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Finchingfield (Essex)

East Haddon (Northants)

Anstey (Hertfordshire)

Gnosall (Staffordshire)

Earl Stonham (Suffolk)

Norton (Suffolk)

Ixworth Thorpe (Suffolk)

Tutbury (Staffordshire)

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Penmon Priory (Anglesey)

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Ixworth Thorpe

Dedication : All Saints         Simon Jenkins: Excluded                               Principal Features : Mediaeval Arm Rest Carvings; Thatched Roof
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This little thatched church is located on the busy A1088 church. Well hidden behind trees, if you don’t know it is there you will never spot it. Which would be a shame because this is a lovely little place, although you will need to contact a keyholder in advance if you want to be sure to get in!

With a thatched roof that covers both nave and chancel and an odd little wooden bell tower, it is charmingly rustic. You would be hard-pressed to date the building. Its simple south door, however, suggests an eleventh century date. But how much of it is of that period? There are no Norman windows to give us a clue. Windows on the south side are in a vaguely Decorated style. the north side of the chancel has a couple of lancet windows so I am inclined to think that the chancel came maybe a century or more after the nave. There are the shoulders of what could have been a very small rood screen or even of the original east end but it is impossible to know.

There is a brick-built south porch, apparently sixteenth century Tudor and very much in the vein of churches over the border in Essex. It could look incongruous, but somehow it doesn’t. The little west tower also has a brick base and is of the same period. The superstructure is weather-boarded.

In fact it is impossible to know much about this place, architecturally and in any that is not the point of coming here. You come here for the mediaeval

poppy heads decorating the “arm rests” on the benches. They are fifteenth century and in the great tradition of Suffolk bench carving.

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Left: The church from the south east. At the time of writing (2022) the thatch is in fine fettle and rather gorgeous. There’s one thing about thatch - apart from the fact it is exceptionally pretty: you don’t have to worry about it being stolen! Right: The interior, looking east. It is chapel-like in its single-cell simplicity and note on the left the shoulder of what might have been an arch or even perhaps what was originally the east end of the church.
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Left: Looking west. Note the arm rest carvings and the poppy heads. Centre: The reading desk with its eagle support is a real gem of the church. I haven’t been able to ascertain its date. Right: The slightly damaged Jacobean pulpit.
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Everyone talks of these arm rest carvings as being “re-used”. Nobody explains what they mean by that so I have to conclude that as usual they are parroting Pevsner. Nothing new there, then. Perhaps he meant they came from somewhere else? Where from? And how would he know? Anyway, there are some beauties here. Left: A thatcher, appropriately enough! Centre: A woman taking her dog for a walk on a lead. In such imagery one can learn so much. Who would have guessed that dogs were taken for walkies in mediaeval times? And it’s a really small pooch. A pet. On a lead! Were there toy-sized breeds back then? I find this image a totally fascinating insight into mediaeval life. All the woman is lacking is a the now-mandatory poop bag! Both these images also give invaluable insights into the costumes of the time. Right: An unusual unicorn. Well, of all unicorns are “unusual” but this one more than most, I reckon!
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Left: You don’t see this often - a horse on his hind legs begging. Or maybe not. Centre: Maybe a rabbit? Right: An oddity - a bird with the head of a man.
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Left: Unidentified animal. Centre: The ultimate amphibian - fins and webbed feet! Right: Perhaps a cockerel?
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Another trio of rather cheery looking beasties
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Left: Whether it is misericords or poppy heads, the carpenters loved to carve a mermaid. This one has her mirror but her other arm with its obligatory comb has been lopped off. Note the “water” carved beneath her. Centre: A plump little fowl with its accompanying poppy head. Right: This one has the lion of a tail and cloven hooves.
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Left: I think we can safely say this is a squirrel. Centre: One of the poppy heads. Right: Many of the arm rest carvings have carved reverse sides - see the mermaid below. But for some unfathomable reason others, such as this unicorn do not. Perhaps this is where the notion of “re-used” comes from.
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Left: The mermaid cuts a more elegant figure from the reverse side. Right: Another view of the unicorn.
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Left: The memorial tablet of John Croft (d.1664). Centre: The Norman south door. Right: The very pretty Tudor south porch, of a design showing Dutch influence.
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Left: A view across the nave towards the south west. Note the bench ends: some have carved backs (as we look towards them) and some are completely blank. Right: Looking from the north west we can see the usual blocked north door - seemingly Norman - and a very ad hoc buttress between tower and nave. Note also the growth of moss on the thatched roof. Compare it with the pristine appearance of the south side! No wonder our forebears equated the north with inhospitable. And blocked their north doors!