e-mail: simon@suffolkchurches.co.uk
Holy Trinity, Gisleham
| In the late Spring,
Suffolk has few greater delights than cycling around the
narrow lanes between Lowestoft and Halesworth. If you avoid the main roads,
you wallow in a lost land of scattered farms, little
hamlets and mainly round-towered churches. There is
hardly ever a car. And in Spring, the verges of the lanes are high in wild angelica, its vivid light green found nowhere else in nature. The birds sing, the hedgerows are alive with rosehip and hawthorn flowers, and there's hardly anywhere I'd rather be.
Holy Trinity across the Spring-green fields. Because the hedgerows still survive around here to a great extent, large vistas are rare, and churches may appear as a surprise, suddenly, around the next bend. An OS map is essential for cycling out here, especially for would-be church visitors, for they are often away from their villages, and sometimes the villages no longer exist.
|
the angel-flanked niche. |
Holy Trinity is one of
north east Suffolk's many round-towered churches, and
this one is truly a delight, with its late Saxon/early
Norman base surmounted by a 15th century octagonal brick
crown, similar to those at nearby Mutford and Ashby. Above the porch entrance are
the remains of a 15th niche, flanked by censing angels. This was defaced by iconoclasts in the 16th and 17th centuries, but the major damage occured when a sundial, now gone, was fitted in the 18th century, slicing the angels in half. It is a grand, spacious porch, home to the Easter garden when I visited. The door into the nave is most curious, hinged up the middle so that only half of it opens. As we shall see, it is curious for another reason. Inside, everything is Victorianised, although very well done nonetheless, in a good, vernacular style. The church has large, wide-splayed windows, and the nave and chancel are full of light. The great treasure of the church, as I said, is the wall paintings. These are figures painted in the eastern splays of windows in the north wall. Neither has been fully identified. |
| Mortlock thinks the western one is St
Ursula, on the strength of the arrow she carries. But I
think it is not an arrow, but a flower. The easterly one is identified as St Dorothy by Cautley, but Mortlock thinks it might be the Annunciation. And I think he's right. Given that both paintings are in the same style, I wonder if they are part of a series of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, which would make the first painting not a saint at all, but possibly the Visitation - see the way the figure holds her cloak open, and the flower against her breast. I said to Mr Scollard how good it was that the church was open, and how important this was as an act of witness. "Well, we like to keep the church open", he replied. "We think it's important, and it is an act of witness. But the main reason is that the door hasn't got a lock on it." And he was right; the lock had been removed at some time in the distant past, possibly during the 1860s restoration, and never replaced. "The insurance company said it was alright, because there's nothing worth stealing", he grinned. |
Wall paintings in the north wall. Notice the way the roof beams disappear into the ceiling. |
And, again, he's
right. Everything moveable is locked away, all furniture
is bolted securely to the floor. The microdot security
system is in operation, allowing any item to be
identified. It is safe, secure and sensible, and
consequently Holy Trinity can be as welcoming as it is
possible for any church to be. Perhaps one day all
churches will be like this. After all, it is worth
bearing in mind that locked churches are more subject to
vandalism than unlocked ones. Holy Trinity is certainly
safer like this.
|
| Gisleham is pronounced
with a hard G, Gizz-lum rather than Guys-lum
or Gizzel-ham, both of which might seem more
obvious pronounciations to an outsider. It is also not to
be confused with Gislingham in mid-Suffolk. "If you send us one of the photographs, we'll pay you for it", my friend said. I assured him that payment wouldn't be necessary. "Well, in that case", he grinned again, "Can you take one of the Easter garden too? I tried it myself, but the photo didn't come out right." Good people of Gisleham, if you are reading this: The photos are in the post. Thank you.
Holy Trinity, Gisleham, is located on the outskirts of Lowestoft, beyond Carlton Colville. It is signposted from the A12 at Kessingland. It's open. |