Friston

St Mary, Friston

I headed south again, from the Saxmundham to Leiston road, under the vast chain of power lines that links the Sizewell nuclear power station with the rest of the country. All around was water, after the wettest autumn for 250 years. The power lines sizzled and cracked as I threaded through the pylons and beneath them, the sound of 10,000 quintillion volts of nuclear-generated electricity urgently seeking the shortest possible path to the ground. This concentrated my mind somewhat, as you may imagine.

And it was here that I first noticed the puncture in my back wheel, which probably came from cycling along the rutted track at Buxlow, but may have been something to do with radiation, I suppose. I limped on through the rain, and then got off and pushed, reaching church lane on the edge of Friston rather wetter than I'd planned.

Storm clouds sweep in behind the grand drama of St Mary's 19th century tower. With a nice Norman nave attached (although those windows look more than a little suspicious).

This is a lovely place, though; beyond the church, the lane dips through a ford, and there is a pleasant huddle of houses and a hall to the west of the churchyard.

Those niches in full.

The church itself is rather startling; the tower is an obvious Victorian rebuild, and quite a late one. Mortlock generously considers that it is an exact copy of what was there before.

In all honestly, I would find this doubtful, if it were not for the fact that the architect was Edward Bishopp, a man not best remembered for his creative imagination.

The most striking features are the niches; one in each buttress, and a possible rood group above the west window. This is a bit like the same at Parham and Cotton, and the buttresses like those at Wetheringsett, so they may be original, or perhaps just based on those other churches. The body of the church must be Norman originally, judging by the blocked north door, but there are so many late Perpendicular windows, I wonder if it wasn't entirely rebuilt retaining the doorway sometime in the early 16th century.

The church was locked, but I'd decided to mend my puncture first anyway. I turned the 17th century porch into my workshop, while the rain hammered down outside. Through it, I could just make out the remains of Friston mill, which is rather grand. I also noticed beside the porch, not one, but two graves for former mayors of London.

And so, to the key. Convoluted directions and an unnamed house did not deter me, and twenty minutes later I was inside. Friston's most famous possession, of course, is the massive James I coat of arms. It is fully eight feet wide and six feet high, carved from boards six inches thick.

Above: the Friston arms for James I (thus dating from the early years of the 17th century). note the pews beneath for scale.

Right: detail of the lion. Grand, isn't he?

It was found in pieces in the belfry by Munro Cautley, during his trawl of Suffolk churches in the 1930s. In his capacity as Diocesan architect, he insisted that the churchwardens repair it, and restore it to its rightful place. Since the chancel tympanum where it had hung had been removed by the Victorians, this presented the churchwardens with an interesting problem. So, they solved it by attaching the arms to the north wall of the nave, level with the tops of the pews, where it remains to this day. You can examine it at close quarters, and in intimate detail. It still retains much of its original paint, and the lion and unicorn are most characterful.

Detail of the upper south wall of the chancel.

The highlight of this church for me, though, is the completely unspoiled Victorian chancel. So many of these have been whitewashed in the last fifty years or so, but this is utterly charming, the walls painted and stencilled in pastel shades, and an ornate text running around the top of the walls. The finishing touch is the risen Christ flanked by Mary and John in the east window. I do hope the parish know how lucky they are to have it.

Also charming is the modern font cover, and all in all I think that this church must be a pleasant place in which to worship. And so, on to Knodishall.

Oh, that puncture; when I got the tyre off, I found a simply enormous thorn. I mean, huge. I can only put it down to the effects of electro-magnetic radiation on hawthorn bushes. I mean, it was VAST.

St Mary, Friston, is just north of the A1094 road between Aldeburgh and the A12. The church is locked, with a keyholder listed; but the directions are very complex, and when you get there, there's no way of telling which house it is. So, continue over the ford from the church to the top road. Turn left. After about 30 metres, there is a disused petrol station on your left. The house in the compound is the one you are looking for - it is called Hillcrest. The people are very nice, by the way.