Great Glemham

All Saints, Great Glemham

I left Marlesford, and headed over the open plains. The ditchless fields encroached on the road, and a wide concrete expanse confirmed that I was crossing a former WWII American air base, of which there are many in East Anglia. This one has been better preserved than most, and retains its control tower, which now contains a fascinating museum. I thoroughly recommend a visit, and not just if you are interested in aeroplanes or the War. It is also a moving reminder of the special connection between Suffolk and the States.

Many of the users of this site are American, and many Suffolkers have become Americans, from the early 17th century Puritans from the Polstead and Boxford area, to the G.I. brides of the 1940s. A particularly fine book which remembers this latter time is A Suffolk Summer by John Appleby, still in print after half a century. It records the Suffolk explorations of a young American airman in the summer after the war, and gives a sense of the drama leading up to the 1945 general election, which Labour won. The royalties from the book still pay for the upkeep of a rose garden at Bury Abbey.

As I write this, a new president is being installed in the White House, and as the world turns to watch, many Suffolk memories are stirred. For myself, I must say that I always feel safer with a Democrat in the White House, as I am sure many Europeans do. I always imagine those Southern Republicans sitting in the Oval Office at night, sweating slightly, the Old Testament open on their lap as their hand hovers over the button. At least with the Democrats, you know the president's probably in the domestic wing, sleeping with his secretary.

All Saints, from the south east. All you see has been refurbished and rebuilt, but it essentially remains a work of the 13th and 14th centuries. (Photo by Aidan Semmens).

Be that as it may, I soon arrived at the pretty village of Great Glemham, which has the advantage over its larger twin, Little Glemham, of not being bisected by the A12.

Although All Saints has been heavily restored in just about every department in the last 150 years, it is still essentially a small 14th century church, with a slightly earlier chancel. We enter through the north proch, where there is a rather good holy water stoup, which may or may not have been there originally.

Overall, this is probably England's best preserved seven sacrament font. Pretty, isn't it?

All Saints contains a tremendous treasure, one of the best of its kind. This is one of Suffolk's thirteen Seven Sacrament fonts.

Three of them, at Blythburgh, Southwold and Wenhaston, have been completely defaced. Of the other ten, this one, Denston and Woodbridge all have rayed backgrounds, and probably came from the same workshop.

One of the remaining seven, at Badingham, shows a feature in common with the one here at Great Glemham, which I, for one, find fascinating. (The other six are at Melton, Monk Soham, Laxfield, Cratfield, Westhall and Weston, in case you're counting).

The fonts show the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, and are a reminder that our medieval parish churches were built as Catholic churches, not as Anglican ones. The sacraments are Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Ordination, Reconciliation (also called Confession, or Penance), Last Rites (also called Extreme Unction, or Sacrament of the Sick) and the Eucharist. Each sacrament is shown on one panel, with the eighth panel featuring something else, usually the Baptism of Christ, but in this case the Crucifixion.

The fascinating detail that this font shares with the one at Badingham, and a couple of others, is that the holy oils used in Confirmation and Ordination are contained in a chrismatory, which is carried by an acolyte. This font also shows many other insights into medieval pracice. Nowadays, the Anglican rites don't include oil or a chrism cloth, but they survive in the Catholic Church. Also, in the Eucharist scene, a houseling cloth is held by the communicants to prevent the host being scattered.

Great Glemham's font may not be as awesome as Westhall's or as characterful as Badingham's, but in terms of quality and survival, it is probably the best single surviving example in all England.

And the font has yet another remarkable feature. In one of the niches in the font's stem you will see, not a simple Marian lily as in the other three, but a lily crucifix.

This symbol outraged the reformers of the 16th and 17th centuries, and only one other positively identified example survives in Suffolk, at Long Melford.

Colour remains on the font, especially on the lilies. You'll also find it on the entrance to the rood loft stair, where the fleurons decorate the arch.

What a beautiful place this must have been 500 years ago! None of the rood apparatus survives at all, but one gets just a hint, here, of the sheer drama of the medieval liturgy and life of this place.

To enable you to really experience the beauty and glory of this font, I have added Aidan Semmens' photos of the eight panels as thumbnails below. Hover over the thumbnail to identify the panel. Click on the thumbnail to open a new window with a full view of the panel, and a brief description.

Beneath the Last Rites panel, the crucifix lily peeps.

The coloured fleuron arch above the roodstair door.

The rest of the inside is homely, but not terribly exciting - a sequence of 19th century restorations saw to that.

One of them was by J.P. St Aubyn, who did very little work in Suffolk, but he didn't leave examples of his unorthodox flair here, which on this occasion is probably just as well; he left in place the wooden chancel arch (itself restored by Henry Ringham a few years earlier) which is rather lovely.

There is a scattering of medieval glass, which is well worth a look. Also of interest is that this church now seems to be shared with the Methodists, and you'll find their bits and pieces at the west end.

This is a church you'll want to come back to. Perhaps it has less of the high drama of some of the other Seven Sacrament font churches, but there is a precious jewel nestling here, a touchstone to the past.

All Saints, Great Glemham, is in the centre of this village to the west of the A12, between Wickham Market and Saxmundham. I found it locked, with a nearby keyholder.

Please note that some of the photographs are by Aidan Semmens, and retain his copyright.