Another church visit after a tour of the charity shops in Woodbridge (where I found nothing). I intended to visit two churches but it was just so cold that I decided to head for home after this one.
Hollesley (pronounced Hoze-ley) is a village almost at the end of a road before the coast. To get there from Woodbridge you have to go through part of Tunstall Forset and pass the old USA airbases with their cold-war bunkers still visible from the road.
Sometimes it's difficult to get a photo of the church that doesn't make the tower look like the leaning one at Pisa!
Most unusual for there to be no porch. My book says "Ancient South doorway dating from about 1300 but moved eastwards when Herbert J Green restored the church in 1886. Before this it was surrounded by a dilapidated porch where the nave and tower join."
Below is the reason the church gets a mention in the 100 treasures in Suffolk Churches book. There are some amazing bench end carvings. These are a mix of the original from C15 and C20 replicas carved by Harry Brown, an Ipswich craftsman between 1949 and 1966.
The carving below is the mythical sciapod with his enormous feet that protect him from the heat of the sun. This is copied from the only know medieval version at Dennington Church (visited almost exactly 3 years ago)
The altar and East window
Beautiful colours
There were 3 ladies in the church taking down the Harvest Festival flowers and cleaning (spot Henry Hoover later!) ready for a wedding at the weekend and one of them showed me these old carvings just about visible below. These were often done in churches.
The lady also showed me this tomb in the church floor holding the body of William Geyton who was Prior of Butley Priory which once stood about 4 miles away.. and moved here instead of Butley church for some reason.
I forgot find out about this carved picture of Noah's Ark
This is a much more recent stained glass window.......
Meg Lawrence's 1984 glass of Holy Family set at the end of the north aisle. It remembers two young people, Clare Butler and Andrew Benning, who were killed in a car crash just before Christmas 1983
When this north aisle was added in 1886 they discovered an early C13 arcade - showing where an earlier aisle had been.
View down the nave with one of the ladies cleaning!
I could have taken photos of all the bench ends but just one more
The craftwork is beautiful Sue, what a splendid church, still loved and cherished as well.
ReplyDeleteIt was good to actually find someone in the church - often they are empty when I visit
DeleteWhat a lovely old church. The Noah's Ark carving is fabulous :)
ReplyDeleteI should have asked about the carving but the ladies were busy and chatting so I didn't like to keep interrupting them
DeleteWhat a gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS place for a wedding. What a photo opportunity, lordy day!!!! So beautiful!! ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteI'm glad there are still a few people getting married in churches to keep them in use.
DeleteJust lovely. Love the big feet!
ReplyDeleteIt always seems odd that they have mythical creatures in churches - I wonder where they thought these creatures lived
DeleteThis has got to be one of the best churches I have seen the carving are beautiful and the stain glass is so bright. Thank you Sue.
ReplyDeleteHazel 🌈🌈
So many different carvings on the bench ends - I could have spent another hour taking photos of them all
DeleteWonderful wooden carvings! You need a lot of imagination to make anything of the stone ones, though.
ReplyDeleteI admit looking at the photo of the tower made me feel giddy.
Interesting about the new north aisle. Is the south aisle original, then? And did they just add the new one to balance the interior? We'll probably never know.
There isn't a south aisle - although maybe there was - like many other churches it's changed size over it's 1000 year history
DeleteI love the medieval graffiti (sunburst? Star?)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful church. I am always interested in the connection between religion and mythology. The carvings often signal this connection for me. Modern churches do not have the delicate and often intricate stained glass nor carvings seen in early churches.
ReplyDeleteamazing craftsmanship you will never find in a new church today. What a treasure it is.
ReplyDeleteCathy
What a lovely church, and those carvings are amazing, especially the Sciapod. My daughter's boyfriend could have modelled for that- he has size 12 feet!!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous stained glass too, but how sad the modern windows are in memory of that lovely couple.
Love your church visits, Sue! --Elise
ReplyDeleteThose carvings are really well done. Thanks for the tour of another historic church.
ReplyDeleteLovely church as usual Sue - especially the carvings
ReplyDeleteYou have treated us to many of the interesting churches in your area! It is a nice hobby of yours that you have shared with us. I like the carvings, too! Thanks for bringing us along!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting those bench end carvings - they are fabulous and we'll try to add that to the ever expanding ,ist of things to visit.
ReplyDeleteThis is an impressive and beautiful church! I especially love the stained glass and the Noah's Ark carving. The history these churches hold is fascinating to me. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSome fantastic carvings in there! Arilx
ReplyDeleteWhat interesting bench carvings.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
This is a beautiful church.
ReplyDeleteI just want to tell you how much I love your blog. Our lives are very similar, except I am roaming around Inland Northeast Washington state in the US. I just bought new camera (Canon mirrorless) and you have given me some ideas!
ReplyDeleteI thought of you and car boot sales when I read this news item!https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10141517/Pensioner-discovers-diamond-threw-BIN-34-CARAT-stone-worth-2MILLION.html
ReplyDeleteI see the link has not printed too well- but its about a woman who had bought various items of costume jewellery from car boot sales, dropped the bag off at her local auctioneers, he had the bag on his desk for days then decided to look at one stone with his diamond tester. It turned out to be a rare diamond worth 2 million pounds.
ReplyDelete