The Church of St Peter at Chillesford (+ Olympic Update)

 The small church of St Peter Chillesford is set up a sandy track on the edge of this very small village in the Suffolk Coast and Heath area. 

The tower dates from the 14C and is built from corralline crag rather than the usual Suffolk flint. The corralline crag is found in a nearby small quarry.

From Wiki.........The Coralline Crag Formation is a series of marine deposits found near the North Sea coast of Suffolk and characterised by bryozoan  and mollusc debris. The deposit, whose onshore occurrence is mainly restricted to the area around Aldeburgh and Orford is a series of bioclastic calcarenites and silty sands with shell debris, deposited during a short-lived warm period at the start of the Pliocene Epoch of the  Neogene Period ^. Small areas of the rock formation are found in locations such as Boyton and Tattingstone to the south of Orford as well as offshore at Sizewell.

Crag is a local word for a shelly sand. Coralline Crag has sometimes been used historically in the Suffolk coast area for building and a number of quarries exist. The tower of St Peter's Church in Chillesford is one of only two built using the rock.

 

It gets mentioned in the 100 treasures in 100 churches book because of the amazing modern stained glass Ascension  window. Commissioned in 1991 and designed by Suffolk stained glass artist Surinder Warboys

 

In comparison the font dates from the 13C

 The chancel with the East window,  altar and lovely colourful altar cloth designed by Isobel Clover who is well known in Suffolk as a tutor of embroidery etc

The lovely Medieval Piscina - it would have been painted at one time.

 

The West window is also stained glass, this time Victorian

 

View through the church with an unusually narrow arch between Nave and Chancel. There is an ongoing debate over the two squints. (the two glass-less windows each side of the arch). They are not as old as the church but may have replaced older ones or maybe just made to copy another church.

 Is this the old path from the road through two rows of trees to the church door?

Now there is a car park and a walk up a small mound  through the long grass.

Unlike most of the churches I've visited which are spick and span with flowers and well polished, Chillesford was dusty and full of cobwebs. It looked as if no one had been in for months - a bit sad.

There's more info on Simon Knott's Suffolk churches website HERE  

What happened on Day 13 at the Olympics ?

 

 

Had to go shopping ready for the weekend visitors first thing so missed lots of the live events but I turned on the TV when I got in to hear about a Gold in the Velidrome for Matt Walls and a Bronze in the men's sprint canoe and then watched  as Holly Bradshaw won a Bronze in the Pole Vault which is brilliant because at the last 2 Olympics and world championships she's just missed out on a medal. 

This took GB to 51 medals but we dropped back to 6th in the medal table as Australia have more golds although they only have 41 medals in total. 

Today I'll shall be in the kitchen doing a bit of baking  - with Eldest Daughter and Eldest Grandson arriving here from Surrey later it will be a big get together sometime over the weekend - biscuits, cake and cheese straws will be needed.

 

Back Tomorrow

Sue