THE ESSEX CHURCHES SITE
home - index - latest - e-mail
links - small
print - about this site
Norfolk
churches - Suffolk churches
www.simonknott.co.uk
St John the Baptist, Pebmarsh
Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.
Pebmarsh is a largish, long village close to the River Stour and the Suffolk border, and in the oldest and most attractive part of it stands its parish church. St John the Baptist is on a steep rise above the road, and is quite different to the more familiar little churches around here, being larger and built in a thorough-going East Anglian manner, the nave with aisles and clerestories, sometime in the 14th Century against the earlier tower. The eve of the Reformation saw a red brick embattlement of the nave, a south porch and the topping off of the tower, a happy date for such things, and a rather less exciting shortening the chancel (I wonder why?). The 18th Century brought the Esex signature tower cupola as at Finchingfield and Felsted, another happy date for such things.
Entering through the south porch, the first impression is that you are stepping into the bones of a church. The considerable 19th Century restoration here stripped the plaster from the walls, exposing the flints internally as at Hildersham in Cambridgeshire. This is rather striking, as you may imagine.There is some good 19th Century glass, the east window by Clayton & Bell being very lively, and good early 20th Century glass too, in the form of Powell & Sons jolly angels in the chancel.Unfortunately, the window with the best tracery is that at the east end of the north aisle, and it was filled in 1934 with Hugh Easton's alarming depiction of the church's patron saint in full battle cry. Not one of the artist's better moments, I'm afraid. However, there are some 15th century survivals, including a figure of St Peter holding his keys at a jaunty angle. But the star of the show here is the awe-inspiring 1330s brass to Sir William Fitzralph, generally considered the most important brass in Essex, and one of the earliest martial brasses in England.
Simon Knott, October 2012
Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.
Amazon commission helps cover the running costs of this site
home - index - latest - e-mail
links - small print - about this site
Norfolk churches - Suffolk churches
www.simonknott.co.uk
