THE ESSEX CHURCHES SITE

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St Mary, Fairstead

Click on the 'play' symbol in the second image to see all my photographs of this church as a slide show, then click on any image in the slideshow to see it large in a new page. Alternatively, if you don't have flash enabled, you can go straight to the set for this church on flickr. The narrow lanes now started climbing, and this was rolling countryside of green barley and yellow oilseed rape. Ahead of me were two spires on the horizon, Fairstead and Terling, my next two visits. As I headed towards the northernmost it resolved into a tiny village on a hilltop, the church poking up above a 15th Century farmhouse, and I climbed up to the church. Open. Externally, a difficult church to photograph, especially with the sun now around to the south-west. The small churchyard is full of trees and the church presents its north side to the road. Externally, the church is odd. The tower is huge, entirely Norman and reminiscent of Little Bardfield and Stambourne, except topped by a wooden spire. The nave is aisleless and tiny, squeezed between the great tower and the long 14th Century chancel. Inside? I had no idea what to expect. I pushed open the door and stepped inside. Well, it took my breath away. Entirely rustic, brick floors, tiny medieval benches, and the best 15th Century wall-paintings in all Essex. Above the chancel arch are scenes from the Passion - at the very top Christ enters Jerusalem on a short-legged donkey, there is an extraordinary Last Supper, we see Judas betray Jesus with a kiss, a very Jewish looking figure places a crown of thorns on Christ's head, and so on. Fabulous. On the walls are Saints and grotesques. In the north-east corner of the nave is a spectacular canopy of honour to an altar that was once there. Beyond, the long chancel was full of light and very lovely. The church jumped straight into my Essex top 20 - the setting, the interior, the atmosphere, all were wonderful. Church of the Day. As you may imagine, I was feeling very happy - the lovely weather, the wind in my hair, the sun on my face, such a beautiful little church, and now I headed a few miles south into a most beautiful village,Terling. Simon Knott, April 2014

 

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home - index - latest - e-mail
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Norfolk churches - Suffolk churches
www.simonknott.co.uk