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If you are a cyclist,
and you come this way from Bury, be prepared for
a shock. This is an awful road, all the way to Great
Barton. Not only is the A143 the main road from Bury to
Norwich, it is also the main shortcut from the A14 to the
Waveney ports, and as vicious a ratrun as any I have ever
cycled. Fortunately, there is a footpath beside it; you
are probably not meant to cycle on it, but you'd be a
fool not to.
When you do
reach Great Barton, you enter a rather anonymous
stretch of large bungalows set back from the
road; the village is to the north of here, but
the church is down a narrow lane to the south,
away from all this.
As you enter the
churchyard there is a huge 1920s war memorial, as
at nearby Fornham St Martin.
The churchyard
itself is super, one of the best in Suffolk; it
has loads of 18th and 19th century graves still in
situ, and is delightful to explore. This is
just as well, because the church is firmly
locked.
But there are some
extenuating circumstances; virtually all the
churches in the area north of Bury are kept
locked. I can only presume that crime is
particularly high in this part of Suffolk (and
much worse than in the Ipswich area, where most
churches are kept open).
Coupled with that
awful road, perhaps it doesn't make the prospect
of living in Great Barton a very attractive one.
But it must also
be said that, unlike virtually all the other
churches in this area, Great Barton lists
keyholders. Unfortunately, this being a Saturday,
they were both out.
So, I can't tell
you anything about the inside of this church,
beyond noting that its pre Raphaelite windows by
Edward Byrne Jones are said to be very fine. But
I can descibe its spectacular exterior.
It is a grand
church. The tower, nave and aisle are all of a 15th century piece in a
grand Perpendicular style; the chancel is earlier. The tower parapet and
battlements are infused with superb flushwork,
including monograms and circular crosses.
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Holy
Innocents, a riot of spectacular flushwork. The
rood loft stair turret rises above the nave roof.
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The rood stair turret
rises high on the north-east corner of the nave. There is
a fine 18th century sun dial on the south porch inscribed
periunt et imputantor ('they perish and are
judged') above hideous perspex doors, which must have
seemed a good idea at the time, and what looks like a
tomb recess set in the South chancel wall. It has a
medieval tombstone set in its base, but I couldn't decide
if the whole piece was genuine and in situ. It
must make a handy seat, anyway.
The
splendid Priest's door is overshadowed by that tomb
recess. Is it genuine?
Holy Innocents is an
interesting dedication, and an unusual one for an
Anglican church, especially a medieval one. Bear in mind
that, in the Middle Ages, churches were dedicated to
feast days, especially of Saints, and not the Saints
themselves. Holy Innocents is celebrated on December
28th, and remembers Herod's massacre of the babies of
Bethlehem. It would have been a more common dedication in
medieval times. Here, it is probably a relic of Anglo-catholic days, and the 19th century revival of church
dedications; but it may also be the original dedication
of the church.
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Above:
Grim reminders of our mortality.
Right:
A little on the large side. A reminder of
a lost age.
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Turning to the graveyard,
a few interesting details. Firstly, an excellent 17th
century grave to the south of the chancel, with its
skull, crossed bones and eggtimers to remind us of our
mortality. Secondly, a preposterous early 20th century
memorial, fully 12 feet high, to Frank Riley Smith, very
much in the Anglo-catholic triumphalist style, just before the horrors of
World War One forced a slightly more introspective
attitude towards death.
They
perish and are judged - a timely reminder
for whoever installed the perspex doors.
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But most
fascinating of all, the north east corner of the
graveyard is cordoned off by a low wall. This
area is completely overgrown by five foot high
nettles, but I could see that it contained
gravestones, and that some were relatively
recent.
Gingerly, I
climbed the wall; my hands inside my sleeves, I
cleared a way to the nearest stones. I found that
they were all to members of the Bunbury family,
and obviously had not been tended for many years.
It was very sad.
It took a perusal
of Arthur Mee to enlighten me. The Bunbury family
had lived at Barton Hall, but it was destroyed by
fire in 1914.
Sir Henry Bunbury
achieved a place in popular history in the early
19th century when he was the foreign office
official who had the job of breaking the news to
Napoleon that he was to be exiled to St Helena.
The popular
history books that speak of the defeat of
Napoleon have long since been consigned to the
skips. Now, all that remains is the light summer
breeze in the high nettles.
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Holy
Innocents, Great Barton, is located immediately to the
south of the village, off the A143 Bury to Ixworth road.
I found it locked, with two keyholders listed.
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