United Reformed Church, Stowmarket
www.suffolkchurches.co.uk - a journey through the churches of Suffolk
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United Reformed Church, Stowmarket |
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www.suffolkchurches.co.uk - a journey through the churches of Suffolk |
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Stowmarket is a good town, a proper market town with rather more to it than its size might suggest, not least because of its relative remoteness. People elsewhere in Suffolk joke about NFS, meaning Normal for Stowmarket, but this hardly seems fair. Stowmarket became a footnote in history on the afternoon of the 11th of August 1871, when a great explosion in a gun-cotton factory killed dozens of people and caused considerable damage to the town. But it was another explosion, some seventy years later, which led to the construction of one of East Anglia's most striking 20th century churches. At about noon on the 31st of January 1941, a German bomber dumped its load along the length of Ipswich Street, and destroyed the 19th century Congregational chapel. Remarkably, given the damage, only one person was killed. You can see photographs of the former church, and some of the damage, on the Stowmarket History site. War reparations money was put to good use. In 1955, the architect AD Cooke completed this imposing, lively replacement, with its bold assymetric tower and jolly Festival of Britain decorations. It is a great adornment to the town, which has three interesting churches along its relatively short main street. Simon Knott, 2008
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