Bow and Arrow country

[mossie]

When I first started working in Suffolk anywhere north of Ipswich was known as "bow and arrow country", because the natives were very suspicious of strangers. people from Ipswich were sneered at for being ignorant townies, while if one came from beyond Suffolk one was perceived as being from another planet entirely. It has taken me over 60 years to be accepted as perhaps mostly human, and acceptable in normal company. While driving to and from Dunwich the other day I realised there are many picturesque places in the area, having worked and travelled extensively in Suffolk and around I realised That I had always rushed through in a hurry and not appreciated the countryside and buildings.

So I paused at a typical village on the way back and took a few snaps. This was Westleton which is fairly standard for the area and still has a traditional village stores.



and a village green



even an old Methodist chapel



Standard row of cottages



Today I set off to do some more recording, churches have always fascinated me, being so historic. Don't worry I became a heathen when I was about 14, rebelling against too much church.

First one of the fancy houses of the great and good, Little Glemham Hall



Secure in its vast, well manicured park



complete with blasted oak



It is approaching teatime and I expect you have had enough by now, don't worry, I'll be back.

[bjd]

I hadn't realized village greens were so big. Is that one typical or is it particularly big? Of course, my only knowledge of them comes from reading British detective stories where people seem to cross them in no time at all.

[mossie]

That green is not huge, my wide angle setting has misled you, but big enough for football just about.

Now I move on to a church, the little church at Sibton looks rather neglected at first glance but the churchyard was tidy



The windows suggest what is called the decorated period about 1300



and the priests door has nice framework



Moving on to the village of Peasenhall, what a wonderful name. This box of odd figures is part of the window decoration of the village garage and coach operator



Running along one side of this village street is this channel which normally carries running water draining from the surrounding fields, the growing crops are most likely using all the water they can gather.



I now carried on to the prime object of my trip, St Mary's at Dennington, held up as THE example of a medieval Suffolk church.



This of course was open, as many of these churches are, so I was able to look inside.
This snap looking down the aisle of a side chapel, shows the rudimentary central heating system. Many of these old churches have had some sort of heating installed in the last century, but they struggle to overcome our winter.



This tablet on the wall amused me, they were more particular about virgins in those days. Any one well versed in olde English latin care to translate.



Here is a general view from the aisle on the other side showing the marvellous wood carving of the pews for the common herd, up at the front are the box pews giving some privacy for the gentry



The main door is quite ancient too



There are wonderful examples of craftsmanship including these screens over a side chapel

[fumobici]

Lovely. Looks like a nice bucolic area to live, if perhaps a little lacking in excitement. The church is outstanding.

[mossie]

I'll wrap this up with a couple more shots.

First the priests door with the handy fire extinguisher to combat any hellfire and brimstone which the sermon may have invoked



On my way home I stopped to take this snap of Saxtead Green Post Mill. The whole structure is turned to face into wind by the fantail wheel, hidden behind the main sails.

[Deleted]

I have to admit that "bow and arrow country" sounds like the name of an amusement park for small children, but your photos are outstanding as usual. The carved pews in the church are remarkable as are the screen on the side chapel and obviously surpass 'basic service' to decorate such places. I always try to imagine explanations like "the woodworkers had nothing better to do in those days" but that is completely insufficent. To do such superb work, one needs to really have a passion for one's craft.

One would think that the makers of fire extinguishers would find a way to embellish such things while still respecting legal directives (bright red and visible instructions would be the minimum of course).

Yet in spite of the efforts of man to make things look pretty, humankind will never match the majesty of the blasted oak or the lovely meadow in front of the windmill.

[bixaorellana]

Oh, this is lovely -- informative and SO pretty!

Love the views of the grand home and also of the homes and stores of regular people. After you pointed out the Victorian modernization of the church windows, it alerted me to the other example of "Victorian medievalization" in the penultimate picture. I always appreciate your coverage of churches, especially as you know what all the architectural bits are. Churches are often the only continuously maintained structures in a place, showcasing the architecture of their original time plus artistic touches later generations applied.

Is a village green the same thing as a commons? Why is the mill called a post mill?

[patricklondon]

OK. I'll try to put my rusty old school Latin to use. It's a bit more high-churchy than I would have expected for 1621:

Anna, daughter of Robert Wright, pastor of this church and his wife Iana, at four years of age, an innocent, relinquishing the earth and becoming a bride of Christ in heaven, 28 October 1621: her grave is nearby.

I suppose a village green would normally be common land, but I understand a common as being land outside a village, originally where the ordinary labourers could exercise common rights for grazing, collecting waste wood for fuel and the like. These days they tend to be managed as public land for recreational purposes, but usually as more or less wild countryside, either by the regular local authorities or sometimes a specially elected board of conservators or the like, and can be pretty large. The part of south-west London I used to live in is surrounded by about 500 hectares of common land managed like that, which had fortunately been saved from speculative building development in Victorian times.

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[mossie]

Bixa, the mill is a post mill because the whole top section sits on, and revolves round, a central post, so that it always faces the wind. If they get out of the wind direction they can become unstable and tipple over, as a local would say.

Don't mistake me for an architectural expert, I do know a little about church architecture. BUT, as I have said here before, remember how my wife would caution people. "What he doesn't know, he makes up". My formal education finished at my 16th birthday.

[bjd]

In the very first picture, there is a village shop that probably sells a bit of everything. But do the locals buy much there, or do they drive to the nearest Tesco or other supermarket and only go there for small things they need? This would likely be the case here in France, where those kinds of shops are much more expensive because of limited turnover of merchandise.

[mossie]

Yes bjd, that is the case here, although that village is fairly isolated, but you will also notice that the Post Office has been incorporated into the shop which brings in a bit more business. I guess they also do newspapers which helps.

[mossie]

Many thanks to whoever tidied up the mess I had made of this thread in my attempts to insert something. Bixa perhaps??

Anyway a couple of snaps that should go in. First is this church window from Dennington showing that the Victorians could do some good things. This looks very art nouveau to me, all a guess of course.



Now the lord and lady lying uncomfortably in their private side chapel



My visit to Dennington church had musical accompaniment, the organ was being attended to by the organ doctor and his assistant, using some exotic tools.



There was an impressive list of rectors



While outside the neighbouring pub was getting a lick of paint



and the village boasted some typical cottages, now smarter than perhaps they had ever been



Returning to Sibton, I left that churchyard in rather a hurry as one of the inhabitants was attempting to escape



Thanks again for the edit.

[bixaorellana]

Mossie, it was not I! Everything always looked fine to me in this thread -- in fact, I had replied earlier to the pictures that you have now re-inserted.

At any rate, I enjoyed looking at everything again. Thanks for the answer about the mill. Also thanks to you, Patrick, about commons/greens. It prompted me to look up Boston Common, the only common of which I'd ever heard in the US.

As far as formal education, Mossie, many of the smartest people I know are guys who left school early. Unfettered about what you're "supposed" to know, they have wide-ranging interests and huge stores of eclectic knowledge.

Patrick, I appreciated your translation, although it seems sad that the only thing parents could think of to say about their deceased four-year-old was that she was a virgin.

[Deleted]

I confess to the edit.

The spikes around the reclining 'do not touch' statues intrigue me. Were 18th century chavs attempting to sit on the ledge?

The old English cottage style begs for thatched roofs and crooked smoking chimneys. Oh well, I guess we're we'll anchored in the 21st century now.

[tod2]

A fabulous thread Mossie - it makes me realize why I love England so much.
The 'all-in-one' local shop with post office inside, village greens, and old wood.
The old wood of that blasted oak, the unvarnished and weather worn board and gate of St.Peter's church, the beautiful wooden door and ornamental ironwork. I noticed the stonework had been carefully divided into dark pebbles/stones and then a mixture of darl and tan stones to create a beautiful outer wall.
Then there is those incredible carved pews in St.May's in Peasenhall - where I spotted my dog Patch sitting looking at the congregation (when they're there). Then near the Priests Door I spied an ancient kist or trunk. It made me wonder what interesting things must have been secreted away in it over the centuries...
I love your sense of humour Mossie - I only wish I could see the twinkle in your eye! That 'above ground' tomb did look like the deceased had tried to run off. Must have been terrible hard on the shins kicking the slab in half...
Thanks for a most interesting visit to Bow and Arrow Country.

[mossie]

Thanks Patrick for the translation, I particularly like the last two lines in olde Englishe. Here is the thing again as that had also gone AWOL

[patricklondon]

May 28, 2016 16:02:11 GMT bixaorellana said:

it seems sad that the only thing parents could think of to say about their deceased four-year-old was that she was a virgin.

I think their focus was on the broader sense of innocence.

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[mossie]

Here is another I had forgotten, the enclosure to the poshest section of box pews has this decoration, typical of the late medieval

[lugg]

Excellent photos and as always your commentary adds up to another great post . Thanks Mossie. I love the relative simplicity of the church particularly as I have just visited Salisbury cathedral today and it is such a contrast.

[htmb]

I'm now catching up on a few threads, and must say how interesting this is, Mossie. Super pictures!
I wonder when they last touched up the paint on the box pews. It looks like a very tricky job.
Interesting that part of the mill revolves. I've never heard of a post mill.