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The 15th century
wealth of South Suffolk almost completely rebuilt many of
its fine churches, and in the triangle of Clare, Lavenham and Stoke by Nayland are some of the best examples
of Perpendicular architecture in England. How strange
then to find, right in the middle of this area, a
maverick, a church quite unlike any other in the county.
A beautiful, ancient place that speaks of more distant
days than parvenu Perpendicular can possibly do.
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is unusual is immediately apparent, for here we
have the only medieval stone spire in all
Suffolk. Medieval spires of any kind are unusual
in the county; the only full-sized one is at
neighbouring Hadleigh, and there are
reconstructed medieval ones at Bramford and Rattlesden. The stone spires of Woolpit and St Mary le Tower, Ipswich, may be grand; but they
are, of course, modern inventions.
Polstead
churchyard is also clearly ancient, set high and
back from the village pond and street. In the
churchyard are the remains of the so-called
Gospel Oak, attributed with an age of 1300 years,
and believed to have been planted by St Cedd, or
at least his missionaries.
There's no
evidence for this, of course, or even for it
being that age; although oaks have to come from
somewhere, and there may have been an earlier one
on the spot.
This is an
interesting village; as well as the pond, there
is an ancient pub, and most famously a murder,
for here it was that William Corder slew Maria
Marten, and buried her in the red barn, before
pretending to elope with her.
More than
10,000 people witnessed his execution on the
market hill in Bury; the account of his trial,
bound in his skin, can be seen at the Moyses Hall
museum there.
St Mary has an
unusual external roof; aluminium was bravely
chosen, but it is also rather exciting,
especially from a distance on a sunny day.
Beneath it, we can see that the Perpendicular age
did not completely avoid St Mary, but most
details are Decorated, a sign of an early 14th
century rebuilding, when Faith was still shot
through with mystery, and the cold theological
rationalism of the 15th century had not yet built
tall clerestories to let in the light.
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Polstead's
curious tower, metal roof and inelegant porch -
all delightfully quirky.
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Looking
east.
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Looking
west.
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So, we step inside to a
beautiful space, touched with a patina of age. The most
striking aspect of the interior is the colour, the
combination between white walls and the red brick of the arcade
arches. These bricks bear close examination. They date
from the original construction of the arcades, about the
year 1200, and yet they are clearly not reused Roman
bricks. So, we have here what may be the oldest surviving
English bricks still in use for their original purpose -
bricks of a similar age can be found at the Hall at
nearby Little Wenham, and across the county border at Coggleshall
Abbey in Essex.
Gorgeous
arcades soar into redness above the furnishings.
The arcades predate the
aisles, as we have seen, and the
little clerestory is hidden by the aisle roofs.
This is strange, and also strange is that one of the
arcades has been replaced, that to the west end of the
south aisle, as though work began, but was not completed.
It doesn't take much imagination to suggest that the
Black Death of 1348-50 may have finished off (quite
literally) the work here.
The Norman arcades
interlock and shift as we move around the church, opening
up new vistas and elevations.
Shapes
interlock and change through the arcades as we
walk around this ancient and beautiful building.
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There is much
to see; an extraordinary brick octagonal font,
for instance, which might be any age, but is set
on a 13th century base. Mortlock is uncharacteristically
uncharitable about the modern fibreglass cover. On the walls, two consecration crosses sit surprisingly close
together, and another wall painting shows a
figure, perhaps a bishop. In the north aisle, we
find a canopy of honour to a side altar, a rare thing.
A brass in the
north wall of the chancel shows a priest dressed
for the Mass - another rare
survival. Also in the chancel, a good set of
Laudian communion rails, and a scattering of
medieval glass, including a figure that Mortlock
thought might be St Leger.
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A
bishop's staff being held. By a bishop. Probably.
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A moving
monument sits to the south of the chancel arch;
it shows Jacob Brand touching the head of his
son, who had died in an accident. 
Jacob
Brand and his son.
At the west end
of the nave, notice the large opening above the
tower arch. This might be dismissed as a sanctus bell window, but I think it
might be an entrance to the tower itself, that a
ladder could be drawn up, as at Thorington. Step through the arch,
and turn east, and you see that this, like Westhall, was originally a Norman church with a
west entrance; the archway is clearly an exterior
doorway, with three bands of heavy chevrons.
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Above the chancel arch,
note the triple window that would have provided a
backlight to the rood.
This is an
outstandingly lovely church, full of interest, and not
simply because of anything in particular that it
contains, but because of itself as a whole piece. Just
the way it should be.
St
Mary, Polstead, is in the middle of the village, just
south of the A1071 Ipswich to Sudbury road. I found it
open.
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