The Essex Churches Site

 

THE ESSEX CHURCHES SITE

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St Mary, Ardleigh

south porch

Ardleigh Blessed Virgin flanked by St Alban and St Felix dragon

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Impressive churches and their pretty little villages punctuate the country lanes between Colchester and Ipswich. The great flinted late 15th Century porch of Ardleigh church tells you that we are in East Anglia, and almost in Suffolk. The tower is contemporary, but the rest of the church was ruinous by the 1880s and was rebuilt by William Butterfield. The interior is all his, an essay in the pattern book style of his All Saints Margaret Street. Alexander Gibbs came along again for the ride, but this is Ernest Geldart territory, and the chancel decoration is pretty much all his. Bell & Beckham were responsible for the great rood over the chancel arch and most of the windows, although Gibbs had his turn here. All in all, an exciting and rather overwhelming High Church moment in rural north Essex.

Simon Knott, August 2018

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looking east chancel (decoration by Ernest Geldart, 1894-95) chancel decoration (Ernest Geldart, 1894-95)
lamp and chancel decoration (Ernest Geldart, 1894-95) vestry doorway (Ernest Geldart, 1894-95) chancel decoration (Ernest Geldart, 1894-95) Our Lady of Walsingham
angels playing a portative organ and a trump (Bell & Beckham, 1890) Crucified (Bell & Beckham, 1890) angels playing a harp and a violin (Bell & Beckham, 1890)
Adoration of the Magi (Bell & Beckham, 1890) Blessed Virgin and Child (Bell & Beckham, 1890) Baptism of Christ (Bell & Beckham, 1890)
Adoration of the Magi (detail, Bell & Beckham, 1890) John and Peter at the Resurrection (Bell & Beckham, 1890) Resurrection (Bell & Beckham, 1890) Risen Christ (Bell & Beckham, 1890) Three Marys at the Resurrection (Bell & Beckham, 1890) Adoration of the Magi (detail, Bell & Beckham, 1890)

     

 

 

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home - index - latest - e-mail
links - small print - about this site
Norfolk churches - Suffolk churches
www.simonknott.co.uk