 it was valued at seventy-three pounds. Communicants, 226.
The vicar of Sutton Valence serves the cure of the church of East Sutton, as a chapel annexed to it; and as such is entitled to the vicarial tithes of that parish in right of his vicarage, he being presented and inducted to the vicarage of Sutton Valence, with the chapel of East Sutton annexed.
Remember the “knowing is half the battle” public service announcements at the end of each episode of G.I. Joe cartoons? Even as a little kid, I thought they were super lame and hilarious.
Knowing that if they stay there long enough Harry and Missy will be fed grapes.
Day 68 of lockdown in the UK.
Knowing what to do or where to go at weekends is now easy, I just consult the list of churches and pick a group close at random, and we can load up the car and go.
Main issue is that most of the churches on the list are now in west and north Kent, meaning a bit of a hike to get there, and on top of that, not knowing if your target will be open.
So, with the three churches chosen, postcodes noted, we can prepare for the morning.
Make coffee, feed the cats, fill up the bird feeders and make bacon butties to give us a decent start to the day.
Saturday was dark and gloomy, not a good day perhaps to do church crawling, but what else is there: too gloomy certainly for wildflowers, those that are out. And the flat light, can be good for photography in churches. At least that is what I tell myself.
Off up the A20 to Folkestone, and from there up the motorway, where, after Ashford, Highways England are removing the Operation Brock contraflow barriers. Now, I know I said no more Brexit, but an observation here: Kent MPs lobbied the PM to have these removed as it was a major pain for locals, but the threat of no deal and/or traffic jams caused by increased paperwork check is higher now, and the hundreds of thousands now being spent taking the barriers down could be spent again putting it back up later in the year.
In Brexit, anything is possible.
But back to the churchcrawling.
We turn off at Maidstone, go through Leeds up the down, where along the ridge there are a series of churches overlooking the low-laying land to the south, where the churches served a series of impressive houses set in sloping parkland. From Leeds through Sutton to the two Boughtons, at east half a dozen churches stand looking down on west Kent.
Eighteen months ago, I visited the two Boughtons, and also East Sutton, not realising there were two other churches in Sutton: Valence and Chart. I passed Sutton Valence just as a vintage Rolls depsosited a bride at the lych gate on the "main road". So, no point in trying to crawl that back on the warm September afternoon, but was on my list since then for a return.
And here we were.
The sat nav took us down a narrow lane, with a space large enough to abandon the car in, while I get my gear and walk to the church, trailing behind JOols who had gone to check the door. I get the thumbs up to indicate it was open.
Good news.
Sadly, the church has been stripped of most of its character and history. It is a fine church, nothing wrong with it, but few monuments, no brasses, no medieval features, so my job of recording it was completed in a few minutes. Another tick in the box done, though.
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Stunningly situated on the Greensand Way, yet not altogether enjoying the views, this church is more interesting than beautiful. Incorporating part of a late fifteenth century structure (chancel piers and transept arches) this is predominantly an 1820s church built wide and tall to fit in galleries which were the norm. A blocked door from the tower stairs would have led into the southernmost gallery. Then the in the nineteenth century Mr Habershon, architect to the establishment, Gothicised the church by removing the galleries and fitting arcades to form aisles. He also added tracery to the windows and tried to create a medieval space. It is not unsuccessful. The only weak part is the chancel which ahs a canted apse which speaks of its pre-Ecclesiological origins. The font survives from the medieval church as does a fine thirteenth century coffin lid in the north aisle. Recent redecoration of red carpet and red ceiling has successfully linked the two elements and created a most welcoming and cared for building.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Sutton+Valence
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TOWN SUTTON, ALIAS SUTTON VALENCE,
IS the next parish eastward from Chart Sutton. It has the name of Valence from that eminent family, who continued long owners of it, and is called Town Sutton from the largeness of the village or town of it, in comparison of those of the adjoining parishes of the same name.
THE PARISH of Town Sutton is situated much like that of Chart Sutton last described, and the soil the same, being about the hill, the quarry stone covered with a thin loam, fertile for corn, fruit and hops; above it a red earth mixed with flints, and below the hill a stiff clay, rendered more prolific by the mixture of marle with it. The village, now a poor mean place, is situated a little lower than the summit of the quarry hill, having the church at the west end of it; the manor-house stands on the small green adjoining the church-yard, having an extensive view over the country southward. The road from Chart to East Sutton, of but little traffic, leads through the village, and another crosses it from Langley down the hill into the Weald; at a small distance below the village is Sutton-place and the parsonage, and below the foot of the hill the little manor of Forsham, formerly the estate of the Austens, baronets, beyond which this parish extends southward across a low flat country, deep, wet, and miry, till it joins that of Hedcorne; above the village it joins to Kingswood, part of which is within it.
On the brow of the hill at a small distance eastward from the village, and adjoining to the parsonage-yard, stand the venerable ruins of SUTTON CASTLE, now almost covered with ivy, and the branches of the trees which sprout out from the walls of it. What remains of it seems, to have been the keep or dungeon of this fortress, two separate rooms of which are still in being; and by the cavities where the joists have been laid into the walls, appear to have been at least a story higher than they are at present. The remains of the walls are more than three feet in thickness, and about twenty feet high, and have loop-holes for arrows at proper distances; they are composed of the quarry stone and flint mixed, together with some few thin bricks or paying tiles interspersed throughout. The whole appears to have been exceeding strong, though of very rude workmanship; and seems to have been built in the time of the barons wars, most likely by one of the family of Valence, earls of Pembroke, whilst the church and its demesnes yet remained as appendages to their manor of Sutton Valence, and the part of their possessions. It stands high, commanding a most extensive view over the adjacent country southward, and was most probably made use of as a place of defence for the partizans of the lords of it, to make their excursions from, and retreat again to, when likely to be overpowered by their enemies. Fronting the title of this volume is a view of it in its present state.
Kilburne imagines the sea came up this valley underneath Sutton castle, which he supposes to have been built when it did so; and he seems to be confirmed in that opinion by an anchor's having been found not far below it, in the memory of some men then living.
A fair is kept in this village yearly, on the day of St. Edmond the king, on the 20th of November.
THIS PLACE was given by William the Conqueror, on his obtaining the crown of this realm, to his halfbrother Odo, bishop of Baieux; it having been part of the possessions of Leoswine, a younger brother of king Harold, who was slain fighting on his brother's part, at the fatal battle of Hastings; accordingly it is thus entered, under the general title of the bishop's lands, in the survey of Domesday:
Adam Fitzhubert holds of the bishop of Baieux, Sudtone. It was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is seven carucates. In demesne there are two, and eighteen villeins, with five borders, having four carucates. There is a church and four acres of meadow, and one mill. Wood for fifty hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twelve pounds, when he received it ten pounds, now fourteen pounds, and yet it pays eighteen pounds. Earl Leuuin held it.
Four years after the taking this survey, the bishop was disgraced, and this among the rest of his possessions was confiscated to the crown. After which it became the property of Baldwin de Betun, earl of Albermarle, who in the 5th year of king John's reign, granted this manor, among others in this county, to William Mareschal, earl of Pembroke, with Alice his daughter, in frank marriage.
In the 10th year of king Henry III. he again married Alianore, the king's sister, and in the 14th year of that reign had a confirmation of this manor, upon condition that Alianore his wife, if she survived him, should enjoy it during her life. He died in the 15th year of that reign, s. p. on which the Sheriff had the king's precept to deliver possession of it to his widow. She afterwards re-married Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, who was slain in the 49th year of that reign, fighting on the part of the discontented barons, at the battle of Evesham; after which, the countess Alianore and her children were forced to forsake the realm, and she died sometime afterwards in the nunnery of Montarges, in France.
In the mean time the four brothers of William, earl of Pembroke, successively earls of Pembroke, being dead s. p. their inheritance became divided between the heirs of their five sisters, when the manor of Sutton was allotted among others, to Joane, the second sister, then the widow of Warine de Montchensie, (fn. 1) by whom she had one son William, and a daughter Joane, married to William de Valence, the king's half-brother, who in her right became possessed of it. He died in the 23d year of king Edward I. leaving Joane his widow surviving, who had this manor assigned to her as part of her dowry, when it was found to be held of the king in capite, and that it was of the king's marechasly. She left one son, Adomar, or Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, and three daughters,
Aymer, earl of Pembroke, the son, on her death became possessed of this manor. He was murdered in France in the 17th year of king Edward II. being then possessed of this manor of Sutton Valence, for so it was now usually called, and leaving no issue by either of his wives, for he was three times married, his three sisters above-mentioned became his coheirs; of whom Isabel married to John de Hastings, of Bergavenny, seems to have had this manor allotted to her, as part of her share in the inheritance. In consequence of this match, the arms of Hastings quartering Valence, were put up by some of his descendants on the roof of Canterbury cloysters, where they now remain. She was then a widow, her husband having deceased in the 6th year of that reign, leaving John de Hastings his son and heir; who likewise died anno 18 Edward II. leaving no issue by Juliana de Leyborne his then wife. But by his former wife he had one son, Lawrence, who was in the 13th year of king Edward III. made earl of Pembroke, by reason of his descent from Isabel, the eldest sister and coheir of Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke; and he died possessed of this manor in the 22d year of that reign, as did his grandson John, earl of Pembroke, s. p. in the 13th year of king Richard II. about which time I find this manor stiled in some records the manor of Sutton Hastings, which name however it soon dropped, and resumed its former one of Valence. Philippa, countess of Pembroke, survived her husband, and afterwards re-married Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, and died in the possession of this manor in the 2d year of king Henry IV. she then bearing the title of countess of Pembroke, when Reginald lord Grey, of Ruthin, became entitled to it, as next of kin, and heir of Aymer, earl of Pembroke; and as such, at the coronation of king Henry the IVth, he carried the great golden spurs. After which being taken prisoner in Wales, by Owen Glendower, he was obliged to give ten thousand marcs for his ransom. To raise which, king Henry in his 4th year, granted licence to Robert Braybrooke, bishop of London, and others, feoffees of several of Reginald's lordships, to sell this manor among others towards the raising of that sum.
They sold it soon afterwards, as it should seem, to St. Leger, for Juliana, widow of Thomas St. Leger, esq. of Otterden, died possessed of it in the 5th year of the next regin of king Henry the Vth. Soon after which it became the property of William Clifford, esq. son of Sir Lewis Clifford, descended from the Cliffords, of Clifford-castle, in Herefordshire, who bore for his arms, Chequy or and azure on a fess gules, a crescent for difference, all within a bordure argent. He was sheriff in the 4th and 13th years of king Henry the VIth, and died three years afterwards, leaving by Eleanor his wife, sister and sole heir of Arnold Savage, esq. of Bobbing, two sons, Lewis and John, of whom Lewis Clifford, the eldest son, died in his life time, leaving a son Alexander, who was of Bobbing, esq. and on his mother's death, in the 19th year of Henry VI. succeeded to this manor. After which it continued in his name down to his grandson Nicholas Clifford, who leaving a sole daughter and heir, Mildred, she carried it in marriage to Sir George Harpur, (fn. 2) who resided at Sutton Valence, where he kept his shrievalty in the 2d year of king Edward VI. and in the windows of the manor house were formerly the coats of arms of the family of Clifford, and their several matches; and among others of Clifford impaling Culpeper, Savage, and Bourne. On the gateway was carved Clifford impaling Isley, quartering Fremingham, and a shield of Isley quartering Fremingham. In the windows of the hall was the coat of Harpur, Argent, a lion rampant sable, within a bordure engrailed of the second, with all its quarterings, and the same impaling Gaynsford, and a coat, Argent, a saltier gules, within a border sable, Bezantee, for De La Poyle. After his death she remarried Sir Edward Moore, who afterwards settled at Mellefont, in Ireland. By her first husband she left a son Edward, who was knighted, and by her second she had several children.
¶She seems to have entitled both her husbands to the possession of this manor during her life, after which it became the property of her son Sir Edward Harpur, who alienated it to Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, who died possessed of it in 1654, upon which it came to his grandson and heir, Sir Edward Hales, bart. whose trustees sold it in 1670 to Sir William Drake, of Agmondesham, in Buckinghamshire, and he settled part of it in jointure in 1675, on Elizabeth his wife, daughter, and at length sole heir of William Montague, chief baron of the exchequer, their son, Montague Drake, esq. of Agmondesham, left by Mary, sole daughter and heir of Sir John Gerrard, bart. of Hertfordshire, a son Montague Gerrard Drake, whose trustees, during his infancy, anno 5 queen Anne, having procured an act for that purpose, in 1708 sold this manor with the demesnes, and other estates in this and the adjoining parishes (excepting such of them as were in jointure to dame Elizabeth, widow of Sir William Drake as above mentioned, then the wife of Samuel Trotman, esq. of Siston, in Gloucestershire) to Sir Christopher Desbouverie, of Chart Sutton, (fn. 3) who afterwards in 1720, purchased of Montague Gerrard Drake, esq. the remainder of his estates which had been settled in jointure on his mother as above-mentioned, and so became possessed of the entire fee of them. He died possessed of this manor in 1733, and was buried at Beechworth, in Surry. Since which this manor has descended in like manner as those of Langley and Chart before described, to his youngest daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, now of Teston, the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.
But though this manor, on the division of Sir Christopher Desbouverie's estates between his two daughters and coheirs, after the death of their two brothers, who both died s. p. was allotted to the youngest, Elizabeth, yet several farms and lands in the out-parts of this and the adjoining parishes, were allotted to the eldest daughter Anne, married to John Hervey, esq. afterwards of Beechworth, which on his death descended to his only son Christopher Hervey, esq.
It should be noticed here, that in the 10th year of king George II. an act passed enabling the family of Desbouverie to use the surname of Bouverie only, in pursuance to the desire of Jacob Desbouverie, esq. and Sir Christopher Desbouverie, deceased.
Charities.
WILLIAM LAMBE, sometime a gentleman of the chapel to king Henry VIII. and a great favorite of that prince, was of the company of cloth-workers, in London, and among many other extensive charities, out of his great love for learning, and for the place where he was born, erected in 1578, at his own proper costs and charges, a free grammer school, in this parish, for the education and instruction of youth, allowing yearly to the moster 20l. and 10l. yearly to the usher from time to time, as either place should be supplied by succession, and to the former a good house and garden to reside in.
MR. GEORGE MAPLESDEN, in 1713, left by will 5l. per annum for 30 English usher, to be appointed by the master of the school.
THERE ARE LIKEWISE two exhibitions of ten pounds per annum each, given to St. John's college, in Cambridge, by will in 1720, by the Rev. Francis Robbins, B. D. who had been fellow of that college, for the benefit of two scholars educated at this school.
The Rev. John Griffin is the present master of this school.
MR. WILLIAM LAMBE, above-mentioned, also founded in the village of Town Sutton six alms-houses, having an orchard and gardens to them, for the benefit of six poor inhabitants of this parish, and allotted the sum of ten pounds to be divided among them yearly, and entrusted the company of cloth-workers with the estates and direction of these charities. By some means 6l. of the above sum has been some-time with-held, and 4l. only is paid yearly. The poor inhabitants are usually appointed by the master of the school. The arms of the founder, being a fess between three cinquefoils, are carved in stone on the front of the alms-houses.
THE REV. MR. ROBBINS above-mentioned, left likewise 3l. to be paid yearly on March 11, to the poor of this parish, by the church-wardens, vested in Mrs. Felicia and Elizabeth Smith.
TOWN SUTTON is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton, to which it was once so considerable as to give name.
The church which stands at a small distance westward from the village, is dedicated to St. Mary. It is a handsome church, the steeple stands on the north side of it, and had a high spire on it formerly, the upper half of which having been burnt down by lightning, it is at that part flat and covered with lead.
This church was antiently an appendage to the manor of Sutton Valence, in which state it continued down to John de Hastings, earl of Pembroke, lord of that manor, who died possessed of it in the 49th year of king Edward II. as appears by the escheat rolls of that year. Soon after which it must have passed into the possession of the priory of Leeds; for in the 2d year of the next reign of king Richard II. that king granted his licence to the above-mentioned priory, to appropriate this church; and it was confirmed to the priory by patents of the 18th and 20th years of king Henry VI. when at the request of the prior and cannons there, the parish church of East Sutton, likewise of their patronage, was united to this church, to which it has been ever since esteemed as a chapel.
On the dissolution of the priory of Leeds in the reign of king Henry VIII. this parsonage, with the advowson of the vicarage, and the chapel of East Sutton annexed, came into the hands of the crown, where it did not continue long, for the king settled it in his 32d year on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose inheritance it still remains.
The parsonage, with the manor annexed to it, has been for many years held in lease from the dean and chapter, by the family of Payne. Edward Payne, esq. of London, who has been already mentioned before, died in 1794, possessed of the lease of it, and his heirs are now entitled to it.
The advowson of the vicarage is reserved by the dean and chapter in their own hands.
¶On the abolition of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles the 1st, this parsonage was surveyed by order of the state in 1649, when it was returned, that the parsonage of Sutton Valence, with the rights of it, and the manor or parsonage-house, three barns, a stable, and several other necessary outhouses, with a yard, garden and orchard, containing by estimation two roods, together with the tithes, were altogether worth sixty pounds per annum. All which were let by the late dean and chapter, anno 16 Charles I. to Thomas Shipton, gent. for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of fourteen pounds, and one quarter of wheat, two quarters of oats, and one good brawn every Christmas; which rent was valued at 18l. 16s. and that the premises were worth upon improvement over and above the said rent 56l. 2s. per annum.
The vicarage of Sutton Valence is endowed with all tithes whatsoever, except corn and hay. It is valued in the king's books at 7l. 9s. 7d. and the yearly tenths at 14s. 11½d.
In 1640 it was valued at seventy-three pounds. Communicants, 226.
The vicar of Sutton Valence serves the cure of the church of East Sutton, as a chapel annexed to it; and as such is entitled to the vicarial tithes of that parish in right of his vicarage, he being presented and inducted to the vicarage of Sutton Valence, with the chapel of East Sutton annexed.
I never study a church before I go, maybe that's a fault on my part because I might miss something important and so have to go back. But for me, it's the wonder as you walk through the porch or door into the church, not knowing what to expect.
St Mary's looks like a typical Suffolk church from the outside, nice proportioned tower, good quality flint knapping. And yet once you enter, your breath is taken away by the glorious restored ceiling.
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It is not easy to find Huntingfield; even the signposts do not bear its name until you are within the parish boundary. Yet this shallow valley, divided by the infant river Blyth, with church and parsonage on one bank and manor house on the other, has been owned by some notable families in England's history.
The church is a Grade 1 Listed Building, largely due to its amazing Victorian painted ceiling.
The existing church certainly dates from the 11th century but there are signs that there had been a chapel here long before.
Some fragments of carved stones are set into the wall of the tower. At the beginning of this century they were turned up by a ploughman in a field called 'Chapel Field', a little to the south of the present church. They are fragments from a Saxon stone coffin and standing cross of the 10th century, long since disappeared.
The oldest part of the church is the wall between the nave and the north aisle which was the solid outer wall of the original twelfth century church. That church would have been small and dark, the whole building probably standing within the area of the present nave. The light would have come from small high windows of which one still remains above the two round-headed arches.
This wall has been altered at least twice. It was first broken through when the north aisle was built, and again in the nineteenth century when the arches were given their present 'Norman' curves. That first church was built by the family who took their name from the village and lived in the manor for 250 years, the Lords de Huntingfield.
The chancel was added in the thirteenth century.
By the end of the fourteenth, the south side of the nave had been altered and both aisles had been built in the fashionable Gothic style with its pointed arches. The five small high, or clerestory, windows on the south side of the nave would have provided light into the nave, the advent of affordable glass having made such things possible.
The east window of the south aisle has all that remains of the medieval glass that would once have filled many of the windows. There is a record of what was still to be seen here in the sixteenth century which lists the memorial windows with the coats of arms borne by the families who once owned the Manor.
The windows of the south aisle are particularly pretty and date from the fifteenth century. Their Perpendicular style is indicated by their familiar flat-topped shape. The porch is also from the fifteenth century.
The font dates from the fourteenth century.
The ceiling painting is very special and is explained on a separate page. The work was carried out in the 19th century while William Holland was rector. At the same time the organ and vestry were added with the Vanneck family vault beneath.
The ceiling is a masterpiece of Victorian church decoration, painted from end to end in brilliant colours, with carved and coloured angels, with banners, crowns and shields, all in the medieval style and of a most intricate and detailed finish.
The scheme of decoration is important as it reflects the ecclestiastical devotion of the late Victorian period clergy and their patrons, combined with the heightened liturgical practices of the Oxford Movement.
It was painted by Mildred Holland, the wife of William Holland who was rector for 44 years from 1848 until his death in 1892. The church was closed for eight months from September 1859 to April 1860 while she painted the chancel roof. Tradesmen provided scaffolding and prepared the ceiling for painting but there is no record to show that she had any help with the work, and legend has it that she did much of it lying on her back. We may imagine Victorian ladies wearing tight laced corsets and many petticoats, and wonder how she managed the ladders, scaffolding and hard labour of painting. She had an adviser on her schemes, a Mr. E. L. Blackburne F.S.A., an authority on medieval decoration.
The twelve large panels of the chancel ceiling each show an angel holding either a scroll with the words of the canticle 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel', or the emblems of the Passion: the cross, the hammer and nails, the scourge, the lance, the crown of thorns and the reed.
Two pelicans in their piety (pecking their breasts to feed their young) are in the last small panels.
Between the beam ends of the chancel roof there are Bible verses in Gothic lettering,
then two tiers of panels; the lower have pictures of the Lamb of God alternating with`the Keys of Heaven. Above, are crowned monograms.
Above the Chancel Arch, the Lamb of God is depicted with the words 'Glory, Honour, Praise and Power unto the Lamb for Ever and Ever', lines taken from the Book of Revelation.
Three years later Mildred Holland began to paint again in the nave. In 1866 her husband William makes a note 'scaffolding finally taken down, September Ist'. The whole cost of repairing the nave roof, preparing it for painting and for materials amounted to £247.10s.7d of which £16.7s.6d was for 225 books of gold leaf and £72 for colours. William Holland's notes show that between 1859 and 1882 a total of £2,034. 10s.0d was spent on the church restoration, of which, apparently, he gave all but £400.
Recent research has found the complete record of William Holland's work in restoring and furnishing the church. These are available for interested students.
The figures on the nave roof are of the twelve apostles and two female saints. Each is painted in the lower tier with their traditional symbols and again in the upper tier clothed in heavenly raiment holding scrolls bearing their names.
Note that Saints Margaret and Andrew are both included as there is a tradition that these two saints were specially venerated here. There are niches for statues in the south aisle which may have held statues of them. The cult of St Margaret of Antioch grew in the 10th century and her veneration was brought back to England by crusaders. Her inclusion here may hint at an early date for the church's foundation.
Mildred Holland died in 1878; William served on until 1892, a total of forty years. He gave the font cover in memory of his wife and also the brass lectern with its graceful angels and winged dragons. Their graves are in the churchyard to the west of the entrance gates. Side by side they lie, beneath a table tomb alongside a standing cross.
It is natural to speculate about the roof. It is of a single hammer-beam construction, arch-braced principals alternating with hammer-beams ending in carved angels. The angels in the nave carry a crown or a banner, those in the chancel have heraldic shields bearing arms. The question all ask is: are these angels genuinely medieval work which escaped the axes of the post-Reformation Puritans, (and remember that William Dowsing, the arch-destroyer, came from nearby Laxfield) or are they all the handiwork of Victorian craftsmen?
Traditional East Anglian hammer-beam roofs generally terminate in a carving of some sort, and the de la Poles made angel roofs in the churches of their manors, even taking Suffolk carpenters to Ewelme in Oxfordshire to make one there. But our angels are too perfect to be so old. Entries in a tradesman's account of 1865 would seem to settle the matter; or do they?
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were times of great development and two families, both wealthy and influential, used their means to beautify and rebuild the churches on their manors including St Mary's. Keeping up with the neighbours is not a new fashion. Both left their marks on the font which, standing on restored steps and with a splendid cover, shows two heraldic shields.
The shield facing south depicts the arms of de Ufford while that on the north side is of de la Pole.
The de Ufford shield is that of Sir William de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk during the reign of Edward III. He held Framlingham Castle for the King and owned several manors in Suffolk. Among these were Parham, where he built the church, and Huntingfield.
The other shield is that of Michael de la Pole, Lord Chancellor and Earl of Suffolk, who married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Sir John Wingfield of Wingfield Castle. He succeeded to the manor of Huntingfield through his wife, and died in 1389. The shield shows both of their arms.
Michael de la Pole's has three polecat faces while Catherine Wingfield's has three open wings. Both are puns on their names. (For another heraldic pun look for the arms of Huntingfield being held by one of the angels in the roof: three hunting horns on a 'field'.)
In Ufford church you can see a medieval font cover which was a model for ours when it was made in the nineteenth century. In Wingfield church there is a font so like ours that it was probably made by the same craftsman.
www.stmaryshuntingfield.org.uk/history.htm
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There is nowhere else in Suffolk quite like St Mary. Huntingfield is one of the county's most obscure villages; there are hardly any signposts to it. It is the nearest village to the great pile of Heveningham Hall, and perhaps these two facts are not unconnected. But it is worth getting out the old Ordnance Survey map, because here at St Mary was a remarkable 19th century restoration.
In the second half of that century, many parish churches were drawn by the excitement of the age into major reconstructions and revisions. They often looked to London stars like Scott and Butterfield, or local plodders like Phipson, or else mavericks like Salvin. The demands of the new liturgical arrangements, coupled with a renewed sense of the need to glorify God, led them into what was often a rebuilding rather than a restoration. Internal decorations were, perhaps, the bespoke work of the architect; witness Phipson's meticulous attention to detail at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich.
Other restorers relied on the big picture, a vision that encompassed walls and floors, but left the fittings to others; as, for example, Salvin's Flixton St Mary. What was the driving force behind Victorian revisionism? Essentially, what happened in England between about 1830 and 1870 was a cultural revolution, a ferment of new ideas and the reaction to them. The changes proposed by the Oxford Movement were, at first, objectionable, and then merely controversial; but gradually, they seeped into the mainstream, until by about 1890 they had become as natural as the air we breathe.
By the centenary of the movement in the 1930s, one Anglican clergyman could observe "It is as if the Reformation had never happened". Well, not quite. And now, the pendulum has swung the other way, leaving the ritualists high and dry. But the evidence of the energy of those days survives, especially at Huntingfield, where it was the local vicar who drove the Oxford Movement through the heart of the parish, like a motorway through a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
What the vicar of Huntingfield had, and many other ministers didn't, was a visionary wife. Between 1859 and 1866, Mrs Mildred Holland planned, designed and executed the most elaborate redecoration of a church this county had seen since the Reformation. For seven years, she lay on her back at the top of scaffolding, first in the chancel (angels) and then in the nave (saints on the ceilure, fine angels on the beam ends), gilding, lettering and painting this most glorious of small church roofs. Her husband, the Reverend William Holland, kept a journal throughout this period, and there is no suggestion that she had any assistance, beyond that of workmen to raise the scaffolding, and a Mr E.L. Blackburne FSA, who was, apparently, an 'authority on medieval decoration'.
J.P. St Aubyn was responsible for the structural restoration of this largely 15th century building, and it is very restrained and merciful. He did, however, refit the little windows in the south clerestory. But you come here to see the painted roofs, which are perfectly splendid. Beware if you come with children, or it will cost you a fortune in pound coins to activate the illuminations.
The font cover is not part of Mildred Holland's work; rather, it is her memorial, as is the art nouveau lectern. It is as if her art was a catalyst, inspiring others to acts of beauty. She died in the 1870s, predeceasing her husband by twenty years. They are both now buried by the churchyard gate. How fitting, that they should lie in the graveyard of the church they loved so much, and to which they gave so much of their time, energy and money.
Curiously, Ann Owen, the wife of the vicar of nearby Heveningham, produced the stained glass there; a novel is waiting to be written about these two women.
For such an obscure village, St Mary has had its share of influential patrons. Four major families in particular have left their mark here. Before the Reformation, the de la Poles and Uffords, whose shields you'll find on the font, and in later years the Cokes and the Pastons, both more usually associated with Norfolk.
But, as I have said, you don't come to Huntingfield because of important dead people. Look up, look all around, and see the true memorial to Mrs Holland. It does not have the gravitas of Lound, or the piety of Kettlebaston. And I really love it for that. I think this is a place that should be better known, and not just because of the way it contrasts with the less successful 19th century restorations at neighbouring Cookley and Walpole.
What we have here is as fine a display of 19th century folk art as you'll find anywhere in the county.
Simon Knott, 2001 (updated 2007)