09 September 2026

St Catherine's Church, Pettaugh

 I've driven past this church hundreds of times but someone who lived in the village had told me that it was always locked so I'd never bothered to stop.

But when I did stop recently I found it open.

Just a small church for a small village that unfortunately suffers from having the A1120, a busy cross county road, passing through it which has two horrible corners between the old houses which were originally a pub and a shop.


Walking up the path I hoped the gate across the porch wasn't padlocked...it wasn't. I like the flint and brickwork pattern.


The view down the nave towards the east window, it's light and bright here


Apologies, the photo of the font is very dark and gloomy


The lovely East window dates from 1936



Christ the Good Shepherd stands at the centre, with two simple tales of redemption flanking him, the raising of Lazarus on the left, and the calling of Zacchaeus on the right. Townshend and Howson were important figures in the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th Century, many of whom were women. Like a number of her fellow artists Caroline Townshend was also involved in the suffragette movement, which brought her into friendship with the stained glass artist Mary Lowndes, designer of the suffragette banners and co-founder of the Glass House. In 1913 she met Joan Howson who became her apprentice and later her partner. This is the only Townshend & Howson glass in Suffolk, though they were also responsible for organising and setting the great scheme of early 16th Century glass a few miles off at Gipping.


The other windows are plain except for the blue and yellow edging and dedications at the bottom







2 comments:

  1. That's such a beautiful stained glass window. Thank you for all the information about the artists involved

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  2. What a lovely church Sue. Why does Suffolk have so many churches? Is it because of the wool trade back in the day? June

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