middleton

Holy Trinity, Middleton

Bright and clean: restored Holy Trinity.

By 1955, the spire of Holy Trinity had become quite unsafe, and was completely rebuilt.

One summer morning, as two workmen were putting the finishing touches to the lead around the base of the spire, they looked down to see smoke rising from the thatched roof of the nave below.

The alarm was raised in time for most of the furniture to be rescued, but by 3 pm that afternoon the church was completely ablaze.

Dramatic photographs are on display now in the nave; the villagers gather around to watch, and smoke and flames billow from the walls and windows.

The church has two great treasures, both of which survived the conflagration, more or less. One is a massive St Christopher wall painting, first uncovered in 1908; it was damaged by the water, but has now been restored.

The other is a brass of Sir Anthony Pettow. Set in the floor, it did not melt (which it would have done if it had been set in the wall as it is now), but a burning beam fell and smashed the head off. This was lost, presumed destroyed.

However, in 1990, the owner of the Old Rectory was gardening in the area where the cartloads of burnt thatch had been dumped thirty-five years before, and he found the remains of the head. It has now been reunited with its body.

The top of the St Christopher. The dark area to the left is the Saint's backpack; then the infant Christ sitting on his shoulders, his face, and then on the right his hand at the top of his staff.

Detail of the Saint's face. In medieval times, folklore had it that anyone who paid his respects to the saint by visiting his image would have no troubles that day.

The St Christopher is the more dramatic survival; his soulful eyes speak to us across the centuries, and the infant Christ clings on determinedly.

Left, a woodwose. Above, something we wouldn't do now.

The font is a delight, with the most characterful woodwoses I know. it bears an inscription that asks Christ to 'grant us spede'.

The chancel steps are a post-fire construction, set at an angle in a jaunty Seventies manner. We would not be so bold as to do this now.

The whole interior is bright and clear; it has lost its patina of age, of course, but is still beautiful. Only the barrel roof of the chancel looks its age - it would be better painted.

Up in the chancel, there is an ancient stone coffin lid, and some other stone carvings that are believed to come from the lost church of Holy Trinity, Fordley, which once shared a churchyard. This was not so uncommon before the Reformation; but when the Puritans required the seely, and lengthy, preaching of the Word, the two congregations were gathered together here, and Fordley church was abandoned. These traces are all that remain.

Holy Trinity, Middleton can be found just off the B1112 Yoxford to Aldeburgh road, just north of Leiston.