Woodbridge St Mary

St Mary, Woodbridge

Externally, this is one of the great English churches. Its setting is superb, wholly urban, and yet conscious of its presence in an ancient space. The narrow churchyard climbs away from it, surrounded on two sides by 18th and 19th century houses. To the north is the Market Square, and a stairway leads down from it to the great porch. The whole thing is just about perfect; the relationship between town and church expressed exactly. In Suffolk, only Halesworth and Beccles can compete.

St Mary from the north east. Apart from the trimmings, this is a job lot of the 15th century. Big, isn't it?

The tower is one of Suffolk's biggest, bold and dramatic in the landscape, particularly when seen from the quayside.

Close up, it is even moreso, because it rises from below the level of the graveyard, sheer up for more than a hundred feet, a stark, clinical job of the late 15th Century.

A 1455 bequest by Richard Gooding built the north porch.

St Mary has much in common with Southwold St Edmund, being only slightly smaller, and built all in one go over a similar period and timescale. However, the tower of St Edmund is a riot of flushwork, and here the flint is sparer, cleaner, more precise. This only serves to accentuate the splendour of the great north porch.

The dole-cupboard of John Sayer.

We enter through it, past the dole cupboard of John Sayer, 1638. This bequest provided bread for the poor of the Parish, and was still in operation up to the middle years of the 20th Century.

We step through the great doors into a fine, grand Victorian interior, the work of R. M. Phipson. It is reminiscent of his rebuilding of Ipswich St Mary le Tower, although the nave here is not encumbered by that church's unfortunate heavy glass. Here, we are in a wide, light space, with a number of valuable and fascination medieval survivals.

The greatest of these is St Mary's Seven Sacrament font, one of thirteen survivals in Suffolk.

The panels show the sacraments of the Catholic Church, and are a reminder that our Medieval churches were not built for congregational Anglican worship. The panels are a bit battered, but all recognisable.

Despite Cautley's doubts about the rayed backgrounds, Aidan Semmens argues convincingly that it was a product of the same workshop as the fonts at Denston and Great Glemham. The butterfly head dresses of the women date it to the 1480s, making it contemporary with the other two.

The panels are, in clockwise order from the north, Ordination, Matrimony (the two sacraments of service), Baptism, Confirmation (the two sacraments of commission), Reconciliation, Mass, Last Rites (along with Reconciliation, one of the two sacraments of healing) and, in the final eighth panel, the Crucifixion. This last panel, anathema to the protestants of the 1540s, has been particularly vandalised. Click on the appropriate image below for an enlargement and more details.

St Mary's glorious seven sacrament font - a saving remnant of old Catholic England. Click on the panels to the right for enlargements.

The survival of so much Catholic imagery, when we know that the 17th century puritans were particularly active in this area, may surprise us. But, ironically enough, it is a result of the destruction of a century earlier.

During the early Reformation of the 1540s, Woodbridge was wholeheartedly Anglican, and the wrecking crew went to work with avengeance.

The easiest way to deal with the font was to knock off the more prominent relief, and plaster the whole thing over.

When Dowsing and his Biblical fundamentalists arrived at this church a century later, they found very little to do.

The Protestants had also destroyed the roodscreen; in 1631, 13 years before the visit of William Dowsing, the antiquarian Weever lamented the fact that "how glorious it was when it was all standing can be discerned by what remaineth", showing that its destruction had occured before the Puritans were ever on the scene, despite decrees of the time that this should not happen.

The destruction here probably took place in the Autumn of 1547, during the first months of Edward VI's reign, when there was a bit of a free-for-all in places like Suffolk. What survives is two ranges of ten panels, about a third of the original number, which have been placed in two groups in the north and south aisles.

They are splendid, although their protective glass makes photographing them rather awkward. Part of the donor's description survives, but nothing above the dado rail.

The modern screen has been recently curtailed, and the surviving panels are in the aisles. They are actually pretty good, the figures reminding me of the same artist's work in the sanctuary at St Mary le Tower.

Looking west. The fine font cover is 20th Century.

Otherwise, there's a grand memorial of the 1620s to Geoffrey Pitman in the south aisle, climbing to heaven in tiers that seem rather extravagant for a town weaver and tanner, but a weaver in Suffolk might be the equivalent of a factory owner elsewhere. two hundred years previously, another Woodbridge weaver had donated the screen.

Panels from the vandalised roodscreen in the north aisle.

Excellent panels from the 1870s replacement.

To the north of the sanctuary stands the last resting place of the Seckfords - or, at least, i think it is. It may have been moved from elsewhere in the church.

There is a single surviving brass attached to the chancel arch, a decent pulpit and some hatchments, all you'd expect from a town church. But one of the glories of this place is even more modern. This is the gorgeous memorial glass in the east window by Martin Travers. It shows the adoration of the Magi, and was installed shortly after World War II.

I visited this church on May 7th, 2001, the first truly glorious spring day of the year. It was the day before my 40th birthday, and if I am honest then I must admit that I was feeling a bit down.

Martin Travers glass in the east window.

Geoffrey Pitman, 1620s.

But the experience of this place uplifted me. Phipson's excellent work in a perfect 15th century coating, one of Suffolk's best fonts, and a sense of duty being fulfilled by those who care for it all. This church always seems to be open and welcoming, and reflects Woodbridge's pride in itself as a proper town, despite its size.

Last resting place of the Seckfords, possibly.

Looking east. Perhaps Phipson's finest hour, an understated, municipal Victorian interior.

Well. How civilised.

This is a church so visitor-friendly that it even has cycle parking in its fascinating graveyard. This is a national treasure- the graveyard, not the cycle rack - and is a gorgeous verdant cushion for its large jewel. I walked up to the top of the bank, bringing me level with the statues in the porch alcoves. I looked across at the stunningly pretty houses that open out into the graveyard.

Quite what you have to do to deserve to live in one, I'm not sure. But I resolved immediately to start doing the National Lottery, just in case.

St Mary, Woodbridge, is in the centre of this pretty town, on the A12 east of Ipswich. I have always found it open.

You can also visit the St Mary's website.