Somerleyton

St Mary, Somerleyton

Anyone who remains to be convinced that the much-maligned Victorians were good people, and did good things, needs to come to Somerleyton. Here, my favourite 19th century millionaire eccentric, Sir Morton Peto, commissioned the London architect John Thomas to construct the extraordinary Somerleyton Hall. Then, in 1854, he paid him to rebuild the church. Bearing in mind that Peto was a strict Baptist, there was either something altruistic about this gesture, or entirely secular; the action of a man who wanted a view.

Like many Suffolk village churches, St Mary was virtually derelict by the mid-19th century. Thomas rescued the tower, as well as parts of the chancel and north aisle; but the nave is all his, and the whole thing looks very well together.

It isn't necessary to pay for a visit to Somerleyton Hall to see this church, although I'd thoroughly recommend that you do. However, if it is just the church you are interested in (and there are several reasons why this church is particularly interesting) then you can reach it by a pretty drive across a bridge off the Somerleyton to Blundeston road.

The approach from the Blundeston road - the hall is beyond.

The north range of the screen: Michael, Edmund, Apollonia, Laurence, Faith, Thomas of Canterbury, Anne (with the young Virgin) and Andrew.

St Mary is the only church round these parts that isn't round-towered, and a lesser man than John Thomas might have demolished it to replace it with a competitor for nearby Herringfleet, Blundeston, Lound and Ashby. All four of these are particularly fine, among the best in the county; but St Mary retains its 15th century tower.

The new work merges well, and Peto was keen to encourage (and pay for) the use of high quality materials. Ironically, at a time when so many Victorian buildings are requiring structural makeovers, it is the tower here which is need of repair.

We approach the church in its wild graveyard from the south. The porch is in Thomas's restrained East Anglian style, and we pass through it into the nave. The first, rather startling thing we see is the plastic-tiled underface of the Victorian gallery. I understand that plans are afoot to remove this facing.

Turning back to face the south door, notice the stone panel bearing the evangelistic symbols above the doorway. It is a rare pre-Reformation reredos; Thomas's workers found it hidden under the floorboards in the 1850s.

The glass is all excellent, including some rare Mayer Brothers work. All is neat, well-ordered and unified. It is worth saying, incidentally, that all 19th century stained glass is not bad, and there is a superb selection in Suffolk; Barnby, Shimpling and Uggeshall all spring to mind. All is not as awful as the Lavenham Lady Chapel.

But you haven't come here just to see the stained glass, good as it is. For, despite the wholesale rebuilding, St Mary retains one of Suffolk's finest rood screens.

It is similar in style to that at Ranworth in Norfolk, and if the artist was not the same, then the person who painted this had certainly seen the one at Ranworth.

And the south: John, Mary Magdalene, Felix?, Petronilla, Stephen, Dorothy, Edward the Confessor, and George.

St Anne with the young Blessed Virgin Mary.

From north to south, the saints are Michael, Edmund, Apollonia, Laurence, Faith, Thomas of Canterbury, Anne, Andrew, John, Mary Magdalene, an unidentified bishop (but St Felix, surely?), Petronilla, Stephen, Dorothy, Edward the Confessor and George.

If you stand back and take in the screen as a whole, you can see that there is an interesting dynamic at work. The saints are paired, so that they have a relationship across the nave: thus, the two outside saints, Michael (N) and George (S) are killing dragons. The next two in, Edmund (N) and Edward (S) are the two traditional patron saints of East Anglia. And so on.

Some of the relationships are more obvious than others; for instance, Laurence (N) and Stephen (S) are both martyrs, and the two bishops are, well, both bishops.

Apollonia is found on several East Anglian rood screens. She was that most essential of all saints in the medieval economy of grace; you asked her to intercede for you against toothache. She carries the instrument of her own martyrdom, as does her neighbour Laurence; these two are often found together on rood screens.

Thomas of Canterbury has had his face rather more restored than the others, explained simply by the fact that he was the one of all these saints most viciously circumscribed by the Anglican reformers of the 1540s. His face was usually scratched out as a salutary warning.

St Laurence with his gridiron, symbol of his martyrdom.

St Edward the Confessor holds his ring, and St George kills his dragon.

St Mary, Somerleyton, is in the grounds of Somerleyton Hall, and can be approached from the B1074 Lowestoft to St Olaves road. I found it open. See MAP

Dorothy is beautiful with her flowers, although I think Mary of Magdala the most gorgeous of all. St Andrew has a wisdom and serenity I've not seen anywhere else in Suffolk, and only Westhall beats this as my favourite roodscreen group of saints.

I could happily spend all day here, sitting on the floor and looking at them; but if you can drag yourself away, don't leave without noticing the memorial to the splendidly named General de Bathe. He not only served in an official capacity at the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838; he did so again at her funeral, 63 years later.

Although this church is some way from the village it serves, Somerleyton itself is worth exploring. Its Tudor cottages are pastoral and perfect. Too perfect, in fact; they were all built in the 19th century at Peto's direction. Never mind, for he also provided them with a railway station. This, on the Lowestoft to Norwich line, has a great sense of the wildness of Norfolk, the marshes of which spread bleakly away on the other side of the tracks.

Please also see the entry for this church at Aidan Semmens' Sylly Suffolk.