Nowton

St Peter, Nowton

Nowton is virtually a suburb of Bury St Edmunds today, albeit a very pleasant one around delightful Nowton Park. The cottages get older as they trail off into the countryside along the Hawstead road, but you have to go a mile or so further before you first catch sight of St Peter.

It stands high among the fields to the west of the road, an oasis of lush botanical green in the surprise of the rape fields. The narrow lane climbs up into silence, and as you reach the graveyard you look out across a hazy valley.

Essentially, this was a 14th century church with surviving Norman details, before the Victorians went to work on it.

They rebuilt the nave and the chancel, adding a mock-Norman aisle to the north side. Several windows and doors were rest, including the Norman south and north doors, and a Norman window in the aisle.

The Victorians also reroofed the building, and you can see a couple of curious dormer-like ventilation windows, as at nearby Hawstead.

Theirs too are the battlements and pinnacles, and all in all this must have been a very shipshape little building by the end of the 1870s.

Walking around it, the graveyard is a strikingly beautiful adornment, very 19th century, with the kind of trees that Rectors-of-leisure liked to plant in those days, including a glorious cedar.

A tombchest on the south side seems rather keen to get as close to the church as possible, and probably shouldn't be leant on.

The 19th century did something else to Nowton church, that makes it rather remarkable. The eccentric Rushbrooke family lived nearby (and did extraordinary things to Rushbrooke church). The Rushbrookes were enthusiastic collectors, and Colonel Rushbrooke in the first decades of the 19th century spent many happy months trawling around the low countries and plundering painted glass from monasteries.

Spring 2001: a green oasis in a field of gold.

Okay, so he probably paid for it. But if an American turned up at Long Melford today and was sold all the medieval glass for a couple of million pounds, would we have a problem with that? Exactly.

In any case, he soon got bored with it, and sold it all to Lord Oakes, the local patron. Oakes installed the glass in the windows of Nowton church. The Victorian restorations of the 1840s and 1870s moved and reset it all, and it has been augmented since by further panels recovered from a house in Essex.

It is probably the finest collection of late medieval Flemish glass in England. There are 84 roundels, the like of which can often be found in medieval parish churches. Thanks to collectors like Rushbrooke, quite a lot found its way on to the British market in the early 19th century, and they were enthusiastically snapped up by church restorers. What makes Nowton so special is the sheer bulk of the collection, and its quality.

Deep peace.

Going down.

So, why are there no pictures of the roundels on this site? Simply, the church was locked. This is, under the circumstances, not surprising. And there is a keyholder - unfortunately, they were back towards Bury St Edmunds. I was on a bike with a schedule to keep to, but couldn't miss this. But when I got there, they were out. So I shall have to go back.

At Hawstead, a couple of miles later, I saw a few roundels and continental panes that had been similarly acquired, one at least of which may have come from the same collection. The nice keyholder here asked me if I really needed to put Nowton on the internet. She suggested that the glass would be much safer if it was kept a secret.

Well, of course, it isn't a secret. It is in plenty of books, including the best-selling Mortlock. Perhaps the real issue is if a remote, rural parish church is really the best venue these days in which to display them. They've been in the church for nearly two centuries, and have become a part of its history. But times change, and perhaps it would be best if they were reset somewhere secure, where lots of people could see them, and even pay for the privilege. Part of the proceeds could go to reglazing Nowton church with something fittingly contemporary.

Any suggestions as to what type of venue? I'm sure the Belgians would have a few.

St Peter, Nowton, is located just to the west of the Bury to Lawshall road, about two miles out of town. I found it locked, but there is a keyholder back towards Bury.